Coen
Located on Kaantju country on the Peninsula Developmental Road within the Cook Shire's boundaries on the Cape York Peninsula, Coen is 395 kilometres south-southeast of Thursday Island, 427 kilometres northwest of Cairns and 204 kilometres southeast of Weipa.
The town's name can be traced back to Jan Carstensz's 1623 voyage down Cape York Peninsula's west coast. Carstensz named a river estuary—today's Archer River—after Jan Pieterszoon Coen, the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. Today's Coen River, which flows past the township, is one of its tributaries.
After Robert Sefton found gold in the river bed in 1876, he built a log fort to protect himself from the Kaantju people and prospected for gold in the surrounding country. In 1878, he returned to Cooktown with 140 ounces of gold, which sparked a gold rush to Coen. The rush drew about five hundred miners, but Kaantju resistance hindered further exploration. Once the alluvial gold was worked out, a new discovery at Lukinville on the Palmer goldfield drew most of the diggers away.
Missing links:
Dutch East Indies
Robert Sefton
Lukinville
