Summary

An excerpt from the Foreword, by B.J. Dalton:

The name Christie Palmerston is still well-known in parts of North Queensland. But many to whom it is familiar would have difficulty in associating it with anything more concrete than a general connection with exploration, and vague imputations of raffishness. To many in North Queensland, and to most outside the region, the name would convey nothing. This book had its origins in the determination of one adopted North Queenslander to seek out the truth behind the highly-coloured, often contradictory, legends about the man which took shape after his death and which still receive an airing from time to time in the popular press.

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The book presents what is incomparably the most thorough and scrupulous account ever written about Christie Palmerston, together with the text of every known historical document bearing upon the subject: both what he wrote himself and what was written about him during his lifetime by those with first-hand knowledge.

It is a study, be it said, of Christie Palmerston's life in Queensland. Paul Savage did not attempt to trace in detail the man's seven last years, spent in Malaya. All Paul's efforts notwithstanding, Palmerston's life before he came to Queensland remains a blank. For reasons explained within, it must remain a blank barring some accidental discovery which is always possible but scarcely likely. Paul's research into Palmerston's twenty-two years in Queensland was so thorough that further research on the subject is unlikely to yield any new discoveries of importance. It is more likely that small pieces of information helping to fill some of the remaining gaps in our knowledge will come to light from time to time, especially in local newspapers, as a by-product of research on other North Queensland topics. That such discoveries will demand any major revision of the conclusions reached in this book, I greatly doubt.