Torres Strait Islanders
Torres Strait Islanders (/ˈtɒrɪs-/ TORR-iss-)[3] are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal peoples of the rest of Australia, they are often grouped with them as Indigenous Australians. Today there are many more Torres Strait Islander people living in mainland Australia (nearly 28,000) than on the Islands (about 4,500).
This article is about one of the two ethnically distinct indigenous peoples of Australia, Torres Strait Islanders – the other being Aboriginal Australians. For an overview of these peoples together, see Indigenous Australians.Total population
61,873
There are five distinct peoples within the broader designation of Torres Strait Islander people, based partly on geographical and cultural divisions. There are two main Indigenous language groups, Kalaw Lagaw Ya and Meriam Mir. Torres Strait Creole is also widely spoken as a language of trade and commerce. The core of Island culture is Papuo-Austronesian, and the people are traditionally a seafaring nation. There is a strong artistic culture, particularly in sculpture, printmaking and mask-making.
Until the late 20th century, Torres Strait Islanders had been administered by a system of elected councils, a system based partly on traditional pre-Christian local government and partly on the introduced mission management system.[10]
Today, the Torres Strait Regional Authority, an Australian government body established in 1994 and consisting of 20 elected representatives, oversees the islands, with its primary function being to strengthen the economic, social and cultural development of the peoples of the Torres Strait area.[11]
Further to the TSRA, there are several Queensland LGAs which administer areas occupied by Torres Strait Islander communities:
Torres Strait Islander people are of predominantly Melanesian descent, distinct from Aboriginal Australians on the mainland and some other Australian islands,[13][14] and share some genetic and cultural traits with the people of New Guinea.[15]
The five-pointed star on the national flag represents the five cultural groups;[15] another source says that it originally represented the five groups of islands, but today (as of 2001) it represents the five major political divisions.[16]
Pre-colonial Island people were not a homogeneous group and until then did not regard themselves as a single people. They have links with the people of Papua New Guinea, several islands being much closer to PNG than Australia, as well as the northern tip of Cape York on the Australian continent.[16]
Sources are generally agreed that there are five distinct geographical and/or cultural divisions, but descriptions and naming of the groups differ widely.
Ethno-linguistic groups include:
Traditional adoptions[edit]
A traditional cultural practice, known as kupai omasker, allows adoption of a child by a relative or community member for a range of reasons. The reasons differ depending on which of the many Torres Islander cultures the person belongs to, with one example being "where a family requires an heir to carry on the important role of looking after land or being the caretaker of land". Other reasons might relate to "the care and responsibility of relationships between generations".[61]
There had been a problem in Queensland law, where such adoptions are not legally recognised by the state's Succession Act 1981,[62] with one issue being that adopted children are not able to take on the surname of their adoptive parents.[61] On 17 July 2020 the Queensland Government introduced a bill in parliament to legally recognise the practice.[63] The bill was passed as the Meriba Omasker Kaziw Kazipa Act 2020 ("For Our Children's Children") on 8 September 2020.[64]