the vacated shanties on the reserve". The next night, two Queensland police officers arrived at Mapoon on the MV Gelam, together with several Saibai Island Community Police officers. A police report of the event has never been located; however oral accounts and removal records confirm that all residents were removed and that some of the buildings and houses were burned at Mapoon at this time. The bulk of the demolition of the Mapoon mission occurred in mid-1964. Presbyterian Church records indicate that the remaining 70 residents at Mapoon were transported to Weipa and New Mapoon aboard the MV Gelam between January and May 1964 After the 1964 closure of Mapoon, former residents continued to lobby for the re-opening of their community. In 1974, Jerry and Ina Hudson and several other families returned to ‘old Mapoon’ and in 1984, established the Marpuna Aboriginal Corporation which gradually built up community facilities. Local government and Deed of Grant in Trust community On 30 March 1985, the New Mapoon community elected 5 councillors to constitute the New Mapoon Aboriginal Council established under the Community Services (Aborigines) Act 1984. The Act conferred local government type powers and responsibilities upon Aboriginal councils for the first time. Umagico, Seisia, Cowal Creek and Bamaga also elected council representatives at this time. On 27 October 1986, the New Mapoon council area, previously an Aboriginal reserve held by the Queensland Government, was transferred to the trusteeship of the New Mapoon Aboriginal Council under a Deed of Grant in Trust (DOGIT) lease. On 1 January 2005, the New Mapoon Aboriginal Council became the New Mapoon Aboriginal Shire Council. In 2007, the Local Government Reform Commission recommended that the 3 NPA Aboriginal councils and the 2 NPA Torres Strait Islander councils be abolished and a Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council be established in their place. The first Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council (NPARC) was elected on 15 March 2008 in elections conducted under the Local Government Act 1993. In the , the locality of New Mapoon had a population of 383 people. Education There are no schools in New Mappoon. The nearest government primary and secondary schools are the junior and senior campuses of the Northern Peninsula Area State College, both of which are in neighbouring Bamaga to the south-east. Amenities Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council operates a library (New Mapoon Indigenous Knowledge Centre) at Brown Street, New Mapoon. The New Mapoon