- Title
- The stories behind the Torres Strait Islander migration myth: the journey of the sap/bethey
- Creator
- Doolah, John
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2021
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Torres Strait Islander South resettlement belongs to the sap/bethey story of Ailan (Island) pipel (people). The sap/bethey story is the story of our people’s travel away from their Ged (homeland) of Zenadth Kes and resettled on Ladaigal (Aboriginal) Country, the Country of Au ged buai (Aboriginal people ). Although Ged is an Eastern Island language word, its meaning is for ‘all’ Ailan pipel as with the meaning of Zenadth Kes, the Story of Gelam in Chapter III, and Tagai in Chapter VI of this thesis. The term migration and associated words have been used in the study of the movement of our people from Zenadth Kes to mainland Australia (Beckett, “From Island to mainland” 63, 64, 67, 69, 70, 71; Shnukal, “Torres Strait Islanders” 30, 35, 37, 42). Although this research is part of a migration study, the migration term will be used sparingly in this thesis because the term is culturally inappropriate, hence, the “migration myth.” The word migration and associated words will only be used in direct reference to the academic study of migration and in reference to the ‘migration myth.’ Ailan cultural terms are used to culturally reinforce the story, to enhance and enrich the documented experiences of our people and to expose the migration as a myth. To provide a culturally appropriate story, the movement of our people from Zenadth Kes to Ladaigal Country cannot be explained as “migration”, including the reference of related words and concepts. Some Kole words will be substituted for Ailan language and Torres Strait Creole terms. The thesis approach is to allow the reader access into a privilege space and story, through sharing, participation, and gradual cultural immersion. The first two chapters are introduction to the cultural immersion, sharing and participation. The word “myth” explains a natural or social phenomenon (social reality) of my people in Zenadth Kes. The word “myth,” “mythology”and “mythological” has been used on our people and society (Haddon, Volume 1; Rivers, Volumes 4, 6; Rivers et. al, Volume 5; Lawrie; Sharp, Stars; McNiven; Southon; Scott and Mulrennan). In my thesis the word myth does not lose its meaning. I use it for its cultural appropriateness and application in a deconstructive and reconstructive way . In the socio-cultural context of my thesis story the use of the word myth also has a decolonizing function, favouring Ailan cultural concepts and the Ailan cosmology. Fuary argues in favour of our Ailan social reality and cosmologies (Fuary, In so many words 114). Here in her statement Fuary defined “cosmology” and its Ailan cultural reference, claiming: Cosmology is a belief system in which people and things are located in relation to·the social, natural and supernatural environments (Maddock 1989: 152). Clearly Torres Strait Islanders had their own respective cosmologies (114). Through Ailan cultural holism practices the line between two opposing forces is blurred and the blurred section functions as part of the cultural whole, such as the ecological marine ecosystem of brack water. It means culturally, any explanation of the natural or social phenomenon becomes genuine socio-cultural reality of the living experiences of my people, past, present, and future. I use the word myth in the public conversation setting as opposed to our Ailan secret and secretive cultural practices. In my sap/bethey story I have substituted the secret/sacred use of the term, replacing sacred, to my use of secret/secretive. The secret and secretive cultural practices, concepts, and philosophies, belong to the ‘mir kak’ story (story of silence), to whispers, to words that are not spoken in public. The appropriate cultural substitute for the word sacred in this sap/bethey story which I will use is ‘secretive.’ I will not use the word ‘sacred’ because the Christian religious overtone of the word does not reflect the spiritual cultural practices, including the unspoken mir kak practices of my people pre- and post- colonisation. We do not have a cultural definition and language for ‘holy’ or the concept of good and evil, only the moral codes and ethics of our cultural practices. These were established pre-colonisation before the arrival of Christianity in the Torres Strait. The secret and secretive, the mir kak story are not the forgotten parts of our culture. The secret and secretive are the hidden pillars, maintaining our contemporary Ailan cultural integrity. In the privilege space, I use the word myth and its meaning in a cultural context that is benefical and constructive. Here, there is an overlap between fiction and facts based on who is telling the story, who the story and cultural reality belongs to. In this sap/bethey story the myth is our reality. The myth is informing. It is about what is culturally significant and meaningful to us. What is considered or described as a social phenomenon by outsiders is our cultural reality that we carry with us and is part of our daily cultural practices. The basis for my arguments about our cultural reality, is in the meaning of the myth and the application I use in my sap/bethey story, and what is culturally acceptable, whether fiction or non-fiction. Haddon and his Cambridge Research team wrote six (6) Volumes, regarding the cultural practice of my people (Haddon, Volume 2, v). In four of the six Volumes, 1, 4, 5 and 6, Haddon and his Cambridge Research team wrote in Volume 1 about: rituals, ceremonies, love charms, stories, power stones, revered images, memorial stones, rain-making, culture-bearers, cult-heros and hero-cults (Haddon, Volume 1, 38-41, 87, 106-117, 193-196, 196 – 198, 356- 368, 374 -414). In Volume 4, Rivers covered the topic of sorcery (Rivers, Volume 4, 342-393). In Volume 5, Rivers continued with cult, love charms, folk tales, dogai, symbolic magic,magic and religion, supernatural beings, sacred stones, carved images, omen; dreams; divination, austerities, and purification (Rivers, Volume 5, 9-120, 153-193, 327-328, 353-367, 373-378). The topics of Rivers and Wilkin in Volume 6 are rituals, ceremonies, dogai cult, divination, and shrine (Rivers and Wilkin, Volume 6, 112 – 119, 261-272, 271 - 272). These are some of the topics they wrote about in the six (6) Volumes of their 1898 Reports of The Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits. These topics are about the realities of my people. Volumes 5 and 6 are on Magic and Religion. Rivers recorded a shrine of the Meriam people (Rivers, Volume 6, 262, 263). The shrine was composed of stones and shells placed in specific positions in an area on the ground. This is what Rivers said about this specific shrine: Perhaps all the stones may not be in their original position. In any case the stones cannot be said to form a map of the island, nor is there any other arrangement that is intelligible to me. Divination was accomplished by the voices and movements of birds, the movements of natural objects (262, 263). Rivers could not understand what the Meriam people were explaining to him about how the shrine was used to predict events and activities by listening to the “voices” and movements of “moman” (lizards) and “birds” (262, 263). Using the word myth, I am explaining or talking about the things that outsiders like Rivers are not able to understand. In the public (privileged) space I am storying our cultural and social realities, using cultural concepts, philosophies, and reasoning, including the metaphor of the sap/bethey lubabat and its drifting status. The myth of migration is our reality, and I am explaining the reality of it through my cultural lens and the South story of the sap/bethey. I talked about our cultural and social realities (in topics and statements throughout my chapters) of what is considered an overlap in understanding, between fiction and non-fiction. My cultural reference to myth is relevant to and part of that meaningful discussion. All seven story chapters are the Ailan cultural story of the journey of the sap (driftwood) lubabat (totem). The sap is one of my lubabat. The Meriam Mir (MM) word ‘sap’ or the Kala Lagaw Ya (KLY) term ‘bethey’ reinforces concepts of travelling away from home temporarily. The story of the sap/bethey does not arrive at the destination. Therefore, the drifting concept of the sap/bethey describes our South status. The focus of the thesis story is not on the resettlement, but on leaving Ged and traveling away from it. The resettlement on Ladaigal Country is the metaphor of the drifting of the sap/bethey, with no destination in the drifting. There are many stories of mainland resettlements from different experiences, situations, and circumstances of Ailan individuals and families who moved down South. Leaving home and travelling away, is the story of the Ailan individual, a single story, the story of a boy who left home. All Ailan pipel have only one home, Zenadth Kes. This Ailan South sap/bethey story is told through the cultural lens of the traveller storyteller, the Ailan South ‘buai’ (people). Primary and secondary sources are combined, reinforcing the Ailan cultural accounts and experiences using an Indigenous research paradigm, Indigenous ontology, epistemology, methodology, and axiology. The research is conducted from an Indigenous perspective. The Preface and Introduction chapter identifies who Ailan pipel are and where they come from. Chapter II Dato’s Story is the story of the impact of changes to Ailan pipel, culture and society. The reader is invited in a culturally appropriate way. Chapter III is the story of Gelam. Gelam’s Story localizes the movement down South to the unique situations and experiences of Ailan pipel drawing on cultural concepts, philosophies and reasonings. Gelam’s story highlights the cultural meaning of home through our Ged relationships. Chapter IV Elder’s Story is the story of our Old people, our Elders who are respected and have been at the forefront of every movement of our people and society, pre-and-post contact. Chapter V Voices of Ged Story highlights the strong Ailan cultural practice which gives us our identity, our strong sense of belonging and of who we are and have been. It is also about an acknowledgement of messages in sounds which through the communication process, are voices, speaking to us or for us. Chapter VI Mir Kak Story (story of silence) is a story about important living aspects and experiences of our Ailan knowledge systems. It is about the unspoken parts of our oral culture, its secret and secretive practices. Cultural constructs within the story of Gelam and ‘Tagai’ (the stars) is utilized to support moral and ethical cultural arguments, concepts, and reasoning. Chapter VII is the concluding Sap story. The sap is the lubabat (totem) of the Meriam people of Zenadth Kes. The metaphor of the sap/bethey is the story of Ailan South travel. Just as the travel began from the Torres Strait, it is the starting point where the sap drifted from. The resettlement and ‘South people’ status of Ailan pipel is the drifting metaphor of the sap because our people are on Ladaigal Country. Besides stating the obvious of “drifting” in Ladaigal Country, the use of the term “migrant” will not provide clarity in the myth of Ailan migration and our South resettlement status. Perhaps to help the reader understand our Indigenous world, I liken our Ailan mainland resettlement status as that of ‘expatriates’ rather than ‘migrants’ since we left our Ged and have resettled on Ladaigal Country. This is the sap/bethey story and the Ailan migration myth.
- Subject
- sap/bethey; Ailan; Ailan pipel; migration; migration myth; Torres Strait Islander; ged; Zenadth Kes
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1432705
- Identifier
- uon:39093
- Rights
- Copyright 2021 John Doolah
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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