Julia Creek is one of eight towns and localities that make up the Shire of McKinlay, a shire primarily focused on beef production, wool, cattle grazing and mining for silver, lead and zinc at the Cannington mine operated by BHP Billiton. It is also the central hub for cattle sales and stock trucking. Of the approximately 800 people living in the shire, around 511 reside in Julia Creek.
Real Estate in Julia Creek doesn’t become available too often, and homes are very basic, usually a single storey timber dwelling. It’s your typical outback town, far away from any major facilities although it does have a public library, visitor and cultural centre, a swimming pool, tennis courts, parks and a sports centre. The town has a primary school and year 7-10 students can attend the primary school in a separate room to complete the studies with Mount Isa School of the Air (MISOTA). The town has a small hospital and, for the first time in 27 years, their own bakery! It’s undoubtedly a much slower pace in Julia Creek.
Real Estate in Kynuna and the McKinley Shire
Kynuna, McKinlay and Taldora, towns also in the McKinley Shire, are towns on a much smaller scale as compared to Julia Creek with a pub each and a few other buildings. Kynuna, on the banks of the Diamantina River, experienced a deluge during heavy rains in early 2019.
Although there’s almost no demand for housing in these towns, the effects of the rain have had a different type of effect. Since the flooding in early 2019, ‘Grass Fever’ has hit, causing a mini property boom and a window of opportunity to market ‘grassed-up’ properties to cattle producers. This Wivenoe property in Julia Creek, a little over 11,700ha is an excellent example of the type of real estate that comes up for sale after long-awaited rain, even if the homestead needs a bit of work.
Real Estate in the Carpentaria Shire
North of the McKinley Shire is the Shire of Carpentaria, a shire made up of nine towns and localities including Stokes, Normanton and Karumba. While Stokes is entirely pastoral land, Normanton is the administrative centre for the Carpentaria Shire and Karumba, situated at the mouth of the Norman River, has a fishing and mining industry with its Century Zinc Mine. These towns both experience a tropical savannah climate with only two distinct seasons so, they’re not for everyone.
Real Estate in Karumba
Karumba is a low demand market with the average house price sitting around $300,000 based on listings in March 2019. Houses are a mixture of high set timber dwellings, low set timber dwellings and low set brick. It’s a small town but, it still has some facilities including a library, visitor information centre, parks, bowls club, golf course, swimming pool, sports centre and primary school.
Real Estate in Normanton
Normanton has a property market with an average demand and an average house price of approximately $237,000 based on listings current in March 2019. Housing in Normanton is quite basic, typical homes here are low set or raised timber weatherboard homes with three bedrooms and one bathroom but on fairly large blocks. In the last census, results showed that of the 1,257 people living in Normanton, the top three employment industries were Local Government Administration, Primary and Secondary Education and Beef Cattle Farming (Specialised). Still classed as a small country town, Normanton has a sports centre, library, golf course, bowling green, racecourse, rodeo grounds and an aerodrome. Normanton has a primary school and Gulf Christian College for prep to year eight.
The benefits of living in or near Julia Creek
Real Estate for sale near Julia Creek isn’t easy to come by, there are usually limited properties for sale and driven very much by the industry in the area.
