Passage to
Cooktown
There
are some great names on this stretch of Queensland coast dating back to Captain
James Cook's unfortunate escapades when his ship Endeavour came close to
disaster: Mount Cook, of course, Endeavour River and Endeavour Reef, Misery
Mount, Cape Tribulation, Mount Sorrow, Weary Bay. Sad names. Cook's stranding
happened because he wanted to avoid what he saw as danger ahead, this danger was
the Hope Islets. He detailed the site but there was some question as to his
accuracy. However, lots of ballast and a kedge anchor from the Endeavour where
found on the reef by the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia using a
magnometer. Divers had explored the site for years previously but found
nothing.
04/06/2011
Our
first anchorage after Cairns was at Low Islets, north west of Port Douglas,
where we anchored with 3 other boats. This was lovely and we probably could have
been swimming except for our anxieties about the opportunist wildlife. As we
anchored a black tipped reef shark swam around the boat, only about 5 feet long
but enough to put us off; annoying as this is the last place without crocodiles
on the journey north. The bird life kept us entertained. A fish eagle complete
with fish landed on the top of the mast of the boat in front of Gryphon II. It
then spent at least 2 hours devouring its catch with great delicacy, tossing
unwanted morsels onto the deck below. This aroused the interest of passing terns
and others that alighted to pick up the spoils, goodness knows what state the
boat was in, there was no one on board whilst this was happening.
In
1928, The Great Barrier Reef Expedition comprised of British scientists was
established on Low Islets. They undertook one of the earliest studies of coral
reefs and associated marine life. It would be interesting to know the impact of
their findings. Aborigines in their wisdom made no impact on the balance of
wildlife, these people who knew how to live with the land have been
marginalised, manipulated and their wisdom ignored. One can be sure that they
would not have exploited the fisheries, or anything else, in the way that has
happened since white Europeans assumed control here.
05/06/2011
This
proved not to be such a great anchorage as rolling set in at high tide. The
morning found us a little weary but from here we sailed for 9¾ hours to arrive at Cooktown
on the south bank of the Endeavour River at dusk in very shallow water. It took
time to find an anchoring spot that would allow us to swing with the tide
without going aground. We managed to find just the place adjacent to the public
wharf where the evening fishermen were coming down to cast their
lines.
Cooktown
Cooktown is the last town on the Queensland coast before the top of
Australia is reached at Cape York and Thursday Island. It couldn't be more
different to Cairns. A much smaller town steeped in the history of Captain Cook
and gold mining, rather fine older style architecture hints of busier and
wealthier times.
With
big wide roads, which seem unnecessary, the place seems empty. It has a small
airport and one main road out which eventually winds south to Cairns. It really
has geared up and invested to provide the visitor with excellent street and
museum information on the history of the town and the Queensland area but as it
is so difficult to get to there is hardly anyone there.
An
account of Aborigines being moved across the country during world war 2 to an
area they didn't know or understand. This is part of the very comprehensive
street displays which detail the history of Cook, the gold mining era and the
effects and outcomes on the land and the aboriginal people. It is extremely well
done.
The
James Cook Museum housed in an old convent which ran a private girls' boarding
school for moderately wealthy families. The girls saw their parents at Christmas
and sometimes birthdays otherwise the nuns, from Waterford in Ireland, raised
and educated them.
After
getting his ship off Endeavour Reef with a boulder of coral firmly wedged in the
timbers, which is probably what saved her from sinking, Captain Cook and crew
managed to get the Endeavour into the river now named after the ship. They
careened the ship on a steep to bank and spent 48 days repairing and
reprovisioning. No Englishman had ever spent more than a few days on Australian
soil before, the first true contact with Australian Aborigines occurred and the
kangaroo was sighted and named, the Aboriginal word is gangaruu.
Some
hundred years later Cooktown became the main port for the Palmer River gold
fields, the population, which included European and Chinese fortune seekers and
entrepreneurs, reached as much as 30,000 with the new wealth and facilities
providing all the busy goldminer could desire! This didn't last, the gold
dwindled to non-commercial levels and by the middle of last century Cooktown
became a ghost town.
It now capitalizes on its past and has become a viable
small town. The botanic gardens were a major place for getting out and
socializing in the past, they now include a good exhibition and information
centre for the town. 'Solander's Garden' is an area where specimens can be seen
of some of the plants discovered, collected and/or recorded by Daniel Solander
and Joseph Banks, the botanists who sailed with Cook. These gardens also lead to
enjoyable, if muddy, walks down to the beach where we found these unusual
markings, anybody know whose they are?
