James Venture Mulligan Prospector Of The North.

494
JAMES VENTURE MULLIGAN

Prospector and Explorer of the North

[By GLENVILLE PIKE]


(Written for the Monthly General Meeting of the Historical
Society of Queensland, Inc., on 26th April 1951).

James Venture Mulligan is a man whose deeds are
not known to many. Yet he was probably North
Queensland's greatest explorer and prospector—a man
who did more than anyone else to open up the vast
mineral areas of Cape York Peninsula and the hinterland
of Cairns.
In this paper I propose to tell you, as briefly as I
can, about Mulligan's work—briefly because the full
story would fiU a book if sufficient time was spent in
sorting out the many records and old newspaper reports
that survive—relics of the days when Mulligan's
discoveries were big news.
Mulligan made six expeditions between 1873 and
1876 and on only one of them did he receive financial
help from the Government. His arduous journeys were
made at his own expense, spurred on only by his urge
of discovering something of value to the community,
and to open up the then wild Northern lands of which
this brave man was so much a part. He was a bom
leader of men. In a wider field he could have become
Australia's greatest explorer.
This year is the seventy-fifth anniversary of Mulligan's
discovery of payable gold on the Hodgkinson;
the founding of Cairns followed within six months.
This October, the anniversary is being celebrated in
Cairns in conjunction with the Jubilee of Federation,
but few will pause to remember Mulligan as the man
who blazed the way for the pioneers of Cairns to
foUow. But for his explorations, neither Cairns or Port
Douglas may have arisen.
Mulligan was born at Rathfriland, County Down,
Northern Ireland, on 13th February 1837. He landed
in Melbourne in the year 1859, when twenty-two years
of age. That he was keen early in life to become an
explorer is evidenced by the fact that he tried to join
the Burke and WiUs Expedition of 1860, but he was

495

unsuccessful. He then went to New South Wales where
on the goldfields he was in turn storekeeper and
butcher. There, also, he had his first lessons in mining
—an occupation that was to have a great influence on
his future. It was the Gympie gold rush of 1867 that
brought him to Queensland.
Finally, in 1873, he was mining on the Etheridge
field in North Queensland, had many friends, and had
gained a reputation as a fearless bushman and expert
prospector.
William Hann, who had led a Government sponsored
expedition into Cape York Peninsula between
June and November 1872, had reported the existence
of gold on the Palmer River, 200 miles north of the
Etheridge, but he doubted if it was payable. Hann's
report received great publicity on the Etheridge where
fortunes were beginning to decline. Speculation was
rife as to what may be found on the Palmer. Some of
the miners therefore commissioned J. V. Mulligan to
lead a prospecting party to the Palmer. With Mulligan
went Albert Brandt, James Dowdell, David Robinson,
Peter Abelsen (also known as Peter Brown) and Alexander
Watson. With a team of packhorses, they set
out from Georgetown on 5th June 1873, in search of
Eldorado.
Gold on the Palmer
MuUigan and his mates first rode to Firth's Mt.
Surprise Station, then practically followed Hann's
route down the Lynd. On 21st June, they camped on
the Rocky Tate; they were now, for a time, in country
previously untrodden by white men. They rode over
the site of the Tate River tin mines. On the 23rd they
reached the Walsh River and again came on to Hann's
track. Mulligan reported seeing the tracks of thousands
of wild blacks up and down the river's sandy
bed.
The Mitchell River was crossed near Mt. Mulgrave
on 26th June. From the top of the divide north of the
river the party beheld the wild grandeur of the Palmer
VaUey spread out before them. They descended into
the valley and camped, on 29th June, about a mile
above what soon was to be the busy town of PalmerviUe.
At this time, several large and powerful aboriginal

496

tribes occupied the Palmer Valley, and they met this
invasion of white men with hostility. They unsuccessfully
tried to burn out Mulligan's camp and to roll
down rocks on them. They shouted, screamed, and
danced, waving spears and boomerangs. They had evidently
previously had experience from firearms and
were therefore afraid to attack.
Mulligan's party immediately began prospecting
up and down the river and in the first week found six
ounces of alluvial gold. They camped in six places,
then on 16th July they split up into three parties, scattering
in different directions up and down the Palmer
and its tributaries, obtaining gold wherever they
panned. The North Palmer was found to be exceptionally
rich in alluvial.
On 7th August, the party reassembled at their
camp on the site of Palmerville which they had decided
to make their headquarters. Mulligan was vastly impressed
by the wild grandeur of the scenery, the sandstone-
capped ranges irregularly broken into creeks and
gorges hemming him in to the north, while to the east
the valley stretched away into more broken ranges and
bold peaks. The only sign of life was the smoke from
the campfires of unfriendly aborigines.
On 24th August, MuUigan decided he had stayed
long enough and had proved the Palmer to be payable.
They therefore buried their tools and surplus ammunition,
and started out for Georgetown with 102 ounces
of high grade gold in their saddlebags. The prospectors
returned by practically the same route as their
outward journey.
It was 3rd September 1873 when MuUigan and his
mates arrived back in Georgetown. It is not hard to
imagine the excitement their return caused, or the
even greater excitement of the expectant crowd that
gathered around the Warden's Office to read the notice
the Warden tacked to the wall: "J. V. Mulligan reports
the discovery of payable gold on the Palmer River.
Those interested may inspect at this oflfice the 102
ounces he has brought back."
The telegraph line to Cardwell buzzed with the
news as telegrams were hastUy despatched. 'TownsviUe,
Bowen, and Brisbane newspapers headlined the
news. Cardwell telegraphed that upon receipt of the
news, most people were packing up to leave. People in

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Townsville, Bowen, and Rockhampton were throwing
up their jobs and joining the miners from other fields
who were heading northward to the Palmer.
The great rush was on. Mulligan led the first
party of 100 diggers with 300 horses and buUocks to
the new field, blazing a track all the way across 200
miles of wilderness.
There are few people living to-day who took part
in this momentous migration of nearly eighty years
ago. One of the few is Mrs. H. Finn, of Mareeba, who,
as a child with her parents, travelled by waggon to
the Palmer in the cavalcade of pioneers led by Mulligan.
This was probably Mulligan's greatest triumph.
This was a discovery that had far-reaching effects on
the whole of Queensland; it led to the founding of
Cooktown in October 1873 and the opening up of the
whole of the Colony north of Cardwell and Georgetown
which were then the most northerly outposts.
In those days, before the feeling of a national
Australian spirit had become noticeable, Queenslanders
were not concerned with the idea of federation of the
Colonies. Each colony was an independent unit and
fiercely patriotic about it, customs and other barriers
not encouraging unity between each other. Instead,
away back in the days of the Palmer Rush, settlers in
the northern district, realising the value of the new
lands that were being opened up and resentful of control
from Brisbane in an era of slow communications,
were trending more towards the idea of separation
from the rest of Queensland and the constituting of
yet another colony—an idea that occupied the minds
and energies of many public men for the next two
decades, and still persists in the background to-day.
Mulligan and his mates stayed on the Palmer until
16th February 1874, when supplies having given out
because of the heavy wet season, his party proceeded
to Cooktown, 150 mUes distant. Cooktown was growing
as only gold rush towns can, and soon it was to
become the third seaport of importance in Queensland.
It was a roaring, cosmopolitan mining depot of hundreds
of wood and iron buildings crowded along both
sides of its two mile long main street from the wharves
to the Palmer Road. In 1874, ninety-four hotel licences
were issued.

498

Second and Third Expeditions
On 1st May 1874, as soon as the wet season was
over, Mulligan and his five old mates left Cooktown to
prospect the vicinity of the Palmer. Prospecting the
North Branch, the white men were suddenly attacked
by a large number of blacks. Three times they rushed
Mulligan's camp, their spears wounding Peter Abelsen
severely, before they were repulsed with voUeys of
rifle fire. Seldom had MuUigan seen aborigines so determined.
It was eight days before Abelsen was well
enough to travel; two of the others had been slightly
wounded.
The party then rode down the river to Edwardstown,
Gold Commissioner St. George's "Top Camp."
This place does not exist to-day. Mulligan left for the
MitcheU River on 4th June.
The expedition crossed Oaky Creek, a tributary of
Sandy Creek, a Palmer stream, and at Pine Creek at
the head of the Sandy on 13th June, Mulligan discovered
payable gold. There were already crowds of
diggers working Oaky Creek and Sandy Creek, getting
good gold. Others were throwing up their claims on
the Upper Palmer because they were getting only four
ounces of gold in a week which they considered unpayable.
Mulligan, on this trip, missed the valuable tin
deposits on Cannibal- Creek by six miles. This locality
still remains probably the richest mineral area among
several in the Peninsula.
Riding on towards the Mitchell, Mulligan and his
mates struck a large river—a Mitchell tributary—
which they named the St. George after the popular
Gold Commissioner. Small quantities of gold were
panned in this river, but Mulligan turned back downstream
and unexpectedly met a party of eager prospectors
who, unknown to him, had followed him from
Sandy Creek believing he had discovered gold. On 20th
July, Mulligan camped on the Mitchell, prospected unsuccessfully,
and returned to Palmerville on the 27th.
By a few miles he missed finding the Anglo-Saxon
Reef which, in 1887, produced up to 70oz. per ton at a
single crushing.
With replenished supplies and more horses. Mulligan
again set out on 6th August in quest of gold on a
Third Expedition. On the 10th he camped near his

499

camp of a month earlier on Pine Creek. What had then
been an unpeopled wilderness was now a thriving mining
settlement unofficially named Toughtville. All the
surrounding gullies and even those falling into the St.
George were thronged by feverishly working prospectors.
On 31st August 1874, Mulligan reached a point on
the Mitchell further east than any white men had been
before. Away to the south, Mulligan saw "the notable
landmark" sighted by Hann in 1873, shimmering in dry
season heat. Hann had turned back, but Mulligan went
on. The spirit of the true explorer is echoed in Mulligan's
statement in one of his journals: "To me it is a
great pleasure to traverse new country where no white
man has trod before. Every step discloses new scenes
and fresh discoveries. The fascination is broken once 1
return to ground travelled over before either by myself
or someone else."
James Venture Mulligan now named the river that
met the Mitchell from the south, the Hodgkinson,
after W. O. Hodgkinson, Minister for* Mines, and former
companion, of the explorers, Burke and Wills.
Riding up this new river, Hann's "notable landmark"
came nearer and Mulligan's mates insisted on
calling it "Mt. Mulligan" much to the chagrin of
Mulligan himself who shunned publicity of that sort.
In this great rugged mountain, its red rock walls
seared by the tidemarks of prehistoric seas that lapped
its sides perhaps ten million years ago. Mulligan has a
more fitting and lasting monument than any edifice
carved from stone.
On 4th September, after traversing very rough
country. Mulligan's party passed the site of Thornborough
and camped at the junction of a creek from
the south-west near the present Mt. Mulligan Railway.
A small quantity of gold was found here—the first to
be found on the Hodgkinson. But Mulligan was looking
for another aUuvial field Uke the Palmer; the
Hodgkinson was later famous only for its reefs. Disappointed,
MuUigan passed on, but he was to return
eighteen months later.
The explorers toiled over the rugged spurs of the
Wolfram Range between the Hodgkinson and the
Walsh, for several days, reaching the Walsh River six
miles below the junction of Emu Creek on the 7th

500

September. For six days they followed the Walsh
through an almost impassable gorge to better country
below the present site of Chillagoe. Unknown to Mulligan,
or to Dr. R. Logan Jack who chronicled his exploits
in "Northmost Australia," Vol. 2, he was traversing
the same route at the same time of the year as did
the iU-fated Kennedy'in 1848. By 13th September,
Mulligan had reached Hann's "furthest east" point,
and from there on it was familiar country back to
Palmerville.
Fourth Expedition
J. V. Mulligan returned to Palmerville on 21st
September 1874. Between 1st and 14th October, he
made an unsuccessful quest for gold north and west of
the Palmer. Finally, on 22nd October, he left Palmerville
with his five old mates on a Fourth Expedition.
Mulligan thought payable gold may exist on the St.
George, so he traced that river up, but little gold was
obtained. The party then crossed over the divide to the
south and struck a west-flowing river—a Mitchell
tributary—which they named the McLeod after a prospecting
mate. It was magnificent pastoral country and
now comprises Roberts Bros.' Curraghmore Station.
The explorers camped for a week on a tributory creek
called the Spencer—prospecting, fishing, and shooting.
It rained every day and Mulligan felt ill.
On 9th November, the party crossed over the
divide northward on to the head of the Palmer, on the
edge of Mt. Windsor Tableland. Some "shotty gold"
was obtained. In another six miles, the party left the
Palmer and went north nine miles, camping beside a
spring at the head of the Laura River. From the summit
of the Main Range where the Cooktown-Byerstown
road later crossed it, a magnificent view was obtained;
a wild panorama of bush and valley with a tumbled
maze of ranges and peaks stretching to the northward;
forty miles to the east the coastal peaks were lost in
low clouds. Nearer at hand the smudge of aborigines'
campfires misted the tree-tops here and there. Along
Mulligan's route, later followed by one of the old
Palmer roads, the new Mulligan Highway is now being
built from Mareeba to Cooktown—fittingly nairied in
honour of a great man.
From the Laura, some of his men wanted to prospect
the Daintree country to the south-east, but re501
membering Hann's narrow escape from disaster in the
death-trap of mountains and jungle. Mulligan was loath
to tackle it with his limited food supplies. The expedition
therefore crossed over on to a tributary of the
Little Palmer for a few days' prospecting. On 23rd
November, Mulligan and four mates, rode back eastwards
from his camp on a tour of the headwaters of
the Normanby, travelling thirty miles that day before
they found water. Gold was found but not sufficient
water to wash it. On the 26th they returned to the
Little Palmer. The two men that had stayed at this
camp then rode into Cooktown for wet season stores.
Next day the main party started back to Palmerville,
prospecting on the way, obtaining some fine alluvial.
More gold was found on the South Palmer, and
soon diggers flocked to this new era and the township
of Uhrstown sprang up, followed by Byerstown early in
1875. MuUigan reached PalmerviUe on 5th December
1874. The onset of the wet season prevented further
exploration.
Fifth (and Longest) Expedition
In undertaking these four expeditions around the
Palmer area. Mulligan received no help from the Government.
Often the gold won did not cover the cost of
food supplies; in those days on the Palmer flour and
sugar was each £20 (in gold) per bag. Mulligan mentions
paying £30 for a buUock.
Mulligan's fifth expedition was not only his longest
but it was his first official exploit. He was belatedly
assisted by a Government grant of £500, together with
promise of a reward of £1,000 for the discovery of a
payable goldfield. With Mulligan was Frederick
Warner—a Government surveyor and the first man to
pan gold on the Palmer when he was with William
Hann in 1872—also James Dowdell, William Harvey,
Peter Abelsen, Jack Moran, and a blackboy, Charlie.
Abelsen and Dowdell had acompanied Mulligan on the
four previous expeditions. This party left CJooktown
on 29th April 1875 with twenty-two horses, following
the new Byerstown Road to the head of the Palmer.
They then struck south across the mountains to the
junction of the Hodgkinson and the Mitchell.
On 16th May they followed up the Hodgkinson,
turning up the Eastern Branch through very rough
country. Ahead, lay the rugged mass that overlooks

502

Mareeba. Mulligan, approaching it from the west,
named it Hann's Range and the pastoral country on
its crest he called Hann's Tableland. It is now better
known as the Granite Range. He now made easterly
for a gap in the range, which in most places drops
sheer to the flat forest country north-west of Mareeba,
and came down on to the fine grazing country later
occupied by Southedge Station. Unknown to Mulligan,
he was now at the source of the great Mitchell River,
but he knew by his previous expedition on which he
discovered the McLeod River that the Mitchell came
from the south before turning west. When he struck
the Barron River on .24th May near the present township
of Biboohra, he therefore believed he had again
come upon the Mitchell. He was agreeably surprised
at the amount of water it carried, and emphatically
declared the MitcheU to be "Queensland's greatest
river."
On 26th May, Mulligan's party rode up the Barron,
crossed Emerald Creek and the junction of Granite
Creek and the site of Mareeba on the opposite bank,
camping near Rocky Creek. He rode over the site of
the present tobacco lands on the Kuranda Road. Thus
J. V. Mulligan was the first white man to see the site
of Mareeba—fuUy eighteen months before the arrival
of John Atherton who established Emerald End
Station. It was not until that same year (1876) that
John Doyle, searching for a road from the Hodgkinson
to Trinity Bay, discovered the Barron to be a different
river to the Mitchell; it was Doyle who discovered the
famous Barron FaUs.
Mulligan and his, men rode on southward over
"rich basaltic country" and suddenly, near the present
site of Tolga, they came upon the dark impenetrable
jungle. In vain they attempted to penetrate it, then
turned westward, skirting it. They marveUed at the
giant cedar trees they saw and at the tropical density
of this scrub, no doubt wondering what secrets it hid
from the prying eyes of white men, gazing upon, it for
the first time.
On 3rd June, the explorers found a native track
and foUowed it from pocket to pocket in the junglechoked
hills. On 4th June they passed over, or very
close to, the site of Atherton. Next day. Mulligan got
clear of the scrub and in a few miles began to ascend

503

a rough granite lange—country in Mulligan's eyes
more interesting, for it may contain minerals. The
party were the first white men to cross the Herberton
Range. On a winding, south-flowing stream he named
the Wild River, Mulligan discovered tin.
Mulligan commented thus on his discovery:
"There may be any quantity of it here, but of what use
is it at present, considering the price of carriage? The
nearest setlements on the Palmer are all over 250 miles
from here. Yet it is well for the future of the Colony
to know that there is tin in this locality.. ." Five years
later, with the advance of settlement, John Atherton
acted on Mulligan's report and guided John NeweU,
William Jack and Party to this locality where tin was
found and the Great Northern Mine was opened a
couple of miles distant. This led to the founding of
Herberton in 1880. But it was Mulligan who made the
initial discovery of t i n ^ a discovery which had even
more influence on the development of North Queensland
than the opening of the Palmer. It is but one of
many debts we owe James Venture Mulligan.
Mulligan followed the Wild River right down to its
junction with the Millstream. On the way, he crossed
"a marked tree-line, running fifteen degrees west of
north, which is thought to be the road from Cardwell
to the Palmer." On 9th June, he steered south-west
for Mt. Surprise. He passed close to the Innot Hot
Springs without seeing them and camped on Return
Creek. Stream tin was afterwards discovered on this
creek and is still extensively worked, but Mulligan
does not appear to have prospected it. MuUigan wrote
in his journal: "I am now all but sure that we must
have crossed the Main Range about seven mUes southwest
of the Scrub, and that we are even now on eastern
waters, probably on Herbert's River . . ." He was right.
MuUigan's horses ate some poison bush on the
night of 10th June, but there were no deaths. On the
13th the well-known landmarks of Mt. Firth and Mt.
Surprise were sighted, and next day the party arrived
at Firth's Fossilbrook Station. Next day, they reached
Mt. Surprise homestead and were warmly welcomed
by the pioneers. The blacks were bad in the vicinity,
spearing cattle and horses. On 16th June 1875, MuUigan
rode on. to Junction Creek telegraph station and
telegraphed a report to Brisbane of progress made.

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The waggon road from the Etheridge to the Palmer
passed close to Mt. Surprise, and traffic was heavy.
While Mulligan was at Mt. Surprise he met William
Hann of Maryvale; the ex-explorer was taking a mob
of cattle to the Palmer for sale. Mulligan's party left
Mt. Surprise on 3rd July and followed the waggon road
as far as the Tate River; by this stream they reached
the Lynd and followed it down. MuUigan exultantly
declared: "We are now outside aU previous travellers,
old Leichhardt excepted." When he arrived at the
Mitchell on 18th July, however, he camped within a
mile of the camp-sites of Leichhardt in 1848 and William
Hann in 1872. A thorough search of this area by
the writer in October 1949 failed to find any trees
marked by these explorers, but there are rumours of
the existence of a tree marked by Leichhardt.
From the Mitchell, Mulligan struck north through
poor tea-tree country to the Palmer which was reached
on 23rd July. Mulligan then decided to travel on northward
to the Coleman River, 120 miles away, his conversation
with Hann having given him the idea that gold
may be found there. But as stores were low and the
sextant needed repairing all hands decided to go to
Palmerville and refit there before starting out for the
Coleman. On 2nd August, over three months after
setting out from Cooktown, MuUigan reached PalmerviUe.
As the purpose of this paper is to focus attention
on the significance of Mulligan's discoveries in the
hinterland of Cairns, due to celebrate its seventy-fifth
anniversary this year, we need not go into details of
the remainder of Mulligan's journey north of the
Palmer. Suffice it to say that although he crossed much
auriferous country, no gold was discovered, and in
other respects the country was already fairly well
known; much of Mulligan's route was identical with
that of Hann in 1872. Mulligan's expedition arrived
back in Cooktown on 23rd September 1875; the explorers
had ridden approximately 1,200 miles in a
practically fruitless search for gold. Nevertheless, in
other respects the expedition had been a success for a
huge scope of new country had been traversed and
explored.
Payable Gold on the Hodgkinson
Characteristic of the energy displayed by MuUi505
gan in his search for another payable goldfield, is the
fact that he was only in Cooktown four weeks before
setting out on a Sixth Expedition—on 23rd October
1875, accompanied by two mates only, Messrs. Warner
and Abelsen. MuUigan's journal of this expedition,
and also Warner's diary, have been lost, and it was
Mr. J. W. CoUinson, a well-known member of the Historical
Society of Queensland, Inc., who recently unearthed
copies of the "Brisbane Courier" of 27th
March 1876 and 14th April 1876 in which were published
portions of this journal and diary; I am deeply
indebted to Mr. CoUinson for the use of this information—
information unobtained (or ignored) by Dr. R. L.
Jack who wrote up MuUigan's exploits in his work,
"Northmost Australia." Thus are we able to piece
together a hitherto unknown, but most interesting,
chapter in the history of North Queensland. However,
in the limited scope of this paper, only a broad outline
can be given.
On this Sixth Expedition, Mulligan returned to
the Hodgkinson which he had twice before visited.
This time, however, he found a payable creek the first
day he prospected—19th January. He and his mates
continued to work on gold up and down the river and
tributary gullies until 2nd March, although hampered
by heavy wet season rain and bouts of fever.
In the "Brisbane Courier" of 27th March 1876,
J. V. Mulligan writes as follows: "I have kept a diary
of our travels from Cooktown, starting on 23rd October
and ending on 31st December at Byerstown. During
that period (sic. 9th March) Messrs. Warner, Abelsen,
and myself, and a few others, have seen the whole of
the Hodgkinson River and all its branches, from Mt.
Mulligan easterly and southerly . . . On 11th January
we crossed the Mitchell . . . Stopped several times to
prospect between the Hodgkinson and Mitchell Rivers;
got a tolerable show of gold in this vicinity . . . 17th:
Crossed the eastern branch of the Hodgkinson, immediately
above its junction with the western branch;
ran the western branch up to a place due east of a bluff
on Mulligan's Range where a large creek comes in from
the east having Mt. Megan on our north side . . . 19th:
Went out prospecting from this camp which is two
miles due east of where I first saw and named the
Hodgkinson about two years ago . . . 26th: Hugh

506

Kennedy and W. Williams, who are out with McLeod's
party, being camped one mile distant from us, and,
hearing horse-bells, Abelsen went out to see if he knew
them; in the twUight, Kennedy discharged his rifle at
Abelsen, at about eighty yards, taking him to be a
blackfellow about to spear the horses; in another instant
Williams would have drawn his trigger also had
Abelsen not sung out. I repUed to their shot from our
camp; then Warner and I went out to see whom we
had so near us in that great wilderness, when we found
Kennedy, Williams, and Abelsen, in mutual congratulations
in meeting in such circumstances without accident.
Kennedy is a dead shot, and Abelsen can only
thank Providence and the darkness of the evening for
his life. Neither of the party expected to meet each
other in this quarter at this season.
"27th: Prospecting and getting gold. Kennedy
and Williams called at camp on their way back to join
their party (McLeod's) about twelve miles distant
north of Mt. Megan." (This may be the present day
Mt. M'Gann, a prominent landmark below Thornborough).
"February 7th: Heavy rain continues . . .
Have now found several quartz reefs showing gold in
the stone freely. The alluvial is payable in places but
very patchy . . . February 19th: The weather has now
settled and we shift to a new camp and now prepare to
move Palmer-ward, having got a little gold and seen
several reefs which present a payable appearance . . .
Had a visit from McLeod and Kennedy, they having
left their old camp on a tour some thirty miles south
and are returning. On 20th we shifted some fifteen
miles and camped north of Mt. Megan. 21st: Came up
to McLeod and Party's camp in the evening; we
stopped, the creeks being up. Getting payable gold in
the ravines.
"March 5th: The weather being fine, there having
been no rain for ten days, we think the MitcheU is low
enough to cross; we propose going to Cooktown. The
grass, being trodden down and dry about the camp,
caught fire, and being carried by a strong breeze our
tent with all our clothes, blankets, rations, in fact
everything save a few useful papers and cartridges,
was destroyed. McLeod's party supplied us with all
necessaries and we arranged to go to Cooktown with
them and report the field. Travelled five miles and on

507

crossing the Hodgkinson were surprised to find such
high water marks. After a long day's ride we struck
the Mitchell, ran it up and camped . . . 10th: After
reporting a new goldfield on the Hodgkinson to Mr.
Warden Ck)ward at Byerstown, we left and camped at
Byers and Little's near the Police Camp on the Laura
. . . 13th: Arrived at Cooktown, after being out from
Byerstown over ten weeks in the wet season."
Mulligan reported the new goldfield on the Hodgkinson
on behalf of himself and McLeod's party, and
he shared the £1,000 reward which he subsequently
received, with them.
Another great rush was on. As at the Palmer
rush three years before, Mulligan again led the first
party of diggers to the new field and marked a dray
road from the Palmer up to the Hodgkinson through
country that was wild and rough in the extreme, to
the site of Thornborough. Scores of the thousands of
miners who flocked to this new field were bitterly disappointed
when they found the alluvial was poor and
patchy, and Mulligan came in for a lot of harsh criticism.
It was not long, however, before rich reefs were
discovered—the Caledonia, Tyrconnell, General Grant,
and others. Over £1,000,000 worth of gold was won on
the Hodgkinson, and in 1877 there were reputed to be
20,000 people on the field. Thornborough, now utterly
vanished as a town, was then the largest town between
TownsvUle and Cooktown; it supported a fair population
until thirty years ago and several buildings were
of brick.
The first need of the new goldfield was a port
nearer than Cooktown. Bill Smith, John Doyle, and
Christy Palmerston all played their part in finding
tracks down the Coastal Range to Cairns and Port
Douglas. Thus did Mulligan's discovery of gold on the
Hodgkinson just seventy-five years ago bring about the
establishment of Cairns and Port Douglas—but that is
another story. As the Hodgkinson waned in importance,
other areas were settled and the great timber,
dairying, agricultural, and pastoral industries established
by other pioneers who came on the heels of the
first gold-seekers. Thus did James Venture MuUigan
open the door to development of one of Australia's
wealthiest districts.
Mulligan was storekeeping at Thornborough for a

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few years, but the old prospecting urge sent him out
into the wilds again, prospecting as far afield as Cloncurry.
He discovered silver lead at Silver Valley west
of Herberton in 1880. He is thus distinguished as being
the first discoverer of silver in Queensland. His
last prospecting trip was with Hugh McDonald (still
alive) in 1903. J. V. Mulligan was married at Brisbane
on 5th March 1903 to Fanny Maria Buls nee Rolls. Oldtimers
in the North still remember him as a humorous,
kindly man with altogether a charming personality
and a quiet persistence capable of overcoming
any obstacle.
On 24th August 1907, at the age of seventy years,
James Venture Mulligan passed away at Mt. Molloy,
sadly missed by all who knew him. There this great
and good man sleeps in the little bush cemetery beneath
a simple stone erected to his memory by a few
of his loyal friends. May his memory live long in the
province he was the first white man to tread and which
he helped create!

Great book that one, read it yrs ago when i used to be an old Cairns boy.
Found a bit o gold from the hints n tips in there too.

Great post Mate and a good read for the MudCrab Mob

Pete