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Cairns and Weipa Cultural Festivals in Far North Queensland

The Torres Strait Islands are a unique part of Australia, situated between the tip of Cape York, Far North Queensland, and the south coast of Papua New Guinea. Its people are Melanesian, not Aboriginal, and their culture is close to that of adjacent areas in PNG. Their dances are accompanied by wooden gongs and snake-skin covered hour glass drums that come from Papua New Guinea. The different islands have their own distinct dances, like those of Mer (also known a Murray Island) and Boigu Island, just off the coast with Papua New Guinea

Cairns, the main town of Far North Queensland, is the venue of a number of festivals, including one in which different schools showcase their performing arts and the celebration of "Mabo Day", commemorating Eddie Mabo's challenge to the Australian Government that tended to claim Australia was "empty land" before colonisation, a notion that was finally overturned in 1992: he came from Murray Island (or Mer), in the eastern Torres Strait. About 27 km south of Cairns is Djarragun College, a school with mainly indigenous students (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) that has, since its beginning in 2001, acquired an enviable reputation. Its students, ranging from Preschool age until post Year 12 are very keen performing their traditional cultural dances. There are contemporary social dances, in which the costume for the men nowadays includes a white singlet and "lap-lap", wraparound cloth, accompanied by drums and harmonious singing. There is traditional chanting as well, accompanying some of the dances or just drumming as in the fast "Silent Dance". A totally different type of dance is the more traditional "Kab Kar" of Murray Island; boys dance in pairs, following each other, with intricate movements. They wear feather headdresses, known as "dhari", that also features on the Torres Strait Islands flag. It is always introduced by a song and the dance is accompanied by chanting and drumming. The participants, apart from the Djarragun Dancers, includes the Malukazil Dance Group from Erub (Darnley Island) and women from Mer (Murray Island), sharing the same culture.

In May 2010 the Weipa Fest was held in the town of Weipa, the main town on the west coast of Cape York peninsula. It was envisaged this would be a yearly event. In this first year the main participants were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from Djarragun College and an Aboriginal dance group from Wangetti campus of the college.

Click on a picture to play a video

Fishing dance	Women's dances from Mer	Malukazil Dancers	Malukazil and Djarragun	Djarragun Dancers
Djarragun Dancers	Two Kab Kar dances	Djarragun Junior Dancers	Djarragun Senior Dancers	Djarragun Girl Dancers
Maumatang War Dance	DC Aboriginal Dancers	Boigu Paddle Dance	Girls' dances from Mer	Wangetti Dancers

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