The map is a bit creased but hopefully you get the idea. The Torres Strait islands extend all the way from Cape York to New Guinea. Some are very close to NG. The Torres Strait flag recognises 5 groups of islands. The group around TI are the closest to Queensland. They are all part of Australia.
You can see that TI is quite small and in the middle of this group. Wednesday Island is in the North East. Friday Island is the smallish one WSW of Thursday. The large one (which doesn’t seem to have much development except quite close to the coast) is Prince of Wales Island (pop c.60). The next largest and SE of TI is Horn Island where the airport is. Then there are Hammond (pop260) and Goods island as the main ones nearby.
The population of TI is a bit under 3000. It has the regional hospital and high school and most of the main services for the islands. Horn Island, on the other hand has a bit more than 500. Friday Island is listed as 20.Wednesday Island approx 250.
The ferry from Seisia, near Bamaga, to Thursday Island, runs twice daily. It takes around 90 minutes.we took the morning ferry (8am?) on Saturday, with just a small pack with a change of clothes and toiletries etc. Our main luggage went back to Cairns on the bus. (One and a half days on as direct a route as possible, rather than the scenic routes we had taken on the way up.)
on arrival our small packs were taken straight to our motel, while we joined an island bus tour. First stop was Green Hill (the western high point ). Victoria Fort was built there in 1891-93 to guard against a possible Russian incursion. Underground tunnels were excavated to store ammunition etc, and a walled ‘keep’ encircled the fort at the top of the hill. Somewhere there were barracks, but they were long dismantled and the materials taken to Darwin.
it was abandoned as a military base in 1926, used as a signal station during WW2, and then by the Bureau of Meteorology as a weather station 1954-1993. It is now a museum. The above aerial photo was on display in the museum there.
apparently only one shot was ever fired in ‘anger’ when an approaching vessel did not announce its intentions. Apparently it was a friendly ship.
We then did a circuit of some of the sights. Stopped at the cemetery where there are many Japanese graves, mainly relating to the pearling industry. Often they are only identified with a white post. Interestingly, in the area I walked by, there were very many graves for the same family in close proximity. I assume family blocks have been reserved. Bernard Namok is buried here. He designed the Torres Strait flag: horizontal stripes of green on top and bottom (New Guinea land at the top, Cape York land at the bottom) and blue (ocean) across the middle; a 5-pointed star in the middle, surrounded by a semicircular representation of the headdress commonly used in traditional dances .
Back in town the Catholic Church is the oldest in the islands. The Anglican Church ( which for many years had cathedral status, but there is no longer a bishop based here) was built as a memorial to the sinking of the Quetta, a ship out of Brisbane heading for TI in February 1890, which hit an unchartered rock just past Albany Island (around 30 km from TI) with huge loss of life. The ships bell and anchor are in the grounds.
After lunch we visited the Kazu pearl farm on Friday Island. The big pearl companies pulled out many years ago. The owner of Kazu previously worked for a big company and bought the business and it is now family-operated. He is Japanese. I must admit I didn’t understand all the details of his operation. It seems they now only do tours for Outback Spirit (that’s every 2 days in the tourist season) and do some sales through other avenues. Interesting to watch him with dentist-like instruments, implanting the small ‘kernel’ around which the pearl will grow – though the barely-opened shell. The shells are quite large – perhaps 4 inches in diameter (what is that in ‘real money’). 6 shells are placed in a hanging basket 2×3 and suspended on racks in the sea off their jetty. It takes 2-3 years to grow good-sized pearls, and the shells have to be washed several times a year. I think he said he has 5000 active shells at any time. Keeps him busy!
#19 in the diagram indicates where the pearl kernel is placed. To illustrate, a pearl – round, white -located in the same place in the live shell. (When he opened this shell. We could see the heart of the shell beating.
Friday Island is the one with the two humps. Taken from green Hill.
We caught the yellow school water taxi to Friday Island. Most of the islands don’t have schools, and TI has the only high school.
Millman Hill is the eastern high point. It has the Telstra tower which has recently been upgraded to 5G, anfpd the two new wind turbines – but they are still waiting for parts from Denmark.
Given it is a regional centre, I was expecting the shopping strip to be a bit more vibrant, but most shops close at midday on Saturdays and it seems many businesses don’t open Saturdays, so we probably didn’t see the business area at its best.
an interesting sojourn.
travellingkathy 