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about forest and think of something different. But to people at Kowanyama it was
considered forest because of the messmates and the ironwoods. The ironwoods out here
grow much healthier and straighter and of course the messmate trees give that forest sort
of look too. When you look through there you see all the straight trunk trees and that‟s how
they, the people, thought about top end forest country.
Marcus Barber: Can you remember what the responses were of the men you were with?
Viv Sinnamon: Yeah Timmy Malachi, who lives in Mareeba now, is one we had coming with
us. I can remember coming around, you know the knoll area, where there‟s a bit of rock?
The first bit of rock you can see on the road [coming into Oriners]. We came round the
corner of that swamp and hit that side of that hill and he‟d never been there, never seen it,
and he was amazed you know? It was so different, we were right on the edge of the upland
country so it‟s obviously different, much older landscape and stuff. It‟s got rock, and of
course this country has the stories about stone knives and things. There were no stone
knives; it‟s all bones and shell technology down in the delta. So traditionally, it‟s altogether
a very different place.
Recollections from others who know the Oriners area note differences in water flows, soils,
plants, and fire management regimes:
It‟s all sand ridge country. [and] open swamps. In the wet season, it‟s real boggy. Like all
them high country, there‟s plenty of water. Just living in water. But there‟s plenty to eat
there, we‟d never starve. Like fish, and pigs. We were happy [working there], because we
were doing our job.
Philip Port
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This country is no good when the first lot of storms hit. Boggy. Then you get cattle, brumby,
wild horses. They look for higher ground. They come right up here, right up near the
homestead too.
Philip Yam
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Marcus Barber: Is that country the same as here, or is it a bit different?
Edwin David: Oh, just very, very different country. See there‟s a lot of creeks and that eh?
Marcus Barber: What about the plants and trees, are they different?
Edwin David: Yeah, different plants, different trees. And too many creeks there.
Marcus Barber: What about the soil?
Edwin David: The soil is different from here, that‟s all sand ridges eh?
Marcus Barber: What happens when it gets wet?
Edwin David: It gets very boggy.
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Marcus Barber: What is the same and different about Oriners and Koolatah?
Cecil Hughes: The Eight Mile is a bit of good cattle country, on the Eight Mile. And then the
Crosbie. But there‟s a lot of very poor country in between. It‟s just sand ridges, sandy
country.
Marcus Barber: Is the water and the rain there similar to Koolatah?
Cecil Hughes: It‟s in the same band there. There‟s good water out there down the Eight
Mile and [on the] Crosbie there‟s big lagoons. The water is very good there. The best of the
country is along the creek frontages. Once you go off that, the sand ridge country is very
Working Knowledge at Oriners Station, Cape York
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