Map of Torres Strait, showing route of pearl shell commission, 1908

Thursday Island 4875
Australia
10° 34' 47.5932" S, 142° 13' 6.5712" E
1 January 1908
20 May 2011
20 May 2011

Location

Thursday Island 4875
Australia
10° 34' 47.5932" S, 142° 13' 6.5712" E

School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics, The University of Queensland

12 miles to an inch

Map of Torres Strait, showing route of pearl shell commission, 1908. When it appeared in the Queensland parliamentary papers the full title to this map was, ‘Map of the Torres Strait: showing islands, reefs, passages, and route of pearl shell commission in “Q.G.S. Champion” June 22—30, 1908.’ At the request of the Governor of Queensland, Frederic John Napier, a Royal Commission was ordered to inquire and report upon the working of the Pearl-shell and Beche-de-Mer Industry, with a focus on three things: ‘(1) The working of pearl-oyster beds in such a manner as to avoid depletion and to make the industry regular and permanent; (2) The scientific cultivation of pearl-oysters and the probabilities of success in that direction; and (3) The possibilities of encouraging white divers, with a view to their gradual substitution for aliens in that capacity’. To achieve their tasks the members of the commission travelled to the Torres Strait in June 1908. Between 9 and 20 June they interviewed people on Thursday Island. Between 22 June and 30 June they visited seven islands gathering further evidence. This map shows their journey (marked in red) collecting testimony for the Royal Commission. The detailed inset shows Thursday, Friday, Hammond and Prince of Wales Islands. At the top of Hammond Island the map shows different marks of exploitation, such as ‘crushing machines’ for pearl-shell activity and also a ‘Reserve for Aborigines’. And on Friday Island, there is a leper station. Upon completion the Royal Commission recommended that the pearl-shell and beche-de-mer fisheries were suffering from severe depletion of natural supplies, that scientific cultivation of pearl-oysters could be undertaken, and contrary to their investigative purposes that ‘alien’ divers were better suited to work in the tropics. One of their most drastic recommendations called for the closure of the beche-de-mer industry for two years. ‘Pearl-shell and beche-de-mer commission’, Queensland parliamentary papers, vol 2, 1908. Collection of the School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics, The University of Queensland

Pearl divers, Thursday Island, 1958. Slide by Harry Hyndman, Collection of the Centre for the Government of Queensland, University of Queensland

Copyright © Peter Hyndman and the Centre for the Government of Queensland, University of Queensland

Pearl shell on the wharf, Thursday Island, 1958. Slide by Harry Hyndman, Collection of the Centre for the Government of Queensland, University of Queensland

Copyright © Peter Hyndman and the Centre for the Government of Queensland, University of Queensland

Pearling lugger Reliance with skipper J.

Copyright © Peter Hyndman and the Centre for the Government of Queensland, University of Queensland

Dive helmet, pre 1939

This diving helmet was used by deep sea divers in the early twentieth century.

Location

Australia
H3866
Queensland Museum
23 November 2010
Copyright © Queensland Museum, 2010
Australia

Pearling luggers, Thursday Island, 1959. Slides by Lionel Bevis, Collection of the Centre for the Government of Queensland

Copyright © Lionel Bevis and Collection of the Centre for the Government of Queensland

The pearling industry, 1965-66, Torres Strait. Slides by Elna Kerswell, Collection of the Centre for the Government of Queensland

Copyright © Elna Kerswell and Collection of the Centre for the Government of Queensland

Pearl shell yield graph, 1890-1941. The yield per boat stands in an inverse relationship to the number of diving boats engaged in the pearling industry at Thursday Island, strongly suggesting that the resource was under stress from overharvesting, and that the best means of maximising profit would have been to limit the harvest. Collection of Regina Ganter

Collection of Regina Ganter

Soon after the discovery of pearl-shell, the Torres Strait became dotted with pearl-shell and trepang stations, and Queensland extended its boundaries in 1879 in order to benefit from the exponentially growing marine industry. Redrawn map from Regina Ganter, The pearl-shellers of Torres Strait, 1994

From Regina Ganter, The pearl-shellers of Torres Strait, 1994

Pearl swimming diving with goggles, 1917. The divers usually made such goggles from tortoiseshell. Collection of Regina Ganter

In 1917 some 550 Torres Strait Islanders worked on pearling boats, about half of them on community-owned ‘company boats’, typically employed as swimming divers. The community lugger scheme had been started by philanthropic effort in 1897 to free indigenous people from dependence on large and exploitative companies. For many years it was jointly conducted by the Papuan Industries Limited and the Queensland Government’s Department of Native Affairs, and became very popular among Torres Strait Islanders, who used the luggers which they were able to purchase through this scheme for transport, visiting, and various kinds of subsistence fishing. It was for this very reason that the Department considered it an economic failure and continued to tighten its grip over the scheme, until it could no longer be said that the communities were owning the luggers. This led to a ‘lugger strike’ against the paternalism of the Department in 1936, and to separate legislation for Torres Strait in 1939 (separate from mainland Aborigines) with some limited self-government.  

Collection of Regina Ganter
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