Woorabinda is a rural town and locality in the Aboriginal Shire of Woorabinda, Queensland, Australia. It is an Aboriginal community. In the , the locality of Woorabinda had a population of 1,019 people with 91.6% identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
Geography
Woorabinda is in Central Queensland, inland about two hours' drive west of Rockhampton.
The seasonal Mimosa Creek is nearby and is a source of local water. During rainy season, the town can be isolated due to road flooding.
Access is via the Fitzroy Developmental Road, which is sealed north towards Duaringa and where it meets the Capricorn Highway to Rockhampton. To the south, it is gravel road to Bauhinia, where it meets the Dawson Highway and access to Gladstone.
East is the sealed Baralaba-Woorabinda Road, seasonally cut off by flooding. West has a number of cattle properties until the base of the Blackdown Tablelands, serviced by gravel roads.
There is also a sealed airstrip along the north road into town (). It is used by chartered flights and aeromedical retrieval services. No commercial flights operate to the airstrip.
History
Wadja (also known as Wadjigu, Wadya, Wadjainngo, Mandalgu, and Wadjigun) is an Australian Aboriginal language in Central Queensland. The language region includes the local government areas of the Aboriginal Shire of Woorabinda and Central Highlands Region, including the Blackdown Tablelands. the Comet River, and the Expedition Range, and the towns of Woorabinda, Springsure and Rolleston.
The town's name was chosen by Herbert Cecil Colledge, the superintendent of the settlement in 1927 using Aboriginal words, woora meaning kangaroo and binda meaning camp.
In 1926, the Queensland Government order hundreds of Aboriginal families to relocate to Woorabinda. The movement of approximately 300 Taroom residents to Woorabinda occurred most via foot over a distance of over . This walk from Taroom to Woorabinda was commemorated by the community with a supported re-enactment in 2014.
Woorabinda State School opened in 1928, closed in 1970 and subsequently reopened.
The Woorabinda community is the only DOGIT Aboriginal community within the Central Queensland region. DOGIT communities have a special type of land tenure which applies only to former Aboriginal reserves. The land title is a system of community level land trusts, owned and administered by the local council.
Cape Bedford relocation
In May 1942, during World War II, a Lutheran Aboriginal mission at Cape Bedford on Cape York in far North Queensland was closed to become used as an army camp. The relocation has also been attributed to governmental fears of Aboriginal loyalty to the German Lutheran pastor and possibly against non-Aboriginal Australian interests in favour of the Japanese. The 254 Aboriginal residents, of Guugu Yimithirr identity, were forcibly relocated; initially to Townsville via road and boat, and then via train to the ironback dormitory at Woorabinda. This trip was poorly provisioned and people arrived at their end destination having been deprived of food and blankets during the winter overland trip.
There was tension between the Cape Bedford evacuees and the residents of Woorabinda, partially due to the strong Lutheran Christian beliefs held by those from Cape Bedford. However, the evacuees also experienced many cultural experiences previously unavailable to them because of the strong church presence, such as corroborees. During this time, informal Lutheran church services and ministering were maintained by the evacuees to hold onto their Christian beliefs, creating a core strength of spiritual leadership within this group. Choral singing started during this time within the Guugu Yimithirr language from translated hymns as part of their services, which became a core part of their future church identity. They maintained a separate identity to the Woorabinda residents during the seven years they spent within the community.
Many died from sickness and exposure due to the poor sanitation and inadequate shelter from the frost and cold winter nights of the inland climate, which the Guugu Yimithirr peoples would not have previously experienced, as they were from a warm, humid coastal climate. The official number of deaths during this period was 33, but could have been up to 48. There were 13 recorded births during that time. During their time at Woorabinda, the Cape Bedford peoples experienced paid labour and schooling for the first time.