Deighton River Expedition

A call was received from Welcome Station in mid-January stating that a bush fire had just burnt through the eastern side of the property.  This call was promptly answered by the intrepid adventurers, Duncan, Robert and myself.  We quickly organized a trip, packed up our gear and together drove the three hours up to Laura and then out to the Station to explore the area about the Deighton River.  It had previously been noted on an old geological map where the position of the track to the Palmer River Goldfield, the Douglas Track (also known as the Hells Gate Track) headed across from Cooktown to the Deighton River and beyond.

With station manager and fellow history buff, Bruce Burns and local Shire Councillor, Allan Wilson who also has an interest in the district heritage accompanying us, we headed across the stricken and grassless property to the Upper Deighton area.  Our party drove as far as practical before unloading a couple of four-wheelers and doubling-up, we headed up along the river.  With maps, aerial photos and GPS, we located the old crossing of the Deighton which traverse over an island in the river.  After crossing we soon found a blazed iron wood tree on a nice high flat of several acres which would have made a very convenient camping ground and then headed up past the supposed location of Owen's Public House.

By way of a small saddle, we crossed over a low dividing ridge that ran down to the river bank and of which was the most obvious pathway for the Track.  We soon found a deeply compacted pack track about a metre and half wide and approximately ten centimetres deep heading across the hill slopes above the river for several hundred metres towards the hills.  We followed the remnants of the Track towards a ridge which we thought was the most obvious place where it would climb into the hills.  After we lost all trace of the path, we returned to look for signs of the old pub site but to no avail.  All that was found after an hour or so searching over the area with metal-detectors was an old stone axe and several sugarbag trees.  No metal artefacts at all, not even a piece of broken glass was found.  We then crossed the river to the area we believed should have been the site of Christies Camp but found no evidence of it.

After nearly 140 years, little trace is left of the tens of thousands of men and pack horses who would have camped at this crossing on their way to the great gold rush.  Kathy (Bruce's better half) then joined our party for a late lunch by the river and several of us risked the crocodile hazard and cooled off in one of the water holes before heading back across the station to the homestead.  It was good to settle down with a cold drink after a rather disappointing day but an interesting one all the same.

We had better luck the next day when we hiked five kilometres up along the Little Laura River on the old dray road to Palmerville and found the iron work remains of an old dray.  What happened here to the dray will always be a mystery.  A topic which was discuss over a cup of coffee and biscuit with the local publican before we said goodbye to Bruce, Kathy and Allan and headed towards home.  The trip ended with a quick look about the Crocodile cattle yards where we found some erosion which we supposed was all that remained of the Douglas Track where it crossed the Laura River and made its way towards Quartz Creek and on up past Hells Gate.

This latest trip into Welcome Station did not accomplish all we set out to do, namely to find some remnants of the old Owen's Public House and Christies Camp but it was still good to catch up with the folk there and to enjoy another weekend exploring our northern heritage.


The flat about Owen's pub site

    

Water hole in the Deighton