Torres Strait Islands

Brief History
The Torres Strait Islands are situated off the Cape York Peninsula and form part of the State of Queensland, Australia. More than 100 islands make up the Torres Strait Islands, stretching from the peninsula north to the Papua New Guinea border. The Torres Strait Islanders are Australian citizens of Melanesian extraction and therefore are not related to the Australian Aborigines.

Getting Started with Torres Strait Islands research
This portal will provide links to articles about general research topics.

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Family History Unit, offers assistance with tracing Indigenous heritage. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Biographical Index is available online. There is a family history information kit available plus family history guides, Indigenous family history guides and other related services.

Mura Gadi

An online guide to manuscripts, pictures and oral histories relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders held in the National Library of Australia. There are online index searches, searches by region and links to digitized copies of the material if available.

National Archives of Australia Indigenous Australia

This site details records held for the Northern Territory and Victoria plus details of government policies on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs. There is information on the Bringing Them Home name index (not online) and links to online fact sheets, research guides, books and relevant websites. For example refer Fact Sheet 113 link below;

http://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/publications/fact-sheets/fs113.aspx

National Archives of Australia Shop Research Guides include Tracking Family: A Guide to Aboriginal Records Relating to the Northern Territory. This is available as a PDF file.

Aboriginal Studies WWW Virtual Library by Dr T Matthew Ciolek. This Internet guide to Aboriginal studies has links to hundreds of specialist information sites. A site search engine available.

Australian Aboriginal Genealogy Resources by Paul Mackett provides access to extracts and transcripts from a wide range of publically available documents and records such as birth, death and marriage indexes, prison records and mission records.

Indigenous Australians at War by Garth O'Connell. A site dedicated to Indigenous Australians who served in war and peacetime. Includes bibliography, roll of honour, photographs, links and more.

State Library of Queensland's Indigenous Library Services. This site offers information on major resources held, available guides, electronic resources and other related Internet sites.

Jurisdictions
There are four main island groups forming the Torres Strait Island Regional Council.

High western islands


 * Thursday Island
 * Horn (Narupia)
 * Prince of Wales (Muralag)
 * Hammond (Kiriri)
 * St Pauls (Moa Island)
 * Kubin
 * Badu
 * Mabuiag

Central Islands


 * Yorke (Masig)
 * Coconut (Warraber)
 * Sue (Poruma)
 * Yam (Iama)

Eastern Islands


 * Murray Group - Maer (Mer), Diwar, Waier

Northern Group


 * Boigu
 * Saibai
 * Dauan

Research Tools

 * J. Singe, The Torres Strait: people and history, St Lucia, University of Queensland Press, 1989
 * Jeremy Beckett, Torres Strait Islanders: custom and colonialism, Melbourne, Cambridge University Press, 1987
 * Steve Mullins, Torres Strait: a history of colonial occupation and culture contact 1864-1897, Rockhampton, University of Central Queensland Press, 1994

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