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All Saints Anglican Church on Erub (Darnley Island) in the Torres Strait.. 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 various Torres Strait Islander communities have a unique culture and long-standing history with the islands and nearby coastlines. Their maritime-based trade and interactions with the Papuans to the north and the Australian Aboriginal communities have maintained a steady cultural diffusion among the three societal groups, dating back ...
Religious affiliations of Torres Strait islanders in localities with significant share of Torres Strait islander population [4] The Islanders refer to this event as "The Coming of the Light", also known as Zulai Wan, [ 47 ] [ 57 ] or Bi Akarida, [ 48 ] and all Island communities celebrate the occasion annually on 1 July.
The Torres Strait Islands' population was recorded at 4,514 in the 2016 Australian census, with 91.8% of these identifying as Indigenous Torres Strait Island peoples. Although counted as Indigenous Australians, Torres Strait Islander peoples, being predominantly Melanesian, are ethnically and culturally different from Aboriginal Australians.
Eventually a full creole language developed in the Torres Strait Islands. The Queensland Government annexed the islands of the Torres Straits within 60 miles (97 km) of the mainland in 1872, followed by the remainder of the islands in 1879. It feared that rival colonial powers could take control of what had become an important shipping route.
A theological facility called the Papuan Institute was established on Mer, an island of the Torres Straits, to train Torres Strait Islanders as priests and suitable students were selected by the London Missionary Society. The Institute was closed in 1888, but had trained a number of local priests who were familiar with both formal missionary ...
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. [1]
The Kaurareg lie in the lower Western island group among the 5 basic ethno-culturally distinct groups that constituted the traditional world of the Torres Strait Islanders, the others being the Saibailgal, Dœwanalgal and Bœigulgal (Top West islanders), the Maluigal (Mid-West islanders), Kulkalgal (Central Islanders) and Meriam Le (Eastern Islanders). [3]