Weipa

Weipa

      Aboriginal community and mining town, northern Queensland, Australia, on the northwestern coast of Cape York Peninsula. It lies on Albatross Bay at the estuaries of the Hey, Embley, and Mission rivers, facing the Gulf of Carpentaria. In 1802 the explorer Matthew Flinders noted the red cliffs that extended for 100 miles (160 km) along the coast. It was not until 1902 that these reddish deposits were identified as bauxite, the ore of aluminum. When their potential as one of the world's largest reserves (estimated at 3,000,000,000 tons) was recognized, exploitation began, and the town of Weipa was built, beginning in 1956, to house the workers. It was the first settlement established in the area since a Presbyterian mission station had been founded there in the 1890s. Almost 10,500,000 tons of ore are taken annually from the opencut mine and conveyed to ships in the bay; about one-half goes to aluminum refineries at Gladstone (Queensland), and the rest is exported to Japan, Europe and North America. The town, with air connections to Cairns, 400 miles southeast, derives its name from an Aboriginal term meaning “hunting ground.” Pop. (2006) local government area, 2,830.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Weipa — Weipa,   Bergarbeitersiedlung und Hafen an der Westküste der Kap York Halbinsel, in Queensland, Australien, 2 200 Einwohner. Der hier seit 1956 abgebaute Bauxit (Reserven rd. 3 Mrd. t, Förderung jährlich rd. 11 Mio. t) wird teils exportiert,… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Weipa — /ˈwipə/ (say weepuh) noun a town on the north west coast of Cape York Peninsula, Qld; Aboriginal community; bauxite mining. Weipa lies in territory traditionally inhabited by the Awngthim people. Dutch explorer Willem Jansz sighted the coast in… …  

  • Weipa — Original name in latin Weipa Name in other language WEI, Weipa State code AU Continent/City Australia/Brisbane longitude 12.62346 latitude 141.87883 altitude 16 Population 2830 Date 2012 02 28 …   Cities with a population over 1000 database

  • Weipa — Admin ASC 2 Code Orig. name Weipa Country and Admin Code AU.04.37300 AU …   World countries Adminstrative division ASC I-II

  • Weipa Airport — airport codes|WEI|YBWP is an airport in Weipa, Queensland, Australia. The airport is 13 km from the town center.Airlines and Destinations*Qantas *QantasLink (Cairns, Horn Island)External links* [http://www.qantas.com.au/info/flying/atTheAirport/ai… …   Wikipedia

  • Weipa, Queensland — Infobox Australian Place | type = town name = Weipa state = Queensland caption = lga = Shire of Cook postcode = 4874 est = 1961cite book |title=Explore Queensland |last=Pengiun Books Australia |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2002… …   Wikipedia

  • Anchorage Weipa — (Weipa,Австралия) Категория отеля: 3 звездочный отель Адрес: 2 Tonkin Road, Rocky Point, 4874 …   Каталог отелей

  • Bamazomus weipa — Bamazomus weipa …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Уэйпа — (Weipa)         населённый пункт в Австралии, на полуострове Кейп Иорк, в штате Квинсленд. Добыча бокситов (около 10 млн. т в 1974); часть их используется для производства глинозёма в гг. Гладстон и Уэйпа, остальные вывозятся в Японию, ФРГ и… …   Большая советская энциклопедия

  • WEI — Weipa, Australia internationale Flughafen Kennung …   Acronyms

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