Page 16 - eMuse Vol.9 No.02_Classical

In 1873 James Venture Mulligan found payable quantities of
gold in North Queensland’s Palmer River District. The heyday of
the resulting gold rush lasted only about seven years. But in that
time, it became Australia’s wildest goldfield.
Over 35,000 Chinese and Europeans invaded the landscape on
a barbaric collision course with the local indigenous population.
Without question it was an all out race war between white, black
and yellow. However, visiting the site today one would hardly know
there was once a deadly conflict of cultures there.
The Cooktown Herald, 8 December 1875, reported: “The natives
wholly ignorant of the terrible firepower of fire-arms, and confiding
in their numbers, showed a ferocity and daring wholly unexpected
and unsurpassed. Grasping the very muzzles of the rifles they at-
tempted to wrest them from the hands of the whites, standing to
be shot down, rather than yield an inch....”

Chinese miners en route to the Palmer River goldfields
The main street of Cooktown c1875 on Hells Gat Road
from the “Cooktown Courier.” Chinaman’s Cave
Many Chinese and European prospectors perished at the hands
of indigenous tribesmen. As the locals were cannibals their vic- by Wally (The Bear) Finch
tims were eaten — rice fed Chinese being preferred. Pigtails (aka
queue) added to Chinese vulnerability. Their hair was used to sus- Thick, tangled Queensland jungle keeps its secrets well.
pend live victims in trees until their captors were ready to eat them. ‘Though it knows all the answers, it will never tell
Available records report that half a million ounces of Palmer Riv- how men of many races, in their quest for gold,
er gold passed through Cooktown between 1873 to 1890. There is perished like old legends that now remain untold.
every possibility that figure was much higher as successes were not Each year the monsoons come, and then the monsoons go.
always reported. Many speculate this was particularly true of the Seasons are called “Wet” or “Dry” and both Seasons know
Chinese, some of whom returned with large sums of gold. Not all of many hidden secrets just below the ground
of them made it back to Cooktown. where gold and human bones lie waiting to be found.
Indigenous warriors were highly territorial. They attacked all
intruders, white or yellow, going to, or, coming from the goldfields. Here, a tropic stream, we now call Palmer River,
On the return journey, many prospectors carried gold with them. held lures of treasures grand that it could deliver.
It was rumoured, that some cannibal feasts occurred in a cave Seductive dreams it spun once all lacked sage advice
near the infamous Hell’s Gate. Many believe in the legends which to temper wildest dreams of greedy men or mice.
say a big percentage of victim’s gold lies here. The warriors had no It would seem, on purpose, Destiny chose this place
use for gold and left it where their victims were slain. for the clash of three cultures — each a different race.
This is the genesis of the Legend Of Chinaman’s Cave. Did it ever Black, white and yellow — by the colour of their skin —
exist? Has its entrance been hidden by a landslide? There are no each came with their own values, that they held within.
answers to the many riddles which arise from speculation.
Today we have four wheel drives and, one would imagine, search- From before the mists of time black folk roamed this land.
ing for such a cave would be easy. Not so! The region is still very Cannibals by customs some failed to understand.
much an untamed wilderness where travellers can still come to grief. But understand or not, both yellow-men and white
The cannibals have long gone but the country itself is still wild. Knew what fate held in store, with deadly spears in flight.

16 eMuse February 2020