Perfect pearls: The Torres Strait

Kaurareg elder Nazareth Adidi, granddaughter Rhonda Adidi-Kanai and great-granddaughter Tessa Kanai, Thursday Island, QLD.

More than 270 islands, two mainland communities and 8,000 residents make up the Torres Strait.

It’s a melting pot of cultures. Torres Strait Islanders have long traded and intermarried with the people of New Guinea, and in the nineteenth century Asians, Pacific Islanders and Europeans were lured to the straits by a thriving pearling industry.

The “capital” of the Torres Strait is Thursday Island, or Waiben as it is known to its traditional owners, the Kaurareg Aboriginal people.    view full story

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  Finding the horsepower to beat petrol sniffing

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  Making a real income caring for country

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  Saltwater people: The Larrakia

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Find out more

Indigenous people’s connection to land is central to their culture and wellbeing. Indigenous people currently own around 16 per cent of Australia’s land area and are looking after land and sea country in many parts of Australia.

The Australian Government and State Governments have legislated to hand land back to Indigenous people through various land rights acts. The most significant is the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976.

In 1992 the High Court recognised that ‘native title’ to land survived European colonisation, and the Australian Government legislated the Native Title Act 1993 to recognise these common law rights.

For more information on land rights, go to:

• Land Rights Program – Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
• Land – WA Government
• Land Rights and Land Councils – NSW Government
• Office of Township Leasing
• Anindilyakwa Land Council
• Central Land Council
• New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council
• Northern Land Council
• Tiwi Land Council.

For more information on native title, go to:

• National Native Title Tribunal
• Native Title – Attorney-General’s
• Native Title Program – Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
• Native Title Reports – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner
• Native Title Research Unit – Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
• Native Title Representative Bodies and Service Providers.

The Australian Government also helps Indigenous people to buy and manage land through the Indigenous Land Corporation, as well as develop land-based businesses.

Across Australia Indigenous people are engaged on many Caring for Country projects.