The Coming of the Light Festival is celebrated in the Torres Strait Islands on 1 July each year. It commemorates the arrival of the London Missionary Society in Torres Strait at Erub (Darnley Island) on 1 July 1871, introducing Christianity to the region. The predominantly Christian Torres Strait Islanders hold religious and cultural ceremonies across Torres Strait and mainland Australia to celebrate the day. [1] [2] [3]
In 1871 representatives of the London Missionary Society (LMS) arrived in the Torres Straits on the schooner Surprise, [4] [5] [lower-alpha 1] which had been chartered by the LMS, [6] [7] after the French Government had demanded their removal from the Loyalty Islands and New Caledonia in 1869. They decided to expand into the Torres Straits and New Guinea. [8] They were represented by two Englishmen, Revs S. Macfarlane and Archibald Wright Murray, [9] [10] and eight Lifu (Loyalty Islander) evangelists: Tapeso, Elia, Mataika, Guchong, Kerisidui, Wauaded, Sevine and Josaia, and their wives. [8] [11]
The missionaries reached Erub (Darnley Island) on 1 July 1871, an event that came to be known as the "Coming of the Light". Dabad, one of the tribal elders of the island, met them at Kemus Beach. Dabad befriended the missionaries and 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. [8] [12]
The Torres Strait Islands are an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of 48,000 km2 (19,000 sq mi), but their total land area is 566 km2 (219 sq mi).
Torres Strait Islanders are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal peoples of the rest of Australia, they are often grouped with them as Indigenous Australians. Today there are many more Torres Strait Islander people living in mainland Australia than on the Islands.
Melanesian Meriam people are an Indigenous Australian group of Torres Strait Islander people who are united by a common language, strong ties of kinship and live as skilled hunter–fisher–gatherers in family groups or clans on a number of inner eastern Torres Strait Islands including Mer or Murray Island, Ugar or Stephen Island and Erub or Darnley Island. The Meriam people are perhaps best known for their involvement in the High Court of Australia's Mabo decision which fundamentally changed land law in Australia - recognising native title.
Saibai Island, commonly called Saibai, is an island of the Torres Strait Islands archipelago, located in the Torres Strait of Queensland, Australia. The island is situated north of the Australian mainland and south of the island of New Guinea. The island is a locality within the Torres Strait Island Region local government area. The town of Saibai is located on the north-west coast of the island. According to the 2016 census, Saibai Island had a population of 465 people.
Meriam or the Eastern Torres Strait language is the language of the people of the small islands of Mer, Waier and Dauar, Erub, and Ugar in the eastern Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia. In the Western Torres Strait language, Kalaw Lagaw Ya, it is called Mœyam or Mœyamau Ya. It is the only Papuan language in Australian territory.
Moa Island, also called Banks Island, is an island of the Torres Strait Islands archipelago that is located 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Thursday Island in the Banks Channel of Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia. It is also a locality within the Torres Strait Island Region local government area. This island is the largest within the "Near Western" group. It has two towns, Kubin on the south-west coast and St Pauls on the east coast, which are connected by bitumen and a gravel road. In the 2016 census, Moa Island had a population of 448 people.
Coconut Island, Poruma Island, or Puruma in the local language, is an island in the Great North East Channel near Cumberland Passage, Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia. One of the Torres Strait Islands, Coconut Island is 130 kilometres (81 mi) northeast of Thursday Island. Administratively, Coconut Island is a town and Poruma Island is the locality within the Shire of Torres.
Yam Island, called Yama or Iama in the Kulkalgau Ya language or Turtle-backed Island in English, is an island of the Bourke Isles group of the Torres Strait Islands, located in the Tancred Passage of the Torres Strait in Queensland, Australia. The island is situated approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) northeast of Thursday Island and measures about 2 square kilometres (0.77 sq mi). The island is an official locality known as Iama Island within the local government area of Torres Strait Island Region. The town, also called Yam Island, is located on the north-west coast of the island. In the 2021 census, Iama Island had a population of 275 people.
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, both being within the local government area of Torres Strait Island Region. In the 2016 census, Erub Island had a population of 328 people.
Stephens Island, called Ugar in the local Meriam language, lies in the eastern group of the Torres Strait Islands archipelago of Queensland, Australia. The island is within the locality of Ugar Island within the local government area of the Torres Strait Island Region.
Loyalty Islands Province is one of the three top-level administrative subdivisions of New Caledonia. It encompasses the Loyalty Islands archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, located northeast of the New Caledonian mainland of Grande Terre.
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 government reform. It has offices in each of its 15 communities, and satellite services in Thursday Island and in Cairns.
Bramble Cay, also known as Maizab Kaur and Massaramcoer, is a small cay located at the northeastern edge of Australia and the Torres Strait Islands of Queensland and at the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef. Lying around 50 km (31 mi) north of Erub Island in the Gulf of Papua, it is the northernmost point of land of Australia and marks the end of the Great Barrier Reef.
The Quetta Memorial Precinct is a heritage-listed Anglican church precinct in Douglas Street, Thursday Island, Shire of Torres, Queensland, Australia. The precinct comprises the All Souls and St Bartholomew's Cathedral Church, the Bishop's House, and the Church Hall. The precinct was built as a memorial to the 134 lives lost in the shipwreck of the RMS Quetta on 28 February 1890. The church was designed in 1892–1893 by architect John H. Buckeridge. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 27 July 2001.
Holy Trinity Church is a heritage-listed Anglican church at Saibai Island, Torres Strait Island Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1917 to 1938. It is also known as Holy Trinity Church of England. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
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.
Dauan Island is an island in the Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia; it is also known as Cornwallis Island. Dauan Island is also a town and locality in the Torres Strait Island Region, Queensland, Australia.
Erub Island is a locality in the Torres Strait Island Region, Queensland, Australia. The locality contains only Darnley Island. In the 2016 census, Erub Island had a population of 328 people.
Masig Island is an island and locality in the Torres Strait Island Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Masig Island had a population of 283 people.
Ken Thaiday, known as Ken Thaiday Snr, is an artist from Erub, one of the Torres Strait Islands. He is known for his headdresses (dhari), masks, shark totems and kinetic sculptures, which connect to his island traditions and culture.
Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under a Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, (MUP), 1974