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The Torres Strait is named after a Spanish navigator and captain, Luís Vaz de Torres, who was the first European to sail through Torres Strait in 1606 on his way to Manila in the Philippines, 150 years before Captain Cook. It is the waterway separating far northern Australia (Cape York Peninsula) and New Guinea, between the Arafura Sea in the east and the Coral Sea in the west. Islanders are sea-faring people who trade with the people of Papua New Guinea. Their culture includes elements from Australia, Papua, and the Austronesian region. For Torres Strait Islanders, courtesy and kindness are very important. This is known locally as ‘Good Pasin’, meaning good fashion or behaving with a degree of sophistication and charm. [27] We are the mariners, the people who can navigate by the stars to small dots of islands beyond the horizon, ‘reading’ the wind and tides, the reefs and skies. Torres Strait Islanders made bows and strings from bamboo to use with arrows which were often traded from Papua New Guinea and used as far south as the northern Cape York Peninsula. [45] They also used clubs and harpoons. Source: Torres Strait Islander culture - Creative Spirits, retrieved from www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/people/torres-... Source: Torres Strait Islander culture - Creative Spirits, retrieved from www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/people/torres-...

Murray Island (also known as Mer Island or Maer Island) in the Torres Strait Island Region, Queensland, Australia.[2][3] The island is part of the Murray Island Group in the Torres Strait.[4] The town is on the island's northwest coast and within the locality of Mer Island (the locality boundaries are the island's coastline).[5] The island is of volcanic origin, the most easterly inhabited island of the Torres Strait Islands archipelago, just north of the Great Barrier Reef. The name Meer/Mer/Maer comes from the native Meriam language. In the 2016 census, Murray Island had a population of 453.[1] The island is populated by the Melanesian Meriam people. There are eight tribes on Mer: Komet, Zagareb, Meuram, Magaram, Geuram, Peibri, Meriam-Samsep, Piadram/Dauer. The island's organisation is based on traditional laws of boundary and ownership. The people of Mer maintain their traditional culture. Modern influences such as consumer goods, television, travel and radio are having an impact on traditional practices and culture. Despite this, song and dance remains an integral part of island life and is demonstrated through celebrations such as Mabo Day, Coming of the Light, Tombstone openings and other cultural events. In 2007, after two years of negotiations, the skulls of five Islander tribesmen were returned to Australia from a Glasgow museum where they had been archived for more than 100 years.[13] The artist Ricardo Idagi was born on Murray Island.[14] Idagi won the main prize at the Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards in 2009. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Island,_Queensland

Fonds ancien Eugène Trutat, Muséum de Toulouse. Domaine public.