Thursday Island
Template:Short description Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:GeoGroup Template:Infobox Australian place Template:Infobox islands Thursday Island, colloquially known as TI, or in the Kawrareg dialect,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Waiben or Waibene,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> is an island of the Torres Strait Islands, an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait. TI is located approximately Template:Convert north of Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Australia.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite QPN</ref>
Thursday Island is also the name of the town in the south and west of the island, formerly known as Port Kennedy, and also the name of the locality which contains the island within the Shire of Torres.<ref name="qpnt">Template:Cite QPN</ref><ref name="qpnl">Template:Cite QPN</ref> The town of Rose Hill (known as Abednego until 7 September 1991) is located on the north-eastern tip of the island (Template:Coord).<ref name="qpnt2">Template:Cite QPN</ref>
In the Template:CensusAU, the locality of Thursday Island had a population of 2,805 people.<ref name=Census2021/>
Geography
Thursday Island has an area of about Template:Convert. The highest point on Thursday Island, standing at Template:Convert above sea level, is Milman Hill, a World War II defence facility.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
While Thursday Island is within the Shire of Torres and is the administrative centre for that shire, it is also the administrative and commercial centre of the local government area of Torres Strait Island Region despite not being part of that local government area.
History
The island has been populated for thousands of years by the Torres Strait Islanders, though archeological evidence on Badu, further north in Torres Strait, suggests that the area has been inhabited from before the end of the last Ice Age. The archaeology from Badu, Pulu, Saibai and Mer shows that Melanesian occupation started around 2,600 years ago (see Kalaw Lagaw Ya).Template:Citation needed
In 1848 a hydrographic survey of the area was conducted by Captain Owen Stanley of the Royal Navy, the commander of HMS Rattlesnake. He named this island Friday Island and another island Thursday Island (presumably reflecting the day of the week on which he named them). However, in June 1855 Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort of the Royal Navy (the Admiralty Hydrographer) decided to switch the names around, likely to preserve the east-west naming sequence with the present-day Friday Island and the nearby Wednesday Island.<ref name=":1" />
The original place of permanent European settlement in Torres Strait was Somerset, south-east of the tip of Cape York Peninsula, established in 1864. However, the channel between Albany Island and Somerset proved to be hazardous for a port and in 1875 it was jointly decided by the Queensland and British governments to transfer the port to the deep anchorage on the south side of Thursday Island. The new port was called Port Kennedy, after Edmund Kennedy, the explorer of Cape York Peninsula, and was established in 1867.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite QPN</ref> The town that developed on the island was also called Port Kennedy, but on 1 June 1962 the town was renamed Thursday Island.<ref name="qpnt" />
In 1877, an administrative centre for the Torres Strait Islands was set up on the island by the Queensland Government and by 1883 over 200 pearling vessels were based on the island.<ref name="age">Template:Cite web</ref>
Pearl trade
A lucrative pearling industry was founded on the island in 1884, attracting workers from around Asia, including Japan, Malaya and India, seeking their fortune.<ref>Anna Shnukal (ed.), Guy Ramsay (ed.), Yuriko Nagata (ed.), 2004: Navigating Boundaries: The Asian Diaspora in Torres Strait. Pandanus Books, Canberra.</ref> The Japanese community was in part indentured divers and boat hands who returned to Japan after a period of service and some longer term residents who were active in boat building and in the ownership of luggers for hire—which was illegal but bypassed by leases through third parties back to other Japanese, a practice called "dummying".<ref>Regina Ganter (1994). The Pearl-Shellers of Torres Strait: Resource Use, Development and Decline, 1860s-1960s. Melbourne University Press</ref> Additionally, many south Pacific Islanders worked in the industry, with some originally imported against their will, in a practice known as blackbirding. While the pearling industry has declined in importance, the mix of cultures is evident to this day. The pearling industry centred on the harvesting of pearl shell, which was used mainly to make shirt buttons. The local pearl oyster is Golden Lip Oyster, Pinctada maxima.Template:Citation needed
Shell trade
Trochus shell was also gathered using specialized boats. Most shell was exported as the raw material—to a London-based market. Pearls themselves were rare and a bonus for the owner or crew.<ref>Farwell, George, Cape York to the Kimberleys, Rigby Limited, Adelaide, 1962, chapter 8</ref> The boats used were very graceful two-masted luggers. In shallow water free diving was used while in deeper water diver's dress, or an abbreviated form of it, with a surface air supply was used. In good times there were three divers to a lugger, a stern diver, one midships, and one diver off the bow. A manual air compressor was used. It looked like a yard-wide cube with two large wheels mounted one on each side.Template:Citation needed
For part of the fleet that operated further from Thursday Island, larger vessels, typically schooners were used as mother ships to the luggers.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> Shell was usually opened on the mother vessels rather than on the luggers, in order to secure any pearls found. The waters of the Straits are murky and visibility was generally very poor. Even though dive depths were not great, except at the Darnley Deep (near Darnley or Erub Island), which was 40 fathoms (240 feet), attacks of the bends were common and deaths frequent.Template:Citation needed
Telegraph, trade, and cyclone
The Thursday Island Parish of the Roman Catholic Vicariate Apostolic of Cooktown (now the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns) was established in 1884.<ref name=":2" />
On 25 August 1887, The Paterson (Cape York) Telegraph Station on the West Coast of Cape York was opened. It connected the Cape York Telegraph Line with Thursday Island, via an undersea cable.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In the late-19th and early-20th centuries Thursday Island was a regular stop for vessels trading between the east coast of Australia and Southeast Asia. A shipping disaster to a vessel in this service occurred in 1890 when Template:RMS struck an uncharted reef in the Strait and sank in five minutes with the loss of over 130 lives. The Anglican Church on Thursday Island built shortly afterwards was named the Quetta All Souls Memorial Cathedral in memory of the event.<ref name="foley">Foley, J C H, 1982: Timeless Isle. Torres Strait Historical Society, Thursday Island.</ref> Today the church is called All Souls and St Bartholomew Church.<ref name="qhr2">Template:Cite QHR</ref>
Joshua Slocum (the first person to sail alone around the world) visited Thursday Island on this voyage in 1897 at the time of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Slocum's memoir describes the Jubilee celebrations (including a corroboree) organised by Government Resident John Douglas.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Cyclone Mahina, which hit Bathurst Bay, southeast of Thursday Island in 1899, wrecked the pearling fleet sheltering there, with huge losses of vessels and lives.<ref name=":0" />
Fort
Template:Main The fear of Russian invasion as a result of the deterioration of relations between the Russian Empire and the British Empire led to a fort on Battery Point being built in 1892 to protect the island.<ref name="age"/><ref name="foley"/> The fort has not been in operation since 1927, but is today a heritage feature of the island.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Twentieth century
Local pearling declined steadily up to World War II, partly through competition from a Japanese-based fleet which did not use local resources or personnel. In the 1950s plastic buttons imitating pearl supplanted much of the demand for shell.<ref name="foley"/> Before the decline, pearl fishing was taken by the island-based fleet to the Aru Islands in what was then the Dutch East Indies.<ref>Wood, C.M. 1972 Pearling off the Aru Islands by Captain C.M Cowling as told to his daughter. The Dog Watch 29:47-58.</ref>
The Thursday Island Customs House opened in 1938 at 2 Victoria Parade (Template:Coord).<ref name="qhr">Template:Cite QHR</ref>
During World War II, Thursday Island became the military headquarters for the Torres Strait and was a base for Australian and United States forces. January 1942 saw the evacuation of civilians from the island.<ref name="foley" /> Residents of Japanese origin or descent were interned. The residents did not return until after the end of the war and many ethnic Japanese were forcibly repatriated. The island was spared from bombing in World War II, due, it was thought, to it being the burial place of many Japanese pearl shell divers, or possibly the Japanese thinking there were still Japanese residents on the island. However, neighbouring Horn Island was extensively bombed. There was an airbase there, used by the Allies to attack parts of New Guinea. At the end of the war, the island tradition of a no-footwear policy was reinstated out of respect for the ancient spirits believed to reside on the island. After the war, an airline service was set up by Ansett Airlines from Cairns to TI twice a week, using de Havilland Dragon Rapides and later DC3s.Template:Citation needed Passengers disembarked on Horn Island and caught a ferry-boat over to TI, as they still do. The island was also served by a ship, the Elsana, which made the journey once a month. For a short period after the war Okinawan divers were used on the luggers but this was not a great success. Template:Citation needed
In the 1950s, the CSIRO attempted to establish cultured pearl farms, but many were devastated by disease in the 1970s. The trigger is considered by some to be the use of dispersants on the 1970 oil spill from the tanker Oceanic Grandeur.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This industry still exists around the island today. In the 1970s, there was also an attempt to farm green turtles.<ref name="age" />
The Melanesian background of the Thursday Islanders became an issue in the 1970s, when Papua New Guinea sought to include some of the Torres Strait Islands within its borders. The Torres Strait Islanders insisted that they were Australians, however, and after considerable diplomatic discussion and political disputation between the Queensland and the Federal Governments, all of the Torres Strait islands, including Thursday Island, remained part of Australia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
From 1900 to 1996 the Quetta Memorial Church on the island was the cathedral church of the large Diocese of Carpentaria which included North Queensland, the Islands of the Torres Strait and, to 1968, Northern Territory.Template:Citation needed
Demographics
In the Template:CensusAU, the locality of Thursday Island had a population of 2,805 people.<ref name=Census2021>Template:Census 2021 AUS</ref>
In the Template:CensusAU, the locality of Thursday Island had a population of 2,938 people.<ref name=Census2016>Template:Census 2016 AUS</ref>
In the Template:CensusAU, the locality of Thursday Island had a population of 2,610 people.<ref name="Census2011">Template:Census 2011 AUS</ref>
Heritage listings
Thursday Island has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
- Green Hill Fort, Chester Street<ref name="ahd-105419">Template:Cite AHD</ref>
- Quetta Memorial Precinct, Douglas Street<ref>Template:Cite QHR</ref>
- Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church, 120 Douglas Street<ref>Template:Cite QHR</ref>
- Thursday Island Cemetery (incorporating the Japanese Cemetery and the Grave of the Hon. John Douglas), Summers Street<ref>Template:Cite QHR</ref>
- Thursday Island Customs House, 2 Victoria Parade<ref>Template:Cite QHR</ref>
The Gab Titui Cultural Centre (2004) on Thursday Island showcases both heritage and contemporary Islander artworks.<ref>see Template:Cite web Accessed 15 February 2014</ref>
Economy
Ports North operates two wharf areas in the Torres Strait, one on Thursday Island and the other on nearby Horn Island (which also has an airport). These islands serve as transport hubs to other islands in the Torres Strait.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Island is one of the two bases for the Torres Straits Pilots, a cooperative owned and run by qualified Master Mariners who pilot ships through the Straits and down to Cairns. This is a necessary service because navigation through the area is tricky due to the extensive reef systems.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The island has the area hospital and courts, is the regional centre for higher education, a centre for some research organisations and is the administrative base for the local, state and federal governments. Banking and phones are available.Template:Citation needed
Thursday Island is only in part self-sufficient for water, some being piped from the adjacent island. It has two wind turbines which generate some of its electricity requirement.Template:Citation needed
The economy of the island is dependent on its role as an administrative centre and is supported by pearling and fishing, as well as a fast-developing tourism industry, with perhaps the most famous tourists being novelist Somerset Maugham and Banjo Paterson, and the most numerous being day-trippers from the cruise ships that call into the island each year.<ref>Search under "Ports visited" on http://www.cruising.com.au Template:Webarchive to see cruise ships which call at Thursday Island.</ref>
Climate
Climate data for Thursday Island was sourced from Horn Island, which is 8.7 km ENE of Thursday Island. Thursday Island has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen: Aw), with a wet season from December to April and a dry season from May to November. Temperatures remain hot year-round, with average maxima ranging from Template:Convert in July to Template:Convert in November. Average annual rainfall is Template:Convert, with a late summer maximum. Extreme temperatures have ranged from Template:Convert on 8 December 2002 to Template:Convert on 8 September 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Language
Torres Strait Creole is the dominant language spoken on Thursday Island by the Islanders, followed by Kalaw Lagaw Ya, commonly called Mabuiag (pronounced Mobyag) by many, although English is also spoken.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The indigenous language is Kaiwaligau Ya, another dialect of Kalaw Lagaw Ya, otherwise known as Kowrareg, (or more correctly Kauraraigau Ya, the name used by the people in the mid to late 1800s).Template:Citation needed
Amenities
Thursday Island has number of services open to the community, including a sporting complex, gym, public library as well as ANZAC park and Ken Brown Oval.Template:Citation needed
There is a community pharmacy, general store, butcher, bank and many other essential services.Template:Citation needed
The Shire of Torres operates Ngulaig Meta Municipal public library at 121 Douglas Street.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The current library facility opened in 2015.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Sacred Heart Catholic Church is in Douglas Street. It is within the Thursday Island Parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>
Education
Tagai State College is a government primary and secondary (Early Childhood to Year 12) school for boys and girls that operates 17 campuses throughout the Torres Strait, including two on Thursday Island. The Thursday Island primary school campus (Early Childhood to Year 6) is at 31 Hargrave Street (Template:Coord). The Thursday Island secondary school campus (7-12) is at 21 Aplin Road (Template:Coord).<ref name="SchoolList2018">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2017, the school across all locations had a total enrolment of 1,554 students with 168 teachers (165 full-time equivalent) and 198 non-teaching staff (142 full-time equivalent).<ref name="ACARA2017" /> The school includes a special education program at Summers Street (Template:Coord).<ref name=SchoolList2018/>
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School is a Catholic primary (Prep–6) school for boys and girls at Normanby Street (Template:Coord).<ref name=SchoolList2018/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 103 students with 12 teachers (9 full-time equivalent) and 13 non-teaching staff (9 full-time equivalent).<ref name=ACARA2017>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Torres Strait Campus of the Tropical North Queensland TAFE Institute is located on the island next to the Tagai State College.Template:Citation needed
Popular culture
The island was the location of the films Lovers and Luggers (1937)<ref name="lovers">Template:Cite magazine</ref> and King of the Coral Sea (1954).<ref name="sea">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Notable residents
Notable residents of Thursday Island include:
- Henry Gibson "Seaman" Dan, award-winning Torres Strait Islander musician.
- John Douglas, Premier of Queensland (1877–79) and Government Resident on Thursday Island (1885-1904).
- Matthew Elliott, Australian professional rugby league football coach and former playerTemplate:Citation needed
- Tiarna Ernst, professional AFLW and Western Bulldogs Premiership Player.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Tommy Fujii, mother-of-pearl shell diver as a boy, later businessman<ref>Tommy Fujii monument Template:Webarchive Retrieved 6 May 2017</ref>
- Scott Harding, AFL player and American Footballer<ref name="autogenerated1">Media releases for AFL Cape York Kickstart Pacific Toyota Crusaders</ref>Template:Fails verification
- Elma Gada Kris, dancer, choreographer, actor, NAIDOC award winner (2019) artist of the year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- The Mills Sisters, a group of three musical sisters, Rita and twins Cessa and Ina, who performed all over the Pacific and in Europe between the 1950 and late 1990s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Danny Morseu, professional basketball player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Bernard Namok, designer of the Torres Strait Islander flag.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Peter Ware, WAFL premiership winning footballer with Swan Districts and AFL Queensland Hall of Famer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Jesse Williams, born on Thursday Island in 1990, the first indigenous Australian to receive a scholarship to play American football for the Alabama Crimson Tide.<ref name="AUSI2">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Ethel May Eliza Zahel (1877–1951), teacher and public servant.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
References
Further reading
External links
- Template:Cite web
- Glover's 1879 watercolour of Thursday Island
- Template:Cite web
- Town map of Thursday Island, 1982
- Thursday Island and North Queensland photograph album, State Library of Queensland. Digitised photograph album, with photos dated between 1800 and 1900
- Brian Cassey Life in the Torres Strait photographs, State Library of Queensland
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