1879 Robert Logan Jack: Cape York Peninsula Expedition
Queensland Government Geologist, Robert Logan Jack, travelled from Cooktown to the recently rushed and still more recently abandoned Coen goldfield via the base of Cape Melville, where he discovered traces of gold and explored the rivers south of Princess Charlotte Bay.
From Coen, Jack’s northward journey was hampered by his horses’ condition and the limited food supplies in his saddlebags. Despite these constraints, he investigated the McIlwraith Range and "found widespread evidence of the presence of gold and tin" around the headwaters of a river he named the Peach — unaware that it was the river named the Archer by the Jardine brothers, who crossed it near its mouth..
Jack communicated his findings "that the reefs in the district traversed were of more importance than the alluvial gold, but there had been neither means nor time at my disposal to enable me to satisfy myself of the value of either " from the Laura Telegraph Office, Cooktown, and his base in Townsville "in anticipation of a complete report to the head of the Department of Mines".
Sources:
Robert Logan Jack, Northmost Australia, Volume I, p. 1
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