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'{{short description|Ethnic group}} {{Use Australian English|date=April 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}} {{Infobox ethnic group | group = '''Torres Strait Islanders''' <!-- | flag = [[:File:Flag of the Torres Strait Islanders.svg|Link to file]] --><!-- This image is non-free and cannot be used here. See linked discussions at file talk page fore more information --> | flag_caption = The [[Torres Strait Islander Flag]] | image = Queensland State Archives 5750 Villagers with Hon J C Peterson and party Poid Torres Strait Island June 1931.png | population = 48,005 | poptime = | popplace = [[Australia]] | languages = [[Torres Strait Island languages]], [[Australian English]] | religions = [[Christianity in Australia|Christianity]] | related = [[Aboriginal Australians]], [[Papuans]], [[Melanesians]] | footnotes = }} [[Image:TorresStraitIslandsMap.png|thumb|Map of Torres Strait Islands]] '''Torres Strait Islanders''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|ɒ|r|ɪ|s|-}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/torres_strait|title=Torres Strait. Oxford Dictionary Online|author=|date=|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=2018-08-23|archiveurl=|archivedate=}}</ref> ) are the [[Indigenous Australians|indigenous people]] of the [[Torres Strait Islands]], part of [[Queensland]], Australia. They are distinct from the [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal]] people of the rest of Australia, and are generally referred to separately. There are also two Torres Strait Islander communities on the nearby coast of the mainland at [[Bamaga, Queensland|Bamaga]] and [[Seisia, Queensland|Seisia]]. ==Population== [[File:Australian Census 2011 demographic map - Australia by SLA - BCP field 0048 Indigenous Persons Torres Strait Islander Persons.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|Torres Strait Islanders as a percentage of the population, in Australia at the {{CensusAU|2011}}]] There are 6,800 Torres Strait Islanders who live in the area of the [[Torres Strait]], and 42,000 others who live outside the area, mostly in the north of Queensland, particularly in [[Townsville]] and [[Cairns]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/indg_overview.html|title=Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples|work=Australia Now|publisher=[[Government of Australia|Australian Government]], [[Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia)|Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade]]|accessdate=10 December 2006|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061008120749/http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/indg_overview.html|archivedate=8 October 2006}}</ref> ==Culture== [[Image:Face mask torres strait.JPG|thumb|upright|Ritual face [[mask]] from a Torres Strait Island (19th century).]] The indigenous people of the Torres Strait have a distinct culture which has slight variants on the different islands where they live. They are a seafaring people, and they trade with people of [[Papua New Guinea]]. The culture is complex, with some Australian elements, some Papuan elements, and [[Austronesian people|Austronesian]] elements, just like the languages. The Islanders seem to have been the dominant culture for many centuries, and neighbouring Aboriginal and Papuan cultures show some Island influence in religious ceremonies and the like.{{original research inline|date=November 2015}} Archaeological, linguistic and folk history evidence suggests that the core of Island culture is Papuo-Austronesian. Unlike the indigenous peoples of mainland Australia, but like those of neighbouring Papua, islanders are agriculturalists as well as engaging in [[Hunter-gatherer|hunting and gathering]]. [[Dugong]], [[turtle]]s, [[crayfish]], crabs, shellfish, reef fish and wild fruits and vegetables were traditionally hunted and collected and remain an important part of their [[Artisan fishing|subsistence lifestyle]].<ref name="vafi">{{cite book|title=Valuing Fisheries|last=Smyth|first=Dermot|editor1-first=Tor|editor1-last=Hundloe|chapter=Appendix B: The Indigenous Sector: An Anthropological Perspective|year=2002|publisher=University of Queensland Press|isbn=0702233293|pages=230–231|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g8iprCUC-BQC|accessdate=4 November 2012}}</ref> 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.<ref name="vafi"/> Their more recent, post-colonisation history has seen new cultural influences, most notably the place of [[Christianity in Australia|Christianity]] (particularly of the [[Baptist Church|Baptist]] and [[Anglican Church of Australia|Anglican]] strains) which caused major shifts in cultural paradigms, as well as subtler additions through the influence of Polynesians, particularly [[Samoa]]n and [[Rotuman people|Rotuman]] sea workers and missionaries who worked in the area in the 19th century.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} ===Art=== The Torres Strait Islands, particularly since the 1970s, have produced some outstanding and successful artists, in particular printmakers, sculptors and mask-makers, and dancers. The Islands have a long tradition of woodcarving, creating masks and drums, and carving decorative features on these and other items for ceremonial use. The modern and portable art form of [[printmaking]], particularly [[linocut]] and [[etching]] has been a natural progression for island artists many of whom grew up learning carving, especially in wood.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} The College of Technical and Further Education on [[Thursday Island]] was a starting point for young islanders to pursue studies in art. Many went on to further art studies, especially in printmaking, initially in [[Cairns, Queensland]] and later at the [[Australian National University]] in what is now the School of Art and Design, then called the Canberra Institute of the Arts. [[Linocut]] prints are produced with black ink on white paper. Prints tell the stories of spiritual beings, island life, the environment, and the range of creatures central to Torres Strait Island life. The prints often incorporate extensive background patterning, some of which has been rediscovered after research in anthropological collections in overseas and local museums. Artists such as Laurie Nona, Brian Robinson, Alick Tipoti, Dennis Nona, Billy Missi, David Bosun, and more recently Glen Mackie, Joemen Nona, Daniel O'Shane and Tommy Pau produce vibrant and energetic prints which are held in local and overseas collections.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} At around the same time as these artists were beginning studies in art, there was underway a significant re-connection to traditional myths and legends. Many of these had been all but forgotten when Margaret Lawrie's significant publications, ''Myths and Legends of the Torres Strait'' and ''Tales from the Torres Strait'' were published in 1970 and 1972 respectively.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lawrie|first1=Margaret Elizabeth|title=Myths and Legends of the Torres Strait/collected and translated by Margaret Lawrie|date=1970|publisher=University of Queensland Press|location=Brisbane}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Lawrie|first1=Margaret Elizabeth|title=Tales from Torres Strait|date=1972|publisher=University of Queensland Press|location=St Lucia Qld}}</ref> While some of these stories had been written down by Alfred Cort Haddon after his anthropological expedition to the Torres Strait in 1898,<ref>{{Citation | title=Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits | author1=Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits (1898) | author2=Hodes, Jeremy. Index to the Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits | author3=Haddon, Alfred C. (Alfred Cort), 1855–1940 | author4=Ray, Sidney Herbert, 1858–1939. Linguistics | year=1901 | publisher=University Press | language=English }}</ref> in the years after his publications up to perhaps [[World War II]], dispersal of the islanders and lack of any further written records meant there was a real danger that the material culture of the islands was being lost. The artists found a new direction in interpreting and presenting these traditional stories in prints. Prints not only served as a vehicle for interpreting stories to their own people, but have found a new and increasingly large Australian and international audience with their striking imagery. Artists have produced prints that are up to eight metres in length, foregrounding a narrative with exquisitely detailed patterned backgrounds. The imagery fuses the myths and legends with the maritime perspective of the Torres Strait Islands, and depicts spirit figures and human elements, in the sea, on the land and under the stars, surrounded by the dugongs, turtles, fish, crocodiles and birds that are part of the Islands' environment.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} Not all Torres Strait Islander printmakers work exclusively in myths and legends. Some include a range of contemporary iconography, including western art references and pop culture images such as comic book characters, either to add depth of meaning to or comparisons with local cultural chronicling. Others represent day-to-day life and the environment, such as the dugong and her calf swimming together, or turtles or jellyfish with traditional patterning on their bodies or as background.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} Several of these artists also produce sculptures, and carved and decorated masks and headdresses. Dance performances have been a constant expression of Torres Strait Islands culture throughout the twentieth century. Head decorations, masks, costumes and mechanical dance machines are created to use in traditional ceremonies and performances. Contemporary masks can be simple carved faces or more elaborate decorated pieces. Headdresses or dhari (see the TI flag, above right) and dance machines (hand-held mechanical objects) constructed of a mix of traditional and contemporary materials, bring colour and movement to performances. Like much of the art of the Torres Strait, dharis and masks are essentially spiritual, but have taken on the ability to reflect stories and historical and contemporary events, using modern materials of metal and plywood but also more traditional feathers, human hair, bamboo, bean pods and shell. Masks, drumming and chanting are often combined with dance performances for exhibitions such as Alick Tipoti's Zugubal. Ancestral Spirits at the [[Cairns Regional Gallery]] in July 2015.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} Prominent among the artforms is ''wame'' (alt. ''wameya''), many different [[string figure]]s<ref name="LalFortune2000">{{cite book|editor1=Brij V. Lal|editor2=Kate Fortune|title=The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5pPpJl8E5wC&pg=PA456|accessdate=7 March 2016|year=2000|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2265-1|page=456}}</ref><ref>[[Alfred Cort Haddon]], along with one of his daughters, the pioneers in the modern study of Torres Strait string figures</ref><ref>[http://www.isfa.org/biblio.htm A string figure bibliography] including examples from Torres Strait.</ref> (a particular string figure game played by two or more participants that generates several string figures is familiar to people of many cultures under the name [[Cat's cradle]]), some extremely elaborate and beautiful, and 'string catches' (games in which strings are wrapped around fingers then removed quickly with a single pull).{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} ==Languages== {{main|Torres Strait Island languages}} The [[Western-central Torres Strait Language]], or [[Kalaw Lagaw Ya]], is spoken on the southwestern, western, northern and central islands. 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.<ref>{{cite web|format=PDF|url=http://www.atsia.gov.au/Facts/docs/FS_series23.pdf|title=Indigenous Fact Sheet: Torres Strait Islanders|work=[[Government of Australia|Australian Government]], [[Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (Australia)|Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs]]|accessdate=10 December 2006|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060518061701/http://www.atsia.gov.au/Facts/docs/FS_series23.pdf|archivedate=18 May 2006}}</ref> ==Administration== {{see also|Torres Strait Regional Authority}} The Torres Strait Islanders have been administered by a system of elected councils.<ref name="Beckett1990">{{cite book|author=Jeremy Beckett|title=Torres Strait Islanders: Custom and Colonialism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7iO-blAUczcC&pg=PA17|accessdate=7 March 2016|year=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-37862-8|pages=17–18}}</ref> This is a system based partly on traditional pre-Christian local government and partly on the introduced mission management system.<ref name="Beckett1990"/> ==Notable Torres Strait Islanders== * [[Eddie Mabo]] - [[Indigenous land rights|land rights]] campaigner * [[Patty Mills]] - [[NBA]] player for the [[San Antonio Spurs]] * [[Sam Powell-Pepper]] – [[Australian Football League]] player for [[Port Adelaide Football Club|Port Adelaide]]<ref>[http://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/resilience-the-driving-force-behind-sam-powellpeppers-draft-bid/news-story/d71dd6190727eb9efdff1290b9335fbe Resilience the driving force behind Sam Powell-Pepper's draft bid]</ref> * [[Albert Proud]] – [[Australian Football League]] player for [[Brisbane Lions]]<ref>AFL Record. Round 9,2009. Slattery Publishing. pg 75.</ref> * [[Cynthia Lui]] – the first Torres Strait Islander elected to the [[Parliament of Queensland]]<ref>{{cite news|last1=Moore|first1=Tony|title=Labor one seat closer as first Torres Strait Islander woman elected to Parliament|url=https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland-election-2017/first-torres-strait-islander-woman-elected-to-queensland-s-parliament-20171128-p4yx9p.html|accessdate=9 December 2017|work=Brisbane Times|publisher=Fairfax Media|date=28 November 2017}}</ref> * [[Sam Thaiday]] - an Australian [[National Rugby League]] player for the [[Brisbane Broncos]]. * [[Dane Gagai]] - an Australian [[National Rugby League]] player for the [[South Sydney Rabbitohs]]. * [[Christine Anu]] - an Australian [[pop music|pop]] singer and actress. She gained popularity with the release of her song "[[My Island Home]]". Anu has been nominated for 17 [[ARIA Awards]].<ref name="ARIA Award History">{{cite web|url=http://www.ariaawards.com.au/history-by-artist.php?letter=C&artist=Christine%20Anu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519020402/http://www.ariaawards.com.au/history-by-artist.php?letter=C&artist=Christine%20Anu |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 May 2011 |title=History: Winners by Artist: Christine Anu |work=[[ARIA Award]]s |publisher=[[Australian Recording Industry Association]] (ARIA) |accessdate=18 May 2009 }}</ref> ==See also== {{Portal|Queensland|Australia}} * [[Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA)]] * [[Indigenous Australians]] * [[List of Indigenous Australian firsts]] * [[Papuan people]] * [[Torres Strait Islander Flag]] ==References== {{reflist|2}} ==Further reading == {{Library resources box|by=no|onlinebooks=no|about=yes|wikititle=Torres Strait Islanders}} *[http://www.tsra.gov.au/ Torres Strait Regional Authority] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20160303184126/http://www.churchoftorresstrait.org/ Church of Torres Strait] *[http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/search/eresources/ebooks/virtual-books Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders' virtual books] – held by the State Library of Queensland. *[http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/resources/atsi/contemporary-stories Contemporary stories] by and about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people *[http://www.humanrights.gov.au/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-social-justice Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner], [http://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-social-justice/publications/social-justice-reports Social Justice Reports 1993–2015] and [http://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-social-justice/publications/native-title-reports Native Title Reports 1994–2015] for more information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs. *[http://www.baduartcentre.com.au/ Torres Strait Islander Art from Badu Island] *[http://moaart.com.au/ Art of Mua Island Torres Strait] *[http://www.erubarts.com.au/Erub_Ewer_Meta/Erub_Ewer_Meta.html Darnley Island Arts Centre] *[http://www.alicktipoti.com Alick Tipoti artist] *[http://www.gabtitui.com.au/ Gab Titui Cultural Centre] *[https://iview.abc.net.au/show/blue-water-empire Blue Water Empire] - ABC TV 3-part dramatised documentary about TSI {{Indigenous Australians}} {{Indigenous peoples by continent}} {{Ethnic groups in Australia}} [[Category:Torres Strait Islanders| ]] [[Category:Torres Strait Islands culture]] [[Category:Indigenous peoples of Australia]]'