3 - “You never talk it to me!”

Summary

It was time to move on to Cairns, to pick up our mail, and then to survey the remainder of the rainforest region and see what other languages were still spoken. Tindale and Birdsell had listed twelve “negrito” tribes; four of them – Jirrbal, Girramay, Gulngay and Jirru – within the Murray Upper/Tully area. The others originally lived further to the north, up to and just beyond Cairns.

There was a short burst of rain as we left Tully, which is not at all unusual in an area with an annual rainfall of 180 inches – twice that on the Murray, although the distance is only a dozen miles as the crow flies. Three-quarters of it comes down in the wet season, which runs roughly from late December to late March, but there is still a good bit during the remainder of the year. Tully commonly receives an inch of rain in an hour, during any season. Drivers just have to pull in to the side of the road and wait – it is too hazardous to go on under such conditions. And if visitors comment, the people of Tully shrug, “Oh, that – it was just a little shower. You should be here when it really rains!” Appropriately, the envelopes that are supplied with picture postcards of Tully have a picture of a Cooktown orchid on the back, and on the front, “from Tully, the pretty wet place”.