Translate

Youth hostels Australia




Each year, 35 million overnights are spent in hostels around the world. There are now more than 80 participating countries, representing over 4,000 hostels worldwide. Over 100 of these hostels are in Australia, and there are more than 70,000 Australian members continuing the tradition at home and abroad.


View from YHA rooftop Sydney


YHA Australia is part of the world's largest backpacker accommodation network, Hostelling International (HI), providing more than 4,000 YHA hostels in over 60 countries. YHA Australia is a membership-based, not for profit association, with all profits going back into the hostels and the experience they provide.






YHA hostels today are the mainstay of budget travelers. Offering much more than a bed, you're likely to find the 'noughties' traveller using the hostel's wifi connection on their laptop or iPhone to update their blog and share videos with friends back home. Movie theatres, pizza nights, free pancake breakfasts, wildlife sanctuaries and swimming pools are just some of the things you'll discover in YHA hostels in Australia today.






Aboriginal Timeline 1600 - 1900





1606


Dutchman Willem Jansz and his ship Duyfken explore the western coast of Cape York Peninsula and were the first Europeans to have contact with Australian Aboriginal people. There were clashes between the two groups.



The Spaniard Luis Vaez De Torres sailed through Torres Strait.



1623

Dutchman Jan Carstenz described several armed encounters with Aboriginal people on the northern coast of Australia. Shots were fired and an Aboriginal man was hit.



1697

Englishman William Dampier visited the west coast of Australia.



1768

Anticipating that Captain Cook would discover the great southern land he was issued with special instructions to "with the consent of the natives take possession of convenient situations in the name of the King... or if you find the land uninhabited Take Possession for His Majesty".



1770

April 29 Captain James Cook in the Endeavour entered Botany Bay. After an encounter with local people in Botany Bay Cook wrote that "all they seem'd to want was us to be gone".



1786

August 18 the British Government chose Botany Bay as a penal colony.



1788

18 January Captain Arthur Phillip entered Botany Bay. A total of nine ships sailed into Botany Bay over three days.



Aboriginal people watched the arrival.



25 January Phillip sailed to Port Jackson and between 25 January and 6 February 1 000 officials, marines, dependents and convicts came ashore.



Frenchman La Perouse and two ships arrive at Botany Bay and remain until March 10.



Resistance and conflict between Europeans and Aborigines begins almost immediately.




Early February the French fire on Aboriginal people at Botany Bay.



29 May the first conflict between the First Fleet arrivals and Aboriginal people takes place near Rushcutters Bay, Sydney. Two convicts are killed.



December, Arabanoo is the first Aboriginal person captured by Europeans.



Captain Phillip estimates that there are 1 500 Aboriginal people living in the Sydney Region.



1789

April, smallpox decimates the Aboriginal population of Port Jackson, Botany Bay and Broken Bay. The disease spread inland and along the coast.



The settlement spreads to Rose Hill, later called Parramatta.



November, Governor Phillip captures two Aboriginal men - Bennelong and Colebee. Colebee escapes but Bennelong is kept at Government House for five months.



1790

Bennelong and a boy named Yemmerrawanie are taken to England by Phillip. Bennelong meets George III. Yemmarrawanie dies in England. In 1795 Bennelong returns to Australia.



1790

September, Pemulwuy spears Phillip's gamekeeper, John McEntire, and Phillip orders the first punitive expedition. Pemulwuy and his son Tedbury led Aboriginal resistance in the Sydney area in a guerrilla campaign lasting several years.



1791

Time-expired convicts granted land around Parramatta.



1792

Colonists spread to Prospect Hill, Kissing Point, Northern Boundary, the Ponds and the Field of Mars.



1794

By August, 70 colonists farming on the Hawkesbury. Aboriginal people dispossessed of their land.



1797

Punitive party pursue Pemulwuy and about 100 Aboriginal people to Parramatta. Pemulwuy is wounded and captured but later escapes.



1798

Colonists dispossess Aboriginal people of land around Georges River flats and Bankstown.



1799

Two Aboriginal boys killed near Windsor by five Hawkesbury settlers. A court martial found them guilty but referred sentencing to the Secretary of State for Colonies and the men are released on bail. Governor Hunter is recalled. Acting-Governor King is instructed to pardon the men.



Beginning of a six-year period of resistance to white settlement by Aboriginal people in the Hawkesbury and Parramatta areas. Known as the 'Black Wars'.



1801

April, Governor King orders Aboriginal people gathering around Parramatta, Georges River and Prospect Hill "to be driven back from the settler's habitation by firing at them".



1802

June 30, Proclamation stating: "His Majesty forbids any act of injustice or wanton cruelty to the Natives, yet the settler is not to suffer his property to be invaded or his existence endangered by them, in preserving which he is to use the effectual, but at the same time the most humane, means of resisting such attacks".



Shortly after this Pemulwuy is shot by two settlers. Tedbury continues the resistance.



1803

Settlements established near present-day Melbourne at Port Phillip and in Tasmania at Risdon, on the Derwent River by Governor King. The settlement at Port Phillip is abandoned.



1804

Colonists are authorised by Lt. Moore to shoot 50 Aboriginal people at Risdon Cove in response to Aboriginal resistance. Hostilities increase - the slaughter of Aboriginal people in Van Diemen's Land has begun.



1804

Most of the Cumberland Plain west of Sydney is occupied by colonists. The Darug people are being dispossessed of their land.



1805

Aboriginal people trying to defend their land, kill colonists. A Government order on 19 April directed Captain William Bligh to send soldiers "for their [colonists] protection against those uncivilised insurgents".



20 July the colony's Judge-Advocate, Richard Atkins when referring to whether or not Aboriginal people could be witnesses or criminals before a court stated that Aboriginal people "are at present incapable of being brought before a criminal court - and that the only mode at present when they deserve it, is to pursue them and inflict such punishment as they merit".



1810

Tedbury is wounded but there are no records of what happened to him.



1813

Colonists, assisted by Aboriginal people, cross the Blue Mountains. Create new hostilities as they pass through Aboriginal lands.



1814

The establishment of a "Native institution at Parramatta" by Governor Macquarie to "civilise, educate and foster habits of industry and decency in the Aborigines". An annual 'feast' is also begun to reunite parents with children, who have been separated from their parents to attend the institution.



1815

Remnants of the Broken Bay Aboriginal people are established on a reserve at George's Head.



1816

Attacks on farms by Aboriginal people on the edge of Sydney. Macquarie sends Captain James Wallis with three detachments of the 76th Regiment to arrest 'offenders'. They attack a camp near Appin at night and 14 Aboriginal people are killed including Carnabyagal.



4 May Macquarie announces a set of regulations controlling the free movement of Aboriginal people.



No Aboriginal person is to appear armed within a mile of any settlement and no more than six Aboriginal people are allowed to 'lurk or loiter near farms'.



Passports or certificates are issued to Aboriginal people "who conduct themselves in a suitable manner", to show they are officially accepted by Europeans.



Five areas are set aside by Macquarie as agriculture reserves for the settlement of Aboriginal people from the Sydney area. The Aboriginal people who settle on these lands are given seed, tools, stores and clothes for six months. Convicts are assigned to help with cultivation of crops.



1819 - 1820

Rapid expansion of the colony into present day Queensland. A penal settlement set up a Redcliffe but moved to present day Brisbane three months later.



Colonists spread west of the Blue Mountains and establish stations.



There are a number of large scale killings as conflict over dispossession of land and erosion of hunting rights continue.



1824

'Saturday' leads Aboriginal resistance in the Bathurst area.



August, martial law is proclaimed in the Bathurst area when seven Europeans are killed by Aboriginal people and the conflict is seen as a serious threat. Soldiers, mounted police, settlers and stockmen carry out numerous attacks on Aboriginal people. As many as 100 Aboriginal people are killed. Martial law stops in December.



August - a Mission is established at Lake Macquarie, north of Sydney.



1827

John Oxley leads an expedition to the Liverpool Plains west of present day Tamworth, NSW. This area is settled in the 1830s, with an increase in settlers during the 1837-1845 drought, when more land is needed. Kamilaroi people are dispossessed of their land.



1829

A colony is set up in Perth, on the south-west coast of Australia.



1830

October beginning of the Black Wars in Tasmania. Governor Arthur tries unsuccessfully to drive all the remaining Aboriginal people in eastern Van Diemen's land on to the Tasman Peninsula. 2 200 men form a 'Black Line'. It cost 5000 pounds and only two Aboriginal people are caught - an old man and a young boy.



1834

October, Governor Stirling leads a party of men to a site near present day Pinjarra, on the Swan River and attacks 80 Aboriginal people. One of Stirling's men dies and many Aboriginal people are killed. Official reports say that 14 Aboriginal people were killed but Aboriginal accounts suggest a whole clan was decimated in the attack. This became known as the 'Battle of Pinjarra'. The battle was an attempt to punish Aboriginal people south of Perth, after conflict with settlers the death, in April, of Hugh Nesbit.



The Aboriginal people are unsuccessful in defending their land and are dispossessed.



1835

John Batman attempts to make a 'treaty' with Aboriginal people for Port Phillip Bay, near present day Melbourne by 'buying' 243 000 hectares with 20 pairs of blankets, 30 tomahawks, various other articles and a yearly tribute. Governor Bourke does not recognise the 'treaty' and the purchase is voided. This is the only time colonists attempt to sign a treaty for land with Aboriginal owners.



The Dunghutti people of north coast NSW are now confined to 40 hectares of land on the Bellwood Reserve, near present day Kempsey. They previously owned 250 000 hectares.



October, George Augustus Robinson, who sees himself as a protector of Aborigines, takes over the European style settlement on Flinders Island in Bass Strait. He spent much time convincing the last Aborigines on Van Diemen's Land to move to Flinders Island. After most Aboriginal people have died from various diseases the protectorate is abandoned in December 1849.



1836

Port Phillip District established. As the settlement expands Aboriginal lives are severely disrupted and people die in great numbers.



Colony of South Australia is founded. A protector of Aboriginal people is appointed but the Kaurna people, near Adelaide, are unable to maintain life as a group because of the expanding settlement and loss of their land.



1836 - 1837

A select committee of the British House of Commons said that Aboriginal people had a "plain right and sacred right" to their land.



The committee reports genocide is happening in the colonies.



1837

Conflict between Aboriginal people and settlers, stockmen and shepherds increases on the Liverpool Plains between 1827 - 1837.



1837 - 1845

Drought on the north-west plains of NSW. Drying up of creeks and waterholes, forces Aboriginal people to kill sheep and cattle on European holdings, and move towards settlements looking for food.



1838

January, Major Nunn's campaign. Mounted police, mostly European volunteers, set out in response to conflict on the Liverpool Plains, north central NSW. At Vinegar Hill, a site on 'Slaughterhouse Creek', 60 - 70 Aboriginal people are reported killed. The only European casualty is a corporal, speared in the leg.



11 April, "Faithful Massacre" at Owens Creek, Victoria. Ten Europeans travelling south from NSW with G. P. Faithful, killed by Aboriginal people.



'The Bushwack' or 'The Drive', against Aborigines, is initiated by squatters and their stockmen to clear the Myall Creek area, near present day Inverell, NSW.



On 10 June, the 'Myall Creek Massacre' occurs. 12 heavily armed colonists rounded up and brutally kill 28 Aborigines from a group of 40 or 50 people gathered at Henry Dangar's Station, at Myall Creek. The massacre was believed to be a payback for the killing of several hut keepers and two shepherds. But most of those killed were women and children and good relations existed between the Aboriginal people and European occupants of the station. 15 November, 11 Europeans were charged with murder but are acquitted. A new trial is held and seven men are charged with murder of one Aboriginal child. They are found guilty and hanged in December.



Competition between Aboriginal people and colonists develops for water on Bogan River, west of present day Dubbo. Seven Europeans and their overseer are killed on William Fee's outstation. Border Police formed after the Myall Creek Massacre, arrive from Bathurst and almost all men of the group involved are killed.



Reports of poisoning of Aboriginal people on 'Tarrone' near Port Fairy, West Melbourne and 'Kilcoy' north-west Moreton Bay. Flour is poisoned and left in shepherds' huts on 'Kilcoy' in the expectation that Aboriginal people now dispossessed of hunting ground would take it.



1842

Governor Bourke of NSW ordered the establishment of the Native Police, in the Port Phillip district. They are trained to disperse groups of Aboriginal people. This force is disbanded in 1853.



Native Police forces operated punitive expeditions and attacked and killed many station Aborigines. The force was lead by European officers. The force played a significant role in later years, in 'settling' hostilities in the Macleay and Clarence River regions of NSW. Native Police were used extensively against Aborigines in Queensland. They were later disbanded and replaced by civil police, following increasing concern within non-Aboriginal communities concerning the forces' activities. The force was finally disbanded in Queensland in 1897.



1843

A number of squatters abandon their stations because of continued resistance of Aboriginal people in defence of their land which includes attacks on properties.



1845

About 50 remaining Aboriginal people from the Sydney and Botany Bay peoples are living at a camp on Botany Heads.



1846

Native Police are used to 'settle' hostilities on the northern plains of NSW. Hostilities lessen in the area.



1848

The Board of National Education, established in NSW states "It is impractical to provide any form of education for the children of blacks".



Native Police are introduced into northern regions with headquarters at Callandoon near present day Goondiwindi, on the Macintyre River.



1849

A select committee of the NSW Government claimed that protectors of Aboriginal people serve no purpose and should be abolished.






Land Commissioner McDonald reported widespread food shortages among Aborigines in the Murray District after their displacement by pastoralists who took their land for sheep stations.



December, Flinders Island Protectorate in Bass Strait abandoned after most Aboriginal people have died from various diseases.



1851

The Colony of Victoria established.



1857

27 October The Jiman people kill 11 Europeans at Martha Fraser's Hornet Bank station on the Dawson River, central Queensland. Local squatters with the help of the Native Police later shoot several Jiman men.



1860

A Board of Protection is established in Victoria and continues until 1957. During the next 20 years nearly 11 000 hectares of land are 'temporarily reserved'. By 1900, most Victorian Aboriginal people are placed on reserves.



1861

17 October, a party of settlers led by Horatio Spencer Wills, is attacked by Aboriginal people at the new Cullin-la-ringo station, near Emerald, Queensland. Wills and 18 Europeans are killed. Native Police deserters are said to be the ringleaders. A punitive party set out immediately and numerous Aboriginal people were slaughtered.



1867-1868

Aboriginal cricket team tours England. Some members of the team find it difficult to adapt to the climate and have to return home. One team member dies.



1868

150 Aboriginal people are killed resisting arrest in the Kimberley.



1869

A settlement is established in Darwin.



Punitive expeditions are common in the north and north-west until the 1930s.



Act for "Protection and Management of Aboriginal Natives" is passed in Victoria.



1874

The Maloga Mission is established as a refuge for the 9 000 surviving Aboriginal people in NSW.



1876

8 May Truganini dies in Hobart aged 73. The Tasmanian Government does not recognise the Aboriginal heritage of people of Aboriginal descent and claims the last Tasmanian Aboriginal person has died. A falsehood many still believe today.



1870

In the early 1870s the first Aboriginal children are enrolled in the public schools in NSW. By 1880 there are 200 Aboriginal children in school in NSW.


1873

 Those who made it through Cooktown on their journey to the fabled Palmer River Gold diggings then faced perils that would make most of us turn around and head for home at a very rapid rate.
The greatest peril was from the local natives, the Merkin tribe. These people were fierce fighters. Not for them to throw a few spears and run away. Upon first encountering white men they attacked in waves, holding men back in reserve and probing the flanks of the defending white men's camp. They poisoned their spears by rubbing the tips in rotting carcasses and only had to scratch their opponents to kill them.



1877

The Hermansburg Mission in established on the Finke River, Northern Territory by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia and the Hermannsburg Mission Society of North Germany.



1880

South Australia introduces a Protection Policy.



1881

A 'Protector of Aborigines' is appointed in NSW. The Protector has the power to create reserves and to force Aboriginal people to live on them.



The Minister for Education establishes separate schools for excluded Aboriginal children. The Protector attempts to provide reserves with a building where a school can be run by the Department of Education. Where this is not possible, Aboriginal children can attend the local public schools providing they are "habitually clean, decently clad and that they conduct themselves with propriety, both in and out of school".



1883

The Aboriginal Protection Board is established in NSW. Aboriginal people at Maloga Mission on the Murray River are moved to Cumeroogunga. By the end of the 1880s several reserves have been established in NSW. Reserves are set up far enough away from towns so that contact with Europeans is limited. Segregation is a key part of Aboriginal Protection Policy.



White parents object to about 16 Aboriginal children attending a public school at Yass. The Minister for Education, George Reid, stops the children from attending school stating, in general that although creed or colour should not exclude a child "cases may arise, especially amongst the Aboriginal tribes, where the admission of a child or children may be prejudicial to the whole school".



1886

Western Australian Aborigines Protection Act provided for a Protection Board.



The Victorian Aborigines Protection Act excludes "half castes" from their definition of an Aboriginal person. As a result nearly half the residents of the stations have to leave their homes.



1890

Jandamarra, an Aboriginal resistance fighter, declares war on European invaders in the West Kimberley and prevents settlement for six years.



In the 1890s Western Australia gives increased law enforcement powers to its justices of the peace who can sentence Aborigines to three years gaol or 24 lashes for offences such as sheep stealing. However, no Western Australian jury convicts a European for killing an Aboriginal, even though in one case a European had tied an Aboriginal person to his horse and dragged the man along the ground to his death.



1891

2 May - a man hunt lasting almost three years followed the spearing by Aboriginal people of S Murskiewicz at Dora Dora Creek, 68km from Albury. The two Aboriginal people responsible were finally caught in Queensland.



1897

The Queensland Aboriginals' Protection and Restriction of Sale of Opium Act established reserves and provides for the appointment of protectors. Europeans are permitted to employ Aboriginal people but Chinese people are not. This Act with some amendments in 1901 and 1934 remains the chief statement of Queensland Policy until 1939 when a new Act is passed.



Jandamarra, Kimberley's resistance fighter is shot and 19 former Aboriginal prisoners, who he had freed and were fighting with him, are also shot and killed.



1900

During 1900 Jimmy and Joe Governor, and Jackie Underwood kill seven Europeans in NSW because Jimmy Governor took offense at slurs passed upon his European wife. Joe was later shot dead and Jimmy and Underwood were arrested.



Aboriginal Massacres


Nailed to trees proclamation boards were designed to show that colonists and aboriginals were equal before the law, and incorrectly depicted a policy of friendship and equal justice which simply did not exist.


It has been estimated that at the time of first European contact, the absolute minimum pre-1788 population was 315,000, while recent archaeological finds suggest that a population of 750,000 could have been sustained, with some academics estimating a population of a million people was possible.


In the 19th century, smallpox was the principal cause of Aboriginal deaths. Smallpox is estimated to have killed up to 90% of the local Darug people in 1789.

The first massacre of Tasmanian Aboriginal people occurred at Risden Cove in 1804, when Lieutenant John Bowen and his troops fired on a group which included women and children. By 1806 clashes between Aboriginal people and settlers were common. The Tasmanians speared stock and shepards; in retaliation Europeans gave them poison flour, abducted their children to use as forced labour, and raped and tortured the women.


Mass killings of Tasmanian Aborigines were reported as having occurred as part of the Black War.
In combination with impacts of introduced infectious diseases, to which the Tasmanian Aborigines had no immunity, the conflict had such impact on the Tasmanian Aboriginal population that they were reported to have been exterminated..

In February 1830, the government offered a bounty of £5 per adult and £2 per child, for Aborigines captured alive.
By 1900 the recorded Indigenous population of Australia had declined to approximately 93,000.





Goulbolba Hill Massacre, Central Queensland a large massacre involving men, women and children. This was the result of settlers pushing Aboriginal people out of their hunting grounds and the Aboriginals being forced to hunt livestock for food. A party of Native Police, under Frederick Wheeler, who had a reputation for violent repressions, was sent to "disperse" this group of Aboriginals, who were 'resisting the invasion'. He had also mustered up a force of 100 local whites. Alerted of Wheeler's presence by a native stockman, the district's aborigines holed up in caves on Goulbolba hill. According to eyewitness testimony taken down from a local white in 1899, that day some 300 Aboriginals, including all the women and children, were shot dead or killed by being herded into the nearby lake for drowning.







In 1833 or 1834 tension turned into a full fledged conflict in a dispute over a beached whale. The Convincing Ground is located in Portland Bay southwest of Melbourne, near the coastal town of Portland in the Shire of Glenelg and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

Reports say up to 200 Aborigines were killed, including women and children

George Augustus Robinson visited the site of the massacre in 1841 and talked with local squatters and made the following official report:

Among the remarkable places on this coast, is the 'Convincing Ground', originating in a severe conflict which took place in a few years previous between the Aborigines and the Whalers on which occasion a large number of the former were slain. The circumstances are that a whale had come on shore and the Natives who fed on the carcass claimed it was their own. The whalers said they would 'convince them' and had recourse to firearms.

The reason for this uncertainty over casualties and the actual date of the massacre appears to stem from the fact that the incident was only reported and documented several years after its occurrence.





Gippsland squatter Henry Meyrick wrote in a letter home to his relatives in England in 1846



The blacks are very quiet here now, poor wretches. No wild beast of the forest was ever hunted down with such unsparing perseverance as they are. Men, women and children are shot whenever they can be met with ...

I have protested against it at every station I have been in Gippsland, in the strongest language, but these things are kept very secret as the penalty would certainly be hanging.


 For myself, if I caught a black actually killing my sheep, I would shoot him with as little remorse as I would a wild dog, but no consideration on earth would induce me to ride into a camp and fire on them indiscriminately, as is the custom whenever the smoke is seen. They [the Aborigines] will very shortly be extinct. It is impossible to say how many have been shot, but I am convinced that not less than 450 have been murdered altogether..."









Headhunters


The Dayaks of Borneo formed a force to help the Allies following their ill treatment by the Japanese. Australian and British special operatives of Z Special Unit transformed some of the inland Dayak tribesmen into a thousand-man headhunting army. This army of tribesmen killed or captured some 1,500 Japanese soldiers.



In the past the Dayak were feared for their ancient tradition of headhunting practices. After conversion to Islam or Christianity and anti-headhunting legislation by the colonial powers the practice was banned and disappeared, only to resurface in the late 90s, when Dayak started to attack Madurese emigrants in an explosion of ethnic violence
Every year or two the Dayaks hold a feast called Gawai Autu in honour of the departed spirits whith they believe surround the heads which hang in their houses. In this manner they hope to keep in favour with the spirits and so have good fortune.




Z Special Unit (also known as Special Operations Executive (SOE), Special Operations Australia (SOA) or the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD)) was a joint Allied special forces unit formed during the Second World War to operate behind Japanese lines in South East Asia. Predominantly Australian, Z Special Unit was a specialist reconnaissance and sabotage unit that included British, Dutch, New Zealand, Timorese and Indonesian members, predominantly operating on Borneo and the islands of the former Netherlands East Indies.


A GROUP ON BOARD MV KRAIT EN ROUTE TO THE SINGAPORE AREA DURING OPERATION JAYWICK

The unit carried out a total of 81 covert operations in the South West Pacific theatre, with parties inserted by parachute or submarine to provide intelligence and conduct guerrilla warfare. The best known of these missions were Operation Jaywick and Operation Rimau, both of which involved raids on Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbour; the latter of which resulted in the deaths of twenty-three commandos either in action or by execution after capture.

In his memoirs, former leading aircraftsman, Jack Wong Sue, claimed that Z Special Unit commandos in Borneo killed 1,700 Japanese for the loss of 112 commandos, as well as training more than 6,000 guerrillas. The activities of the commandos laid the groundwork for the Allied invasion of Borneo in 1945


Although the unit was disbanded after the war, many of the training techniques and operational procedures employed were later used during the formation of other Australian Army special forces units and they remain a model for guerrilla operations to this day.








Cape York Australia Adventure





The tropical outback regions of Cape York offer a unique touring experience enveloped in the most magnificent and varied landscape that you could imagine. The 4WD journey to 'the tip' is an adventure of a lifetime.
Cape York Peninsula is a large remote peninsula located in Far North Queensland at the tip of the state of Queensland, Australia, the largest unspoilt wilderness in northern Australia and one of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth.



The first known contact between Europeans and Aborigines occurred on the west coast of Cape York in 1606 but it was not settled by Europeans until the 19th century when fishing communities, then ranches and later mining towns were established. European settlement led to the displacement of Aboriginal communities and the arrival of Torres Strait Islanders on the mainland. Today the peninsula has a population of only about 18,000, of which a large percentage of approx 60% are Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.Cape York is a popular tourist destination in the Dry Season for camping, hiking, birdwatching and fishing enthusiasts. Many people make the adventurous, but rewarding, drive to the tip of Cape York, the northernmost point of mainland Australia.

Termite mount on old Telegraph Road

The majority of Cape York Peninsula is covered in tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannahs, and shrublands, tropical savannah woodland consisting typically of a tall dense grass layer and varying densities of trees, dominantly eucalypts of which the most common is Darwin stringybark.The tropical landscapes are among the most stable in the world

Some of the world's most extensive and ancient Aboriginal rock painting galleries surround the town of Laura, some of which are available for public viewing.


Ancient rockart in caves near Bathurst Heads Known to just a handful of Aboriginal people, cattle station workers and academics Source: The Courier-Mail

The wetlands and coastal mangroves are noted for their importance as a fish nursery and crocodile habitat, providing important drought refuge and the Great Barrier Reef lies off the east coast and is an important marine habitat.
The Cape is also home to the Eastern brown snake, one of the world's most venomous snakes.


Large croc being re-located by the Irwins from the west coast of Cape York

If you are looking for great things to do in Australia, a Cape York trip is a great adventure. Cape York is not far from Cairns, but it's real Australian outback and feels like very remote Australia. There are some great four wheel drives, river crossings, Aboriginal rock painting and some spectacular wilderness scenery, waterfalls and waterholes to swim in at  Lakefield, Iron Range and Jardine River National Parks.



Just 250kms north-west and 130kms off the main road via Archer River Roadhouse, is the township of Weipa. This small mining town provides a complete range of services and facilities for travellers, as well as amazing tours of the mining operation. Nearby to Weipa are National Parks, beautiful countryside and awesome Barramundi fishing.



Bamaga is the most northern township in Queensland. It is an isolated settlement of some 2000 people, most of whom are Torres Strait Islanders. Facilities are limited and supplies are either shipped or flown in.
6 km north of Bamaga, Seisia has an excellent foreshore camping area, a kiosk and service station. There is an information centre at the Seisia Camping Ground Office where, during the peak tourist season, the Seisia Island Dancers perform traditional dances.



 Laura Aboriginal Dance Festival

There are two roads in southern Cape York Peninsula, either you drive north from Mareeba through Mt Molloy, Mt Carbine, Lakeland and Laura, or you drive the coastal way up from Cairns, past Port Douglas, Daintree National Park and Cooktown. This is the less used way which takes you right to Lakefield National Park, but Cooktown is worth a visit in any case and it is also reachable by a side trip from the more usual inland way up to the Cape York Peninsula.

It is estimated that between 1000 to 2000 vehicles make the journey each year, even though the roads are impassible in the wet season.

Palm Island Queensland



Aboriginal “medicine man”. Palm Island, Queensland, 1930. Photo by E.O. Hoppe.

Before settlers arrived in North Queensland, Palm Island belonged to the Manbarra people. Descendants of the Manbarra were still living on the tropical island, 65 km NE. of Townsville, when in 1914 the Queensland Government gazetted the Island as a reserve.






Palm Island was named for the cabbage tree palms growing there by Captain James Cook in 1770. It became a settlement for people from very different tribal groups who were brought here in the forties and fifties by the white administration, especially children of mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry, the "stolen generation". It is now a self governing Aboriginal community.



Palm Island Pier has daily ferry links to Townsville

 
Great Palm Island, also known as Palm Island, or by the Aboriginal name Bwgcolman, is a tropical island with a resident community of about 2,000 people.
It is the main island of the Greater Palm group, and consists of small bays, sandy beaches and steep forested mountains rising to a peak of 548 metres (1,798 ft).
The ocean surrounding the island is part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park where extraction and fishing are regulated.




Palm Island is rich in natural beauty, both fauna and flora.Palm Island's rich volcanic soil supports tropical flora such as mangroves, eucalypt forest, rainforests, hoop pine, mango, banana, pawpaw (papaya) and wild plum trees. The surrounding bays have a diverse marine fauna including coral trout, crayfish and coral reefs.

Palm Island is home to two clan groups, Manbarra (traditional owners) and the larger group Bwgcolman, which incorporates all other Aboriginal and Torres Strait families/clans who have historical links to the island.




Short Joes Horse Trails can take mainland visitors for an eight- hour horse ride to places inaccessible by road: Bamboo Creek, Wallaby Creek , or a cooling swim in a waterhole. There is also bushtucker lunch of possum, goat, goanna, turtle at the end of the horse trek




Sunferries currently conduct three return ferry services to Palm Island per week departing on Monday,Thursday, Friday and Sunday.


This service takes approximately 2 hours travel time each way. Due to the fact that vessel access to the Palm Island jetty is tidal, the timetable for this service can change weekly



Kakadu




The Kakadu Culture Camp is owned and operated by the Hunter family from Kakadu National Park. It was a dream of their late Grandfather Namandjalorrwokwok to establish a camp where Bininj (Aboriginal) people could live and work, and share their culture, traditional heritage and amazing wildlife with tourists from around the world.




Their eco safari camp is on the banks of Djarradjin Billabong and is part of the Nourlangie Creek system that drains into the South Alligator River. The camp is a 100% solar powered operation, running 40 solar panels through a 6kva inverter. We are proud and active members of Ecotourism Australia and The International Ecotourism Society.

Pictures of Kakadu Culture Camp, Kakadu National Park
This photo of Kakadu Culture Camp is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Limited numbers of guests also assures a quality, educational and uplifting cross cultural experience.
They cater especially for international visitors and also Australian travellers who want to learn from the locals first hand about Kakadu’s cultural landscapes and the amazing wildlife and biodiversity. Guests are welcome to stay in camp overnight and enjoy the hospitality of a local Aboriginal family.


Kakadu Culture Camp and Djarradjin Billabong is situated adjacent to the Muirella Park Campground.

They are in the heart of Kakadu, on Murrumburr clan country. Driving south from Jabiru, they are 25km down the Kakadu Highway, turn left and drive 6km to the campground, just follow the signs.




Swimming with sharks



Since pioneering shark cage diving over 40-years ago, Rodney Fox and his son Andrew have been at the very forefront of human interaction with Great White Sharks. As primary advocates for these creatures, their expeditions and research have educated the public and attracted adventurers from around the world.







Soon after his shark attack in 1963, Rodney organised the first ever “Great White Shark Diving Expedition”. He designed and built the original shark proof cage to make the very first ever film of live Great White Sharks. This film was called “Great White Death” and was followed soon after by “Attack by a Killer Shark”. These first films inspired and helped raise the financial backing for Peter Gimbel in 1969 to use Rodney’s shark finding expertise in the classic “Blue Water White Death”. Producing Great Whites was again required of Rodney in 1973 for the live shark sequences in Spielberg and Peter Benchley’s blockbuster "Jaws".





 Just one year after the release of “Jaws” into the cinemas, Rodney lead the very first Cage Diving Expedition for non professional divers to experience "the thrill of the Great White Shark first hand”!

Today they have shark videographer Jennifer "Tinker" Taylor onboard ,and Rodney and Andrew also regularly film parts of each expedition, available as a special memento of your experience. They like to think that on any Fox Expedition, you not only join on a cage diving tour but become an expedition member of the greatest shark experience possible anywhere in the world.












The Kimberley Australia



The Kimberley is an area of 423,517 square kilometres (163,521 sq mi), which is about three times the size of England or twice the size of Victoria.



It is located in the northern part of Western Australia, bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami Deserts, and on the east by the Northern Territory.


Desert Savanna Grass

The Kimberley was one of the earliest settled parts of Australia, with the first arrivals landing about 40,000 years ago from the islands of what is now Indonesia.


Bungle Bungles

The region was named after the Kimberley diamond fields in South Africa. This was due to the two areas sharing a similar landscape. The discovery of diamond fields in the Kimberley region has added to the likeness of the two. One third of the world's annual production of diamonds is mined at the Argyle and the Ellendale diamond mines.


Diamonds are girls best friend!

The Kimberley is one of the hottest parts of Australia, with the average annual temperature around 27 °C (81 °F), and maximum temperatures almost always above 30 °C (86 °F) even in July and ranging in November before the rains break from 37 °C (99 °F) on the coast to 40 °C (104 °F) in the south around Halls Creek.
Since 1967 increases of as much as 250 millimetres (10 in) per year in annual rainfall over the whole region.
Recent studies suggest Asian pollution and not global warming as the cause of increased rainfall in the area.


Kimberly Boab Tree Jail, Gibb river road

Much of the Kimberley is chiefly covered in open savanna woodland dominated by low bloodwood and boab trees with Darwin stringybark and Darwin woollybutt eucalypts in the wetter areas. The red sandy soil of the Dampier Peninsula in the south is known for its characteristic pindan wooded grassland while in the more fertile areas like the Ord valley the trees are grasslands in the wetter valleys.



The banks of the Ord, Fitzroy and other rivers are home to a greater variety of vegetation while in sheltered gorges of the high rainfall north there are patches of tropical dry broadleaf forest, called monsoon forests, deciduous vine forest or vine thicket in Australia (often mistakenly called 'dry rainforest'), which were unknown to science until 1965 and are one of the most floristically rich parts of Australia outside the Wet Tropics and southwestern WA. There are also areas of mangrove in river estuaries where the coast is flatter.




Animals found here include the huge saltwater crocodile and a rich variety of birds such as the Channel-billed Cuckoo, Pacific Koel, and Purple-crowned Fairywren. Mammals found in the flatlands include the bilby, Northern Quoll, Pale Field Rat, Golden-Backed Tree Rat, and Golden Bandicoot.
Our endangered Quoll


The gorges of central Kimberley are known for their fossils and for their large colonies of bats.
Eighty-mile Beach and Roebuck Bay, which has been described as "one of the most important stop-over areas for shorebirds in Australia and globally".






The town of Broome has a flourishing pearling industry which operates around the Kimberley coast.


Ancient Aboriginal Rock Art

Some of Australia's most prominent indigenous artists and art centres are found in or adjacent to the Kimberley region.



The Dark Knight Rises vs Aussie Super Hero



Not another movie Batman!! we are getting too old for this sh*# !!!


The Dark Knight Rises is an upcoming American superhero film. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film will be the third and final installment in Nolan's Batman film series. The Dark Knight Rises will see the return of Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, James Gordon, and Lucius Fox, respectively. The film will introduce the characters of Selina Kyle and Bane portrayed by Anne Hathaway and Tom Hardy two central characters from the comic books.



The Avengers is an upcoming American superhero film produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, based upon the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. It is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which crosses over several Marvel superhero films including Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). The film is written and directed by Joss Whedon and features an ensemble cast, which includes Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo and Cobie Smulders.




The Dark Ranger was a hero from Austrailia in 1955 that was inspired by Batman. Originally called just the Ranger, he updated his gear to keep up with the increasingly evil and violent supervillain community.





He was killed by Wingman, who dressed up his corpse to look like him while he stole his gear and pretending to be the Ranger himself, until Batman discovered the ruse.


Later, the Ranger's former sidekick, the Scout, took up the mantle of his deceased mentor and joined the Club of Heroes.




The Ranger had no superhuman abilities, but was skilled in the use of his jetpack and pulse pistol.








Australian Working Holiday Visas



Australian Working Holiday Visas

An Australian Working Holiday Visa now now allows you to stay in Australia for up to 12 months and to work in any one job for six months. You may be able to extend the visa for an additional year if you undertake 'specified' work, including seasonal and volunteer work.

Visas are available to persons from Belgium, Canada, Chile, Republic of Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the USA.



The Working Holiday Visa allows you to supplement the cost of your holiday through short-term employment. However, if your primary reason for travelling to Australia is to participate in the work force, you should consider a visa designed for that purpose.

Job opportunities in Australia are incredibly diverse and working holiday makers should be able to find a variety of job vacancies to suit their skills.



Thanks to a strong economy and many years of record low unemployment levels the employment prospects in Australia are very optimistic.

According to Forbes magazine, the industries expecting the most growth are:
Health care services,
Retailing, construction,
Hospitality
Hairdressing.

There are also jobs in certain industries with skills shortages that are classed as 'Occupations in Demand'. These shortages are across a range of industries including:
Accounting
Engineering Jobs
Allied Health and Medical
Computing

Other areas of high demand include:

Fruit picking, farm work and seasonal work
Architecture, planning and construction Jobs
Hospitality and food service jobs
Retail jobs
Temporary administration and secretarial jobs

Backpackers who come to Australia to live and work for a year (or two) are welcomed with open arms!

Travellers at Work is Australia's most established and largest job search facility for WHV travellers with an average of 1000 young travellers coming through their doors each week.

They are not just a website; They are a hands-on Job Search Centre with recruitment consultants that assist their members with finding work in Australia.




AUSTRALIAN FRUIT PICKING SEASONS

New South Wales
Seasonal work, from November to April is the busiest period, with the main harvest reaching a peak in February. Fruit picking work can be found around the central eastern district around Bathurst. Main produce includes orchard fruits, cotton, onions and asparagus.
All year round, around northern coastal areas of NSW, near Coffs Harbour bananas are grown all year.

Victoria
Seasonal work, from November to April peaking in February is the main season for fruit picking jobs in Victoria. Work is to found in central northern areas of Victoria around Shepparton, also a good area to look for work is along the Murray River, places such as Mildura and Swan Hill often required seasonal workers. Main harvests include orchard fruits, tomatoes, tobacco, grapes and soft fruits.

Queensland
Seasonal work, from December to March. Work is usually available around Warwick. Harvest includes stone and orchard fruits, grapes. May to December, on the Central Coast of Queensland near Bowen, lots of different fruit and vegetables grown, especially mangoes at the end of the year. May to November, the northern coast around Ayr and Ingham, usually work available picking sugar cane, bananas and tobacco. All year round, work is available on the southern central coast around Bundaberg and Childers, most types of fruit and vegetables are harvested.



Tasmania
Seasonal work, from December to March. Orchard and Soft fruits, grapes.

South Australia
Seasonal work, February to April work is usually available around The Barossa Valley picking grapes.
All year round, Around the Riverland area, picking citrus and soft fruits.

Western Australia
Seasonal work, October to June the southwest work available harvesting grapes and orchard fruits. March to November fishing and processing work available for crayfish, prawns and scallops available on the west coast between Fremantle and Carnarvon. May to October fruit and vegetable picking and packing jobs available in the northeast, around Kununurra.














Mud Crabs

Mud Crabs are marine and estuarine coastal dwellers that can tolerate low salinity for extended periods, preferring shallow water with...