Day 40 – Thursday Island – Thierings on Tour

It was hard to wake up this morning A) because we had an early start and B) because a wild horse that loves roaming around Loyalty Beach campground had gotten under our awning during the night and had woken me with its noisy banging. We had to yell out to shoo it away, but I couldn’t really sleep after that thinking it would come back. This morning we were heading to Thursday Island (albeit on a Friday).

The ferry was a big, comfy catamaran and the girls were lucky enough to get a spot in the front row outside. The waters around all the islands looked magical! It’s just such a shame that you can’t swim anywhere…

The ferry took just over an hour to get across, but it was great to coast past so many other ones on our way. I didn’t realise how big some of them are!

Out of the 157 islands in the Torres Strait, only 18 are inhabited, with Thursday island being the most populated and built up.

When we jumped off everyone was starving, so we had to feed the hungry masses and that was also a good time to get our bearings.

It was getting really warm so we jumped in a taxi to go up to Green Hill Fort. Our taxi driver Bangi, was a local Thursday Island gentleman who came from generations of locals born and bred on the island.

Bandi shared a number of interesting stories and facts with us, including:

– TI has a population of 3,900 with 10,000 in total across all islands but overall around 100,000 Torres Strait Islanders living in other parts of Australia and the world
– over 300 lost their lives fighting across multiple wars in the Battalion, including Bangi’s dad
– over 700 Japanese pearl farmers buried on the island after losing their lives in diving accidents
– there is a primary and secondary school, a TAFE and a university on the island
– until 1967 the island was segregated, now it’s a thriving multicultural community

Green Hill Fort was built in the late 19th century while the island was under British Rule and in anticipation of a Russian invasion.
The only shot ever fired was from one of the guns as a warning shot for a vessel to identify itself, which it did. During the world wars it was used as a signals station.

The view from the top was absolutely phenomenal!

After that we drove around the island a bit more checking out some more sights and the cultural centre with some beautiful artwork. I was really hoping we would be able to watch some traditional dancing, but they didn’t have enough numbers to warrant a performance today.

Then it was off to Australia’s most northern pub for a beer and some lunch. On the way back to the ferry the girls also enjoyed playing at the playground and finding some more sculptures.