Pormpuraaw is an Aboriginal community situated on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula approximately half way between Karumba and Weipa on the Edward River. It is 650 kilometres (400 mi) by road from Cairns. Pormpuraaw currently has a 4-man police station. According to the 2006 census, the population of the community was 600, with 536 of them being indigenous persons. Stanford cognitive psychologist, Dr. Lera Boroditsky, studied the language of the people in Pormpuraaw, Kuuk Thaayorre, due to its unique way of using cardinal directions instead of the more common 'left' and 'right' to explain direction. She explores the people's ability to always know where true North lies, as well as this directional understandings affect on the language.