pearllugger

Shell found in or about coral reef bottom is hard and of good quality, although subject to these borers. Shell along the east coast of York Peninsula is very like the Papuan coast shell but is much larger and heavier when fully grown. The deep-water shell of Darnley Island waters is really a reef shell. The best quality is found on what is known as the old ground, which covers the area over the western approach to Torres Strait. The sea-bed, affected by the waste from the coast and by discharge from rivers, appears to affect the quality of the mother-of-pearl shell. The beautiful colouring of the pearl shell is divided into two general classes: white or silver-lipped and gold or orange-lipped. The white-lipped shell is the natural shell without the gold-lip colouring. The latter colouring extends over the entire back of the shell, penetrating a more or less shallow distance into the nacre, and then right to the thin outer edge, hence "lip." Gold-lip shell is some pounds sterling per ton of less value commercially than silver-lipped. Source: anglicanhistory.org/aus/white1918/05.html

Between the mid-1880s and World War One, Australian pearling was shaped by the floating station system, a way of working in which schooners of 100 tons or more served as mother ships for fleets of luggers from which full-dress helmet divers worked in deep water. This highly capitalised system offered producers significant advantages, not the least of which was mobility. It connected Australia’s two widely separated original arcs of pearling activity, the Torres Strait and the North West, and exerted a transforming influence on the other mother-of-pearl producing regions of the Indian Ocean. The system proved so efficient it was blamed for exhausting shelling grounds wherever it went and governments moved to outlaw it, although this response was motivated as much by political ideology as by concerns about resource depletion. Source: museum.wa.gov.au/museums/maritime/pearling-schooner-age-t...

The administrative centre for the Torres Strait Islands which have been part of Queensland since 1872, “T.I.” as it is usually known, is just over three square km in area and 39km off the tip of Cape York. The strait’s population of 25,000 live on more than 20 islands (around one-tenth of these live on Thursday Island), and is engaged mostly in fishing, prawning and a declining pearling industry. Thursday Island is now identified as one of the last great frontiers in Australia, as it holds some great Australian history. In 1880, Thursday Island acted as the defence centre for Australia and evidence of this still exists in that the cannons still remains in place. Although Thursday Island has lost its former importance as a stopping point for vessels, it’s still a popular pause for passing yachties. History: The island has been populated for thousands of years by the Melanesian Torres Strait Islanders, who named the island Waiben, thought to mean ‘no water or place of no water’, owing to the scarcity of fresh water on the island. It was named Thursday Island on 4th June 1789 by Captain William Bligh on his epic voyage of survival after being cast adrift in a longboat during the mutiny on HMS Bounty. He named it because the day he arrived and went ashore there was a Thursday. In 1877, an administrative centre for the Torres Strait Islands was set up on the island by the Queensland Government. A lucrative pearling industry was founded on the island in 1885, attracting workers from around Asia, including Japan, Malaya and India, seeking their fortune. By 1883 over 200 pearling vessels were based on the island. Additionally, many south Pacific Islanders were also imported to work in the industry, many against their will. While the pearling industry has declined in importance, the mix of cultures is evident to this day. The pearling industry centred on the harvesting of pearl shell, which was used to make shirt buttons. Pearls themselves were rare and a bonus for the owner or crew. The boats used were a very graceful two-masted lugger with, in good times, a stern diver, one midship, and one diver off the bow. The fear of a Russian invasion lead to a fort on Battery Point being built in 1892 to protect the island. During World War II, Thursday Island became the military headquarters for the Torres Strait and was a base for Australian and United States forces. As a result, the island was bombed by the Japanese in 1942, which saw the evacuation of civilians from the island. They did not return until after the end of the war. The island was mostly spared from bombing in World War II, due, it was thought, to it being the burial place of many Japanese pearl shell divers. However, neighbouring Horn Island was extensively bombed. It had an airbase there, used by the Allies to attack parts of New Guinea. Following the conclusion of the war, the island tradition of a no footwear policy was reinstated in respect for the ancient spirits believed to reside on the island. In the 1950s the CSIRO attempted to establish a cultured pearl industry and in the 1970s there was an attempt to farm green turtles. The Melanesian background of the Thursday Islanders became an issue in the 1970s when Papua New Guinea sought to include the Torres Strait Islands within its borders. The Torres Strait Islanders insisted that they were Australians, however, and after considerable diplomatic discussion all of the Torres Strait, including Thursday Island, remained part of Australia. Source: www.australiaforeveryone.com.au/north-queensland-21/