The settlement began with the establishment of the Doomadgee Mission in 1933, which relocated from Bayley Point to Nicholson River in 1936.

[7] From the late 19th century, Europeans started settling in the area, making a huge impact on the lives of the Indigenous peoples.

Native Police, known as yabayiri to the locals, were established at Turn Off Lagoon, which was on the Nicholson River about 26 kilometres (16 mi) west of present-day Doomadgee site, in 1889.

[9] Doomadgee Mission, originally known as Dumaji (a name deriving from a coastal sand dune known as Dumaji by the Ganggalidda people[10]), was established on Bayley Point (16°55′00″S 139°02′00″E / 16.9167°S 139.0333°E / -16.9167; 139.0333 (Bayley Point))[11] on the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1933, including the Doomadgee Mission School.

[12] There had been a mission home for Aboriginal children established at Burketown by Len and Dorothy Akehurst, members of the Open Brethren, in 1930, and this was moved to the new site of Dumaji (subsequently known as "Old Doomadgee Mission" a couple of years later, at the request of the Aboriginal people.

[9] In 1936, after the coastal site of the mission had been devastated by a cyclone,[15] the community and the dormitories[16] were relocated to Nicholson River, known as "New Doomadgee".

There were around 50 children and 20 adults at this time, but the population soon grew through the 1930s and 1940s, when the Queensland Government removed many Aboriginal families from surrounding pastoral stations, including Westmoreland, Lawn Hills and Gregory Downs.

[16] Here the inhabitants were subjected to close supervision and strict adherence to a Christian way of life, with the girls allowed only to sing hymns as amusement.

By the late 1950s, many residents left, moving to the Mornington Island mission, where by this time families were allowed to stay together.

[17] The National Library of Australia has a sound recording of an interview by Gwenda Davey with Vic Akehurst about his parents, made in 2003 and available online, including a full transcript.

Special plumbing and filtration is necessary to provide water of a specific quality to be used in the process of haemodialysis, which treats people with kidney problems.

Until the unit is complete, patients have to travel or move to Mount Isa or Townsville to receive treatment.