JUUNJUWARRA, OUR JOURNEY
The Juunjuwarra people occupied, lived, hunted, gathered, and managed the Starcke River catchment for tens of thousands of years. The Cooktown and Palmerston River goldrush expanded to include Mumburra in the tableland and mountain catchment of the Starcke river and accelerated the occupation of the area and hastened the removal of the Juunjuwarra tribes. The establishment of the Hopevale mission saw the final removal of indigenous people from the Cape Melville, Wakooka, Jack Lakes, Jeannie, and Starcke River areas to Cape Bedford. Those that resisted most were taken in chains to Palm Island.
In 1992, the Juunjuwarra joined forces with The Wilderness Society, the newly formed Cape York Land Council, and neighbouring Guugu Yimitharr Traditional Owner groups to spearhead a campaign to buy back the Starcke pastoral leases and freehold lands. The property had been marketed for sale on 26th of February 1993 in The Wall Street Journal for $25 million by land developer and speculator George Quaid (Land Court Brisbane, 2001). An effective fast campaign caught the imagination of the Australian public and within three months the Government Introduced the Starcke Pastoral Holdings Acquisition Act 1994 and acquired the land. The land formed the framework for what was to become The Cape York land acquisition program and State Land dealing process under the Cape York Peninsular Heritage act 2007. A process that would see many cattle leases across Cape York purchased and divided between national Park and Aboriginal freehold.
THE STARCKE RIVER CATCHMENT
The Starcke River Catchment is covered in story places, sacred sites, bora grounds and food source management areas. From a sacred birthing site at a waterfall at the top of the river catchment, to the sea story contained in a mangrove tree growing at the top of the escarpment, the escarpment rock art sites, to the Rainbow Serpent story and healing waters at the Muundu Lagoons, to the story sites and scar trees at Porcupine Hill near the Starcke river mouth, Juunjuwarra country holds great importance to the Juunjuwarra Traditional Owners.
HOMELAND RETURNS
The littoral rainforest area itself would have provided shade, shelter and living areas for the Juunjuwarra. The high density of food, medicine, and calendar trees, and high density of middens, within the vine thickets and beachfront as well as to the immediate south of the landing are evidence of intensive long-term habitation, use and management of the area by the Juunjuwarra people.
Starcke National Park and the Ngulun Land Trust area (Aboriginal Freehold), taking up most of the tableland area was returned as Aboriginal freehold under the Juunjuwarra Aboriginal Corporation.