Coola-Pa-Tamba by A

Coola-Pa-Tamba By A. W . S. Mackay About nine or ten miles in a northerly direction from Wauc- hope, stands a mountain, in bold view of the town, now known as “Cairn Cross.” It is better known from the northern or Rollands Plains side, c where its ramparts rise from the boundaries of the old settlement and its rock-scarred face is a permanent part of the landscape in the locality. An older generation knew it as “COOLA-PA-TAMBA,” meaning, in Abo. lore, “Where the Eagles Drink.” A few chains from the top of the mountain, in a slight easterly slope and in a huge flat rock lying level with the surface off the ground, are two round pools of water about eighteen inches Now through cloud rifts in tl in diameter. The sides and bot heavens, tom are worn smooth by the He surveys with baleful glar action of the water through a Lands a thousand sires had great period of time. The pools plundered, are separated by a narrow band Now by hand of man laid bar of rock, giving them something A king despoiled but not of the appearance of a giant pair deposed, of spectacles. Reputed to be His status still demands permanently filled with water, That this remain his heritage the writer has seen them several These rugged mountain lane times and on each occasion they A strident note in the tree to; were full to running over—but As the sun begins to sink, perhaps these visits coincided And again big wings pass over with rainy periods. As the eagles come to drink. Abo. tradition has it that in late afternoons, the eagles come there to quench their thirst. They also averred that other wild life, in their dread of the big savage birds, would never venture on the eagles’ domain except, perhaps, under cover of darkness. There’s a rock-pool on the ranges, Where the stunted red gums spread, And the wild geranium flowering, Lifts aloft its fiery head. Here the eagles come for water When the evening sun hangs low, And their wings make eerie shadows Passing over to and fro. Fierce and regal in their manner, | Lesser wild-life from them shrink, When the mighty wings pass over— Where the eagles come to Down the unrecorded ages They have seen the seasons change, Seen the heat waves dance and shimmer And the rain clouds on the range. Seen the spears of lightning flashing Through the darkness, light the place And the mighty rolling thunder Shake the mountains to their base. They have seen the white man coming, And the black man moving on To some camping ground eternal Where the dusky tribes have gone. ________ [$VF- MOUNTAINS- Cairns Cross - / MARCH 20 Placenames Australia Newsletter of the Australian National Placenames Survey sn initiotiyo of tho Australian Aaadcmy u f I lunninUies, auppui ied by lliu (SBtiijia|.illicai IM a r r ië S board öf IVSW ‘Mount Cairncross, a remarkable round-topped hilf On 12 May 1819, while conducting a survey of the 1818 Oxley did not mention it, nor did it appear on his Hastings River, Lieutenant Phillip Parker King and original map of the area. Before then only James Cook Surveyor General John Oxley landed on Little Rawdon and Matthew Flinders are known to have come close to Island where, from the edge of the bank, that part of the coast but neither records the hill in his M ount Cairncross, a remarkable round-topped h ill which log. Cook sailed past during the night and could not is conspicuously seen from the coast over the entrance o f the have seen it, while Flinders wrote only that: port, appeared over the next reach, and formed a rich picturesque back-ground fo r the view} This seems to be the first written record of Mount Cairncross and appears in King’s Narrative o f a Survey o f the Intertropical and Western Coasts o f Australia — Performed Between the Years 1818 and 1822. King also made a painting [right] showing the entrance to Port Macquarie with the hill in the background. Mount Cairncross lies some twenty four kilometres inland and reaches a height of 536 mel res. Although lower than the ranges beyond, it forms the [View of the entrance of] Port Macquarie from the Green Mound by dominant feature on the western skyline Phillip Parker King 1819 (State Library o f NSW) and its distinctive shape explains why it is known locally as the ‘Sleeping Elephant’. The coast from Tacking Point to Smoky Cape is generally low and sandy; but its uniformity is broken at intervals by Unfortunately, King did not say how the hill acquired its rocky points, which first appear like islands. Behind them name. Few Europeans had come to the area prior to his the land is low, but quickly rises to hills o f a moderate visit, and although Oxleys party undoubtedly saw the height; and these being well covered with wood, the country hill as they made their way down the Hastings River in had a pleasant appearance.2 continued on page 4 III this issue. Mount Cairncross — 1 • From the Editor — 2 • Placename signs - 3 • Signs of confusion (again) - 5 • ANPS Placenames Report - 10 • How do you say it? - 10 • Cape Hawke - 11 • Puzzle No 43 - 11 ...from page 1 ‘Mount Cairncross... However, a difficulty arising from Kings Narrative is that The only ‘Cairncross’ with whom King has been found it was not published until 1827 and included references to have had a connection is Jane Cairncross, the wife to events that took place at Port Macquarie subsequent of Barron Field, a judge of the Supreme Court of Civil to his visit. In a similar vein, Mount Cairncross was Judicature in New South Wales. The Fields arrived in not shown on the 1822 edition of Oxleys Chart o f Part Sydney in February 18174 and when King, who was of the Interior of New South Wales, appearing only in a born at Norfolk Island but had spent most of his life later edition of the map containing additions to 1825. in Europe, returned to Australia in September the same It is, therefore, conceivable that the name arose after year, a friendship developed. King’s regard for Barron the establishment of the penal settlement in 1821 when Field became apparent when, during a voyage along the the hill would have become familiar to more people. northern coast of Australia in May 1818, King named Nevertheless, in looking for the source of the name the the Barron and Field Islands ‘after my friend.’ 5 focus must be on King and Oxley. On Christmas Eve 1818 King left Sydney Cove in the Detail from Oxley’s Chart of part of the interior of New South Wales (NLA Maps t939, t940) Left: 1822 edition Right: with additions to 1825 ‘Cairncross’ has its origins in Scodand, and places M ermaid bound for Van Diemen’s Land in order to in Berwickshire and Forfarshire bear the name. As a make a survey of Macquarie Harbour.6 Also on board family name ‘Cairncross’ has been linked to Forfarshire, were Barron and Jane Field, the judge intending to especially the Glenesk district, from at least the 14th undertake a court circuit lasting several weeks. Marsden century,3 but by the early 19th century it had spread Hordern, King’s biographer, observes that King did not throughout Britain and its colonies. mention Jane Field’s presence on the M ermaid,' and that ‘it is only from the pens of the gossipy Cunningham A limited genealogical investigation of Oxley, a [botanist] and Roe [second mate] that we glean the Yorkshireman, and King, whose antecedents were from interesting information that the judge was accompanied Cornwall and Devon, failed to reveal anyone named by “his lady”. Hordern adds, rather suggestively, that Cairncross in either family. Neither man appears to have accommodation was limited and that Jane was not the had a connection with either Berwickshire or Forfarshire, kind of woman ‘who would fail to make her mark on nor do their naval records, including the ships and places male company, quoting a comment from Rose Marie in which they served, throw up the name ‘Cairncross’. Pinon de Freycinet to the effect that Jane was ‘charming... 4 Placenames Australia • March 2014 ...A remarkable round-topped hill’ highly educated and knows French literature very well; her Cairncross Island off the Cape York peninsula. Hordern appearance is no less pleasing, she is very pretty and has states that King bestowed both ‘for the maiden name a very pretty foot, as Louis remarks.’8 Mme de Freycinet of the passenger with the “very pretty foot” who had was accompanying her husband, Louis de Saulces de shared their cabin on the way to Hobart Town’ but Freycinet, captain of the French corvette L’Umnie, on a there is nothing in either King’s Narrative or his log round-the-world voyage and became friendly with Jane of the M ermaid to say that this was the case. Whether while visiting Sydney in 1819- King was more forthcoming in his original journal is not known, since copies thought to be held in the State Hordern, unfortunately, is mistaken, at least on the first Library of New South Wales and the Admiralty Library count. Jane’s presence on the M ermaid was reported in in Portsmouth could not be located.12 both the Sydney and Hobart newspapers,9 and John Septimus Roe noted that the Fields were attended by Nevertheless, it is known that King was given to naming a clerk and a male and female servant.10 So, while not places after people.

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