Somerset is a coastal
locality
Locality may refer to:
* Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada
* Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England
* Locality (linguistics)
* Locality (settlement)
* Suburbs and localitie ...
split between the
Shire of Torres
The Shire of Torres is a local government area located in Far North Queensland, Australia, covering large sections of the Torres Strait Islands and the northern tip of Cape York Peninsula north of 11°S latitude. It holds two distinctions—it ...
and the
Northern Peninsula Area Region
The Northern Peninsula Area Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia, covering areas on the northwestern coast of Cape York Peninsula. It was created in March 2008 out of three Aboriginal Shires and two autonomous Is ...
,
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, Australia. In the , Somerset had "no people or a very low population".
[
]
Geography
Somerset is the northernmost locality on the Cape York Peninsula
The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...
and also of the Queensland mainland with Cape York at the northernmost point. It is not the northernmost locality in Queensland, as there are numerous island localities to the north in the Torres Strait
The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes ( Kalaw Lagaw Ya#Phonology 2, �zen̪ad̪ kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, ...
.
The Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughl ...
commences just south of Cape York and extends through to Victoria.
The Northern Peninsula Airport
Northern Peninsula Airport is an airport serving Bamaga, a town near the northern tip of the Cape York Peninsula and is located southeast of Injinoo in Queensland, Australia. The airport is operated by the Northern Peninsula Area Regional C ...
is in the south of the locality (). It is operated by the Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council
The Northern Peninsula Area Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia, covering areas on the northwestern coast of Cape York Peninsula. It was created in March 2008 out of three Aboriginal Shires and two autonomous Isl ...
. It is south-east of the town of Bamaga
Bamaga ( , ) is an Indigneous town and locality about from the northern tip of Cape York in the north of Queensland, Australia. It is within the Northern Peninsula Area Region. It is one of the northernmost settlements in continental Australi ...
to the west of the locality of Somerset.
There are relatively few roads in the locality:
* Pajinka Road connects Cape York to the town of Bamaga to the west of the locality
* Somerset Road connects from Pajinka Road to the historic Somerset settlement and Fly Point
* Narau Beach Road connects from Somerset Road to Narau Beach
* Airport Road connects the town of Bamaga with the Northern Peninsula Airport
There is very limited land use within the locality.
Coastal features
The locality has many coastal features, some on the mainland and others on the islands. The northern coast of the locality is comprised on headlands and beaches, while the southern coast is marshland without many features.
On the mainland (clockwise from north):
* Punsand Bay ()
* Bay Point ()
* York Island ()
* Cape York ()
* Eborac Island ()
* Evans Point ()
* Evans Bay ()
* Ida Point ()
* Ida Island ()
* Muddy Bay ()
* Bishop Point ()
* Shallow Bay ()
* Osnaburg Point ()
* Stover Bay ()
* Somerset Bay ()
* Sheridan Point ()
* Fly Point ()
* Putta Putta Beach ()
* Freshwater Beach ()
* Freshwater Bay ()
* Vallack Point ()
* Nanthau Beach ()
* Narau Beach ()
* Chandogoo Point ()
* Saldogoo Beach ()
* Cliffy Point ()
* Kilbie Beach ()
* Newcastle Bay ()
* Congora Beach ()
* Kennedy Inlet ()
Albany Passage () separates the mainland from Albany Island (). The island has the following coastal features (clockwise from north):
* Frederick Point ()
* Tree Island ()
* Bush Islet ()
* Arethusa Point ()
* Pioneer Bay ()
* Alfred Point ()
* Mai Islet ()
* Charlotte Point ()
* Vicary Bay ()
* Ulrica Point ()
* Lyons Point ()
Although not within the locality, the Adolphus Channel separates the mainland from Mount Adolphus Island, also known as Mori ().
Mountains
Somerset has the following mountains:
* Mount Bremer near the northern tip of the mainland ()
* Mount Roma in the north-west of the locality ()
History
Several Indigenous groups occupied this region prior to European contact.[State of Queensland 2016. Injinoo. Online: <>, accessed 19 October 2017.] In an 1896 report to the Queensland Government
The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...
, Archibald Meston estimated that in the 1870s the Indigenous population between Newcastle Bay () and Cape York was around 3000. At the time of writing his report, he believed that the population had fallen to around 300.[Archibald Meston, Report on the Aboriginals of Queensland to the Home Secretary, QLD, Votes and Proceedings, vol.4, 1(1896) 724] This rapid decline was caused by a number of factors, including introduced disease, exclusions from traditional hunting grounds and frontier violence.[N Sharp, Footprints Along the Cape York Sandbeaches (Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, 1992) 55-58] Reverend Frederick Charles Jagg, a missionary at Somerset appointed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organisation (registered charity no. 234518).
It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Pa ...
,[James Cook University, Material Culture Unit. Report on the Former Magistrate's Residence at Somerset, Cape York: Stage 1, p. 42] gave an indication of the relationship between European and Indigenous peoples when he reported in 1867 that "The aborigines have been described as the most degraded, treacherous and bloodthirsty beings in existence by the present Police Magistrate, and those whose only idea is to shoot them down whenever they were seen".[David R Moore, Islanders and Aborigines at Cape York. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1979, p. 255-6.]
Gudang (Gootung) is one of the languages of the tip of Cape York. The Gudang language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council, particularly the localities of Somerset, Albany Passage and Newcastle Bay extending north to the Tip.
With its separation from New South Wales on 10 December 1859, the new colony of Queensland acquired over of coastline extending as far north as Cape York Peninsula
The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...
. The colony's first parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
passed a resolution in 1860 favouring direct connection with England via the Torres Strait
The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes ( Kalaw Lagaw Ya#Phonology 2, �zen̪ad̪ kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, ...
. In December 1861, Sir George Ferguson Bowen (1821–99), Governor of Queensland
The governor of Queensland is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in the state of Queensland. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia, governor-general at the national level, the governor Governors of ...
(1859–67), described the necessity for a station in the far north of Queensland. From a naval and military point of view, a post at or near Cape York would be valuable, due to the establishment of a French colony and naval station in New Caledonia
New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
. Bowen informed Henry Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle
Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, (22 May 181118 October 1864), styled Earl of Lincoln before 1851, was a British politician and aristocrat. He sat in Parliament for South Nottinghamshire
(1832–46) and fo ...
, Secretary of State for the Colonies
The secretary of state for the colonies or colonial secretary was the Cabinet of the United Kingdom's government minister, minister in charge of managing certain parts of the British Empire.
The colonial secretary never had responsibility for t ...
, that the government of Queensland would be willing to undertake the formation and management of a station at Cape York and to support a civil establishment there.[C G Austin, "Early History of Somerset and Thursday Island", Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, Volume 4, issue 2, Brisbane 1949, p. 217.]
On 27 August 1862, Bowen left Brisbane
Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
on HMS Pioneer to select an eligible site for the proposed settlement. The chosen site, opposite Albany Island
Albany Island or Pabaju is an island off the north-eastern coast of Cape York Peninsula in the Adolphus Channel of Queensland, Australia. It is within the locality of Somerset in the Shire of Torres.
Geography
Albany Island is off the no ...
, was named Somerset, in honour of the First Lord of the Admiralty
First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the title of the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible f ...
, Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset
Edward Adolphus St. Maur, 12th Duke of Somerset, (20 December 180428 November 1885), styled Lord Seymour until 1855, was a British Whig aristocrat and politician, who served in various cabinet positions in the mid-19th century, including that ...
.[Austin, Early History of Somerset and Thursday Island, p. 218]
Tenders were called for the construction of government buildings in March 1863, a town survey was undertaken in July 1864 and the Town Reserve of Somerset was established on 8 July 1864.[Queensland Government Gazette, vol. 3, 1863, p. 203] The first Somerset land sale was held in Brisbane on 4 April 1865 and a second sale took place on 2 May 1866. Land parcels sold at these auctions were about one acre (0.405 a) in size.[Queensland Government Gazette, vol. 6, 2 March 1865, p. 163-64]
In February 1864, John Jardine (1807–74) was appointed Somerset's first Police Magistrate and Commissioner of Crown Lands and in July 1864 he was appointed District Registrar for the District of North Cook.[Queensland Government Gazette, vol. 5, 1864, page 171] An early sketch of Somerset by Jardine shows the Government Residence, Police Magistrate's House and Customs House on the southern side of Somerset Bay, and Marines' Barracks and the Medical Superintendent's House on the northern side.[E J T Barton (ed), Jubilee History of Queensland, HJ Diddams & Co: Brisbane, 1909, p. 362.] Henry Simpson succeeded Jardine as Police Magistrate in 1866.[James Cook University, Material Culture Unit, Report on the Former Magistrate's Residence at Somerset, Cape York: Stage 1, 1986, p. 42.] The Marines were withdrawn in 1867 and replaced with Native Police
Australian native police were specialised mounted military units consisting of detachments of Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal troopers under the command of European officers appointed by British colonial governments. The units existed in va ...
.[S McIntyre, Conservation Plan Somerset Historic Site, Prepared on behalf of the Injinoo Aboriginal Community, 1994, p. 14.]
John Jardine was the father of Francis (Frank) Lascelles Jardine (1841-1919) and Alexander (Alick) William Jardine (1843-1920) who, between May 1864 and March 1865, undertook an overland expedition from Rockhampton
Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite.
The Scottish- ...
to Cape York which was described at the time as, geographically:[F L Byerley. Overland Expedition of the Messrs. Jardine, from Rockhampton to Cape York, Northern Queensland. J.W. Buxton, Bookseller and Stationer, Brisbane, 1867, p. 65 reproduced Project Gutenberg eBook 2004, accessed Oct 2017]"solving the question of the course of the northern rivers emptying into the Gulf of Carpentaria
The Gulf of Carpentaria is a sea off the northern coast of Australia. It is enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea, which separates Australia and New Guinea. The northern boundary ...
of which nothing was known but their outlets. It has also made known...how much ... or rather, how little, of the 'York Peninsula' is adapted for pastoral occupation, whilst its success in taking the first stock overland, and forming a cattle station at Newcastle Bay, has ensured to the Settlement at Somerset a necessary and welcome supply of fresh meat...".
The Jardine River
The Jardine River, formally known as Deception River, is the largest river of the Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Australia.
Course
The headwaters of the river rise southwest of Helby Hill in the Great Dividing Range and flow in a ...
was named after them by order of Governor Bowen.[F L Byerley. Narrative of the overland expedition of the Messrs. Jardine from Rockhampton to Cape York. Brisbane, 1867, p. 65. (River name approved in 1865).] For their pioneering exploratory efforts the Jardine brothers were made Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Fellows may refer to Fellow, in plural form.
Fellows or Fellowes may also refer to:
Places
*Fellows, California, USA
*Fellows, Wisconsin, ghost town, USA
Other uses
* Fellowes, Inc., manufacturer of workspace products
*Fellows, a partner in the f ...
and awarded the Society's Murchison Award in 1886.[Sydney Evening News, 8 July 1886 p. 8.]
Frank Jardine was appointed as a Magistrate in December 1867 and as Police Magistrate and Inspector of Police at Somerset in April 1868.[Queensland Government Gazette: vol. 7, 1868, p. 1165] In 1869 he held the positions of District Registrar for Somerset, Police Magistrate, Clerk of Petty Sessions, Inspector of Police and Postmaster.[Blue Book of Queensland 1869, Queensland Government Printer, Brisbane, 1869, p. viii. In 1873 Jardine was District Registrar, Police Magistrate and Shipping Inspector at Somerset, but from the following year, held no official positions. In his capacity of Justice of the Peace he acted as "Guardian of Minors" for Somerset, a role he held from 20 March 1872 for many years.] He married Samoan woman, Sana Sofala, in 1873 and the couple had four children: Alice Maule Lascelles, Hew Cholmondeley (Chum), Bootle Arthur Lascelles (Bertie) and Elizabeth Sana Hamilton.[Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, <>, accessed Oct 2017] Frank Jardine's tenure as a government officer in Somerset was not without controversy. The local Indigenous population was dispossessed and there was hostility between them and the Jardine family, both during Frank and Alick Jardine's expedition to Somerset, and during the years of the settlement. Jardine was also suspended for a time from his duties as Police Magistrate whilst being investigated in relation to using his position to obtain a pearl diving licence.[Rodney Liddell, Cape York. The Savage Frontier. Rodney Liddell, Redbank, 1996, p. 98.]
Somerset became redundant as a port once a safer shipping route to the Torres Strait was found and a settlement on Thursday Island
Thursday Island, colloquially known as TI, or in the Kalaw Lagaw Ya, Kawrareg dialect, Waiben or Waibene, is an island of the Torres Strait Islands, an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait. TI is located approximately ...
was built from 1876.[Barton, Jubilee History of Queensland, p. 361] Frank Jardine continued to live at Somerset, maintaining the police residence until his death there in March 1919.[Brisbane Courier, 18 March 1919, p. 6.] During this time, Jardine continued to maintain a beef cattle herd; was engaged in the pearling industry; and created a coconut/copra plantation at Somerset. Due to Somerset's isolated location the Jardine family provided assistance and hospitality to travellers and seafarers, for example, Jardine aided the survivors of the shipwreck of in 1890.[Liddell, Cape York, the Savage Frontier, pp. 125, 131, 145]
The pearl diving industry was important to the Queensland economy, and came to be dominated by Japanese divers after 1891. Kobori Itchimatsu came from the village of Nishi Mukai in Wakayama prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 876,030 () and a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture to ...
, an area that provided 80 per cent of the 7,000 Japanese who left their country to become pearl divers.[Pugh, Pugh's Almanac: 1892, p. 170, 1900, p. 1039]
The Kennedy Memorial Monument was unveiled on 13 December 1948 in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Edmund Besley Court Kennedy's unsuccessful exploration of Cape York Peninsula.[Photographs of Kennedy Memorial Monument taken at site visit in September 2017.] The monument comprises a concrete slab on a concrete footing with a bronze commemorative plaque on its eastern face.
In 2011 the Angkamuthi Seven Rivers, the McDonnell Atampaya and the Gudang/ Yadhaigana groups made an application for native title determination over the Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council and Cook Shire
The Shire of Cook (The Shire) is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia. The Shire covers most of the eastern and central parts of Cape York Peninsula, the most northerly section of the Australian mainland.
It covers an area ...
areas, covering an area of approximately . The determination was handed down on 30 October 2014.[In "Exclusive Areas" of exercise of the native title rights and interests, those rights and interests are, other than in relation to Water, the rights to possession, occupation, use and enjoyment of the area to the exclusion of all others. AustLII 2014. .]
Demographics
In the , Somerset had "no people or a very low population".
In the , Somerset had "no people or a very low population".
In the , Somerset had "no people or a very low population".
Attractions
There is an historical ruin of Somerset homestead, a station established by John Jardine (father of Frank Jardine) in 1863 and is 35 km north of Bamaga
Bamaga ( , ) is an Indigneous town and locality about from the northern tip of Cape York in the north of Queensland, Australia. It is within the Northern Peninsula Area Region. It is one of the northernmost settlements in continental Australi ...
on Cape York in Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. It is a good camping area and day trip with facilities for barbecues. It is situated near a beach.
See also
*'' Constance Drinkwater and the final days of Somerset''
Heritage listings
* Somerset Graves Site ()
References
Sources
Somerset. Pictures, photos, objects
Compiled from the journals of the brothers, and edited by Frederick J. Byerley, (Engineer of Roads, Northern Division of Queensland). — Brisbane: J. W. Buxton, 1867. — p. 88
Austin C. G., Early history of Somerset and Thursday Island, Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, vol. 4, â„– 2, 1949, p. 216-230
ISSN 1837-8366
Bayton J., The mission to the Aborigines at Somerset, Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, vol. 7, â„– 3, 1965, p. 622-633
ISSN 0085-5804
Carroll J. M., Journey into Torres Straits, Queensland Heritage, vol. 2, â„– 1, 1969, p. 35-42
ISSN 0033-6157
Moore, C. R., Queensland's annexation of New Guinea in 1883, Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, vol. 12, â„– 1, 1984, p. 26-54
ISSN 0085-5804
Australian Dictionary of Biography: Jardine, John (1807-1874)
Australian Dictionary of Biography: Jardine, Francis Lascelles (Frank) (1841–1919)
Australian Dictionary of Biography: Chester, Henry Marjoribanks (1832–1914)
Australian Dictionary of Biography: Dalrymple, George Augustus (1826–1876)
External links
William Turton Kennett archive
State Library of Queensland
State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...
. A collection of photographs and manuscripts written, photographed and collected by an English missionary at Somerset, Cape York between 1866 and 1869.
{{Northern Peninsula Area Region
Shire of Torres
Northern Peninsula Area Region
Coastline of Queensland
Localities in Queensland