Palmer River was one of Australia's major gold rush locations. William Hann and geologist Norman Taylor found gold in a sandy bed of the river in 1872. The tiny settlement we see today is all that remains of one of Queensland's most famous goldmining towns. The main settlement of the gold field was Maytown, replacing Palmerville after some months. The settlement began as a camp in 1873, then grew into a town which served as the administration centre for the former Hann Local Government Area. The settlements of Byerstown and Idatown were also established along the river. Although most of the surface gold has long since been prospected, there remain a handful of deeper mine projects in the area.
Location: 122 km south west of Cooktown; 54km north north west of Mareeba.
Places of interest: Desailly Range; Palmer River; Palmer River Roadhouse; locality of Lakeland; Bob's Lookout; goldmining relics; Maytown former mining settlement
Palmer Goldfield Resources Reserve is closed throughout the wet season every year from 1 December, reopening on Good Friday roads into and on the park become impassable for extended periods and are closed to public access. These dates may vary depending on weather and road conditions, and roads may also be closed after heavy rain.
Brief history: The Palmer River goldrush began when William Hann who, while exploring the interior of Cape York Peninsula in 1872, noticed evidence of gold in one of the rivers he crossed. The following year, prospector James Venture Mulligan led a party to the river and returned with 102 ounces. He received 1000 pound reward and his discovery sparked an influx of around 17,000 miners that was the catalyst to the establishment of the ports of Cairns, Cooktown and Port Douglas. Many of the miners were Chinese, and a bitter series of battles ensued between the Macao and Canton Chinese. Like similar feuds between members of different Chinese societies on the Californian Goldfields in Chinatowns across the US, they became known as the Tong Wars.
Origin of name: the name is taken from the Palmer River, which was named by explorer William Hann after the Queensland Chief Secretary, Arthur Palmer.
The headwaters of the Palmer River rise in the Sussex Range, part of the Great Dividing Range southwest of Cooktown. The river is formed by the confluence of the Prospect Creek and Campbell Creek, near Palmer River Roadhouse, south of Lakeland. The Palmer River flows west across the Cape York Peninsula towards the Gulf of Carpentaria joined by 29 tributaries including the South Palmer River, Little Palmer River and North Palmer River, before reaching its confluence with the Mitchell River northeast of Staaten River National Park.
