Walkamin is a rural town and

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

in the

Tablelands Region The Tablelands Region is a Local government in Australia, local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia inland from the city of Cairns, Queensland, Cairns. Established in 2008, it was preceded by four previous local government areas ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. In the , the locality of Walkamin had a population of 532 people.

Geography

Walkamin is on the

Atherton Tableland The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau, which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia. It has very deep, rich basaltic soils and the main industry is agriculture. The principal river flowing across the plateau is the B ...

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stret ...

between

Mareeba Mareeba is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Mareeba in Far North Queensland, Australia. Between 2008 and 2013, it was within the Tablelands Region. The town's name is derived from an Aboriginal word meaning ''meeting of the water ...

and Tolga. The

Kennedy Highway The Kennedy Highway is a highway in northern Queensland, Australia. It runs as National Route 1 for approximately 243 km from Smithfield, on the northern outskirts of Cairns, to the Gulf Developmental Road in the vicinity of Forty Mile Sc ...

traverses the locality from the south-east to the north-east passing through the town.

Climate

Walkamin has a

tropical savannah climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry "winter") and ''As'' (for a dry "summer"). The driest month has less than ...

, bordering on a dry-winter humid subtropical climate ( Köppen: Aw/Cwa). The town has a hot and humid

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...

from mid-November to mid-April and a warm, sunny

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The t ...

from mid-April to mid-November; though the climate is made cooler and drier by the town's

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

. Average maxima vary from in December to in July, while average minima fluctuate between in February and in July. Mean average annual

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

is moderate, spread between 83.8 precipitation days (above the threshold). Extreme temperatures have ranged from on 6 January 1994 and 19 November 1990 to on 4 July 1984.

History

The name ''Walkamin'' was taken from its railway station, which in turn was named by the

Queensland Railways Department Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Queensland Rail is owned by the Queensland Government, and operates both suburban and interurban rail services in South East Queensland, as well as long-distance passenger t ...

on 8 November 1943, based on a suggestion by organist Sydney Lionel May who proposed it because it was the name of an Aboriginal language associated with the area, probably the Wakaman language documented by

Norman Tindale Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist. He is best remembered for his work mapping the various tribal groupings of Aboriginal Australians ...

. Walkamin State School opened on 19 May 1958. In 1982 the school celebrated its 25th anniversary. The Walkamin Research Station was established by the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...

in late 1959 to investigate the economic use of irrigation water from the

Tinaroo Dam The Tinaroo Dam, officially the Tinaroo Falls Dam, is a major ungated concrete gravity dam, gravity dam with a Spillway#Types, central ogee spillway across the Barron River (Queensland), Barron River located on the Atherton Tableland in Far Nor ...

Demographics

In the , the locality of Walkamin and the surrounding area had a population of 630 people. In the , the locality of Walkamin had a population of 474 people. In the , the locality of Walkamin had a population of 532 people.

Education

Walkamin State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 40 Wattle Street (). In 2016, the school had an enrolment of 51 students with 3 teachers and 6 non-teaching staff (3 full-time equivalent). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 45 students with 3 teachers and 6 non-teaching staff (3 full-time equivalent). There are no secondary schools in Walkamin. The nearest government secondary schools are Atherton State High School in Atherton to the south-east and Mareeba State High School in neighbouring

to the north. There are also non-government schools in Atherton and Mareeba.

Economy

In 2017, Walkamin Research Station was involved in research involving local crops such as mangoes, peanuts, coffee, hardwoods, legumes, maize and lucerne. Although the research station is equipped for aquaculture research, there were no aquaculture projects in 2017. The research station has an experimental farm in Kairi beside the shores of Lake Tinarooo.

Attractions

The Mount Uncle Distillery makes a range of liqueurs from local fruits. In 2015, the distillery were successful at the

International Wine and Spirit Competition The International Wine & Spirit Competition is an annual wine and spirit competition founded in 1969 by the German/British oenologist Anton Massel. Each year the competition receives entries from over 90 List of wine producing countries, countrie ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, winning a gold medal for their Iridium rum, silver medals for their gin, vodka and whiskey, and a bronze medal for another rum. The distillery owner, Mark Watkins, believes the climate in Walkamin contributes to faster maturation of the liqueurs. The FNQ Country Music Festival and Talent Search is held annually at Kerribee Park Rodeo Grounds in Mareeba. The event is hosted by the Walkamin Country Music Club.

References

External links

{{authority control Towns in Queensland Populated places in Far North Queensland Tablelands Region Localities in Queensland