Evening star., 1942-09-20
AustruIio's S Untomed
Cope York
By Frederic J. Hnsktn.

| War activities at Milne Bay and the
frequent Japanese air raids on Port
| Moresby have brought the war close to
| Cape York Peninsula, the Wild noun
| famous and sparsely populated north
| eastern extremity OF Australia, and cer-
| tainly one of the least known places In
| the world. Doubtless there have been
some military activities in this area,
which perhaps is little larger than the
State of California. The nature and
| extent of these defense measures how
ever, are known only to the authorities,
and it is not likely that the peninsula
as whole has undergone any appre-
ciable change.
Cape York Peninsula, so far IS the
outsider may be informed, still is land
Of quart pots, blackboys and horse bells
land in which to reach the old rough
| and-ready cattleman or prospector OF
| the interior it would be necessary to
! ride along brumby pads to the drum
| like beat Of horses hoofs and the rhythm
| OF creaking saddlery, taking in along
| the trail bald-faced mountain spurs,
| virgin forests and winding rivers. A
| traveller would cover a distance of some
IL or IA miles, then hobbling and belling
out his horses. camp for the night
where the fires of aborigines burn bright
| ly on distant hillsides and where the
call of the jabiru, which is the black
necked stork, and the furious roar OF
the bull alligator break the stiffness of
the night.
There are practically no roads or
| fences in Cape York Peninsula. One
| small town, and an old repeating station
on the telegraph line running up the
center, few head of cattle some mis-
sion stations and mining camp or two,
are all the signs of habitation from the
Cairns -Chillagoe railway 500 miles north
OF Thursday Island, which is % miles
to Seaward OF Cape York. But this
peninsula on the other side of the world
was not always so devoid of life.
| To learn and understand the history
| OF Cape York it is necessary to visit
! Cooktown which is located in the north
ern part of Queensland, and the only
| town of any Importance on the entire
| peninsula. In former times the only
means OF reaching Cooktown, save by
morse over rough inland trails, was b,
Hale's launch from Cairns north or.
better still. the little steamer Wandana,
the run OF which was the most pictur-
| esque on the continent A honely ship
was the Wandana, but 1t provided the
only connecting link once month be-
tween civilization, Cape York Peninsula
and Gulf OF Carpentaria outposts.
From Cairns this small steamers
course to Thursday Island lay across the
calm waters of the Coral Sea-calm
because OF the Great Barrier Reef the
worlds greatest coral wall, running the
length of the coast from to 20 miles
| to seaward. The Wandana called at any
| port or point where there was possible
ity OF freight or passenger traffic. Ar
, rival of the steamer, of course, was
J always regarded as a social event, as
we'll as material necessity
| After steaming 120 miles north, the
Wandana entered the historic En-
deavour River, where 1852 years ago
Capt. James Cook of the British Royal
Navy laid his cat-built barque En-
deavour on the rivers mansrove banks
| for extensive repairs. Below a group
OF beche- -mer luggers the steamer
found very small wharf. few hun
dred feet ashore, built on a hillside, with
distant panorama of mountain and
| jungle. lay Cooktown.
| Despite the two -storied hotels and
the large buildings seen from the ships
deck. traveller had merels to walk the
mango-fringed streets to realize that
the town was only ghost of It's former
! self. Everywhere were deserted troricsl
gardens and other reminders of one
great activity Many fine residences.
their walls still glorified with bouesin.
villea, could be rented for S. week.
In the halcyon days of the last century
Cooktown was the terminal port of
shipping from the south, and a center
for the Palmer, the richest alluvial gold
field in Australia, located so miles due
west. Then the population was thou
sands instead OF the hundred or so it
Is today. railway was constructed to
Laura and i'll the wake of the gold
diggers came 10000 Chinese. No one
knows what gold the field produced, but
when the rush was over, high steam
snip rates were the means of Destroy
Ing the sugar and coffee plantations.
And although almost every type of ore.
from wolfram to coal, abounds on the
peninsula, Cooktown declined to the
sun-baked outpost it is today the few
inhabitants depending for a livelihood
principally on a little sawmilling and
mining.
Leaving Cooktown, the Wandana en-.
tered territory of her own, where for
vast expanse of wild and unexplored
coastline up to Cape York and around
TO Normantown at the bottom of the
Gulf of Carpentaria, she was tn. onIv
caller. Not until the Wandana wa. 2sn
miles north of Cairns did she anchor
again, this time half mile offshore
near the edge of reef. This was Port
Stewart and some few miles inland
across alligator infested rivers. Law
Portland Roads, Queenslands nevest
gold feld, where some $50 whites Hv.d
ike pioneers Of old, In a mining cann
Under way again. no more habita.
lions were seen until the steamer wa.
IN the narrow channel of Albany Pass.
Here the ships siren sounded a call IN
the occupants of Somerset Hors.
perched high on the side of a pr.er
wall OF cliff. Presently two figures ver.
Aghted waving an "alps we'll" signal
from the veranda, and the Wandan.
moved on for Thursday Island. Thf.
lonely outpost, Somerset, In 1864 va.