River of Gold: The Story of the Palmer River Gold Rush

Includes notes on cannibalism, depredation by natives, killings; punitive measures against Aborigines – babies abandoned in flight; types of weapons noted; native police; Survey of early exploration; contacts made by Christie Palmerston & James Mulligan.
Little happened after Cooks initial landing until William Hann set out on his overland journey of exploration in 1872. The discovery of payable alluvial gold deposits at the Palmer river in 1873 by James Venture Mulligan, sparked a huge gold rush, drawing prospectors not only from Australia, but also from around the world.
The Queensland Government sent a representative to the Endeavour river to examine it as a potential site for the gold-field port. Mr. G.E. Dalrymple arrived on October 24th, 1873 and camped in the exact spot Cook had selected 100 years prior. Although he had been sent by the Government to make a report on the port setting, the desperate need for facilities prompted the Government to forgo the report and they dispatched the A.S.N. Coysteamer ‘Leichhardt’ to convey Government staff to the Endeavour River.

Arriving one day after Dalrymple himself, they immediately started setting up the operation. Among the staff about the ‘Leichhardt’ was the Gold Commissioner, an Engineer of Roads (sent to find the best route between the Palmer and Endeavour rivers), a lieutenant to survey the estuary, and a police party to keep law and order. Over seventy prospectors and miners also disembarked, all with dreams of becoming rich in these new gold fields.

The population of ‘Cooks-town’, as it was then known, was close to 4000 people by the middle of the following year. The towns name was later changed to its present moniker of ‘Cooktown’ in June of 1874.

Gold flowed as freely as the water it was found in, and the population continued it’s increase, and by the turn of the century it was the second largest township in Queensland.

217 p, [16] p. of plates : ill., maps, port. ; 20 cm. #0821 (Prev ownership name.)