Mills Sisters

Last updated

Mills Sisters
Origin Torres Strait Islands, Queensland, Australia
Genres Folk, blues, reggae
Years active1950s 1996
MembersCessa Mills
Ina Mills
Rita Mills

The Mills Sisters, formerly known as the Singing Grandmas, were a group of three sisters from Torres Strait Islands, Rita Mills and twins Cessa and Ina.

Contents

Early life

Ina and Cessa, who were twins, were born in 1927, [1] and Rita in 1934, on Naghir Island in the Torres Strait. [2] They have Torres Strait Islander heritage, including a great-grandmother of the Kaurareg people (the traditional owners of Possession Island, aka Bedanug), and a grandfather from Samoa. Ina married an Indonesian man from Timor. [1]

Their married names were Cessa Nakata, Ina Titasey, and Rita Fell-Tyrell. [3]

Career

All three sang and Rita played guitar, Cessa the ukulele and Ina the tambourine. [4]

Formerly known as the Singing Grandmas, [1] the group started singing in the 1950s, [5] with their first public appearances in pubs on Thursday Island, [6] and in the 1980s started to tour outside the Torres Strait. [5] They performed at the Brisbane Expo in 1988, the Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland, [6] around Australia, and in the early 1990s toured England, France and New Zealand. [1] They also performed all over the Pacific [7]

Their version of "TI Blues" (a song written by Seaman Dan) has been called "a signature tune for the Torres Strait". [8] In 1995 they released an album, Frangipani Land. [1]

Cessa and Ina retired in 1995 [6] [3] or 1996 and Rita continued on a solo career, [9] until retiring in 2001, [10] and she died in 2004. [11] [12]

Musical styles and languages

The Mills Sisters had a repertoire of over 200 songs, which ranged from Torres Strait Island love songs to contemporary music, and included country, blues, reggae. They sang in many languages besides English: a variety of Samoan, Hawaiian, Papua New Guinean, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island languages. [6]

Awards

The Australia Council for the Arts has since 1993 awarded a Red Ochre Award to an outstanding Indigenous Australian (Aboriginal Australian or Torres Strait Islander) artist for lifetime achievement. It was awarded to the Mills Sisters in 1995. [13]

In film

The half-hour documentary film Frangipani Land Forever was made by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Indigenous department in 2008 in their "Message Stick" series, directed by Douglas Watkin. [14] [3]

Discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torres Strait Islands</span> Group of islands in the Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea

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).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torres Strait Islanders</span> One of the two categories of Indigenous Australians

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thursday Island</span> Island in Queensland, Australia

Thursday Island, colloquially known as TI, or in the Kawrareg dialect, Waiben or Waibene, is an island of the Torres Strait Islands, an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait. TI is located approximately 39 kilometres north of Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Australia.

The Mabuyag are an Indigenous Australian group of Torres Strait Islander people united by a common language, strong ties of kinship and survived as skilled hunter–fisher–gatherers and horticulturalists in family groups or clans living on and around Mabuiag Island, in Torres Strait in Queensland, Australia. They are ethnically Melanesian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horn Island, Queensland</span> Suburb of Shire of Torres, Queensland, Australia

Horn Island, or Ngurupai/Narupai in the local language, is an island of the Torres Strait Islands archipelago located in the Torres Strait, in Queensland in Northern Australia between the Australian mainland and Papua New Guinea. It is within the locality of Horn within the Shire of Torres; the boundaries of the locality include the island itself and surrounding waters of the Torres Strait. The town of Wasaga is on the north-western coast of the island. In the 2021 census, the locality of Horn had a population of 533 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torres Strait Islander flag</span> Officially proclaimed flag representing Torres Strait Islanders

The Torres Strait Islander flag is the official flag of the Torres Strait Islanders, an Indigenous people of Australia. It was designed in 1992 by Bernard Namok, winning a local competition held by the Islands Coordinating Council, and was recognised by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission in June 1992. It was granted official status in 1995 under the Flags Act 1953 along with the Australian Aboriginal flag.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seaman Dan</span> Australian singer (1929–2020)

Henry Gibson Dan, known as Seaman Dan, was an award-winning Torres Strait Islander singer-songwriter with a national and international reputation. His first recording, an album called Follow the Sun, was released in 2000, on his 70th birthday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meriam language</span> Trans-Fly language of the Australian Torres Strait Islands

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hammond Island (Queensland)</span> Town in Queensland, Australia

Hammond Island is an island with a town of the same name, in the Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia. It is the only island within the locality of Keriri Island within the local government area of Torres Strait Island Region.

Torres Strait English is a dialect of the English language spoken by the people of various backgrounds born and raised on Thursday Island and neighbouring islands in Torres Strait, North Queensland, Australia. It is distinct from Torres Strait Creole, though most locals speak both the creole and English. Quite a few locals are also speakers of General Australian English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torres Strait Regional Authority</span>

The Torres Strait Regional Authority is an Australian Government body established in 1994 to administer the Torres Strait Islands. It consists of 20 elected representatives. The primary function of the authority is to strengthen the economic, social and cultural development of the peoples of the Torres Strait area.

Ramer Lyra "Dulcie" Pitt, who performed as Georgia Lee was an Australian jazz and blues singer and actress from Cairns. She is credited with being the first Indigenous Australian artist to record blues songs with her album, Georgia Lee Sings the Blues Down Under (1962).

Rita Mills, also known as Rita FellRita Tyrell, and Rita Fell-Tyrell, was an Australian singer from the Torres Strait Islands. She was one of the band the Mills Sisters.

The Red Ochre Award is an annual art award for Indigenous Australian artists.

On 19 December 2014, at 11:20 a.m., police were called to 34 Murray Street in the Cairns suburb of Manoora in Australia, where eight children were found dead. The victims were aged between 18 months and 14 years. The bodies, with stab wounds, were discovered by the children's 20-year-old brother. Neighbours reported that fighting could be heard from the house the night before and in the early hours of the morning.

Bernard Lewis is a Papua New Guinea international rugby league footballer who plays as a winger for the Northern Pride in the Queensland Cup.

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.

The Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders Advancement League, (CATSIAL), also referred to as the Cairns Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders Advancement League or Cairns Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advancement League, and Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders Advancement League (Cairns), was an Indigenous rights organisation founded in Cairns, Queensland in January 1960. It existed until the late 1970s.

Alick Tipoti, whose traditional name is Zugub, is a Torres Strait Islander artist, linguist, and activist of the Kala Lagaw Ya people, from Badu Island, in the Zenadh Kes. His work includes painting, installations, printmaking, sculpture and mask-making, and is focused on preserving the culture and languages of his people.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Ina's Story: The Memoir of a Torres Strait Islander Woman". Historians are Past Caring. 12 February 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  2. Stewart, Paul (11 March 2001). "Rita calls it a day, at last". Sunday Herald Sun .
  3. 1 2 3 "Message Stick - Frangipani Land Forever". ABC Commercial . 9 March 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  4. The Australian, 13 December 2004, "Trailblazer sang Torres on to map" by Steve Connolly
  5. 1 2 Sunday Herald Sun, 14 March 1999, "Rita's family affair" by Paul Stewart
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Rita Mills". AustLit . Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  7. Sunday Herald Sun, 11 March 2001, "Rita calls it a day, at last." by Paul Stewart
  8. Pryor, Cathy (8 September 2001). "Northern Delights". The Australian .
  9. Australian Associated Press General News, 28 March 2003, "Better late than never for Uncle Seaman" by Jordan Baker
  10. "Sunnies select Cairns". Cairns Post . 31 August 2001.
  11. Connolly, Steve (13 December 2004). "Trailblazer sang Torres on to map". The Australian .
  12. "Tributes for Mills Sister". The Age . 8 December 2004. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  13. "Red Ochre Award". Australia Council for the Arts . Archived from the original on 1 February 2014.
  14. "Frangipani Land Forever (2008) - The Screen Guide". Screen Australia. 16 March 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  15. Frangipani land listing
  16. Those beautiful TI girls listing