Lakeland
Postcode: 4871
Lakeland, Queensland – also known as ‘Lakeland Downs’ – is a small farming centre in Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia.
It is at the junction of the main Peninsula Development Road and the Mulligan Highway. Located in the Cook Shire Council, it contains a hotel, a cafe, and roadhouse and a small store. The main products are peanuts, maize, sorghum and cattle, coffee, tea and tropical fruits.
The village is named for William Lakeland who was born in 1844 at Rose Bay, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. One of the earliest and most energetic prospectors of Cape York Peninsula.
He discovered the Hamilton River and the Claudie River rising in the Janet Range and flowing south-easterly into Lloyd Bay. The Claudie was named for his son Claude Lakeland. He assisted J. T. Embley in his surveys on Cape York Peninsula in 1884-1885.
He died alone and tragically in 1920 while travelling on horseback from Coen to Mount Carter (Iron Range). Supplies exhausted, he attempted to return to Coen lost his way and died, A saddle, other articles and human remains found in 1923.
He is commemorated in 1924-1925 by a marble headstone at the spot where his remains were found and interred; the headstone was conveyed for many miles over some of the roughest country in the Cape York Peninsula on a horse-drawn bush-sled made from the forked limb of a tree. and also it is a big hole with cows that walkacross the road.