Hope Vale Art Centre Opening April, 2009

Hope Vale (also known as Hopevale) is a town within the

Aboriginal Shire of Hope Vale The Aboriginal Shire of Hope Vale is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Queensland, Australia, north of the town of Cooktown. The majority of the Shire consists of Deed of Grant land that is held for the benefit of Aboriginal peopl ...

and a coastal

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

split between the Aboriginal Shire of Hope Vale and the

Shire of Cook The Shire of Cook (The Shire) is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia. The Shire covers most of the eastern and central parts of Cape York Peninsula, the most northerly section of the Australian mainland. It covers an area ...

, both in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. It is an Aboriginal community. In the , the locality of Hope Vale had a population of 1,015 people.

Geography

Hope Vale is on

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...

about northwest of

Cooktown Cooktown is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. Cooktown is at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland where James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavour, for repairs ...

by road, and about off the Battlecamp Road that leads to Rinyirru National Park and Laura.

History

Guugu Yimithirr (also known as Koko Yindjir, Gugu Yimidhirr, Guguyimidjir) is an

Australian Aboriginal language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

of Hope Vale and the

area. The language region includes the local government area of the

and the

, particularly the localities of Cape Bedford, Battle Camp and sections of the

Normanby River The Normanby River, comprising the East Normanby River, the West Normanby River, the East Normanby River North Branch, the East Normanby River South Branch and the Granite Normanby River, is a river system located in Far North Queensland, Aust ...

and

Annan River The Annan River ( Kuku Nyungkal: ''Yuku Baja'') is a river located in the Wet Tropics of Far North Queensland, Australia. Course and features The river rises in the Yorkey Range below Mount Romeo near , north-northwest of . The river flows ...

. The

Cape Bedford Mission The Cape Bedford Mission was the first Christian mission on the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, Australia. It is the oldest surviving mission in northern Queensland. Founded by Lutheran staff from the Cooper Creek area of South Australia (wh ...

was established by

Johann Flierl Johann Flierl (16 April 1858 – 30 September 1947) was a pioneer Lutheran missionary in New Guinea. He established mission schools and organised the construction of roads and communication between otherwise remote interior locations. Under his l ...

, a missionary of the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

Church in 1886, with the settlement at Elim on the beach. Owing to fears that the German-influenced Aboriginal people might cooperate with the advancing Japanese in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the total population of 286 was evacuated south to various communities by the military in May 1942. The German Lutheran missionaries were sent to

internment camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

s. Most of the people were sent to

Woorabinda Woorabinda is a rural town and locality in the Aboriginal Shire of Woorabinda, Queensland, Australia. In the , Woorabinda had a population of 962 people. It is an Aboriginal community. Geography Woorabinda is in Central Queensland, inland abo ...

, near

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

, in Queensland, where a large number reportedly perished from disease and malnutrition. Hope Vale was re-established as a Lutheran

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

in September 1949. Aboriginal people from the Hope Valley and Cape Bedford Missions settled there. A work crew was allowed to return in 1949 and the first families came home in 1950. Hopevale Post Office opened on 1 May 1965 and closed in 1990. Hopevale is no longer run as a mission by the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

but by its own elected community council. In 1986 it received a "deed of grant in trust" (

DOGIT A Deed of Grant in Trust (DOGIT) is the name for a system of community-level land trust established in Queensland to administer former Aboriginal reserves and missions. They came about through the enactment by the Queensland Government of the '' ...

) which "granted title to 110,000 ha of land which was previously

Aboriginal Reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th c ...

Land held by the Under Secretary as trustee, to the community council to act as trustees of the land for the benefit of the residents." The Aboriginal Land Act 1991 (Qld) transferred into Indigenous ownership all previous reserve land under DOGIT (Deed of Grant in Trust) titles. :"The Warra people of the Hopevale Community of Eastern

in Queensland received acknowledgement of their native title rights in December 1997. The determination recognised rights of exclusive possession, occupation use and enjoyment over 110,000 ha. (Native Title Determination, Warra Peoples, Hope Vale Community of Cape York (NNTT ref# QC96/15))" Hopevale is home to several clan groups who mostly speak Guugu Yimidhirr and other related languages, as well as English. Due to a lack of reliable water supplies at Elim, the community was shifted about inland to its present site. On 21 July 2008 the Hope Vale community opened the Indigenous Knowledge and Technology Centre (IKTC), in the Jack Bambie building at 5 Muni Street. This centre provides a library service, training venue and public Internet access. The Hope Vale community has a strong choral singing tradition since its evacuation to Woorabinda. The ensemble has performed at the

Queensland Music Festival The Queensland Music Festival (QMF) is a series of musical events staged in a number of locations in Queensland, Australia, usually around late July, every second year. It is financially supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queens ...

on three occasions—in 2005, 2007 and 2009. At the , the town of Hope Vale had a population of 974 people. In the , the locality of Hope Vale had a population of 1,015 people.

Education

Hope Vale has a primary (Prep-6) campus of Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy, which is headquartered at the corner of Thiele and Poland Streets in

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

(). There is no secondary school in Hope Vale. The nearest secondary school is Cooktown State School in neighbouring

to the south.

Notable people

Eric Deeral Eric Deeral (23 August 1932 – 5 September 2012) was an Australian politician who was the second Australian Aboriginal person elected to an Australian parliament and the first to a state parliament. A member of the Gamay clan of the Guug ...

, who was the second

Australian Aboriginal Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

person elected to an Australian parliament and the first to a state parliament * Queensland

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

player Matt Bowen * Lawyer and activist

Noel Pearson Noel or Noël may refer to: Christmas * , French for Christmas * Noel is another name for a Christmas carol Places * Noel, Missouri, United States, a city *Noel, Nova Scotia, Canada, a community * 1563 Noël, an asteroid *Mount Noel, Britis ...

, who has criticised the level of violence in the community.

Gallery

File:HopeVale Arts Centre.jpg, Hope Vale Arts Centre File:Hopevale Art Centre Opening in April, 2009.jpg, Hope Vale Art Centre Opening in April, 2009

References

External links

War of Hope" (2015)
A 52-minute documentary on the life of Elder and artist, Roy McIvor, telling of the cruel forced removal of the Cape Bedford Mission Aboriginal people in 1942, their return in 1949 - a story of great suffering and reconciliation

* *
University of Queensland: Queensland Places: Hope Vale Aboriginal Shire Council
* State Library of Queensland, John Oxley Library Blog, 2009.
Queensland Stories - Three new digital stories
' * State Library of Queensland, John Oxley Library Blog, 2017.
75th Anniversary of the Hope Valley Evacuation
' {{authority control Towns in Queensland Populated places in Far North Queensland Australian Aboriginal missions Aboriginal communities in Queensland Queensland in World War II Shire of Cook Aboriginal Shire of Hope Vale Coastline of Queensland Localities in Queensland