146. Sunday, 19 September 1948. Something of a change came over us today; this morning Len announced that after the show was over he had to get to Brisbane and arrange our clearances of collections and so on and thought we should get in to Cooktown by Sunday, the 26th, which meant leaving here early that morning. The Jubilee Pack, Norman Watkin, who brought us up here was due this afternoon with our supply order and as Len had to go up the mountain, it fell upon me to make the arrangements. Norman arrived in due time but told me he had arranged with some of the miners over at Poverty to do a transport job for them next Sunday; I arranged for out departure on Saturday, that being the only way we could get Len on the Monday morning plane. However Norman brought a letter up from Lewis & Store in Cooktown telling us that the Wandana was due northbound in Cooktown on the 24th and that after her they did not know when the next ship would travel in that direction - certainly not for weeks. It was the obvious thing for us to arrange for somebody to be there, as we have to ship Joe up to Portland Road and the three blacks to Thursday Island. As a result of it all, I have to intercept Norman somewhere on the road between Poverty and Helenvale some time early and arrange that we all be taken out on Thursday morning. It means also that by some means I have to get word to George and Van, who are camped at Black Mountain, about midway between here and Cooktown, to have Moreton and Roy on hand at Cooktown sometime on Thursday. Obviously we shall save some money in sending the boys up by ship instead of by plane and in addition we shall be free of Joe when he gets tight and also we can arrange for Roy's father, Monkey, to join the ship at Portland Roads. For myself, I am delighted as it will give me a chance to say goodbye to Capt. Paulson of the Wandana, who helped us so considerably when we were short of food at Tozer and Iron Range, and it will give us more time to do the packing at Cooktown. I made some inquiry into the subject of schooling for the bush people but shall save that for tomorrow's entry, as well as reporting the result of my interception of Norman Watkin and my efforts to get a message through to George. Monday, 20 September 1948. It is still early in the morning but I want to get this page finished and out of the typewriter in order to get on with correspondence relative to our final closing of things here and at Cooktown. I have returned from a walk to the trail to Poverty, which branches off the Shipton's Flat trail but learned from a passing cowhand who had come from there that Norman will not pass until fairly late this afternoon. I left a note for him, pendant from a branch stuck in the middle of the trail, asking him to call on us, and shall walk out again to meet him later on. Now there are reservations to be made on the Wandana for Joe and the boys, telegrams to be sent to the Protectors at T.I. and Coen, in order to have old Monkey on hand at Portland Road when the Wandana gets there, letters to be written, to B-P about holding mail and meeting the Merinda, to Lewis about various accommodations and so on. Mrs. Brass sill leave us tomorrow and look after the mailing of things and sending of telegrams when she gets to Cooktown. In the matter of bush education, I have made some inquiry and find that there is a government service which supplies text books and other needs to the parents of bush children, whose job it is to see that their child receives an education of some sort. At best it cannot consist of more than reading, writing and simple arithmetic and is dependent, not only on the parents' ability to teach but also on their own understanding of what they are teaching. Those who can afford to do so later send their children in to boarding schools but the great majority cannot and the children end up barely literate.