Bulman is a town in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is 400km (by air) from Darwin. Along with the Aboriginal community of Weemol, away, Bulman is considered a

closed community A closed community intentionally limits links with outsiders and outside communities. Closed communities may be of a religious, ethnic, or political nature. Governance of closed societies varies. Typically, members of closed communities are either b ...

meaning all visitors require a permit from the

Northern Land Council The Northern Land Council (NLC) is a land council representing the Aboriginal peoples of the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia, with its head office in Darwin. While the NLC was established in 1974, its origins began in the strug ...

to transit or visit the town. The combined population of Bulman and Weemol at the 2011 census was 291 and is one of few significant settlements on the Central Arnhem Road between

Katherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...

and

Nhulunbuy Nhulunbuy () is a town and locality in the far north of the Northern Territory of Australia. Founded on the Gove Peninsula in north-east Arnhem Land when a bauxite mine and deep water port were established in the late 1960s, the town's econ ...

. Facilities in the town include a school, health clinic, police station and an all weather airstrip. Languages spoken in Bulman include Kriol, English and

Rembarrnga The Rembarrnga people, also spelt Rembarunga and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as ...

. Bulman is extremely isolated and during the wet season all access can be cut off, such as following Tropical Cyclone Paul in 2010, with the community having received 443 millimetres of rain in a 24-hour period, closing all roads out of town and the airport.

Notable residents

Actor

Chris Hemsworth Christopher Hemsworth (born 11 August 1983) is an Australian actor. Born and raised in Melbourne, Victoria, and Bulman, Northern Territory, he rose to prominence playing Kim Hyde in the Australian television series ''Home and Away'' (2004� ...

, who was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Victoria,

, lived both in that city and in Bulman. As he recalled, "My earliest memories were on the cattle stations up in the

Outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than Australian bush, the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastli ...

, and then we moved back to Melbourne and then back out there and then back again. Certainly most of my childhood was in Melbourne but probably my most vivid memories were up there n Bulmanwith crocodiles and buffalo. Very different walks of life."

Geobotanical/Geochemical Mapping

The limestone bedrock at Bulman hosts a small lead/zinc deposit. In 1962 Bulman and the Weemol Springs area was the scene of a pilot study to investigate the feasibility of using certain plants, as well as analysis of plant- and soil-samples, to map the extent and gauge of ore bodies in the region. The study included mapping of the vegetation assemblages in the area and their relation to the underlying soils. The study was published in the Transactions of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy.Cole MM; Provan DMJ; Tooms JS (1968) Geobotany, biogeochemistry and geochemistry in the Bulman-Waimuna springs area, Northern territory, Australia. ''Transactions of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy Section B. Applied Earth Science'' 77, pp. 81–104.

Climate

References

Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory Towns in the Northern Territory {{NorthernTerritory-geo-stub