Fitzroy Crossing is a small town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, 400 kilometres (250 mi) east of Broome and 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of Halls Creek.
Fitzroy Crossing is a small town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, 400 kilometres (250 mi) east of Broome and 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of Halls Creek. It is approximately 2,524 kilometres (1,568 mi) from the state capital of Perth. It is 114 metres (374 ft) above sea level and is situated on a low rise surrounded by the vast floodplains of the Fitzroy River and its tributary Margaret River.
At the 2016 census, the population of the Fitzroy Crossing town-site was 1,297; with a further 2,000 or so people living in up to 50 Aboriginal communities scattered throughout the Fitzroy Valley. About 80% of the Fitzroy Valley population were Indigenous Australians with a split of closer to 60/40 (indigenous/non-indigenous) in the townsite. Tourism, cattle stations and mining are the main industries in the area.
History
Fitzroy Crossing and the lands and valleys around it were the home for a number of Aboriginal language groups. When Fitzroy Crossing was established the main group was the Bunuba people, their land stretching from the present day Brooking Springs and Leopold Downs Station to the Oscar, Napier and Wunaamin-Miliwundi Ranges. The Bunuba are the River and Hill people.
Another group in the area stretching on the other side of the Fitzroy River from Gogo, Fossil Downs and Louisa Downs Station and on either side of the Margaret River, are the Gooniyandi people. The plains Aboriginal people are the Nyigina and further south are the Walmajarri, the people of the Great Sandy Desert.
Other traditional owners of the area are the Njikena, Konejani and Waladjari peoples.
One of the first European explorers of the Kimberley area was Alexander Forrest and his party in 1879, following the Fitzroy River to its junction with the Margaret River at Geikie Gorge. The party then travelled east as far as Darwin. Following this exploration, around 1882, the first sheep stations were established around the mouth of the Fitzroy and the next couple of years saw the stations move out west with Noonkanbah and Quanbun opening up in 1886.The area was finally settled in 1886 by Dan MacDonald when he set up the Fossil Downs cattle station. This was following a three-year, 3,500 mile trek from Goulburn, New South Wales.Fitzroy Crossing received its first bridge in 1935; which was built up into a more substantial structure in 1958. However this bridge could be closed for months during the monsoonal summer. In 1974 a new bridge was built 3 kilometres (2 mi) south of the crossing which moved the focus of the settlement from its original site.The town was gazetted in 1975, but had been shown on maps since 1903.
Prone to occasional flooding, the town was inundated in 2002 and 2011 following heavy rain events in the region.In 2006, the Fitzroy Crossing Bull Sale, an annual national bull auction with participants from as far away as Queensland, was established.In 2009 the only grocery store in the town was demolished after fire destroyed it. A new shopping centre was built and opened in 2011.
The local high school was closed for two days in 2014 after four children, three of whom were under the age of ten, extensively vandalised the school twice in a week causing over A$50,000 worth of damage.Bayulu Community is nearby 12 km southeast along Great Northern Highway on Gogo Station.
Weather
Fitzroy Crossing has a climate that is in transition between a tropical monsoon climate (Am) and a semi-arid climate (Bsh) The climate is very hot, with the average maximum temperature ranging from 30 °C (86 °F) in July to 41 °C (106 °F) in November. The highest temperature was recorded on 1 January 1969, when it reached 47.9 °C (118.2 °F). The lowest minimum was recorded on 27 June 1971, when the temperature dipped to 0.6 °C (33.1 °F). Most of the rainfall occurs in between December and March (summer/early autumn). April through to October are dry, although cooler (autumn, winter and early spring).
Things to do