DESCRIPTION
Cossack today is a quiet little settlement that offers limited bed and breakfast accommodation and has a cafe for visitors to
purchase refreshments. There are also campsite for self-contained caravans and motorhomes with a limit of 3 nights stay.
Most of the major surviving buildings have been refurbished and the surrounds on the Harding River are very attractive.
Sightseeing and fishing are the main reasons people visit the historic settlement and it is possible to launch boats next
to the old wharf.
The area is best visited in the cooler months between June and August.
Of all the buildings that remain, it is the court house that really stands out. This is the image you will see in most
tourist publications. It was constructed for the sum of 2058 pounds and was designed by
George T. Poole. Today it
houses a small collection of artefacts and it is one of the most interesting buildings in the Pilbara.
Cossack has only a few of the original buildings (made of local bluestone) left, however, the setting on the river and
nearby Settler's Beach make the trip a few kilometres in from highway one worth while.
Fishing and crabbing from the old wharf can produce bream, catfish, mangrove jack and mud crabs.
Just off the coast at Cossack is Jarman Island named after Captain J.T. Jarman of the barque Tien Tsin.
The lighthouse on the island was pre-fabricated in Birmingham (England) and was shipped to the Island via Fremantle.
The first lighthouse keeper (S. Efford) was appointed in 1888 and the ruins of the keepers quarters can still be seen on the island.
HISTORY
Cossack is located on the mouth of the Harding River near Roebourne. It was originally known as
Tien Tsin Harbour which was first established in 1863.
The current name was declared in 1872 after Governor Governor Weld's
visit earlier that year aboard HMS Cossack.
The name Tien Tsin originated from one of Walter Padbury's
ships that was used to deliver supplies to miners and settlers.
A causeway was constructed between this coastal port and the larger inland town of Roebourne in 1870 but flooding regularly
destroyed large sections of it. By 1887 it had been turned into a tramway with a horse drawn tram.
It was the first port in the north west and as such earned much of it's early living from the pearling industry that first began
in 1864. Pearling may have been mostly owned and operated bu Europeans but the bulk of the labour and diving was done by Aborigines
and later by Malays, Japanese and other Asians.
Most of the pearling operations eventually moved to Broome in 1886.
The old town once boasted a Chinese bakery, two Chinese stores, a Japanese store,
Singhalese tailor and even a Turkish bath house.
Although the remaining buildings suggest a rather well established town an early visitor described it in the following way:
'With the exception of three good-sized buildings, all of the inevitable galvanised'iron types, and a cluster of disreputable
shanties made chiefly of empty beer-cases and flattened kerosene cans, I saw nothing to warrant the name of a town. 'Heavens!'
said I to myself, 'this surely can't be Cossack!'
Ships called in at Cossack to deliver supplies for the stations and the emerging town of Roebourne. They returned south with
wool, pearl shell and other commodities as well as passengers heading back to 'civilisation' for a holiday or to conduct business.
During cyclone season these trips were hazardous indeed but when the ship Emma vanished during calm weather on its way back
to Fremantle, many families in the north west lost loved ones or friends. The lost cargo also brought financial hardship to
many but the loss of life touched most the people living in the Pilbara.
The reason for the sinking and the whereabouts of the wreck remained a mystery for 10 years but eventually it was discovered
lying on a reef not far from Point Cloates.
The loss of everyone on board puzzled people as the ship had not gone down in rough weather and it would have been possible
for survivors to swim to shore. It was likely that the ship struck the reef at night and apart from drowning, any survivors
would have had to face numerous tiger sharks that are most active at night.
There was even speculation that those who had reached the shore were attacked, killed and eaten by a tribe of cannibalistic
Aborigines that were said to live on the North West Cape. There may have been some truth in this as the Cape remains to this
day, a place of evil to the Aborigines and few venture there.
Alexander Forrest
tried to have a new port established at Port Robinson (behind Dixon Island) and he surveyed a town site at Cleaverville Campsite - Karratha
(named in honour of the Governor Sir William Cleaver Francis Robinson).
This was rejected by the residents of Cossack who had already established themselves and even when Cossack was eventually abandoned, the new site was never taken up. Today Cleaverville becomes a town of campers each winter when visitors from the south camp there to avoid the rigours of the southern winter.
In 1913 a lazarette (leprosarium) was established on the opposite bank of the Harding River and it remained in operation until
1931 when it was transferred to Darwin.
In the 1930s a turtle soup factory was established in Cossack when the bond store was sold to the Monte Bello Sea Products
Limited for 500 pounds.
Despite early optimism about the factory reviving the fortunes of the town, the company went bankrupt in 1935 which is just
as well for the local population of green turtles.
The port began to silt up in the early 1900s, many buildings including the Weld Hotel, were demolished after World War Two and
it was abandoned in the 1950s. Restoration began in 1979 with the project being completed in 1991.
TALL TALES AND TRUE
The ship comes Inn
A cyclone in 1866 drove the ship New Perseverance high up on to the land. An enterprising local (Augustus Seubert) decided not to let the hull
go to waste and cut holes in the side and opened The Ship's Inn, the first pub in town.
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OTHER INFORMATION
ATTRACTIONS
Settler's Beach, Harding River, Jarman Island, Historic settlement, Old graves, fishing, boating, Museum.
BUILDINGS OF NOTE
All the buildings are historically significant.
ELECTORAL ZONES
State : North West Coastal
Federal : Durack
OTHER INFO.
Postcode : 6720
Local Government : City of Karratha
PHOTOS
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