Mossman Gorge, Queensland

Mossman Gorge is a rural locality in the Shire of Douglas, Queensland, Australia. In the , Mossman Gorge had a population of 246 people.

The locality takes its name from the valley Mossman Gorge created by the Mossman River through the Daintree National Park to the west of the locality (in Syndicate and Shannonvale). The Mossman Gorge Centre is the gateway to the valley which is a tourist attraction with a suspension bridge providing access to a loop walk through the rainforest of the National Park. It is part of the traditional homeland of the indigenous Kuku Yalanji people (Goo-goo Ya-lan-gee).

Geography

The locality is approximately 77 km from Cairns along the Captain Cook Highway.

History of Mossman Gorge

The Eastern Kuku Yalanji (Goo-goo Ya-lan-gee) people have occupied this area for thousands of years prior to first contact. They are recognised as the Traditional Owners for this area.

European Contact

European settlement of the Mossman Gorge district began with the discovery of gold. In 1872, William Hann was commissioned by the Queensland Government to explore Cape York Peninsula to assess its mineral and land resources. During the exploration, one of Hann's party discovered gold on the Palmer River. After hearing of the discovery, James 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.

Cooktown was established to service the Palmer River. Within 4 months, Cooktown and the Palmer River goldfield had a population of about 3,000 people. After James Mulligan found gold on the Hodgkinson River in 1876, Port Douglas was established as a port to service the Hodgkinson goldfield. The town grew rapidly and at the height of the gold rush had a population of 12,000.Cairns Museum, ''Mining'', (date unknown) http://www.cairnsmuseum.org.au/mining.htm at 23 January 2013.

With the help of Native Police patrols, European settlement expanded along the coastal belt, and extensive areas of lowland rainforest were cleared. In 1874, the Native Police were sent to explore the country inland from Trinity Bay to find another road to the Palmer River. They followed the Bloomfield River upstream but were unable to penetrate the thick scrub. The Native Police officer reported that they had found the Aboriginal peoples "exceedingly daring and threatening" and ‘"had to disperse them on 3 or 4 occasions". ^/sup>

At the newly established Port Douglas, it was reported in a newspaper, with reference to the Native Police, that:

"Sub-Inspector Douglas had paid the settlement a visit and ‘succeeded in driving about a dozen blackfellows into the sea, a few miles south of this place, and shortly after some desultory firing took place in a scrub close by, the result of which is not known’"

Vast amounts of cedar were harvested from the Mossman River and Daintree River valleys during the 1870s, resulting in further clashes between the Kuku Yalanji and the settlers. In 1878, Aboriginal peoples were reported to have killed three cedar cutters on the Daintree River. As was the usual practice after these events, the Native Police were sent to avenge the deaths.

In 1880, the Native Police were sent to the Mossman River after Aboriginal peoples attacked a Chinese camp and speared to death one of the occupants. By 1882, the cedar on the Mossman River was almost worked out and the land was being cleared to grow sugar cane.

In 1885, a Mossman River selector named Sydney Barnard was found dead with multiple spear wounds to his body. The Native Police were again sent out to "avenge the murder". This frontier violence was a frequent occurrence in the region during the 1870s and 1880s.

Selector Daniel Hart from the Mossman River wrote to the Queensland Premier in 1889, stating that, since the Europeans had taken all the land in the district, the Aboriginal peoples were being driven to starvation, which forced them to steal food, which then resulted in reports to the police. Then, "a dozen trackers and troopers follow their tracks and disperse them with bullets".

In 1897, the Queensland Parliament passed the '' Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897'' (the Protection Act). Under section 9 of the Protection Act, the Home Secretary was granted the power ‘"o cause Aboriginals within any district to be removed to and kept within the limits of any reserve situated in the same or any other district". There were 113 documented removals from the Mossman Gorge area. People were removed to settlements including Yarrabah, Mona Mona, Palm Island, Woorabinda, Cherbourg and Cape Bedford.

In 1916, an Aboriginal reserve at Mossman Gorge was gazetted on 64 acres of land donated by a cane farmer named Jack Johnston, of Mango Park Estate, Mossman River. Some of the Kuku Yalanji who had survived the onslaught of European settlement and had not been removed by the government, gradually moved to the Mossman Gorge Mission. Those who did make the shift generally came from their traditional camps at sites like Jinkalmu, Brie-Brie and the Junction on the Mossman River.B Chant, ''Hetherington, Isabella'' (1870-1946) (Australian Dictionary of Biography 2013) http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hetherington-isabella-12980 at 23 January 2013.

The Gorge Mission was managed by Pentecostal

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