Weipa, Queensland

Weipa (pronounced wi ː pə ) is the largest city on the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Cape York Peninsula. At the 2006 census, 2,830 inhabitants were counted. Their size, the city owes the enormous bauxite deposits along the coast. About the Port of bauxite and cattle are performed primarily.

Geography

Weipa is located just south of the Duyfken Point, a promontory from which it is now known that it was the first point in Australia, with the Europeans came a contact. The Dutch researcher Willem Jansz saw here in 1606 for the first time the Australian coast from his ship Duyfken from. This was at least 164 years before the landing of Lieutenant zS James Cook on the east coast of Australia.

Climate

History

Weipa was founded in 1898 as an outpost of a Presbyterian mission station.

In 1911, Queensland a very restrictive legislation that began a protector to the legal guardian for all children of Aboriginal and half-caste children under 21 years. The protector had the right to instruct any of his proteges in any reserve (or banish him from it ) and to have him locked up for 14 days when he was in his opinion a breach of duty, a gross insubordination or a call to disobedience guilty. These laws also allowed the police to arrest Aborigines in reserves, in order to " preserve from decay of morals ." This authority was granted in 1957 Comalco to justify the expulsion of the Aborigines from Weipa.

1932 had the community because of a malaria epidemic from Jessica Point (now Napranum ) be moved to the present location. The old site was about twelve kilometers south of the present settlement. At that time, most of the inhabitants of the tribe of Awingthim, but later they brought other tribes and clans of Old Mapoon ( at Cape York, where the Aborigines driven out and their settlements were burned down on 15 November 1963) and other settlements.

1955 discovered a geologist, Henry Evans ( 1912-1990 ) that the red cliffs in the native reserve, the Matthew Flinders had been mentioned by early Dutch researchers and also, above all enormous bauxite deposits - ie aluminum ore - were and contained a smaller amount of tungsten ore.

The Comalco Act 1957 raised to the status of a reserve and secured the mining company 5760 km ² of land on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula, and 5135 km ² to its east coast - including Aboriginal land, but no reserve. The mining of bauxite began 1960. 1966 the mission settlement was a government settlement, with Comalco repeatedly relocated the entire settlement. The mining company then built a new city for its workers on the other side of the bay.

Bauxite mining

The present city was mainly by Comalco (now Rio Tinto Alcan ), built a large aluminum company, which in 1962 tried to ship bauxite to Japan. It was constructed a railway line from the mine in Andoom to stockpile at the port on Lorim Point. Since 2010, this bauxite mine is the largest of its kind in the world.

Facilities

Weipa has a public library, a visitor center, a swimming pool, a cinema, a bowling green, a golf club and a mining museum. In addition, you will find a shopping center with a grocery store, bakery, coffee shop and sports shop.