nhawi

Lumiel at anchor at Fantome Island, taken from the top of the hill at the leprosarium.

we spent most of today off lumiel, we packed the dinghy with all our dive gear, water, cameras and oyster collecting tools and after breakfast headed into the beach on the north west tip of fantome island. there is a basic camp built by palm island residents that we could set up in, shaded by big trees, a big firepit, a little mooring for the dinghy, reef for snorkelling accessible off the beach and oyster covered rocks a short walk down the beach!

after unloading our gear we set off to explore the lazaret or leprosarium using the wikipedia article (link) as our guide to finding the elements. as i said in the last post, this site is a stark reminder of australia’s institutional racism, but its also such a picturesque site so there is a certain conflict evident while walking the ruins.

i will post some of the commentary for the photos from the article below,

The remains of the lazaret hospital are located 53 metres (174 ft) west of the main lazaret pathway. The beginning of the complex is marked by a low dry stone and coral wall extending perpendicular to the beach front. The remains of the hospital buildings include: numerous timber building stumps and a rectangular concrete pad which was part of the hospital’s septic system. Two concrete sets of stairs survive – one set climbs to the north, suggesting that these were rear access stairs to the hospital complex and the second set is located towards the far west of the hospital complex and climbs to the east to a position that closely corresponds with the known location of the laboratory. At the rear of the hospital complex are two concrete pads. One pad contains the remains of a stove, fridge, and concrete wash tub. These pads are possibly remnants of the hospital laundry and medical sample collection site.

The remains of St Mary’s Catholic Church are located adjacent to and immediately west of the main lazaret pathway. The remains include a large concrete pad. A low wall with a small square recessed section on the outer side, presumably for the placement of a plaque, is located on the end of the pad. In line with and south of the church building pad is a circular concrete feature with a rectangular plinth at its centre.

“The remains of the sisters’ quarters are situated parallel to the north beach front and immediately east of the main lazaret pathway. An extensive scatter of building rubble is found across the site, particularly asbestos fibro fragment, CGI sheets, galvanised iron, steel pipes, and some bricks. The most intact remains are those associated with the nuns’ changing rooms. The site is marked by a concrete pad which is recessed into the ground, with raised concrete surrounds. Internal spaces can be read through the presence of the bases of room dividers, marked by concrete strips. Two iron bath tubs are situated side by side in the centre of the floor area. Adjacent to and east of the changing rooms pad, is a CGI water tank and timber stumps representing a collapsed tank stand. An iron pipe runs from this tank and parallel to the beach front towards a second set of concrete pads. These pads contain the remains of an iron stove and system of concrete spoon drains. Their location set back from the access track and behind another, since-removed building suggests an ancillary use such as a kitchen or laundry.”

“Located east of the visitors’ quarters are the remains of the grotto. The grotto is accessed by a stone-lined path that leads off the main path in front of the remains of the visitors’ quarters. The grotto contains a large shrine consisting of a tall mound of local stone. The shrine features a statuary platform close to the apex though a statue is no longer present. Adjacent to and to the north-west is a concrete altar. The face of the altar is marked with three arched shallow recesses. The largest central arch features a rough outline of Australia that has been constructed of small shells applied to the surface. The path to the grotto terminates at the site of a small steep pyramid-shaped shrine constructed of stone. The shrine has a flat concreted top section probably for a statue, though a statue is no longer present.”

approach path to grotto

“Located at the southern end of the main lazaret pathway are the remains of multiple structures that comprised the supply centre for the lazaret. The supply centre complex consists of a cluster of attached concrete pads comprising: office and store, sewing room, oil room, butcher, and open-air cinema (between the sewing room and the office/store). Immediately east of this complex are the remains of a vehicle garage. Remnants include a concrete pad with a short ramp on the northern end. East of the garage are the remains of the lazaret’s school. Abandoned and partially deconstructed machinery (generator) is bolted to school building pad.”

The married quarters are located immediately adjacent to the single men’s quarters and include huts, two communal kitchens (one later converted into accommodation), a garden area, cess pits, a midden, and general laundry buildings. Former structures are marked by concrete pads. East of the married quarters and 160 metres (520 ft) along a small creek line, are the remains of several wells and pumping equipment. The area includes four circular concrete wells, one rectangular timber-lined well, the remains of a single piston water pump, and a scatter of steel water pipes.

“The cemetery is located on the southern bank of a tidal creek 60 metres (200 ft) from the married quarters. Positioned within a small bend of the creek, the cemetery is bordered by water to the north and east with resulting erosion problems, particularly at the northern end. The cemetery is marked on the east side by an incomplete line of timber fence posts. The individual graves are orientated east–west and are organised into six rows running north–south. The total number of marked graves is 120. Many of the graves are lined by stone surrounds, however, according to the oral history of a former patient these are possibly later additions and may not accurately reflect the number, size and/or location of all the graves. There are some timber crosses marking graves but none of the extant markers retain the name of the deceased; many of the timber crosses now also lack the horizontal member.”

our exploration of the lazaret took a couple of hours and we were glad to return to the shade of our camp site and the fresh water in the esky! after a rest we went snorkelling on the beautiful coral gardens around the north west tip of the island, full of stunning soft and hard corals and many small fish varieties, turtles and sting rays. the tides are pretty big here, about 5m at the moment so the current rips thru the narrow channel between fantome and orphelia islands making for a fast and furious drift dive!

after snorkelling it was back to camp, build a fire and collect oysters to cook. green casuarina fronds provided the smoke to achieve the extra flavour for the oysters!

after pigging out on oysters it was back to the boat for pre-dinner drinks and sunset, todays special was mojitos!

a long and amazing day, we were all deeply impressed, but in quite different ways, for sal the highlight of the day was finding the grotto and the powerful feelings it evoked about what life might have been like for the unfortunate souls incarcerated in the lazaret. for dave the confrontation of the cemetery and it’s stark statement about the horrors of fantome island was his main takeaway. brian was struck by the sheer scale of the site – its much bigger than we expected and sprawls over a large tract of the northern end of the island. it was obvious it must have been a significant population in total.

being a more shallow and simpler soul, my highlight was collecting, cooking and eating the oysters on the beach. for me that connection with country and environment of wild food collection and cooking is always an emotional high.

tomorrow we will explore the lock hospital site and see what we find there.

rob smart’s lovely photo of Lumiel in moonlight bay, cape upstart

so just a quick post with an update on cape upstart! we decided to stay an extra day and head off at midnight the next night to sail all the way through to townsville, this would avoid having to anchor at cape bowling green, known as cape rolling green for a good reason! when i woke up this morning i had a new comment on the blog from a robert smart suggesting we should walk up shark bay creek to the fresh water rock pools. he posted his phone number and so i texted him to thank him and ask what else he knew about the community.

turns out rob lives here, is 82 years old and has fascinating history of his life in england and then australia. he told us to come ashore and he would show us around. dave and i went in and he walked us through a couple of the beaches and filled us in with a lot more info about the amazing little community here, we also met a few other residents.

rob had taken a beautiful photo of lumiel at anchor this morning, as you can see above, he took it from the beach with a big telephoto lens and then searched lumiel, gove nt and stumbled on the blog, hence his comment and offer to show us around!!

we brought him back to the boat for a look as he had built and sailed a wharram cat in the uk, he had done a lot of interesting sailing and his whole life sounded like an amazing adventure. his father had made a number of well known films in australia after a career with the raaf filming for them.

so despite our initial fears about intruding on the locals here in their little paradise we found a very warm reception.

sal’s archilles tendon is still a bit sore so she stayed on the boat while dave, brian and i climbed up the massive water course to the fresh water rock pools. its hard to imagine what the torrent of water must be like in the wet season, but the boulder strewn waterway gives a fair impression!

rosslyn bay marina

well there is a lot to catch up on! while we have been making great progress, internet access has been patchy at best so no updates for nearly a week, so lots of photos coming up and some basic commentary to go with it! we left you last at great keppel island where we spent a night anchored in second bay.

the next day we sailed into rosslyn bay marina, the marina servicing yeppoon. we went straight to the fuel wharf and refilled the tank before docking in our berth and meeting our old mate brian ‘livo’ livingtone.

livo used to live in gove and comes up every year for a fishing trip – this years trip was to be a few weeks cruising on lumiel with us! after a quick look at the boat and his cabin, we went and had lunch at the restaurant at the marina. the next couple of days were a mad rush of catching up with brian’s family – penny his wife, cate, his daughter and dave, his brother, all of whom have joined us on the annual fishing trips over the years. it was also a quick provisioning stop and grab a couple of hardware items needed for the boat.

we were itching to get going again so a couple of days later we slipped lines and headed up to island head creek for an overnight before the run out to the percy group of islands.

Stunning sail from 0700-1200h 7-8k mainly, a top speed of 8.3k – broad reach SW of about 10-12k. as predicted breeze dropped and backed all the way, S, SE, E, and NE! We motor sailed a bit, then motored, then a bit more motor sailing when we got to port clinton. 

managed to run aground in island head creek looking for anchorage. luckily it was right on low tide. discovered gear selection on port sail drive had failed again. dave fixed without really knowing what he did! 

the sail up to middle percy from island head creek was the best we have had yet, hit 9k at one stage and only had to motor sail the last couple of hours as the breeze dropped out again. 

on april fool’s day we arrived at middle percy island in the mid afternoon and went ashore to visit the famous a-frame on the beach with all the names of all the yachts that have visited over the years. its become a mecca for cruising yachties on the east coast.

we had a comfortable night anchored in west bay at middle percy island and after breakfast did some exploring of the lagoon in the dinghy and then brian and i headed up the hills for the 2 km climb to the homestead where the new leaseholders, robin and annie, live. its an amazing walk firstly along the edge of the lagoon, and then at high tide, across a fair section of it with only the old poles from the redundant telephone line to follow! after that the path climbs up thru rain forest filled with thousands of tiger blue butterflies which was amazing. 

arriving at the homestead after an hour, we were warmly greeted by robin and annie and after signing up for our membership of the percy island yacht club and having our dog tags printed off on the korean war printer, and presented with a plaque and burgee for the boat, we accepted their offer off a lift back down to the beach in their ute along the long track which takes a different path and has stunning views across the ocean to the south.

we would have loved to stay longer, but we must keep moving and the 2 nights and one full day was really all we could afford.

i highly recommend researching the story of percy island and the lease, its a fascinating one and its good to see the re-energisation that rob and annie are bringing there with kerry’s help.

of course we had to add to the tradition, we settled on using one our gove boat club stubbie coolers as our name plate.

our contribution to the percy island yacht club

behind the a-shed there is a treehouse nestled in the side of the hill and it can be rented out as accomodation, its quite an amazing setup with 3 levels, a pizza oven and and escape ladder!

when rob & annie gave us a lift back down to the beach, we stopped to enjoy this view from the top of middle percy looking south.

view from the long track.

after a very happy, if short stay at middle percy we set sail for scrawfell island in the southern whitsundays for an overnight stop before heading on to thomas island for another night which would set us up for an early start to sail up thru the whitsunday passage and up to cape gloucester where we plan to spend a day or two. both scrawfell and thomas islands were stunning anchorages with beautiful rainforest and hoop pines on their steep slopes, unfortunately the camera doesnt do these sort of landscapes much justice!

ok, will post a couple of videos on the end of this post if i keep reception long enough! hope you enjoy.