Weipa Town
Situated on Awngthim country on Cape York P{eninsula's western coast, Weipa Town local government area is not managed by a council elected by residents butby the company operating the nearby bauxite mine through a body called the Weipa Town Authority.
Weipa Town was excised from the Cook Shire following New Zealand geologist Harry Evans' 1955 discovery of the world's largest bauxite deposit while he was exploring for oil.
Two years later, the Queensland Government approved a £50 million project to develop a bauxite mine to be operated by the newly created Commonwealth Aluminium Corporation Pty. Limited (Comalco), with a town, harbour, and treatment works to be established at the company's expense at Kumrunja (Rocky Point) on the south side of the Mission River, and Comalco became the manager of the new town.
Comalco held elections in 1993 to form a Citizens Advisory Committee to assist in the town's administration, and four years later, the committee evolved into the present Weipa Town Authority.
Weipa Town consists of two disconnected areas: the town of Weipa, with a narrow connecting corridor to the harbour at Evans Landing, the Weipa Airport. Nearby Napranum Aboriginal Shire (formerly the town of Weipa South) and Shire of Aurukun, both excised from Cook Shire of Cook) are also split into several disconnected areas.
While Comalco's successor, Rio Tinto, remains responsible for the town's administration, it does so through the Weipa Town Authority, which has seven members: four elected by the residents, two appointed by Rio Tinto, and one appointed by the Awngthim people. While Weipa Town is a gazetted local government area, and the Weipa Town Authority undertakes the duties of a typical local government, the Authority is not an actual local government body because it is part of a corporation.
Discussions regarding "normalising" Weipa Town into a true local government authority in 2016 . Arrived at three options:
making Weipa Town a regular local government authority with its present boundaries;
absorbing Weipa Town back into the Cook Shire;
creating a new Western Cape Region centred on Weipa.
Localities within Weipa Town include:
Evans Landing
Nanum
Rocky Point,
Trunding
Weipa Airport.
Sources:
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weipa_Town
