Contested Country: Stories from Cape York

By John Harrison

Western Cape York is one the most remote, least accessible areas of Australia, with a land area of 137,000 sq km, half the size of the United Kingdom, and a population of under 10,000 people, most of whom are Indigenous. Western Cape York spans 17 different Indigenous language groups. The land is a complex array of pastoral leases, bauxite mining tenements and land under Native Title.
Most roads are unsealed and impassable during and after the summer monsoon and access is by air and sea barge. The waterways are populated by salt water estuarine crocodiles.
These stories are a contribution to our understanding of the circumstances of Australia’s First Peoples, and in particular, those living on the western coast of Cape York.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Harrison
• Release date: Jul 28, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463533789

John Harrison

John Harrison is Yorkshire born and bred. His work draws inspiration from his beloved county and is known for portraying built structures in the wider landscape, exploring the contrast between the manmade and the natural.

Book preview

Contested Country:

Stories from Cape York

Sebastian Sherrah, Olivia Mastry, Marcel Baum & Lydia Watkins.

Edited by Dr John Harrison.

COPYRIGHT

Contested Country. Stories from Cape York

Copyright John Harrison and individual authors (2017)

First published 2018

Published by HSA Pty Ltd

Smashwords Edition

PO BOX 4311 ST LUCIA SOUTH 4067

URL: https://www.johnmharrison.org/

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a database and retrieval system or transmitted in any form or any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the owner of copyright and the above publishers.

eBook ISBN: 9780463533789

Contested Country. Stories from Cape York

CONTENTS

Introduction

Weipa shell mound mystery

Frogs in crocodile country

The last nail in the cultural coffin

Faith in Mapoon continues

More by John Harrison

INTRODUCTION

Our national parliament is discussing the tenth anniversary of the original Closing the Gap report, as I write this. Closing The Gap is an initiative designed to set targets to reduce the life expectancy gap and life experience deficits between the First Peoples, and the rest of the Australian population.

Sadly, most of the targets set remain unreached. On the tenth anniversary of Closing the Gap two of the representatives of the First Peoples, June Oscar and Rod Little said:

"The revolving door of prime ministers and Indigenous affairs ministers over the years and cuts of more than $500 million to Indigenous affairs in the 2014 federal budget have all had a devastating impact.

The health and wellbeing of our people is not, and never should be, framed as an intractable problem. Political intransigence and lack of will is by far the greater problem."

The set of stories published here, while not specifically about closing the gap, are a contribution to our understanding of the circumstances of Australia’s First Peoples, and in particular, those living on the western coast of Cape York.

They are part of a seven year long form digital journalism project driven by the University of Queensland, in collaboration with the ABC, to tell stories of natural, cultural and social history of the western coast of Cape York.

Western Cape York is one the most remote, least accessible areas of Australia, with a land area of 137,000 sq km, half the size of the United Kingdom, and a population of under 10,000 people, most of whom, with the exception of the bauxite mining township of Weipa, are Indigenous. Western Cape York spans 17 different Indigenous language groups.

The land is a complex array of pastoral leases, bauxite mining tenements and land under Native Title. The Weipa mine exports nearly 30 million tonnes of bauxite per annum. Most roads are unsealed and impassable during and after the summer monsoon. Access is by air and sea barge. The waterways are populated by salt water estuarine crocodiles.

The four stories here have been written by University of Queensland undergraduates undertaking the final year Journalism Project course. Two of the stories address health issues in western Cape York: obstetric and neo-natal care, and substance abuse. The first story, on the Weipa shell mounds, is part of the fascinating heritage of the Albatross Bay area, where a large number of shell middens have promoted debate among archaeologists about their origins. The final story is a story of hope. It’s about the community of Mapoon, whose resilience has seen them re-establish themselves on land from which they were dispossessed in 1963.

John Harrison

WEIPA SHELL MOUND MYSTERY

By Sebastian Sherrah

Geoff Bailey pushes onward through thick scrub and oppressive heat; returning to the site he first visited over 40 years ago as a research student.

An unassuming looking man, he traverses the landscape like he's wandering the halls of his own home; he might as well have his eyes closed.

He's now a world-renowned archaeologist specialising in prehistoric coastlines and the human use of maritime environments. This trek north by Professor Bailey is somewhat akin to a pilgrimage. He stops for a moment, takes a long sip from his canteen and then presses forward again.

What he is searching for dots the coastlines and estuaries of Northern Australia. They are hidden in mangroves or coastal plains and their origins have been heavily contested for the past 60 years. What he is searching for are middens. Mounds of tightly compacted shells that can reach up to 12 metres in height and several hundred metres in length.

Radiocarbon dating by a series of archaeologists suggest construction on these mounds began