Mutee Head and Jardine Mouth
Mutee
Head is a big headland north of Jardine river mouth.
Other than the headland itself, there are also some Second World War relics, Saibai Islander graves, and a beautiful beach.
The spot is reached from the main road that goes north to Bamaga, in the NPA (north of Jardine River).
And if you like fishing and
discovering, there is
also a small track west to the mouth
of
Jardine River.
The Road into Mutee Head
At the
turnoff from the main road, there
is now even a road sign saying
Mutee Head.
The road in is a resonably good gravel road, doable in two wheel drive during the dry season.
Up on the hill behind the beach is a Second World War radar tower, reachable by a track that turns off the road in, not far from the beach.
The beach is beautiful and not bad for fishing.
The old poles sticking out of the water is what is left from a Second World War jetty, which was later useful for the community of Saibai islanders.
Yes - the WWII relics were already here when the first Saibai islanders came to settle on the mainland in 1947.
They first settled in the Mutee Head because the WWII water tanks and the jetty were handy.
The Government erected a temporary church, store and medical post. As more and more families arrived, old army huts were used for housing.
It later showed that the water source was not sufficient, and they went looking for better spots. They got help from people at Injinoo, and together they found natural freshwater sources at Red Island Point (now Seisia Jetty) and what was then called Ichuru (now Bamaga).
While the Bamaga township was built most families stayed in Mutee Head, and gradually moved to Bamaga as the housing was completed there.
Track to the Mouth of Jardine
River
The
above-mentioned track to the radar tower continues west to the mouth of Jardine
River.
The track gets gradually sandier and in the end is definitely four wheel drive - it's narrow, bumpy and at times covered by soft boggy sands.
Once you get to the river and behind the beach, it gets only boggier!
But the place is beautiful - the river mouth:
And the beach - on these sand bars you often see crocodiles.
In the eastern end of the beach, you can see Mutee Head.
The place is on Aboriginal land - the new 2015 camping rules are in the Destination Guide, along with all the rest of the places on the peninsula.
Plan Your Trip... the FREE Cape York Travel Pocket Guide
Get this 50 pages guide totally for FREE. It contains information that helps you getting started with planning of your trip. You get to make early-stages desicions such as when to go, how long time you should take, how to get there and get around, where to stay (general info), what will it cost.. and a short insight to what is there to see and do in Cape York.Plan and Bring
to the Trip... the full Destination Cape York Travel Guide
If you liked the books or this website, let others know about it!
Link to it from your website, your blog, your forum post... Share it on Facebook, Tweet about it...
Every link helps other travellers!
Thank you for doing the right thing and letting others know :-)
Custom Search
Get the FREE Pocket Guide:
Get the Big Destination Guide
Available
with the Big Destination Guide:
This site uses British English, which is the English we use in Australia.
Disclaimer : Although best efforts have been made to ensure that all the information
on this website is correct, this site is not to be blamed should there be a mistake.
Since Winter - Spring 2018 this site has been getting upgraded, and the domain name was changed
from the original www.cape-york-australia.com to the new www.capeyorkaustralia.com
While this is happening, you will find some things under construction,
and some photos blurrier than normal, as their new dimensions affect their quality (until they get changed).
They need changing one by one - with hundreds of pages it will take some time
before the whole site looks good again, but I am gradually working on it as quick as I can.
© Copyright 2009-2019 Katrin Holmsten ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
CapeYork Australia Trip Planning Guide, PO Box 197 Bamaga, 4876 QLD Australia