Thursday Island, Australia

Thursday Island, one of the 274 islands in the Torres Strait above Australia’s mainland, is small, with a population of just 3,000 people, almost all of whom are of the group of original inhabitants called Torres Strait Islanders, a people group who are distinct from the mainland’s aborigines in that they came from a different area long ago. So, given its small and remote status and the fact that there didn’t appear to be anything much there on the island I didn’t have much hope for an interesting day.

Dale, in fact, had opted to go to Horn island for a tour of historical sites and a museum dedicated to the history of those who protected Australia, both Australians and Americans, in WWII. It was the second most bombed location in Australia, after Darwin, with 800 bombs being dropped on this little island by the Japanese. He and Henry enjoyed a very educational day there.

Even though the people returning from the island when I was in line to take the tender over tried to persuade us not to go because of the extreme heat and humidity and their saying that there was nothing open on this Sunday and nothing to see I chose to go over anyway. And I met Brenda on the dock. She had been patiently waiting and wanted to walk around the island. So we started out based on a posted map of the route and enjoyed views of the water, the locals enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon, neat yards and houses, impressive (for such a small island) community facilities, and a bit of mangrove forest.

As we walked we were surprised by the people who stopped to say hi and ask if we were OK; the locals were very friendly indeed. The third vehicle which stopped (and let me say here that only about 10 vehicles passed us on the whole of our over 3 mile walk!) was driven by a woman, who like the others, was very solicitous of our wellbeing.

She told us that there was a shortcut to our destination and how to find it. So we proceeded and noticed that she had pulled over ahead and was waiting for us (to be sure we took the right turn!) To make a long and wonderful story shorter I’ll just say that she continued to appear at every juncture of the path (at about 6 different places!) and each time we visited and she imparted more island history and lore. She identified herself as Auntie Liz and we enjoyed her and her commentary immensely. She made the walk into a grand adventure for us!

The shortcut went up over a hill on which was the cemetery bordering both sides of the dirt road. The graves were well marked and in family or clan sections scattered all over the area. Auntie Liz pointed out the area of her parents’ graves to us several times. Many of the islanders have an interesting mix of Christianity and reverence for their ancestors.

As we came down the other side of the hill we could see the water and there again was Auntie Liz who took a picture for us.

We couldn’t resist putting our feet into the beautiful warm water at the beach and then as we neared the dock we met these teens who were excited to show us many pounds of frozen seafood which they were taking to a party of some sort. And once again there was Auntie Liz bidding us goodbye. She certainly made the day a very special one for us and it was a reminder to me of how an effort so simple can sometimes make such a good difference to someone else. Brenda and I will keep today in our list of very special days!