Gununa, sometimes spelt Gunana, is a rural town on Mornington Island within the locality of Wellesley Islands in the Shire of Mornington, Queensland, Australia. In the , Gununa had a population of 1,136 people.

Geography

Gununa is located on the southwestern end of Mornington Island, on the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary is ...

. The town faces the Appel Channel, () on the other side of which is Denham Island ().

History

The town was founded in 1914 as Mornington Island Community, and renamed by the Queensland Place Names Board on 16 January 1982. Gunana or Gununa is a Lardil word. Mornington Island State School opened on 28 January 1975. Gununa Post Office was open by 1982. In the , Gununa had a population of 1,136 people, which is almost all of the 1,143 people who live within the shire as a whole.

Education

Mornington Island State School is a government-run primary and secondary school for boys and girls from early childhood through Year 10. It is located at Lardil Street (). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 263 students, with 25 teachers and 14 part-time and full-time non-teaching staff (the equivalently of 11 full-time employees). It includes a special education program. There are no schools offering education to Year 12 on the island; nor are there any nearby. Distance education or

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

are the only options for education past Year 10.

Amenities

Gununa Post Office is in Mukukiya Street (). Mornington Island Uniting Church is at 21 Dajibuka Street (). It is part of the Calvary Presbytery of the Uniting Church in Australia.

References

{{Shire of Mornington Shire of Mornington (Queensland) Towns in Queensland