Gold  Australia and  gold rush prospecting adventures. This article is about the Palmer River Gold Australia rush and attempts to briefly describe some of the aspects of this gold region and some of the hardships that the early gold prospecting miners had to face, just to exist in these remote gold fields. The region is perfect for 4wd australia adventures and a 4wd rental of this type is a awesome experience.

In 1874 James Venture Mulligan, an irish migrant who had already undertaken gold exploration and prospecting in Australia other than the north east, set his sights on the unexplored region to the west and north of where the city of Cairns now stands. The total area he explored totalled over some one thousand eight hundred square kilometres and this gold exploration he undertook, on horseback and foot and without 4wd vehicles, in some of the most remote and inhospitable country Australia has to offer, led to the discovery of some of the richest gold fields in australian history and started a major gold rush to the north of the country.

After much exploring and prospecting, Gold was found in "payable quantities" in the the Palmer River area, located in the North Eastern region of Australia, and from late 1873 this became one of the greatest gold rushes of Australia. Although it was mainly alluvial gold that was found here there were some rich veins also discovered and mined. Remnants of these activities can still be seen today. but they can only be undertaken by 4wd. Some prospecting still occurs today, and gold is still being found at the Palmer River gold fields.

The early gold prospectors and miners had to overcome many extreme hardships working and living in the new gold australia fields, apart from just the hostile nature of the country itself. During the dry season there was often no water and many early prospectors simply died of thirst or hunger. Numerous stories are recalled of miners and prospectors coming across colleagues who had died on the track, to find them still with gold in their possessions. A further, and often more major concern, were the local inigenous tribes.

The aboriginals had been living on the land in this region for thousands of years and they naturally rebelled as they saw their resources (fish, kangaroos and other native animals and birds) being killed by the new whites. Many aboriginals thought that a man on horseback was one animal, and were stunned when the rider dismounted. Unfortunately, for both the aboriginals and the newly arrived whites, there were many reprisals and the aboriginals not only attached gold miners and prospectors as they sat by the side of a creek panning in the gold fields but in many recorded cases also cooked and ate them. Prospectors and adventurers would sometimes come across old camps with the cooked and partly eaten remains of humans. The White's retalliation took the form of shooting the blacks and in many instances in the hundreds at a time. One famous - or infamous - example is the "Massacre at Battle Camp".

The onset of this new gold rush to the gold fields of the North East brought thousands o people hoping to strike it rich and with it came civilization. The town of Cooks Town (as it was orginally called prior to the gold rush) became known as Cooktown and this was the main port in the Far North, remembering that Cairns and Post Douglas did not exist in the mid to late 1870's. So Cooktown became a bustling port and over a period of 5 years over twenty five thousand Chinese came to the gold fields of the Palmer River region. They were masters at finding alluvial gold and would often take over claims that a white prospector had walked away from and return substantial gold finds.

The aboriginals are reputed to have said that they preferred the chinese to the whites as the "flesh tasted better". A trick the aboriginals used with the chines was, upon wounding them and capturing them, break their legs and then tie them to a treee with their pigtails while they watched ther companions being cooked and eaten, knowing it was their turn next. A very grizzly end to anyone. Such was the nature of the new gold fields and living in them.

Many other towns sprang up to cater for the gold rush of the gold fields in and around the Palmer River. Maytown, Thornborough and Palmersville, to name a few, and now most that remains of these towns are graveyards, dust and a few old ruins. If you are into 4wd adventure we highly reccomend you consider a 4wd rental using one of our 4wd Rental vehicles, and the Hummer is a very popular choice for these types of trips.

If you are interested in the history of this region there are some excellent books available and they do make great reading:- May we suggest:

• River of Gold,
• Chasing The Rainbow, Glenville Pike
• Queen Of The North, Glenville Pike

• Download The Complete Article FREE - The Palmer River Gold fields.