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.     

Ritualized Middening Practices

Practice theory focuses attention on agency and the generative dimensions of sites and material culture in terms of social formation and reproduction. This approach is applied to the ritualization of midden deposits by Torres Strait Islanders of northeast Australia. Ritualization of middens was achieved by three depositional strategies of privileged differentiation: referencing of mortuary remains, discrimination of animal bones and mounding of deposits. In addition, ritualized middens were spatially separated into small residential mounds and large communal feasting mounds. Ritualized middening was part of a broader social process of maintaining the biographical status of midden materials as a dimension of community socialization, identify and cohesion.     

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.     

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.     

Lining the Path: A Seascape Perspective of Two Torres Strait Missions,Northeast Australia

This paper compares the socio-spatial characteristics of two missions dating from different periods in Torres Strait, northeastern Australia. It builds upon previous archaeological research which correlates settlement-subsistence systems with the seascape cosmologies of marine specialists. Against the backdrop of profound changes in colonial governance and religious commitment (from mission to church) from the late nineteenth to mid twentieth centuries, we map the changing structure of two Torres Strait missions, and reflect upon these changes relative to lived sea-space. We use this approach in the belief that “local” histories provide meaningful context to broader colonial narratives.     

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.     

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.     

Constitutional recognition and reform: developing an inclusive Australian citizenship through treaty

Eight years after the Expert Panel on Recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Australian Constitution was established, institutional reform to empower Indigenous peoples in this country has not been realised. This article argues that the persistent failure to progress constitutional reform stems, in part, from dominant conceptions of Australian citizenship that deny Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoplehood. It follows that meaningful institutional reform is possible only if Australian citizenship is reconceptualised in a manner that makes room for the distinctive status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Treaties offer a path forward to develop this new understanding of Australian identity and ground institutional reform.     

The Bishop of Carpentaria and the Torres Strait pearlers' strike of 1936

The exploitation of Islander pearl divers in Torres Strait and the Queensland Government's control of divers' wages was the major cause of a strike by 400 divers in 1936. The strike was also fuelled by overall discontent with the Queensland Government's rule and a desire to be free of the Queensland Protectors. An address in 1935 by Stephen Davies, Bishop of Carpentaria, urging the Commonwealth of Australia to strip Queensland and other states of management of Island and Aboriginal affairs provided the catalyst. Davies's Torres Strait Island clergy played a pivotal role in the resistance to state control. One lasting effect of the strike lay in the introduction of elected Islander councils in 1937, but what happened subsequently allowed the perpetuation of Queensland control through the new Department of Native Affairs. The results of the strike fell short of the complete transfer to the Commonwealth that the Torres Strait pearl divers and clergy had envisaged.     

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 1836 Lewis Collection and the Torres Strait Turtle-Shell Mask of Kulka

ABSTRACT

The fire that engulfed Sydney's Garden Palace building in 1882 also destroyed much of the ethnological collection of the Australian Museum. Among the objects presumed lost were items from the Lewis Collection, obtained in the Torres Strait in 1836. This collection constituted the museum's entire holdings from the region at that time and the earliest collection of Torres Strait objects held by any institution. This paper aims to bring renewed focus to the Lewis Collection by drawing attention to several largely forgotten items that had been transferred to Denmark prior to the fire, most notably a large turtle-shell mask currently on display at Copenhagen's Nationalmuseet. Expanding on a cryptic observation by Donald Fraser (1978), the argument is presented here that the mask is a surviving object from the Lewis Collection that originated from Aureed Island in central Torres Strait. It is a significant example of a material tradition unique to the region and is imbued with considerable ethnographic and historical importance.     

Torres Strait and Dawdhay: Dimensions of Self and Otherness on Yam Island1

When Papua New Guinea attained independence two decades ago an absolute distinction was created between Papua New Guinea and the Torres Strait: Papuans were firmly placed in Papua New Guinea territory and Torres Strait Islanders in Australian territory. In constituting themselves as Torres Strait Islanders and more specifically as Australians, Yam Island people's contemporary expressions of their connection to, yet distance from, lowland Papua New Guinea can be best described as ambivalent, pulsing between identification and incorporation, distance and disavowal. I argue that this ambivalence is not an artefact of the establishment of the border per se, but rather it was through the establishment of the border that a new layer was added to Self and Other constructions by Yam Island people in terms of how they see themselves and their Papuan neighbours. The sometimes fraught nature of this relationship can be understood in light of the continuing socio‐political impacts of these international border lines on people who have recently combined a somewhat legalistic and political definition of themselves, and of Papuans, with perennial extra‐legal definitions. I suggest it is in isolating and exploring domains of interaction that we can see the fluidity and dynamism of Self and Other definitions in operation, and in so doing better appreciate their essential imbrication.     

Organisational Capacity for Engaging with Indigenous Australians

Community capacity building is a common goal for programmes and policies involving Indigenous peoples, but it relies heavily on organisational capacity to work effectively in intercultural settings. This paper reviews the organisational capacity of the senior leaders of Australian Red Cross and institutional efforts to build a culturally appropriate and respectful organisation. It reports results from a survey of the organisation's leadership team and follow‐up interviews undertaken in 2010, reviews the challenges facing the organisation in working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, and considers institutional progress in building internal capacity to lead change in working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. The paper concludes with discussion of wider implications of this research.     

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.     

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.     

New collaborations in old institutional spaces: setting a new research agenda to transform Indigenous-settler relations

ABSTRACT

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people navigate the social and political order of the Australian settler state in ways that seek to increase their personal freedoms and political autonomy. For some groups this means seeking a firmer place within the social, political and economic life of Australia, and for others it means navigating away, towards a more distant relationship based in the resurgence of Indigenous nationhood. This navigation is composed of multifaceted and multidirectional relations between Indigenous Australians, settler Australians, and the settler state. As a discipline, political science must move beyond the study of settler institutions and begin to engage more comprehensively in research that considers the dynamics and structures of Indigenous-settler relations as a matter of priority.     

Recognise what? The limitations of settler colonial constitutional reform

In settler colonial societies such as Australia, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people have turned to constitutional reform as a means of addressing historical exclusions and colonial injustice. In practice, however, the promise of constitutionalism has revealed clear limits. This article explores these limits in the context of the current Australian campaign for the constitutional ‘recognition’ of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, where the loudest dissenting voices have come from Indigenous people themselves. In light of this, this article proposes a more agonistic engagement of diverse and dissenting opinions, with a view to opening up a more radical, decolonising space for constitutional politics.     

Sepulchral Barrows at Broad Down,Near Honiton,and an Unique Cup of Bituminous Shale there Found

The principal characteristics of the earthworks known as pillow mounds—artificial rabbit warrens—are discussed, together with the evidence for their date and purpose. Several aspects of their location and construction have caused considerable confusion to archaeologists in the past, and examples are suggested of current misidentification of these earthworks as prehistoric features. The need for a discussion of pillow mounds has recently become especially urgent due to the recognition of certain types of Neolithic earthwork of similar general appearance.     

Land and Sea Tenure at Erub,Torres Strait: Property,Sovereignty and the Adjudication of Cultural Continuity

Approaching property as social practice, and native title as a confluence of indigenous, ethnographic, and legal discourses, we address two themes: firstly, the ethnocentrism of the state's division of ‘property’ from ‘jurisdiction,’; applied to deny indigenous societies' practice of the latter; and secondly, the contradictions inherent in judicial evaluation of continuity and discontinuity in indigenous law and custom. We explore the relationship of ‘home place’ to tenure at Erub, where island, reef and ocean comprise a cultural and experiential continuum. Rights across a full spectrum of material/symbolic resources involve a dynamic tension between principles of exclusion and incorporative reciprocity. The issue of how to balance more particular against more collective rights is at play with each nesting of more local into more inclusive socio-territorial identities: from households and lineages, through island communities, sub-regional island groups, and Torres Strait regionally, to the encapsulating state and evolving international orders. At Erub, an island community long regarded as a vanguard of creolization for Torres Strait, newcomers have by-and-large been assimilated to indigenous systems of land- and sea-holding and authority. The connection between people and territory is a complex practice of social identities and interests responding to political opportunity, according to cultural forms that manifest substantial and traceable continuities to indigenous arrangements, as innovation has proceeded. The continuities appear sufficient to satisfy criteria for native title recognition as articulated in the Mabo decision, but the criteria themselves are too narrowly based to accommodate the processual dynamics of evolving culture and tradition. A reordering of territorial jurisdiction, predicated on the principle of Islander consent to development activities in their homelands/seas, would provide more authentic conditions for cultural autonomy.