Enmity and Amity: Reconsidering Stone-headed Club (gabagaba) Procurement and Trade in Torres Strait

Historical records for Torres Strait, including those from Haddon's 1898 Cambridge Anthropological Expedition, identify the Papuan mainland as the main trade source for stone-headed clubs (gabagaba). This view has persisted despite the contradictory facts that the Papuan lowlands are essentially devoid of stone and Torres Strait abounds in stone suitable for club manufacture. Not surprisingly, preliminary raw material findings for ethnographic and archaeological gabagaba in museums indicate that local Torres Strait manufacture was more significant than previously thought. Some of the early confusion over gabagaba sources probably reflects diffusionist assumptions that ‘superior’ cultural items, such as stone-headed clubs, must have moved from so-called ‘advanced’ Papuans to ‘less-developed’ Torres Strait Islanders. However, more significant is the lack of understanding of the multiple and complex roles of gabagaba in inter-group social relations which saw clubs moving between Islanders and Papuans through looting, trade and ceremonial exchange. Apart from their well-documented use as lethal weapons during head-hunting raids, I argue that gabagaba also had an important ceremonial role in exchanges between hostile groups aimed at cementing social alliances. Following post-contact disruptions to trading networks and inter-group hostilities, the social/ceremonial roles of gabagaba were emphasised while gabagaba production became less specialised.     

Towards and Integrated Sustainable Development Management Strategy for Torres Strait

Lying between mainland Australia and Papua New Guinea, Torres Strait is a region of high environmental value faced by a plethora of environmental management issues. Although the environment is protected to some extent by the Torres Strait Treaty, the situation is complicated by the desire of the traditional inhabitants for political and economic autonomy and by the involvement of three levels of government, two sovereign nations and a wide range of sectoral interests in environmental management. The failure to extend the moratorium on mining exploration and exploitation of the seabed may act as a catalyst for the development of an integrated and sustainable approach to environmental management in the region. Nevertheless, there are significant constraints which may prevent this. These include the politicisation of environmental issues, lack of effective environmental management at the local level and pressure for the exploitation of natural resources.     

The trade of our ancestors: Papuan participation in the early Torres Strait Marine industry ∗

Abstract

Papuans on the New Guinea mainland along the northern coast of the Torres Strait became extensively involved in the commercial harvest of pearl‐shell and other marine products soon after the fishing industry began in the Strait during the 1860s. Papuan communities successfully integrated this new economic activity into their traditional lifestyle, and a stint working aboard one of the luggers attached to the Thursday Island fleet became almost a rite of passage for young men. Yet working conditions on these vessels were harsh and the wages offered indentured labourers were low. Despite remedial measures taken by the colonial government many Papuan crewmen fell victim to disease. Villagers quickly recognised the advantages of working as independent commercial harvesters and took pride in their ability to adopt European fishing techniques. Today, these Papuan communities regard the involvement of their ancestors in the early marine industry as a vital part of their cultural heritage.     

Making tuba in the Torres Strait Islands: the cultural diffusion and geographic mobility of an alcoholic drink

There is relatively scant evidence of the Indigenous production and consumption of intoxicating drinks on the Australian mainland prior to the arrival of outsiders. Although Australian Aboriginal peoples had mastered fermentation in some regions, the Indigenous manufacture of much stronger drinks by distillation was unknown on the Australian mainland. However, following contact with Pacific Island and Southeast Asian peoples in the 19th century, Islanders in the Torres Strait adopted techniques for fermenting and distilling what became a quasi-indigenous alcoholic drink known as tuba. This paper discusses the historical process of the diffusion of this substance as a result of labour migration and internationalisation in the Strait, and provides present-day accounts of tuba production from Torres Strait Islanders.     

The ritual dugong bone mounds of Koey Ngurtai,Torres Strait,Australia: Investigating their construction

The islands of Western Torres Strait, between Papua New Guinea and Australia, saw the emergence of ritual dugong bone mounds approximately 400 years ago. These mounds were used as a means to commune with, and as an aid for the hunting of, dugongs. This paper explores the bone contents of three dugong bone mounds on the small, uninhabited island of Koey Ngurtai as a means to determine their construction and in doing so to explore the historical emergence of ritual bone mounds associated with dugong hunting magic—and thereby to historicise ethnographically known cultural practices—in Torres Strait. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Making Tuba in the Torres Strait Islands:

There is relatively scant evidence of the Indigenous production and consumption of intoxicating drinks on the Australian mainland prior to the arrival of outsiders. Although Australian Aboriginal peoples had mastered fermentation in some regions, the Indigenous manufacture of much stronger drinks by distillation was unknown on the Australian mainland. However, following contact with Pacific Island and Southeast Asian peoples in the 19th century, Islanders in the Torres Strait adopted techniques for fermenting and distilling what became a quasi-indigenous alcoholic drink known as tuba. This paper discusses the historical process of the diffusion of this substance as a result of labour migration and internationalisation in the Strait, and provides present-day accounts of tuba production from Torres Strait Islanders.     

Torres Strait elections, 2000 and 2004: Changes in political leadership and style?

Torres Strait has 18 local governments, elections for which were held in March of both 2000 and 2004 in conjunction with other local government elections in Queensland. Elections were also held at these times for additional positions on two regional representative bodies for Torres Strait, the Island Co-ordinating Council and the Torres Strait Regional Authority. This paper examines all these elections, focusing on changes in political leadership and also a possible emerging change in political style in Torres Strait.     

WOMEN'S FACIAL TATTOOING AMONG THE MAISIN OF ORO PROVINCE,PAPUA NEW GUINEA: THE CHANGING SIGNIFICANCE OF AN ANCIENT CUSTOM

The Maisin women of northeastern Papua New Guinea are among the last coastal Papuans to tattoo their faces. This article first describes the techniques and social process of Maisin tattooing. We then examine the resilience of the custom in light of changes in puberty rites and notions of gender. We argue that these contexts have lost their cultural salience as a result of the Maisins' incorporation into the larger Papua New Guinea society. Tattooing has acquired new significance as a marker of cultural identity in a multicultural setting and as a sign of the Maisin people's commercial success as makers of indigenous art.     

Petztorme Women: Responding to Change in Lihir,Papua New Guinea

The goldmining project on Lihir Island in New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, has brought dramatic socio‐economic changes. In this matrilineal society, while women's economic contributions were substantial, their political status was not. Women's participation in decision‐making about the mine has been restricted, mainly because men have excluded them. The mining company established a women's section that has supported the development of women's organizations and a range of economic development projects. The women's organizations provide the context for new political roles for women but have experienced many setbacks that are common in such groups across Papua New Guinea. Through the Lihir experience in the first five years of the mine, this paper examines the tensions and divided loyalties that constrain women's organizations and often lead to the failure of income‐generating women's projects in Papua New Guinea.     

The Threefold Logic of Papua‐Melanesia: Constitution‐writing in the Margins of the Indonesian Nation‐State

Clashes over the status of West Papua and the political future of the territory proliferated markedly following the end of Indonesia's New Order regime in 1998. Amid a wide variety of demands for justice and independence, and a series of demonstrations, mass gatherings and prayers, only a few Papuans mused on how Papua could become a state and what would constitute its nature as being distinctly Papuan and/or Melanesian. One exception is the work put into the Constitution for West Papua entitled Basic Guidelines, State of West Papua, a document edited by Don A.L. Flassy, a bureaucrat, writer and thinker, with a preface by late Theys H. Eluay, then chairman of the Papuan Council. In this article I analyse this Constitution to show how a combination of Christianity and local customs, and a mimicry of elements of Indonesian nation building and symbols of the Indonesian nation‐state are reshaped to oppose Indonesian nation‐building agendas. The Constitution shows that when Papuans imagine an independent state, forms of vernacular legality play a central role. ‘The state’ has journeyed to Papua and encouraged faith in ‘the law,’ and Basic Guidelines is partly the effect of this growing vernacular legality. My analysis shows that it is essential to see how legal mobilisations and imaginations of the state articulate with other normative systems and practices – in particular Christianity and custom (adat) – and how they mutually allow for and invite strategies.     

Whatever Happened in Torres Strait?: Interpreting the Anglican split of 1998

Recent movements within world Anglicanism towards a more democratic representation of the church are in contrast to Torres Strait Islanders' assertion of their own male-led conservative and hierarchical body. These characteristics have marked Torres Strait Island Anglicanism for many years. On the surface, the various strands leading to a conflict over a choice of leader in 1997 focused upon discordant relationships and faulty decision-making procedures, especially the surrender of the diocese of Carpentaria to the adjacent diocese of North Queensland and a subsequent choice of a bishop where Torres Strait clergy claimed that the terms of the surrender had been dishonoured. Yet below the surface, the cleavage between Island and European leadership was also a sign of the ideological shift which was occurring in the Anglican Church of Australia. Supported by European elements within that church opposed to the ordination of women, Islander clergy charged that the mainland body was deserting the faith and order of the 'church of the fathers'. With the Islanders newly empowered, as they perceived it, by the Mabo judgement of the High Court of Australia in 1992, their perception appears to have been that, in spirit, the mainland church denied what the High Court's decision recognised: the ultimate control by Islanders over their own affairs.     

THE INDONESIANIZATION OF WEST PAPUA

Even before the Republic of Indonesia gained control over the territory of West New Guinea (with the controversial U.N.-supervised Act of Free Choice of 1969), the government had systematically tried to forge new identities for the indigenous peoples, as Indonesians rather than Melanesians. This acculturation process has aimed at incorporating the West Papuan population into the Indonesian nation-state through the education system, the media, economic development and transmigration. The process, ‘Indonesianization’, is predicated on the assumption that inculcation of the Indonesian world-view through contact with what are considered ‘more advanced’ and ‘civilized’ Javanese, will ultimately strengthen national unity and allow greater exploitation of the rich resources in the region. The influx of Asian newcomers, many of whom have taken over the administrative, commercial and industrial spheres in West Papua, has marginalized urban and rural Papuans from economic development. In consequence West Papuans are developing a sense of their own racial and cultural distinctiveness and asserting their rights to greater participation in decision-making and self-determination.     

Much Lost,Little Gained? Contemporary Trade Agreements in the Pacific Islands

At the close of the 20th century, it was increasingly clear that Pacific Island countries would struggle to remain competitive in international commodity and merchandise trade. As governments worldwide embraced free trade, many Island exporters looked set to be displaced by more efficient producers elsewhere. Island policymakers also faced pressure from more powerful states to renegotiate trading arrangements to bring them into alignment with the rules of the World Trade Organization. This article explains how Pacific Island countries responded to the overlapping challenges of globalization. It considers strategies pursued by Island states in negotiations with the European Union (EU), and with Australia and New Zealand. In both cases, Pacific Islands pressed for agreements that would take account of their unique trading circumstances, and arrangements that would allow more Pacific Islanders to work abroad. After nearly two decades of talks, however, final results proved disappointing. A proposed regional Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU was essentially abandoned, and a regional trade agreement with Australia and New Zealand was concluded without the signature of Fiji or Papua New Guinea – the two largest Pacific Island economies. Ultimately, contemporary trade agreements in the Pacific achieved little to ameliorate the competitive disadvantages Pacific Island states face participating in international trade.     

Reshaping governance in Torres Strait: The Torres Strait regional authority and beyond

Getano Lui (Jnr) suggested in his 1993 Boyer Lecture that it was time to ‘build a new framework’ for the Torres Strait and that this might be negotiated in time for the centenary of the Australian Constitution in 2001. This paper examines possibilities for reshaping governance in Torres Strait, particularly the idea of Torres Strait regional government. It does so in the light of the history of settlement and contemporary population characteristics in the Strait and also the history and development of local and regional structures of political representation. It pays particular attention to events leading up to the establishment in July 1994 of the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TRSA) within the Commonwealth Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ASTIC). Under the labels of other authorities, the marine environment, constituency and confederal representation, it also examines some key issues which are likely to arise in attempts to move beyond the present structures towards fuller regional government. Some consequences of one possible and likely approach to the constituency issue are explored and a brief concluding comment is made about the relationship between these developments in Torres Strait and interpretations of Australian federalism.     

Past and present marine mammal hunting rates and abundances: dugong (Dugong dugon) evidence from Dabangai Bone Mound,Torres Strait

Dugongs (Dugong dugon) are a key food item and a totemic animal with major spiritual significance for Torres Strait Islanders of northeastern Australia. These marine mammals are officially classed vulnerable to extinction which has placed hunters under considerable internal (cultural) and external (bureaucratic) pressure to lower hunting rates dramatically to sustainable levels. But did Torres Strait Islanders hunt dugongs at much lower rates in the pre-colonial past? Excavation of a ritual dugong bone mound on Mabuyag island revealed the remains of 10,000–11,000 dugongs hunted between c. 1600 and c. 1900AD. The translated hunting rate of 33–37 dugongs per year is surprisingly high and challenging as this single site represents one-third of what conservation biologists argue is the current mean sustainable hunting rate for the entire Torres Strait archipelago. These data suggest that dugong abundance was much higher in the pre-colonial past and that current hunting rates are uncharacteristically unsustainable primarily due to an unprecedented dugong population crash and not increased post-contact hunting rates.     

Ritual Mutilation of Europeans on the Torres Strait Maritime Frontier

Passage through the Torres Strait during the late 18th and early 19th centuries was a dangerous exercise for European mariners. Apart from a maze of largely unmapped reefs, mariners had to negotiate passage through waters inhabited by resident Indigenous communities who had acquired a reputation for brutal attacks and cruel treatment of castaways. This paper explores circumstances behind the murder and mutilation of crew and passengers by Torres Strait Islanders from five ships attempting to transit the Strait – Shaw Hormuzear/Chesterfield (1793), Charles Eaton (1834), Thomas Lord (1846), and Sperwer (1869). Using anthropological recordings from the late 19th century, these mutilations are recast as acts of ritual processing explicable with reference to Torres Strait Islander ontology. The circumstances that coalesced to precipitate these mutilations were complex and rare and ultimately unrepresentative of the majority of frontier interactions between European mariners and Torres Strait Islanders, which were generally friendly and mutually beneficial.     

The City Hotel as Landscape Artifact and Community Symbol

The dingo, a distinct variety of dog, is generally considered to have been the only domestic animal present in Australia when Captain James Cook explored that continent's eastern coast in 1770. Nevertheless, there is evidence to suggest that a variety of pig was introduced to Australia from neighboring New Guinea, perhaps at a time prior to Cook's visit, and that a feral pig population existed on Queensland's Cape York Peninsula. Such evidence includes the carrying of pigs in the traditional Torres Strait trading system, the depiction of pigs in the Aboriginal rock art of the Cape York Peninsula, the presence of a typically New Guinea parasite in the Cape York feral pig population, the fact that these Cape York pigs are today quite similar in physical size and appearance to the pigs of New Guinea, the presence of prominent longitudinal stripes on newly-born piglets in both northeastern Australia and New Guinea, and finally the existence of a New Guinea-Torres Strait word for pig in the language of Aborigines living at Princess Charlotte Bay on the Cape York Peninsula.     

Where Do You Belong? Identity,New Guinea Islanders,and the Power of Peles

Peles is a Melanesian concept related to the grounding of a person's Indigenous origin in a particular place. This notion is especially important in Papua New Guinea where, upon first meeting, people are likely to ask, ‘Where are you from?’ Ascertaining someone's peles enables the rapid establishment between previously unknown people of social connections and obligations, kinship, and identity. Despite the increasing influences of westernisation, globalisation, urbanisation, and migration, peles remains steadfast at the centre of Papua New Guinean social identity construction. This article addresses the current and emerging ways in which people of New Guinea Islander descent – both at ‘home’ or in the diaspora – connect to peles, whether physically or otherwise and details the social politics of these assertions.     

Food Markets in the Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea: Actors, Power and Rural Development Geography

Discussions of rural development in the highlands of Papua New Guinea have often centred on coffee, and been couched either in narrowly economic terms or in class analysis terms. Fresh food marketing has received less attention, although it is an important activity for many highland people. An approach which takes into account the subjectivity of actors, and the contests of power which permeate markets, is explored in this paper. The history and present forms of fresh food marketing in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea are then outlined. The author concludes by arguing for a geography of rural development, which is based on close attention to social interaction at the local level, coupled with an awareness of global structures provided by non-universalist political economy.