Contested Country: Stories from Cape York

Western Cape York is one the most remote, least accessible areas of Australia, with a land area of 137,000 sq km, half the size of the United Kingdom, and a population of under 10,000 people, most of whom are Indigenous. Western Cape York spans 17 different Indigenous language groups. The land is a complex array of pastoral leases, bauxite mining tenements and land under Native Title.
Most roads are unsealed and impassable during and after the summer monsoon and access is by air and sea barge. The waterways are populated by salt water estuarine crocodiles.
These stories are a contribution to our understanding of the circumstances of Australia’s First Peoples, and in particular, those living on the western coast of Cape York.