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The Documentary: Shifting Cultures: Survival and revival in the Torres Strait

Phillemon Mosby-by-Siobhan-Hegarty.jpg

29/01/2020 GMT

Survival and revival in the Torres Strait

Shifting Cultures

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Shifting Cultures, Survival and revival in the Torres Strait

The islanders fighting to save their home and their language

Meet the islanders fighting to save their home from climate change, and their language from extinction.

Climate change is lapping at the shores of Poruma, a tropical island in Australia’s Torres Strait. It is a dot in the Pacific Ocean – just two kilometres long and 300 metres wide – that sits halfway between the northern tip of Australia and the south of Papua New Guinea. This tiny landmass is becoming smaller. King tides are battering its beaches, and coastal erosion is eating the island at both ends.

Moving is not an option for the locals. They have a deep spiritual connection with the land and sea, and, for many, fishing is their source of income. Global warming is not their only threat.

Christianity came to the Torres Strait in the late 1800s and it has been embraced by the Islanders. But when the people of Poruma gained this faith, they lost parts of their culture and language. As former councillor Aunty Nora Pearson explains, ‘Christianity trimmed us’. Today, the island’s native tongue Kulkalgaw Ya is critically endangered, but the belief in God is strong.

ABC producer Siobhan Hegarty journeys to the Torres Strait where the locals are fighting to save their land, their language and their cultural traditions – before it’s too late.

The Documentary: Shifting Cultures

We visit 4 societies in Asia and the Pacific where traditional cultures are under pressure

The lives of people across Asia and the Pacific are rapidly changing, traditional cultures are under pressure. In this series from The ABC in Australia we visit four very different societies where locals are learning to adapt.

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