Darnley Island, Torres Strait
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Darnley Island or ''Erub'' in the native Papuan language, Meriam Mir, is an island formed by volcanic action and situated in the eastern section of the Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the Torres Strait Islands and is located near the Great Barrier Reef and just south of the Bligh entrance. The town on the island is also called Darnley, but the locality is called
Erub Island Darnley Island or ''Erub'' in the native Papuan language, Meriam Mir, is an island formed by volcanic action and situated in the eastern section of the Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the Torres Strait Islands and is locat ...
, both being within the
local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...
of Torres Strait Island Region. In the , Erub Island had a population of 328 people. The effective community language is Brokan ( Torres Strait Creole), though many people also still speak Meriam Mir, the traditional language.


History

The island was named by Captain William Bligh in 1792 during his second breadfruit voyage to the Pacific, after his distant relative, the
Earl of Darnley Earl of Darnley is a hereditary title that has been created three times, twice in the Peerage of Scotland and once in the Peerage of Ireland. The first creation in the Scots Peerage came in 1580 in favour of Esme Stewart, 1st Earl of Lennox, ...
. In 1871 representatives of the London Missionary Society (LMS) arrived in the Torres Straits on the vessel ''Surprise'', a ship owned or chartered by the LMS, after the
French Government The Government of France ( French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who ...
had demanded their removal from the Loyalty Islands and
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in 1869. They decided to expand into the Torres Straits and New Guinea. They were represented by two Englishmen, Reverend Samuel Macfarlane and Reverend A.W. Murray, and eight Lifu (Loyalty Islander) evangelists: Tapeso, Elia, Mataika, Guchong, Kerisidui, Wauaded, Sevine and Josaia, and their wives. The missionaries reached Erub on 1 July 1871, an event that came to be known as the "
Coming of the Light All Saints Anglican Church is a heritage-listed church at Darnley Island, Torres Strait Island Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1919 to 1938. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. History Comi ...
". One of the tribal elders of the island, Dabad, met them at Kemus (or Kernus) Beach after which he introduced them to Amani, another tribal elder, and the rest of the Erub Islanders. His role in the bringing of Christianity to the Torres Straits is memorialised by Dabad's Monument at Badog. The inscription reads "In loving memory of Dabad 1871: A man who denied his tribal laws and accepted the good news of salvation". All Torres Strait Island communities celebrate the Coming of the Light annually on 1 July. Pearlers and
beche-de-mer Sea cucumbers are marine animals of the class Holothuroidea. They can be used as food, in fresh or dried form, in various cuisines. In some cultural contexts the sea cucumber is thought to have medicinal value. The creature and the food product ...
gatherers visited the island. Over many years, these industries attracted an influx of seamen from the Pacific Islands, the Philippines, and Malaya, many of whom married local women and settled on the island. In the early 20th century, the Queensland Government started installing various facilities such as a school, medical aid, post office and an Island Industries Board store. In 1919 the All Saints Church was constructed at the former site of the original London Missionary Society mission house and school. Locally produced lime from burnt coral and basalt was used and the work was done under the direction of Manai, an Erub Islander, and Ware, a South Sea Islander. It was originally known as the Ziona church. Darnley Island State School opened on 29 January 1985, replacing the earlier mission school. On 1 January 2007 it became the Darnley Island Campus of the Tagai State College (with its main campus on Thursday Island). Darnley people have been at the forefront of the movement for adequate recognition of Torres Strait Islanders' rights. From the 1960s to the '90s,
George Mye Jacob George Mye (3 December 1926 – 26 April 2012) was an elder statesman from the Torres Strait.
(Torres Strait Islander) was an elder and among the most prominent advocates of Islander interests. Carlemo Wacando was among the first to challenge the legal notion of terra nullius, which Australia had posited to support their annexation of traditional lands. The
High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established fol ...
ruled in '' Mabo v Queensland (No 2)'' (1992) in favor of traditional land ownership of the Torres Strait Islanders, which also applied to Australian aboriginal claims in their territories. The Native Title Act of 1993 was passed to administer these changes. Pau Enterprises Indigenous Corporation was established in 2015 to manage and maintain the Pau family native title lands and interests on Darnley Island. It also seeks to create social enterprises on Darnley Island and other locations where its community members have migrated, such as
Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...
. Darnley Island became better known around Australia in 2015 when the acting school principal asked via social media for donations of books to assist her primary school children and their education. Her efforts resulted in more than 18,000 shares on Facebook, and hundreds of books were sent to the island. In the , Erub Island had a population of 328 people.


Flora and fauna

The
Kinabalu giant earthworm The Kinabalu giant earthworm, ''Pheretima darnleiensis'', is a grey-blue coloured peregrine annelid. It is found widely in Southeast Asia, primarily in the Indo-Australasian Archipelago (e.g., Singapore, Sumatra, Java, Bali, Borneo, Sulawesi, the ...
, ''Pheretima darnleiensis'', is named after Darnley Island, although it is likely an introduced species there.


Heritage listings

Darnley Island has a
heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...
site: All Saints Anglican Church.


Amenities

The
Torres Strait Island Regional Council The Torres Strait Island Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia, covering part of the Torres Strait Islands. It was created in March 2008 out of 15 autonomous Island Councils during a period of statewide local go ...
operate an Indigenous Knowledge Centre at Madige Village on Erub. There are two stores, one school, and a health centre. Accommodation is available through Norah's Guest House, and the council run 'five star' ''dongas.''


Education

Darnley Island Campus is a primary (Early Childhood-6) campus () of Tagai State College. There is no secondary school on the island. The secondary campus of Tagai State College is on Thursday Island, over away; it offers some boarding facilities but many children are also sent to mainland secondary schools.


See also

*
Darnley Island Airport Darnley Island Airport is an airport in Darnley Island, Queensland, Australia. Airlines and destinations See also * List of airports in Queensland This is a list of airports in the Australian state of Queensland. __TOC__ List of a ...
* List of Torres Strait Islands


References


External links


Mye on behalf of ''Erubam Le v State of Queensland'' (2004), FCA 1573 (8 December 2004)
*
Passion and Professionalism
' by Dorothy Walker and Lynetee Griffiths; short video about an education project for indigenous students on Darnley Island, 2 min 42 sec, published by
State Library of Queensland The State Library of Queensland is the main reference and research library provided to the people of the State of Queensland, Australia, by the state government. Its legislative basis is provided by the Queensland Libraries Act 1988. It contai ...
as part of Storylines:Q150 digital stories {{authority control Torres Strait Islands Torres Strait Island Region Torres Strait Islands communities