Island Fettlers

Clip 1: Leaving Island homes

2 min 15 sec

Taken from the documentary Island Fettlers (2006)

Original title classification G – this clip chosen to be G

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Availability of the complete title

Please be aware that this clip may contain the names, images and voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who may now be deceased.

Curator’s clip description

The bright tropical colours of the coastline of Darnley Island, Torres Strait. Island men bid their families and community farewell. Voice-over narration tells of the choice to go to Western Australia to provide for their families. Historical footage of railway lines in the desert. The colours are now sepia and hot, quite a contrast to the bright colours of the Torres Strait. Titles come up that say ‘The Pilbara Region, North Western Australia’. Large earth moving machinery carves up the land. Titles state, ‘In the 1960s, Western Australia’s growing mining industry needed thousands of kilometres of railway built to transport ore and minerals from remote mines in the desert to port towns on the coast. Already regarded as amongst the best and hardest working fettlers, hundreds of Torres Strait men left their homes to build these railways. Their work and skill led them to break a world record in tracklaying. It has never been beaten since. When the work was over, many returned to the Islands. A handful chose to stay.’

Curator’s notes

A part of history that many Australians would be unaware of, Island Fettlers introduces us to the experiences of Torres Strait people who, in leaving their island homes to work, contributed to the infrastructure of the Australian nation.

Romaine Moreton, curator

australian screen