Weipa
Weipa Township is located on the north western coast of Cape York. It is the service centre for the communities of Napranum, Mapoon, and to some degree, the Aurukun community. It is located some 850 km from Cairns and is accessible by dirt road only during the dry season. Weipa is 317 km by 4wd road access from the tip of Cape York. Weipa Township is located in the separate Weipa Local Authority area with a Town Office administering local government functions.
The Weipa community was developed around the Comalco Bauxite mining lease with the township development commencing in 1965. Aboriginal people have inhabited the Australian continent for an estimated 60,000 years. Apart from the occasional contacts with Dutch and English seafarers, a traditional hunting and gathering existence continued until the early 20th century.
Willem Janz, Captain of the Duyfken made the first recorded sighting of the Australian coast approximately 40km north of Weipa at the Pennefather River in 1606, Captain Matthew Flinders sailed the Investigator into Albatross Bay on the 8th November in 1802. He noted in the ships log "some reddish cliffs" south of the Bay at Pera Head which were identified in 1955 by a geologist Harry Evans to be a significant bauxite deposit.