Umagico is a town and coastal locality in the Northern Peninsula Area Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Umagico had a population of 394 people.

Umagico is one of the five communities which collectively form the Northern Peninsula Area. The landmass of the Northern Peninsula Area consists of in the northernmost region of Cape York Peninsula. Apart from Umagico, the other communities in the Northern Peninsula Area are Injinoo, New Mapoon, Seisia and Bamaga. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. There is an undeveloped town Aloa () located on the coast.

History Umagico, originally and still locally known as Alau, was one of several traditional Aboriginal camping sites on the western beaches of Northern Cape York Peninsula. The Gumakudin people are thought to have traditionally occupied Alau prior to first contact with the British.N Sharp, Footprints Along the Cape York Sand Beaches (Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra; 1992) 3, 85.

In 1897, Archibald Meston submitted a report on the Aborigines of Queensland in which he suggested the population between Newcastle Bay and Cape York had decreased from 3,000 to less than 300 people.Archibald Meston’s Report on the Aboriginals of Queensland to the Home Secretary, QLA, V&P (1896) vol. 4, 1, 724.Queensland State Archives, Home Secretary’s Office, Series SRS 5263/1, General Correspondance, Item HOM/J717, 1929/3999, memo re Aboriginal Reservations. By 1900, Aboriginal populations in the Cape York Peninsula area had been decimated as a result of introduced disease, exclusions from traditional hunting grounds, and by the brutality of the Native Police and Somerset's Police Magistrates, most notoriously Frank Jardine.N Sharp, Footprints Along the Cape York Sand Beaches (Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra; 1992), 55-58.J Richards, The Secret War: a True History of Queensland’s Native Police (Queensland University Press, St Lucia; 2008) 42.

By 1915, remnants of the Aboriginal population had autonomously regrouped at Red Island Point (later known as Seisia) and Cowal Creek (known then as Small River and later as Injinoo).N Sharp, Footprints Along the Cape York Sand Beaches (Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra; 1992) 85-87. Both communities approached the Queensland Government for land to establish gardens, leading to the creation of an Aboriginal reserve at Cowal Creek in 1915.Queensland State Archives, Home Secretary’s Office, Series SRS 5263/1, General Correspondance, Item HOM/J129 1914/9001 Chief Protector of Aboriginals: Report of Chief Protector of Aboriginals on Annual Inspection of Northern Institutions, 195.Queensland, Queensland Government Gazette, 23 October 1915, 1374.

By 1918, the Cowal Creek community was functioning as a self-sufficient community, managed by a self-elected council.N Sharp, Footprints Along the Cape York Sand Beaches (Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra; 1992) 94-95. The community grew during the 1920s and 1930s with the inclusion of Aboriginal groups who moved from the McDonnell Ranges, Red Island Point and Seven Rivers.Queensland, Report on the Operations of Certain Sub-Departments of the Home Secretary’s Department - Aboriginals Department - Information Contained in Report for the Year ended 31 December, 1920 (1921) 9.S McIntyre-Tamwoy, Red Devils and White Men (PhD thesis, James Cook University, Townsville; 2000). In 1923, Anglican missionaries and school teachers arrived at Cowal Creek and increasingly took on administrative functions in the community.J J Done, Wings Across the Sea (Booralong Publications, Brisbane; 1987).N Sharp, Footprints Along the Cape York Sand Beaches (Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra; 1992) 90, 95.

After World War II, populations in Northern Cape York Peninsula were again transformed, as Torres Strait Islanders began resettling in the area. The government began developing the area to accommodate this settlement and encouraged other Islanders to come.Queensland, Native Affairs – Information contained in Report of Director of Native Affairs for the Twelve Months ended 30 June 1948 (1948) 2. Saibai Islanders affected by a storm surge that inundated their island in 1948 established communities at Red Island Point at Muttee Heads.Queensland, Native Affairs – Information contained in Report of Director of Native Affairs for the Twelve Months ended 30 June 1948 (1948) 2, 22.D Ober, J Sproats and R Mitchell, Saibai to Bamaga, The Migration from Saibai to Bamaga on the Cape York Peninsula (Bamaga Island Council and Joe Sproats and Associates, Townsville; 2000). The government created a reserve at Red Island Point in 1948. This reserve was amalgamated with the adjoining Cowal Creek Reserve. After the amalgamation, the reserve consisted of 97,620 acres populated by around 350 people.Queensland, Native Affairs – Information contained in Report of Director of Native Affairs for the Twelve Months ended 30 June 1952 (1952) 26.Queensland, Queensland Government Gazette, 24 July 1948, 675.

During the 1950s, many of the Saibai Islanders who established themselves at Muttee Heads and Red Island Point moved to Bamaga as the government developed the township, erected accommodation and developed agricultural and sawmilling industries. Bamaga was established as the administrative centre for the Northern Peninsula Area.Queensland, Native Affairs – Information contained in Report of Director of Native Affairs for the Twelve Months ended 30 June 1953 (1953) 30.Queensland, Native Affairs – Information contained in Report of Director of Native Affairs for the Twelve Months ended 30 June 1954 (1954) 29-30.

Umagico was established in 1963 when the government relocated 64 Aboriginal people from Lockhart River Mission to the area.Queensland, Native Affairs – Information contained in Report of Director of Native Affairs for the Twelve Months ended 30 June 1964 (1964) 16. After the Anglican Church relinquished responsibility for the Lockhart River Mission in 1960, the government proposed closing down the mission and resettling residents at Bamaga. The majority of residents rejected this proposal and remained at the old mission site. Those resettled at Umagico accepted the site as an alternative.A. Chase, Which Way now? Tradition, continuity and change in a North Queensland Aboriginal Community (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Queensland, 1980) 124-127.D. Thompson, Struggling for Relevance in Lockhart River, Lecture in Northern Queensland History (1996), 5(142-168).

After the Lockhart River community was re-established at the current site by the government in 1970, some of the people who had been relocated to the Umagico area in the 1960s returned to live at Lockhart. At this time, people from Moa Island in the western Torres Strait were also resettled at Umagico.Students of Bamaga High School, North of the Jardine: a look at the five communities of the N.P.A. (Bamaga State High School, Bamaga; 1987).

Umagico Indigenous Knowledge Centre was established in 2012.

Demographics In the , the locality of Umagico had a population of 427 people. 94.1% identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people, compared to 4.0% for Queensland and 2.7% for Australia.

In the , the locality of Umagico had a population of 394 people. 89.8% identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people, compared to 4.8% for Queensland and 3.2% for Australia.

Education There are no schools at Umagico. The nearest government primary schools are the junior campus of Northern Peninsula Area College in neighbouring Injinoo to the south-west and the junior campus of Northern Peninsula Area College in neighbouring Bamaga to the east. The nearest government secondary school is the senior campus of the Northern Peninsula Area College, also in Bamaga.

Amenities The Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council operates the Umagico Indigenous Knowledge Centre at 8 Charlie Street ().

Umagico Community Hall is on the south-east corner of Peter Street and Wassey Street ().

Facilities Umagico Primary Health Care Centre is on the corner of Charlie Street and Woosup Street ().

Umagico cemetery is in Pascoe Street ().

References

Attribution This Wikipedia article contains material from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community histories: Umagico. Published by The State of Queensland under CC-BY-4.0, accessed on 3 July 2017.