Kuku Yalanji (also known as
Gugu Yalanji,
Kuku Yalaja, and
Kuku Yelandji) is an
Australian Aboriginal language of the
Mossman and
Daintree areas of
North Queensland. The language region includes areas within the local government area of Shire of Douglas and
Shire of Cook, particularly the localities of Mossman, Daintree,
Bloomfield River, China Camp,
Maytown,
Palmer,
Cape Tribulation and
Wujal Wujal.
Yalanji (also known as
Kuku Yalanji,
Kuku Yalaja,
Kuku Yelandji, and
Gugu Yalanji) is an Australian Aboriginal language of
Far North Queensland. The traditional language region is
Mossman River in the south to the
Annan River in the north, bordered by the
Pacific Ocean in the east and extending inland to west of
Mount Mulgrave. This includes the local government boundaries of the Shire of Douglas, the
Shire of Cook and the
Aboriginal Shire of Wujal Wujal and the towns and localities of
Cooktown,
Mossman,
Daintree,
Cape Tribulation and
Wujal Wujal. It includes the head of the
Palmer River, the
Bloomfield River,
China Camp,
Maytown, and
Palmerville. On 11 November 1879, the
Cairns Division was one of the initial 74 divisions created under the
Divisional Boards Act 1879. On 3 June 1880, the northern part of Cairns Division was excised to create
Douglas Division. With the passage of the
Local Authorities Act 1902, Douglas Division became the Shire of Douglas on 31 March 1903. On 15 March 2008, under the
Local Government (Reform Implementation) Act 2007 passed by the
Parliament of Queensland on 10 August 2007, the Shire of Douglas merged with the
City of Cairns to form the
Cairns Region. In 2012, a proposal was made to de-amalgamate the Shire of Douglas from the Cairns Region. On 6 December 2012, the Queensland Minister for Local Government, the Hon.
David Crisafulli, granted the people of the former Douglas Shire a vote on possible de-amalgamation from the Cairns Regional Council, even though the Queensland Treasury Corporation had calculated the costs to be too high a burden on the few ratepayers of this small Shire, and the Shire to be unviable in the long term. Despite strong opposition from many parties, on 9 March 2013 the citizens of the former Douglas shire voted in a referendum to de-amalgamate. The shire was re-established on 1 January 2014. == Towns and localities ==