"Second published in 2012 by Boolarong Press"--Verso title page.
"The Cape York Peninsula is arguably the most exotic wilderness region in Australia. Its history is as colourful as its geography and as steamy as its climate. The era covered is from 1845 to 2003, but historian Lennie Wallace also tells us of early Chinese, Indonesian, Spanish and Portuguese mariners and of the many shipwrecks and daring rescues along its dangerous coastline"--Back cover.
Contents include: Spanish galleons and the Santa Barbara. Other visitors from the sea. Europeans living with tribal people. Narcisse Pellatier. William Bligh and the Bryants. Naval surveys. Wild white woman of Normanby. Jardine brothers. Residency transferred from Somerset to Thursday Island. William Hann. Mulligan finds payable gold on Palmer River. Graziers take sheep and cattle to goldfield. Cattle stations established. Pearling prospers but gold declines. Drought, depression and the dreaded cattle tick. Tin mining and meatworks operational. Nicholas and Rebecca Armbrust. Droving p27. Overland Telegraph Line and the RFDS p43. Postal services 1870s p54. Billy Beirnes, mailman. Sandalwood trade and pearl diving p63. Matt Carroll. Ion Idriess. Experiments with local 'Chicle'. Captain Banner. Beche de Mer, Mary Watson and Cyclone Mahina. From gold to tin mining and the nascent cattle industry p74. Harbord, Groganville, Quartzborough and Normanby fields. Ebagoolah, Starcke and Coen gold strikes. Tin at Rossville, Mount Romeo and Trevethan. Sawmills on the Bloomfield. Exotic Cooktown 1871-1901 p83.
Burns Philp, shipping and trading. Newspapers and newsmen. Louis, Arthur and Cecil Becke, blackbirder and bankers. Louis de Rougemont 'the greatest liar on Earth'. Entertainment. Customs evasion. Aborigines, missions and cattle stations p91. Lockhart River Aboriginal Co-op. The wealth of Weipa. Hopevale evacuated during war, missionaries interned. 'Protection' system. Labor versus the pastoral industry 1915 p105. No bids for Maitland Downs. American Archbold expedition studies flora and fauna. War 1939-1945 p112. John Barry and Sam Elliott. Airstrip at Iron Range. Homebrew. A new 'island' on the Nassau River. Civilians evacuated from Wenlock. Coen Airstrip. U.S. and Australian bases at Cooktown. Suspected espionage. Crocodiles p125. Henry Hanush. Raymond family. Cattle pioneers and the Archer Report p133. Captain Appleby tries to survey wartime road. Cook Shire in difficulties. A road from Cooktown to Daintree p142. U.S. investment on cattle properties. The Great Blockade and wilderness conservation p152. Slump in cattle prices. Increasing influence of national parks. Decline in cattle numbers and closure of meatworks. Optimistic start to Heathlands. Farming at Lakeland. Lakeland blockade 1995.