Hope Vale (also known as Hopevale) is a town within the Aboriginal Shire of Hope Vale and a coastal locality 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 Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. It is an Aboriginal community. In the , the locality of Hope Vale had a population of 1,004 people.

Geography

Hope Vale is on

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

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

History

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 ...

, a missionary of the

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

Church, established the Elim Aboriginal Mission (1895; ) on the beach of the north shore of Cape Bedford and the Cape Bedford Mission (1886) nearby. While it initially flourished, Elim's future became grim and the people were relocated to Hope Vale. 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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 Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...

s. Most of the people were sent to Woorabinda, near

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite. The Scottish- ...

, in Queensland, where a large number reportedly perished from disease and malnutrition. Hope Vale was re-established as a Lutheran mission 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. Due to a lack of reliable water supplies at Elim, and the establishment of a government funded school in Hope Vale itself, the community was shifted about inland to its present site. Today, Hope Vale is the oldest continuing mission community in North Queensland.

Language

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 Cooktown area. The language region includes the local government area of the Aboriginal Shire of Hope Vale and the

, particularly the localities of Cape Bedford, Battle Camp and sections of the Normanby River and Annan River. Hopevale is home to several clan groups who mostly speak Guugu Yimidhirr and other related languages, as well as English.

Demographics

In 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. In the , the locality of Hope Vale had a population of 1,004 people.

Government

Hopevale is no longer run as a mission by the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

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 ...

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))"

Education

Hope Vale has a primary (Preparation to Grade 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 the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

(). There is no secondary school in Hope Vale. The nearest secondary school is Cooktown State School in neighbouring Cooktown to the south. On 21 July 2008 the Hope Vale community opened the Indigenous Knowledge and Technology Centre, in the Jack Bambie building at 5 Muni Street. The now-Indigenous Knowledge Centre was established in partnership with Hope Vale Aboriginal Shire Council, the

State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...

, Dot Com Mob, SJB Architects, Work Ventures, and the AMP Foundation. This centre provides a library service, training venue, and public Internet access.

Modern culture

The Hope Vale community has a strong choral singing tradition since its evacuation to Woorabinda. The ensemble has performed at the Queensland Music Festival on three occasions—in 2005, 2007 and 2009.

Notable people

* Eric Deeral (1932–2012), who was the second

Australian Aboriginal Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

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

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

player Matt Bowen (born 1982). * Lawyer and activist Noel Pearson (born 1965), 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
'
Weaving Exchange: Erub Island and Hopevale
footage of weaving workshop run by a group of weavers from Erub, Torres Strait and Hope Vale, Cape York. Available on State Library of Queensland catalogue {{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