Torres Strait Islanders
Torres Strait Islanders use the name of their island community to describe themselves, for example, Badu, Murray, Yam, Boigu. The Torres Strait Islands lie in the Torres Strait which is the stretch of water that separates Cape York Peninsula in north Queensland from Papua New Guinea.
Tools
Throughout the 50,000 years or more that Aboriginal people have been on the continent, they have had to adapt to dramatic changes in their environment caused by variations in climate and movement of landmasses. Wooden tools rarely survive in the earth, but we know from one unique archaeological find that the boomerang (and the barbed spear) was invented more than 10,000 years ago.
Rock art shows changes in wooden tools and such other perishable items as headdresses. Around 5,000 years ago there was even a radical change in the stone tools themselves, with small, delicately worked points and blades beginning to be produced. This change may have been associated with the use of composite tools, that is, with points used on a spear in place of a sharpened wooden end.
Styles of Art
Throughout the ancient history of the Aboriginal people there were many changes more important than technological ones. Many different styles of rock art appeared in different regions and changed over time, from the stylised, symbolic ancient engravings to the colourful X-ray art of the north and the vivid hunting scenes of east and west. Together with changes in burial practices, such differences undoubtedly reflect changing religious beliefs and rituals.
References and Readings
"Aborigines, Torres Strait Islanders, Indigenous and Aboriginal
peoples"; Encyclopedia of Australia 1996. Published by Webster
Publishing, 1995. Copyright Webster Publishing, and/or contributors.
Photo: Dancer © 1998, courtesy of Minjungbal
Aboriginal Cultural Centre
