Present Encounters : Papers from the conference of the Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, 1996

Tom Mosby Spirituality and the Torres Strait Tradition I ntroduction Torres Strait culture exists as a contradiction of the theory of evol ution. The appl ication of natu ra l selection to the Torres Strait should mean its cultural traditions and spi rituality no longer exist. This is premised on the fact that: 1 . The Torres Strait population base has always been small compared to those of_the neig h bouring land masses of Papua New Guinea and Aboriginal Australia, both of which supported pre-contact populations more than double those of the Torres Strait. 2 . The majority of Torres Strait Islanders are the descendants of peoples originating from such geog raphically distant and varied locations as England , Scotland, the US, France , Germany and t he Middle East, I ndia, Ch i na , Japan, Malaysia , I ndonesia and The Ph i l i ppines, Africa via Jamaica, Fij i , Samoa , Tonga, New Zealand , the Cook Islands, Rotuma, Niue, New Caledoni a , Papua New Gu inea and Aborigi nal Australia. However, Torres Strait cultu re does exist today, standing in direct contravention of the general princi ple of the strong killing the weak, the big destroyi ng the small. The existence of Torres Strait cultu re has evolved due [to] the strength of its traditions, in particular the resilience of Islanders and their ability to adopt aspects of other cultures, changing them i n t he process t o suit local needs. Contempora ry Torres Strait culture is therefore alive and evolving , with a spirituality that i s deeply embedded in t he strength o f its pre-contact traditional past. In attempting to write a paper on the subject of Torres Strait spirituality, I had to exami ne what is meant by t he notion of spirituality. My first approach was a literal interpretation of t he term , examining t he 'mission isation' and 'Christianisation' of the Torres Strait and t he impact of the Ch ristian religion on traditional beliefs. The focus shifted , however, to spirituality as the basis for contemporary Torres Strait tradition as defined through cultural practices, in particular spirituality as expressed through dance . Trad itional Spirituality Trad itionally, the spirituality of Island society revolved around the various cu lts that were central to cultural life . Rather than belief in a super-natural being, Islander spi rituality revolved around the hero-worsh ip of various cu lt figures. The most i mportant cults centred on three brothers from l rian Jaya who travelled through Papua New Guinea i nto t he Torres Strait. These three brothers settled in the Western , Central and Eastern cultural g roups of islands respectively. Also, in the Western islands, the Aboriginal culture hero Kwoiam formed the basis of another important cult. Kwoiam himself was an Aborig inal warrior who , accord i ng t o oral tradition , battled his way through t he Western islands t o Papua New Gu i nea , eventually bei ng trapped and slain in t he Strait. These cults provided the basis for the production of numerous religious artefacts which were the physical manifestations of the various traditional beliefs. Such objects were used extensively in spiritual life and were pivota l to the various religious ceremonies associated with such rituals as initiation and food production . These cults exist as specific examples of the ability of Torres Strait cu lture to fuse external influences with traditional practices to form an identifi able Torres Strait spirituality. Contact The earliest recorded contact with Torres Strait Isl anders occurred after the voyage of Lu is Vaez de Torres, after whom the Torres Strait was named , in 1 606 . After settlement of Australia at Port Jackson i n 1 788, the Strait became subject to shipping traffic, particul a rly fol lowing the discovery and commercial exploitation of pearlshell and trepang. The rich mari ne resources of the Torres Strait led to an i nflux of foreign vessels with European and Pacifi c Islander crews, as well as Asian fishermen . This invariably led to cultural conflict and I slanders were forced to accept changes to traditional life . 86