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Reclaiming their heritage

By Stephen Hagan - posted Thursday, 18 January 2007


What my design stands for is quite simple:

  1. the two green are the two mainland of Australia and Papua New Guinea;
  2. the blue between these two continents is the blue of the TORRES STRAIT waters;
  3. and one symbol I feel that can identify any Islander anywhere is the DHARI;
  4. the 5 points of the star are our group; the Western, Eastern, Central, Port Kennedy group and the Mainland group.

… In conclusion I would like to thank Mr (Etti) Pau (Bakoi’s father) the inspiration behind me designing a flag and entering the competition. He has shared many times with me, events of the past and what we, the TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS, real (sic) needs are in the future. One of which I know he must be very proud to be able to witness today and be part of this historic event in the launching of our own, nor matta (sic) where you are, THE TORRES STRAIT FLAG.

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After reflecting for some time on those words Mrs Namok informed me of an incident recently when a primary school teacher asked her youngest son Simeon, during a discussion on the origin of the flag to her class, if he was related to Bernard Namok and if so what the flag meant to him. Mrs Namok said her son told her that he gave a long pause to the question before offering a soft but proud response of, “He’s my Dad”.

Speaking the following day with Mrs Romina Fujii, then Chairperson of the 1992 Flag Selection Committee, I was informed that she was so impressed by the late Bernard Namok design that she immediately recommended it be short listed. When her committee, which included Getano Lui, George Mye and the late Ephraim Bani, vetted the short listed flag designs they were in unanimous agreement and promptly ticked it off as the one best able to represent the aspirations of Torres Strait Island people.

Mrs Fuji said her committee’s main purpose for conducting a flag competition was to emulate and capture, for her people, the same passion and hugely successful outcome achieved by the black, red and yellow flag for uniting and empowering Aboriginal Australians.

Another Torres Strait Island leader with whom I spent time with on my trip was Mr Robert (Bongo) Sagigi, Badu Island traditional owner and chairperson of the T.R.A.W.Q. Community Council Inc., who provided me with the following cultural interpretation of the flag through the traditional name for Torres Strait “Zenadth Kes” as follows:

  • ZEI - Australia;
  • NAIGAI -Papua New Guinea;
  • DAGUM - Area in between the two countries;
    THOWA-THDWA - land mass;
  • Dhari - symbols represent the Zenadth Kes Islanders;
  • Star - represents the 5 regions: Top Western (Gudamaluilgal), Near Western (Malvilgal), Eastern (Meriam), Central (Kulkalgal) and Inner Islands (Kaiwalagai).

Mr Sagigi said that his people felt the time was now right for a name change from Torres Strait, named after Luis Vaes De Torres, a Spanish Explorer who discovered Torres Strait in 1606 on his way from Espiritus Santos in the New Hebrides, to Zenadth Kes.

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“If Ayers Rock can be changed to Uluru after a request by their traditional owners why can’t we also have our TSI traditional owners request accepted formally by the government?”, Mr Sagigi enquired.

Most of Mr Sagigi’s historical presentation of the Torres Strait was made in language and ably interpreted to me by his adviser, Mr Siri Stephen.

Mr Sagigi provided me with a copy of a resolution tabled at the Kuiku Mabaigal Forum, Badu Island (of all TSI traditional owners) held on August 12-13, 2004 that reads:

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. Page 2
  4. 3
  5. All


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About the Author

Stephen Hagan is Editor of the National Indigenous Times, award winning author, film maker and 2006 NAIDOC Person of the Year.

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