Mer Island (also known as Murray Island or Maer Island) is a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

and island in Murray Island Group of the

Torres Strait Island Region The Torres Strait Island Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia, covering part of the Torres Strait Islands. It was created in March 2008 out of 15 autonomous Island Councils during a period of statewide local gove ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. In the , Mer Island had a population of 406 people. The town is on the island's northwest coast. The island is of

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

origin, the most easterly inhabited island of the

Torres Strait Islands The Torres Strait Islands are an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their tot ...

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

, just north of the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

. The name ''Meer/Mer/Maer'' comes from the native

Meriam language Meriam (; also ''Miriam, Meryam, Mer, Mir, Miriam-Mir'', etc. and ''Eastern, Isten, Esten'' and ''Able Able'') or the Eastern Torres Strait language is the language of the people of the small islands of ''Mer'' ( Murray Island), ''Waier'' and ...

. The island is populated by the Melanesian

Meriam people Melanesian Meriam people are an Indigenous Australian group of Torres Strait Islander people who are united by a common language, strong ties of kinship and live as skilled hunter–fisher–gatherers in family groups or clans on a number of in ...

. There are eight tribes on Mer: Komet, Zagareb, Meuram, Magaram, Geuram, Peibri, Meriam-Samsep, Piadram/Dauer. The island's organisation is based on traditional laws of boundary and ownership.

Geography

Murray Island, in the eastern section of

Torres Strait The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes ( Kalaw Lagaw Ya#Phonology 2, �zen̪ad̪ kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, ...

, is a

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

ic island formed from an

extinct volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the Crust (geology), crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth ...

, last active over a million years ago. It formed when the Indo-Australian Plate slid over the

East Australia hotspot The East Australia hotspot (which is now believed by some scientists to represent multiple hotspots including a southwestern Cosgrove hotspot) is a volcanic province in southeast Australia which includes the Peak Range in central Queensland, the ...

. The island rises to a plateau

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. The island's highest point is the Gelam Paser, the western end of the volcano crater. The island has red fertile soil and is covered in dense vegetation. It has a tropical climate with a wet and dry season. Murray Island is one of the three islands in the

Murray Islands Murray Islands is a group of small islands southeast of Cape Whitson, off the south coast of Laurie Island in the South Orkney Islands. Discovered in 1823 by Matthew Brisbane, who explored the south coast of Laurie Island under the direction o ...

, the others being

Daua Island Dowar Islet is an island locality in the Torres Strait Island Region, Queensland, Australia. It consists of a single island, Daua Island (also known as Dowar Island) which is one of the Murray Islands group in the Torres Strait. In the , Dowar Is ...

(''Dowar'') and

Waier Island Waua Islet is an island locality in the Torres Strait Island Region, Queensland, Australia. It consists of a single island, also called Waua Islet (also known as Wyer Island and Waier Island), one of the Murray Islands Murray Islands is a grou ...

(''Waier''). The town of Murray Island is on the island's northwest coast ().

History

Pre-European settlement

Murray Island has been inhabited for around 2,800 years, the first settlers being Papuo-

Austronesians The Austronesian people, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples who have settled in Taiwan, maritime Southeast Asia, parts of mainland Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesi ...

who brought agriculture and pot-making with them. Regular contact between the inhabitants of Torres Strait, Europeans, Asians and other outsiders began once the Torres Strait became a means of passage between the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

and the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

in the 19th century. Murray Island Haddon 1908

The inhabitants of the Torres Strait, including the Meriam people, gained a reputation as fierce warriors and skilled mariners. Warfare (both intertribal and against European ships in transit through the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down t ...

) and

head hunting Headhunting is the practice of hunting a human and collecting the severed head after killing the victim. More portable body parts (such as ear, nose, or scalp) can be taken as trophies, instead. Headhunting was practiced in historic times acr ...

were part of Torres Strait Islanders' culture. The account of Jack Ireland, a surviving

cabin boy A cabin boy or ship's boy is a boy or young man who waits on the officers and passengers of a ship, especially running errands for the captain. The modern merchant navy successor to the cabin boy is the steward's assistant. Duties Cabin boys ...

from the ''Charles Eaton'', a

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts of which the fore mast, mainmast, and any additional masts are Square rig, rigged square, and only the aftmost mast (mizzen in three-maste ...

that was wrecked in 1834 at Detached Reef, near the entrance to Torres Strait, is of interest in this respect. Ireland and another young survivor, William D'Oyley, spent much of their time on Mer before being rescued. (Als
here
.) In 1836 a large ceremonial mask was recovered from neighbouring Aureed (Skull) Island after Ireland and D'Oyley were rescued returned to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. The mask was made of turtle shells surrounded by numerous skulls, 17 of which were determined to have belonged to the crew and passengers of the ''Charles Eaton'', who were massacred when they came ashore after the shipwreck. The mask was entered into the collection of the

Australian Museum The Australian Museum, originally known as the Colonial Museum or Sydney Museum. is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney, William Street, Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, New South Wales. It is the oldest natural ...

after the skulls were buried on 17 November 1836 in a mass grave in the

Devonshire Street Cemetery The Devonshire Street Cemetery (also known as the Brickfield Cemetery or Sandhills Cemetery) was located between Eddy Avenue and Elizabeth Street, Sydney, Elizabeth Street, and between Chalmers Street, Chalmers and Devonshire streets, at Brickfi ...

in Sydney. A monument was erected in the form of a huge

altar stone An altar stone is a piece of natural stone containing relics in a cavity and intended to serve as the essential part of an altar for the celebration of Mass in the Catholic Church. Consecration by a bishop of the same rite was required. In the Byz ...

to record the manner in which they died. When the Devonshire Street Cemetery was resumed for the site of the Central Railway Station in 1904 the skulls and the monument were removed to Bunnerong Cemetery at

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal language, Dharawal: ''Kamay'') is an open oceanic embayment, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point a ...

in Sydney.

Post-European settlement (1872)

Missionaries (mainly Polynesian) and some other Polynesians began to settle the island in 1872 when the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed tradition, Reformed in outlook, with ...

founded a missionary school there. The

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...

annexed the islands in 1879. The Australian painter

Tom Roberts Thomas William Roberts (8 March 185614 September 1931) was an English-born Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. After studying in Melbourne, he travelled to Europe i ...

visited the island in 1892. He witnessed a nighttime dance and depicted it in a painting. From 1896 to 1903, it was under the control of the Department for Public Instruction and was known as Murray Island Provisional School. From 1904, it became the responsibility of various other government departments. It returned to the control of the Department of Education on 29 January 1985 as Murray Island State School. It was renamed in October 1990 as Mer State School, becoming the Mer Campus of the Tagai State College on 1 January 2007. In 1936, a maritime strike fuelled by Islander dissatisfaction with the management of their wages and boats by the

Protector of Aborigines The Australian colonies in the nineteenth century created offices involved in managing the affairs of Indigenous people in their jurisdictions. The role of Protector of Aborigines was first established in South Australia in 1836. The role beca ...

allowed Islanders to assert control and reject government controls. In 1937, the inaugural meeting of Island Councillors on Yorke Island resulted in the ''

Torres Strait Islander Act 1939 Torres may refer to: People *Torres (surname), a Spanish and Portuguese surname *Torres (musician), singer-songwriter Mackenzie Scott ** ''Torres'' (album), 2013 self-titled album by Torres Places Americas *Torres, Colorado, an unincorporated co ...

'', giving Islanders more authority in their own affairs and establishing local governments on each island. After the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...

broke out in 1941, over 700 Islanders volunteered to defend the Torres Strait. This group was organised into the

Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion The Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army during the Second World War. Initially raised as a Company (military unit), company-sized unit in 1941, it was expanded to a full battalion in 1942 and w ...

. The migration of Islanders to mainland Australia increased as jobs disappeared in the pearling industry. A call for independence from Australia in the 1980s arose as the government failed to provide basic infrastructure on the island. Murray Island's most famous resident was trade unionist

Eddie Mabo Edward Koiki Mabo ( ; Sambo) (29 June 1936 – 21 January 1992) was an Indigenous Australian man from the Torres Strait Islands known for his role in campaigning for Indigenous land rights in Australia, in particular the landmark decision of t ...

, whose decision to sue the Queensland Government to secure ownership of his land, which had been removed from his ancestors by the British colonial powers using the ''

terra nullius ''Terra nullius'' (, plural ''terrae nullius'') is a Latin expression meaning " nobody's land". Since the nineteenth century it has occasionally been used in international law as a principle to justify claims that territory may be acquired ...

'' legal concept, ultimately led the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation. The High Court was establi ...

, on appeal from the Supreme Court of the State of Queensland, to issue the "

Mabo decision ''Mabo v Queensland (No 2)'' (commonly known as the ''Mabo case'' or simply ''Mabo''; ) is a landmark decision of the High Court of Australia that recognised the existence of Native Title in Australia.. It was brought by Eddie Mabo and othe ...

" on 3 June 1992, finally recognising Mabo's

native title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty to that land by another colonising state. The requirements of proof for the recognition of ab ...

rights on his land. The decision continues to have ramifications for Australia. Mabo himself died a few months before the decision. After vandalism to his grave site, he was reburied on Murray Island, where Islanders performed a traditional ceremony for the burial of a king.

Demographics

In the , Mer Island had a population of 450 people. In the , Mer Island had a population of 406 people.

Education

Mer Campus is a primary (Early Childhood-6) campus of

Tagai State College Tagai State College is a primary and secondary school in the Torres Strait Islands in Queensland, Australia. It has its headquarters on Thursday Island Thursday Island, colloquially known as TI, or in the Kalaw Lagaw Ya, Kawrareg dialect, W ...

on an unnamed road at . There are no secondary schools on Mer Island. The secondary campus of Tagai State College is on

Thursday Island Thursday Island, colloquially known as TI, or in the Kalaw Lagaw Ya, Kawrareg dialect, Waiben or Waibene, is an island of the Torres Strait Islands, an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait. TI is located approximately ...

over away. Boarding facilities are available on Thursday Island.

Culture

The people of Mer maintain their traditional culture. Modern influences such as consumer goods, television, travel and radio are having an impact on traditional practices and culture. Despite this, song and dance remains an integral part of island life and is demonstrated through celebrations such as Mabo Day, Coming of the Light, Tombstone openings and other cultural events. In 2007, after two years of negotiations, the skulls of five Islander tribesmen were returned to Australia from a

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

museum where they had been archived for more than 100 years. The artist

Ricardo Idagi Ricardo is the Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a s ...

was born on Murray Island. Idagi won the main prize at the Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards in 2009.

Language

The people of Murray Island speak

Torres Strait Creole Torres Strait Creole (), also known as Torres Strait Pidgin, Brokan/Broken, Cape York Creole, Lockhart Creole, Kriol, Papuan, Broken English, Blaikman, Big Thap, Pizin, and Ailan Tok, is an English-based creole language (a variety of Pidgin ...

and Meriam, a member of the

Eastern Trans-Fly languages The Eastern Trans-Fly (or Oriomo Plateau) languages are a small independent language family, family of Papuan languages spoken in the Oriomo Plateau to the west of the Fly River in New Guinea. Classification The languages constituted a branch ...

of Trans–New Guinea; its sister languages being Bini, Wipi and Gizrra. Though it is unrelated to

Kalaw Lagaw Ya Kalau Lagau Ya, Kalaw Lagaw Ya, Kala Lagaw Ya (), or the Western Torres Strait language (also several other names, see below) is the language indigenous to the central and western Torres Strait Islands, Queensland, Australia. On some islands, ...

of the Central and Western Islands of Torres Strait, the two languages share around 40% of their vocabulary. Torres Strait English is a second language.

Governance

PSM V85 D230 Natives of the murray islands torres straits

Murray Island is governed by the Community Council, which is responsible for roads, water, housing and community events. The Community Council is an integral part of community life. The elders of the community hold a position of respect and also have a major influence on island life. Queensland's control was moved from just 3 miles, to a large 60 miles offshore. This brought all of Torres Strait that were within a couple hundred metres of New guineas coast, into Queensland. The laws rose from requests from the public, who were asking for the lease of islands Queensland's coast. As before this, all islands that were within three miles of the coast, were under Queensland's control. Murray island waited unclaimed until 1879. In 1879, Britain annexed the island to Queensland. The reason for annexation was to protect the British and their property, control the Torres Strait and sea lane to India, dominate fishing and pearling industries and to extend authority to some non-British areas. Britain also gave all control of Torres Strait islands to Queensland, with no negotiating treaties, in order to avert enemy colonial powers claiming the region. Queensland State Archives 2531 Murray Island court house and people 1898

Queensland State Archives 2531 Murray Island court house and people 1898

Notable people

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

campaigner for Indigenous

land rights Land law is the form of law that deals with the rights to use, alienate, or exclude others from land. In many jurisdictions, these kinds of property are referred to as real estate or real property, as distinct from personal property. Land use ...

Gail Mabo Gail Mabo (born 1965) is an Australian visual artist who has had her work exhibited across Australia. She is the daughter of land rights campaigner Eddie Mabo and educator and activist Bonita Mabo. She was formerly a dancer and choreographer ...

, artist, daughter of Eddie * Albert Proud, Australian rules footballer with the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

, born on Mer Island.

References

External links

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner
an

for more information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs {{Torres Strait Torres Strait Island Region Localities in Queensland Extinct volcanoes Headhunting Pleistocene volcanoes Torres Strait Islands Torres Strait Islands communities Volcanoes of Queensland