Coen, Queensland

Coen is a rural town and coastal locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. The town is situated inland, on the Peninsula Developmental Road, the main road on the Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland. The community is quite busy, particularly in the dry season, because tourists and visitors travelling on the Peninsula Development Road up to the tip of Cape York have to pass through the town.

In the , the locality of Coen had a population of 320 people.

Port Stewart is a town also on the northern bank of the Stewart River but closer to the river mouth into the Coral Sea ().

History

The Coen area is the traditional homeland of the Kaanju people.

In 1623, Jan Carstensz, the navigator of the ship Pera of the Dutch East India Company, named a river on Cape York Peninsula after Jan Pieterszoon Coen, the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. Today that river is known as the Archer River and the name Coen River is given to one of its tributaries.

Coen Provisional School opened on 6 May 1895. On 1 January 1909, it became Coen State School. It closed in 1929 but reopened circa 1948. In January 2010, it became a campus of the Western Cape College. In January 2012, it became a campus of the Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy.

In 1897, the Queensland Parliament passed the Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897, which granted the Home Secretar the power "to cause every aboriginal within any District, not being an aboriginal exempted from the provisions of this section, to be removed to, and kept within the limits of, any reserve situated within such District, in such manner, and subject to such conditions, as may be prescribed". Over 300 Aboriginal people were removed from the Coen district to Aboriginal reserves. Almost half of those removed were sent to Palm Island. Included in this number were the Lama Lama people of the Stewart River area who had been dispossessed of their lands by European pastoral expansion into their country in the late 19th century. They formed a community at the Stewart River on what is now Silver Plains Station, near the site of the Moojeeba township. In the 1930s, they were removed to Lockhart River Mission but later returned to Port Stewart.

In May 1944, 14 acres were gazetted near Coen as an Aboriginal reserve. The reserve was located south of the town on the Coen River between Oscar and Spring Creeks. Over time, more buildings were erected on the reserve and a market garden established. In 1961, the reserve between Oscar and Spring Creeks was closed and a new Aboriginal reserve established. The new reserve was located closer to the town on the Coen River, opposite the cemetery.

In 1961, the owner of the Silver Plains Station falsely accused the Lama Lama people of harassing stock. The accusations came as a response to the Lama Lama people refusing to work on the station at under-award rates of pay. The Lama Lama were removed to Cowal Creek, after being tricked into believing they were going to Thursday Island for a medical check-up. Some families walked back to Coen. Eventually, the majority resettled themselves at Coen.

Demographics

In the , the locality of Coen had a population of 416 people, of whom 286 (68.6%) identify as Indigenous.

In the , the locality of Coen had a population of 364 people, of whom 297 (79.8%) identify as Indigenous.

In the , the locality of Coen had a population of 320 people, of whom 236 (73.8%) identify as Indigenous.

Education

Coen Campus is a primary (Prep-6) campus of the Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy. It is on the Peninsula Developmental Road ().

There are no secondary schools in Coen nor nearby. Distance education and boarding schools are the alternatives.

Facilities

Today Coen provides services to the region, and is an important supply point on the long unpaved road leading to Weipa and other northern communities. It is a popular stopping point for tourists driving to the tip of Cape York - the northernmost part of the Australian mainland.

It has an airstrip at Coen Airport ( north of the town), public library, hotel/motel, guest house, general store with a fuel outlet, mechanic, medical clinic, post office, police station, camping grounds, primary school kindergarten, ranger base and more. There is a scheduled air service to Lockhart and Cairns four times a week.

Our Lady of the Way Catholic Church is at 1 Armbrust Street (corner of Taylor Street, ). It is within the Cooktown Parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns.

There is a boat ramp at Port Stewart into the Stewart River (). It is managed by the Cook Shire Council.

Attractions

thumb|Small gold mine near Coen. 1990

Coen is an ideal destination for birdwatchers: there are good accommodations and a large and varied bird fauna with representatives from rain forest, monsoon forest and coastal forests.

Heritage listings

Coen has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

Coen Carrier Station, Coleman Close ().

Climate

Coen has a tropical savanna climate (Aw) with distinct wet and dry seasons. Daytime temperatures are usually over most of the year. The dry season runs from May to October. The temperatures in this season can drop below in the coolest months between May and August, and it can peak further above in the build up months between September and November. The wet season occurs from December to March and is characterized by frequent torrential downpours and high humidity. This season is also generally associated with the arrival of the monsoon trough and tropical cyclones.

References

Sources

Moon, Ron & Viv. 2003. Cape York: An Adventurer's Guide. 9th edition. Moon Adventure Publications, Pearcedale, Victoria.
Roberts, Jan. 1981. Massacres to Mining: The Colonization of Aboriginal Australia. Dove Communications, Blackburn, Victoria. Rev. Australian ed. Previous ed.: CIMRA and War on Want, 1978, London. .
Premier's Department (prepared by Connell Wagner). 1989. Cape York Peninsula Resource Analysis. Cairns. (1989).
Ryan, Michelle and Burwell, Colin, eds. 2000. Wildlife of Tropical North Queensland: Cooktown to Mackay. Queensland Museum, Brisbane. (set of 3 vols).
Scarth-Johnson, Vera. 2000. National Treasures: Flowering plants of Cooktown and Northern Australia. Vera Scarth-Johnson Gallery Association, Cooktown. (pbk); Limited Edition - Leather Bound.
Sutton, Peter (ed). Languages of Cape York: Papers presented to a Symposium organised by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra. (1976).
Wallace, Lennie. 2003. Cape York Peninsula: A History of Unlauded Heroes 1845-2003. Central Queensland University Press, Rockhampton.
Wynter, Jo and Hill, John. 1991. Cape York Peninsula: Pathways to Community Economic Development. The Final Report of The Community Economic Development Projects Cook Shire. Cook Shire Council.

Attribution

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