European Colonialism & Torres Strait Term Paper

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And for example, in 1910 one group of Islanders "...gave 10,000 coconuts to their island neighbours and an additional 3,000 to the Papuan Industries Limited for a new church rather than selling" the coconuts, according to Lui-Chivizhe. Meanwhile, in the 1930s, control of the pearl boats was taken over by government administrators, who controlled "earnings of the Islanders who worked the boats," Lui-Chivizhe writes. When the Islanders didn't work fast enough or hard enough to suit the administrators, the Islanders were punished. Eventually, the Islanders not only lost the right to control their production, the government of Queensland "introduced a nightly curfew and a permit system to control Islander movement between the Islands."

Eventually, those restrictions were eased, and more recently, things have not been quite as repressive. "Even though the social and political organizational context for our lives has changed with European arrival in the region," Lui-Chivizhe concludes, "the future for my people, though uncertain, holds much hope."

Conclusion: There may be justifiable reasons for hopefulness, in terms of the future of Torres Strait Islanders; but according to an article in the journal Emergency Medicine (Hunter, et al., 2002), many young people in nations "with histories of British colonization," Torres Strait included, are committing suicide. Indeed, the article points out that while the suicide rate in the years 1990-1995 for Australia as a whole was 21 per 100,000 people, and the rate for Queensland was 14.5 per 100,000, the suicide rate for "indigenous males" (Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginals) between the ages of 15 to 24 years of age was 112.5 per 100,000 people, Hunter reports.

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The rate for Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginals between the ages of 25 and 34 was 72.5 per 100,000, according to Hunter's article.

Sadly, 78% of the above-mentioned male suicides were by hanging, Hunter continued. Why are so many youthful males of native populations, notably Torres Strait Islanders, taking their own lives? Hunter's research indicates that these specific cultural peoples live in an environment "of relative disadvantage" and part of the disadvantage is manifest through "unemployment, social change, and cultural conflict."

Meanwhile, the Council of Australian Governments' meeting on July 14, 2006, in which "Indigenous Issues" were specifically addressed, agreed "...That a long-term, generational commitment is needed to overcome Indigenous disadvantage" (www.coag.gov.au).Moreover, "COAG has agreed to establish a working group to develop a detailed proposal for generational change including specific, practical proposals for reform which reflect the diversity of circumstances in Australia," according to the COAG press release. And the "working group" is to report back with specific ideas and proposals in December, 2006. Will verifiable, meaningful change result from this working group? Stay tuned.

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