Camballin

Camballin is a small town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, with a population of 729 in 2016. It's the service town for the Aboriginal settlement of Looma and the vast Liveringa Station, but these are closed to visitors, and the only reason to come is for fishing on Fitzroy River.

In the 1960s a barrage was built across the river to irrigate the area around Camballin for rice and other crops. The idea was to send water up Uralla Creek, reversing the natural flow, to an artificial lake at 17 Mile Dam. But the scheme was beset by flooding and abandoned in 1983. Flooding remains a problem and 2023 Camballin's few facilities were inundated and destroyed.

Get in

From Derby go 83 km south-east along the Great Northern Highway to the Camballin turnoff, then it's 27 km south by an unsealed but graded road.

Get around

In the dry season a 2WD can get as far as Camballin. You need high-clearance 4WD to go further.

See

• 1 The Barrage was the centrepiece of Camballin Irrigation Scheme. You can camp under the old weir control room and sit back and watch the crocodiles bask on the opposite bank of the river.

• 2 17 Mile Dam is the gaunt rusting remains of the other part of the irrigation system. The lake behind it is only seasonal, so if it's dry enough for you to reach it, there's just a muddy puddle.

Do

• Fishing is the main pastime: barramundi (Lates calcarifer) grow over a metre in length. There's also freshwater crayfish or Cherrabin. You need a dinghy, which can be launched downstream of the Barrage.

• Wild boar may only be shot by licensed hunters. They're not true boars but feral pigs, Sus scrofa, and just as dangerous if wounded or otherwise in a bad mood. They were first introduced to Australia way back in 1778 by Captain Cook, and have continued to be introduced or to escape from farms to this day, so they're now a common pest in the irrigated parts of Kimberley. It's likely that they boost the crocodiles, which can't eat as many lambs, small dogs or fishermen as they would like.

Buy

Nothing here, stock up in Derby.

Eat

Camballin Barrage

Bring all your own food, plus whatever you can catch.

Drink

Bring lots of water, ideally a 10-litre flask.

Sleep

1 Camballin Caravan Park was destroyed in the floods of 2023 and has not yet re-opened.

Bring tents or an off-road caravan or camper trailer.

Connect

As of August 2024, there is no mobile signal in town, nor on the highway once you get east of the Derby turn-off.

Go next

• Derby is the nearest substantial town, with accommodation, stores and eating places.
• Warmun has an Aboriginal arts centre, and is the turn-off for Purnululu National Park.