[12] Norman Tindale calculated that their tribal territory encompassed some 1,100 square miles (2,800 km2), taking in the areas of Herberton southwards as far the headwaters of the Herbert River north of Cashmere.
[13] A myth still current appears to explain the difference between the highland flora and that of the coastal zone: The tall upcountry forest members, trees like bull oak, water gum and black walnut had the idea of advancing eastwards to set down roots along the coast, but their endeavour was obstructed by the mangroves, which fashioned boomerangs from their roots and fought the arboreal invaders off so that the lowlands are clear of such species.
Dixon estimates the total numbers at 5,000, which, within five decades of white settlement, indiscriminate shootings and disease, had the impact of leading to their decimation to something like 10% of their original strength by the end of the 19th century.
[5][20][21] They, with the related Girramaygans, eventually gathered together south of Tully in the Upper Murray, tolerated by settlers, one of whom is reported to have said in the 1920s that: 'There are no bad Aborigines left here: they've all been shot'.
One Aboriginal woman who kept house with 'Scrub-itch' was ordered one day to fetch eggs from a scrub hen nest, and he then shot her dead as she dug into one of their breeding mounds.
Were it true it would means that they had conserved, for 200 years a clear memory of the day James Cook, sailing along the Cassowary Coast Region, set foot on the shore of the territory at what is now Cardwell, Queensland.
[23] According to her account, Cook, whom the natives took to be a spirit because of his white skin, beached his boat (warrjan, literally a log vessel or raft).
[24] In the early 20th century, many families were forcibly removed from their country and placed in the Aboriginal reserve that also served as a penal colony on Great Palm Island.
[29] One recorded by Robert Dixon from Wille Kelly on the outskirts of Ravenshoe takes as its theme the willie wagtail (Dyirbal: jigirrjigirr, or in the mother-in-law register of the language, burulabarra "he who belongs to the fighting ground").
This bird, unlike most, is classified as male, since they are believed to be the ghosts (guwuy) of mythical men,[30][c] and its method of fluttering its tail was likened to the dance, in shake-a-leg style (legs fixed in a position while the knees wobble) of an initiated man at a corroboree.
For the anthropologist, in its interweaving of native bird lore, customs and bush, it seemed, hauntingly, to embody the essence of North Queensland's traditional world.