92 The Burke Developmental Road’s golden trail.

Tracking the mining routes along the Burke Developmental Road.

BACK in the days of yesteryear the cry of gold would start a ‘rush’ and people, full of hope and anticipation, would head to the new goldfield. The well-to-do had wagons, carriages and horses, but the poor walked carrying their worldly possessions rolled up in a swag. Others did it even harder and pushed a wheelbarrow with supplies and mining equipment. Legend has it a bloke named Russian Jack pushed a wheelbarrow from the Palmer River in North Queensland to Hall’s Creek in the Kimberley.

The Hodgkinson Goldfields, northwest from Mareeba, became a natural extension of the Palmer and Groganville Goldfields when gold was discovered on the Hodgkinson River in 1874. But it was not only gold but other rich mineral strikes that attracted people looking for a better life; like at Chillagoe, where copper was discovered, mined and smelted from 1899 until 1942. There were no tracks in the wilderness, let alone roads, but undaunted the pioneer miners carved one as they rushed successive finds. Roadside grog shanties were located on strategic resting places, generally waterholes, while on the field, tent townships were quickly replaced by iron shacks if the find was a rich one.

THE WHEELBARROW WAY

THE northeast section of Burke Developmental Road (BDR) dates back to those heady gold days. The section from Mareeba to Chillagoe is known as the Wheelbarrow Way, and it commemorates a time when the nation was finding its foundations and roots. The road is sealed now, though to this day the pioneering spirit still prevails along much of its route. Chillagoe is 215km west of Cairns on the BDR which ends at Kowanyama, with the unsealed Normanton Road section of the BDR entering at Dunbar Station.

The BDR is largely ignored by Cape York Peninsula travellers, but there are five turn-offs that connect to the Peninsula Developmental Road. They offer exciting alternate routes going to the Cape – the road less-travelled. However, these routes are impossible early in the dry season as they traverse mostly lowland country, while the mighty Mitchell River is impossible to cross following the wet season. Check with the Mareeba and Cooktown Shire Councils if travelling before mid-june.

Mareeba is a good place to start your adventure and stock up, and the Mareeba Rodeo Grounds have free camping and ablution blocks. West from Mareeba the Wheelbarrow Way crosses the Great Dividing Range. It’s pretty scenic country, where rich farm fields are surrounded by hills and ranges. Further on is Mutchilba, which has fuel and basic food supplies, and then Dimbulah, a small township with fuel, shops, a hotel and a caravan park.

THE GOLDFIELD TRACK

THE Old Cooktown Crossing is located as you swing north on a dirt road from Dimbulah to Hodgkinson Goldfields, where it crosses the Mitchell River at Onkaparinga Station.

Beyond the river, the road turns west to the ruins of Groganville and east to the Mulligan Highway north of Mount Carbine. Karma Waters Station has campsites on the Mitchell River. There is a track from Groganville to Palmerville Station, though last time I was out that way it was closed due to wash-outs, and unless someone starts a new mining operation and brings a dozer in to repair the track it won’t be fixed anytime soon. There are active mines in the area, so keep out and respect the “No Entry” signs.

The many tracks that junction with the road are on private land. Several stations have successfully managed to have them closed to the public in an effort to thwart cattle thieves and to keep

THERE WERE NO TRACKS IN THE WILDERNESS, BUT MINERS CARVED ONE