Burketown, Queensland

Burketown is a small town in the northwest corner of Queensland, Australia. Situated at the Albert River approximately 30 kilometers from its mouth in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Burketown is located about 2,100 kilometers northwest of the state capital, Brisbane, 210 kilometers west of Normanton and 420 kilometers north of Cloncurry and Mount Isa. It is the seat of the local government area ( LGA) Burke Shire Council.

History

The area was originally the province of Prince Albert after Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, named. The city was named in 1861 in memory of Robert O'Hara Burke, an Irish explorer, who died in that year. Burke initiated jointly with William John Wills Burke and Wills expedition, which the crossing of the Australian continent from south succeeded as the first conducted by Europeans expedition to the north and reached the area.

Already in the first years after this expedition, the area was settled around the city and created numerous cattle ranches. The town of Burketown was the center of the area and supply station for the surrounding farms. The initial euphoria that the city is growing and an important center in the far north-west Queensland could be, but was soon pulled back: Tropical diseases, as well as a tropical cyclone in the March 5, 1887 with seven people killed decimated the population. In March 1887 138 people lived in the village, which consisted of four hotels, a general store, eight weatherproof houses and three buildings of the police force. The tornado then destroyed two hotels and five weatherproof houses.

In 1991, the population of Burketown reached 265 inhabitants their highest level to date

Presence

2006, Burketown 173 inhabitants. The city is known as the Barramundi capital of Australia, and a fishing competition will be held at Easter each year. Burketown is located on the Great Top Road, which is part of the Savannah Way and the National Highway 1. This leads from Cairns on the east coast of Australia, around the tropical north of the country on the Northern Territory to Broome in Western Australia.

Weather

Due to its northern location, there are Burketown a rainy season in the summer months and a dry season during the winter months. During the rainy season, it may happen that the city is cut off from the outside world for weeks.

A special weather phenomenon is known as Morning Glory cloud cloud formation, which may occur during the months of August to November. The Morning Glory cloud reaches a length of 1,000 kilometers and one kilometer height. The long-drawn Cloudscape moves forward at a speed of up to 60 km per hour. The Morning Glory Clouds can be particularly well observed in Burketown.