Torres Strait Island culture

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were the first inhabitants of Australia. It is believed that the Aboriginal people have lived in Australia for the past 50,000 to 120,000 years ago. The Aboriginal people were semi nomadic and lived off natural resources. They lived in groups or families and lived under their kinship system. Their kinship system defined who they were as an individual and who they were as a group. The system told them how to act and behave and the responsibilities they…

Thursday Island, a small island in the Torres Strait is located 2,640km north west of Brisbane, 804km north of Cairns, 141km south west of Papua New Guinea, 35km north west of Cape York. Its area is about 4.5 square km and is legally part of Queensland. Locally known as “TI”, or the Torres Strait Islander name is Waiben, means ‘dry place’ due to the geological of the island it has lack of fresh water; island gets its water supply from a dam in Horn Island. TI has a tropical humidity and has two…

The Torres Strait Islander bone mounds are the subject of much speculation and research. The connection between the mounds and the Islanders who created them has formed the core of discussions on this subject. In this essay I will examine the usage of both archaeological practices and archaeological theory in relation to animal bone discovery. My focus will be on dugong bones in particular; looking at the pattern of sustainability their hunting has endured over time. I will assess the methods…

colonisation occurring and the effect this had on the Indigenous people. Research shows that colonisation impacted both Aboriginal Australian people and Torres Strait Islander people in ways which changed their cultural landscape significantly. It will be argued in the second half of this essay that the differences experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people…

To be a culturally competent practitioner you need to be able to communicate sensitively and effectively with people who have different languages, religions, genders, cultures, ethnicities, disabilities and sexualities. Practitioners that are culturally competent respect different cultures ways of living and celebrate the benefits of diversity and understand and value differences in the community. They respect differences in families’ home lives and value every child’s capacities and abilities.…

Edward Mabo was born on June 29th 1936 in Murray Island in the Torres Strait in-between Australia and Papa New Guinea. He was the son of Robert Zezou Sambo and his mother was Annie Mabo. When Edward was born his mother died in childbirth when Annie Mabo’s brother (benny Mabo) heard of this he went with his wife (Maiga) to raise him as their own child because he didn’t want him to feel all alone. When Edward was a bit older he went to a school on his island but he didn’t have any plans of further…

English and teaching strategies need to be adapted to accommodate such challenges. The author has discovered educators of Indigenous students are second language educators. For many Torres Strait Island and Aboriginal students standard Australian English is not used in their home lives. The language of Torres Strait…

My research for this project will be on Nyoongar (Noongar/Nooga/Nyungar) people. Indigenous Australians are also referred to as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia and there are several hundred groups/communities/tribes spread across Australia e.g. Ngunnawal people were the first inhabitants of Canberra, Eora people of Sydney, Alyawarre people of north east Alice Springs, Nyoongar people of Western Australia etc. Nyoongar people are Indigenous Australians who live in the…

The 1967 referendum is a very significant key development in aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples struggle for rights and freedoms. On the 27th of May in the year 1967 the federal government, who at the time was Harold Holt called a federal referendum to be put in place. The Holt government had an amendment to be approved relating to the only two discriminatory laws included in the Australian constitution. This referendum altered the balance of the inequity intended for to the…

Indigenous and Torres Strait Islanders. The Mabo Case is a famous story and that of which is extremely important to the history and future of Australia. Eddie Koiki Mabo was born on the 29th June, 1936, Mabo lived on ‘Murray Island’ in the Torres Straits, he was educated about his land and culture to a great extent. Eddie Mabo at age of 17 left the…