New Mapoon is a town 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 ...

and 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 Northern Peninsula Region and

Shire of Torres The Shire of Torres is a local government area located in Far North Queensland, Australia, covering large sections of the Torres Strait Islands and the northern tip of Cape York Peninsula north of 11°S latitude. It holds two distinctions—it ...

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 , establishe ...

, Australia. In the , New Mapoon had a population of 383 people. The people who live at New Mapoon were forcibly moved from Marpuna in the early 1960s to accommodate mining expansion on their traditional country. They now have historical association and administrative responsibility for a

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 '' ...

area on the traditional country of the

Gudang The Djagaraga or Gudang (Pantyinamu/Yatay/Gudang/Kartalaiga and other clans) are an Australian Aboriginal tribe, traditionally lived in the coastal area from Cape York to Fly point, including also Pabaju (Albany Island), in the Cape York Penins ...

people. The residents of New Mapoon have a ranger service, which works closely with the

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 other Northern Peninsula Area (NPA) community rangers to undertake land management practices in the NPA.

Geography

New Mapoon is an area south of

Seisia Seisia is a coastal town and a locality in the Northern Peninsula Area Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Seisia had a population of 260 people. Geography Seisia is the area north of New Mapoon and west of Bamaga on Cape York Peninsula. ...

and west of

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 i ...

at the tip 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: Agrupació ...

, adjoining the Lockerbie Scrub. New Mapoon is 1 of the 5 communities that form the Northern Peninsula Area (NPA). The NPA consists of 1,030 km² in the northernmost region of Cape York in far north Queensland.

, Umagico,

and

communities make up the remainder of the NPA. CC-BY icon

This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
license.

History of New Mapoon

'' Luthigh'' (also known as ''Lotiga'', ''Tepiti'' and ''Uradhi'', see also '' Uradhi'' related languages) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Luthigh people. The traditional language area for Luthigh includes landscape within the local government boundaries of the

Cook Shire 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 ...

: Eastern Cape York,

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 ...

, Northern Peninsula, New Mapoon,

, and Cowal Creek. '' Uradhi'' (also known as ''Anggamudi'', ''Ankamuti'', ''Atampaya'', ''Bawtjathi'', and ''Lotiga)'' is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Western Cape York Peninsula. The traditional language region includes north of Mapoon and Duyfken Point and east of the coast strip to the north of Port Musgrave (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

including the communities of New Mapoon,

and Cowal Creek.

European contact

New Mapoon is located near

, and was initially called Hidden Valley. The site was also locally known as Charcoal Burner or Mandingu. The government established New Mapoon to accommodate residents from Mapoon Mission, some of whom accepted an offer to relocate there following the closure of Mapoon Mission (Old Mapoon) in July 1963. Mapoon Mission was established under the name Batavia River Mission at Cullin Point in 1891 by the Presbyterian Church of Australia on the traditional lands of the Tjungundji people. Its residents included the Tjungundji, descendants of other local language groups whose lands were incorporated into the Mapoon

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 ...

over time, people forcibly removed to the mission from the Gulf of Carpentaria area and descendants of

South Sea Islanders South Sea Islanders are the Australian descendants of Pacific Islanders from more than 80 islandsincluding the Oceanian archipelagoes of the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, the Gilbert Islands and New Irelandwho were kidnappe ...

brought to the mission by Presbyterian missionaries. In 1954, the Presbyterian Church and Department of Native Affairs attended a conference at Mapoon to discuss the mission's future. Director of Native Affairs, Cornelius O’Leary, rejected the Presbyterian Church's proposal to maintain the mission and a policy decision was made to close the mission. Other problems at Mapoon had also been brought to his attention prior to the conference including financial and staffing difficulties, and resident dissatisfaction. O’Leary had already advised the government of his preference to close the mission before attending the conference.G Wharton, ''The Day They Burned Mapoon: A Study of the Closure of a Queensland Presbyterian Mission'' (Unpublished Honours thesis, University of Queensland; 1996), 46-54. Residents of Mapoon were not consulted about the closure of Mapoon and most protested strongly against the initial plan to relocate residents to other Presbyterian missions or to "assimilate those ready for exemption rom the Protection Actsinto the Australian way of life elsewhere". At the time the community became aware of the closure plan in 1954, around 285 people lived at Mapoon. The church administration did not commit to the government's closure policy until 1960, after experiencing persistent pressure caused by under-funding and uncertainty after the discovery of

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 ...

deposits in the Mapoon-

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 invol ...

area in 1955. Between 1961 and 1962, the Presbyterian Church began deliberately reducing services to mission residents. The government had begun to build houses at New Mapoon. By July 1963, the last Presbyterian staff member had resigned, the Department of Native Affairs had appointed one of its staff as Superintendent of Mapoon and around 100 Mapoon residents had relocated to New Mapoon. At the end of 1962, around 162 people still remained at Mapoon continuing their campaign against the closure and setting up alternative schooling, food supplies and transport. The

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...

reported in May 1963 that the "balance of the inhabitants of Mapoon of their own volition moved to New Mapoon". However, the official records indicate that this was not the case. On 14 November 1963, the Director of Native Affairs, Patrick Killoran, instructed the

Thursday Island Thursday Island, colloquially known as TI, or in the Kawrareg dialect, Waiben or Waibene, is an island of the Torres Strait Islands, an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait. TI is located approximately north of Cape ...

police to remove 23 people from Mapoon to

and "commence demolition of the vacated shanties on the reserve". The next night, two Queensland police officers arrived at Mapoon on the ''MV Gelam'', together with several

Saibai Island Saibai Island, often shortened to just Saibai ( mwp, Saybay), is an island of the Torres Strait Islands archipelago, located in the Torres Strait of Queensland, Australia. The island is situated north of the Australian mainland and south o ...

Community Police officers. A police report of the event has never been located; however oral accounts and removal records confirm that all residents were removed and that some of the buildings and houses were burned at Mapoon at this time. The bulk of the demolition of the Mapoon mission occurred in mid-1964. Presbyterian Church records indicate that the remaining 70 residents at Mapoon were transported to

and New Mapoon aboard the ''MV Gelam'' between January and May 1964 After the 1964 closure of Mapoon, former residents continued to lobby for the re-opening of their community. In 1974, Jerry and Ina Hudson and several other families returned to ‘old Mapoon’ and in 1984, established the Marpuna Aboriginal Corporation which gradually built up community facilities.

Local government and Deed of Grant in Trust community

On 30 March 1985, the New Mapoon community elected 5 councillors to constitute the New Mapoon Aboriginal Council established under the ''Community Services (Aborigines) Act 1984''. The Act conferred local government type powers and responsibilities upon Aboriginal councils for the first time. Umagico, Seisia, Cowal Creek and Bamaga also elected council representatives at this time. On 27 October 1986, the New Mapoon council area, previously an Aboriginal reserve held by the Queensland Government, was transferred to the trusteeship of the New Mapoon Aboriginal Council under a

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 '' ...

(DOGIT) lease. On 1 January 2005, the New Mapoon Aboriginal Council became the New Mapoon Aboriginal Shire Council. In 2007, the

Local Government Reform Commission Local government in the Australian state of Queensland describes the institutions and processes by which towns and districts can manage their own affairs to the extent permitted by the ''Local Government Act 1993–2007''. Queensland is div ...

recommended that the 3 NPA Aboriginal councils and the 2 NPA Torres Strait Islander councils be abolished and a Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council be established in their place. The first Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council (NPARC) was elected on 15 March 2008 in elections conducted under the ''Local Government Act 1993''. In the , the locality of New Mapoon had a population of 383 people.

Education

There are no schools in New Mappoon. The nearest government primary and secondary schools are the junior and senior campuses of the Northern Peninsula Area State College, both of which are in neighbouring

to the south-east.

Amenities

Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council operates a library (New Mapoon Indigenous Knowledge Centre) at Brown Street, New Mapoon. New Mapoon has a general store, "Arts and Craft", and "Bait and Tackle" shops.

References

Attribution

This Wikipedia article contains material fro
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community histories: New Mapoon
Published by The State of Queensland under CC-BY-4.0, accessed on 3 July 2017. {{authority control Towns in Queensland Populated places in Far North Queensland Aboriginal communities in Queensland Shire of Torres Northern Peninsula Area Region Articles incorporating text from the Queensland Government Localities in Queensland