Palmer River
The Palmer River goldfield, located 140 kilometres southwest of Cooktown in Kokomini and Kuku Yalanji Country, was one of Australia's most significant gold rush locations.
Fred Warner, the surveyor on William Hann's 1872 Expedition to Cape York, is largely recognised as the discoverer of gold that led to the Palmer rush. Hann offered half a pound of tobacco to whoever first found gold; Warner claimed the prize after finding traces of gold in the sandy bed of the stream Hann named after Queensland Premier Arthur Hunter Palmer, at Warner's Gully.
While Hann was not convinced Warner's Gully would be payable, James Venture Mulligan led a party from Georgetown to evaluate the Palmer deposits. Hann and Warner had underestimated their find, and the Palmer turned out to be Queensland's richest alluvial deposits,
