Whatever happened in Torres Strait?: interpreting the Anglican split of 1998

Recent movements within world Anglicanism towards a more democratic representation of the church are in contrast to Torres Strait Islanders' assertion of their own male-led conservative and hierarchical body. These characteristics have marked Torres Strait Island Anglicanism for many years. On the surface, the various strands leading to a conflict over a choice of leader in 1997 focused upon discordant relationships and faulty decision-making procedures, especially the surrender of the diocese of Carpentaria to the adjacent diocese of North Queensland and a subsequent choice of a bishop where Torres Strait clergy claimed that the terms of the surrender had been dishonoured. Yet below the surface, the cleavage between Island and European leadership was also a sign of the ideological shift which was occurring in the Anglican Church of Australia. Supported by European elements within that church opposed to the ordination of women, Islander clergy charged that the mainland body was deserting the faith and order of the 'church of the fathers'. With the Islanders newly empowered, as they perceived it, by the Mabo judgement of the High Court of Australia in 1992, their perception appears to have been that, in spirit, the mainland church denied what the High Court's decision recognised: the ultimate control by Islanders over their own affairs.

The Bishop of Carpentaria and the Torres Strait pearlers' strike of 1936

The exploitation of Islander pearl divers in Torres Strait and the Queensland Government's control of divers' wages was the major cause of a strike by 400 divers in 1936. The strike was also fuelled by overall discontent with the Queensland Government's rule and a desire to be free of the Queensland Protectors. An address in 1935 by Stephen Davies, Bishop of Carpentaria, urging the Commonwealth of Australia to strip Queensland and other states of management of Island and Aboriginal affairs provided the catalyst. Davies's Torres Strait Island clergy played a pivotal role in the resistance to state control. One lasting effect of the strike lay in the introduction of elected Islander councils in 1937, but what happened subsequently allowed the perpetuation of Queensland control through the new Department of Native Affairs. The results of the strike fell short of the complete transfer to the Commonwealth that the Torres Strait pearl divers and clergy had envisaged.

A Bishop's wife in Torres Strait: Joan Davies 1930-49

Joan Davies’s relationship with her husband challenges the view that women performed in the merely private and subservient realm. Joan and her husband did not for long remain embedded in a domestic relationship of dominance and subordination. This Australian clergy marriage of the 1930s shows the development of a smooth harmony of interests, with the wife gaining from an experienced husband a new role and becoming his counsellor and organiser.

Papuan Spine-tailed Swifts Mearnsia novaeguineae on Boigu Island, Torres Strait, Queensland

Three Papuan Spine-tailed Swifts Mearnsia novaeguineae were seen together on 17 November 2004 on Boigu Island, Torres Strait, Queensland. They were watched for a period of 7 minutes as they circled low over a small freshwater wetland, and ~70 digital photographs of the birds were obtained. This record was unanimously accepted by the Birds Australia Rarities Committee as the first of this species for Australian territory.