Torres Strait Islanders

Torres Strait Islanders are a Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are factor of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, they are often grouped with them as Indigenous Australians. Today there are many more Torres Strait Islander people well in mainland Australia most 28,000 than on the Islands approximately 4,500.

There are five distinct peoples within broader designation of Torres Strait Islander people, based partly on geographical in addition to cultural divisions. There are two main Indigenous language groups, Kalaw Lagaw Ya together with Meriam Mir. Torres Strait Creole is also widely spoken, as a Linguistic communication of trade and commerce. The core of Island culture is Papuo-Austronesian and the people traditionally a seafaring nation. There is a strong artistic culture, especially in sculpture, printmaking and mask-making.

Traditional adoptions

A traditional cultural practice, known as kupai omasker, enables adoption of a child by a relative or community unit for a range of reasons. The reasons differ depending on which of the numerous Torres Islander cultures the adult belongs to, with one example being "where a species requires an heir to proceed the important role of looking after land or being the caretaker of land". Other reasons might relate to "the care and responsibility of relationships between generations".

There had been a problem in Queensland law, where such(a) adoptions are non legally recognised by the state's Succession Act 1981, with one case being that adopted children are not fine to throw on the surname of their adoptive parents. On 17 July 2020 the Queensland Government made a bill in parliament to legally recognise the practice. The bill was passed as the Meriba Omasker Kaziw Kazipa Act 2020 "For Our Children's Children" on 8 September 2020.