Cairns                                                                                                                                  Queensland                                                                                                                               Australia

tempting fate  a self-fulfilling prophesy  or simply a cruel twist to justify its name

he had to admit when he had learned many years ago there was such a place 

there was actually a town or city called Cairns

he was bewildered 

 

why would its Founding Fathers (or Mothers) even think to call their home Cairns

then he hit the Reference books in the library to learn it hadnt Founding Fathers 

it was simply the braying of an ass of a man

the Governor of Queensland

William Wellington Cairns

who  on 7 October 1876 decreed it so

evidently it wasnt enough in that day to piss on rocks indelibly marking ones territory

the good oldfashioned bestial way

NO

theres always the mark on History to consider and piss wouldnt cut that now would it

of course not

Cairns became the culmination from three years prior when the George Dalrymple (pissing)

exploration party recognised the value and potential of Trinity Inlet

                                               

Cairns would sit at the edge of an “ ‘excellent anchorage and watering place . . . used (for) some years . . . as a beech de mer (bêche de mer) fishing station (sea cucumber) and to be now a place of frequent call by vessels of that trade and passing ships . . . very little engineering difficulty will be encountered in forming the necessary wharves on deep water and, from the appearance of the ranges . . . do not anticipate any difficulty in obtaining a passable road over them to the interior.’ 

these fine words  despite Dalrymple also noting a number of Aboriginal groups in the area:

‘Many blacks were seen round the shores of the bay. Blacks camp fires burn brightly during the night in glens of the mountain sides.’ ” 

 

perhaps “very little engineering difficulty (was) encountered” dealing with the Aboriginals

  

he wondered if any of these blacks found their way to the insides of cairns

NO                                                                                                                                                         he reckoned  as historical America was founded  that young Australia would have been as bloody  their only differences in the matter was that of the Colour of the Indigenous

White entitlement  --  anywhere  --  (called Manifest Destiny in the States  --  he called it Slaughter) and their feckless Religiosity  conjured in his head that likely the black bodies were left to scavengers or to rot under the elements

and now modern Cairns is to bury eight children from one family

he was terribly troubled by what he thought

                                                                        was more heinous

1723,  Saturday,  20  12. 14