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in giving reasons or causes for them. This is not surprising given the complexity of some of
the causal processes involved, and the fact that Oriners was primarily a workplace rather
than a long-term residential site for those being interviewed. 9 A working synthesis of local
knowledge is made possible by focusing on environmental description, on complementary
and/or shared experiences, and on physical causal processes that may not be complete or
holistic, but which are less likely to be a basis for controversy or disagreement than those
emerging from some of the conflicting values and perspectives identified by Strang. In
searching for a working synthesis of local knowledge, this project gathers information useful
for future management as well as identifying and assisting in the ongoing creation of an area
of common ground.
1.6 History of Oriners Station
1.6.1 The pre-colonial period
As noted previously, the contemporary boundaries of Oriners incorporate country associated
with the Olkol people of central Cape York. The wide variation in seasonal conditions at
Oriners suggests that traditional occupation was likely to have been seasonal, in keeping with
the broader seasonal patterns of residence noted for Indigenous groups elsewhere (Keen
2003). Strang cites a comment from Kowanyama elder Colin Lawrence:
...them old people moved in the wet time, moved right up here somewhere. On the ridge
there. They knew when the flood was up - creek start running. They knew where the high
ground was (Colin Lawrence 1992).
(Strang 1997: 15)
Early colonial violence in this area is largely undocumented, but is likely to have been severe
in the later decades of the 1800s and into the 1900s (Sharp 1974[1952]; Strang 1997).
Sharp‟s description of a particularly bloody encounter involving the Jardine brothers, which
became known as the Battle of Mitchell River, describes Indigenous people dying in volleys of
gunfire in an incident that early maps suggest took place northeast of the Alice-Mitchell
junction (Strang 1997:17). Such violence pushed the surviving resident population out of some
areas and into others, then on to settlements and missions. Strang describes that the
important (now deceased) Kunjen elder Lefty Yam knew that his ancestors had come from the
Coleman River area, but had sought refuge from the violence on Koolatah Station. They had
begun stockwork on the station, remaining there even after the mission was well established,
and the Yam family now associate themselves with country in the Mitchell catchment. The
dispersal of Olkol and Kunjen people to Kowanyama mission, and particularly the Yam family
to Koolatah Station, was to be important in the subsequent decades.
1.6.2 The Hughes Family
The Hughes family is one of the most prominent pastoral „dynasties‟ in the region. They first
appeared in this part of the Mitchell catchment in 1912, when Maddock Hughes and his
brothers (including Cuthbert Hughes) occupied the Koolatah block after some time working at
Highbury (Strang 1997: 51). 10 Koolatah was identified by colonial authorities as vacant at the
time. There were a significant number of Indigenous residents at Koolatah during this period,
with the Yam family being the most prominent, and their labour was crucial to building the
station. Four brothers from the Hughes family were involved in the establishment of Koolatah
Station – Lucas, Cuthbert, Malcolm, and Maddock. Cuthbert remained on the property for over
9 Unfortunately Nugget Finch, the main non-Indigenous cattleman who did reside in the area for over
30 years, died prior to the commencement of this study. His wife Pam was made aware of this
research but did not wish to be involved.
10 Strang obtains some of her material about the Hughes family from an unpublished manuscript
produced by a member of the family Hughes, R. (1989). Family album of Herbert Maddock and Laura
Hughes: their forebears, descendants and relations. Southport, Queensland..
Working Knowledge at Oriners Station, Cape York
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