Coen is a town and coastal suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. The town of Coen is inland on the Peninsula Developmental Road, the main road on the Cape York Peninsula in far northern Queensland. In the , Coen had a population of 364 people.

Geography

The locality of Coen is on the eastern side of Cape York Peninsula with the Coral Sea forming its eastern boundary. Part of the northern boundary follows the Archer River, while the Coen River forms part of its western boundary. The Peninsula Developmental Road runs roughly north to south through the locality.

History

Kaanju (also known as Kaanju and Kandju) is a language of Cape York Peninsula, Cape York. The Kaanju language now known as Southern Kaantju language is the local language for the region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Cook Shire Council. In 1623, Jan Carstensz, the navigator of the ship ''Pera'' of the Dutch East India Company named a river on Cape York Peninsula after Jan Pieterszoon Coen, the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. Today that river is known as the Archer River and the name Coen River is given to one of its tributaries. Gold was discovered on the Coen River in 1876. Coen came into being first as a small fort built by gold Mining, miners and Prospecting, prospectors in May 1877 but this first gold rush quickly came to an end, and the settlement did not recover until 1883. It became a centre for several small goldmines in the region but, in 1893, the rich Great Northern mine boomed and the town became a more substantial place. Coen Post Office opened on 20 June 1893 (a receiving office had been open from 1888). The Great Northern mine continued operations until 1916 and produced some 52,000 troy ounces (1,617 kg) of gold before it closed. As gold mining declined from around the 1930s, Coen still remained an important administrative and social centre for the surrounding Cape York communities. Also, during the Second World War, Coen was an important part of the forward defence network. Isolation was however still a challenge, in particular in regard to communication, with one of the last pack horse runs in Queensland operating out of Coen as late as the 1950s. As well, until the 1960s, when the Weipa-Bamaga area was developed, Coen was the most northerly town on Cape York Peninsula. In the , Coen had a population of 416 people. On 3 July 2014, Barry Port retired from the Queensland Police. He was Australia's last Australian Aboriginal, Aboriginal police tracker. In his 36 years working for the police, he has tracked criminals, missing people and stowaways. In the , the locality of Coen had a population of 364 people.

Facilities

Today Coen provides services to the region, and is an important supply point on the long unpaved road leading to Weipa, Queensland, Weipa and other northern communities. It is a popular stopping point for tourists driving to the tip of Cape York - the northernmost part of the Australian mainland. It has an airstrip at Coen Airport ( north of the town), public library, hotel/motel, guest house, two general stores and fuel outlets, hospital, post office, police station, camping grounds, primary school kindergarten, ranger base and more. There is a scheduled air service to Lockhart and Cairns four times a week. Our Lady of the Way Catholic Church is in Taylor Street. It is within the Cooktown Parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns.

Attractions

Coen is an ideal destination for birdwatchers: there are good accommodations and a large and varied bird fauna with representatives from rain forest, monsoon forest and coastal forests.

Heritage listings

Coen has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Coleman Close: Coen Carrier Station

Climate

Coen has a tropical savanna climate (''Köppen climate classification, Aw'') with distinct wet and dry seasons. Daytime temperatures are usually over most of the year. The dry season runs from May to October. The temperatures in this season can drop below in the coolest months between May and August, and it can peak further above in the build up months between September and November. The wet season occurs from December to March and is characterized by frequent torrential downpours and high humidity. This season is also generally associated with the arrival of the monsoon trough and tropical cyclones.

Footnotes

References

*Moon, Ron & Viv. 2003. ''Cape York: An Adventurer's Guide''. 9th edition. Moon Adventure Publications, Pearcedale, Victoria. *Roberts, Jan. 1981. ''Massacres to Mining: The Colonization of Aboriginal Australia''. Dove Communications, Blackburn, Victoria. Rev. Australian ed. Previous ed.: CIMRA and War on Want, 1978, London. . *Premier's Department (prepared by Connell Wagner). 1989. ''Cape York Peninsula Resource Analysis''. Cairns. (1989). *Ryan, Michelle and Burwell, Colin, eds. 2000. ''Wildlife of Tropical North Queensland: Cooktown to Mackay, Queensland, Mackay''. Queensland Museum, Brisbane. (set of 3 vols). *Scarth-Johnson, Vera. 2000. ''National Treasures: Flowering plants of Cooktown and Northern Australia''. Vera Scarth-Johnson Gallery Association, Cooktown. (pbk); Limited Edition - Leather Bound. *Sutton, Peter (ed). ''Languages of Cape York: Papers presented to a Symposium organised by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies''. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra. (1976). *Wallace, Lennie. 2003. ''Cape York Peninsula: A History of Unlauded Heroes 1845-2003''. Central Queensland University Press, Rockhampton. *Wynter, Jo and Hill, John. 1991. ''Cape York Peninsula: Pathways to Community Economic Development''. The Final Report of The Community Economic Development Projects Cook Shire. Cook Shire Council.