Burketown Queensland

It’s always a bit sad to leave such a lovely spot, but it’s time to move on… today we drive 120km up to Burketown and then another 87km to Leichhardt Falls for the night. 

After using the dump point at Gregory, we head north to Burketown. The road wasn’t too bad with only a few gravel sections and mostly newly sealed roads. There’s not much to stop and see along the way other than some birds of prey feasting in some road kill, cattle and trucks.

Burketown sits on the Albert River and on the east-west dividing line between the wetlands to the north and the beginning of the savannah grass plains (Plains of Promise) to the south, some 25 kilometres from the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Albert River is tidal, and the Gulf is accessible from Burketown by boat. This small towns’ primary appeal is its access to excellent barramundi fishing locations.

The wetlands are breeding grounds for crocodiles, barramundi and prawns, and many bird species prolific during the summer months. The grasslands to the south are the habitat of a great array of wildlife, including emus, kangaroos and birdlife. 

We park up next to the old post and telegraph office, one of Burketown's first buildings, was constructed in 1887 and retains many of its original features. It is typical of the post and telegraph offices which were built in Queensland in the late nineteenth century. Relocated in 1988. An earlier post office had operated in the town in 1866. It was closed in 1871 and reopened in 1883 with the postmaster filling the role of police magistrate, customs officer and weather forecaster. The post office ceased in 1988. Today it is the town's Visitor Information Centre.

After breakfast we have a walk through town.

During September and October, Morning Glory Clouds, rolling cloud banks of up to 1000km long, appear in the sky above Burketown.

Then we drive out to see the Burketown Boiling Down Works that are now nothing more than ruins and rusting old boilers but they hide a fascinating history. In 1866 a boiling works was set up on the banks of the Albert River. Boilers, vats, cauldrons and equipment were shipped up from Sydney and beef from the area was successfully salted and smoked for export.  In February 1892  25 tons of machinery was shipped to Burketown, comprising ‘a pair of thirty-horse power Cornish boilers’. With the boilers in place by May 1892, the Burketown boiling down works received 40 bullocks for its inaugural process. The stock reportedly came from Lawn Hill.

We go out to the very impressive boat ramp and facilities on the Albert River. 

The 100 year old Artesian Bore located south of the town on the Normanton Road was completed in December, 1897 and was drilled to 702 metres. It produced a flow of 155,560 gallons a day. It now looks more like a piece of modern sculpture than a tap to an underground supply of hot water. The pond which has formed around the bore has also been coloured by the minerals and, because the water cools, it is an attraction for the local birdlife including jabirus, brolgas, sea eagles and kites as well as the odd kangaroo.

We then drive south to Leichhardt Falls which is a plunge waterfall on the Leichhardt River but stops flowing near the end of the dry season. It offers some free camping and we manage to drive over the undulating bedrock to a spot next to a rock pool for the night.

207 km today