Camden Harbour and Sampson Inlet

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Geo: -15.4968, 124.616

In the mid 19th© a property agent in Melbourne marketed a cooperative settlement in Camden Harbour.  People paid £100 for passage, land, supplies and sheep to start a new community in a “well watered land with large trees, grass and conditions suitable for the growing of many crops”. 120 people arrived in an alien environment with hostile aborigines.  Within a year 10 settlers had lost their lives and the experiment was abandoned.  Some vestigial rock walls are all that remain, plus one marked grave on their cemetery island.

In the afternoon we went for an excursion in Sampson Inlet.  It was low tide and again we saw very little wildlife except for one startled rock wallaby that took off along a rocky ledge.  We did see a verdant grove of Kimberley cycads that looked very healthy and unaffected by the cycad blight that has taken hold in Qld.

The day was finished off with an evening beach BBQ in a picturesque cove.  Then back to the boat for dessert and a couple of games of Blitz.

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Photos

Camden Harbour
Alighting at the settlement, with Sheep Is in the background.

Ruins
With a collection of found objects.

Gravestone and PVC time capsule
Only one marked grave remains and someone has left some laminated historical information in a screw-cap receptacle.

Healthy Cycads
Isolated grove of these. We saw no others on our trip.

Beach BBQ
Kangaroo steaks, buffalo sausages and Spanish Mackerel fillets – very good!