hopevale

The Aboriginal community of Hope Vale on Cape York Peninsula was established as the Cape Bedford Mission by the Johann Flierl, a missionary of the Lutheran Church in 1886, with the settlement at Elim on the beach. Due to worries that the Aboriginal people might cooperate with the advancing Japanese in World War II, the total population was evacuated south to various communities by the military. The German Lutheran missionaries were sent to internment camps. Most of the people were sent to Woorabinda, near Rockhampton, in Queensland. In just one month, 28 people lost their lives, with nearly a quarter of the people dying over the next 8 years. 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 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" (or "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." The Aboriginal Land Act 1991 (Qld) transferred into Indigenous ownership all previous reserve land under DOGIT (Deed of Grant in Trust) titles. Source: www.pocketoz.com.au/cairns/hope-vale.html

Every photo is a real treasure of hidden knowledge. If it was not for this photo I would never discover the painful sides of the life of Australia's First Nations. History shapes us into who we are today.

According to an Honours thesis by Therese Forde (1990), Army Intelligence regarded the Lutheran Superintendent (George Schwartz, who was of German descent) at Hope Vale with suspicion, and he was taken into internment on 17 May 1942. Forde writes that when the army came to Hope Vale the mission itself was levelled: 'crops of maize, sweet potatoes and fruit were flattened, and the R.A.A.F. built an aerodrome and runway on the site' (p.41) Forde writes that while some elderly people were sent to Palm Island from Hope Vale, the majority were taken to Woorabinda in an arduous journey 'by steamer, train and cattle truck'. A Queensland Government website states that 60 of the Cape Bedford people died while at Woorabinda. The high death rate amongst the Cape Bedford people was partly attributable to inadequate housing and medical care at Woorabinda. The residents from Hope Vale were not equipped with clothing, blankets or bedding that was appropriate for winter conditions in southern Queensland. Forde writes that many people died from pneumonia shortly after their removal from Hope Vale. Source: www.findandconnect.gov.au/guide/qld/QE00829

The Hope Valley Mission, at Hope Valley, was run by Lutheran Church Missionaries. Previously known as the Cape Bedford Mission, it was established around 1896 and closed in May 1942 when the site was taken over by the Australian Army and its residents were removed to Woorabinda, near Rockhampton. It reopened as the Hope Vale Mission in around 1950. The Hope Valley Mission was established when the administrative centre for the Mission at Elim moved to Hope Valley. Before the second world war, the Mission consisted of a number of hamlets or settlements at Springhill, Bridge Creek, and Elim with the administrative centre located at Hope Valley. Hope Valley was known as 'the school station'. This was where the Superintendent's house, the church, the school and the dormitories were situated. All of the Mission children of school age were sent to live in the dormitories at Hope Valley as this was where the Mission school was situated. The Hope Valley dormitories were also used to house orphans or children whose parents were not living on the Mission. The Mission's policy in 1939 was that it was better that Mission children were institutionalised rather than be with their parents. In 1941, 131 children were registered as inmates of the institution. In May 1942, residents of Hope Valley Mission were removed to the Woorabinda Aboriginal Reserve, over 1,000 kilometres south. The Mission site was subsequently taken over by the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Air Force, United States Army and the Civil Construction Corps. The mission reopened in around 1950, with the new name of Hope Vale. Source: www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/qld/biogs/QE00828b.htm