Page:Northmost Australia volume 2.djvu/82



ITHIN nine months of the first " rush " the settlement of COOKTOWN and the new PALMER GOLDFIELD had made rapid strides. The record of Mulligan's " second " trip is chiefly valuable for the light it throws on the new activity, and only the concluding portion shows that he broke new ground. There were soon two roads from Cooktown to the Palmer, the first, the DRAY ROAD, or COWARD'S TRACK, being practicable for wheel traffic to within 15 miles of the goldfield, and the second, or DOUGLAS'S TRACK, "a good bridle track in fine weather." (SEE MAPS E AND G.) Both roads made for the heads of the NORMANBY, the dray road, up the westmost branch, which afterwards came to be named LAKE CREEK (after Captain Lake, of the A.U.S.N. Co.) and Douglas's Track crossing Cox CREEK (now called the EAST NORMANBY) and the WEST NORMANBY. (SEE MAP G.)

Mulligan left the Four-Mile Camp, Cooktown, on 1st May,