Thursday Island, Australia



Today is Monday, February 19th.  We are at sea today and tomorrow on our way to Darwin, our last stop in Australia before moving on to Indonesia.  Yesterday we were on Thursday Island, just off the northernmost tip of Australia's Cape York in the Torres Strait and practically at the doorstep of New Guinea.  TI, as it is commonly referred to by those who live there, is only 1.351 square miles in size and has a population of just over 2,900.  Even though it is among the smallest islands of the 274 small islands that make up the Torres Strait Islands archipelago, it is the administrative center for the whole area and, so, there are a number of government buildings and agencies on TI.  How TI got its name turns out to be pretty straightforward.  By the time Captain Cook and his crew arrived in the Torres Strait they had pretty much exhausted their imaginations.  So they started naming the various islands Monday Island, Tuesday Island, Wednesday Island, Friday Island and, of course, Thursday Island.

TI became home to a thriving pearl fishing industry beginning in 1885.  Divers came from Japan, Malaysia and India to harvest pearls, but in time TI as a center of that industry entered a steep decline in part due to a competitive Japanese-based fleet that did not use local resources or personnel.  In WWII TI became a base for Australian and U.S. Forces.  All civilians were evacuted in January 1942, but the island was spared any bombing by Japan because many Japanese pearl divers are buried there and the Japanese government believed many Japanese were then still residing on the island.  Current residents of the island are principally of Melanesian background.

We anchored just off of TI and were tendered in.  The surrounding area looked so peaceful and beautiful.  The water was blue and turquoise in color.  Because we were there on a Sunday, and because Janis and I waited until early afternoon to go ashore, not many people were out and about.  And notwithstanding the fact that Viking lobbied the local authorities to encourage shops and the cultural center to open for our visit, they declined to do so, again because it was a Sunday.  It was also extremely hot and humid.  We walked around for about 45 minutes and then returned to the ship.  End of story.

  

  
  
  
  
  
  


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