Cape Melville incident  The Cape Melville incident was a series of events that took place in Cape Melville National Park and Cooktown police station in Queensland, Australia, on 11 November 1993. The incident precipitated a political scandal for the Labor State Government known as the Cape Melville affair or Foxtail palm affair. The foxtail palm ("Wodyetia bifurcata") is a tree endemic to the granite boulder fields of the Melville Range, within Cape Melville National Park on Queensland's remote Cape York Peninsula. The tree was unknown beyond the local Aboriginal community until 1978, but its beauty meant it was an instant hit with urban gardeners the world over. By the mid-1980s, illegal harvesting of the plant's seeds for nurseries had become widespread. Though the palm was not endangered, the smugglers caused significant damage to the area by vandalising park gates, trampling undergrowth, felling whole stands of trees, poaching protected wildlife and depleting natural seed banks. The Government's position on foxtail palm seed smuggling was unclear. While the police fauna squad and park rangers fought the practice, government agencies such as Southbank Corporation, Cairns Port Authority and TAFE Queensland were among the buyers of the illegally-obtained plants. And when seized 18,000 foxtail palms from Sheldon Palms proprietor David Cochran in 1992, the specimens were hurriedly returned. Cochran's alleged links to the Government and role in smuggling were examined by the State's anti-corruption watchdog, the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC), as part of its Cape Melville incident inquiry in 1994. On 10 November 1993, a group of people led by banana farmer Paul Barbagallo and his neighbour, Gordon Uechtritz, camped at Bathurst Bay, near Cape Melville National Park. The following day they drove Barbagallo's Toyota Land Cruiser, laden with automatic rifles and a chainsaw, into the national park. Breaking or circumventing barricades meant to keep vehicles out, they parked near a stand of foxtail palms and set off on foot. Barbagallo was later to admit he had illegally removed seeds from this location on a previous visit, but this time he claimed he was there simply to photograph the palm's habitat. The park was managed by the State's then Department of Environment and Heritage (DEH). A group of DEH rangers discovered the Land Cruiser's tyre tracks and, knowing smugglers were active in the area, decided to investigate.