Diamantina

Diamantina is a long, narrow province straddling Jarraban’s southern coast. It is named after Lady Bowen Diamantina, the wife of Sir George Bowen who served as Governor of the province between 1856 and 1859. Prior to this, it was known rather generically as South Jarraban. The capital and largest city of Richmond houses around 40% of its population.

The Wauroppa and Grio peoples originally inhabited the land. Around 1500 AD, the Grio massacred several Wauroppa clans throughout the province’s centre, isolating West and East Wauroppa from one another and causing both to develop distinctly different languages. During this time, the endemic southern hooped hawk was hunted to extinction. Europeans did not settle the area until 1825 when a small colony was established at Cape Phillip to the east of Port Uniatta, where rugged, mountainous terrain initially made large-scale population difficult. Jarraban’s largest Dutch concession by land area, New Haarlem, was established in the region surrounding Labatta during 1843 and served as a Dutch resupply port for 36 years. British whaling stations also operated on Osbourne Island and the Byrne Peninsula between 1861 and 1922.

Diamantina is renowned for its natural beauty. The heavily-forested Devon Ranges occupy the west, whilst immediately to the east is the Limestone Coast which features the world’s tallest sea cliffs at up to 1,200m in height. The remainder of the province contains an impressive mixture of bush, lakes, mountains and countryside that have bestowed upon it an unofficial moniker, the “Green Province”. Its climate is temperate and marked by ample rainfall and mild temperatures during winter, whilst summers are typically dry and warm with abundant sunshine.