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DAINTREE STORIES

June-July 2002: Drought conditions create spectacular sunsets on the Daintree - Dan Irby

DISCOVERY OF THE DAINTREE RIVER BY DALRYMPLE IN 1873

The first recorded sighting of the river by an European was not until 1873. The discovery of gold at Palmer River in September by James Venture Mulligan eventually lead to the discovery of the river by George Elphinstone Dalrymple who was the Queensland Gold Commissioner on the Gilbert gold field at that time.

As the gold field at Palmer River expanded, it was realized that a sea port needed to be established to it as close as possible. Dalrymple was instructed by a telegram from the Queensland Government to ride Eastward over the ranges to Cardwell. There he was to go north by boat to the Andover River and determine its suitability as a site for a sea port.

Dalrymple headed north with three vessels the largest, the Flying Fish, a 12 ton cutter; the Coquette, a 10 ton cutter; and a police whaleboat. In total, 26 men in the expedition. They were travelling in fairly unknown waters as their only charts of the area were from Captain Cook a 103 years earlier. On his way north, Dalrymple named many prominent features along the coast: Buchan's Point (great lookout on the Cook Highway (also a very popular take-off point for hang-gliders); Dagmar and Alexandra Ranges and Cape Kimberly.

Even though they spent the night of October 24, 1873 on Snapper Island (3 or 4 km offshore from the mouth of the Daintree River), they missed seeing the opening of the river just as Cook had also missed it. They continued on to the Endeavour River and concluded that this was the one and only site for the port.

After sailing back to Cardwell, Dalrymple chartered the 34 ton schooner Flirt in the middle of November and headed north again. On this trip north, he named the Mulgrave and Russell Rivers. He then discovered and named the Mossman River.

Much to Dalrymple's delight, the next discovery was a new broad and deep river which opened out behind Cape Kimberly. He named the river Daintree after a friend, Richard Daintree. Daintree was an English geologist and photographer , the Agent-General for Queensland in London. He had spent time in Australia as Government geologist, discovering gold on the Gilbert River in 1869 and the Etheridge in 1870. Ill health forced him to return to England.

What Dalrymple wrote at that time; "no river in North Australia possesses surroundings combining so much of distant mountain grandeur with local beauty and wealth of vegetation" still holds true today. From almost anywhere on the river you can see Thornton Peak usually with its peak cloud- covered (annual rainfall varies between 6 and 10 metres). Also named by Dalrymple on this trip. Dalrymple's report on the river caused a rush of timber cutters after the now famous Daintree Red Cedar.

. In the early years and up to 1932, the river and not a road, was the only means of access to the Daintree settlers. Barratt Creek bridge was opened in 1929, with the road to Mossman finally completed in 1933.

At the end of the Second World War came a revival of the local timber industry. A steel punt was constructed in 1954 by a local timber mill and was used to ferry timber trucks across the river. This was the first successful ferry after a failed earlier attempt with a wooden punt that capsized.

In 1958 the Douglas Shire Council got their own ferry and ran it for years until it was replaced by a larger ferry run by private enterprise. That ferry was replaced by an even larger ferry in the mid-nineteen nineties again owned by private enterprise and sub-contracted to Douglas Shire Council. The main users today are tourist buses, four-wheel drives and cars.

As the number of tourists crossing the river increases each year, there is more and more pressure put on the infrastructure of both the ferry and road systems north of the river. I personally hope that a bridge never replaces the ferry service. Even though I live on the north side of the river and do get unconvinced to some degree in the tourist season, I think that the ferry is a very important part of the innate charm of the area.

References: Glenville Pike, "THE WILDERNESS COAST" , Pinevale Publications, Mareeba, Australia, 1987

This page is written by Dan Irby MSc., with 28 years in medical and zoological research in USA and Australia, author of over 40 international scientific papers, a wildlife artist and photographer, who moved to Daintree in 1993 and started "Mangrove Adventures".