Why Almost Nobody Lives on Cape York

Cape York is slightly bigger than England, yet only around 17,000 people live there. It's where Europeans first recorded landing on Australia, more than 400 years ago. So why did almost nobody follow them? Where the Great Dividing Range runs out, the red ground that became the Weipa bauxite mines, a main road that's still part dirt, wet seasons that close the parks for months, the Old Telegraph Track, New Guinea wildlife left behind by the rising sea, the Duyfken and Cape Turnaround, Cook and the word kangaroo, Kennedy and the Jardines, the Palmer River gold rush and the Wik decision. Chapters: 0:00 The tip of Australia 0:33 Where the Great Dividing Range ends 1:22 Red ground and bauxite 2:36 A thousand kilometres of road 2:57 The wet and the dry 4:20 The Old Telegraph Track 5:15 A piece of New Guinea 6:32 Cape Turnaround, 1606 7:14 Cook and the word kangaroo 7:46 Kennedy and the Jardines 8:34 The Palmer River gold rush 9:20 The Wik decision 10:13 So why is it empty? Sources: ABS Census 2021; Cape York NRM; Geoscience Australia; Queensland Parks; Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads; Bureau of Meteorology (Weipa, Lockhart River, Cyclone Monica); Rio Tinto; National Museum of Australia (Duyfken, Endeavour River); Queensland Places; Australian Dictionary of Biography; Queensland Parliamentary Library (Wik). #Australia #CapeYork #Queensland