DescriptionWeipa township is situated on the traditional lands of the Alngith people, and a representative of the Alngith people is a member of the Weipa Town Authority Board. The place-name Weipa originates from the word Waypa (or Waypundun), meaning ‘fighting ground’ in the Anhathangayth language. It was the name given to a Presbyterian mission station established on Spring Creek (about 28 kilometres inland from today’s Weipa) and transferred to the Jessica Point area on the lower reaches of the Embley River when the mission was moved in 1932-1933. When the Weipa mining township was built by Comalco in 1964-1967, the Queensland Government decided to name the new town Weipa North, and the former mission became Weipa South. Over time, the Weipa South community increasingly used the name Napranum, or ‘meeting place of the people’, which was formally gazetted in 1990. Weipa North is now known simply as Weipa.
