Early Timber-getters

Landed in Papua About 1885

BY D. H. OSBORNE, ROSSEL IS., PAPUA

YOUR account of a party of gold seekers going to the Fly River, Western Papua, in 1875, reminds me of how a party of timber-getters went to Papua, some ten years later.

They were located on the Daintree River, North Queensland, in 1885 or 1886, and financed by Blair & Co., timber merchants, of Melbourne. The cedar cut out, and they decided to try the south coast of Papua. The leader’s name was Page; and, as far as I remember, others of the party were Dan Henderson, Jack Peterkin, Tom Green, Sweaney, and several South Seas islanders, including Harry Niue and Charlie Ware.

They left Cooktown in two boats. One must have been a fair size, because they took a team of working bullocks with them, to haul timber. On the way across, the smaller boat was in tow. She capsized in a squall, some time after noon. Dan Henderson and two islanders were on board at the time. Dan and one man swam, and were picked up; the other was drowned. He was trapped below.

They sent some timber to Melbourne, from Papua. The building boom had burst, and the timber market was de pressed. They returned, after a short time, to North Queensland, and followed tin-mining. Henderson and Peterkin were in the party of prospectors who found Mount Spurgeon, in the Cairns hinterland.

Tom Green died on Sudest Island years later. Page went south. Sweaney was the bullock driver. He used to say the bul locks had to tunnel through the tall grass and their hoofs would melt if the bullocks were left in the sun any length of time.

They must have landed west of Port Moresby, because they brought back bows and arrows and twine-meshed dilly-bags, also some coconut oil.

There was no government in the coun try at the time. They met some missionaries. One South Sea islander, Charlie Ware, met some of his friends in the Mission, and joined them.

They were the first men to get Winchester rifles in the north. Previously, the firearms were all single-shot, mostly Sniders. The Queensland police were armed with the Snider. They were clumsy weapons, with a bore about the size of a 12 gauge shot-gun. The natives were friendly. They did not go far inland.