a general mercantile store and agency office, was opened in 1884. It is the oldest intact Burns Philp store in Queensland. Normanton grew slowly until the discovery of gold at Croydon in 1885 provided a major boost, attracting people from a variety of cultures, including Chinese people drawn to the gold fields. The town prosperity was assisted by the completion of the Normanton – Croydon railway in 1889 which saw Normanton becoming the acknowledged gateway to north-western Queensland. The new link was to bring both people and wealth to the area. The population reached 1,251 by 1891. The gold boom at Croydon was short-lived and the completion of the Townsville – Cloncurry railway in 1908, reduced Normanton's relative importance as a centre. After the gold ran out and the mining industry grew to a halt in the early 1900s, pastoralism became the main industry of the region. Some Aboriginal groups in the region were moved on to cattle stations to provide labour, while other groups were more or less extinguished. Many were moved to missions on Mornington Island and Doomadgee. Aboriginal camps were set up on the outskirts of the town, and the first Aboriginal reserve was gazetted in 1935; both were still in existence until at least 1976. By 1947 the town's population had declined to 234. In the 1960s there was a resurgence in Normanton's population as a gateway to the Gulf of Carpentaria with major industrial development taking place in the prawn fishing industry at nearby Karumba at the mouth of the Norman River. In 1965, the Carpentaria Shire Council erected a war memorial in the centre of Landsborough Street opposite the National Hotel (). It commemorates those who served in all conflicts. Gulf Christian College was established on 24 January 1990 by the Normanton Assembly of God Church. The Normanton library was opened in 2004. In 2006 census, the town's population was 1,100, with 60% identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. In the , the locality of Normanton had a population of 1,257 people, of whom 750 (60%) identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, while the town of Normanton had a population of 1,210 people, of whom 743 (62%) identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. The Normanton Anzac Roll of Honour was unveiled on Tuesday 13 June 2017, as part of the First World War centenary commemorations. It lists the