Kaurareg
Kaurareg people | |
---|---|
aka: Kauraraiga, Kaurarega, Kowrarega, Kauralaig, Kauraleg, Kororega, Korariga, Kauralaigna, Malulaig, Muralug (name of part of | |
Hierarchy | |
Language family: | Pama–Nyungan |
Language branch/group: | Western and Central Torres Strait Language |
Group dialect: | Kauraraigau Ya |
Area | |
Bioregion: | Cape York Peninsula |
Location: | Torres Strait Islands, Far North Queensland, Australia |
Coordinates: | 10°41′02″S 142°11′06″E / 10.684°S 142.185°E |
Islands: | Archipelago |
Kaurareg (alt. Kauraraiga, plural Kauraraigalai, Kauraregale) is the name for one of the
The Kaurareg are lower Western Islanders, based on the
Language
The Kaurareg speak a dialect of
Torres Island historical context
The Kaurareg lie in the lower Western island group among the 5 basic ethno-culturally distinct groups that constituted the traditional world of the Torres Strait Islanders, the others being the
The Kaurareg had close links with the tribes of northern Cape York, which was home to a number of Aboriginal groups. These were the
History of contact with westerners
The Kaurareg people were extensively documented before their decimation and the destruction of their traditional life, by
18th century: Fresh water source
Muralag had been noted as a source of fresh water since the days of early British expeditions. In 1791, Captain E. Edwards and the crew of HMS Pandora arrived in four boats on the island, seeking fresh water after the Pandora was wrecked on a reef.[12]
1869: Sperwer incident and reprisals
In mid-April 1869 a schooner, the Sperwer, while trading and trawling for
Three Kaurareg men were captured, found guilty and executed by the
Jardine soon afterwards went on leave, and Chester, who took over as the resident government administrator, took further measures against them. Misinformed that Gascoyne's wife and child were living with the Kaurareg, he had kidnapped a Kaurareg elder, Passiwapod, as a pawn to ransom in exchange for the Gascoynes. The elder was released when the information proved to be false; the Gascoynes were in Melbourne.[17]
In April 1870 Chester again set forth in
1880s–20th century: survival
Kaurareg survivors were encountered in the 1880s at Yata (Port Lihou) and at Kiwain (Blue Fish Point) opposite Thursday Island, and at the close of the century their numbers were reduced to a hundred or so.[21] The remnants of the Kaurareg were then shifted to Kiriri/Hammond Island, and later to Moa Island (Adam) in the 1920s,[22] and Puruma/Coconut Island.[23]
The Anglican Reverend Canon John Done, who had arrived as a missionary in 1915 and was much impressed by the Torres Islanders spirituality, noted in 1919 the 80 remaining Kauraregs' desperate situation – the worst of all the Islanders – and by 1920 they had been reduced to 67, after
A large population of Kaurareg people still lives on Horn Island,
Traditional lands
After the enactment of the Native Title Act 1993,[22] in May 1996, the Kaurareg people lodged five native title claims with the National Native Title Tribunal over parts of the following islands:[26]
- Muralag (Prince of Wales Island)
- Nurupai (Horn Island)
- Tarilag (Packe Island)
- Damaralag (Dumuralug Islet)
- Mipa (Pipa Islet, also known as Turtle Island)
- Yeta (Port Lihou Island)
- Zuna (Entrance Island)
In 2001 a federal court ruled to return the seven islands to Kaurareg control.[22]
Administered by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA), the Kaurareg declared their independence from Australia in 2002,[27] after regaining native title over their ancestral land. They call their lands the United Isles of Kaiwalagal.[22]
Historical records indicate that the Kaurareg Aboriginal people are the Traditional Owners for Thursday island; however there are (as of 2018[update]) no active Native Title claims over this area. The Kaurareg people refer to Thursday Island as "Waibene". For thousands of years the Kaurareg followed traditional patterns of hunting, fishing and agriculture and maintained close cultural and trading ties with the Aboriginal groups of the Northern Peninsula Area of Cape York.[28]
Identity and recognition
The Karuareg and Torres Strait communities have always lived alongside each other, and have close inter-familial and cultural ties.[24] However, Kaurareg people reported feeling neglected by ATSIC and TSRA, and "caught in the middle of a power struggle". This led to questions of identity among the people, who mostly do not view themselves as Torres Strait Islanders but as Aboriginal Australians.[22]
A 2012 community forum identified that
Kaurareg Aboriginal people have suffered cultural prejudice from the wider community but also within the local community. Historically they are a nation of people dispossessed of their traditional lands, culture and language. There has been little acknowledgement of the Kaurareg Aboriginal people from the people who settled on their traditional lands. This has caused immense tension, anger and hurt and people feel they are still fighting for the appropriate recognition.
The forum found that community fragmentation, followed by loss of culture and identity, disempowerment and government systems, were the things affecting the Kaurareg people negatively the most.[24]
Traditional practices
The Kaurareg distinguish at least six kinds of tide. Knowing where to hunt and fish, and in which kinds of currents, allows the Kaurareg access to a wide range of seafood. A strong ethic of sustainability means that over-hunting is punished. Kaurareg marine lore teaches "one can fish successfully only when one is hungry".[29]
The story of these people was featured in the SBS television program Living Black.[30] Kaurareg men were long-haired and went naked, save for as belt, while the women, apart from periods of mourning when it was removed, and replaced by a soger (long fringed skirt)[31] wore a leaf petticoat (zazi), and had closely cropped hair. Both septum piercing and wooden lobe plugs were customary.[32]
Death rites among the Kaurareg were apparently the same as those prevailing among the Mua and other Islanders. Once the deceased's mari (spirit) left the body, the latter was laid on a sara (mortuary bier raised on four legs) and left until decomposition stripped the flesh from the bones, and the latter were rubbed with red, gathered within a bark sheath and buried in a sand mound surrounded by shells, skulls and dugong bones.[31]
Notable people
- Patty Mills, NBA basketball player
See also
Notes
- ^ Note: Needs checking – Aboriginal or Islander people?
Citations
- ^ Dousset 2005.
- ^ AUSLANG 2012.
- ^ Shnukal 2001, pp. 23–24.
- ^ Shnukal 2008, p. 24.
- ^ Shnukal 2008, pp. 24–25.
- ^ Greer, McIntyre-Tamwoy & Henry 2011, p. 2.
- ^ Haddon 2011, pp. 50–51.
- ^ Shnukal 2008, p. 8.
- ^ a b Sharp 1992, p. 29.
- ^ Moore 1979, pp. 8–9.
- ^ Wallace 2011, pp. 4–7.
- ^ Sharp 1992, pp. 105, 109.
- ^ Carroll 1969, p. 40 n21.
- ^ Carroll 1969, p. 37.
- ^ Queensland Govt: Hammond 2014.
- ^ Queensland Govt: Thursday Is. 2014.
- ^ a b Sharp 1992, pp. 71–72.
- ^ Bowen & Bowen 2002, p. 149.
- ^ Osborne 2009, p. 11.
- ^ Moore 1979, pp. 12–13.
- ^ Sharp 1992, p. 109.
- ^ a b c d e f Cultural Survival 2002.
- ^ a b Sharp 1992, pp. 109–110.
- ^ a b c d Healing Foundation 2012.
- ^ Southon & Elders 2014, p. 352.
- ^ NNTT 2001.
- ^ ABC 2012.
- ^ GoQ 2018.
- ^ MESA 2013.
- ^ Clarke 2012.
- ^ a b Shnukal 2008, p. 23.
- ^ Shnukal 2008, p. 9.
Sources
- Bowen, James; Bowen, Margarita (2002). The Great Barrier Reef. ISBN 978-1-139-44064-6.
- Carroll, J.M., ed. (1969). "Journey Into Torres Straits" (PDF). Queensland Heritage. 2 (1): 35–42.
- Clarke, Allan (24 November 2012). "Kaurareg". Living Black. SBS Television. Retrieved 21 December 2013 – via YouTube.
- "Customary law and lore of the coast". Coastal and Marine Studies in Australia – Module 14. Marine Education Society of Australasia. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-521-47378-1.
- Dousset, Laurent (2005). "Kaurareg". AusAnthrop Australian Aboriginal tribal database. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
- Greer, Shelley; McIntyre-Tamwoy, Susan; Henry, Rosita (2011). Sentinel Sites in a cosmo-political seascape (PDF). 7th International Small Islands Conference, Airlie Beach, Whitsundays. pp. 2–10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 October 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-521-17986-7.
- "Hammond". Queensland Government. 26 November 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- "Kaurareg People Declare Independence from Australia". Cultural Survival. 2002. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
- The Kaurareg People's native title determinations: Questions and answers (PDF). National Native Title Tribunal. 2001. p. 1. ISBN 0-642-26208-X. Archived from the original on 12 September 2007.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link - Kaurareg Report (PDF) (Report). Healing Foundation. November 2012.
- Lahn, Julie (2003). Past Visions, Present Lives: and sociality and locaslity in a Torres Strait community (PDF). James Cook University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 October 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
- "Language information: Kala Lagaw Ya". Australian Indigenous Languages Database. AIATSIS. 26 June 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
- Lawrence, David; Lawrence, Helen Reeves (2004). "Torres Strait: the region and its people". In Davis, Richard (ed.). Woven Histories, Dancing Lives: Torres Strait Islander Identity, Culture and History. ISBN 978-0-855-75432-7.
- Memmott, Paul (2007). Gunyah, Goondie + Wurley: The Aboriginal Architecture of Australia. ISBN 978-0-702-23245-9.
- Moore, David R. (1979). Islanders and Aborigines at Cape York. ISBN 978-0-855-75082-4.
- Mullins, Steve (1995). Torres Strait: A History of Colonial Occupation and Culture Contact 1864-1897. ISBN 978-0-908-14095-4.
- Osborne, Elizabeth (2009). Throwing Off the Cloak: Reclaiming Self-reliance in Torres Strait. ISBN 978-0-855-75662-8.
- ISBN 978-4-772-21191-8.
- "Separatist moves in Torres Strait". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 26 March 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
- Sharp, Nonie (1992). Footprints Along the Cape York Sandbeaches. ISBN 978-0-855-75230-9.
- Shnukal, Anna (2001). "Torres Strait Islanders" (PDF). In Brandle, Maximilian (ed.). Multicultural Queensland 2001. Department of Premier and Cabinet, State of Queensland. pp. 21–35. ISBN 978-1-743-32389-2.
- Shnukal, Anna (2008). "Traditional Mua" (PDF). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. Cultural Heritage Series. 4 (2): 7–33.
- Southon, Michael; Elders, Kaurareg Tribal (2014) [First published 1998]. "The Sea of Waubin: The Kaurareg and their marine environment". In Peterson, Nicolas; Rigsby, Bruce (eds.). Customary marine tenure in Australia. ISBN 978-1-743-32389-2.
- "Thursday Island (Waiben)". Queensland Government. 26 November 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- "Thursday Island (Waiben)". Government of Queensland. 20 April 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2022. Text has been copied from this source, which is available under a Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
- Wallace, Lennie (2011). Cape York Peninsula. Boolarong Press. pp. 4–7. ISBN 978-1-921-92067-7.
Further reading
- Smith, Aaron (26 May 2018). "The 'forgotten people': When death came to the Torres Strait". CNN.