Cape Upstart
Located in Yuru country within the Whitsunday Regional Council's boundaries, Cape Upstart is a national park with numerous middens in the sand dunes, several sacred sites and stone arrangements which laid out the paths taken by Gubulla Munda (the Carpet Snake) when creating the land and islands inhabited by the Yuru people.
James Cook named the cape on 5 June 1770 during his voyage along Australia's east coast in HM Bark Endeavour.
Winds between the South and East, a Gentle breeze, and Serene weather. At 6 a.m. we were abreast of the Western point of Land above mentioned, distant from it 3 Miles, which I have named Cape Upstart, because being surrounded with low land it starts or rises up singley at the first making of it (Latitude 19 degrees 39 minutes South, Longitude 212 degrees 32 minutes West); it lies West-North-West 14 Leagues from Cape Gloucester, and is of a height sufficient to be seen 12 Leagues; but it is not so much of a Promontory as it appears to be, because on each side of it near the Sea is very low land, which is not to be seen unless you are pretty well in with the Shore. Inland are some Tolerable high hills or mountains, which, like the Cape, affords but a very barren prospect.
In the early 20th century, Europeans from nearby farming communities in Bowen and the Lower Burdekin began building semi-permanent fishing huts on the Cape's western foreshores. These were gradually replaced by more permanent recreational structures occupied by a small semi-permanent population.
A 2011 ruling by Justice Rares of the Federal Court of Australia recognised that the Juru People retained Native Title over Cape Upstart National Park, culminating a twenty-year process originated by Peter Gulumba) Prior (in 1992 and completed by his daughter, Renarta (Gootha) Prior.
