About Town
History of Cooktown
Cooktown's history stretches from the dreamtime of thousands of years of Aboriginal habitation to the first visit of Europeans by Captain James Cook in 1770. The changes that European discovery brought to the area took a while before it made an impact but by the 1880's gold had been discovered and Cooktown had become the 2nd largest town in Queensland. Wars, fires, cyclones and the eventual depletion of easy gold finds led the town's population to dramatically decrease since these heydays before the turn of the century.
World War Two brought a brief increase in activity again where Cooktown found itself serving a large airbase and an important radar station defending the Queensland coast. Today tourism drives the growth while the modern foundations of the local economy is mostly service industries to the fishing and primary industry on the lower Cape York Peninsula.
Before European Discovery
The lower Cape York/Cooktown area was home to many clans with a major divider between main groups being the Bloomfield & Annan Rivers. For 50000 years there are tales where the clans managed the bush using fire to encourage re-growth and moving camps with the seasons so not to deplete an area of its resources. It must have been one of the most successful 'hunter-gatherer' societies in history. They believed they were all at one with the land and lived in a society that survived longer than any of the civilisations we know, longer than the great empires of history.
European Discovery
The place of Captain James Cook in history is undeniable thanks to his Pacific Ocean journey in the HMS Endeavour. Accompanied by Sir Joseph Banks detailing the adventures it has to be one of the most amazing tales of exploration in history. Cooktown owes it's existence to chance. On the night of June 10th, 1770 the HMS Endeavour struck a reef while anticipating a quiet night in a light breeze. In his diary entry of the night, Banks remarked that the officers acted with incredible composure With 4 foot of water in the hold, the pumps not containing the situation and a stiffening breeze that made a run for the shore impossible there stood only a slim chance for the HMS Endeavour and any chance of a return home for her crew. Putting their faith in a theoretical repair it led to success which enabled the ship to steer towards safe harbour of what we now call Cooktown. It took a number of days before the site was finally decided upon, the log reports a growing need of fresh water and food by the men as well as the ship repairs. The site they found, modern day Cooktown, was described by Cook as being beyond the most sanguine wishes he could have had. By the night of the 16th the local Aboriginals had lit fires on Grassy Hill to greet the new visitors. The day of the 17th was spent fully bringing the ship in after a number of days moored offshore. The crew set about rigging the ship for repair and started to plant some seed to sew some more food for the onward journey. It is here that the first sighting of the Kangaroo was made, describing it similar to a greyhound. The first sighting was looked upon like that of sighting a mermaid until Banks himself was lucky enough to see it the next day. The crew spent near six weeks here, interacting with the Aborigines, including a couple of days that could have turned nasty when the crew refused to hand over a turtle they had caught. Once the weather had improved the crew decided the risk to leaving was better than it had been for weeks and they resumed the journey back to England.
Gold Rush
In 1873 an Irishman, James Venture Mulligan led a mining expedition of over a hundred diggers to discover what became known as the Palmer River Goldfields. It was decided due to its easy access for shipping and the need to service the goldfields to establish a town, "Cook's Town" the same year and so Cooktown was born. The discovery of gold led to an amazing surge of inhabitants that the town saw a change in population from conception, to seven thousand the following year up to as much as thirty thousand ten years later. At the peak of the boom Cooktown could boast about being the second largest town in Queensland in the year 1884 with four banks and over twenty hotels. Most of the remaining building found in the main street of town was financed from the Palmer River gold. The old bank in town is still fitted out from the same style of the day back in the gold boom. Unfortunately as quick as the boom started it declined and Cooktown soon found itself in decline. With fires and cyclones taking a toll on the town, much of what was created during the boom is no longer with us. With only small scale tin and gold mining Cooktown saw its population fall below one thousand in the build up before World War Two.
WW2 to Modern Day Cooktown
World War Two saw Cooktown once again becoming an important town in the history of Queensland. A large airbase was constructed nearby and Cooktown once again became a thriving place with all the military activity. After the war however the population started to decline once again until modern times where the town can now support itself by offering services for shipping and local farming. Due to the fabulous location right next to the Daintree the area now also has a thriving tourist industry which will only get busier once the all season road is completed sometime in 2005.