Burketown

Burketown is an isolated town and locality in the far north-western Shire of Burke, Queensland, Australia. It is located 898km west of Cairns on the Albert River and Savannah Way in the area known as the Gulf Savannah. The town is the administrative centre of the vast Burke Shire Council. In the 2011 census, Burketown had a population of 201 people.GeographyBurketown is located 2115km to the north west of the state capital, Brisbane, with the nearest larger town being Normanton, 227km to the east, and the nearest city being Mount Isa, 425km to the south. The town is roughly 30km inland from the Gulf of Carpentaria.HistoryExplorationOn 2 August 1841, Captain J. Lort Stokes discovered the mouth of a river he named the "Albert" after Prince Albert, the Queens consort. Stokes' party ascended the river for a distance of 50 river miles in a long boat in a search for fresh water. Having followed a bumper wet season Stokes was greeted by endless grassy plains, which he named "The Plains of Promise" after a day of exploration. The area was originally named for the 'Plains of Promise' or 'Province of Albert' after Prince Albert, the Queen's Consort in 1841.