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Torres Strait Islander Foodways

Indigenous

⚠ A SEPARATE PEOPLE AND A SEPARATE ROOT, and this is the distinction most often collapsed. Torres Strait Islanders are MELANESIAN, not Aboriginal; their islands lie between Cape York and Papua New Guinea; their languages are Meriam Mir — a Papuan language — and Kalaw Lagaw Ya, an Australian one, plus Torres Strait Creole; and Australian law and the Australian constitution name them separately for good reason. The foodway is MARITIME in a way no mainland one is: turtle and DUGONG, hunted under documented traditional rights and central to ceremony; reef and pelagic fish; crayfish and trochus; SAGO, yam, taro, sweet potato, banana and coconut from island gardens; and wongai plum. The KUP MURRI is the earth oven, and it is cognate with the Melanesian mumu and not with anything on the mainland. ⚠ MABO v QUEENSLAND (1992) — the case that overturned terra nullius in Australian law — was brought by Meriam people of Mer over GARDEN LAND, which makes it a food-system case as much as a legal one. ⚠ CEREMONIAL AND RESTRICTED PRACTICE IS RECORDED AS EXISTING AND NOT DESCRIBED.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Torres Strait Islanders community documented
  • Meriam community documented

Languages: Meriam, Torres Strait-Lockhart River Creole, English

What is recorded

  • Torres Strait Islanders are recorded as Melanesian and as a people distinct from Aboriginal Australians, named separately in Australian law. Their languages are Meriam Mir, a Papuan language, Kalaw Lagaw Ya, an Australian language, and Torres Strait Creole. Turtle and dugong hunting is documented under recognised traditional rights and is central to ceremony. The kup murri earth oven is recorded as cognate with the Melanesian mumu. Mabo v Queensland (1992), which overturned terra nullius in Australian law, was brought by Meriam people over garden land. documented
  • The Torres Strait pearl-shell and trochus fisheries draw Japanese, Malay and Pacific Islander crews to the islands. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • related to Aboriginal Australian Foodways documented

    ⚠ TWO DISTINCT PEOPLES. Torres Strait Islanders are Melanesian, not Aboriginal, and Australian law names them separately.

  • related to Melanesian Foodways documented

    The kup murri is cognate with the Melanesian mumu, not with any mainland Australian technique.

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.