Camooweal, Queensland

Camooweal Queensland
Post Office Hotel, Camooweal, 2011
Camooweal
Coordinates	19°55′S 138°07′E / 19.917°S 138.117°E / -19.917; 138.117Coordinates: 19°55′S 138°07′E / 19.917°S 138.117°E / -19.917; 138.117
Population	187 (2011 census)
Established	1884
Postcode(s)	4828
Elevation	231.2 m (759 ft)
Location	1,731 km (1,076 mi) NW of Brisbane 1,135 km (705 mi) SE of Darwin 169 km (105 mi) NW of Mount Isa 412 km (256 mi) E of Tennant Creek
LGA(s)	City of Mount Isa
State electorate(s)	Mount Isa
Federal Division(s)	Kennedy
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall 32.9 °C 91 °F 17.7 °C 64 °F 399.4 mm 15.7 in
Localities around Camooweal: Northern Territory Lawn Hill Gregory Northern Territory Camooweal Gunpowder Northern Territory Barkly Mount Isa

Camooweal is a small town and locality in the City of Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia. At the 2011 census, Camooweal had a population of 187.

Camooweal is in north-western Queensland, Australia, located 169 kilometres (105 mi) north-west of the city of Mount Isa and 12 km (7.5 mi) east of the Northern Territory border. The town lies on the Barkly Highway, and is adjacent to the Georgina River.

The area was originally inhabited by the Indjilandji Indigenous Australians. The town is said to take its name from surveyor Mr GT Weale, who was apparently the first person to bring camels into the area, although this has been questioned.

William Landsborough in 1861 named the Barkly Tablelands after the Governor of Victoria, His Excellency, Sir Henry Barkly. The first settler to the area was John Sutherland, who took up the Rocklands lease in 1865. Stock losses to the local dingos and wedge-tailed eagles; lack of water and isolation soon forced him to abandon his lease. The Englishmen Benjamin Crosthwaite and William Tetley, who were marginally more successful, took up the lease again in 1876.

The initial town was gazetted in 1884 to be built on a 4-square-mile (10 km²) plot by Lake Francis. A year later the present site was re-gazetted and Camooweal Post Office opened on 27 April 1885. Other milestones for the town were the addition of a police station in 1886, opening of a provisional school in 1893, drilling of the town bore in 1897 and the arrival of electricity in 1952.

On January 2nd, 1931, a Qantas Air Ambulance from the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia flown by E.G. Donaldson rescued a man in Camooweal and delivered him to Brisbane.