Badu Harbour

Date2012

Object number00055517

(not entered)Linocut print on paper

NameLinoprint

MediumPrint on paper

DimensionsOverall: 405 × 1210 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection

Terms

DescriptionA black and white linocut print that depicts Badu Harbour by Joseph Au showing his home island of Badu as a busy pearling hub with three luggers in the foreground. Au's uncles and elders worked as pearl divers in the industry and he has based this depiction of Badu Harbour on their stories and his personal experience crewing on the lugger YANCY TAUM. HistoryJoseph Au is a senior Torres Strait Islander artist, a carver and printmaker who with Laurie Nona, Alick Tipoti and other community members established the Badu Art Centre in the early 2000s. Badu Harbour is always spoken about by its nickname, Pearl Harbour, in reference to its pearling times. This print tells that story: "During these times our forefathers, fathers and uncles worked as pearl divers in sometimes very dangerous conditions. The Badu Harbour is said to have had no space for anchorage because the number of boats was so high. All of the space was taken. Our uncles and elders tell stories about so many boats – that crew from one boat would jump to another to catch up and have a yarn with other family members. When the tides started to swing the boats back, the men would jump back onto their home luggers. Later on and to this day, our elders would yarn about the different sizes and they easily identify the schooners, cutters and also the luggers. I was one of the lucky ones from my age group, who had the privilege to work on a local lugger called YANCY TAUM 82 now known as TRITON. I worked as a young man for three months diving for trochus shells". - Joseph AuSignificanceJoseph Au records both personal and historical narratives of his home island of Badu in the Torres Strait and offers an insight into the maritime history of pearling at Badu Island at the height of the industry. These oral histories were told to Au by his uncles and men who had worked on the boats.