Author's note: 'Dugong, which abound in Torres Strait, are an important source of meat and fat for Torres Strait Islanders. Indeed, were it not for dugong and turtle, the people would have very little meat and fat to eat, because there are no food-animals on their islands except a few pigs which are reserved for feasts. It takes all a man's strength and skill to capture a dugong, for these sea-mammals are big and heavy-bodied and, besides being very sky, have a keen sense of hearing.
'Everyone in Torres Strait knows the story of Gelam. Eastern Islanders, who speak a different language from the rest of the people in Torres Strait, call Gelam's mother Amer. in West Torres Strait and Central Torres Strait everyone calls her Usar.'
With title : Kawai, The Wicked Black Dogai
With title : Mau and Matang, Warrior Brothers
With title : The Little Foothill
With title : How the Sea became Salt
With title : The Spoilt Child
Myths and Legends of Torres Strait
Margaret Lawrie
,
Margaret Lawrie
(translator),
St Lucia
:
University of Queensland Press
,
1970
Z416296
1970
anthology
prose
Indigenous story
The stories in this collection were obtained at thirteen islands, within the archipelago of the Torres Strait, between Cape York, the northern point of Queensland, and the south coast of Papua New Guinea. The Islanders, despite nearly a century of continuous and increasing contact with European ways and thought, have been able to retain unbroken links with their past. It is these people, who over a period of four years, made a conscious effort to pass on to the general reader, whether they live in Torres Strait or elsewhere, part of their heritage which is embodied in legend and myth. (Source: Introduction by Margaret Lawrie)
