Wujal Wujal: History
Kuku Yalanji (also known as Gugu Yalanji, Kuku Yalaja, and Kuku Yelandji) is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Mossman and Daintree areas of North Queensland. The language region includes areas within the local government area of Shire of Douglas and Shire of Cook, particularly the localities of Mossman, Daintree, Bloomfield River, China Camp, Maytown, Palmer, Cape Tribulation and Wujal Wujal.
Yalanji (also known as Kuku Yalanji, Kuku Yalaja, Kuku Yelandji, and Gugu Yalanji) is an Australian Aboriginal language of Far North Queensland. The traditional language region is Mossman River in the south to the Annan River in the north, bordered by the Pacific Ocean in the east and extending inland to west of Mount Mulgrave. This includes the local government boundaries of the Shire of Douglas, the Shire of Cook and the Aboriginal Shire of Wujal Wujal and the towns and localities of Cooktown, Mossman, Daintree, Cape Tribulation and Wujal Wujal. It includes the head of the Palmer River, the Bloomfield River, China Camp, Maytown, and Palmerville.
The Bloomfield River mission was established on land belonging to the Kuku-Yalanji people. The first recorded Europeans to visit the Bloomfield River were Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander Frederick Bedwell and Captain Phillip Parker King on board HMS Mermaid on a hydrological survey of the east coast of Australia. In June 1819, HMS Mermaid anchored in Weary Bay and:"Mr. Bedwell was sent to examine the opening, which was called Blomfield's Rivulet …Near the entrance upon the bank of the inlet several huts were noticed, and near them Mr. Bedwell found a canoe; which, being hollowed out of the trunk of a tree, was of very different construction to any we had before seen; its length was twenty-one feet … an outrigger, projecting about two feet, was neatly attached to one side, which prevented its liability to overset, and at each end was a projection, from fifteen to twenty inches long, on which the natives carry their fire or sit"The next Europeans to visit Bloomfield River were William Hann and his party. In 1872, William Hann was commissioned by the Queensland Government to explore Cape York Peninsula to assess its mineral and land resources. On their return, the party reached the coast at Weary Bay and then followed the Bloomfield River upstream. Hann was responsible for discovering and naming the Palmer, Tate and Daintree rivers.
One of Hann’s party discovered gold on the Palmer River. After hearing of the discovery, James Venture Mulligan led an expedition to the Palmer River in 1873. Mulligan reported that the sandbars of the river glittered with gold, which started a huge gold rush to the district. By late 1873, the first government officials and prospectors came ashore at the Endeavour River accompanied by a detachment of Native Police.
In 1874, Cooktown was established. Within four months, Cooktown and the Palmer River goldfield had a population of about 3,000 people, many of whom were Chinese immigrants. By 1880, the population of Cooktown had grown to about 7,000.
Conflict between the Europeans and local Aboriginal people began almost immediately. In October 1873, 93 miners (led by goldfields commissioner Howard St George and engineer A C MacMillan) set out from the Endeavour River to blaze a track to the Palmer River. …