Cape York Peninsula

The era covered is from 1845 to 2003, but historian Lennie Wallace also tells us of early Chinese, Indonesian, Spanish and Portuguese mariners and of the many shipwrecks and daring rescues along its dangerous coastline. As a lifelong Peninsular cattlewoman Lennie of course tells of the feats of the early pastoral explorers, drovers and pioneers with special affection. But equally she tells us the stories of the sandalwood traders, the pearl divers and the gold and tin miners. Cooktown is portrayed in its booming heyday when it was the port for the gold mining boom on the Palmer. The Overland Telegraph Line gets built, the Aborigines meet the missionaries and the mail gets through, though only after some pretty heroic tussles with floods and crocodiles. Lennie is never one to hold back on the big political disputes, whether they involve the Labour Party headquarters in Brisbane in 1915, the preparations for the expected Japanese invasion in 1939, the issue of crocodile protection, the building of the road from Cooktown to the Daintree, or the ongoing conflict between pastoralists and wilderness conservationists. She proudly wears her Eureka Stockade T-shirt proclaiming the Great Blockade. This is a lively book, choc-a-bloc with hitherto unlauded heroes and heroines. It is history with hustle and bustle, heart and soul. No visitors to Far North Queensland should travel past Mareeba without first arming themselves with it.