Torres Strait is a place you’re unlikely to visit unless you’re on a sailing boat, working for an airline or for a government department. Thursday Island (or TI as it is colloquially known) is the administrative hub for the Torres Strait. There are no resorts here…not even abandoned ones as we saw in the Whitsundays. In the indigenous Kawrareg dialect it is known as Waiben or Waibene. The Torres Strait Islands are a group of 274 islands which are situated 40km from the northern-most tip of Australia, Cape York.

Here’s a couple of interesting historic facts about TI. There’s the usual shameful colonial and missionary history (which I won’t go into). In 1879 the Japanese settled on Thursday Island and started a lucrative pearl industry. Workers from Japan, Malaya and India came to seek their fortune, along with many Pacific Islanders who were brought to TI to work (often against their will) as indentured labour in a practice known as “blackbirding”.

In 1941 the Japanese residents of TI were rounded up and interned in camps in NSW. After WWII many of the ethnic Japanese were forcibly repatriated to Japan. In 1942 civilian residents were evacuated by sea from TI, and did not return until after the war.

TI became the military headquarters for Torres Strait, and was important in its proximity to New Guinea and Solomon Islands with the allied airbase on neighbouring Horn Island. TI was spared bombing during WWII due, it was thought to it being the burial place of many of the Japanese pearl divers, and possibly the Japanese thinking there were still their countrymen in residence on the island. Neighbouring Horn Island did not fare so well and was extensively bombed.

Thursday Island allegedly got its European name from Captain William Blyth of the Bounty on his journey from Tahiti to Batavia. Another completely uninspired explorer who named it on the Thursday that he sailed past it. Much like Captain Cook named Lizard Island after seeing Lizards on the island….I much prefer the indigenous names. There’s also a Wednesday Island and a Friday Island, but not the other days of the week, but there is Prince of Wales Island, the largest in the group. Horn Island is a little more creative maybe. It was named by Matthew Flinders, he must’ve been running out of ideas by that stage after naming everything else in Australia after himself.

On a more contemporary note, TI has Australia’s northern-most pub. We didn’t quite make it there for Imogen’s birthday on the 19th of July, but celebrated with a beer and some chips a few days later. It had a great atmosphere, cold beer and generous serves of chips.

There’s a legend among Torres Strait Islanders that if you eat (kai-kai) the fruit of the Wongai tree, you will return to Torres Strait. I haven’t eaten the fruit, and I don’t know if I will ever return here. It has been a privilege to visit this special place.