Torres Strait Islanders ( ) are the Indigenous Melanesian peoples of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal peoples of the rest of Australia, they are often grouped with them as Indigenous Australians. Today, many more Torres Strait Islander people live in mainland Australia than on the islands.
Five distinct peoples exist within the broader designation of Torres Strait Islander people, based partly on geographical and cultural divisions. Kalaw Lagaw Ya and Meriam Mir comprise the two main Indigenous language groups; Yumplatok is also widely spoken as a language of trade and commerce. The core of Island culture is Papuan, and the people are traditionally a seafaring nation. Torres Strait Islanders exhibit a strong artistic culture, particularly in sculpture, printmaking, and mask-making.
Demographics
Of the 133 islands, only 38 are inhabited. The islands are culturally unique, with much to distinguish them from neighbouring Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and the Pacific Islands. Today the islands are multicultural, having attracted Asian and Pacific Island traders to the beche-de-mer, mother-of-pearl and trochus-shell industries over the years.
The 2021 Australian census counted 4,124 people living on the islands, of whom 86.7% were Torres Strait Islander or Aboriginal Australian people. (86.7% of the population identified as Torres Strait Islander; 16.9% as Aboriginal Australian; 2.3% as Australian; 1.8% as English, etc.). In 2006, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had reported 6,800 Torres Strait Islanders living in the Torres Strait area.
People who identified themselves as being of Torres Strait Islander descent in Australia as a whole in the 2021 census accounted for 4.2% (39,538) of those who identified themselves as being of Indigenous origin, while those with both Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal ancestry made up a further 4.4% (42,516).
Five communities of Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal Australians live on the coast of mainland Queensland, mainly at Bamaga, Seisia, Injinoo, Umagico and New Mapoon in the Northern Peninsula area of Cape York.
In June 1875, a measles epidemic killed about 25% of the population, with some islands suffering losses of up to 80% of their people, as the islanders had no natural immunity to European diseases.
Administration
Until the late 20th century, Torres Strait Islanders had been administered by a system of elected councils, a system based partly on traditional pre-Christian local government and partly on the introduced mission management system.
Today, the Torres Strait Regional Authority, an Australian government body established in 1994 and consisting of 20 elected representatives, oversees the islands, with its primary function being to strengthen the economic, social and cultural development of the peoples of the Torres Strait area.
Further to the TSRA, there are several Queensland LGAs which administer areas occupied by Torres Strait Islander communities: the Torres Strait Island Region, covering a large proportion of the Islands; the Northern Peninsula Area Region, administered from Bamaga, on the northern tip of Cape York; and the Shire of Torres, which governs several islands as well as portions of Cape York Peninsula, is effectively colocated with the Northern Peninsula Area Region, which covers a number of Deed of Grant in Trust areas on the peninsula, and the Torres Strait Island Region and administers those sections of its area which are not autonomous.
Ethnicity
Torres Strait Islander people are of predominantly Melanesian descent, distinct from Aboriginal Australians on the mainland and some other Australian islands, and share some genetic and cultural traits with the people of New Guinea.
The five-pointed star on the national flag represents the five cultural groups. Another source says that it originally represented the five groups of islands, but today (as of 2001) it represents the five major political divisions.
Pre-colonial Island people were not a homogeneous group and until then did not regard themselves as a single people. They have links with the people of Papua New Guinea, several islands being much closer to PNG than Australia, as well as the northern tip of Cape York on the Australian continent.
Sources are generally agreed that there are five distinct geographical and/or cultural divisions, but descriptions and naming of the groups differ widely.
Encyclopaedia Britannica: the Eastern (Meriam, or Murray Island), Top Western (Guda Maluilgal), Near Western (Maluilgal), Central (Kulkalgal), and Inner Islands (Kaiwalagal). Multicultural Queensland 2001 (a Queensland Government publication): five groups may be distinguished, based on linguistic and cultural differences, and also related to their places of origin, type of area of settlement, and long-standing relationships with other peoples. these nations are: Saibailgal (Top Western Islanders), Maluilgal (Mid-Western Islanders), Kaurareg (Lower Western Islanders), Kulkalgal (Central Islanders) and Meriam Le (Eastern Islanders). Torres Shire Council official website (Queensland Government): Five major island clusters – the Top Western Group (Boigu, Dauan and Saibai), the Near Western Group (Badu, Mabuiag and Moa), the Central Group (Yam, Warraber, Coconut and Masig), the Eastern Group (Murray, Darnley and Stephen), and the TI Group (Thursday Island, Tabar Island, Horn, Hammond, Prince of Wales and Friday).
Ethno-linguistic groups include: Badu people, based on the central-west Badu island Kaurareg, lower Western Islanders, based on the Muralag (Prince of Wales Island) group. Mabuiag (or Mabuygiwgal) people, across a number of the islands. Meriam people, who living on a number of inner eastern islands, including Murray Island (also known as Mer Island) and Tabar Island.
Languages
There are two distinct Indigenous languages spoken on the Islands, as well as a creole language.
The Western-central Torres Strait Language, or Kalaw Lagaw Ya, is spoken on the southwestern, western, northern and central islands; a further dialect, Kala Kawa Ya (Top Western and Western) may be distinguished. It is a member of the Pama-Nyungan family of languages of Australia.
Meriam Mir is spoken on the eastern islands. It is one of the four Eastern Trans-Fly languages, the other three being spoken in Papua New Guinea.
Torres Strait Creole, an English-based creole language, is also spoken.
Culture Archaeological, linguistic and folk history evidence suggests that the core of Island culture is Papuo-Austronesian. The people have long been agriculturalists (evidenced, for example, by tobacco plantations on Aureed Island) as well as engaging in hunting and gathering. Dugong, turtles, crayfish, crabs, shellfish, reef fish and wild fruits and vegetables were traditionally hunted and collected and remain an important part of their subsistence lifestyle. Traditional foods play an important role in ceremonies and celebrations even when they do not live on the islands. Dugong and turtle hunting as well as fishing are seen as a way of continuing the Islander tradition of being closely associated with the sea. The islands have long history of trade and interactions with explorers from other parts of the globe, both east and west, which has influenced their lifestyle and culture.
The Indigenous people of the Torres Strait have a distinct culture which has slight variants on the different islands where they live. Cultural practices share similarities with Australian Aboriginal and Papuan culture. Historically, they have an oral tradition, with stories handed down and communicated through song, dance and ceremonial performance. As a seafaring people, sea, sky and land feature strongly in their stories and art.
Post-colonisation Post-colonisation history has seen new cultural influences on the people, most notably the place of Christianity. After the "Coming of Light" (see below), artefacts previously important to their ceremonies lost their relevance, instead replaced by crucifixes and other symbols of Christianity. In some cases the missionaries prohibited the use of traditional sacred objects, and eventually production ceased. Missionaries, anthropologists and museums "collected" a huge amount of material: all of the pieces collected by missionary Samuel McFarlane, were in London and then split between three European museums and a number of mainland Australian museums.
In 1898–1899, British anthropologist Alfred Cort Haddon collected about 2,000 objects, convinced that hundreds of art objects collected had to be saved from destruction by the zealous Christian missionaries intent on obliterating the religious traditions and ceremonies of the native islanders. Film footage of ceremonial dances was also collected. The collection at Cambridge University is known as the Haddon Collection and is the most comprehensive collection of Torres Strait Islander artefacts in the world.
During the first half of the 20th century, Torres Strait Islander culture was largely restricted to dance and song, weaving and producing a few items for particular festive occasions. In the 1960s and 1970s, researchers trying to salvage what was left of traditional knowledge from surviving elders influenced the revival of interest in the old ways of life. An Australian historian, Margaret Lawrie, employed by the Queensland State Library, spent much time travelling the Islands, speaking to local people and recording their stories, which have since influenced visual art on the Islands.
Art Mythology and culture, deeply influenced by the ocean and the natural life around the islands, have always informed traditional artforms. Featured strongly are turtles, fish, dugongs, sharks, seabirds and saltwater crocodiles, which are considered totemic beings.
Torres Strait Islander people are the only culture in the world to make turtleshell masks, known as krar (turtleshell) in the Western Islands and le-op (human face) in the Eastern Islands.
Prominent among the artforms is wame (alt. wameya), many different string figures.Alfred Cort Haddon, along with one of his daughters, the pioneers in the modern study of Torres Strait string figuresA string figure bibliography including examples from Torres Strait.
Elaborate headdresses or dhari (also spelt dari), as featured on the Torres Strait Islander flag, are created for the purposes of ceremonial dances.