Napranum

Introduction

Napranum is a small community located on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula, 6km from the main centre of Weipa. The Traditional Owners of the Napranum township are believed to be the Alngith (Al-Nith) people^[1]. The community is rich in culture and its people are strongly focused on making their community a place characterised by engagement, accountability, honesty, respect and trust^[2].

History of Napranum

The community now known as Napranum was settled at Jessica Point in 1932 on the traditional lands of the Alngith people, after the Weipa Mission was relocated from Spring Creek (Twenty Mile) about 30km inland^[3]. Many people living at Napranum today are not the Traditional Owners of this area.

Many Thaynakwith people from further north came to live at Napranum. The Thaynakwith peoples are divided into 3 major estates: western Thaynakwith (Pine River), central Thaynakwith of Andoom, Bouchat and Red Beach; as well as the eastern Thaynakwith of the Luenh area^[4].

Thaynakwith lands stretch north from Mission River (at least), to the watersheds of the Pine River and the Wenlock River and east towards the inland reaches of Mission River. Mostly, people from the central and eastern groups of the Thaynakwith group settled at Napranum^[5]. Some Napranum people are descended from South Sea Islanders who helped establish the original mission; others are related to the culturally diverse group of people who were relocated to Napranum from Mapoon in 1964^[6]. There are also some people who arrived in Napranum from Aboriginal communities such as Aurukun, to take up employment with Comalco.

European contact

Weipa Mission was established by Moravian missionary Edwin Brown in 1898 on the Embley River; the second of 4 Presbyterian missions established by the government to curb the abuse of Aboriginal people working in the beche-de-mer and pearling industries^[7]. The mission was officially named ‘Weipa’ in 1899, which was believed to be a language name for the area^[8].

The northern Presbyterian missions were underfunded throughout their histories, and conditions were often harsh^[9]. In the early 1900s, Weipa missionaries supplemented grant funding by collecting and selling sandalwood, and to a lesser extent, beche-de-mer^[10]. Impoverished conditions led to sanitation issues, housing shortages and health problems, such as hookworm^[11].

The original site was isolated and plagued by poor soils, water shortages, and malaria outbreaks. A number of droughts in the late 1920s made local fishing and hunting impossible. After a cyclone destroyed many of the mission buildings, a decision was made in 1930 to relocate to Jessica Point^[12]. Residents worked hard for several years to re-assemble mission buildings at Jessica Point and build new huts. Few were employed outside the mission during this time. The new site offered good water supply and supported cattle-raising and agriculture^[13].

During World War Two, Weipa mission residents prepared to ‘go bush’ in the event of a Japanese invasion because the government did not trust the residents to be ‘loyal’ in the event of an invasion^[14]. Interruptions to employment and industry exaggerated the poverty experienced on the missions and residents endured food and medicine shortages and suffered from preventable illnesses^[15]. Mission authorities became reliant on child endowment monies to buy rations^[16]. Another important source of income was the money deducted from the wages of residents sent to work as stockmen and domestics outside of the mission^[17].

In 1950, visiting Commonwealth health workers criticised conditions at northern Presbyterian missions. They identified tuberculosis on all the missions and reported poor nutrition, water shortages and inadequate housing. They also noted that dormitory children slept on the floor at all missions^[18]. By the mid-1950s, residents at the Presbyterian-run Mapoon and Aurukun missions began protesting against these conditions. A management crisis emerged after the media publicised the appalling conditions at the Presbyterian Mornington Island mission^[19]. In 1954, the government began planning the closure of both Mapoon and Mornington Island missions. Residents were to be relocated to Weipa and Aurukun missions^[20]. Both the Presbyterian Church and residents actively protested against these closures, delaying the merger for several years^[21].

Comalco and Alcan began prospecting for bauxite on the Mapoon and Weipa reserves in 1956. The planned merger of Weipa and Mapoon missions was again delayed, until a base for mining operations was identified^[22]. By early 1957, Jessica Point had become the favoured location for a mining town and port^[23]. The Presbyterian Church responded by seeking financial compensation from Comalco to improve mission facilities and housing. Comalco rejected this request, and instead offered to fund the relocation of Weipa mission residents to Aurukun, and to build a new village at Jessica Point^[24].

In November 1957, the newly elected Country-Liberal party introduced the Commonwealth Aluminium Corporation Pty Limited Act 1957. Soon after, Comalco was granted a mining lease covering the majority of Mapoon and Weipa mission reserves and parts of the Aurukun reserve. The legislation made no formal requirements for the compensation of Aboriginal communities affected by mining, and the lease reduced Weipa reserve to 500 acres^[25].

Disagreements about the future of Weipa mission were a source of ongoing tension between the Presbyterian Church and the government^[26]. The relationship was stretched to breaking point when the Presbyterian Church refused to enforce the government’s planned closure of the Mapoon mission. The result was long-term government inaction to alleviate the substandard living conditions on Mapoon and Weipa missions. As mining activities drew more people to Weipa and Mapoon missions, these conditions became a source of embarrassment for both the mining companies and the government. In 1959, Comalco offered the government £100,000 for rehousing Weipa mission residents at Aurukun to alleviate the problem^[27].

In 1961, the government decided to relocate Weipa mission to Hey Point. The community refused to leave Jessica Point and rejected Comalco’s offer to build new housing and a school at the new site. By this time, many Weipa men had taken up employment at Comalco and had built new homes at Jessica Point. Frustrated, the government threatened a takeover of the mission in 1962. This was avoided after Comalco decided on an alternative location for the alumina plant at Rocky Point (Kumrumja)^[28].

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 entire community. This contributed towards the Presbyterian Church’s decision to relinquish administrative responsibility for the mission to the Queensland Government. The community became known as Weipa South after this time^[29].

In 1992, the Peppan people, originally located to the east of Napranum, were granted freehold title to former Aboriginal reserve land, which had been leased to the Commonwealth for the construction of Scherger Air Force Base^[30]. This was the first real compensation to the people of Napranum for use of their land.

Local government and Deed of Grant in Trust community

In 30 March 1985, the Weipa South community elected 5 councillors to constitute Weipa South Aboriginal Council. The Aboriginal reserve held by the Queensland Government was transferred to the Weipa South Aboriginal Council on 27 October 1988 under a Deed of Grant in Trust (DOGIT)^[31].

In 1990, the Weipa South community became known as Napranum, which translates to ‘meeting place of the people’^[32]. The DOGIT lands became known as the Napranum DOGIT in 1991. On 1 January 2005, the Napranum Aboriginal Council became the Napranum Aboriginal Shire Council^[33].

End notes

1. Specific information on Federal Court determinations can be found in the section on Native Title. Napranum Aboriginal Shire Council Napranum Napranum Aboriginal Shire Council <http://www.westerncape.com.au/pdf/Napranum_Aboriginal_Shire_Council.pdf> at 4 April 2013. Aboriginal Shire Council, NASC 10 Year Community Plan (2012) <http://www.napranum.qld.gov.au/our-council/community-plan> at 4 December 2012.
2. Napranum Aboriginal Shire Council, above.n 1.
3. T G Fletcher, Thanakupi’s Guide to Language & Culture – A Thaynakwith Dictionary (Jennifer Isaacs Arts and Publishing, North Sydney, 2007) 25.
4. Ibid, 24-25.
5. Ibid.
6. G Wharton, The Day They Burned Mapoon: A Study of the Closure of a Queensland Presbyterian Mission (Honours thesis, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 1996) 11; Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Community and Personal Histories Removals database (access restricted).
7. R Kidd, Regulating Bodies - Administrations and Aborigines in Queensland 1840 to 1988 (Unpublished PhD thesis, Griffith University, Brisbane, 1994) 151; S Mullins, Torres Strait: A History of colonial occupation and culture contact 1864-1897 (Central Queensland University Press, Rockhampton, 1995) 111; Queensland, Annual Report of the Northern Protector of Aboriginals for 1899 (1900) 5; Wharton, above n 6, 35-36; QSA Item ID: HOM/A18 1898/04563 and 1898/04564; Queensland, Queensland Government Gazette, 16 July 1904, 93; Queensland, Annual Report of the Chief Protector of Aboriginals for 1899 (1900) 6; Queensland, Annual Report of the Northern Protector of Aboriginals for 1903 (1904) 4-5, Queensland, Annual Report of the Northern Protector of Aboriginals for 1904 (1905) 4.
8. Queensland, Annual Report of the Chief Protector of Aboriginals for 1899 (1900) 5, 8; QSA Item ID: HOM/A1, 1896/11535, Meston’s report; Annual Report of Aboriginals Department, 1932, 17; R Kidd, The way we civilize: Aboriginal affairs the untold story (University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 1996) 60-61; QSA Item ID: COL/23/792.
9. Deaths often outnumbered births at Weipa. See Queensland, Annual Report of the Chief Protector of Aboriginals for the year 1910 (1911) 29; Queensland, Annual Report of the Chief Protector of Aboriginals for the year 1913 (1914) 12.
10. Queensland, Annual Report of the Aboriginals Department for the year ended 1910 (1911) 29; Queensland, Annual Report of the Aboriginals Department for the year ended 1918 (1919) 11; Queensland, Annual Report of the Aboriginals Department for the year ended 1919 (1920) 10; Queensland, Annual Report of the Aboriginals Department for the year ended 1920 (1921) 9; Queensland, Annual Report of the Aboriginals Department for the year ended 1922 (1923) 477; Kidd, above n 7, 61, 93.
11. Kidd, above n 7, 61, 93, 92-99; Queensland, Annual Report of the Aboriginals Department for the year ended 1920 (1921) 9.
12. Queensland, Annual Report of the Aboriginals Department for the year ended 1914 (1915) 17; Queensland, Annual Report of the Aboriginals Department for the year ended 1928 (1929) 4, 11; Queensland, Annual Report of the Aboriginals Department for the year ended 1927 (1928) 10; Queensland, Annual Report of the Aboriginals Department for the year ended 1908 (1909) 4; Queensland, Annual Report of the Aboriginals Department for the year ended 1926 (1927) 5; Kidd, above n 7, 93-94; A/58779, Medical & Sanitation, 36/1966 (relocation from Weipa to Jessica Point due to malarial infections).
13. Queensland, Report of the Aboriginals Department for the year ended 1934 (1935) 17; Queensland, Report of the Aboriginals Department for the year ended 1935 (1936) 24; Queensland, Report of the Aboriginals Department for the year ended 1936 (1937) 27; Queensland, Report of the Aboriginals Department for the year ended 1937 (1938) 21, 23; Queensland, Report of the Aboriginals Department for the year ended 1938 (1939) 24.
14. G Mackenzie, Aurukun Diaries (The Aldersgate Press, Melbourne, 1981) 99-104; Kidd, above n 7, 158-162.
15. Wharton, above n 6, 43; Kidd, above n 7, 158-162, 166-168.
16. Kidd, above n 7, 167-168, 497 and footnote 52.
17. Queensland, Annual Report of the Chief Protector of Aboriginals, for the year ending 1944 (1945) 2.
18. Kidd, above n 7, 171, 192-198; Kidd, Above n 7, 489- 497 (see footnote 52 – original source SRS 505/1, 6G/20, O’Leary to Under Secretary, 15.03.1953 & SRS 505/1, 1D/133: Report on visit to Aboriginal Mission Stations, Gulf of Carpentaria, 9.05.1950); Wharton, above n 6, 47-49.
19. Kidd, above n 7, 168-169, 195-197; Wharton, above n 6, 46-54.
20. Kidd, above n 7, 497-500; Wharton, above n 6, 46-54; Queensland, Native Affairs, Information contained in Report of Director of Native Affairs for the Twelve Months ended 30th June 1954 (1954) 1.
21. In 1954, the Presbyterians initially agreed to the government’s plan to merge the northern missions. Conflict soon developed after the Church demanded that government acknowledge that their long-term underfunding of the missions was part of the problem. The Presbyterian mission committee was in substantial debt, and requested funds to facilitate the merger and to improve conditions. The Director of Native Affairs, Cornelius O’Leary, refused to fund the merger and withheld requested grant increases until the Church demonstrated their commitment to the merger. The Church demanded Cabinet ‘…decide whether the responsibility of the feeding and clothing of needy Aborigines…rests with the Governments.’ The Church threatened to forfeit its trusteeship of the reserves and abandon the missions. Protests by residents added pressure. In 1955 Mapoon residents told the Church they had ‘only one policy at present and that is to remain at Mapoon’. Earlier, Mornington Island Superintendent refused to relocate residents to Weipa unless the Government guaranteed that could return after conditions improved on the island: Kidd, above n 7, 495-503.
22. Kidd, above n 7,503; SRS 505/1, 6G/20, O’Leary to Killoran, 25.09.1956.
23. On 28 February 1957, at a meeting between the Church, government and Comalco, plans were made to relocate Weipa mission away from Jessica Point where mining operations were to be based. By October 1957 a new government had been installed, and Comalco publicly committed £50,000 to build the ‘model township’ at Jessica Point. The village would accommodate only selected Weipa families. Comalco also committed to funding the relocation of Weipa mission residents to Aurukun, and the eventual relocation of Mapoon residents to site yet to be determined: Wharton, above n 6, 69-89; Kidd, above n 7, 504.
24. Prior to the February meeting with Comalco the Church wrote to Director of Native Affairs, Cornelius O’Leary, asking that he support them in requesting £260,000 from Comalco to improve mission facilities. O’Leary dissuaded the Church presenting this claim to Comalco and it was never presented to the company. The Presbyterians again wrote to O’Leary in April 1957 seeking compensation of £367,800. Comalco rejected this claim as too costly. The government went into election mode around May 1957, and from this time the Church was not directly involved in negotiations between Comalco and the government. See: Wharton, above n 6, 69-89; Kidd, above n 7, 504.
25. On 1 January 1958 COMALCO was issued an 84 year lease (mining lease ML7024 - formerly Special Mining Lease No.1) covering an area from Vrilya Point in the north, south almost as far as Aurukun. Comalco surrendered the land on which the Mapoon mission was located: Wharton, above n 6, 69-89; Kidd, above n 7, 504-507.
26. Kidd, above n 7, 507, 512.
27. The Director of Comalco’s parent company sent a letter to the Qld Minister H M Noble in 1959 his feelings of embarrassment, ‘…I felt ashamed as a Queenslander to have to escort visitors through the Weipa and Mapoon villages after seeing what had been done at Aurukun.' The Director favoured relocation over redevelopment of the Jessica Point community: Kidd, above n 7, 512.
28. Kidd, above n 7, 520-521.
29. Comalco’s offer of £150, 000 to rebuild at Jessica Point was made with the conditions that buildings were to be of a standard appropriate to the public image of the company. In 1962, it was clear that the funding was inadequate to achieve houses of Comalco’s standard for every family in the community. The Mission Committee asked the government to take-over the funding at this point, so that more houses could be built at an adequate but less expensive standard. By 1965, when the money was released to build 62 prefabricated houses, the funding had become grossly inadequate: Kidd, above n 7, 520-521.
30. The Peppan Aboriginal Land Trust is an Aboriginal Land Trust established to hold land granted under the Aboriginal Land Act 1991 (Qld). The Trust holds land for the benefit of Aboriginal people, their ancestors and descendants. It is required to comply with the administrative and financial requirements of the Aboriginal Land Regulation 1991 (Qld). The land held by the Trust is former Aboriginal reserve land at Peppan, on the western tip of the Cape York Peninsula. See: Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements Project, Peppan Land Trust (The University of Melbourne, 2011) <http://www.atns.net.au/agreement.asp?EntityID=3572> at 26 November 2012.
31. Weipa South Aboriginal Council was established under the Community Services (Aborigines) Act 1984. See: Queensland, Annual Report of Department of Community Services (1986) 3; Queensland, Department of Community Services and Ethnic Affairs Annual Report (1988-89) 12.
32. Napranum Aboriginal Shire Council, An Introduction to Napranum History (date unknown) <http://napranum.qld.gov.au/community/napranums-history> at 22 November 2012.
33. Effected via the Local Government (Community Government Areas) Act 2004. Full commencement of the Local Government Act 2009 was to be effected by 1 July 2009.