GHOSTLY APPARITIONS AT THE OLD HERRIES HOSPITAL – IS CAIRNS OLDEST BUILDING HAUNTED?

In the late 1800s, Cooktown was a relatively prosperous town, thanks to its proximity to the goldfields of the Palmer River area. A gold rush was in full swing, and Cooktown was the nearest port, the nearest big town. A fair slice of the money made on the goldfields found its way to Cooktown, to the great benefit of the shopkeepers, publicans and merchants who had set up in this remote corner of far north Queensland.

Margaret Timony had her millinery shop on the corner of Charlotte and Walker Streets, in a building with a wedge-shaped front, affording entry from both streets. Business was good, with a steady passing trade and plenty of mail order customers out bush, whom she promised to treat equally well as her town clientele.

That building still stands, but not in Cooktown. It was shipped to Cairns in the 1920s, erected in McLeod Street, opposite the cemetery, and went on to be Herries Hospital. It’s been empty and virtually derelict for many years, clad in black plastic to keep the elements out. The heritage listed building is now being restored by John Westwood, who owns a motel next door. He’s restored a few old buildings in his time, and intends to make his home in this one.

His future home may already have at least one occupant. A ghost.

Bev Hewson, who manages the motel, has seen an apparition in the old house. So too has at least one motel guest. And builders working on the restoration have had some odd experiences they can’t explain. The apparition is said to be the figure of a woman, wearing old fashioned clothes, with an indistinct face. She’s given at least one observer a fright, but doesn’t appear to be threatening. She’s just a quiet presence who seems to be keeping an eye on the place.

LISTEN Click on the red arrow to hear Bev describe the ghostly apparition

LISTEN Click on the red arrow to hear John Westwood talk about the restoration

Cairns artist Julie McEnerny has long been fascinated by the old Herries Hospital building, and has portrayed it in her artwork. And she’s had a look at the story of the place, and the people who lived and worked in it. So who is the ghost? Margaret Timony, or the matron who ran Herries Hospital? LISTEN Click on the red arrow to hear Julie tell the story

More about Julie McEnerny at http://www.juliemcenerny.com.au/

More on the Herries Hospital story at  https://heritage-register.ehp.qld.gov.au/placeDetail.html?siteId=16873

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THE JAMES COOK LANDING RE-ENACTMENT 2013 – COOKTOWN FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND

RE-ENACTMENT CAST TAKE A BOW

n June of 1770, the British vessel HMS Endeavour was sailing along the far north Queensland coast. Captain James Cook and his crew had travelled far since leaving England in August 1768. Their luck was not with them this day and the Endeavour struck a reef north of Cape Tribulation. Many place names in the area derive from this story: Mount Sorrow, Endeavour Reef, and Cape Tribulation.

Cook and his crew nursed the Endeavour up the coast to an inviting river mouth and beached the ship at what is now Cooktown. Repairs were made, and then they waited for favourable weather in which to set sail for England. In all, the Englishmen stayed almost seven weeks at Cooktown. The local indigenous people, the Guugu Yimithirr, had seen them coming and kept their distance, but they eventually made contact with these strange, pale visitors. There was curiosity on both sides of the encounter, conflict, and the first act of reconciliation between indigenous Australians and Europeans. And it’s the first time the word “kangaroo” entered the English language.Botanist Joseph Banks recorded it in his diary, having asked the name of a local creature that baffled the Englishmen. Gangurru is the Guugu Yimithirr word for “grey kangaroo”.

Every June since 1960, on the Queen’s Birthday weekend, the people of Cooktown re-enact the events of 1770. The Queen saw it herself in 1970, during the Cook bicentennial. The event is the centre-piece of the annual Cooktown Discovery Festival http://www.cooktowndiscoveryfestival.com.au/

The Cook landing re-enactment has changed considerably in its 54 years. It’s a faithful telling of Cook’s own account, recorded in his journals, and has more recently included an indigenous perspective, drawn from Guugu Yimithirr oral history. The result is an engaging and informative spectacle, complete with costumes, musket fire and an enormous kangaroo. And it takes place right where the events depicted really occured, 243 years ago.

More about Cooktown http://www.tourismcapeyork.com/

Read about the James Cook Museum in Cooktown http://www.nationaltrust.org.au/qld/james-cook-museum

LISTEN Click on the red arrow to hear highlights of the 54th re-enactment of the Cook landing

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IF THE DEAD COULD SPEAK – FNQ HISTORY AS HEARD IN THE COOKTOWN CEMETERY

Cooktown is one of my favourite far north Queensland towns. It sits on the banks of the Endeavour River, about a four hour drive from Cairns on the now sealed all the way Mulligan Highway. The town began as a port for the Palmer River gold rush in the 1870s. But it was first seen by Europeans a century earlier, when James Cook and the crew of the Endeavour sought refuge here after damaging their ship on a reef.

There’s plenty to see and do in Cooktown, and the rich history of the region is very accessible to visitors. The local historical society is a treasure-house of information, and each year the town re-enacts the Cook landing and the first interactions between Europeans and the local indigenous people.

When you visit Cooktown, make sure you take a wander through the local cemetery. Local tour companies will show you through and tell you stories of the people buried there. You’ll learn about the mysterious disappearance of a French naval vessel, the story of pioneer Mary Watson, and the still baffling tale of the Normanby woman – a fair-skinned and probably Scandinavian woman who lived with Aborigines at Normanby River in the 1880s.

LISTEN Click on the red arrow to hear Wayne Brennan from Cooktown Tours guide us through the Cooktown Cemetery.

More about Cooktown Tours at http://www.cooktowntours.com.au/Cooktown_Tours.html

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