Men Of Torres

Islands

Effect of the War

By Sapper A. C. Thompson, RAE, Torres Strait Force

mHE press has been flooded with tales X of endurance, marathon treks, and faithful service by the New Guinea Fuzzy-Wuzzies. Their deeds will live as part of that heroic tragedy of blood, sweat and hardship, which even now is being fought among malarial swamps, and steaming tropical jungles.

These New Guinea natives deserve all the praise that is being showered on them. But, from the isles of Torres Strait, there has been enlisted another band of loyal natives who, though almost unknown, are also faithfully serving their country. They have seen those precise formations of Japanese bombers drone over their island homes. Many of them have heard the “boom” of bursting bombs and witnessed their effect. These “boys” have not met the yellow invader face to face, but they are prepared for that possibility.

They appear to be attracted by army life. Their inborn aptitude for rhythm enables them to appreciate the regular beat of regimental drill. Their own dances are performed to a slow rhythmic time. These dances are strenuous affairs,

and demand no small amount of energy —really their version of physical culture.

Their many duties in the army allow them little time to dance, but they can always find time to sing.

Music is in their blood. They know no notes or involved theory of composition.

It is a spontaneous expression of their feelings and emotions. They sing about the sea, the wind and the storm —in fact, anything connected with their daily life.

Their voices blend in strange, but plea sant harmony; but, in the background, can be heard that familiar rhythmic beat of their dances.

Their songs are varied. Some are ren dered completely in their own simple language; others have a dash of Eng lish.

Despite their happy-go-lucky philo sophy, they take the army seriously.

Even when engaged in the most unplea sant tasks, they delight in the practise of drill movements, and although their pre vious existence was a free and easy one, they have earned for themselves, among the white troops, a reputation as the best workers in the Straits.

IN training for this deadly game of war they are keen. They have their own NCO’s, whose rank does not rise beyond that of corporal. When it comes to the more technical side of army train ing. they are easily bamboozled, but they excel in the vigorous bayonet drill. It allows an expression of their dormant warlike spirit and in a headlong charge

these boys would take some stopping.

Before Japan’s hordes began to menace the easy tenor of their life, these island ers earned their livelihood by the gather ing of pearl and trochus shell.

Environment through the centuries has fitted them for the extreme hardships of diving. The sea is their element. They revel in its crystal clear waters, and are equally at home whether poised with fish spear, or exploring the ocean bed. The gruesome mysteries of the ocean’s depths hold no terror for them. It is a crude type of fatalism which enables them to pursue their daily work contentedly.

Before the war, many of these boys worked with the Japs, who had infil trated into the pearling industry to such an extent that they virtually controlled it. The result is that these islanders regard the war as an opportunity to free the industry for ever from the fetters of Japanese competition.

THE origin of this Torres Islands race is lost in the mists of antiquity.

They are an excellent physical type, much more virile than their aboriginal neighbours to the south, whom they regard as underdogs and speak of deri sively as “Bingai.” Owing to their geo graphic position, they remained virtually unmolested until the pearling industry brought them in contact with the out side world.

Whether, in the remote past, these islanders were originally Polynesians, or migrated from some other part of the Pacific, are subjects which I will leave to the anthropologist; but, as a result of the numerous peoples which came in the wake of the pearling industry, their racial strain is no longer pure. Other similar South Seas races have inter mingled with them—Malayan mariners, Japanese pearlers, Chinese traders and European exploiters have all left their mark.

Since those hectic times, the Queens land Government has taken the Torres Strait Islands under its wing, and the Protector of Aborigines has tried to pre serve what purity of race still remains.

The Torres Islands communities are run almost without the aid of the white men. The natives, a very religious people, have their own churches and schools, with most of their own teachers and clergy. These coloured people, although in obscurity, are giving their all to the nation’s war effort, and, like their white countrymen, are earnestly longing for the days of peace when they will again be free to cruise over the colourful waters of Torres Strait in quest of pearl and trochus shell, and in pur suit of fish and dugong.