Not all that long ago, pearl luggers worked Torres Strait waters in their hundreds. Pearling was a lucrative and often dangerous industry. Luggers were small sailing vessels, traditionally used in fishing and pearling. There’s not many of them left now, but there’s one under restoration […]
Words are my tools of trade – and I like to think I have the words to do justice to any subject. But I confess I struggle to find the words to convey the magic of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu and the music he makes. […]
Every year, somewhere between 150 and 200 babies are born on Cape York Peninsula. Hang on – that’s not right. They’re born into Cape York families – but those babies are born in Cairns. Queensland Health requires pregnant mothers to head to Cairns at around […]
In the 1880s, moves were afoot near the then young settlement of Cairns to establish an Aboriginal mission station on land across Trinity Inlet, at what became known as Mission Bay. The proposal generated some controversy in Cairns, but it did go ahead, under the […]
I’ve just finished reading a really enjoyable novel by Thursday Island author Catherine Titasey. Even before it was published, it won a Queensland Literary Award for Catherine – as best emerging author 2012. It’s called My Island Homicide – billed as “crime and court room […]
When Captain Cook landed at the Endeavour River in far north Queensland in 1770, a lot of things changed. Local indigenous people had what was probably their first encounter with Europeans, the outside world became aware of a place that would soon be explored and […]
Back in 2008, the Queensland and Federal Governments, and the Cape York Institute for Policy & Leadership, introduced the Cape York Welfare Reform program in four communities – Aurukun, Coen, Hope Vale and Mossman Gorge. The idea was to find locally informed ways to address social […]
There’s a diversity of views among Cape York indigenous communities on the Australian Government’s recent push for World Heritage listing, and on the prospect of new or expanded mining in the region. The Federal Government has run a long consultation process to muster indigenous support […]
We did our annual Cape York Peninsula road trip a bit early this year, in June instead of October. It was early in the dry season, the roads were in great shape and we travelled to Lakeland, Laura, Lama Lama National Park, Coen, Wenlock River, […]
All over indigenous Australia, there are people who have returned to live on their traditional country, rather than in towns or communities to which they have no real cultural connection. And there are others working towards that goal. In the 1970s, the idea of going […]