Notes From The Torres Straits
pp. 23-24 · Read in the full issue
From Our Own Correspondent
Thursday Is., March 15.
A NAVY boat arrived at Thursday Island at the beginning of March.
Its crew will assist in the disposal of live shells and bombs, war-time relics, which are on the sea floor at the end of the main jetty.
The presence of these explosives has prevented the dredging of the channel and consequently overseas boats have been prevented from tying up.
With the explosives gone, dredging will commence and residents are looking for ward to seeing overseas liners, on their voyages between Australia and the Far East, tying up once more at the main jetty as they did before the war.
THE Thursday Island police are anxious to ascertain the whereabouts of one Tommy Hughson, a coloured man who resided in Townsville for some years.
He was last seen on TI on the night of March 6 but has since disappeared. This has caused some distress to his relatives.
ONE by one the old residents of Thurs day Island are leaving us. Two of the latest to depart for South are Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Vowels. Mr. Vowels was the popular host at the Grand Hotel and had other interests on the Island.
He was a member of the First Australian Garrison Artillery and was posted to Thursday Island in August, 1914. He married Miss Mona Corran and remained on the Island after the war ended.
Miss Corran is a daughter of the la'e Mr. A. Corran, printer and pioneer of
Thursday Island. He arrived here in 1894 and with the aid of his daughter, Mona, printed what was known as the Torres Strait Daily Pilot—probably the smallest and most expensive daily news paper in the world. It was printed on one side of a single sheet of foolscap and sold for 6d.
The Pilot was printed for 58 years con tinuously—after Mr. Corran’s death by Mr. Vowels—but it became a war casualty in 1942 as did many other pleasant insti tutions. Mr. Corran, incidentally, held what is believed to be a world record for mayorship—he was mayor of Thursday Island for 25 years continuously.
Mr. Vowels was mayor from 1940 to 1942 and on the re-establishment of local authority in 1948 he was again elected to office. He took a keen interest in all Thursday Island public affairs—Chamber of Commerce, Progress Association, Tor res Straits Pilots, School Committee, town
band, hospital, Masonic lodge and a dozen more which have all had the benefit of his ability and energy.
In an interview prior to his departure on the Elsanna Mr. Vowels said that when he first arrived here in 1914, the pearling industry was dead, but the Jap anese, as our allies in the 1914-18 war, were here after trochus shell. He ha 3 seen the place grow to become an island paradise, but on his return in 1946 after four years in the South, he found the place sadly depleted of buildings by tne army, and he was appalled by the gene.al neglected appearance of what was once one of the beauty spots of Australia.
Streets and allotments were overgrown by weeds and littered with rubbish. He hoped to see the place return to normal, but from the time of his return until his departure on the Elsanna, he could see very little alteration on Thursday Island except for the construction of more Gov ernment buildings.
Residents of the island wished to tender Mr. and Mrs. Vowels a public farewell but they would not hear of it. However, at numerous private gatherings they were presented with farewell gifts and
showered with good wishes for their future.
THERE is considerable controversy here over the new pearling agreement.
Members of the Pearlshellers’ Asso ciation are divided in their opinion of it but there seems to be general dissatisfac tion with it. A copy of the new agree ment will be published for the benefit of PIM readers, as soon as available.