4 - From the Settlers' Island to the Island for Future Generations of Indigenous Peoples.

Torres Strait Islanders (abbreviated to “Islanders” hereafter) are Australian indigenous peoples, culturally different to Australian Aboriginal people. Thursday Island was settled and developed by Europeans as an administrative and economic center for the region, but it also served as a base for the colonial control of Islanders, who were subject to British domination over all aspects of their daily and social lives. Thus, Thursday Island came to be called “the settlers’ island.”

However, in Islander society today, Thursday Island is increasingly seen as part of the indigenous community, rather than as a late addition to the traditional territories. Moreover, some see it as the most suitable place to raise their children and send them to school. 

This presentation will examine how Islanders’ perspectives have shifted by comparing the memoirs of schools on Thursday Island in colonial times with the present-day narratives of Islanders. The transition from a colonial control center, where Islander children (elders now) experienced racial isolation even inside the schools, to a kind of node connecting the mainland and the Torres Strait’s other islands, has also shifted Islanders’ perspectives on Thursday Island. Through the experiences and stories of their elders, Torres Strait Islanders turned what was once a colonial outpost into an ancestral home.