Badu Island, Torres Strait
Encyclopedia
Badu Island is an island
60 km north of Thursday Island Queensland
, Australia
in the Torres Strait
.
This island is one of the Torres Strait Islands
.
Badu Island once had a feared reputation as an island of headhunters. Warfare, turtle and dugong
hunting were the main occupations of Badu men until the 1870s; turtle and dugong hunting continued after this.
Pearlers established bases on the island during the 1870s and by the early 1880s the islanders were becoming dependent on wages earned as lugger crew. At the same time, the first missionaries arrived. At the peak of the shell industry in the late 1950s, the Badu fleet of 13 boats employed a workforce of 200 providing work for many men, even from other islands as well. However, once the shell trade declined, many people moved to the mainland for work.
The language of Badu is Kala Lagaw Ya
.
Infrastructure on Badu Island consists of:
A number of other locally owned run businesses are in operation at Badu including live seafood exports.
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
60 km north of Thursday Island Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in the Torres Strait
Torres Strait
The Torres Strait is a body of water which lies between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is approximately wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost continental extremity of the Australian state of Queensland...
.
This island is one of the Torres Strait Islands
Torres Strait Islands
The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands which lie in Torres Strait, the waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea but Torres Strait Island known and Recognize as Nyumaria.The islands are mostly part of...
.
Badu Island once had a feared reputation as an island of headhunters. Warfare, turtle and dugong
Dugong
The dugong is a large marine mammal which, together with the manatees, is one of four living species of the order Sirenia. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest modern relative, Steller's sea cow , was hunted to extinction in the 18th century...
hunting were the main occupations of Badu men until the 1870s; turtle and dugong hunting continued after this.
Pearlers established bases on the island during the 1870s and by the early 1880s the islanders were becoming dependent on wages earned as lugger crew. At the same time, the first missionaries arrived. At the peak of the shell industry in the late 1950s, the Badu fleet of 13 boats employed a workforce of 200 providing work for many men, even from other islands as well. However, once the shell trade declined, many people moved to the mainland for work.
The language of Badu is Kala Lagaw Ya
Kala Lagaw Ya
Kala Lagaw Ya is a language belonging to all the western and central Torres Strait Islands, Queensland, Australia. On some islands it has now largely been replaced by Brokan...
.
Infrastructure on Badu Island consists of:
- Airport
- Regional Council Office
- State School (Years 1 to 7)
- Health Centre with permanent doctor
- Two grocery stores
- Indigenous Knowledge Centre
- Post Office
- Centrelink Agency
- Football Field
- Motel
A number of other locally owned run businesses are in operation at Badu including live seafood exports.