Warraber (Sue Island)

Introduction

Sue Island, also known as Warraber Island, is located in the central island group of Torres Strait. Sue, Beth and Poll Islands together make up the group of islands known as the ‘Three Sisters’. Of Melanesian origin, the Torres Strait Islander people of Sue Island lived in village communities and followed traditional patterns of hunting, fishing, agriculture and trade for many thousands of years before contact was made with the first European visitors to the region^[1]. These traditional patterns of living continue across the Torres Strait today.

The Gau (Gow) and Wahmer (Wye-mer) clans are the Traditional Owners of Sue Island^[2].

History of Sue Island

European contact

In the early 1860s, beche-de-mer (sea cucumber) and pearling boats began working the reefs of Torres Strait. During the 1870s, pearling and beche-de-mer stations were established on the Islands of Nagir and Poruma by operators including Frank Jardine and George Pearson. George Pearson employed Islander men from Sue, Coconut and Aurid to work as divers and crew on his boats. Pearson married an Islander woman from Sue Island named Mapu. Their son Olandi became a councillor and church representative for the people of the Three Sisters island group^[3].

In 1872, the Queensland Government sought to extend its jurisdiction and requested the support of the British Government^[4]. Letters Patent^[5] were issued by the British Government in 1872 creating a new boundary for the colony, which encompassed all islands within a 60 nautical mile radius of the coast of Queensland. This boundary was further extended to 96km by the Queensland Coast Islands Act 1879^[6] and included the islands of Boigu, Erub, Mer and Saibai, which lay beyond the previous 60 nautical mile limit. The new legislation enabled the Queensland Government to control and regulate bases for the beche-de-mer and pearling industries which previously had operated outside its jurisdiction^[7].

Torres Strait Islanders refer to the arrival of London Missionary Society (LMS) missionaries in July 1871 as ‘the Coming of the Light’. An LMS church was built on the north side of Sue Island in the early 1900s, using bush timber, grass roofing and woven palm leaf walls^[8].

In November 1912, 160 acres of land on the Three Sisters Island group was officially gazetted as an Aboriginal reserve by the Queensland Government. Many other Torres Strait Islands were gazetted as Aboriginal reserves at the same time^[9].

During the 1930s, fresh water supplies on the island were contaminated by sea water forcing many residents to move to other islands^[10]. Those who remained included the families of Mari, Jalag Bob, Tamu Nari, Ganaia and Aikuru. Ganaia and Aikuru served as unofficial councillors for the island community^[11].

In 1936, around 70% of the Torres Strait Islander workforce went on strike in the first organised challenge against government authority made by Torres Strait Islanders. The nine-month strike was an expression of Islanders’ anger and resentment at the increasing government control of their livelihoods. The strike protested against government interference in wages, trade and commerce and also called for the lifting of evening curfews, the removal of the permit system for inter-island travel, and the recognition of the Islanders’ right to recruit their own boat crews^[12].

The strike produced a number of significant reforms and innovations. Unpopular local Protector J.D McLean was removed and replaced by Cornelius O’Leary. O’Leary established a system of regular consultations with elected Islander council representatives. The new island councils were given a degree of autonomy including control over local island police and courts^[13].

On 23 August 1937, O’Leary convened the first Inter Islander Councillors Conference at Masig. Representatives from 14 Torres Strait communities attended. Aikuru represented Sue Island at the conference. After lengthy discussions, unpopular bylaws (including the evening curfews) were cancelled and a new code of local representation was agreed upon^[14].

In 1939, the Queensland Government passed the Torres Strait Islander Act 1939, which incorporated many of the recommendations discussed at the conference. A key section of the new act officially recognised Torres Strait Islanders as a separate people from Aboriginal Australians^[15].

During World War Two, the Australian Government recruited Torres Strait Islander men to serve in the armed forces. Enlisted men from Sue Island and other island communities formed the Torres Strait Light Infantry. While the Torres Strait Light Infantry were respected as soldiers, they only received one third of the pay given to white Australian servicemen. On 31 December 1943, members of the Torres Strait Light Infantry went on strike, calling for equal pay and equal rights. The Australian Government agreed to increase their pay to two thirds the level received by white servicemen. Full back pay was offered in compensation to the Torres Strait servicemen by the Australian Government in the 1980s^[16].

After World War Two, the pearling industry declined across Torres Strait and Islanders were permitted to work and settle on the Australian mainland. Commercial rock lobster and mackerel fishing have become important export industries at Sue Island and the other islands of the Three Sister’s group^[17].

After gaining its independence from Australia in 1975, Papua New Guinea asserted its right to the islands and waters of the Torres Straits. In December 1978, a treaty was signed by the Australian and Papua New Guinea governments that described the boundaries between the 2 countries and the use of the sea area by both parties^[18]. The Torres Strait Treaty, which has operated since February 1985, contains special provision for free movement (without passports or visas) between both countries^[19]. Free movement between communities applies to traditional activities such as fishing, trading and family gatherings, which occur in a specifically created Protected Zone and nearby areas^[20]. The Protected Zone also assists in the preservation and protection of the land, sea, air and native plant and animal life of the Torres Strait^[21].

Local government and Deed of Grant in trust communities

Initially not every island had its own separate Council. Sue Island residents, for example, were represented by Coconut Island councillors, at least until 1958.

On 30 March 1985, the Sue Island community elected 3 councillors to constitute an autonomous Warraber Island Council established under the Community Services (Torres Strait) Act 1984. The Act conferred local government type powers and responsibilities upon Torres Strait Islander councils for the first time. The council area, previously an Aboriginal reserve held by the Queensland Government, was transferred on 21 October 1985 to the trusteeship of the council under a Deed of Grant in Trust^[22].

On 24 April 2002 the council’s name was changed from Sue Island Council to Warraber Island Council. In 2007, the Local Government Reform Commission recommended that the 15 Torres Strait Island councils be abolished and the Torres Strait Island Regional Council be established in their place. In elections conducted under the Local Government on 15 March 2008, members of the 15 communities comprising the Torres Strait Island Regional Council local government area each voted for a local councillor and a mayor to constitute a council consisting of 15 councillors plus a mayor.

End notes

1. R E Johannes and J W MacFarlane, Traditional Fishing in the Torres Strait Islands (CSIRO; 1991) 112-113; M Fuary, In So Many Words: An Ethnography of Life and Identity on Yam Island, Torres Strait (PhD Thesis, James Cook University, Townsville; 1991) 68-71.
2. Warraber People v State of Queensland ^[2000] FCA 1066.
3. S Mullins, Torres Strait, A History of Colonial Occupation and Culture Contact 1864-1897 (Central Queensland University Press, Rockhampton; 1994) 78, 163; Queensland, Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island and Multicultural Affairs, Community and Personal Histories Unit, Anna Shnukal Genealogies – Pearson Family.
4. S B Kaye, Jurisdictional Patchwork: Law of the Sea and Native Title Issues in the Torres Strait (2001) 2, Melbourne Journal of International Law.
5. Queensland, Queensland Statutes (1963) vol.2, 712.
6. See also Colonial Boundaries Act 1895 (Imp); Wacando v Commonwealth (1981) 148 CLR 1.
7. S Mullins, Above n3, 139-161.
8. Queensland, Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island and Multicultural Affairs, Community and Personal Histories Unit, Anna Shnukal Genealogies – Nari Family.
9. Queensland Government Gazette, vol.99, no.138, 1912, 1330.
10. R E Johnannes and J W McFarlane, Traditional Fishing in the Torres Strait Islands, 112.
11. Queensland, Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island and Multicultural Affairs, Community and Personal Histories Unit, Anna Shnukal Genealogies – Nari Family and Aikuru Family.
12. N Sharp, Stars of Tagai, The Torres Strait Islanders (Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra; 1993) 181-186, 278; J Beckett, Torres Strait Islanders: Custom and Colonialism (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; 1987) 54.
13. J Beckett, Above n12, 54-55.
14. N Sharp, Above n12, 210-214; Queensland, Annual Report of the Department of Native Affairs for 1937 (1938) 13; Queensland State Archives, A/3941 Minutes of Torres Strait Councillors Conference held at Yorke Island 23-25 August 1937; Queensland, Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island and Multicultural Affairs, Community and Personal Histories Unit, Anna Shnukal Genealogy – Aikuru Family.
15. Sections 3 (a) – (c) of the Torres Strait Islander Act (Qld) 1939. See also: Queensland, Annual Report of the Department of Native Affairs for 1939 (1940) 1; N Sharp, Above n12, 214-216.
16. J Beckett, Above n12, 64-65; Australian War Memorial, Wartime Issue 12 ‘One Ilan Man: the Torres Strait Light Infantry’ (2000) http://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/12/article at 31 January 2013.
17. R E Johnannes and J W McFarlane, Above n1, 113.
18. For further information see: Australia, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/torres-strait/Pages/the-torres-strait-treaty; Sharp, 226-227.
19. Under Art. 11.
20. See also Art 12.
21. Further information about the Protected Zone can be found at: http://www.pzja.gov.au/.
22. Queensland, Annual Report of the Department of Community Services for 1986 (1987) 3; Queensland, Annual Report of the Department of Community Services for 1987 (1988) 29.