Torres Strait Islander uncovers ancestry gems during graduate research project at National Library
By Louise Maher
Updated Mon at 11:32am
PHOTO: John Morseu has found an 1890 photograph of one of his ancestors, Edward (Ned) Mosby, an American seaman.(666 ABC Canberra: Louise Maher)
John Morseu is shining a light on the colonial and cultural history of his Torres Strait Islander people through a unique research project at the National Library of Australia (NLA).
Mr Morseu, 26, has been sorting through the NLA's collection of images, letters, manuscripts, missionary reports and oral histories from the Torres Strait to identify individuals for the historical record and to make the material more accessible.
His project focuses on "old TI" — a phrase used by islanders to describe the time on Thursday Island between 1890 and 1980.
During this period, Christianity and pearling were introduced to the Torres Strait and people arrived from China, Samoa, Malaysia, Jamaica and Spain.
"We're very diverse as a group of people and we're very proud of that," Mr Morseu said.
"We had a lot of influences [on our cultural identity] — we had the war.
"A lot of Thursday Islanders left TI; [they] had to go to Cairns. It's recorded in our songs and dances."
PHOTO: Missionaries took photos of their families, local people and activities on islands in the Torres Strait.(666 ABC Canberra: Louise Maher)
Mr Morseu's family is from Thursday Island but he grew up and was educated in Cairns.
Among the material at the library he has discovered is a series of letters from the 1920s and 1930s between his grandmother, Elma Mosby, and her friend, Edith Wyly, who was the niece of missionary William MacFarlane.
In one of the letters, 15-year-old Elma tells Edith that she received her letter "when I was come out of church", that she was sending her a gift of two butterfly shells and that she hoped Edith would visit Yorke Island again "because we been meet very long time ago".
Mr Morseu said he was impressed by the quality of the letter, handwritten in Torres Strait Creole.
He said the friendship represented positive relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in the early 20th century.
PHOTO: John Morseu discovered letters exchanged by his grandmother and a missionary's daughter in the 1920s and '30s.
Mr Morseu has also found an 1890 photograph of one of his ancestors, Edward (Ned) Mosby, an American seaman from a whaling ship who settled on Yorke Island and fathered a large family.
"I've seen [a copy of] this particular photo but I just didn't think I'd see it here at the library," he said.
Mr Morseu has also uncovered documentary evidence of stories passed down orally by older generations, including the habit of islander men in the 1950s to wear suits in the main town on Thursday Island despite the tropical heat.
"When you see those pictures, then you go, 'oh, they actually did do that'," he said.
Mr Morseu has prepared a research guide for the NLA and will share his discoveries with family and community on trips back to the Torres Strait. http://www.nla.gov.au/research-guides/torres-strait-islands-collection
He is also investigating ways of using social media to distribute the material to younger people.
"We're at a time where we want to know more about our cultural identity," Mr Morseu said.
"We have islanders, first, second, third generation living on the mainland who want to know more about where they've come from.
"Looking at this [material] can empower them."
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