Seisia is a coastal town and a locality in the Northern Peninsula Area Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Seisia had a population of 293 people.
Geography
Seisia is the area north of New Mapoon and west of Bamaga on Cape York Peninsula.
Seisia Island Community lies within a small DOGIT (Deed of Grant in Trust) area granted in 1986 by the Queensland Government at Red Island Point. It is the most northerly mainland community in Queensland and has a harbour used by supply vessels and ferry services for passengers and vehicles.
Although Seisia is very distant from larger mainland towns, it is linked to Thursday Island (the largest town in the Torres Strait) by regular ferry services taking 90 minutes one-way.
History
European contact
Seisia, formerly known as Red Island Point, is also known as Ithangee in its Aboriginal language. Ithunchi was originally used as a traditional camping site before European contact. The Oiyamkwi clan of the Ankamuti was indigenous to the island.
In 1864, a government settlement was established at Somerset at the tip of 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. By 1915, surviving remnants of the Aboriginal population had regrouped at Red Island Point and Cowal Creek. Yadhaigana, Wuthathi, Unduyamo and Gudang people 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 Injinoo (known then as Small River). The two communities approached the government for land to establish gardens, leading to the creation of an Aboriginal reserve at Cowal Creek in 1915. An Anglican mission and school took over the administration of the reserve in 1923.
In 1942 during World War II, US Army engineers established a military airstrip inland from Red Island Point. The airstrip was known as the Jacky Jacky or Higgins airstrip. A number of RAAF bomber, fighter and transport squadrons operated from the airstrip. It is still used today as the airport for the Northern Peninsula Area. A radar station was also 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.
At the end of World War Two, the Queensland Government introduced measures aimed at compensating Torres Strait Islanders for their contribution to the war effort. These were also intended to populate the north as a defence mechanism against foreign invasion. Around 1945, the Director of Native Affairs, Cornelius O’Leary, inspected the North Peninsula Area with a local stockman, Dick Holland, to identify suitable locations for a new settlement. In his opening address to the 1947 Island Councillors’ Conference held at Badu, O’Leary spoke of the government's "wish for the expansion of the Torres Strait Race as a healthy industrial unit in North Queensland".
During the war years, enlisted Torres Strait Islander men from Saibai, Dauan and Boigu also discussed the possibility of developing an Islander community on the Australian mainland. These discussions continued after the war at 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 meeting regarding his concerns for the future of Saibai. After much discussion, a number of Saibai families made the decision to leave the Island and move to the mainland.