Indigenous members of the Hope Vale Mission, taken by George Schwarz, circa 1901Kids at Hope Vale Art Centre Opening. April, 2009Hope Vale Art Centre Opening April, 2009
Hope Vale (also known as Hopevale) is a town within the Aboriginal Shire of Hope Vale and a coastal locality split between the Aboriginal Shire of Hope Vale and the Shire of Cook, both in Queensland, Australia.[2][3][4] It is an Aboriginal community. In the 2021 census, the locality of Hope Vale had a population of 1,004 people.[1]
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]
Due to a lack of reliable water supplies at Elim, and the establishment of a government funded school in Hope Vale itself, the community was shifted about inland to its present site.[7]
Today, Hope Vale is the oldest continuing mission community in North Queensland.[7]
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."[11] The Aboriginal Land Act 1991 (Qld) transferred into Indigenous ownership all previous reserve land under DOGIT (Deed of Grant in Trust) titles.[12]
"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))"[13]
There is no secondary school in Hope Vale. The nearest secondary school is Cooktown State School in neighbouring Cooktown to the south.[16]
On 21 July 2008 the Hope Vale community opened the Indigenous Knowledge and Technology Centre, in the Jack Bambie building at 5 Muni Street. The now-Indigenous Knowledge Centre was established in partnership with Hope Vale Aboriginal Shire Council, the State Library of Queensland, Dot Com Mob, SJB Architects, Work Ventures, and the AMP Foundation.[17] This centre provides a library service, training venue, and public Internet access.[18]
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.[19][20]
Poland, Wilhelm. Loose leaves; reminiscences of a pioneer North Queensland Missionary. originally published as three booklets by The Mission Institute of Neuendettelsau, Bavaria, 1905–1912. Reprint: Lutheran Publishing House, Adelaide. 1988. ISBN0-85910-468-0
Roth, W. E. 1897. The Queensland Aborigines. 3 Vols. Reprint: Facsimile Edition, Hesperian Press, Victoria Park, W.A., 1984. ISBN0-85905-054-8.
Sutton, Peter (ed). Languages of Cape York: Papers presented to a Symposium organised by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra. (1976). ISBN0-85575-046-4.
Wynter, Jo and Hill, John. 1991. Cape York Peninsula: Pathways to Community Economic Development. The Final Report of The Community Economic Development Projects Cook Shire. Cook Shire Council.
"A War of Hope" (2015). A 52-minute documentary on the life of Elder and artist, Roy McIvor, telling of the cruel forced removal of the Cape Bedford Mission Aboriginal people in 1942, their return in 1949 - a story of great suffering and reconciliation
Weaving Exchange: Erub Island and Hopevale, footage of weaving workshop run by a group of weavers from Erub, Torres Strait and Hope Vale, Cape York. Available on State Library of Queensland catalogue
This Wikipedia article incorporates CC-BY-4.0 licensed text from: "Guugu Yimithirr". Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages map. State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
