Mapoon is a coastal town in the

Aboriginal Shire of Mapoon The Aboriginal Shire of Mapoon is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is on the western coast of Cape York Peninsula on the Gulf of Carpentaria. Geography Most local government areas are a single contiguous area (po ...

and a

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 Mapoon 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 ...

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. In the , Mapoon had a population of 317 people.

History

Pre-European settlement

Teppathiggi The Tepiti (Debidigh) or Teppathiggi were an indigenous Australian tribe of Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country ...

(also known Tepithiki and Teyepathiggi) 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 the Western Cape York Peninusla, Middle Dulcie River, Lower Batavia River,

Ducie River The Ducie River is a river located on the Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Australia. Formed by the confluence of the Palm Creek and South Palm Creek, the headwaters of the Ducie River drain the Richardson Range, part of the Great ...

, and Mapoon. The language region includes areas within the local government boundaries of

Cook Shire Council 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 ar ...

. '' Uradhi'' (also known as ''Anggamudi'', ''Ankamuti'', ''Atampaya'', ''Bawtjathi'', and ''Lotiga)'' is an

of the Western Cape York Peninsula. The traditional language region includes north of Mapoon and

Duyfken Point Duyfken Point is a Point (geography), point in the Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality of Mission River, Queensland, Mission River, Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia (). Geography Duyfken Point is on the western coast of Cape York ...

and east of the coast strip to the north of

Port Musgrave Port Musgrave is a shallow, almost enclosed, estuarine bay located on the western coast of the Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Australia. Geography Two major rivers, the Wenlock and the Ducie discharge into it. The bay itsel ...

(Angkamuthi country) incorporating the mouth of the

, the lower reaches of the Dulhunty River and the upper reaches of the Skardon River in the north. Following the displacement of Indigenous people by British settlement, it was also spoken in the

Northern Peninsula Area Region The Northern Peninsula Area Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia, covering areas on the northwestern coast of Cape York Peninsula. It was created in March 2008 out of three Aboriginal Shires and two autonomous Isl ...

including the communities of New Mapoon,

Injinoo The Injinoo were an Indigenous Australian people of the Cape York Peninsula, and their name now applies to a tribal aggregation of remnants of various tribes of the Cape York Peninsula. Country The traditional lands of the Injinoo Community ext ...

and

Cowal Creek Injinoo (formerly Cowal Creek) is a coastal town in the Northern Peninsula Area Region and a Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality split between Northern Peninsula Area Region and the Shire of Torres in Far North Queensland, Far North Que ...

1891: Mission

In 1891 the

Moravian Church The Moravian Church ( cs, Moravská církev), or the Moravian Brethren, formally the (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination, denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohem ...

established a mission at Mapoon with the aim of providing education and health services to the Aboriginal people. It was their first mission in Cape York Peninsula and they established it at the request of the

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

. By 1907, under the Reformatories Act, it was operating as a community for local people.

1950–2000

In the 1950s when

bauxite Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO(O ...

was discovered on the Western Cape area, the Queensland Government passed legislation to help the interested companies

Comalco Rio Tinto Aluminium (previously known as Comalco) is now known as Rio Tinto Alcan after Rio's takeover of Alcan. It was the world's eighth largest aluminium company. It mines and manufactures bauxite, alumina and primary aluminium. Rio Tinto Al ...

and

Alcan Alcan was a Canadian mining company and aluminum manufacturer. It was founded in 1902 as the Northern Aluminum Company, renamed Aluminum Company of Canada in 1925, and Alcan Aluminum in 1966. It took the name Alcan Incorporated in 2001. During t ...

with the Comalco Act (Commonwealth Aluminium Corporation Pty Ltd Agreement Act 1957 (Qld)). As a consequence some 8,000 square kilometres were excised from the mission reserve. The government, together with Comalco determined to evict the residents off the mission, and they were moved forcibly by the Queensland police from Old Mapoon to New Mapoon on 15 November 1963. The closing of the Mission was explained publicly as a measure to 'rationalise services' for the Cape indigenous people by centralising them in the

Bamaga Bamaga ( , ) is a small town and locality about from the northern tip of Cape York in the north of Queensland, Australia. It is within the Northern Peninsula Area Region. It is one of the northernmost settlements in continental Australia and is ...

area. In November 1963, people were forced from their homes by armed police. They were then transported by ship. The

police raid A police raid is an unexpected visit by police or other law-enforcement officers with the aim of using the element of surprise in order to seize evidence or arrest suspects believed to be likely to hide evidence, resist arrest, be politicall ...

was ordered and overseen by Patrick Killoran, the then director of Aboriginal Affairs in Queensland. Aboriginal residents' houses were burnt to the ground in 1963 by

Queensland Police The Queensland Police Service (QPS) is the principal law enforcement agency responsible for policing the Australian state of Queensland. In 1990, the Queensland Police Force was officially renamed the Queensland Police Service and the old motto ...

. Many residents were unhappy at Bamaga, at one of the nearby communities now known as New Mapoon. Over the following years, many moved back to (Old) Mapoon and eventually the government provided new housing. Mapoon became known as one of the places involved in the fight for

Indigenous land rights Indigenous land rights are the rights of Indigenous peoples to land and natural resources therein, either individually or collectively, mostly in colonised countries. Land and resource-related rights are of fundamental importance to Indigenou ...

in the 1970s, and seven families had moved back by 1975. The

Black Resource Centre The Australian Union of Students (AUS), formerly National Union of Australian University Students (NUAUS), was a representative body and lobby group for Australian university and college of advanced education students. It collapsed in 1984 and w ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, led by

Cheryl Buchanan Cheryl is a female given name common in English speaking countries. There are several prevailing theories about its etymology. The most common is that it has Italo-Celtic roots and is an Anglicised version of either the French name Cherie (from L ...

, was involved, and she also took

Lionel Fogarty Lionel Fogarty (born 1958), also published as Lionel Lacey, is an Indigenous Australian poet and political activist. Early life Fogarty was born in 1958 on an Aboriginal reserve at Barambah (now called Cherbourg) in Queensland, where he grew up. ...

to meet the displaced residents. Mapoon State School opened on 30 January 1995. On 1 January 2002, it became the Mapoon campus of Western Cape College. The , the population of Mapoon was 139.

21st century

In 2000, the Mapoon Aboriginal community was formally recognised under

Deed of Grant in Trust 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 '' ...

arrangements. The Mapoon Aboriginal Council administers the community affairs with government support. At the , the locality of Mapoon had a population of 239. At the , the town of Mapoon recorded a population of 263 and 90% of the town's population was of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent.

Geography

Mapoon is on the western side of

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 ...

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stretches north to the Torres Strait, and west to the Gulf C ...

, Australia. The town of Mapoon is on a peninsula that extends into 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 ...

with Cullen Point (also known as Tullanaringa Point) at its tip (), creating a side bay of the Gulf called

(), which is probably named after

Sir Anthony Musgrave Sir Anthony Musgrave (31 August 1828 – 9 October 1888) was a Secretary of State for the Colonies, colonial administrator and governor. He died in office as Governor of Queensland in 1888. Early life He was born at St John's, Antigua, the t ...

, the

Queensland Governor The governor of Queensland is the representative in the state of Queensland of the monarch of Australia. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governor performs constitutional and ceremonial functi ...

from 1883 to 1888.

() and

Wenlock River The Wenlock River is a river located on the Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Australia. Course and features The river rises on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range below Jacks Knob, west of Nundah homestead. The river ...

() flow though the locality into Port Musgrave. Red Beach is a sandy strip facing Port Musgrave adjacent to the south side of the town (). The government-built housing is spread out in

bushland In Australia, bushland is a blanket term for land which supports remnant vegetation or land which is disturbed but still retains a predominance of the original floristics and structure. Human survival in bushland has a whole mythology evolving ...

along Red Beach Road towards Cullen Point, rather than being clustered together as in other Western Cape communities. Flying Fox Island is a marine island () in the west of Port Musgrave close to the coastline north of the town. During the

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...

from December to April the town is largely inaccessible except by air and sea. There is an airstrip south of the town (). The Alcan Weipa mining lease covers of the locality of Mapoon. It is a

mine. It includes the Myerfield Strip, an aircraft landing strip (). The name ''Myerfield'' was proposed by Alcan Pty Ltd, which had built the airstrip.

Demography

In the , the locality of Mapoon had a population of 317 people.

Climate

Mapoon experiences a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: ''Aw'',

Trewartha Trewartha and Andrewartha are Cornish family names (and placename, Dexter). There are places called Trewartha in the parishes of Merther, St Agnes, St Neot and Veryan. According to the ''Handbook of Cornish Names'' by G. Pawley White, "Trew ...

: ''Awha''), with hot conditions year-round. There is a shorter wet season from mid-November to April, and a longer dry season from May to mid-November.

Economy

There is a fishing business, providing mudcrabs to southern markets from the Port Musgrave Bay and Dulhunty and Wenlock rivers.

Education

Western Cape College is a primary (Early Childhood-6) school headquartered at Rocky Point,

Weipa Weipa () is a coastal mining town in the local government area of Weipa Town in Queensland. It is the largest town on the Cape York Peninsula. It exists because of the enormous bauxite deposits along the coast. The Port of Weipa is mainly involv ...

. Its campus in Mapoon is on Red Beach Road ().

Facilities

Presently the town has a primary school, nursing station, council office and small shop providing fuel and food. Local people are employed on the Council which as well as providing services for the local community in 2006 won the contract to provide road maintenance for the all-weather dirt road from the town of Weipa.

Attractions

Camping facilities near the town are found at Cullen Point and Janie Creek. The area is known for excellent fishing and crabbing.

Alcohol Management Plan

An "Alcohol Management Plan" exists in the community, with restrictions on the amount and type of liquor that may be carried on persons or vehicles in the area. This Plan was formulated and requested by the majority of Elders within the community and passed by law by the Government of Queensland into S.168 of the Liquor Act 1992. It is enforced by the

based at

References

Sources

External links

* * * {{authority control Australian Aboriginal missions Populated places in Far North Queensland Aboriginal communities in Queensland 1963 in Australia Shire of Cook Aboriginal Shire of Mapoon Coastline of Queensland Localities in Queensland