Community History

In 1905, Trubanamen Mission was established inland on Topsy Creek, now known as the old mission. Aboriginal peoples of the region were gradually drawn from their ancestral lands into the mission settlement.

Later, in 1916, Mitchell River Mission was founded on the present site of Kowanyama and the Trubanamen site abandoned. Some peoples continued to occupy their traditional lands, moving into Kowanyama as late as the 1940s.

Greater than 1000 people now live in Kowanyama, making it one of the largest communities on the Cape York Peninsula. Kowanyama's Aboriginal people continue to identify strongly with their ancestral countries and with the languages, stories, songs, dances, and histories associated with those countries. Language groups associated with countries in the Kowanyama region are Yir Yoront, Yirrk Thangalkl, Koko Bera, Uw Oykangand, and Olkola.

In 1964, a cyclone destroyed the mission. The Queensland government funded the rebuilding.

In 1967 the Anglican church were no longer able to sustain their activities in the area as a Church Mission. The Department of Aboriginal and Islander Affairs, a government department, under the Act continued running the affairs of the community.

In July 1987, the State Government of Queensland implemented legislation for a DOGIT over the lands in the Mitchell River delta, an area of 250 km². The deed covered the traditional lands of the people of Kowanyama. Like other DOGIT communities of the time, Kowanyama had a town Council elected by Aboriginal people living in the community. The newly formed Kowanyama Council assumed responsibility for implementing certain conditions of the DOGIT. Seven elected Aboriginal residents hold three year terms in office.

Since the 1990s, many Kowanyama people have been returning to their Ancestral lands through the Homelands Movement. Homelands within the Kowanyama DOGIT include Scrubby Bore, Red Lilly, Ten Mile, Shelfo, Stewart Place, Old Rodeo Ground, Kowanyumal, Duck Hole, Wonya Bore, Kokomenjen Island, Wallaby Island, Joe's Lagoon, Yangr Bore, Engkoram, Fish Hole, Robert Demaine great elder and Thilpi.

Other homelands, including the Oriners Pastoral Lease and the Sefton Pastoral Lease, were independently purchased by the Kowanyama Council and are located outside the DOGIT boundary.

 

Climate

Kowanyama experiences a tropical savanna climate (Köppen climate classification Aw).