THE MINERS RIGHT
February 2010
Next meeting 13th of Sept (AGM) at Mareeba Leagues Club.
THE LATEST NQMA NEWS
Felicity Jack - October 09
In the early 1900's I was intrigued to find, marked on a map of Cape York Peninsula produced in 1989 by the Australian National Geographic Magazine, a cairn that had been erected to my great-grandfather, Robert Logan Jack. Great-grandfather was Queenslands Government Geologist from 1877, when he arrived in Townsville from Scotland, until he resigned in London in 1900 where he was Queensland Commissioner at the greater London Exhibition.
He resigned to explore for minerals in Korea and China, but returned to Australia in 1904 and continued to work in Queensland as a consulting geologist. .
I had a slight knowledge of Robert Logan Jack's career, and I certainly did know that his work remains highly respected in North Queensland, where his maps and reports are still used by miners searching for mineral deposits.
In 1895 Logan Jack had placed a trig point on the road between Laura and Maytown. Ninety years later when members of the Palmer River Preservation Society decided to erect a Cairn on the spot, The track was inaccessible in places. They had to remake sections of what had formerly been the old Cobb & Co Coach road.
There are still sections of the road where the chisel marks of the road makers can still be seen. A permanent survey marker was installed on behalf of the Queensland Government Q150 celebrations, for which concrete and water had to be transported.
Ralph Delacey of the North Queensland Miners Association also installed a plaque to commemorate my own visit to the site
Thankyou to everyone who made this a trip of a lifetime. The enthusiasm and generosity of everyone I met was overwhelming. I'm sure this will not be the last time I visit North Queensland
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