Acting Head of Campus: Ben Malpas
Phone: (07) 4069 4107 | Fax: (07) 4069 4318
Email: the.principal@dauaislass.eq.edu.au
Campus enrolment: 31 students
Year Levels: Kindy to Year 6
Community Snapshot
Population: 191*
Cluster: Top Western Islands
English Name: Mt Cornwallis Island
Dauan is a small granite island close to the Papua New Guinea border. The island’s Mount Cornwallis, the State’s most northerly granite peak, is actually part of the Great Dividing Range. Dauan’s community is situated along a narrow coastal strip backed by steep hills. The island is renowned for its fertile soil and cool, freshwater permanent springs. As there is no airstrip, Dauan residents are serviced by boat, barge and helicopter; the nearest airport is on Saibai, 6km to the Northeast.
The dialect spoken on Dauan is Kalaw Kawaw Ya which is a part of the Kala Lagaw Ya traditional language.
During the Pearling era, most of the men worked on pearling luggers, and enlisted with the Torres Strait Light Infantry when World War II broke out. In July 2000, Dauan celebrated its successful Native Title Land Claim to the island. In 1871, two brothers, Garmai and Jawai (Dhoeybaw Clansmen), accompanied missionaries from the London Missionary Society to Saibai and influenced the islanders to accept the missionaries.
*Source: 2016 ABS Census