Not knowing much about the Torres Strait Islands, we decided to pop over for a visit. We jumped aboard a catamaran and were ferried across the deep turquoise coloured waters to Thursday Island, affectionately called “TI” by the locals.
Incidentally, there is also a Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday Island, all named by Captain William Bligh after being set adrift here by Fletcher Christian.
TI is a very small island, but has the largest population with 3000+ inhabitants. The Torres Strait Islands administration departments are based here. The island gained importance in the mid 19th century through the pearl fishing industry.
The Torres Strait Islanders are very different from the mainland Aboriginals. Being of Melanesian origin they are taller and have different facial features.
Staples of the Torres Strait Islanders were crayfish, turtles and dugong. Nowadays, the killing of turtles and dugong is restricted to 1 per family and for special celebrations only. While the Aboriginals are nomadic hunters and gatherers, the Torres Strait Islanders are cultivators. Unlike the indigenous people of mainland Australia history was passed on through song and dance rather than through cave paintings.
The second island we visited was Horne Island.
After Darwin, Horne Island was the second most bombed place by the Japanese in WWII. Our tour guide for this island took us to the former military air base which now serves as the Torres Strait Islands airport. It accommodates small planes like footballer Jonathan Thurston’s airline Skytrans and Qantas whose smallest plane, a 74 seater, flies there twice daily.
Recent painting of a local legend
(Horne Island Historic Museum)
Machine gun post from WWII
On the boat ride back from the islands we saw a huge crocodile sunning itself opposite Loyalty Beach where we were camped. After having seen pictures of a croc-mutilated body in the Horne Island Museum this wasn’t conducive to a good night’s sleep, particularly because Austin insisted that I sleep on the beach side of the swag.