Camooweal

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.GeographyCamooweal is in north-western Queensland, Australia, located 169km north-west of the city of Mount Isa and 12km east of the Northern Territory border. The town lies on the Barkly Highway, and is adjacent to the Georgina River.HistoryThe 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.