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Christie Palmerston + Pompo Side View
Christie Palmerston + Pompo Side View

Photographs supplied by Diane Watson

A statue commemorates explorer Christie Palmerston and his Aboriginal guide, Pompo.

In 1882, a prospector-bushman Christie Palmerston with Pompo and four other Aboriginals walked 100 kilometres from Mourilyan Harbour, Innisfail (then Geraldton) to the mining town of Herberton in 12 days. Pompo accompanied Palmerston for most of his exploration. When Pompo died at Herberton in 1882, Palmerston was deeply grieved, and had a tombstone erected on his grave.

Location

Address:Main Street, Lions Park, Millaa Millaa, 4886
State:QLD
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -17.511389
Long: 145.614025
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Sculpture
Monument Theme:People
Sub-Theme:Exploration

Dedication

Front Inscription

Christie Palmerston & Pompo

Explorers of the Rainforest

Christie Palmerston in 1882 was the first European to find and mark a feasible track through 90km of continuous rainforest between Herberton and what is now Innisfail. The present Palmerston Highway named in his honour, closely follows his original track. He was the first European to scale Mount Bartle Frere and with others to find payable gold on the Upper Russell River in 1886. He did several earlier exploratory trips through virgin rainforest country in Nth Qld including marking of a track from the Hodginkinson Goldfields to the coast near Port Douglas and searching the mountains behind Cairns for a possible rail route to the Tableland.

He was accompanied as a close companion for over five years by an Aboriginal boy in his teens whom he called Pompo. Palmerston had an exceptional ability not only to find his way through rainforest but also to work with the rainforest Aborigines. His writings on this subject have proved to be as valuable to future anthropologists as his explorations were at the time.

Eacham Historical Society.

 

Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au
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