Seisia

Introduction

Seisia (Say-see-ah) is one of five First Nations communities based in the Northern Peninsula Area (NPA). The NPA consists of 1,030km2 in the northern most region of Cape York in Far North Queensland and also includes the communities of Umagico (Alau), New Mapoon, Injinoo and Bamaga. By the time of the 2021 Census, the total population of Seisia was estimated as 293 persons.1

The NPA is isolated for parts of the year. Far North Queensland’s wet season typically runs from around December to May and is usually characterised by heavy rainfall which regularly cuts access to the area. The wet is followed by a dry season, with the timing and intensity of this change often varying year to year.

While each community in the NPA has its own history, all are strongly influenced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritages. A diversity of languages and traditions continue to be practiced.

History of Seisia

European contact

Seisia, formerly known as Red Island Point, is also known as Ithunchi in its Aboriginal language. Ithunchi was originally used as a traditional camping site before European contact.2

In 1864, the Queensland Government established a settlement at Somerset on Cape York. The introduction of diseases, exclusion from traditional hunting grounds and the brutality of Native Police under the direction of Somerset’s Police Magistrates decimated the Aboriginal people of the NPA.3 By 1915, survivors had regrouped at Red Island Point and Cowal Creek (later known as Injinoo). Yadhaigana, Wuthathi, Unduyamo and Gudang peoples from the north and east had established themselves as a single group at Red Island Point. Other Yadhaigana people and Wuthathi had formed a group at Cowal Creek (known then as Small River).4 The two communities at Red Island Point and Small River approached the government for land to establish gardens, leading to the creation of an Aboriginal reserve at Cowal Creek in 1915.5 Anglican missionaries established a presence at Cowal Creek in the early 1920s.6

The Second World War saw an increase in government activity in Cape York and the Torres Strait. In 1942, US Army engineers established a military airstrip inland from Red Island Point. The airstrip was known as the Jacky Jacky or Higgins airstrip. Several RAAF bomber, fighter and transport squadrons operated from the airstrip. It is still used today as the airport for the NPA. A radar station was established at Muttee Heads in 1943 with local Aboriginal people assisting in its construction and operation. New jetties and wharves were built by Army engineers at Muttee Heads and Red Island Point.7 After the war, the Queensland Government expanded its presence in the Torres Strait, investing in improvements to infrastructure, communications and government services.8 Queensland governments in the postwar years pursued a policy of northern development: emphasis was placed on encouraging population growth and industrial development in the north of the state as a defence mechanism against foreign invasion.9

Around 1945, Cornelius O’Leary, Director of Native Affairs inspected the NPA with local stockman Dick Holland, to identify suitable locations for a new settlement.10 Government officials argued that expanding urban development and facilities on the NPA was a way of compensating Torres Strait Islander peoples for their contribution to the war effort.11 In a 1948 letter to the Minister for Health and Home Affairs, O’Leary stated: ‘In a determination to make a practical contribution to the post-war rehabilitation of the Torres Strait Islanders as a recompense for their contribution to the war effort, the State Government has acquired extensive areas on Cape York Peninsula to give to these people an opportunity for the expansion of the race.’12

During the war years enlisted men from Saibai, Dauan and Boigu in the Torres Strait had discussed the possibility of developing a Torres Strait Islander community on the Australian mainland. These discussions continued after the war on Saibai, with the involvement of Island elders and leaders. Saibai elder Bamaga Ginau supported the proposal. He held strong concerns regarding the inadequate supplies of freshwater and firewood on Saibai and the damaging effects of poor drainage, disease and king tides. In 1947, a series of king tides during the wet season caused “serious and in some cases irreparable damage to properties and gardens” on Saibai. Bamaga Ginau called a community meeting regarding his concerns for the future of Saibai. After much discussion, several Saibai families made the decision to leave the island and move to the mainland.13

The first party of Saibai families left the island in May 1947 on pearl luggers Millard and Macoy. They arrived at Muttee Heads on the NPA on 1 June 1947. A second party, which included Bamaga Ginau and his family, arrived on 1 July 1947. The new arrivals selected a temporary site at Muttee Heads for their new settlement.14 The Queensland Government in July 1948, gazetted an area of 44,500 acres extending from Red Island Point to Kennedy Inlet, south to the boundary of the Cowal Creek mission settlement as a reserve for the ‘use of the Torres Strait Islanders’.15 In 1948, Mugai Elu and Tumena Sagaukaz left Saibai with their families and moved to Red Island Point. According to local oral history, Mugai Elu sought permission from local Aboriginal people at Cowal Creek to establish a settlement at Red Island Point.16 The families lived in old army huts donated to them by Stan Holland who worked in the cattle trade and ran a slaughterhouse at Red Island Point.17 More families from Saibai settled at Red Island Point in 1950 and 1951. Representatives from the small community approached the Department of Native Affairs to build new housing at Red Island Point in 1955.18

A school was operating at Red Island Point from as early as July 1948.19 By 1960, there were 24 students enrolled in the school.20 From 1963, students from Red Island Point, New Mapoon and Umagico were transported to and from Bamaga for schooling.21Construction of a new Church at Red Island Point commenced in 1964.22 On 14 October 1972, the Anglican Church of St Francis of Assisi was officially dedicated at Red Island Point.23

Red Island Point was an important hub for people and goods travelling in and out of the NPA. The 1972 Annual Report of the Department of Aboriginal and Island Affairs referred to Red Island Point as ‘the cargo and passenger terminal servicing the Peninsula Reserve.’24 A new jetty was completed in 1971, as well as improvements to the electrical supply at Red Island Point and Bamaga.25 The Queensland Government established a tourist campground at Red Island Point in the late 1960s.26 An increasing number of tourists visited the Northern Peninsula in the 1980s and improved facilities were constructed to cater to the tourist traffic.27

The name ‘Seisia’ was created using the first letters of the names of Mugai Elu’s fathers and brothers—Sagaukaz, Elu, Isua, Sunai, Ibuai and Aken.28 The village at Red Island Point was officially gazetted as ‘Seisia’ on 26 February 1976.29

Local government and Deed of Grant in Trust community

By the 1970s, the Community Councils of the NPA were meeting regularly as a combined Northern Peninsula Area Council.30This NPA Council consisted of representatives of the Bamaga Island Council and the Aboriginal Councils at New Mapoon, Cowal Creek and Umagico.31 The 1975 Annual Report of the Department of Aboriginal and Islanders Advancement noted that ‘Red Island Point is part of Bamaga for Council purposes.’ 32A representative of the Red Island Point community held one seat on the four-member Bamaga Island Council.33

On 31 May 1984, the Community Services (Aborigines) Act 1984 and Community Services (Torres Strait) Act 1984 came into effect.34 The Acts conferred local government type powers and responsibilities upon Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Councils.35

On 30 April 1987, approval was given for an Island Council to be formed at Seisia, and the first election for members of the newly formed Seisia Island Council took place on 11 July 1987.36 On 29 October 1987, this Council area, previously an Aboriginal reserve held by the Queensland Government, was transferred to the trusteeship of the Council under a Deed of Grant in Trust (DOGIT).37 DOGITs had been issued to the other NPA communities of Bamaga, Cowal Creek (Injinoo), Umagico and New Mapoon on 27 October 1986.38

In 2007, the Local Government Reform Commission recommended that the three NPA Aboriginal Councils (Injinoo, New Mapoon and Umagico) and the two NPA Torres Strait Islander Councils (Bamaga and Seisia) be abolished and a single Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council be established in their place.39 The first Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council was elected on 15 March 2008 in elections conducted under the Local Government Act 1993.40

  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021 Census Community Profile, Seisia (L), UCL322106, <https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/community-profiles/2021/UCL322106>, accessed 9 March 2026
  2. Nonie Sharp, Footprints Along the Cape York Sandbeaches (Australian Studies Press, Canberra; 1992), p.3.
  3. Sharp, Footprints, pp.35-41, 54-58.
  4. Sharp, Footprints, pp.15, 85-87.
  5. Home Secretary’s Office, 1915/9001, Report of the Chief Protector of Aboriginals on the Annual Inspection of Northern Institutions, 1915, 7 September 1915, p.14,Queensland State Archives, ITM847748, <https://www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/items/ITM847748>; Queensland, Queensland Government Gazette, vol.CV, no.156, 23 October 1915, p.1374.
  6. Chief Protector of Aboriginals, Report on the Operations of Certain Sub-Departments of the Home Secretary’s Department – Aboriginals Department – Information contained in Report for the Year ended 31st December 1924 (1925), p.10; 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 31st December, 1918 (1919), p.10; Chief Protector of Aboriginals, Report Upon the Operations of certain Sub-Departments of the Home Secretary’s Department – Aboriginal Department – Information contained in Report for the Year ended 31st December 1926 (1927), , p.10.
  7. Roger Marks, Queensland Airfields, World War Two, 50 Years On (Brisbane: R. & J. Marks, 1994), pp.14-17.
  8. Jeremy Beckett, Torres Strait Islanders: Custom and Colonialism (Cambridge, New York and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1987), pp.70-71
  9. Ross Fitzgerald, From 1915 to the Early 1980s: A History of Queensland (Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1984), pp.187-188
  10. Dana Ober, Joe Sproats and Rik Mitchell, Saibai to Bamaga, The Migration from Saibai to Bamaga on the Cape York Peninsula (Townsville and Bamaga: Joe Sproats & Associates and Bamaga Island Council, 2000), p.14
  11. ‘Torres Strait Islanders Settle Peninsula Lands,’ Townsville Daily Bulletin, 30 September 1947, p.5, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/62917606; W.J. Morris, ‘Disappearing Island Challenges Science,’ The World’s News (Sydney), 3 May 1952, pp.8-9, <https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/139913138/16200869>
  12. Director of Native Affairs, Administration – Cape York Peninsula – Development of Northern Peninsula Area, 9M/10 Part 1, letter dated 4 October 1948 from Director of Native Affairs to Hon. A. Jones, Minister for Health and Home Affairs, p.373, Queensland State Archives, ITM507656, https://www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/items/ITM507656
  13. Ober, Sproats and Mitchell, Saibai to Bamaga, , pp.6-8; Queensland, Native Affairs – Information contained in Report of Director of Native Affairs for the Twelve Months ended 30 June 1948 (1948), pp.22.
  14. Ober, Sproats and Mitchell, Saibai to Bamaga, pp.16-17.
  15. Queensland, Native Affairs – Information contained in Report of Director of Native Affairs for the Twelve Months ended 30 June 1949 (1949), p.25; Queensland, Queensland Government Gazette, 24 July 1948, p.675.
  16. Susan Robyn McIntyre-Tamwoy, ‘Red Devils and White Men,’ PhD thesis, James Cook University, 2000, pp.89-91, <https://doi.org/10.25903/db9w-9r36>
  17. ‘T.I. Short of Meat,’ Townsville Daily Bulletin, 25 October 1948, p.4, <https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/63369726>
  18. Students of Bamaga State High School (Geraldine Charlie, Belinda Dean, Jillian Gebadi, Druscilla Gebadi, Mabelene Gebadi, Melanie Talty and Michelle Wasiu), , North of the Jardine: A Look at the Five Communities of the N.P.A.: Produced by Students of Bamaga State High School (Bamaga: Bamaga State High School, 1987), pp.18-19, <https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-535953047>
  19. Protector of Islanders, Thursday Island, Reserves – Red Island Point – Appointment Native Teacher, 7C/3, memorandum dated 2 July 1948, p.31, ITM338132
  20. Director of Native Affairs, Native Affairs – Annual Report of Director of Native Affairs for the Year ended 30th June 1960, p.38
  21. Director of Native Affairs, Annual Report of the Director of Native Affairs for the Year ending 30th June 1964, p.15
  22. Diocesan Building Operations – Torres News, 21 January 1964, p.13, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/255812441
  23. Letter from the Bishop of Rockhampton – Torres News, 17 October 1972, p.11, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/255819834
  24. Director of Aboriginal and Island Affairs, Annual Report of the Director of Aboriginal and Island Affairs for the Year ending 30th June 1972, p.19
  25. Director of Aboriginal and Island Affairs, Annual Report of the Director of Aboriginal and Island Affairs for the Year ending 30th June 1971, p.9
  26. Jon Altman, ‘Coping with Locational Advantage: The Economic Development Potential of Tourism at Seisia Community, Cape York Peninsula,’ Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) discussion paper, no.98, 1995, pp.10-11, <http://hdl.handle.net/1885/145528>
  27. Department of Community Services, Annual Report, Department of Community Services for the year ending 30th June 1986, pp.4, 30
  28. Students of Bamaga State High School, North of the Jardine, pp.18-19; Queensland Government, Queensland place names search, ‘Seisia – Population centre,’ reference no. 30370, <https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/land/title/place-names/queensland-place-names-search>; Letter from the Queensland Place Names Board - Torres News, 11 November 1975, p.9, <https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/255846868>
  29. Queensland Government Gazette, vol.CCLI, no.31, 28 February 1976, p.780
  30. Department of Aboriginal and Islanders Advancement, Annual Report 1975 (1976), p.30; Department of Aboriginal and Islanders Advancement, Annual Report 1976 (1977), p.31
  31. The New Mapoon, Cowal Creek and Umagico Aboriginal Councils were considered corporate bodies under the Aborigines Act 1971-1979 while the Bamaga Island Council operated under the Torres Strait Islanders Act 1971-1979. Aboriginal and Island Affairs Department, Administration – Bamaga – New Mapoon Community Council, 1971-1990, 09-019-003, letter dated 15 January 1982, p.112, ITM645528; Torres Strait Islanders Act 1971, <https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/asmade/act-1971-060>; Aborigines Act 1971, <https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/asmade/act-1971-059>; Aborigines and Islanders Acts Amendment Act 1979, https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/asmade/act-1979-003. See also Aboriginal and Island Affairs Department, Administration – Bamaga – New Mapoon Community Council, 1971-1990, 09-019-003, minutes of General Council Meetings, 6 September 1973, pp.304-305, through to 6 September 1978, p.150, ITM645528
  32. Department of Aboriginal and Islanders Advancement, Annual Report 1975 (1976), p.30
  33. Aboriginal and Island Affairs Department, Administration – Bamaga – New Mapoon Community Council, 1971-1990, 09-019-003, letters dated 1 March 1977, pp.222-223, and 15 April 1977, p.211, ITM645528
  34. Community Services (Aborigines) Act 1984, <https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/asmade/act-1984-051>; Community Services (Torres Strait) Act 1984, <https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/asmade/act-1984-052>
  35. For a summary of the changes effected by the 1984 Acts and the role of Community Councils under the new legislation, see Department of Aboriginal and Islanders Advancement, Annual Report of the Department of Aboriginal and Islanders Advancement for the Year ending 30th June 1984, pp.3-5 and Department of Community Services Queensland, Annual Report 1985 (1986), pp.1-2
  36. Department of Community Services, Administration – Land – Deed of Grant, Seisia, 1986-1989, 01-049-029, letter dated 28 July 1987 and attachment, pp.45-46, Queensland State Archives, ITM64321
  37. Department of Community Services, Administration – Land – Deed of Grant, Seisia, 1986-1989, 01-049-029, letter dated 29 October 1987, p.12, Queensland State Archives, ITM643211
  38. Department of Community Services, Annual Report 1987, p.28; Parliamentary Committee of Public Accounts, Financial Administration of Aboriginal and Island Councils, Report 2: Effectiveness of Councils, Support for Councils, Training, February 1991, p.19, <https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Work-of-the-Assembly/Tabled-Papers/docs/4691t2722/4691t2722.pdf>
  39. Local Government Reform Commission, Report of the Local Government Reform Commission, Vol.1, July 2007, p.62, <https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Work-of-the-Assembly/Tabled-Papers/docs/5207T1809/tp1809-2007.pdf>; Local Government Reform Commission, Report of the Local Government Reform Commission, Vol.2, July 2007, pp.241-245, <https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Work-of-the-Assembly/Tabled-Papers/docs/5207T1810/5207t1810-fe3e.pdf>
  40. Electoral Commission Queensland, ‘2008 Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council Mayoral / Councillor Election: 15 March 2008,’ <https://results.ecq.qld.gov.au/elections/local/lg2008/NorthernPeninsulaAreaRegionalCouncil/index.html>, accessed 11 March 2026; Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council, Annual Report Financial Year 2008-2009, p.4, <https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2730338270/view>
Last updated:
7 May 2026