Hope Vale, Queensland

Hope Vale
Queensland

Hope Vale, Cape York, Australia

Hope Vale
Hope Vale
Coordinates 15°20′S 145°10′E / 15.333°S 145.167°E / -15.333; 145.167Coordinates: 15°20′S 145°10′E / 15.333°S 145.167°E / -15.333; 145.167
Population 974 (2011 census)[1]
 • Density 0.8712/km2 (2.2564/sq mi)
Postcode(s) 4895
Area 1,118 km2 (431.7 sq mi)
LGA(s)
State electorate(s) Cook
Federal Division(s) Leichhardt

Hope Vale (also known as Hopevale) is a town within the Aboriginal Shire of Hope Vale and a locality split between the Aboriginal Shire of Hope Vale and the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia.[2][3][4] It is an Aboriginal community. At the 2011 census, Hopevale had a population of 974 people.[1]

Geography

Hope Vale is on Cape York Peninsula about 46 kilometres (29 mi) northwest of Cooktown by road, and about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) off the Battlecamp Road that leads to Lakefield National Park and Laura.

Early mission station

The Cape Bedford Mission was established by Johann Flierl, a missionary of the Lutheran Church in 1886, with the settlement at Elim on the beach.

Owing to fears that the German-influenced Aboriginal people might cooperate with the advancing Japanese in World War II, 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 camps. Most of the people were sent to Woorabinda, near Rockhampton, in Queensland, where a large number reportedly perished from disease and malnutrition.[5] 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.[6]

Hopevale is no longer run as a mission by the church but by its own elected community council. In 1986 it received a "deed of grant in trust" (DOGIT) which "granted title to 110,000 ha of land which was previously Aboriginal Reserve 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."[7] The Aboriginal Land Act 1991 (Qld) transferred into Indigenous ownership all previous reserve land under DOGIT (Deed of Grant in Trust) titles.[8]

"The Warra people of the Hopevale Community of Eastern Cape York Peninsula 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))"[9]

Hopevale is home to several clan groups who mostly speak Guugu Yimidhirr and other related languages, as well as English.

Due to a lack of reliable water supplies at Elim, the community was shifted about 20 kilometres (12 mi) inland to its present site.

Notable former residents of Hopevale are Queensland rugby league player Matt Bowen and lawyer and activist Noel Pearson. Pearson has criticised the level of violence in the community.[10]

On 21 July 2008 the Hope Vale community opened the Indigenous Knowledge and Technology Centre (IKTC), in the Jack Bambie building. This centre provides a library service, training venue and public Internet access.

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.

See also

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Hope Vale (UCL)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
    Edit this at Wikidata
  2. "Hope Vale - town (entry 16117)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  3. "Hope Vale - locality in Aboriginal Shire of Hope Vale (entry 45790)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  4. "Hope Vale - locality in Shire of Cook (entry 45790)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  5. Hope Vale features in WWII documentary. LCA Communications, Lutheran Church of Australia, 4 April 2015
  6. Premier Postal History. "Post Office List". Premier Postal Auctions. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  7. Pearson, Noel. "The Deed of Grant in Trust and Hope Vale Aboriginal Community, North Queensland" in Aboriginal Law Bulletin, 1989]
  8. "Aboriginals & Torres Strait Islanders - Legislation - Queensland". WorldLII.
  9. Strelein, Lisa. "Mabo/Hopevale & Aboriginal Land, 1997". mabonativetitle.com.
  10. Noel Pearson: Vale hope in outback hellhole
  11. "Mainland communities L-M:". slq.qld.gov.au. State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 27 June 2017.

References

Coloured silica sands near Hopevale

Further reading, listening and viewing

"Out of the Shadows" a video produced by David Woodgate for the Lutheran Church, asking, Aboriginal Lutherans what they wanted from reconciliation.

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