My father, Lea Wassell, my brother Joe and myself, David, we built the Silver Plains air strip with the help of a chap and his bulldozer, whose name I can not recall, and my trusty World War 2, 303 grader, which, the last time I saw it, was park on a messmate ridge not more than a mile away from Joe’s Lagoon. That was back in late 1965. But I get distracted, what with being a former part owner of Silver Plains and having lived and worked on the property for many years, writing this note brings back a flood of wonderful memories. So, the photograph is of the first aircraft to land on the newly constructed air strip at Silver Plains. That was a few days after the Coen Races, in mid 1960. People in the photograph; the chap whose head is hidden by the wing is Bill Doherty and behind him are his three nephews, Peter and Bruce MacDowall and I can not recall the other boy’s name. Stooped over under the wing is Harry Cutress, a gold prospector who lived and worked on Cape York most of his life, when not prospecting for gold that is. Out in front waving is my brother Joe. I took the photograph. Pilot, not in the photograph, was Kit Thorp from Thursday Island. He was invited by my brother to come and try out the air strip, which of course was a bit of a dusty affair, what with it being very dry back then, at that time of the year.