Aurukun Aboriginal Shire Council
Aurukun, a coastal town, sits on the western side of Cape York Peninsula, 80 km south of Weipa and 460 km north-west of Cooktown. Aurukun began as a Presbyterian mission in 1904, supervised by a Moravian missionary, Rev Arthur Richter and known as the Archer River Mission Station. "Aurukun" was derived from an Aboriginal word associated with a large lagoon on the Watson River, south of the town.
Further Reading:
Geraldine MacKenzie, Aurukun diary: forty years with the Aborigines, Melbourne, Aldersgate Press, 1981
Jan Roberts, Massacres to mining: the colonisation of Aboriginal Australia, Melbourne, Dove Communications, 1981
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