[7] Gunggay (also known as Gunggandji, Kongandji, Kongkandji, Gungganyji, Idindji and Yidiny) is an Aboriginal language of Far North Queensland.

[8] An Anglican church missionary, Ernest Gribble (1868–1957) in 1892 began to regularly visit an Aboriginal group who inhabited the Yarrabah area living a very traditional lifestyle.

Over time, many people (including some South Sea Islanders) were relocated from homelands in the surrounding area to Yarrabah.

[11] In 1957, the Yarrabah residents staged a strike to protest poor working conditions, inadequate food, health problems and harsh administration.

Native Title claims here are hard to put forward, due to the very fragmented ethnic composition of this community, with many Aboriginal people in Yarrabah having been settled here from other areas, including interstate.

[citation needed] In 1965, an advisory council was set up which allowed Aboriginal people to give "advice" to the Department of Aboriginal Affairs,[9] but it had no actual power and the government continued to control all aspects of local people's lives.

With the passage of reforms in 2005, the Council became an "Aboriginal Shire" and gained the authority of a legal local government.

[9] Following the 2001 Cape York Justice Study findings, Yarrabah became one of many indigenous communities in Queensland to be subject to an alcohol management plan.

[15] The $1.9 million facility was built both for and by the people of Yarrabah, offering learning opportunities even during its construction.

[17] On 1 October 2007, the Howard Coalition Government chose Yarrabah as the first recipient of what was said to be a 'landmark housing and welfare reform agreement'.

[citation needed] A few decades back a ferry service transferred students to and from school in Cairns, before the road to Yarrabah was sealed.

[citation needed] The Yarrabah community has a public library which serves a number of purposes including access to computers and the Internet, equipment to watch movies on DVD, and educational links including a Homework Centre (a Federal Government initiative) and access to the RATEP (Aboriginal Teacher Education Program) at James Cook University in Townsville for those training to be teachers.

[38] Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council operates an Indigenous Knowledge Centre (IKC) library service located at Lot 207 Noble Drive[39][40] which opened in 2015.

Before the establishment of IKCs, the then-Yarrabah Aboriginal Council operated a Country Lending Service (CLS) as far back as 1984.

In 2003, the council asked the State Library of Queensland to transform the CLS into an IKC and lobbied for funds for a new building.

[citation needed] When there were no sealed roads to reach Cairns, a ferry service provided access to Yarrabah.

A construction project to build a new wharf at Yarrabah commenced in May 2021, after the Queensland Government allocated 7 million dollars to this purpose.

[45] It is expected when this new wharf becomes operational, regular and reliable water transport will be resumed for Yarrabah, which lies only 11 kilometres by sea from the Cairns waterfront.