Pre-European settlement Murray Island has been inhabited for around 2,800 years, the first settlers being
Papuo-
Austronesians who brought agriculture and pot-making with them. , 1802, on board the
HMS Investigator on
Matthew Flinders' circumnavigation of Australia Regular contact between the inhabitants of Torres Strait, Europeans, Asians and other outsiders began once the Torres Strait became a means of passage between the
Indian Ocean and the
Pacific Ocean in the 19th century. , 1845 The
inhabitants of the Torres Strait, including the Meriam people, gained a reputation as fierce warriors and skilled mariners. Warfare (both intertribal and against European ships in transit through the
Coral Sea) and
head hunting were part of Torres Strait Islanders' culture. The account of Jack Ireland, a surviving
cabin boy from the
Charles Eaton, a
barque that was wrecked in 1834 at Detached Reef, near the entrance to Torres Strait, is of interest in this respect. Ireland and another young survivor, William D'Oyley, spent much of their time on Mer before being rescued. In 1836 a large ceremonial mask was recovered from neighbouring
Aureed (Skull) Island after Ireland and D'Oyley were rescued returned to
Sydney. The mask was made of turtle shells surrounded by numerous skulls, 17 of which were determined to have belonged to the crew and passengers of the
Charles Eaton, who were massacred when they came ashore after the shipwreck. after the skulls were buried on 17 November 1836 in a mass grave in the
Devonshire Street Cemetery in Sydney. A monument was erected in the form of a huge
altar stone to record the manner in which they died. When the Devonshire Street Cemetery was resumed for the site of the
Central Railway Station in 1904 the skulls and the monument were removed to
Bunnerong Cemetery at
Botany Bay in Sydney.
Post-European settlement (1872) Missionaries (mainly Polynesian) and some other Polynesians began to settle the island in 1872 when the
London Missionary Society founded a missionary school there. The
Queensland Government annexed the islands in 1879. The Australian painter
Tom Roberts visited the island in 1892. He witnessed a nighttime dance and depicted it in a painting. From 1896 to 1903, it was under the control of the Department for Public Instruction and was known as Murray Island Provisional School. From 1904, it became the responsibility of various other government departments. It returned to the control of the Department of Education on 29 January 1985 as Murray Island State School. It was renamed in October 1990 as Mer State School, becoming the Mer Campus of the Tagai State College on 1 January 2007. In 1936, a maritime strike fuelled by Islander dissatisfaction with the management of their wages and boats by the
Protector of Aborigines allowed Islanders to assert control and reject government controls. In 1937, the inaugural meeting of Island Councillors on
Yorke Island resulted in the
Torres Strait Islander Act 1939, giving Islanders more authority in their own affairs and establishing local governments on each island. After the
Pacific War broke out in 1941, over 700 Islanders volunteered to defend the Torres Strait. This group was organised into the
Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion. The migration of Islanders to mainland Australia increased as jobs disappeared in the
pearling industry. A call for independence from Australia in the 1980s arose as the government failed to provide basic infrastructure on the island. Murray Island's most famous resident was trade unionist
Eddie Mabo, whose decision to sue the Queensland Government to secure ownership of his land, which had been removed from his ancestors by the British colonial powers using the
terra nullius legal concept, ultimately led the
High Court of Australia, on appeal from the
Supreme Court of the State of Queensland, to issue the "
Mabo decision" on 3 June 1992, finally recognising Mabo's
native title rights on his land. The decision continues to have ramifications for Australia. Mabo himself died a few months before the decision. After vandalism to his grave site, he was reburied on Murray Island, where Islanders performed a traditional ceremony for the burial of a king. == Demographics ==