Toponymy is the study of place-names. The original Weipa North township area was developed on Alngith land during the mid-1960s, however the place-name Weipa refers to the location of the original Weipa Presbyterian Mission situated on the upper reaches of the Embley River, over 30 kilometres east-south-east of Weipa. Weipa is a word in the Anathangayth language (pronounced Waypa or Waypenden) meaning ‘fighting ground’ – a ceremonial place where cultural lore and social interaction of surrounding tribes was conducted.
When the Weipa Mission moved downstream to Jessica Point on the Embley River in 1932-1933, the community’s name continued at the new site. After formation of the mining town in the mid-1960s, the Queensland Government renamed the two communities Weipa North and Weipa South. Today Weipa South is named Napranum (meeting place of the people) and Weipa North is just known as Weipa. Weipa North township was created as separate town area from the Cook Shire in 1967 and progressively expanded as suburbs developed.
Streets and roads at Weipa North were named progressively as the town developed and expanded. Every Tuesday of the month, historian Geoff Wharton will be providing the origins of Weipa place-names for our Facebook site.
From the first houses constructed in 1965, the early streets west of Central Avenue were named courts. Architect Don Fulton (1925-2018) wrote that to ‘help give a sense of identity the houses are grouped into alternating courts of eight and sixteen units, served by access lanes, thus eliminating through traffic’.
The Weipa Town Plan published in 1967.
As the areas east of Central Avenue and the suburbs of Trunding, Nanum and Golf Links Estate developed, the layout concepts varied from Fulton’s original principles. The Evans Landing industrial suburb commenced in the early 1960s as a construction camp. Street names were added there in later years as more permanent light industrial facilities were developed by local contracting firms.
Street names in the original Weipa North township and the Trunding suburb were selected by Comalco staff. The names were derived from local and non-local Aboriginal names, botanical, historical and regional place-names. In what would be culturally insensitive today, the non-local Aboriginal names in the original township were chosen from a list published in Australian Home Beautiful magazine in 1964!
The author has utilised archival and published resources in the Cape York Collection, Hibberd Library, operated by the Weipa Town Authority. He thanks the many people in the Napranum and Weipa communities who have assisted with local knowledge of place-names over the past four decades. He also gratefully acknowledges advice over many years from Bill Kitson PSM and Kaye Nardella, Museum of Lands, Mapping and Surveying, Brisbane.
An aerial oblique view looking west, of the developing town in about 1966. On the right side are the single men’s quarters and mess in the foreground, with the minimarket, wet canteen and snack bar / post office buildings in the background.
Courtesy Ray Roberts slide collection, Cape York Collection, Hibberd Library.