{"id":1131,"date":"2024-12-07T14:47:20","date_gmt":"2024-12-07T14:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aegir-ran.com\/?page_id=1131"},"modified":"2024-12-07T14:47:22","modified_gmt":"2024-12-07T14:47:22","slug":"thursday-island","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/aegir-ran.com\/index.php\/thursday-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Thursday Island"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Thursday Island<\/strong>, colloquially known as TI<\/strong>, or in the Kawrareg<\/a> dialect,[2]<\/sup> Waiben<\/strong>or Waibene<\/strong>,[3]<\/sup> is an island<\/a> of the Torres Strait Islands<\/a>, an archipelago<\/a> of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait<\/a>. TI is located approximately 39 kilometres (24 miles) north of Cape York Peninsula<\/a> in Far North Queensland<\/a>, Australia.[4]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday Island is also the name of the town in the south and west of the island, formerly known as Port Kennedy<\/strong>, and also the name of the locality<\/a> which contains the island within the Shire of Torres<\/a>.[5]<\/sup>[6]<\/sup> The town of Rose Hill<\/strong> (known as Abednego until 7 September 1991) is located on the north-eastern tip of the island (10.5698\u00b0S 142.2250\u00b0E<\/a>).[7]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 2021 census<\/a>, the locality of Thursday Island had a population of 2,805 people.[1]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geography<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Thursday Island has an area of about 3.5 square kilometres (1.4 square miles). The highest point on Thursday Island, standing at 104 metres (341 feet) above sea level<\/a>, is Milman Hill, a World War II<\/a> defence facility.[citation needed<\/a><\/em>]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Thursday Island is within the Shire of Torres<\/a> 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<\/a> despite not being part of that local government area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The island has been populated for thousands of years by the Torres Strait Islanders<\/a>, though archeological evidence on Badu<\/a>, 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<\/a> and Mer<\/a> shows that Melanesian occupation started around 2,600 years ago (see Kalaw Lagaw Ya<\/a>).[citation needed<\/a><\/em>]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1848 a hydrographic survey of the area was conducted by Captain Owen Stanley<\/a> of the Royal Navy<\/a>, the commander of HMS Rattlesnake<\/em><\/a>. 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<\/a> 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<\/a> and the nearby Wednesday Island.[4]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original place of permanent European settlement in Torres Strait was Somerset<\/a>, south-east of the tip of Cape York Peninsula<\/a>, established in 1864. However, the channel between Albany Island<\/a> 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<\/a>, the explorer of Cape York Peninsula, and was established in 1867.[8]<\/sup>[9]<\/sup>The town that developed on the island was also called Port Kennedy, but on 1 June 1962 the town was renamed Thursday Island.[5]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1877, an administrative centre for the Torres Strait Islands was set up on the island by the Queensland Government<\/a> and by 1883 over 200 pearling vessels were based on the island.[10]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pearl trade<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A lucrative pearling<\/a> industry was founded on the island in 1884, attracting workers from around Asia<\/a>, including Japan<\/a>, Malaya<\/a> and India<\/a>, seeking their fortune.[11]<\/sup> 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\u2014which was illegal but bypassed by leases through third parties back to other Japanese, a practice called “dummying”.[12]<\/sup> Additionally, many south Pacific Islanders<\/a> worked in the industry, with some originally imported against their will, in a practice known as blackbirding<\/a>. 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<\/a><\/em>.[citation needed<\/a><\/em>]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shell trade<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Trochus<\/a> shell was also gathered using specialized boats. Most shell was exported as the raw material\u2014to a London-based market. Pearls themselves were rare and a bonus for the owner or crew.[13]<\/sup> The boats used were very graceful two-masted luggers<\/a>. In shallow water free diving was used while in deeper water diver’s dress<\/a>, 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.[citation needed<\/a><\/em>]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For part of the fleet that operated further from Thursday Island, larger vessels, typically schooners<\/a> were used as mother ships to the luggers.[14]<\/sup> 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<\/a>), which was 40 fathoms (240 feet), attacks of the bends were common and deaths frequent.[citation needed<\/a><\/em>]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Telegraph, trade, and cyclone<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Thursday Island Parish of the Roman Catholic Vicariate Apostolic of Cooktown<\/a> (now the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns) was established in 1884.[15]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 25 August 1887, The Paterson (Cape York) Telegraph Station<\/a> on the West Coast of Cape York was opened. It connected the Cape York Telegraph Line with Thursday Island, via an undersea cable.[16]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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>. A shipping disaster to a vessel in this service occurred in 1890 when RMS Quetta<\/em><\/a>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<\/a> in memory of the event.[17]<\/sup>Today the church is called All Souls and St Bartholomew Church<\/a>.[citation needed<\/a><\/em>]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cyclone Mahina<\/a>, which hit Bathurst Bay, southeast of Thursday Island in 1899, wrecked the pearling fleet sheltering there, with huge losses of vessels and lives.[14]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fort<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Main article: Green Hill Fort<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fear of Russian<\/a> invasion as a result of the deterioration of relations<\/a> between the Russian Empire and the British Empire<\/a> led to a fort on Battery Point being built in 1892 to protect the island.[10]<\/sup>[17]<\/sup> The fort has not been in operation since 1927, but is today a heritage feature of the island.[18]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twentieth century<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Local pearling declined steadily up to World War II<\/a>, 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.[17]<\/sup> Before the decline, pearl fishing was taken by the island-based fleet to the Aru Islands<\/a> in what was then the Dutch East Indies<\/a>.[19]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Thursday Island Customs House opened in 1938 at 2 Victoria Parade (10.5848\u00b0S 142.2209\u00b0E<\/a>).[20]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During World War II<\/a>, Thursday Island became the military headquarters for the Torres Strait and was a base for Australian and United States<\/a> forces. January 1942 saw the evacuation of civilians from the island.[17]<\/sup> 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<\/a> was extensively bombed. There was an airbase there, used by the Allies<\/a> to attack parts of New Guinea<\/a>. 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<\/a>from Cairns<\/a> to TI twice a week, using de Havilland Dragon Rapides<\/a> and later DC3s<\/a>.[citation needed<\/a><\/em>]<\/sup> 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<\/em>, 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. [citation needed<\/a><\/em>]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1950s, the CSIRO<\/a> attempted to establish cultured pearl<\/a> farms, but many were devastated by disease in the 1970s. The trigger is considered by some to be the use of dispersants<\/a> on the 1970 oil spill from the tanker Oceanic Grandeur<\/em>.[21]<\/sup> This industry still exists around the island today. In the 1970s, there was also an attempt to farm green turtles.[10]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Melanesian background of the Thursday Islanders became an issue in the 1970s, when Papua New Guinea<\/a> 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.[22]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1900 to 1996 the Quetta Memorial Church<\/a> on the island was the cathedral church of the large Diocese of Carpentaria<\/a> which included North Queensland, the Islands of the Torres Strait and, to 1968, Northern Territory.[citation needed<\/a><\/em>]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demographics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the 2011 census<\/a>, the locality of Thursday Island had a population of 2,610 people.[23]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 2016 census<\/a>, the locality of Thursday Island had a population of 2,938 people.[24]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 2021 census<\/a>, the locality of Thursday Island had a population of 2,805 people.[1]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heritage listings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Thursday Island has a number of heritage-listed<\/a> sites, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n