654 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



Mr. Embley in 1897, and he commenced to make use of the water- 

 way, it having been ascertained that boats could come up from the 

 sea to a point only 1 1 miles from York Downs. The missionaries 

 of Weipa also made free use of the river. 



MISSION RIVER 



YORK DOWNS cattle station is situated on MYALL CREEK, which 

 heads only a few miles east of Kurracoo Creek, and some 13 miles 

 above (south-south-east of) the station. (SEE MAPS B AND D.) 

 Mr. Embley had practically mapped it by the end of 1885, while 

 running the eastern and western boundary-lines of " York Downs 

 No. I and No. 2 " blocks, and had located it again in the same 

 year n and 14 miles below the station in running the boundary 

 between York Downs " Occupation License " and " Kooloo " 

 block. Here the creek turns from a north-north-westerly to a 

 practically westerly course, and in 9 miles to the west Mr. Embley 

 again, in the same year, cut it on the " Thirty-mile Line " (now 

 the march between Kooloo and the Aboriginal Reserve). Prob- 

 ably the tidal water reaches nearly up to this boundary. At all 

 events, the river becomes an estuary or arm of the sea only 

 13 miles to the west. I have no doubt that long before 1895 

 Mr. Embley knew all about its course, although he had only 

 surveyed the portion between the estuary and the Thirty-mile 

 Line in 1897. 



It appears, however, according to the historian of Mapoon, 1 

 that up to 1895, Myall Creek was believed to merge into the 

 Pennefather River, which enters the Gulf in 12 15' S. lat., or 

 into PINE (now NOMENADE) CREEK, which enters the Gulf in 

 12 30' S. lat., the northmost limit of Albatross Bay. 



In discussing the site selected for Weipa Station with Hey, 

 Douglas objected that if the river was really the Pine River, he 

 himself knew, from a visit four years previously, that the mouth 

 of that river had not water enough even for small boats. This 

 objection could only be met by a survey of the river below the 

 proposed site of the out-station. 



Hey accordingly chartered a boat and spent a week in exploring 

 the rivers entering Albatross Bay. Pine Creek was soon ascertained 

 to be a creek of no importance, coming from the north, and unfit 

 even for small boats. From the mouth of Pine Creek he coasted 

 the Bay for 10 miles to east-south-east and found himself at KERR 

 POINT, which was seen to divide two estuaries. Sailing eastward 

 up the NORTHERN ESTUARY, he had soundings of 15 to 20 feet for 

 the first 10 miles, and of 12 feet for some distance higher up. ' To 

 his surprise, he recognised it as the CONTINUATION OF MYALL 

 CREEK, on which York Downs Station stands." I cannot suppose 



1 The Miracle of Mapoon, p. 201. 



