River of Gold

by Hector Holthouse

Having just visited the Palmer River Goldfields, this book gives a vivid description of the incredible trials and tribulations endured by the aboriginal tribes, Europeans and Chinese during the short ten years of this famulous alluvial find. Written in 1967 the autenticity of some of the personal recollections, though horrendous, may be difficult to confirm.

217 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[Ruth Bonetti]

This book interests me as my great-grandfather was bank manager at Cooktown during the gold rush. On 3 September 1873 a short hand-written notice was nailed to the bark wall of a mining warden's office in north Queensland. It started the Palmer gold rush; 35,000 men trekked through cannibal country, through jungle, across treacherous rivers to seek their fortunes.
This is a well researched book that avoids the historical tome pitfall with lively characters, dialogue and anecdotes.

[Judy]

Okay finished it. After having to take a break to research the prevalence of cannibalism in Australia. I was having difficulty reconciling my limited knowledge of Australian history with the assertion of dramatically widespread cannibalism by the native people. Google to the fore, and I tracked down quite a number of research papers on the subject and yes like virtually every country and culture, cannibalism has existed at one time. It would also appear that the incidents cited in this book are vastly inflated and the not restricted to the native people, but the starving diggers it appears may have resorted to the same and laid the blame on the "blacks".
As I mentioned in comments while reading, I did have to read this ever mindful of the time it was written. 1967 and filter the language used accordingly. It is a book of prejudice on so many levels, to the native occupiers who were starved out and attacked in retaliation, toward any female referred to during the book and to the "yellow hoard" of greedy "chinks"
The second to last chapter gave me a chance to realise that our current immigration struggles stem from the very beginning of colonisation and how as today policy is driven by the invested parties who use the media to manipulate public opinion, and politicians driven by a burning desire to ensure their continuation in office.
I did think over the rating I gave the book. I am glad I read it and I may follow up with the book written about the area I live in. It is brutal, violent, talks about terrible times and doesn't leave you feeling particularly fond of the human race at times. However I have learnt a great deal about the northern part of Queensland in the late 1800s and have so much more to learn.
I would recommend reading it, provided you are vigilant that it is a book of its decade- Australia in 1967 was still 10 years away from the referendum that gave our original people the right to vote and be recognised as people.........still awaiting a mention in the constitution though to this day.

[Carolyn McDonald]

Based on documentary evidence from the period, this is a really interesting description of the places and events during the Palmer River gold rush in FNQ. The harshness of life during these times for everyone is almost beyond belief, and yet is part of the tapestry of our history. A fascinating read.

[Mel Curtis]

This is a great book if you want to learn some of Australia's interesting history. Was really interesting for me as I live in Far North Queensland so this book is close to home.

[Elissa]

I grew up in Cairns so I simply enjoyed acquiring some local history

[Steve Jones]

Enjoyed. I'd like to revisit the Cooktown area after reading and checkout some of the sites referenced.

[Trudy Pomerantz]

Fascinating history of the area where I grew up. From my genealogy research, my family arrived in the area at about the time of these gold rushes though I believe they stayed further south.