A YOUNG MAN – impressive, tall, with a deep voice and a presence, even among senior leaders from the many islands of the Torres Strait – Kailu George stood to deliver a speech on behalf of the youth, exactly where his grandfather’s grandfather had done on a tiny island called Masig back in the very early days of the Torres Strait Island Regional Council.
It was August 2022 at the anniversary of the first meeting, a meeting that is famous and celebrated among islanders. It came from an enormous struggle against injustice that every Australian should learn about.
Torres Strait Islanders are one of two major Indigenous groups in Australia. I am a Torres Strait Islander; we have a distinct flag and culture. In 1901, when the White Australia policy was enacted by the new federation of Australia, the fishing vessels
