Коэн, Квинсленд: История и современность северной Австралии.

Coen is a rural town and coastal locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. The town of Coen is inland on the Peninsula Developmental Road, the main road on the Cape York Peninsula in far northern Queensland. In the , the locality of Coen had a population of 320.

The locality of Coen is on the eastern side of Cape York Peninsula with the Coral Sea forming its eastern boundary. Part of the northern boundary follows the Archer River, while the Coen River forms part of its western boundary. The Peninsula Developmental Road runs roughly north to south through the locality. Port Stewart is a town also on the northern bank of the Stewart River but closer to the river mount into the Coral Sea .

This is the traditional homelands of the Kaanju people. In 1623, Jan Carstensz, the navigator of the ship Pera of the Dutch East India Company named a river on Cape York Peninsula after Jan Pieterszoon Coen, the Governor General of the Dutch East Indies. Today that river is known as the Archer River and the name Coen River is given to one of its tributaries. Coen Provisional School opened on 6 May 1895. On 1 January 1909, it became Coen State School. It closed in 1929 but reopened circa 1948. In January 2010, it became a campus of the Western Cape College. In January 2012, it became a campus of the Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy. In 1897, the Queensland Parliament passed the Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897, which granted the Home Secretar the power "to cause every aboriginal within any District, not being an aboriginal exempted from the provisions of this section, to be removed to, and kept within the limits of, any reserve situated within such District, in such manner, and subject to such conditions, as may be prescribed". Over 300 Aboriginal people were removed from the Coen district to Aboriginal reserves. Almost half of those removed were sent to Palm Island. Included in this number were the Lama Lama people of the Stewart River area who had been dispossessed of their lands by European pastoral expansion into their country in the late 19th century. They formed a community at the Stewart River on what is now Silver Plains Station, near the site of the Moojeeba township. In the 1930s, they were removed to Lockhart River Mission but later returned to Port Stewart. In May 1944, 14 acres were gazetted near Coen as an Aboriginal reserve. The reserve was located south of the town on the Coen River between Oscar and Spring Creeks. Over time, more buildings were erected on the reserve and a market garden established. In 1961, the reserve between Oscar and Spring Creeks was closed and a new Aboriginal reserve established. The new reserve was located closer to the town on the Coen River, opposite the cemetery. In 1961, the owner of the Silver Plains Station falsely accused the Lama Lama people of harassing stock. The accusations came as a response to the Lama Lama people refusing to work on the station at under award rates of pay. The Lama Lama were removed to Cowal Creek, after being tricked into believing they were going to Thursday Island for a medical check up. Some families walked back to Coen. Eventually, the majority resettled themselves at Coen. On 3 July 2014, Barry Port retired from the Queensland Police. He was Australia's last Aboriginal police tracker. In his 36 years working for the police, he has tracked criminals, missing people and stowaways. In the , the locality of Coen had a population of 364 people. In the , the locality of Coen had a population of 320 people.

Coen Campus is a primary (Prep 6) campus of the Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy. It is on Peninsula Developmental Road
There are no secondary schools in Coen nor nearby. Distance education and boarding schools are other options.

Today Coen provides services to the region, and is an important supply point on the long unpaved road leading to Weipa and other northern communities. It is a popular stopping point for tourists driving to the tip of Cape York the northernmost part of the Australian mainland. It has an airstrip at Coen Airport ( north of the town), public library, hotel/motel, guest house, two general stores and fuel outlets, hospital, post office, police station, camping grounds, primary school kindergarten, ranger base and more. There is a scheduled air service to Lockhart and Cairns four times a week. Our Lady of the Way Catholic Church is at 1 Armbrust Street (corner of Taylor Street, ). It is within the Cooktown Parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns. There is a boat ramp at Port Stewart into the Stewart River It is managed by the Cook Shire Council.

Coen is an ideal destination for birdwatchers: there are good accommodations and a large and varied bird fauna with representatives from rain forest, monsoon forest and coastal forests.

Coen has a tropical savanna climate (Aw) with distinct wet and dry seasons. Daytime temperatures are usually over most of the year. The dry season runs from May to October. The temperatures in this season can drop below in the coolest months between May and August, and it can peak further above in the build up months between September and November. The wet season occurs from December to March and is characterized by frequent torrential downpours and high humidity. This season is also generally associated with the arrival of the monsoon trough and tropical cyclones.

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