Immortalise NQ history

I’VE said this before. If we want a film industry up here, our North Queensland area is full of untold stories from the early pioneers of the region.

The last people who knew them are dying.

I put a public challenge out to historians, writers and moviemakers to interview them to fill in the details of the stories of the early pioneers.

Just like Victoria had 20-40 years of films about their pioneer times and bushrangers, we also have 20-40 years and billions of dollars worth of pioneer and bushranger stories here to make, the most dynamic place in Australia outside the Victorian gold rushes.

But I am also interested in the future story of development of the region past Cairns, in greater Cape York, and to the west of Atherton.

Let’s hope our governments can get on board

Wayne Morellini, White Rock 1718: Hundreds of French colonists arrive in Louisiana; New Orleans founded.

1768: Captain James Cook departs from Plymouth, England, on his first voyage on board the Endeavour, bound for the Pacific Ocean.

1875: Captain Matthew Webb makes the first observed and unassisted swim across the English Channel in 21 hours and 45 minutes.

1894: Japanese scientist Shibasaburo Kitasato discovers infectious agent of the bubonic plague.

1990: UN security council authorises military action against Iraq.

Birthdays: Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible), first tsar of Russia 1530-1584); Sean Connery, Scottish actor (1930-); Jimmy Hannan (above) Australian entertainer, TV presenter (1934-2019), pictured.