Cloncurry to Normanton

Burns Philp & Co Ltd, Normanton, established c 1884.

Normanton (source)

When we arrived at Normanton via the Burke and Wills Roadhouse we went over the bridge to a free camp area on the river banks of the Norman river to find we needed a permit. Back to the Information Office in the old Burns Philp building to be told they had reached their limit for free camping that night. After passing the statue of Krys the croc Dallas sighed relief and said OK we will just have to book into the caravan park. Into their office she headed whilst I waited in the car. Some time later I thought I should investigate why it was taking so long. Turned out the park mangers were Tasmanian. In we went and get set up for the night intending to book Karumba. On phoning Dallas was told we had to ring again in the morning to check availability. This we did and yes, we got a booking for 3 nights.

Normanton the town takes its name from the Norman River, which was named in honour of William Henry Norman of the Victorian Naval Force, who commanded a ship in the search for the explorers Burke and Wills and also conducted hydrographic surveys of the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Torres Strait to identify reefs and other marine hazards.^[2]

The site for the town was selected because Burketown was abandoned owing to fever and flooding.^[4] Settlers moved into the town in 1867.^[10] Normanton attracted people from a variety of cultures, including Chinese drawn to the gold fields of Croydon.^[4]

Norman River Post Office opened on 13 June 1868 and was renamed Normanton by 1872.^[11]

The town contains the longest intact and operating Burns Philp store in Queensland. The general mercantile store and agency office was opened in 1884.^[12]

The population reached 1,251 by 1891.^[13] The gold boom was short-lived. By 1947 the town's population had declined to 234.^[13]

In the early years there was a large Aboriginal population as well. Some Aboriginal people were moved to Mornington Island and Doomadgee in the early 20th century.

The Normanton library was opened in 2004.^[14]

In 2006 census, the town's population was 1,100, 60 per cent of whom were Indigenous Australians.^[15]

Normanton thrived as a port town in the late 1800s when the gold rush was on in Croydon. The Normanton-to-Croydon railway line, established at that time, today runs the award-winning Gulflander tourist train. More recently, Australia's largest saltwater crocodile, known as Krys, the Savannah King, was shot at nearby Archer's Creek in 1957. A life-size replica of his body, over 8 metres long, can be seen in the council park.

Gulf Notes.

(For the ' N.Q. Register.') (Delayed In Transmission.) CROYDON. March 6. Croydon at 1 o'clock on Wednesday morning, but all it brought was four passengers and 31 bags of mails, no perishables such as fruit, butter and other produce. Naturally some disappointment was caused at the goldfield, as such goods were just about out. It was stated that Mr French, the Normanton traffic manager, had offered to run the train down to Margaret and Jane wharf and take the Croydon mails and goods from the tender Amy there, but nothing was done in the matter. The Dugong, the usual tender boat, is on the slips for repairs, and the little boat Amy had to take up the running to and from Normanton to the anchorage. There is no winch on the Amy, and the work of unloading her is slow. The Amy arrived at the wharf at 5 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon and the Croydon train left at 7, and one would think that in that time an attempt would have been made to get a few cases of perishables on to the train. However, owing to the constant rain the Norman River commences to rise again on Thursday last, and when the train from Croydon left on Friday morning it was within a few feet of the Glenore bridge. In the circumstances Mr French decided to run the train back again the same day instead of waiting until next day, as it was feared was done, Normanton being left after 3 and Croydon reached at 10.30 p.m. without perishables on board, which we thus got a day earlier.

Normanton and Croydon were thriving Nth Queensland towns by now but trouble was brewing. Unlike today it seems to be a peaceful country town with many hidden gems including the original Burns Philp Officers, 2 historic Pubs, the Railway Station and remnants of the old Port wharves. A town well worth visiting.

The Chinese Question

By:

Kevin Rains

With the commencement of the Queensland gold-rushes in the 1860s, large numbers of Chinese miners and businesses arrived, and competition with Europeans led to rising tensions. The first Chinese to come to Queensland in the 1840s and 1850s were originally welcomed. They were seen as a means of solving an acute labour shortage following the cessation of convict transportation from Great Britain, and were imported as contracted workers destined for the colony’s vast pastoral estates.

Anti-Chinese sentiment

Much of the anti-Chinese sentiment was rooted in the conflicts on the earlier goldfields of New South Wales and Victoria and was carried into Queensland through veterans of those fields. While incidents did occur on those first Queensland goldfields, antagonism towards the Chinese was brought to a head in 1875-76 in Cape York when mass immigration of Chinese to the Palmer River goldfield commenced. A combination of factors, including the proximity of the goldfield to China, meant that in a very short time the Chinese overwhelmed the European population.

Marginalisation

The result of these measures was the largely successful marginalisation of the Chinese within the mining industry. As a result of legislation, within the goldfields the Chinese were gradually barred from taking out mining leases of any description. Market garden leases became the only permissable access to land available to the Chinese. This resulted not only in the impositon of access to livelihood but also a place-based isolation as garden leases were typically located on the outskirts or completely separate from towns. In many smaller gold mining settlements where there was no 'Chinatown' business district, this meant the Chinese residents were physically isolated from the European miners. Then, from the 1880s anti-Chinese sentiment spread into other economic spheres, including manufacturing, shipping and agriculture. There was anxiety within segments of the European community, stirred up by a few political opportunists, of Queensland being overrun by the vast population of China, and having its European civilisation tainted by what were seen as an inferior people with very different values and beliefs. For the rising Union movement, the Chinese were associated with the importation of cheap, exploited labour by wealthy landholders, and therefore a barrier to democracy and working class reforms…

Negative stereotypes

Apart from legislation, the Chinese were attacked by a range of means, including the perpetuation of negative stereotypes, some of which painted them as degenerate and vice-ridden. There were black bans on the use of non-European labour, as occurred during the shearers’ strikes in central Queensland in the 1890s. There were also incidents of intimidation and violence. Most of these were minor acts of larrikinism or thuggery committed by a minority of the European population, often in conjunction with heavy drinking. However, some were more serious, leading to injury, death or loss of property. In Croydon in 1886, for example, 200 drunken thugs rioted against the Chinese after one of the gang tried extorting money. Two Chinese buildings were destroyed and most of the Chinese were temporarily ordered off the goldfield.

References and Further reading (Note):

Kevin Wong Hoy and Kevin Rains (eds), Rediscovered past: China in northern Australia, Chinese Heritage in Northern Australia, North Melbourne, 2009

Henry Chan, Ann Curthoys and Nora Chiang (eds), The overseas Chinese in Australasia: history settlement and interactions, Centre for the Study of the Chinese Southern Diaspora, Canberra 2001

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