Yarrabah

Yarrabah, traditionally Yagaljida in the Yidin language spoken by the indigenous Yidinji people, is a coastal town and locality in the Aboriginal Shire of Yarrabah, Queensland, Australia.

Yarrabah, traditionally Yagaljida in the Yidin language spoken by the indigenous Yidinji people, is a coastal town and locality in the Aboriginal Shire of Yarrabah, Queensland, Australia. It is an Aboriginal community about 53 kilometres (33 mi) by road from Cairns CBD on Cape Grafton. It is much closer by direct-line distance but is separated from Cairns CBD by the Murray Prior Range and Trinity Inlet, an inlet of the Coral Sea. At the 2016 census, Yarrabah had a population of 2,559.

Gunggay (also known as Gunggandji, Kongandji, Kongkandji, Gungganyji, Idindji and Yidiny) is an Aboriginal language of Far North Queensland. The Gunggay language region of Cape Grafton includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Cairns Regional Council and Yarrabah Community Council.An Anglican church missionary, Ernest Gribble (1868–1957) in 1892 began to regularly visit an Aboriginal group who inhabited the Yarrabah area living a very traditional lifestyle. These visits by Gribble were to encourage the tribe to move to a mission settlement he was setting up. With the help of the tribe's leader, Menmuny, the tribe moved to the mission now known as Yarrabah Community. The mission was settled in 1893. Over time, many people (including some South Sea Islanders) were relocated from homelands in the surrounding area to Yarrabah.

Yarrabah State School was opened on 1 January 1892. In 2017, Yarrabah State School celebrated its 125th anniversary.In 1957, the Yarrabah residents staged a strike to protest poor working conditions, inadequate food, health problems and harsh administration. The church expelled the ringleaders and many others left voluntarily, never to return. A few years later, the Government of Queensland assumed control of the mission. As a result, still today most of Yarrabah is Crown Land. Native Title claims here are hard to put forward, due to the very fragmented ethnic composition of this community, with many Aboriginal people in Yarrabah having been settled here from other areas, including interstate.

In 1965, an advisory council was set up which allowed Aboriginal people to give "advice" to the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, but it had no actual power and the government continued to control all aspects of local people's lives. In 1979, several community members joined a union but were stood down.

Eventually, on 27 October 1986, the community received Deed of Grant in Trust land tenure, making it subject to the Community Services (Aborigines) Act 1984, which allowed for self-governing Aboriginal Community Councils with a range of powers and controls over the land. With the passage of reforms in 2005, the Council became an "Aboriginal Shire" and gained the authority of a legal local government.

Following the 2001 Cape York Justice Study findings, Yarrabah became one of many indigenous communities in Queensland to be subject to an alcohol management plan.Restrictions on alcohol possession commenced on 6 February 2004, with a review by 2006.A 2012 survey for another review showed the community was divided on easing restrictions.On 23 July 2007, Yarrabah hosted the Cabinet of the Queensland Government in the first ever Cabinet meeting to be held in an indigenous Australian community.

On 1 October 2007, the Howard Coalition Government chose Yarrabah as the first recipient of what was said to be a 'landmark housing and welfare reform agreement'.In 2009 as part of the Local Government Reform Agenda in Queensland, the Council gained recognition as a local government council.