Indigenous tourism is a fast-growing niche segment in the Australian market. Some contrived and some genuine, Roderick Eime goes in search of green ants and coloured sands and meets the authentic Gibson family of Hopevale north of Cooktown.
"… in reality they are far happier than we Europeans; being wholly unacquainted not only with the superfluous but the necessary conveniences so much sought after in Europe …"
So wrote Lieutenant James Cook in August 1770 in his journal of the New Holland natives after unprecedented interaction with them. Little did he know what impact British settlement would later have on these ancient people.
