CHAPTER XCIV 

 JOHN DICKIE, 1887-1920 



AN ORIGINAL METHOD OF DEALING WITH THE NATIVES. DICK TAKES PART IN DIS- 

 COVERY OF BOWDEN MINERAL FIELD, 1887. TIN PROSPECTING IN CARRON RANGE. 

 DISCOVERY OF HAMILTON GOLDFIELD. AURIFEROUS REEFS AT EBAGOOLAH, 

 VIOLETVILLE AND YARRADEN AND BETWEEN HOLROYD AND COLEMAN RIVERS. 

 AURIFEROUS REEFS AT PHILP GOLDFIELD AND ON POTALLAH CREEK. THE SOUTH 

 COEN. DEPREDATIONS BY NATIVES. DELAYED FIVE WEEKS BY WET SEASON. 

 DISCOVERY OF ANTIMONY. PROSPECTING MC!LWRAITH, JANET AND MACROSSAN 

 RANGES. HAYS CREEK GOLD. LATER TRAVELS. His DEATH IN 1920. 



NO prospector since Mulligan has done so much for the 

 Cape York Peninsula as JOHN DICKIE. Unfortunately, 

 he has written very little, and only a meagre account 

 of his work can be compiled from his scanty reports and 

 from references in official publications. I am indebted for some 

 information to an unpublished article by the late James Dick. 



Born about 1848, Dickie followed the avocation of a miner, but 

 the fascination of exploration gradually came more and more to 

 interrupt the steady pursuit of his calling. His earnings were 

 always devoted (sometimes with the addition of Government 

 funds, and sometimes with a limited private " backing ") to 

 prospecting ventures. His discoveries have added considerably 

 to the natural resources of the State and led some individuals to 

 wealth, but have been of little material benefit to himself. 



Dickie generally prospected alone, and for the most part 

 travelled on foot. Bushman enough to find his way, he was 

 unfortunately no adept in recording his experiences and he troubled 

 himself little about maps. Consequently, when he returned 

 from a trip he had little information to give, although he could, 

 if necessary, lead others to the scene of his labours. In a few 

 instances he was accompanied by mates who used maps and whose 

 writings added something to the sum of geographical knowledge. 



His habit of lonely wandering necessarily exposed him to 

 danger from the BLACKS, with whom, however, he rarely came into 

 bodily collision. In one instance he owed his escape to a ruse. 

 Travelling from Western Australia to Queensland, he was making 

 for a gap in a range, when he observed a large number of natives 

 keeping pace with him on the heights right and left of his course. 

 When at length he halted after dark near the gap, he hung balls 



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