Torres Strait Map of Conflicts

Date2017

Object number00055321

NamePrint

MediumPaper, ink

DimensionsOverall: 1185 × 2010 mm
Image: 990 × 1800 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection

Terms

DescriptionA black and white lino print map by artist Robert Tommy Pau titled 'Torres Strait Map of Conflicts'. It depicts all the islands and reefs that have been mapped in the Torres Strait. The map also depicts ship anchorages and imagery significant to Torres Strait history and world views. The top border features singers and dancers representing how Islanders recorded their history using song and dance. The side borders show the prevailing winds that blow in the Torres Strait, the south east and the north west winds. Other figures shown are of Muris (water spout spirits) and sea creatures.HistoryTorres Strait Map of Conflicts gives an Indigneous contemporary perspective on European travels and settlement within the Torres Strait Islands including missionary stories and the coming of the lights. Pau looks at the impact this had on the traditional people of the area and their culture. Artist's Statement: "Conflicts Map is a map of the Torres Strait that aims to represent where passing, British, Spanish, and French ships came to find the Great South Land and later a passage to the East Coast of Australia, navigate and mapping the world. These ships came into contact with Torres Strait Islanders. These experiences had mixed experiences. Initially there were fears of these sailors as,’lamars’ (ghost). Once Islanders realised they were men and they had a commodity-iron, that Islanders’ wanted and Islanders began to trade amicability with resources that their environments provided. Some encounters were a show of force by the super powers of that time, the British, French, and Spanish. Some encounters resulted in conflict with the ships to guarded territories form outsiders or fears of beliefs, such as putting, ‘sarup’ out of their misery (mainly individuals who have spent days in the sea and are perceived to have had their senses leave them. ‘Sarup’, has the connotation of being left without any logic and their mind have left them). In a closed society, such as an island, order is important and one who has lost all logic can effect the community order by creating fears in others. Thus, nearly all shipwreck survivors were killed for these reasons. Superstitious or communal beliefs are not a native or primitive act of violence. Early Christian history recorded atrocities of massacres of those that did not believe the Catholic Fathers’ philosophies. " - Robert Tommy Pau, 2018. SignificanceThis piece by Robert Tommy Pau gives an Indigenous contemporary perspective of Torres Strait Islands, using the process of mapping to reflect on the consequences of colonisation and shipping anchorage within Torres Straits history.