Nome has an area of 53.1 square kilometers and an average elevation of 39 meters above sea level.
The land use is predominantly grazing on native vegetation with a number of areas of rural residential housing. There is also a small amount of crop growing in the south-east of the locality.
History
The locality's name is derived the from railway station name, which in turn is believed to be a corruption of NQME (North Queensland Meat Export) Siding.
Oolbun was the neighbourhood where the Alligator Creek meatworks (approx 19°19′30″S146°56′23″E / 19.3249°S 146.9397°E / -19.3249; 146.9397 (Alligator Creek meatworks (former))) and the housing for many of its employees was located. North Queensland Boiling Down and Meat Processing Company established the meatworks in 1879, but the 1884 drought resulted in its closure. In 1890, the meatworks reopened as a meat extract businesses, later becoming a freezing plant in 1914 supplying frozen meat during World War I. In 1914, a railway line was built connecting the meatworks which was serviced by the Oolbun railway station to the Nome railway station on the North Coast railway line. The meatworks closed in 1966. The railway line and Oolbun railway station are no longer extant.
Oolbun Provisional School opened in 1917. It closed circa 1932. It was part of the complex of buildings at the meatworks.
Demographics
In the 2011 census, Nome had a population of 992 people. Of these, 525 were male, and 467 were female. The median age was 47, the median personal income was A$635/week, and the median household income was A$1356/week. Most residents were Australian by birth, but Nome also has significant communities from the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
In the 2016 census, Nome had a population of 1,016 people.
In the 2021 census, Nome had a population of 990 people.
^"Advertising". Townsville Daily Bulletin. Vol. XXXIII, no. 10, 675. Queensland, Australia. 10 February 1917. p. 1. Archived from the original on 22 September 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024 – via National Library of Australia.