Karumba, Queensland

Karumba is an Australian small town in north-western Queensland at the mouth of the Norman River in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Karumba is with about 500 inhabitants, is the second largest settlement in the local government area ( LGA) Carpentaria Shire.

It was founded in 1880 in the wake of the gold rush and currently has about 500 inhabitants. The main source of income of the village is fishing.

History

In 1872 a telegraph station was built on the territory of today's city Karumba. The resulting intellectual settlement was named for its location at the mouth of the Norman River Mouth Norman. After a name change between time to Kimberley in 1876, the venue became a Aboriginesprache entstamme ligands name Karumba.

For the first time more importance was given Karumba from 1937, when Short Empire flying boats on their way from London to Sydney here stopovers on the Norman River men casting.

During World War II existed in Karumba a base for the Royal Australian Air Force, were stationed on the flying boats of the type Catalina.

Since the fifties Karumba developed into a major fishing site and was also popular with recreational anglers.

Economy

The main sources of income are Karumbas fishing, animal husbandry, mining and tourism. In the years 2007/2008 nearly 1,000,000 tons of zinc and 60,000 tons of lead were exported through the port. During the same period also left 12,659 live cattle harbor.

Traffic

As the only place in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Karumba is accessible by a paved road. The distance to the nearest major city, Normanton, is about 73 km.

There is a bus service from Karumba via Normanton to Cairns, which is served several times a week (as of August 2011). The journey time is approximately 11 hours.

In Karumba an airfield (: KRB, ICAO: YKMB IATA) exists. The nearest airport with regular flight connections is at Normanton.