The Northern Peninsula Area Region is a

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

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 Co ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, covering areas on the northwestern coast 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 ...

. It was created in March 2008 out of three Aboriginal Shires and two autonomous Island Councils during a period of statewide local government reform. In June 2018, the area had a population of 3,069.

History

'' Luthigh'' (also known as ''Lotiga'', ''Tepiti'' and ''Uradhi'', see also '' Uradhi'' related languages) 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 ...

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, Northern Peninsula, 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 locality split between Northern Peninsula Area Region and the Shire of Torres in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is on the north-western coast of ...

. '' 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 Mapoon is a coastal town in the Aboriginal Shire of Mapoon and a locality split between the Aboriginal Shire of Mapoon and the Shire of Cook in Queensland, Australia. In the , Mapoon had a population of 317 people. History Pre-European settlem ...

and

Duyfken Point Duyfken Point is a point in the locality of Mission River, Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia (). Geography Duyfken Point is on the western coast of Cape York Peninsula on the Gulf of Carpentaria. History Duyfken Point was named by Matt ...

and east of the coast strip to the north of Port Musgrave (Angkamuthi country) incorporating the mouth of the Ducie River, 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 including the communities of New Mapoon,

and

. The Region was created on 15 March 2008 from five previous entities—the Bamaga and Seisia Island Councils, and the Injinoo, New Mapoon and Umagico Aboriginal Councils. Its first election was held on the same day. In 1984, the ''Community Services (Torres Strait) Act'' and ''Community Services (Aborigines) Act'' were enacted by the Queensland Government, allowing community councils to be created to own and administer former reserves or missions under a Deed of Grant in Trust (DOGIT). Each was responsible for local basic utilities and services such as electricity, housing and management of local CDEP programs. They also worked with the Queensland Police to provide for community police officers—hence extending well beyond the normal functions of local government. The ''Local Government (Community Government Areas) Act 2004'' extended to community councils many of the provisions and benefits of the ''Local Government Act 1993'' normally enjoyed by shire councils. In 2006, the councils were involved in a consultation process which resulted in a Green Paper being produced. The State Government subsequently took over the process, and in April 2007, a White Paper entitled "Community Government in the Torres Strait: the way forward" was released, recommending both governance and structural changes to ensure the sustainability of governance in the region. The White Paper expressed concerns about workload and capacity to meet community needs, deficiencies in corporate governance and accountability and other challenges and issues. The Local Government Reform report in July 2007 recommended the creation of the Northern Peninsula Area council as well as the Torres Strait Island Region council to attempt to address these issues. The Queensland Government responded by proposing the ''Local Government and Other Legislation (Indigenous Regional Councils) Amendment Bill 2007'' to bring the two new councils into line with the recommendations of both reports. Because of the unique structure of the DOGIT areas, where a community owned the land and the council represented the community owners, concerns were raised by the councils about ownership potentially transferring to the new entities and diluting their title over it. Some councils responded by creating a private company with all community members as shareholders, and transferring the ownership to the company. This was opposed by the State Government who threatened to take legal action against the communities. Following the elections, the Department of Local Government provided $675,000 to the Regional Council to assist with expenses relating to the post-amalgamation transfer process. Gudang (Gootung) is one of the languages of the tip of Cape York. The Gudang language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council, particularly the localities of

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

Albany Island Albany Island or Pabaju is an island off the north-eastern coast of Cape York Peninsula in the Adolphus Channel and part of the Manar Group of islands of Queensland, Australia. It is within the locality of Somerset in the Shire of Torres. ...

and Newcastle Bay extending north to the Tip.

Structure

The council consists of five divisions, each of which represents one of the former entities and elects one councillor, with a mayor being elected by the entire region. At the 2008 election, the following councillors were elected: * Mayor—Joseph Elu * Division 1 (Injinoo)—Gina Nona * Division 2 (Umagico)—Peter Lui * Division 3 (Bamaga)—Reg Williams * Division 4 (New Mapoon)—Michael Bond * Division 5 (Seisia)—Jeffrey Aniba The 2012 local government elections saw a completely new set of councillors elected. All sitting councillors who recontested their seats - the Mayor and Councillors from Division 1, 3 and 4 - were defeated. The following councillors were elected: * Mayor—Bernard Charlie * Division 1 (Injinoo)—Anthony Mara * Division 2 (Umagico)—Dennis Gatawan (unopposed) * Division 3 (Bamaga)—Edward Newman * Division 4 (New Mapoon)—Trevor Lifu * Division 5 (Seisia)—Benjamin Gebadi

Mayors

* 2008–2012: Joseph Benjamin Elu * 2012–2016: Bernard Charlie * 2016–2020: Eddie Newman *2020–present: Patricia Yusia

Towns and localities

The Northern Peninsula Area Region includes the following settlements and their populations: *

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 ...

- 1164 *

- 561 * New Mapoon - 383 * Seisia - 260 *

- 0 *

Umagico Umagico is a town and coastal locality in the Northern Peninsula Area Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Umagico had a population of 427 people. Umagico is one of the five communities which collectively form the Northern Peninsula Area, a ...

- 427

Language

Yumplatok (also known as Torres Strait Creole and Broken) is a contemporary Torres Strait Island language spoken in the

Torres Strait The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost extremity of the Australian mai ...

. The contact with missionaries and others since the 1800s has led to the development of a pidgin language, which transitioned into a

creole language A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable natural language that develops from the simplifying and mixing of different languages into a new one within a fairly brief period of time: often, a pidgin evolved into a full-fledged language. ...

and now has its own distinctive sound system, grammar, vocabulary, usage and meaning. Torres Strait Creole is spoken by most Torres Strait Islanders and is a mixture of

Standard Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language; while Australia has no official language, E ...

and traditional languages. It is an English-based creole; however, each island has its own version of creole. Torres Strait Creole is also spoken on the Australian mainland, including Northern Peninsula Area Region and coastal communities such as

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 ...

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

, Mackay,

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 t ...

and

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Libraries

The Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council operate Indigenous Knowledge Centres at

, New Mapoon, Seisia and

References

External links

Northern Peninsula Area Agreement

Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council
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