Hope Vale, Queensland: History
Guugu Yimithirr (also known as Koko Yindjir, Gugu Yimidhirr, Guguyimidjir) is an Australian Aboriginal language of Hope Vale and the Cooktown area. The language region includes the local government area of the Aboriginal Shire of Hope Vale and the Shire of Cook, particularly the localities of Cape Bedford, Battle Camp and sections of the Normanby River and Annan River.
Johann Flierl, a missionary of the Lutheran Church, established the Elim Aboriginal Mission (1895) on the beach of the north shore of Cape Bedford, and the Cape Bedford Mission (1886) nearby. While it initially flourished, Elim's future became grim and the people were relocated to Hope Vale.
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. 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.
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.
Hope Vale is the oldest continuing mission community in North Queensland.
On 21 July 2008, the Hope Vale community opened the Indigenous Knowledge and Technology Centre, later renamed the Indigenous Knowledge Centre. It 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.