Camooweal is 180km away from Mount Isa and considered a "suburb" of the mining city. If you're a caving enthusiast, discover the Camooweal Caves at the national park just 20km from town. Or just go there for a picnic and to sit beside the little billabong there.

It's only a small town, but there are some historic things to discover in Camooweal. See the shire hall which features a display of historic photographs. Then there's the historic general store, Freckletons Heritage Store, listed with the Heritage Council. Review the region's history with a visit to the Barkly Tableland Heritage Centre where you can have a pannikin of tea after your guided tour.

During the summer months, Camooweal has two types of weather, Hot and Wet, and Hot and Dry. It is usually the latter. Summer night-time temperatures rarely fall below the mid-twenties, while the daytime temperatures climb regularly towards the forties. The winter season will usually find the skies painted a brilliant blue, accompanying daytime temperautes in the mid-twenties and mild nights averaging 11°C.

William Landsborough in 1861 named the Barkly Tablelands after the Govener 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.

The initial town was gazetted to be built on a 4 square mile plot by Lake Francis. A year later the present site was re-gazetted and with in a year a post office was built. Other milestones for the town were the addition of a police station in 1886, opening of a provisional school in 1893, drilling of the town bore in 1897 and the arrival of electricity in 1952.

The road through Camooweal to the Northern Territory was the inland defence rout for World War 2. This road was built by army engineers and carried over 1000 vehicles a day and there are numerous WW2 historical sites marked along the road.

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