Talk:Torres Strait Islanders

This article is written in Australian English, which has its own spelling conventions (colour, realise, program, labour (but Labor Party)) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

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Guideline for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples terminology

Be conscious of the unique, diverse and distinct identities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and understand the use of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is as a collective name.

Collective names used to describe Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples:
When writing about both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, use terms such as:

First Nations Australians
First Australians
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples
First Peoples

Although "Indigenous Australians" is in common use, and is used to encompass both Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people, many First Nations Australians feel the term diminishes their identity and should be avoided; however, where the word "Indigenous" forms part of an acronym to describe entities, organisations, or government departments the use is acceptable.

When used, the words Indigenous, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, First Nations, First Peoples, and First Australians are capitalised.

Note: Never use the collective name "Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander" peoples as it misrepresents the identity of Torres Strait Islander peoples as not being the original inhabitants of islands in the Torres Strait.

Self-identifying terms:
Be specific where possible by using the name of the group or community with whom the people you are referring to identify.

Murri is usually used by Aboriginal people in and from Queensland and north-west New South Wales
Goori is usually used by Aboriginal people in and from northern New South Wales coastal regions
Koori is usually used by Aboriginal people in and from parts of New South Wales and Victoria

This is not an exhaustive list

Language that can be discriminatory or offensive and should be avoided:

shorthand terms like "Aborigines", "Islanders"
abbreviations like "ATSI", "A&TSI", "1st Nations"
using terms like "myth", "legend" or "folklore" when referring to the beliefs of First Nations peoples
terms like "part-aborigine", "full-blood", "half-caste", "quarter-caste", "octoroon", "mulatto", "hybrid"
terms like "tribe", "horde", "band", "clan", "moiety"

This is not an exhaustive list

Note: It is acceptable to use abbreviations in your communications when they form part of an acronym, a web address or an organisation (e.g. AIATSIS, NAIDOC, www.atsi.org.au). Using an acronym or abbreviation to describe a race of people can be offensive and discriminatory.

For further information, please refer to:

Australian Government Style Manual[1]
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies[2]
University of New South Wales[3]
Griffith University[4]

Terminology can change over time and, where possible, it is best practice to find out what the preferred term is from the respective Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander group or individual you are referring to. For further guidance, please see the Australian Government Style Guide

Torres Strait Islanders

Firstly, I'm not sure what 'Melanesian culture' means (not much, I think!). Secondly, TSI fall into two groups. The western Torres Strait Islanders are closely related to Australian Aboriginal people, at least linguistically--their language is a member of the Pama-Nyungan family of languages which covers most of the Australian mainland. The eastern TS language (one spelling of which is Meriam Mer) is related to the languages of the nearby PNG coast.

Nevertheless, it is true that the TSI people do consider themselves as a group to be distinct from Aboriginal people of the mainland. Dougg 05:10, 1 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

You know Melanesian is linked to an article. Wonderful thing, this Wikipedia. Kortoso (talk) 18:04, 19 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Languages to their own pages?

As this article is supposed to be about Torres Straits Islanders we should probably shift the languages info off to separate articles. That won't leave much in this article but maybe whoever added the more detailed language info (with example sentences) can help fill it out? BTW, I'm interested to know what the source was for this info, I hadn't heard previously that there was much Austronesian influence on KLY/KKY/etc Dougg 07:14, 3 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Done. Also tagged for a merge -> Torres Strait Islands, a much less stubby article. Though now that I think about it a bit more, perhaps Torres Strait Island languages should be merged into Torres Strait Islands as well? Regards, Ben Aveling 06:31, 27 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Flag

I just re-added the flag, but was there any reason it was removed before? I don't object to its re-removal, if there's a valid reason, and it wasn't just a mistake. riana_dzasta 16:13, 10 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The flag was again removed in this edit by Hullaballoo Wolfowitz on 19 May 2013 with the following reason in the edit summary: "fails NFCC#8, no valid article-specific NFCC rationale". The requirement under NFCC#8 at Wikipedia:Non-free content criteria#Policy (WP:NFCCP) is:

Contextual significance. Non-free content is used only if its presence would significantly increase readers' understanding of the article topic, and its omission would be detrimental to that understanding.

The purpose stated in the non-free media rationale for this article, as stated at File:Flag of the Torres Strait Islanders.svg, is (as it was then):

Illustrate the article on the Torres Strait Islanders people, as this is the symbol that represents them.

It seems to me that this is a perfectly acceptable purpose for the flag being included in an article specifically about Torres Strait Islanders, just as national flags are included in infoboxes about their respective nations. Therefore, the image should be re-instated. —sroc 💬 08:12, 28 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

research resources

If anyone is based at a university the following publications look like they would be useful: [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]--Wiki Townsvillia n 10:29, 11 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

TSI Editors?

Is anyone familiar with any actual Torres Strait islander editors on WP? Just wondering, first I need to ask some questions about TSI culture, and secondly this page is of insufficient quality for it's importance. --Mattbray 07:37, 16 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

A category for Torres Strait Islanders

Why no category for Torres Strait Islanders, who like Eddie Mabo seem to be classed under Indigenous Australians (he is subcategory Activist)? There are more of them than of Indigenous Tasmanians. Should the category be called just Torres Strait Islanders? Hugo999 (talk) 01:13, 3 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Broken link in references

Citation 6 here is a broken link, does the page still exist? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.217.255.231 (talk) 15:18, 15 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

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Photo

This article needs a better photo for the infobox, the one at the moment is shockingly low quality and old. However, I couldn't find a free image that I was comfortable using. If anyone can take one that would be great. Poketama (talk) 12:14, 28 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Calculation?

How to read this complicated calculation, that i cannot understand the actual number of the torres strait islanders? Here is the excerpt from the article : Total: 38,701 (Torres Strait Islander only), plus 32,200 (Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal Australian);[1] of these, 4,514 on the Islands[2] Please i hope anyone can solve this problem to find a real number of torres strait islanders. 2404:8000:1027:85F6:E11A:3B9E:4CFC:C573 (talk) 02:51, 30 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I've updated this to be easier to read. Although the data is from 2016 and needs to be updated to the 2021 census data.

Here is an explanation: In 2016 there were 66,387 Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. Of these, 38,701 people only had ancestors who were Torres Strait Islander. The other 32,200 people had ancestors who were both Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal.

Out of the total, only 4514 Torres Strait Islanders actually live in the Torres Strait. The rest live in mainland Australia, primarily Queensland.

Hope that helps. Poketama (talk) 10:04, 3 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Exist?

Why torres strait islander does exist as an official part of an indigenous australians despite having large population difference to aboriginal australian? 2404:8000:1027:2C72:C9DD:4AD7:1341:B631 (talk) 02:45, 30 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]