MISSIONARY EXPLORATIONS 683 



It appears that Mr. Embley, who in course of time acquired 

 an interest in York Downs Station, had reported to Mr. Douglas 

 early in December, 1895, that he had TAKEN SUPPLIES FOR THE STATION 

 FROM THE WEST COAST in a cutter drawing 3 feet of water by way 

 of a river emptying into the large bay situated between Duyfken 

 Point and Pera Head. 1 Mr. F. C. Urquhart had seen the mouth 

 of the river six years before. The river was, in fact, the one on 

 which " WEIPA " was subsequently to be built. 



The river (the EMBLEY) on which " Weipa " was to be built 

 was SUPPOSED by Hey TO BE THE PINE RIVER (NOMENADE CREEK), 

 the existence of the intervening Mission River being then unknown. 

 Douglas, who arrived at Mapoon shortly afterwards (say October, 

 1895), had visited the mouth of the Pine River four years earlier, 

 and now objected to the proposed new station that if it was really 

 on that river, the shallow bar would render it inaccessible by water. 

 To solve the doubt thus raised, HEY chartered a boat and spent a 

 week in exploration, his first excursion, to the PINE RIVER, con- 

 firming Douglas' objection. Thereupon he took the boat about 

 10 miles to the south-east, and rounding Andoomajattie Point, 

 entered the mouth of " a large river with a big native camp near it," 

 and sailed up the river for 1 5 or 20 miles. 



" To his surprise, he recognised it as the continuation of the MYALL CREEK on 

 which YORK DOWNS stands, and which was supposed to run into the PENNEFATHEK 

 or COEN RIVER * to the north. As no white man had ever been up it before s and it 

 was not on the map, he called it the Mission River. Sailing down the stream again, 

 and then turning south, he found an estuary, which soon divided into two rivers. 

 He followed the main stream, HEY RIVER, first, but finding that it led him too far 

 south, he turned after following it for about 3 miles. The other proved to be the 

 river on which he had fixed the site for the new Weipa Station. He reported his 

 discoveries to Mr. Douglas, who immediately sailed for Mapoon with the Inspector 

 of Police, and picking up Hey there, went on to view the newly opened up territory. 

 . . . Mr. Dougks named the BAY into which the rivers flowed after the 'Albatross? 

 He adopted the name Hey had given to the first, the MISSION RIVER. The main stream 

 of the two to the south, he called the HEY and the tributary the EMBLEY." 4 



" Just after the ' Albatross ' reached MAPOON again," continues 

 Arthur Ward, " two other gentlemen arrived, who had travelled 

 overland from Cooktown, inspecting the police and telegraph 

 stations on the way. They had done the last 45 miles in the Mapoon 

 whale-boat, which had been sent up the BATAVIA to meet them^ 



1 " Albatross Bay and the Embley and Hey Rivers," by F. C. Urquhart, Inspector 

 of Police, Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland, Qth May, 1896. 

 The Pennefather is not the Coen. 



8 The Brothers Jardine's Camp 63 was probably on the head ot Myall Creek, but 

 they did not suspect that the creek was of importance. 



* The Miracle of Mapoon, p. 201. The MISSION RIVER, perhaps, should have 

 retained the name of MYALL, by which its head (on which was YORK DOWNS Cattle 

 Station) was known before Hey's visit. The EMBLEY appears to be the " MAIN STREAM " 

 and not the Hey, as th? former is navigable by boats for fifteen or twenty miles, while 

 the latter, as shown on the 4-mile map quite correctly, Mr. A. Meston informs me is 

 only navigable for twelve miles, when it runs out into a number of insignificant 

 water-courses. 



