Summary

The Foreword from the book:

In the history of Etheridge Shire since European occupation began, two geographical influences have predominated: climate and distance. Those two words reverberate throughout this comprehensive study.

Though occupying a country one third of whose landmass lies north of the Tropic of Capricorn, Australians for the most part have little conception of what 'tropical' really means; overwhelmingly its connotations are of lush 'jungle' and moist heat: of rainforest terrain like the environs of Mackay and Cairns. No country remotely resembling this stereotype is to be found in the huge area of tropical Queensland that is west of the Great Divide. Even along the eastern seaboard rainforest does not constitute a continuous belt. The misconception is not confined to the unlettered; a famous Australian historian can write of "the steaming valleys of the Palmer". What "tropical" really means in The Etheridge, and in the vast western regions adjacent to it, how inexorably climate intensifies every other difficulty and complicates every other problem experienced by the inhabitants, constitute some of the impressions which will remain with readers of this book long after they have put it down.

The impact of distance is a theme more familiar to present day Australians: bordering on the hackneyed, some might think. But what is true cannot always be novel; in the world of nature truth is not dependent upon our readiness to acknowledge it. The scale of distances within The Etheridge, no less than the burdens imposed by distances from ports, from centres of supply and markets, from the sources of power, influence and capital within Australia, will be a revelation to many readers. So also will be the multifarious ways in which distance and climate interact to compound the difficulties of those seeking to make within the Shire not merely a living but a life not too far removed from the expectations shared by other Australians.

Much else in the book will strike the thoughtful reader: the feckless waste which mars so much of the mining record, for example. This must surely rebut bland assurances that unregulated market forces can always be relied upon to develop natural resources in accordance with the national interest. The question also arises whether the existing framework of government could not be modified so as to achieve a better match between the duties and responsibilities imposed upon the local authority in an area like The Etheridge, and the powers and resources at its command.

The centenary of local government in Etheridge Shire occasioned the writing of this history. The Council had the wisdom to commission a trained historian to undertake the task, and the good fortune to find in Janice Wegner one brought up in the Shire. Janice brought to the task a dedication, and a sympathetic understanding of the area and its people, which are as evident throughout as her competence and industry as an historian. The Council also had the enterprise to tap into the resources flowing from the Australian Bi-Centennial in order to obtain funds in support of publication. The Council merits the thanks not only of those who have personal or family connections with The Etheridge, but also of all who understand how greatly good regional studies enrich understanding of the nation's history.