1969 School Magazine

cut down all costs to bare necessities' Cattle were sold to raise money. In 1937 -38 the \feipa men L;ilt their ou/n aiismip of ant-bed, making it an all-weather olle. This was used bV the American Airforce in Lg39-4A as ^ landing base. There were twenty Vo""g natives i; th. armed forces during \ilorld \)frr "IL Seventeen of them 'were in the Navy p;;fiot.. which paffolled the rriratefs of Torres Strait. \feipa was afi import ant radio control ..rir. at that time and acted as a secret airbase. It was after Second \7orld tWar that America became interested in the bauxite deposits at \weipa. F;iJ ;; this, Mr. \Winn, a mission?rYr 4d sent g*pt* do*" to Melbourne for analysis, but the reports ,.rl back were always negative. . The A;t"tlian Government was more interested in the ri".tul ,ttdt ;e tin that could be seen in fairly ;i;ilf;l-Jppti.r i" the suatified rocks along thg beach. G1is6 ^nAmerican Geologist recognised ;d;r."riJ"or the ranse and sgnt a sample back to Ameri.u f"t furthet 1"ttt. It proved to be a ;;rt high quality A-grade deposit, Survevors, boti, Auitra[r; utta American came in with equip- ;*r. - ffr" area *ur checked, recheckgd and .h*.k.d again. Top-line officials came to draw up plr", for -the development of the ^te^. By Lg6I, Comalco had begun. -9+' The Dutch .o-p#y h;J .o-pleted_the dredsqg of the .rtu"*f in ih. iry and up the Emblev3nd Mission Rivers ,o ,i. *# t"rii"g fu.ilities. This enabled h;;;trif.- r[ipr to load iieht at the docks. These ;;; u"irt Ur n*ericans in Comalco. The bauxite pLUUf.t *oL tt.rt.d, washed and stockpiled into ilillo.kr. F;";- h"r., they were transported to ;t; ships bv conveyor belts. In 1963, a sepatate mission *r, -L"itt' for the Company' ^Then in Lg65 the Mission *tt handed o*t io State Ad- ministration. The natives now have a mission to themselves' The ho,rr* tt. built of aluminium and the natives pay renr for ownership. They have their own polling-booths now. The history of \feipa now could be said to be only L.gi""irtg. Progriss will bring the dreams of missi-onaries to reality FRANCES LrrrLE I Our translation of their word. They pronounce it "'waypa"' 2Forpronounciationoftribalnames,seenotesatendof article' A ^anrrnrc lqn, . nct. This passage was 3 Periodical Accou ts 1-90-3 no-w -exttl found in ,iilil;i; of -iltupoon" by A. ward, 1908. ,,Miracte of Mapoon,, fJtJ,[;'s[I1i. pubrished in 1e08 by Moravian Mission Agency, 'S.--W. Partridge & Co', London' "Tropical Tapestly"- Uv- -4' C' C' Lgq'k' Published in 1956 bv Georsian H,iriJ="itA.,'fufi,ibo,tt""- Haistead Press, Svdnev'-.. ,,Australian Year Book". Published in 1966 by Australian B;;il- of- C."J"t and Statistics, Canberra' "Australian Presbyterian-- Life". Published in 1967 by Presby- t"iL"- Church of Australia, Melbourne' .,official Records of Weipa,,by J. S. Winn. Unpublished"

€ases of leprosy.- Tlris vlas believed to have been brought in bv'.the Japanese. Also at that time, there urere "" ar"gs"r,i.h as penicillin or morphine *"- lt*lP combat these diseases' The missionaries had to do any emefgency operarions ;i;h- Jui." by - two-wav radio from ;fr- ^ Fivire-jo.lo, service par"d at Morninston i;l_I}a.' -Any . cases of infectious diseases were ffi-k1; ir.il;d-u"J sent to Thursdav Island on h; fus;;;T[t Aitrrross,'. Thursday Island had a well-equiC;e- ltotBitut. It was not until the besinning ii -ifr. $..ond World 'War that a rrained nurse was stadoned at \7eiqa to help the Missioruri"r] 'Th.- r'tv4g Doctor b.g?t regular bi-rnonthly -clinics at wopr rowards the end of rhe w.ar. e ^p"i'rrt clinic was also established oiuun. U.rilr, films and movies were sent in to ;?;il ,o -itt" natives. From their ot4 practice of h;;i;"; *fr"ri ,h.r ate raw meat and bones, the ffifi"-, il;;-* ^dL sreat prosress and nov/ have a hich ,trrrdltJ-;i higi."" ut] fiving. A few of ;h-* Fruu"-*u." b..ome trained nurses' Now, ;i;A hru. a-small hospital for wounded miners. In Jrly, 190q the first school began with an utr.nd iir'. of four pupils -under the guidance ;i ad;;;--s.[i.t as teachei and the Reverend Brown' There *rr--* regular attendance and each day, ffi;- 1i l"v, difTerent children would -aPPear. t5#", ,fr*r" '.u*" from different tribes although n*sidh had become the main language among rh*-;. It wat only at the end of that -ye^!, after ;il*6;t*itoty had t..n built for the girls, that anv 5[gl-;i t.g"ttr .attendance began to show. Teach- inI was generally in the hands of the missionaries, ;;"'d it *Ir-""i until the end of the Second \ilorld Wut- thtt \fleipa had any qualified teachers as u.t.h. Miss Prescott was the first. By this time, the native children were fully educated to scholar- -frip rtrndard in all sections including handigafts, o*dk*ty, and woodwork. The native children urere *-U-Ltiown for their pov/erful memories and this was brought into further notice when three native children i^tott open scholarships to a school in Cairns in L956. In 1904 Sileipa received a four ton cutter as a gift from the Church. This ulas the beginning of a -small fleet of cutters which acted as the only rneans of communication with Mapoon during the wet seasons. There was no real progress from I9I4 to X939 on the Mission because of the lack of finance. This was due to the war and the depres- sion" Weipa had many changes in respect to missionariei, at the most each stayed about three years, but they all complained about the stain of running the Mission on six hundred pound a year. However, \fleipa returned a profit in those years due to the effoits of the Missionaries who

Page ThirtY-Seven