Local Toponymy

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.

Acacia Court

Constructed in 1974, this court was one of many Weipa streets named after botanical genera.  The word Acacia is derived from the Greek akis, a sharp point.  There are several Acacia species in the Weipa area, for example Acacia rothii, which is named after the Queensland Northern Protector of Aboriginals, Dr Walter Edmund Roth (1861-1933), who collected the type specimen at Mapoon, probably in 1899.

Towards the end of the wet season, Acacia rothii trees present a lovely display with a profusion of white flowers.  The language name for this tree at both Mapoon and Weipa / Napranum is la.  The heartwood is hard and was used traditionally to manufacture digging sticks and spear points.

Acacia rothii in flower.

The type specimen of Acacia rothii held by the Queensland Herbarium in Brisbane, recording the plant collection at the mouth of the Batavia River (now Wenlock River), by W.E. Roth.
Image courtesy: Queensland Herbarium and Biodiversity Science.

Dr Walter Roth photographed during a visit to Mapoon in May 1902.
Ward / Hey photo album, Cape York Collection.

Awonga Court 

Awonga Court was the location of the first houses constructed in 1965 in Weipa North.  The court name is derived from the place-name Awonga Point on the south side of the Mission River.  The correct linguistic spelling of the name should be Uwang.  The name Awonga Point first appeared on a survey plan of the Weipa Peninsula by John Embley in 1897.

Footings for the first house being prepared in the future Awonga Court site, May 1965.
Commonwealth Aluminium Corporation Limited. Weipa Bauxite Mining Expansion 1964-1967 Album, Cape York Collection.

Bombax Court, Nanum.

Some of the streets in Nanum were named after botanical genera represented in the Weipa area.  The Bauxite Bulletin reported in 1992 that ‘Bombax Court takes its name from the large deciduous tree found in the Nanum Scrub area whose seeds contain a silky fibre.  The genus is derived from the Greek for raw silk’.  The species found at Weipa is Bombax ceiba var. leiocarpum.  It flowers during July-August with beautiful large red flowers.  The trunk is covered with sharp spines.  Traditionally, the tree was used for the manufacture of dugout canoes.

A Bombax tree (Bombax ceiba var. leiocarpum).

Bombax ceiba var. leiocarpum flowers.

Carcoola Court

This court was one of eleven streets named in 1971.  The name was chosen by Comalco staff from a list of 450 Aboriginal terms suitable to name a home, published in Australian Home Beautiful magazine in March 1964.  This was culturally inappropriate, as traditional language names should be applied in consultation with the Traditional Owners who ‘speak for country’ and can advise on relevant naming.  According to the magazine list, the English meaning of Carcoola was: ‘gum tree’.  Carcoola is also a town in the Shire of Murray, Western Australia.

Chillei Nhee

Named during one of the early expansions of the town in 1970, the words Chillei Nhee are a Comalco staff member’s attempt to record a local First Nations name. Unfortunately, attempts by non-linguists to record words in a traditional language can lead to misunderstanding and mis-representation of the spelling.

Probably spelt cilay inhi, this means orchid (cilay) place (inhi) or place of orchids, referring to the well-known Cooktown Orchid (Dendrobium bigibbum) which grows in the Weipa area. The Cooktown Orchid was chosen as Queensland’s floral emblem in 1959. In memory of the late Thaynakwith Elder, Mapthawan Kitty Dick (1908-1979), a founding member of the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council, who generously provided several language words to Comalco staff.

Cooktown Orchid (Dendrobium bigibbum) flowers. Photo by Geoff Wharton.

Colong Court

This court was one of eleven streets named in 1971.  The name was chosen by Comalco staff from a list of 450 Aboriginal terms suitable to name a home, published in Australian Home Beautiful magazine in March 1964.  This was culturally inappropriate, as traditional language names should be applied in consultation with the Traditional Owners who ‘speak for country’ and can advise on relevant naming.  According to the magazine list, the English meaning of Colong was: ‘wombat’.  There is a stock route called Oberon – Colong in New South Wales.

Dalpura Court

This court was one of eleven streets named in 1971.  The name was chosen by Comalco staff from a list of 450 Aboriginal terms suitable to name a home, published in Australian Home Beautiful magazine in March 1964.  This was culturally inappropriate, as traditional language names should be applied in consultation with the Traditional Owners who ‘speak for country’ and can advise on relevant naming.  According to the magazine list, the English meaning of Dalpura was: ‘calm’.  There is a Dalpura Canyon in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales.

Deplanchea Terrace

During the mid-1970s, Comalco management diversified the Weipa workforce to employ more single women in the mining operations in areas such as ore sampling and communications.  The single persons’ quarters were expanded with the construction of several two-storey donga blocks, one of which was designed to accommodate the new female employees.

In 1993, one of these buildings was converted to self-contained apartments and sold at auction by Comalco.  The new apartments were officially opened by the Queensland State Member for Cook, Steve Bredhauer, on 2 May 1993.

The street which joins the apartment blocks to Northern Avenue was named Deplanchea Terrace in 1993 to highlight a spectacular flowering tree of the Weipa area: Deplanchea tetraphylla (Golden Bouquet Tree).  The genus Deplanchea is derived from the surname of Dr Émile Deplanche (1824-1875), a French naval surgeon and botanist; while tetraphylla means whorls of four leaves.  Deplanche collected many plant specimens during his service, particularly in New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands.  The Deplanchea genus was named by his friend and fellow French surgeon, Eugene Vieillard, in 1863.

Deplanchea tetraphylla trees bear beautiful clusters of yellow flowers during the dry season from about July to September.

Deplanchea tetraphylla flowers.
Photo by Geoff Wharton.

Duyfken Crescent, Trunding.

Situated in Trunding (also known as Neighbourhood 2) – the second suburb developed at Weipa North during the mid-1970s – Duyfken Crescent probably takes its name from the local coastal feature, Duyfken Point.  The Point was named on 8 November 1802 by Commander Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) during the circumnavigation of Australia by the crew of HMS Investigator.  Flinders noted in his published journal ‘This point is one of the very few remarkable projections to be found on this low coast, but it is not noticed in the Dutch chart; there is little doubt, however, that it was seen in 1606, in the yacht Duyfhen, the first vessel which discovered any part of Carpentaria; and that the remembrance may not be lost, I gave the name of the vessel to the point’.

Based on a copy of the Duyfken chart held in the Austrian National Archives – of which Flinders was not aware – the Duyfken crew did record the point on the chart, but that was on their journey southwards from the river we now know as the Pennefather.  Various writers have mistakenly stated that Duyfken Point was the place of first contact between Indigenous Australians and Europeans, but in fact the accepted place was somewhere near today’s Mapoon community.  An aluminium silhouette of the Duyfken is a prominent feature of the First Contact Memorial at Mapoon.  In 2000, a replica of the Duyfken vessel visited Weipa.

The Duyfken replica vessel anchored south of the Pennefather River, August 2000.
Image courtesy of Dave Donald.

Embley Street

Named in 1974, Embley Street commemorates the licensed surveyor, John Thomas Embley (1858-1937). Born at Castlemaine, Victoria, Embley was engaged under contract by the Queensland Department of Public Lands to survey cattle station boundaries on Cape York Peninsula during the 1880s and 1890s. He also surveyed the boundary of the Weipa Aboriginal Reserve, including the Weipa Peninsula, in 1897. Embley reported with considerable foresight on the area: ‘The Reserve consists of fairly grassed forest country, chiefly on a ferruginous sandstone formation. The soil in parts is of a red loamy description and although not so good as that higher up the river, it is of a fair agricultural character’. Referring to Urquhart Point [Mbang Point], Embley wrote that the point ‘in the future will be very useful as a shipping site for deep sea boats’.

The Embley River was named by Hon. John Douglas in December 1895 following a brief hydrographic survey on the Queensland Government Steamer Albatross. Embley had surveyed the York Downs runs in 1885 and he later purchased a share of the property, which he held from 1898 to about 1914. During the early years of Weipa Mission, Embley befriended the missionaries and was invited to lay the corner stone of the new church in 1904. He moved to Victoria in 1914 and little is known of his subsequent life until his passing in Melbourne on 30 September 1937.

J.T. Embley. 1887. (Source: R.L. Jack, Northmost Australia, 1921, opposite page 632.)

Evans Landing

Henry James (Harry) Evans OBE (1912-1990) was a Consolidated Zinc Pty Limited geologist who discovered economic bauxite deposits in the Western Cape York Peninsula region in 1955.  It appears that the place-name Evans Landing was just to honour his discovery, because Harry did not actually land at the site during his first boat journey in October 1955.

The location has a traditional Alngith language name with a much older heritage: Achimbun, meaning ‘a meeting place where canoes land’ or ‘hunting grounds’.

During an exploration trip on Cape York Peninsula in July 1955 Harry, along with geologists J.S. Bain and Louis H. Dixon, drove from York Downs station, guided by Aboriginal stockman, Piiramu George Wilson of the Kaanju People, across the Jump Up plateau to Weipa Presbyterian Mission.  Harry collected samples of cemented bauxite on the Jump Up and adjacent to the track into Weipa.  Based on assay results of these samples, he decided to return to Weipa for more detailed surveys in October 1955.

The men who accompanied Harry and Lea Wassell on the October 1955 trip included George Wilson and Wakmatha Old Matthew, a Linngithigh man from Weipa Mission.  Wakmatha guided the men over to Moingum (Hey Point) then up to Duyfken Point, followed by a trip across Albatross Bay down to Pera Head in a 9 foot dinghy. The results of Harry’s October sampling trip convinced Consolidated Zinc Pty Limited to apply to the Queensland Government for an Authority to Prospect for Minerals which was granted in February 1956.

In 1960, construction of a pilot bauxite beneficiation plant and a basic wharf on the Embley River was commenced at the area now known as Evans Landing.  The following year, several trial bauxite shipments were sent from Evans Landing to Japan and Bell Bay.  A construction camp was established for employees of Westminster Dredging, who commenced dredging a shipping channel for the Weipa port in June 1961.  Mining commenced at Area X in West Weipa near Evans Landing in January 1963 and the first commercial shipment of bauxite was made in the MV Talinga in March 1963.  The Evans Landing operations were officially opened by Queensland Premier Hon Frank Nicklin MM on 18 April 1963.

Evans Landing camp gradually increased in size and was home for the many contractors involved with Comalco’s expansion programmes from the mid-1960s onwards.  Contracting firms also established depots and workshops at Evans Landing to service the mine and these evolved into the industrial facilities of today.  The wet canteen, known as the Stubby Hut (now the Western Cape Cultural Centre), was a popular social gathering place for the construction employees and local residents.

Until 1994, Evans Landing area remained on the Comalco mining lease within the Cook Shire.  It became a suburb of the Weipa Town Area on 16 September 1994 with gazettal of the town boundary extension by the Queensland Government.

Harry Evans at the Weipa Mission airfield, 1966.
Image courtesy the Forster / Portch slide collection, Cape York Collection.

Aerial oblique view of the pilot bauxite beneficiation plant and shiploader during a trial shipment from Evans Landing in 1961.  This was four years before construction of Weipa North township commenced.  Image from the Wolfgang Sievers Albums, Cape York Collection.  Sievers was a prominent Australian industrial photographer who conducted photographic assignments for Comalco in the 1960s.

Flinders Street, Trunding.

Situated in Trunding (also known as Neighbourhood 2), the second suburb developed at Weipa North during the mid-1970s, Flinders Street commemorates Commander Matthew Flinders RN (1774-1814), who commanded HMS Investigator during the circumnavigation of Australia in 1802-1803.

On 7 November 1802, Flinders, with several members of his crew and botanist Robert Brown, made the expedition’s only examination of western Cape York Peninsula on the northern shore of a river which he called Coen River. That Coen River was renamed Pennefather River in 1894 to avoid confusion with the river which flows into the Archer River.

Brown collected at least 56 plant specimens on that day.   During the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland scientific expedition to the Pennefather River in November 2002, remarkably many of the same plants were found by botanists John Clarkson and David Mabberley.

Portrait of Captain Matthew Flinders, RN, 1774-1814
by Toussaint Antoine De Chazal De Chamarel (1770-1822)
Mauritius, 1806-1807, oil on canvas 64.5 x 50.0 cm
Gift of David Roche in memory of his father, J.D.K. Roche, and the South Australian Government 2000, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 20005P22.

Hibberd Drive

Probably named in 1983 to mark the opening of the Hibberd Centre, this road commemorates Sir Donald James Hibberd (1916-1982), one of the founders of Comalco Limited (now Rio Tinto Aluminium).  Don Hibberd was first employed by Commonwealth Aluminium Corporation Pty Limited in 1957.  Appointed Managing Director of Comalco from 1960 to 1969 and Chairman from 1969 to 1978, Hibberd was a leading contributor to the development of the integrated aluminium industry in Australia.

The Hibberd Centre – which includes the Weipa Town Authority offices, the Hibberd Library and other facilities – was formerly the Comalco mini-market until the Nanum shopping centre opened in 1981.

Sir Donald Hibberd, 1978.

 

John Evans Drive

In 1986, Comalco management decided to construct a new road from Evans Landing turnoff to Lorim Point, thus connecting the Weipa North town via that road to Weipa South (now Napranum) and the airport.  The existing road from the town to the airport was shorter and more direct, but contained a significant hazard for civilian traffic at the haul road crossing near the railway overpass.  Following several near-misses between mine haul trucks and civilian vehicles, the company sought an alternative route via Lorim Point.

It may be assumed that the cost of developing this road was less than the alternative cost of providing a civil road overpass at the haul road crossing.  Legend has it that Comalco’s executive general manger Raw Materials Division, John Evans, signed the capital request for the new road, which subsequently was named after him.  John Evans Drive was opened to traffic on 20th October 1986 and the former civil haul road crossing was closed.

John Charles Evans commenced his career as a production engineer with the British Motor Corporation.  He joined Comalco as an operations manager in the extrusions division in 1969 and was appointed executive general manager Raw Materials Division in 1976.  John retired from that role in January 1986, when the Division moved from Melbourne to Brisbane to become the company’s new business unit named Comalco Mineral Products.

John Evans at the opening of the Hibberd Centre, August 1983.
Bauxite Bulletin Photographic Collection, Cape York Collection.

Karingal Court

This court was one of eleven streets named in 1971.  The name was chosen by Comalco staff from a list of 450 Aboriginal terms suitable to name a home, published in Australian Home Beautiful magazine in March 1964.  This was culturally inappropriate, as traditional language names should be applied in consultation with the Traditional Owners who ‘speak for country’ and can advise on relevant naming.  According to the magazine list, the English meaning of Karingal was: ‘happy home’.  There is an area known as Karingal in Frankston, Victoria.

Kerr Point Drive

Kerr Point was named after George Kerr (1853-1935), the master of the Queensland Government Steamer (QGS) Albatross. In December 1895, Kerr brought the QGS Albatross down from Thursday Island to investigate the bay, soon to be named Albatross, and its associated rivers. On board were the Government Resident from TI, Hon John Douglas CMG and Police Inspector F.C. Urquhart. Urquhart later wrote a paper in which he noted: ‘Leaving the Moravian Mission Station, Batavia River, on the morning of 17th December, 1895, the Albatross steamed south about 40 miles, arriving off Duyfken Point, a fairly bold headland for this coast, about noon. Our navigator, Captain George Kerr, decided that probably a deep channel would be found further south, so we steamed on a southerly course…’.

Following the expedition, Douglas sent a lengthy report to the Queensland Home Secretary. He noted that the ‘northern head of the Hey [actually the Mission River] I propose to name Kerr Point…’ and the sketch map sent with his report shows Kerr Pt.

While the sketch map published with Urquhart’s paper did not show Kerr Point, the name was in use by 1897 when surveyor J.T. Embley marked Pt. Kerr on his plan of the Weipa Aboriginal Reserve (C153.471).

According to his obituaries published in March 1935, George Kerr was born at Greenock, Scotland. Kerr was an experienced merchant seaman, who also served on the London Missionary Society’s steamer John Williams, later working as pearler in Torres Strait. In 1890, Kerr was licensed by the Marine Board of Queensland as a Coast Pilot for sailing vessels, then he joined the Queensland Government service in 1894 as master of the QGS Albatross. From 1908 until his retirement on 12 March 1920, he was master of the QGS John Douglas. George Kerr passed away in Brisbane on 1 March 1935.

Grateful acknowledgement to historian Dr Jonathan Richards, to David Jones at the Queensland Maritime Museum Library and State Library of Queensland staff for assistance with the research for this post.

Captain George Kerr (on the right) seated on board H.M.A.S. Suva anchored near Cairns, 28 July 1919.  The officer seated on Kerr’s right was the British Admiral of the Fleet, Viscount Jellicoe G.C.B., O.M., G.C.V.O., R.N.  Photograph by A.L. Taylor, Cairns.  Image courtesy Queensland Maritime Museum, Brisbane.

Kookaburra Court, Golf Links Estate.

There are two species of Kookaburra in the Weipa area.  They are the Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) and the Blue-winged Kookaburra (Dacelo leachii).  The raucous cackling call of the Blue-winged Kookaburra can be startling to those unacquainted with the sound!

A Blue-winged Kookaburra (Dacelo leachii) perched on a Messmate tree (Eucalyptus tetrodonta) at Weipa.
Image courtesy of Bronwyn Sisson Photography.

Mankina Court

This court was one of eleven streets named in 1971.  The name was chosen by Comalco staff from a list of 450 Aboriginal terms suitable to name a home, published in Australian Home Beautiful magazine in March 1964.  This was culturally inappropriate, as traditional language names should be applied in consultation with the Traditional Owners who ‘speak for country’ and can advise on relevant naming.  According to the magazine list, the English meaning of Mankina was: ‘happy’.

McLeod Drive

This road commemorates the first Comalco Area Manager – Weipa Operations, Peter McLeod (1921-1991).

Peter McLeod was born in Sydney on 9 November 1921.  He was educated at Sydney Grammar School to 1938 and enrolled at the University of Sydney in 1939-1940.  Peter served in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during the Second World War, enlisting in Sydney on 25 May 1941.  He undertook pilot training in Canada.  While in Canada he married Philippa Frances Bradley of Charlottetown.  He was deployed to 200 Squadron, Royal Air Force (RAF) based in West Africa, where he flew Lockheed Hudson and Consolidated Liberator bombers on convoy escort and anti-submarine patrols.  He later was posted to England.  With the rank of Flight Lieutenant, Peter was discharged from the RAAF on 19 April 1945.  After the war, he continued his university studies, completing a Bachelor of Science in 1947 and a Bachelor of Engineering in 1948.

Peter McLeod was appointed the Development Manager for Enterprise Exploration Pty Ltd at Weipa in 1957.  The title of Development Manager later changed to Area Manager, then changed in 1975 to General Manager – Operations for Commonwealth Aluminium Corporation Pty Limited (Comalco), during the time of Peter’s successor.  Peter led the Weipa mine development and operations until March 1974.  During his time as Area Manager, Peter also flew light planes between Cairns and Weipa.  From 1964 to 1974, Peter occasionally flew Comalco’s Piaggio P.166 twin-engined aircraft, along with the company’s regular pilot, Les Nind.

Peter transferred to the role of General Manager – Operations at Comalco’s Bell Bay aluminium smelter in April 1974 and two years later was seconded to West Pacific Salt Limited as General Manager based in Hong Kong.  Peter retired from CRA Limited on 8 June 1979.

Peter McLeod passed away at the Holy Spirit Hospital, Brisbane on 27 March 1991.  A memorial service was held at St. Joseph’s Church, Weipa on 28 April 1991 and following this, his ashes were scattered from an aircraft over the Munding area on the Embley River, near the site of the former Enterprise Exploration Top Camp.  Philippa McLeod passed away on 6 May 2009.

Appreciation to the University of Sydney Archives for information about Peter’s degree studies.

Peter McLeod inspecting a bauxite mine face, 1961.
Image from the Wolfgang Sievers Albums, Cape York Collection.  Sievers was a prominent Australian industrial photographer who conducted photographic assignments for Comalco in the 1960s.

Peter McLeod standing next to the first International Hough H400 payloader to arrive at Weipa, 1966.Image from the booklet Sydney Christie: the Comalco years, held in the Cape York Collection.

Noola Court

This court was one of eleven streets named in 1971.  The name was chosen by Comalco staff from a list of 450 Aboriginal terms suitable to name a home, published in Australian Home Beautiful magazine in March 1964.  This was culturally inappropriate, as traditional language names should be applied in consultation with the Traditional Owners who ‘speak for country’ and can advise on relevant naming.  According to the magazine list, the English meaning of Noola was: ‘friendly’.

Pinaroo Court

This court was one of eleven streets named in 1971.  The name was chosen by Comalco staff from a list of 450 Aboriginal terms suitable to name a home, published in Australian Home Beautiful magazine in March 1964.  This was culturally inappropriate, as traditional language names should be applied in consultation with the Traditional Owners who ‘speak for country’ and can advise on relevant naming.  According to the magazine list, the English meaning of Pinaroo was: ‘resting place’.

It is interesting to note that the town of Batchelor NT, which was established for the Rum Jungle mine, also had a street named Pinaroo, but with the meaning cited as ‘old man’.  Perhaps Comalco’s Chief Personnel Manager, John Tonkin, may have had input to the choice of this name, as from 1954 to 1959 he was personnel superintendent of the Rum Jungle mining operations, which included responsibility for the town.  In the book Macquarie Aboriginal Words (Macquarie University, 1994) the word pinarrhu means old man in the Diyari language of South Australia.  There is also a town named Pinaroo in SA.

Taree Court

This court was one of eleven streets named in 1971.  The name was chosen by Comalco staff from a list of 450 Aboriginal terms suitable to name a home, published in Australian Home Beautiful magazine in March 1964.  This was culturally inappropriate, as traditional language names should be applied in consultation with the Traditional Owners who ‘speak for country’ and can advise on relevant naming.  According to the magazine list, the English meaning of Taree was: ‘wild fig’.  The word may originate from the Birpai language word for fig tree or fruit of the fig tree.  Taree town is located in the north mid coast of New South Wales.

Tarquin Court

One of the early streets developed in 1966, Tarquin Court possibly derives its name from Tarquin Creek, which is a southern tributary of the Watson River.  The Queensland Place Names Search database cites the location of Tarquin Creek as 13° 7' 00" South and 142° 21' 00" East, but does not provide any historical origin.  John Embley’s original survey plan (C153.381) of Pioneer Downs (later renamed Merluna) compiled in 1886 shows the course of the creek but no name, suggesting that the creek was named by a later surveyor or by one of the former owners of Merluna.

An alternative possible origin of the street name relates to the planning of Weipa North township.  According to an article in the Britannica website <www.britannica.com>, the late Kings of Rome: Lucius Tarquinius Priscus (Tarquin the Elder) and Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud) supposedly were great city planners.  Tarquin the Proud was the last King of Rome, who reigned from 534 to 509 BC.

Entrance to Tarquin Court off River Drive.

Lest We Forget.

John and Heather Tonkin at Weipa airport prior to John’s retirement, October 1980.
Bauxite Bulletin photographic collection, Cape York Collection.

Wallana Court

This court was one of eleven streets named in 1971.  The 1971 Comalco street names record indicates that there was a court intended to be Wallawa (meaning ‘stop here’), but it appears that a clerical error occurred, replacing Wallawa with Wallana.  The name Wallawa was chosen by Comalco staff from a list of 450 Aboriginal terms suitable to name a home, published in Australian Home Beautiful magazine in March 1964.  The name Wallana does not appear in the list.  Additionally, another court named at the same time was Wallara (meaning ‘joyous’), but this later was renamed Tecoma Court.

Town map published by the Weipa Lions Club as a fund raiser in 1972.  The Club was established in 1970.

Wallara Court

This court was one of eleven street names chosen by Comalco staff in 1971 from a list of 450 Aboriginal terms suitable to name a home, published in Australian Home Beautiful magazine in March 1964.  This was culturally inappropriate, as traditional language names should be applied in consultation with the Traditional Owners who ‘speak for country’ and can advise on relevant naming.  According to the magazine list, the English meaning of Wallara was: ‘joyous’.  This court name appears on the 1972 street map below, but the name was changed to Tecoma Court, probably because of confusion with Wallana Court.

Town map published by the Weipa Lions Club as a fund raiser in 1972.  The Club was established in 1970.

Wenlock Court

The second court constructed at Weipa North in 1965, this street name probably is derived from the Wenlock River (formerly known as the Batavia River 1623-1939) and the river traverses a Queensland parish named Wenlock.  During the early 1900s, the Queensland Lands Department named parishes from a variety of sources, including some relating to towns in England.  When the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall visited Brisbane in May 1901, they were accompanied by Lord Wenlock, son of the second Baron Wenlock, consequently it is possible that the parish was named in honour of his visit.  Alternatively, Wenlock Parish may be derived from the town of Much Wenlock in Shropshire, England.

Commercial alluvial gold was discovered near the Batavia River in 1892 and there were various small-scale discoveries in the following decades.  The main quartz reef was discovered in 1922 and the area developed into an active goldfield with mines carrying names such as the Golden Casket, Hidden Treasure and New Year’s Gift.  The Batavia Gold and Mineral Field was gazetted in 1932 by the Queensland Department of Mines on the eastern side of the upper Batavia River, within the Parish of Wenlock, County of York.

As the community grew during the 1930s, a post office was established and an airfield was constructed.  Confusion arose between the Batavia community on Cape York Peninsula and Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies, now known as Jakarta. Mails were sometimes mis-directed, so the Queensland Minister for Mines decided to change the Gold and Mineral Field name to Wenlock in September 1939.  It appears that that the name of the Batavia River was changed to Wenlock River by the following year.  The name Batavia continued to be used for Batavia Downs cattle station and Batavia Landing on the Wenlock River.

In grateful memory of the late Irene Taylor BEM (1917-2003) who generously allowed her Batavia / Wenlock mining photos to be copied for the Cape York Collection during the 1980s.

Retorted gold from ore which had been mined from the New Year’s Gift mine and crushed in John Forsythe’s battery, Batavia Gold and Mineral Field, c. 1929/30. From left: E. (Ted) Densley, Clive McIntosh, Frank Payne, Ted McIntosh, Tiger Emmans, unknown.
Photo taken by Mr Porter, courtesy the Irene Taylor Album, Cape York Collection.

Nypa Palms and Livistona Palms on the banks of the magnificent Wenlock River, April 2004.  Photo by Geoff Wharton.

Yileen Court

This court was one of eleven streets named in 1971.  The name was chosen by Comalco staff from a list of 450 Aboriginal terms suitable to name a home, published in Australian Home Beautiful magazine in March 1964.  This was culturally inappropriate, as traditional language names should be applied in consultation with the Traditional Owners who ‘speak for country’ and can advise on relevant naming.  According to the magazine list, the English meaning of Yileen was: ‘dream’.  There is a Yileen Canyon in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales.