Weipa
Weipa is a coastal mining town in the local government area of Weipa Town in Queensland, Australia. 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 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 the western coast of the Cape York Peninsula facing the Gulf of Carpentaria.Weipa is just south of Duyfken Point, which is named by Matthew Flinders on 8 November 1802 after the ship Duyfken commanded by the Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon. It is claimed that Janszoon was the first European to sight the Australian coast in the Gulf of Carpentaria 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 which is not connected to the other suburbs and contains the town's airport.
History
is an Australian Aboriginal language 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 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 is a traditional language of the area which includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Cook Shire.
Kugu Muminh is one of the traditional languages which includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Cook Shire. section on kaolinitic sandstone, 1969 Thaynakwith is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken on Western Cape York in the Weipa area taking in Albatross Bay and Mission River. The language region includes areas within the local government boundaries of Weipa Town Council and Cook Shire.
In 1895 Presbyterian 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.
Very restrictive legislation was enacted by the state of Queensland in 1911, making the Protector of Aborigines the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and part-Aboriginal child, and the right to confine any such person within any Aboriginal reserve 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 now called Napranum because of malaria. It is about south of the present town of Weipa. At this time most of the people were Awngthim but soon different tribes and clans were brought from Old Mapoon, and other communities.
In 1955 a geologist, Henry Evans, discovered that the red cliffs on the Aboriginal reserve, previously remarked on by the early Dutch explorers and Matthew Flinders, were actually enormous deposits of bauxite – the ore from which aluminium is made – and to a lesser extent tungsten.
The "Comalco Act of 1957" revoked the reserve status, giving the company 5,760 square km of Aboriginal reserve land on the west coast of the Peninsula and 5,135 square km on the east coast of Aboriginal-owned land. Mining commenced in 1960. The mission became a government settlement in 1966 with continued attempts by Comalco to relocate the whole community elsewhere. The company then built a new town for its workers on the other side of the bay.
At the, Weipa had a population of 3,334; the largest community on Cape York Peninsula.
Climate
Weipa has a tropical savanna climate, with hot 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 cause even more extreme rainfall, up to 200 mm 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.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 during the passage of Tropical Cyclone Oswald in January 2013.
Bauxite mining
The present town was constructed mainly by Comalco, a large aluminium company, which began making trial shipments of bauxite to Japan 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 amongst 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, primary and secondary schooling. It is on the corner of Central and Eastern Avenues in Rocky Point. In 2015, the school had an enrolment of 1,073 students with 93 teachers.
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 enrolment in years P-3 but expects in 2018 to be able to offer enrolment across all primary levels.
Facilities
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 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.