Community
20 August, 2021
Gazza's Goss – It's a sign of the times
FOR anyone that makes a regular trip between Mossman and Port Douglas, they’ll know that there has been a fair number of roadworks going on in recent months.
For anyone that makes a regular trip between Mossman and Port Douglas, they’ll know that there has been a fair number of roadworks going on in recent months.
Although sometimes frustrating, these works include important road improvements as you head into Mossman from the south, much needed reductions of the maximum speed limits in certain residential and industrial areas and now shiny new signage giving allcomers a friendly welcome to Craiglie.
Some might say that Craiglie could easily go unnoticed, regarded as just another part of Port Douglas, but apart from now being home to around 1,000 people, there is much history to both Craiglie and neighbouring Mowbray.
One thinks of the 1980’s as a golden development and boom period for Port Douglas, but things were already starting to happen in the 70s, in fact, the 1870’s.
At the time, Port Douglas was being developed as the key location to transport gold from the Hodgkinson Minerals Area.
In 1877 Christie Palmerston created the ‘Bump Track’ which passed over the Cassowary Range from what we now know as Mowbray to present day Julatten.
This meant that teamsters from Port Douglas could camp at the base of the range, originally known as simply Four Mile, before tackling ‘The Bump’.
The Bump Track was the only road access to Port Douglas until a coast road, now the Captain Cook Highway, was built to Cairns in 1933.
The track is no longer in use, except for proving an excellent location for bushwalking and mountain biking.
This original Four Mile area is now the site we know and love as Craiglie and a village was formed there to supply services needed by the teamsters, such as hotels, a blacksmith, a saddlery, and a butcher shop.
In November of 1877, Rudolf Berzinski, one of the pioneer settlers of Mowbray, selected 160 acres just outside the 6 mile boundary of Port Douglas, at the now Craiglie. Rudolf clearly felt at home, with both he and his wife now buried in the Port Douglas cemetery.
So, there’s a little Craiglie history for both locals and visitors, with heaps more available at the Douglas Shire Historical Society Website.
Be careful of those new speed limits and until next week, this is Gazza signing out!
Send your stories to gazza@cairnslocalnews.com.au
You can catch up with Gazza each weekday afternoon between 4 – 7 pm on 90.9 FAB FM in Port Douglas
