Normanton and Karumba – 26 to 30 September 2010

Following the discovery of gold at Croydon and copper at Cloncurry, Normanton was a for a time a bustling inland Port as the Normanton river was navigable to ships. Although floods, termites and cyclones have destroyed a lot of the Historic buildings enough remain to make it an interesting stop.

We liked Normanton. It is very clean and tidy. The Caravan Park has a wonderful swimming pool, the second best we have seen and it is great to swim in. It has an attached spa bath which is filled from the towns original artesian bore.

Normanton  historic walk included the Burns Philp Building; they were the major traders in the area from the 1880's to the 1980's. One can imagine how exciting it would have been to visit this store coming in from the harsh terrain of the Gulf country.

The crocodile is a replica of Krys the Savannah King.  He was shot by Krystina Pawlowski and was named after her and is the largest crocodile ever shot [and recorded].

The Carpentaria Shire office is a gracious two storey building and although designed to look like an hotel it has always been the Shire offices.

The old goal was the main penal establishment for the entire gulf during the Croydon gold rushes.  There are some drawings by former occupants on the wall of the middle cell.  Beside the goal is the quarters for the Aboriginal Trackers.  Aboriginals were excellent trackers and were used to find lost people, stock and criminals.

The Westpac Bank was originally the Bank of New South Wales and opened for business on the 23rd July 1884.  It is the sole survivor of the five banks that once operated here. This building was built in 1886. In the gulf there is only one layer of wood on the exterior which allows the houses to cool down rapidly. Having the frame on the outside of the house is very decorative.

Before air conditioning the best way of keeping cool was to not have the sun touch the sides of the house and have air moving all the time. This is the reason for the wide verandahs as they protected the walls from the sun and the occupants could sit on them and catch the breeze. In the centre of Australia the nights are cold so the house cools quickly and you can sleep.

Outside town there is the wharf. The river used to be navigable but now the Harbor is silted up and goods are shipped from Karumba. The entire gulf region is used for raising cattle but they are shipped out by Road Train. One thousand head of cattle can be transported by Road Train so this is a better option.  In the past the boat ramp next to the wharf was used for crossing the river on a ferry.

We went for a trip on the Gulflander train. With the discovery of copper in Cloncurry plans were approved for a Cloncurry Normanton Railway line. However Gold was discovered in Croydon and the direction of the track quickly changed to service the gold field.

Construction was commenced in July 1888. This track is unique. Because of monsoonal flooding and termites the track consists of steel sleepers, which are filled with soil and laid directly on the ground. The track is laid on top of them. When it floods the water flows over the top of the line causing very little damage, whereas with track laid on ballast, the ballast washes away. Much of the line is original.  This line is the only fully functional original railway in Australia.

Nevil Shute spent time at Normanton in the Purple Pub collecting notes for his novel 'A Town like Alice' with the Alice referring to Alice Springs. However it seems the title should have been 'A town like Normanton'

From Normanton we drove to the Port of Karumba for day trips and enjoyed the fishing and sunsets.

On the way we saw a large flock of brolgas in the wetlands beside the road. They were very shy. Trish dipped her toes in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

 

 

There is a lovely modern Hotel there and we sat on the Verandah and enjoyed the sunset. They have the freshest prawns and Barramundi we have had as they come straight from the wharf to you. The meal is truly excellent.

 
We did a fishing charter on the Kelly D.  This was a fantastic day and we caught two thread fin salmon and two blue salmon of about 770mm in length. Our skipper did a great job of finding fish. We could have caught many more but the small ones were thrown back.

The area has a lot of interesting sites from WW2 although most of this is not yet signposted. It was a refuelling and repair stop for the Empire Flying Boats which connected Sydney and Great Britain. They landed on the stretch of river in front of the town which is a well protected landing site.

It was also a Catalina Flying Boat Base for the RAAF.  The ramp on which they taxied is now the street that runs beside Karumba Lodge.  Karumba Lodge has had a varied history but was used by Ansett Airlines for their Station run delivering mail and goods to outback Stations and Barramundi to Mt. Isa.

Zinifex exports Zinc and Lead from the Century Mine at Lawn Hill here. The zinc and lead arrives as a slurry via pipeline, is dewatered and is transferred to a barge which then takes it to larger ships waiting further out to sea. The Century mine also produces Silver.