DOCSLIB.ORG

THE STORY of CAPE YORK PENINSULA Torres Strait Saga

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
THE STORY of CAPE YORK PENINSULA Torres Strait Saga 132 THE STORY OF CAPE YORK PENINSULA PART II Torres Strait Saga [By CLEM LACK, B.A., Dip.Jour.] (Read at a meeting of the Society on 28 February 1963.) In this second paper on Cape York Peninsula I propose to tell something of the history and folk lore of the Torres Strait Islanders, bringing the story of these remarkable island people up to the present day. They are in some respects one of the most outstanding coloured races to be found anywhere in the world. Anthro­ pologists and ethnologists hold divergent views on the racial origins of the Islanders; research upon their beginnings which is lost in the mists of Time has been largely neglected by scientific investigators, but the differing h3potheses are to some extent a reflection of the great controversy that has raged for many years, extending over almost a century, on the origins of the Polynesian race in general. VOYAGERS OUT OF THE SUNRISE The great Polynesian migration, or properly, migrations, extended over many centuries in the spread of this ancient race to every islet of the eastern Pacific. Fleets of brown- skinned voyagers came out of the sunrise and penetrated as far as the New Hebrides and New Zealand, and even to the coast of Peru, making voyages across thousands of leagues of ocean. Compared with these voyages the wanderings of Aeneas, and of Ulysses, and Jason's quest of the Golden Fleece would be the equivalent of a week-end hoUday cruise down to Moreton Bay. Some of them, I beUeve, stopped in the Straits waters, •among the archipelago of islets, some of them fertUe, others little more than sandy cays. Like Ulysses' wanderers who would fain stay in the country of the Lotus Eaters, they were weary of the sea and the ceaseless wrack of storm and thresh of tide rip. Many of the Pacific voyagers, by whatever route they came, settled in Samoa, whence they spread from island to island over aU the eastern archipelagoes. 133 134 HISTORY'S GREATEST ENIGMA Here is possibly the greatest enigma in the story of the human race—an amazing hypothesis—and yet something more than a hypothesis—^that the Polynesians of to-day are the descendants of a highly developed NeoUthic or pre- NeoUthic civiUsation; a Stone Age culture, with possible later links with Ur of the Chaldees and ancient Egypt of 1500 B.C. in the reign of Queen Hatshepsu or Hatshepsut; a forgotten culture which remains to these people only a tenuous fugitive race memory in song and legend; a culture which left as mute evidence of its former grandeur and power the ruins of a great city at Ponape in the Carolines—^the capital of what may have once been a vast and thickly populated empire; the evidence on other islands scattered from mysterious Easter Island to the New Hebrides of citadels with ramparts of basalt; of colossal stone structures, cyclopean monuments and huge monolithic statues; paved arenas; of ramparts and waUs of basalt blocks over 30ft. long, brought from great distances. What catastrophic, cataclysmic event of pre-history destroyed this civilisation that might have been old when Car­ thage was young? It was a strange civUisation in which art and culture flourished side by side with a cruel and pitiless reUgion—a reUgion whose priests, who had never heard of Roman augurs, inspected the quivering bodies of their sacri­ ficial victims for omens and auspices perhaps a thousand years before the fires of Moloch burned upon the Numidian plain; a people whose stonehenges antedated the Druids of Gaul and Britain; a civilisation that flourished centuries before the Aztec conquerors of Mexico worshipped with human sacrifice the frightful Huitzilopochtii, the Mexican Mars. Is there any Unk between this lost civiUsation and others the cities of which have been found swaUowed in the jungles of South America and Cambodia? Is there a Unk between a pre-Inca culture and the Polynesians as Thor Heyerdahl has postulated? Was it volcanic eruption or earth­ quake, or was it some terrible epidemic of disease which wiped them out, the survivors fleeing to other parts of the Pacffic to make new island homes, leaving their descendants with no written record, except the strange script of Easter Island (Rapanui) which occur in association with huge carved images of grey trachytic lava and broad platforms of massive uncemented masonry, and which are an enigma to archaeologists, who are at a loss to account for their presence on shores so remote from the known centres of early civilisa­ tion? Truly their name was written in water. Of their origin, 135 of how they flourished, whether they decayed, or sank abruptly into oblivion like fabled Atlantis, we have no clue. It is a tale that has been told many times in the terrible magnificent pageant of human history. But for the present let us take a look to-night at the Torres Strait Islanders—our own Australian people, who to-day have put their barbaric past behind them, pursue the arts and industries of peace, and enjoy a unique system of self-govern­ ment, under the paternal protection of the State. There are between 6,000 and 7,000 of them—a seafaring race wise in the ways of winds, tides, and currents. The Torres Strait Islanders have their homes on some 20 islands out of the 200 or so islands which dot the one hundred miles stretch of treacherous and turbulent waters between Cape York Peninsula and the New Guinea coast. Some of these islands are little more than coral cays; others, like Prince of Wales Island (Muralug), 70 square mUes in area, and steep, thickly wooded, and fertUe. SEVERAL ETHNIC GROUPS Living in a sea-girt region 100 mUes by 150 miles, the Islanders can be roughly divided into a number of ethnic groups, dissimUar in some respects, similar in others. There is considerable variation among these groups in language, customs, and physique. The men of Murray Island (Mer) and the Darnley (Erub) Islanders are taU, athletic types of fine physique, many of them with handsome features. The Murray Islanders, in particular, are physicaUy and mentally superior to the average among the Islanders in the other groups. They are a big-framed, proud, and independent people who regard other Islanders, as well as the mainland aborigines, with contempt, arrogantly conscious of their racial superiority and of a warrior ancestry that reaches back into the dim past. Many of them are employed on railway construction and maintenance work in North Queensland. The blood of the Murray Islander is dominant throughout the Islands. Their origin has never been clearly determined, but it can be accepted that their ancestors migrated to the Islands. The Murray and Darnley Islanders, more so than any other ethnic group in the Islands, have a close affinity with the Polynesians, although some Melanesian characteristics are present. THEY LIVE FROM THE SEA The Islander lives from the sea, but his seafood diet, includmg dugong beef, is augmented and garnished by taro, yam, and other vegetables. His medicines were the product 136 of the Zogo, but untU the coming of the white man there were no diseases and no epidemics. Their laws in past times were made by the mamoose, or chief of the tribe, and before the coming of the missionaries, the Zogo, or native priests, like their counterparts the African witch-doctors, wielded a mysterious and terrible power over the lives of the people. The Zogo served strange awesome gods made of tortoise sheU, with mask-Uke faces, and the god and the Zogo House, or temple, was decorated with festoons of skulls, the trium­ phant trophies of the headhunters. The cult of puri puri was widespread. It had the same dire effects as the bone-pointing sorcery practised by the Australian aboriginal: it could pro­ duce sickness and ultimate death by the magic power of suggestion. The Islanders have been classified ethnographically as con­ stituting five main groups. In the western islands are three sub-groupings or tribal aggregates—the northerners of the Boigu, Dauan, Saibai region; the middle islanders of the Mabuiag, Badu (Mulgrave Island) region, and the souther­ ners of the Moa, Bamaga, and Muralug (Prince of Wales Island) region. The Saibai, Boigu, and Dauan Islanders, who live close to the New Guinea coast, show racial affinities with the Papuans. The Saibai are smaller in physique than the Murray and Darnley Islanders, but the men of Dauan are big robust types. Saibai Island, four miles south of the New Guinea mainland, is slowly sinking into the sea. Because of its gradual subsidence in 1949 the Saibai Islanders were moved by the Queensland Department of Native Affairs to Bamaga, near Red Island Point, 28 miles south of Cape York. The men of Moa and Mabuiag are broad-shouldered and powerfully framed. All these Islanders have the Melanesian stram, some to a greater degree than others. The western islands of Badu, Moa, and Mabuiag are mountainous. Among the central islands Three Sisters, Yorke, Yam, and Coconut Islands are low-lying islets. In the eastern group of islands, Murray, Darnley, and Stephen are volcanic in origin, and consequently fertile, their food crop production being prolific by comparison with the other island groups. By compensa­ tion there are lush feeding grounds for the dugong on the reefs adjacent to the central and northern groups. Dugong beef is a staple diet in the Torres Strait Islands, but it is particularly so for the central and northern peoples. The Mabuiag men are sometimes incUned to run to fleshy cor­ pulence because of their heavy diet of dugong beef.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Mediating the Imaginary and the Space of Encounter in the Papuan Gulf Dario Di Rosa
    7 Mediating the imaginary and the space of encounter in the Papuan Gulf Dario Di Rosa Writing about the 1935 Hides–O’Malley expedition in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, the anthropologist Edward Schieffelin noted that Europeans ‘had a well-prepared category – “natives” – in which to place those people they met for the first time, a category of social subordination that served to dissipate their depth of otherness’.1 However, this category was often nuanced by Indigenous representations of neighbouring communities, producing significant effects in shaping Europeans’ understanding of their encounters. Analysing the narrative produced by Joseph Beete Jukes,2 naturalist on Francis Price Blackwood’s voyage of 1842–1846 on HMS Fly, I demonstrate the crucial role played by Torres Strait Islanders as mediators from afar of European encounters with Papuans along the coast of the Gulf of 1 Schieffelin and Crittenden 1991: 5. 2 Jukes 1847. As Beer (1996) shows, the viewing position of on-board scientists during geographical explorations was a particular one, led by their interests (see, from a different perspective, Fabian (2000) on the relevance of ‘natural history’ as episteme of accounts of explorations). This is a reminder of the high degree of social stratification within the ‘European’ micro-social community of the ship’s crew, a social hierarchy that shaped the texts available to the historians. Although he does not treat the problem of social stratification as such, see Thomas 1994 for a well-argued discussion about the different projects that guided various colonial actors. See also Dening 1992 for vivid case of power relations in the micro-social cosmos of a ship.
    [Show full text]
  • Mobile Coverage Report Organisation of Councils
    Far North Queensland Regional Mobile Coverage Report Organisation of Councils Far North Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils Mobile Coverage Report 4 August 2019 Strategy, Planning & Development Implementation Programs Research, Analysis & Measurement Independent Broadband Testing Digital Mapping Far North Queensland Regional Mobile Coverage Report Organisation of Councils Document History Version Description Author Date V1.0 Mobile Coverage Report Michael Whereat 29 July 2019 V2.0 Mobile Coverage Report – Michael Whereat 4 August 2019 updated to include text results and recommendations V.2.1 Amendments to remove Palm Michael Whereat 15 August 2019 Island reference Distribution List Person Title Darlene Irvine Executive Officer, FNQROC Disclaimer: Information in this document is based on available data at the time of writing this document. Digital Economy Group Consulting Pty Ltd or its officers accept no responsibility for any loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from acting in reliance upon any material contained in this document. Copyright © Digital Economy Group 2011-19. This document is copyright and must be used except as permitted below or under the Copyright Act 1968. You may reproduce and publish this document in whole or in part for you and your organisation’s own personal and internal compliance, educational or non-commercial purposes. You must not reproduce or publish this document for commercial gain without the prior written consent of the Digital Economy Group Consulting Pty. Ltd. Far North Queensland Regional Mobile Coverage Report Organisation of Councils Executive Summary For Far North QLD Regional Organisation of Councils (FNQROC) the challenge of growing the economy through traditional infrastructure is now being exacerbated by the need to also facilitate the delivery of digital infrastructure to meet the expectations of industry, residents, community and visitors or risk being left on the wrong side of the digital divide.
    [Show full text]
  • Many Voices Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Action Plan
    Yetimarala Yidinji Yi rawarka lba Yima Yawa n Yir bina ach Wik-Keyangan Wik- Yiron Yam Wik Pa Me'nh W t ga pom inda rnn k Om rungu Wik Adinda Wik Elk Win ala r Wi ay Wa en Wik da ji Y har rrgam Epa Wir an at Wa angkumara Wapabura Wik i W al Ng arra W Iya ulg Y ik nam nh ar nu W a Wa haayorre Thaynakwit Wi uk ke arr thiggi T h Tjung k M ab ay luw eppa und un a h Wa g T N ji To g W ak a lan tta dornd rre ka ul Y kk ibe ta Pi orin s S n i W u a Tar Pit anh Mu Nga tra W u g W riya n Mpalitj lgu Moon dja it ik li in ka Pir ondja djan n N Cre N W al ak nd Mo Mpa un ol ga u g W ga iyan andandanji Margany M litja uk e T th th Ya u an M lgu M ayi-K nh ul ur a a ig yk ka nda ulan M N ru n th dj O ha Ma Kunjen Kutha M ul ya b i a gi it rra haypan nt Kuu ayi gu w u W y i M ba ku-T k Tha -Ku M ay l U a wa d an Ku ayo tu ul g m j a oo M angan rre na ur i O p ad y k u a-Dy K M id y i l N ita m Kuk uu a ji k la W u M a nh Kaantju K ku yi M an U yi k i M i a abi K Y -Th u g r n u in al Y abi a u a n a a a n g w gu Kal K k g n d a u in a Ku owair Jirandali aw u u ka d h N M ai a a Jar K u rt n P i W n r r ngg aw n i M i a i M ca i Ja aw gk M rr j M g h da a a u iy d ia n n Ya r yi n a a m u ga Ja K i L -Y u g a b N ra l Girramay G al a a n P N ri a u ga iaba ithab a m l j it e g Ja iri G al w i a t in M i ay Giy L a M li a r M u j G a a la a P o K d ar Go g m M h n ng e a y it d m n ka m np w a i- u t n u i u u u Y ra a r r r l Y L a o iw m I a a G a a p l u i G ull u r a d e a a tch b K d i g b M g w u b a M N n rr y B thim Ayabadhu i l il M M u i a a
    [Show full text]
  • Your Labor Member in the Queensland Parliament
    YOUR LABOR MEMBER IN THE QUEENSLAND PARLIAMENT Cape Vork / Douglas / Cooktown / Mareeba: Torres Strait / NPA P: 1800816264 - Fax: 07 40312437 P: 1800802391 - Fax: 07 4069 1620 PO Box 2080, Cairns 4870 PO Box 437, Thursday Island 4875 E: [email protected] E: cook.th [email protected] Submission to the Queensland Competition Authority Level 19 12 Creek Street BRISBANE QLD 4001 REVIEW OF SUN WATER PRICING STRUCTURE Submission to the Queensland Competition Authority by Jason O'Brien MP Member for Cook, on behalf of a constituent who is a Sun Water user, requesting changes to the pricing policy of Sun Water to their customers holding pension concession cards who access sun water for their domestic use only. Under the present Sun Water tariff structure they are able to negotiate how much revenue could be collected from variable and fixed charges. My submission is that Sun Water should be free to offer a Pensioner Water Subsidy Scheme for eligible pensions to reduce the impact of increased water price increases. This concession could be in the form of a rebate similar to the rate rebate scheme which applies across the state off local government rates charges. Sun Water must have the ability to provide water services to the community at a reasonable cost taking into account the most effective way to utilise the resource for the community's benefit. To this end pensions accessing Sun Water's resource purely for domestic use should be considered in a wider public interest context. Prices should be cost reflective and take into account relevant public interest matters such as pensioners accessing their resource In conclusion I submit that Sun Water should be providing a Pensioner Water Subsidy Scheme and the Queensland Competition Authority should recognise this as a public interest issue.
    [Show full text]
  • LAADE W01 Sound Recordings Collected by Wolfgang Laade, 1963
    Interim Finding aid LAADE_W01 Sound recordings collected by Wolfgang Laade, 1963-1965 Prepared February 2013 by MH Last updated 23 December 2016 ACCESS Availability of copies Listening copies are available. Contact the AIATSIS Audiovisual Access Unit by completing an online enquiry form or phone (02) 6261 4212 to arrange an appointment to listen to the recordings or to order copies. Restrictions on listening Some materials in this collection are restricted and may only be listened to by clients who have obtained permission from AIATSIS as well as the relevant Indigenous individual, family or community. For more details, contact Access and Client Services by sending an email to [email protected] or phone (02) 6261 4212. Restrictions on use This collection is partially restricted. It contains some materials which may only be copied by clients who have obtained permission from AIATSIS as well as the relevant Indigenous individual, family or community. For more details, contact Access and Client Services by sending an email to [email protected] or phone (02) 6261 4212. Permission must be sought from AIATSIS as well as the relevant Indigenous individual, family or community for any publication or quotation of this material. Any publication or quotation must be consistent with the Copyright Act (1968). SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE Date: 1963-1965 Extent: 82 sound tape reels (ca. 34 hrs. 30 min.) : analogue, 3 3/4 ips, 2 track, mono. ; 7 in. (not held). Production history These recordings were collected by Dr Wolfgang Laade of the Freie Universität, West Berlin, between 1963 and 1965 at various locations on Cape York Peninsula and the Torres Strait Islands, Queensland, Australia.
    [Show full text]
  • Guidelines for Preparing and Assessing Connection Material for Native Title Claims in Queensland
    Guidelines for preparing and assessing connection material for Native Title Claims in Queensland November 2016 This publication has been compiled by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Services, Department of Natural Resources and Mines. © State of Queensland, 2016 The Queensland Government supports and encourages the dissemination and exchange of its information. The copyright in this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia (CC BY) licence. Under this licence you are free, without having to seek our permission, to use this publication in accordance with the licence terms. You must keep intact the copyright notice and attribute the State of Queensland as the source of the publication. Note: Some content in this publication may have different licence terms as indicated. For more information on this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/deed.en The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The Queensland Government shall not be liable for technical or other errors or omissions contained herein. The reader/user accepts all risks and responsibility for losses, damages, costs and other consequences resulting directly or indirectly from using this information. Table of contents 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 4 2 The connection material to be provided to the State ............................................................... 4 3 The contents
    [Show full text]
  • CYI Submission on Aurukun Shire Council's Proposal for a Trial
    CYI submission on Aurukun Shire Council’s Proposal for a Trial Alcohol Event 24 May 2019 1 Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 3 The Gap is at its widest in Aurukun ........................................................................................... 4 It hasn’t always been this way: an ignoble history .................................................................... 6 State Violence: the Queensland Government Takeover of Aurukun .................................... 6 The forced imposition of the alcohol canteen ....................................................................... 6 Two decades of grog: the cycle is embedded ........................................................................ 7 A shameful response .............................................................................................................. 9 Beattie and Bligh enable restrictions of alcohol .................................................................. 10 Alcohol restrictions have changed the trajectory .................................................................... 10 Reducing alcohol abuse must remain the top long-term priority ........................................... 11 Harmful policy drift—no clear policy ....................................................................................... 13 A plan is urgently required ......................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Torresstrait Islander Peoples' Connectiontosea Country
    it Islander P es Stra eoples’ C Torr onnec tion to Sea Country Formation and history of Intersection of the Torres Strait the Torres Strait Islands and the Great Barrier Reef The Torres Strait lies north of the tip of Cape York, Torres Strait Islanders have a wealth of knowledge of the marine landscape, and the animals which inhabit it. forming the northern most part of Queensland. Different marine life, such as turtles and dugong, were hunted throughout the Torres Strait in the shallow waters. Eighteen islands, together with two remote mainland They harvest fish from fish traps built on the fringing reefs, and inhabitants of these islands also embark on long towns, Bamaga and Seisia, make up the main Torres sea voyages to the eastern Cape York Peninsula. Although the Torres Strait is located outside the boundary of the Strait Islander communities, and Torres Strait Islanders Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, it is here north-east of Murray Island, where the Great Barrier Reef begins. also live throughout mainland Australia. Food from the sea is still a valuable part of the economy, culture and diet of Torres Strait Islander people who have The Torres Strait Islands were formed when the land among the highest consumption of seafood in the world. Today, technology has changed, but the cultural use of bridge between Australia and Papua New Guinea the Great Barrier Reef by Torres Strait Islanders remains. Oral and visual traditional histories link the past and the was flooded by rising seas about 8000 years ago. present and help maintain a living culture.
    [Show full text]
  • St Pauls (On Moa Island) - Local Plan Code
    7.2.13 St Pauls (on Moa Island) - local plan code Part 7: Local Plans St Pauls (on Moa Island) St Pauls (on Moa Island) Torres Strait Island Regional Council Planning Scheme Page 523 Torres Strait Island Regional Council Planning Scheme Page 524 Part 7: Local Plans St Pauls (on Moa Island) Papua New Guinea Saibai Ugar Boigu Stephen Island Erub Dauan Darnley Island Masig Yorke Island Iama Mabuyag Yam Island Mer Poruma Murray Island Coconut Island Badu Kubin Moa SStt PPaulsauls Warraber Sue Island Keriri Hammond Island Mainland Australia Mainland Australia Torres Strait Island Regional Council Planning Scheme Page 525 Editor’s Note – Community Snapshot Location Topography and Environment • St Pauls is located on the eastern side of Moa • Moa Island, like other islands in the group, is Island, which is part of the Torres Strait inner and a submerged remnant of the Great Dividing near western group of islands. St Paul’s nearest Range, now separated by sea. The island neighbour is Kubin, which is located on the comprises of largely of rugged, open forest and south-western side of Moa Island. Approximately is approximately 17km in diameter at its widest 15km from the outskirts of St Pauls. point. • Native flora and fauna that have been identified Population near St Pauls include fawn leaf nosed bat, • According to the most recent census, there were grey goshawk, emerald monitor, little tern, 258 people living in St Pauls as at August 2011, red goshawk, radjah shelduck, lipidodactylus however, the population is highly transient and primilus, bare backed fruit bat, torresian tube- this may not be an accurate estimate.
    [Show full text]
  • Australian Notices to Mariners Are the Authority for Correcting Australian Charts and Publications AUSTRALIAN NOTICES to MARINERS Notices 329 - 373
    25 March 2016 Edition 6 Australian Notices to Mariners are the authority for correcting Australian Charts and Publications AUSTRALIAN NOTICES TO MARINERS Notices 329 - 373 Published fortnightly by the Australian Hydrographic Service Commodore B.K. BRACE RAN Hydrographer of Australia SECTIONS. I. Australian Notices to Mariners, including blocks and notes. II. Hydrographic Reports. III. Navigational Warnings. SUPPLEMENTS. I. Tracings II. Cumulative List of Australian Notices to Mariners. III. Cumulative List of Temporary and Preliminary Australian Notices to Mariners. IV. Temporary and Preliminary Notices in force. V. Amendments to Admiralty List of Lights and Fog Signals (Vol K), Radio Signals (NP 281(2), 282, 283(2), 285, 286(4)) and Sailing Directions (NP 9, 13, 14, 15, 33, 34, 35, 36, 39, 44, 51, 60, 61, 62, 100, 136). © Commonwealth of Australia 2016 This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process, adapted, communicated or commercially exploited without prior written permission from The Commonwealth represented by the Australian Hydrographic Service. AHP 18 IMPORTANT NOTICE This edition of Notices to Mariners includes all significant information affecting AHS products which the AHS has become aware of since the last edition. All reasonable efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information, including third party information, on which these updates are based. The AHS regards third parties from which it receives information as reliable, however the AHS cannot verify all such information and errors may therefore exist. The AHS does not accept liability for errors in third party information.
    [Show full text]
  • Part 16 Transport Infrastructure Plan
    Figure 7.3 Option D – Rail Line from Cairns to Bamaga Torres Strait Transport Infrastructure Plan Masig (Yorke) Island Option D - Rail Line from Cairns to Bamaga Major Roads Moa Island Proposed Railway St Pauls Kubin Waiben (Thursday) Island ° 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 Kilometres Seisia Bamaga Ferry and passenger services as per current arrangements. DaymanPoint Shelburne Mapoon Wenlock Weipa Archer River Coen Yarraden Dixie Cooktown Maramie Cairns Normanton File: J:\mmpl\10303705\Engineering\Mapping\ArcGIS\Workspaces\Option D - Rail Line.mxd 29.07.05 Source of Base Map: MapData Sciences Pty Ltd Source for Base Map: MapData Sciences Pty Ltd 7.5 Option E – Option A with Additional Improvements This option retains the existing services currently operating in the Torres Strait (as per Option A), however it includes additional improvements to the connections between Horn Island and Thursday Island. Two options have been strategically considered for this connection: Torres Strait Transport Infrastructure Plan - Integrated Strategy Report J:\mmpl\10303705\Engineering\Reports\Transport Infrastructure Plan\Transport Infrastructure Plan - Rev I.doc Revision I November 2006 Page 91 • Improved ferry connections; and • Roll-on roll-of ferry. Improved ferry connections This improvement considers the combined freight and passenger services between Cairns, Bamaga and Thursday Island, with a connecting ferry service to OSTI communities. Possible improvements could include co-ordinating fares, ticketing and information services, and also improving safety, frequency and the cost of services. Roll-on roll-off ferry A roll-on roll-off operation between Thursday Island and Horn Island would provide significant benefits in moving people, cargo, and vehicles between the islands.
    [Show full text]
  • How Torres Strait Islanders Shaped Australia's Border
    11 ‘ESSENTIALLY SEA‑GOING PEOPLE’1 How Torres Strait Islanders shaped Australia’s border Tim Rowse As an Opposition member of parliament in the 1950s and 1960s, Gough Whitlam took a keen interest in Australia’s responsibilities, under the United Nations’ mandate, to develop the Territory of Papua New Guinea until it became a self-determining nation. In a chapter titled ‘International Affairs’, Whitlam proudly recalled his government’s steps towards Papua New Guinea’s independence (declared and recognised on 16 September 1975).2 However, Australia’s relationship with Papua New Guinea in the 1970s could also have been discussed by Whitlam under the heading ‘Indigenous Affairs’ because from 1973 Torres Strait Islanders demanded (and were accorded) a voice in designing the border between Australia and Papua New Guinea. Whitlam’s framing of the border issue as ‘international’, to the neglect of its domestic Indigenous dimension, is an instance of history being written in what Tracey Banivanua- Mar has called an ‘imperial’ mode. Historians, she argues, should ask to what extent decolonisation was merely an ‘imperial’ project: did ‘decolonisation’ not also enable the mobilisation of Indigenous ‘peoples’ to become self-determining in their relationships with other Indigenous 1 H. C. Coombs to Minister for Aboriginal Affairs (Gordon Bryant), 11 April 1973, cited in Dexter, Pandora’s Box, 355. 2 Whitlam, The Whitlam Government, 4, 10, 26, 72, 115, 154, 738. 247 INDIGENOUS SELF-determinatiON IN AUSTRALIA peoples?3 This is what the Torres Strait Islanders did when they asserted their political interests during the negotiation of the Australia–Papua New Guinea border, though you will not learn this from Whitlam’s ‘imperial’ account.
    [Show full text]