Weipa () is a coastal mining town in the local government area of Weipa Town in

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 ...

. It is the largest town on the

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 exists because of the enormous

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 along the coast. The Port of Weipa is mainly involved in exports of bauxite. There are also shipments of live cattle from the port. In the , Weipa had a population of 3,899 people.

Geography

Weipa is on the western coast of the

facing 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 i ...

. Weipa is just south of

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 ...

, which was named by

Matthew Flinders Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to ut ...

on 8 November 1802 after the ship ''

Duyfken ''Duyfken'' (; Little Dove), also in the form ''Duifje'' or spelled ''Duifken'' or ''Duijfken'', was a small ship built in the Dutch Republic. She was a fast, lightly armed ship probably intended for shallow water, small valuable cargoes, bri ...

'' commanded by the Dutch explorer

Willem Janszoon Willem Janszoon (; ), sometimes abbreviated to Willem Jansz., was a Dutch navigator and colonial governor. Janszoon served in the Dutch East Indies in the periods 16031611 and 16121616, including as governor of Fort Henricus on the island of S ...

. It is claimed that Janszoon was the first European to sight the Australian coast in the

in 1606, 164 years before Lieutenant James Cook sailed up the east coast of Australia. The town consists of three residential suburbs, Rocky Point, Trunding, and Nanum, in addition to the industrial suburb of Evans Landing; these suburbs are contiguous. The town also includes the suburb of

Weipa Airport Weipa Airport is an airport in Weipa, Queensland, Australia. The airport is southeast of the town. Airlines and destinations Statistics Weipa Airport was ranked 55th in Australia for the number of revenue passengers served in financial ...

which is not connected to the other suburbs and contains the town's airport.

History

Traditional owners and languages

Yupanguthi (Yuputhimri, Jupangati, Yupangathi, Nggerikudi, Yupungati, Jupangati) 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 on Yupanguthi country. The Yupanguthi language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the landscape within the local government boundaries of 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 ...

and Weipa Region. Kugu Yi'anh is a language of Cape York. The traditional language area of Kugu Yi'anh includes landscape within the local government boundaries of the Cook Shire. Kugu Nganchara (also known as Wik, Wiknantjara, Wik Nganychara, Wik Ngencherr. See also related Wik languages) is a traditional language of the area which includes the 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 ...

. Kugu Muminh (also known as Kuku-Muminh. See also related Wik languages) is one of the traditional languages which includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the

Bauxite section on kaolinitic sandstone C 007-3

Thaynakwith Awngthim is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language formerly spoken in Cape York in Queensland, Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian contine ...

(also known as Awngthim, Tainikuit and Winduwinda) is an

spoken on Western Cape York in the Weipa area taking in Albatross Bay and

Mission River The Mission River is a river located in Texas, in the United States of America. It is formed by the confluence of Blanco and Medio creeks in central Refugio County (at 28°19' N, 97°19' W) and runs southeast, past Refugio, for to its mout ...

. The language region includes areas within the local government boundaries of Weipa Town Council and

Weipa Mission

In 1895,

Presbyterian 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 n ...

missionary Reverend Nicholas John Hey established a mission at the junction of Embley River and Spring Creek which he called Weipa, which is believed to derive from the Anhathangayth word meaning "fighting ground". In 1932 the mission relocated approximately to Jessica Point, continuing under the same name, Weipa Mission. CC-BY icon

Text was copied from this source, which is available under
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
licence. Very restrictive legislation was enacted by the state of Queensland in 1911, making the

Protector of Aborigines The role of Protector of Aborigines was first established in South Australia in 1836. The role became established in other parts of Australia pursuant to a recommendation contained in the ''Report of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Abori ...

the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and part-Aboriginal child (until he/she was 21), and the right to confine (or expel) any such person within any

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 ...

or institution, and the right to imprison any Aboriginal or part-Aboriginal person for 14 days if, in the Protector's judgement, they were guilty of neglect of duty, gross insubordination or wilful preaching of disobedience. It also gave powers to the police to confine Aboriginal people to reserves to "protect them from corruption". This latter power was given by Comalco in 1957 to justify the removal of Weipa Aboriginal people. In 1932, the community had to relocate to its present site, at

Jessica Point Napranum is a remote town in the locality of Mission River in the Aboriginal Shire of Napranum, Queensland, Australia. At the , the town of Napranum had a population of 950. Etymology Napranum is a compound word made from two languages of th ...

now called Napranum because of

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...

. It is about south of the present town of Weipa. At this time most of the people were

Awngthim Awngthim is an Language death, extinct Australian Aboriginal languages, Australian Aboriginal language formerly spoken in Cape York Peninsula, Cape York in Queensland, Australia by the Winduwinda, Winduwinda people. The Awngthim language region ...

but soon different tribes and clans and other communities were forcibly removed from

Old Mapoon Old or OLD may refer to: Places * Old, Baranya, Hungary * Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...

. To prevent the spread of malaria, the

settlement was burnt down on 15 November 1963.

Mining town

In 1955 a geologist, Henry Evans (1912–1990), discovered that the red cliffs on the

, previously remarked on by the early Dutch explorers and

, were actually enormous deposits of

– the ore from which

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

is made – and to a lesser extent

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...

. The "''Comalco Act 1957''" revoked the reserve status, giving the company of Aboriginal reserve land on the west coast of the Peninsula and on the east coast of Aboriginal-owned (though not reserve) land. Mining commenced in 1960. In 1962, residents accepted Comalco's offer to rebuild the Jessica Point village at a cost of £150,000. By the time building began in 1965, it became clear that funding was inadequate to build houses for the whole community, which contributed towards the Presbyterian Church's decision to hand over responsibility for the mission to 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 ...

. The community became known as Weipa South after this. The Weipa Parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns was established in 1982. On 30 March 1985, the Weipa South community elected the Weipa South Aboriginal Council, and the Aboriginal reserve held by the government was transferred to the council on 27 October 1988 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). In 1990, the Weipa South community became known as Napranum, meaning "meeting place of the people". The DOGIT lands became known as the Napranum DOGIT in 1991. In 1992, the Peppan people, originally located to the east of Napranum, were granted

freehold title In English law, a fee simple or fee simple absolute is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. A "fee" is a vested, inheritable, present possessory interest in land. A "fee simple" is real property held without limit of time (i.e., per ...

to former Aboriginal reserve land, which had been leased to the Commonwealth for the construction of Scherger Air Force Base. This was the first real compensation to the people of Napranum for use of their land. In 1995 a major industrial dispute occurred between Comalco and its workforce to maintain union coverage, pay and conditions. On 1 January 2005, the Napranum Aboriginal Council became the Napranum Aboriginal Shire Council. In the , Weipa had a population of 3,899 people.

Climate

Weipa has 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 ...

, with high temperatures above throughout the year. Three distinct seasons exist. The wet season, which runs from January to April, is characterised by heavy downpours on an almost daily basis. Monsoon lows and

tropical cyclones A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Dependi ...

cause even more extreme rainfall, up to 200 mm (8 in) in 24 hours. The dry season, running from May to September, features hot and dry days; however, night-time lows are cooler and rainfall is almost non-existent. The build-up season, running from October to December, is oppressively hot and humid, with frequent days over . Dewpoints in the wet season average ; in the dry season they average . Rainfall during the build-up is infrequent, but when it does occur, it usually falls in brief, heavy downpours associated with severe

thunderstorms A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are somet ...

. These seasons are not always set, however; sometimes the wet season can start as early as November or the dry season can extend as late as December, and monsoonal downpours have occurred as late as May. Extreme temperatures have ranged from to . The highest daily rainfall recorded was 327.8 mm (12.9 in) during the passage of Tropical Cyclone Oswald in January 2013.

Economy

Mining equipment at the Comalco bauxite mine; Weipa

The present town was constructed mainly by

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 ...

(now called

Rio Tinto Rio Tinto, meaning "red river", may refer to: Businesses * Rio Tinto (corporation), an Anglo-Australian multinational mining and resources corporation ** Rio Tinto Alcan, based in Canada ** Rio Tinto Borax in America *** Rio Tinto Borax Mine, ...

), a large aluminium company, which began making trial shipments of bauxite to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

in 1962. A railway was constructed to transport the ore from the mine at Andoom to the export facility at Lorim Point. The bauxite mine is among the world's largest. Using figures from 2006, ''Reuters'' reported that it ranked third in the world, with capacity and production at 15.5 and 16.1 million tonnes respectively.

Education

There are two schools in Weipa. The Western Cape College is a government co-educational school; it provides early childhood (

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

), primary and secondary schooling. It is on the corner of Central and Eastern Avenues in Rocky Point (). In 2015, the school had an enrollment of 1,073 students with 93 teachers (90 full-time equivalent). St Joseph's Parish School is a Roman Catholic co-educational primary school at 2 Boundary Road, Rocky Point (). Opened in 2016, the school only offered enrollment in years P-3 but expected to be able to offer enrollment across all primary levels (P-6) in 2018.

Amenities

Weipa has a visitor's centre, swimming pool, bowling green, golf club, tennis and squash courts. There are netball and basketball courts as well as football fields.

Weipa Town Authority Weipa Town is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia. It covers the town of Weipa on the western coast of the Cape York Peninsula, including the localities of Rocky Point, Trunding, Nanum, Evans Landing, and Weipa Airport ...

operates a public library at Hibberd Drive in Weipa. At Nanum the shopping precinct has a Woolworths supermarket, bakery, coffee shop, travel agent, clothing shop, post office, newsagency / sports shop and butchers. There is also a chemist, camping and fishing store and within walking distance is a gift shop, furniture and whitegoods store, credit union and government social security office. At Evans Landing there are a hardware store and a number of mechanical workshops. St Joseph's Catholic Church is on Boundary Road at Rocky Point. It is within the Weipa Parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns.

Gallery

File:AU-Qld-Weipa Central Avenue road.jpg, Main road through Weipa township File:AU-Qld-Weipa Mission River bridge.jpg, Weipa Mission River bridge File:AU-Qld-Weipa coastal bay.jpg, Coastal beach and bay near Wallaby Island File:AU-Qld-Weipa Nanum beach.jpg, Coastal beach at Nanum suburb File:AU-Qld-Weipa caravan park.jpg, Raised cabins at caravan park near the beach File:AU-Qld-Weipa Lake Patricia freshwater pond.jpg, Former mining pit, now a freshwater pond File:AU-Qld-Weipa Woolworths car park.jpg, Car park at Woolworths shopping centre, mostly 4WDs File:AU-Qld-Weipa police station.jpg, Weipa police station File:AU-Qld-Weipa Trunding suburb housing.jpg, Standard style of housing in Trunding suburb File:AU-Qld-Weipa sunset from Nanum beach area.jpg, Sunset over the

References

External links

"A Cape to Adventure"
A description of a 4WD journey to Cape York by Roderick Eime
Cooktown Shire Official web pageCollection of photographs taken by Wolfgang Sievers in 1957 "Presbyterian Mission Station Weipa" held at National Library of Australia, CanberraUniversity of Queensland: Queensland Places: Weipa
{{Authority control Populated places in Far North Queensland Coastal towns in Queensland Ports and harbours of Queensland Mining towns in Queensland Populated places established in 1898 Gulf of Carpentaria 1898 establishments in Australia Weipa Town