[3] There are also several sacred sites, like the women's area at Worrungu Bay,[4] and the stone arrangements near Mine Island,[5] which the senior elder always stated were never 'fish traps' but an important ceremonial ground used for initiation.

[7][better source needed] Cape Upstart was named by Lieutenant James Cook on 5 June 1770 during his voyage along the eastern coast of Australia in HM Bark Endeavour.

[8] Europeans, mostly from the nearby Burdekin farming community, began - in the early twentieth century - building semi-permanent huts on the Cape's western foreshores.

In 2011 Justice Rares of the Federal Court of Australia recognised that the Juru People retained Native Title over Cape Upstart National Park.

[9] This decision was the culmination of a twenty-year struggle by the Juru People to get their Native Title recognised over Cape Upstart National Park.