Mua people

Mua people(Mualgal) alternatively the Moa, are anIndigenous AustralianTorres Strait Island peoplebased onMoa (Banks Island).According toAlfred Cort Haddontheir lifestyle, culture, myths and kinship networks overlapped closely with those of theKauraregon neighbouringMuralag,while also forming an integral part, linguistically and culturally, with all Western and Central Island peoples of Torres Strait.

Language

They speak a dialect ofKalaw Lagaw Yaof thePama-Nyungan language family.

Mythology

According to the Mua, fire was brought to the island byWaleku,thefrilled-necked lizardaugadh(totem), which had travelled up to Mawatta in Papua to get the fire.

On death, one became amari,a potentially dangerous spirit because it had not yet left forKibukuth"Horizon's End", the world of the ancestral spirits over the western horizon. Then, with a community death "festival", themarkai thaay(now called theKulagudpudai"Tombstone Opening", themari,envisaged as a spirit with feathers on its head, was free to travel to Bœigu (Boigu) in northwest Torres Strait, accompanied bymarkaiwho had come to take them home to the Augadh'sgœgaith(clan land) in Kibukuth, leaving from Bœigu Gœwath (inlet) on northwest Mua. At Bœigu (the island) it might speak to or otherwise leave a message for themarimulaimœbaigal"ghost talkers", Bœigu men with the power (wœnewœn) to talk to the ghosts, to tell them how they died. Themariwas then taken by itsmarkairelatives towards the west, transforming into amarkai"ancestral spirit" at a specific sand bar just west of Bœigu. The group then travelled bymarkai gul"markai sailing canoe/ship" on toKibukuth' over the western horizon. Two othermarkaispirit forms werebukandpadutu;these were fertility and life spirits. Particular areas of an island were thought to be inhabited bydhogai(devil women) oradhiadh(giants).

Ecology

Mua island, lying east ofBadu (Mulgrave Island),is dominated by Mt Augustus, also known as Mua Pad (Mua Peak), with its twin boulders (Baudhar),the highest peak in the Torres Strait. Archaeological evidence points to habitation on Mua since the mid-late first millennium. The poor quality of the soil is explained by a myth which has theculture heroGelam gathering up the best soil and foodstuffs and, on a dugong canoe, abandoning Mua to travel over and settle east, on theisland of Mer.The quality of its soil is poor and the local vegetation thin, while swamps and mangroves are characteristic of the littoral zone. Notwithstanding this low fertility, Mua afforded a notable variety of fruit and tubers:aubau(noni fruit);goegoebe(bellfruit);kawai(red wild apple),kupa(white apple);maia red fruit baked inoven pits(amai);putit(yellow cherry);sizoengai(black fruit);uzu(white island fig);wanga(a plum-dized black fruit);wangai(island plum) andyararkakur(monkeynut);kurub(varieties of island banana), and six varieties of yam:buwa,kuthai,gabau,mapet,sariandthapan.They also cooked a seed-pod (biyu sama) harvested from mangroves.

The timing of the foraging and hunting cyclea depended on the seasons. Specialists among the elders, thezugubaumœbaigor star gazer, determined by close observation of the heavens, the rhythms of the tides and seasons, governed by the Zugub (plural Zugubal), the pre-Christian Sky Gods, who oversaw the seasons, fertility, horticulture, hunting and food gathering, battle and headhunting in conjunction with thedhogai,and who became specific stars and constellationsThe onset of the south-east season is signaled by the dawn rising of the Yam Star (Kek, a senior Zugub) over Baudhar.

Men would fish beyond the shores for many kinds of fish, includingBlack spinefoot,parrot fish,dugong, turtle and crayfish, or shot theTorresian pigeons(goeinaw) using a variety of weapons:wap(harpoon spear, such as thethoelu wapfashioned frombloodwood),amu(harpoon rope),gabagaba(a club with a round stone head). Women could fish inshore, near reefs, using awaliline woven from thedhani(wild fig), or scouring the shoreline forHawksbill turtle eggs(which however they were forbidden to eat duringlactation), and theakul,gobaandsilelvarieties of shellfish. Only after menopause were women allowed to partake ofgoeinaupigeon flesh.

Social structure

Like other Torres Strait island cultures, Mua society was ruled by agerontocracyof male elders, oftenmaidhalgal(men of magic) whose mastery of magical techniques and lore was fundamental to the regulation of both social groups and the natural increase in foods. They lived part of the year in solitude, or with a few select assistants, directed the initiation rites at sacred ceremonial grounds (kod), and were reputedshapeshifters,reminiscent ofshamans,capable of coercing both nature and men through sorcery, through secret herbal lore and the manipulating of effigies (wauri).

Before the white presence made itself felt,Barbara Thompsonrelated that the Mua were divided into two distinct groups, differentiated by accent and slight dialect differences; the Mualgal and the Italgal.Whether this binome represents amoietydivision, or of the confluence of two originally distinct peoples, is unknown; however, thegœgaith"clanland" layout of Mua suggests that the Mualgal were the Kursi Augadh people (see below).

Mualgal Hill people of Mua Naigayidœgam (North Eastern)

Italgal Rock oyster(it) Mua Zeydœgam (South and Western Coast)

As in general with the Western Torres Isles cultural complex, territory on Mua was quadripartite within two moities, the Kursi-Kœdal moiety and the Dhangal-Thabu moiety, eachbuwai"clan" having subclans, making over 10 totemic subclans(buwai) of patrilineal descent: the basic unit consisted of roughly 25 members. Each clan had itsaugadhor totemic kindred spirit.The 4 dominant clans correlate with wind directions, which the subclans of each share; moreover, they are represented by a Zugub star or constellation, of which Kek is the Zugub star of the southwest clan.

Dhangal(buwai) Dugong Direction:NW Mua Sites:Gerain &Totalai	Koedal(buwai) Crocodile Direction SW Mua Sites:Arkai & Iki
Kursi(buwai) Hammerhead shark Direction NE Mua Site:Sigan	Tabu(buwai) Snake Direction: SE Mua Site:It

Warfare and inter island relations

The Mua were traditional feudal enemies of theBadu peopleand their allies, theMabuiag peopleof theBellevue islandofMabuiag,despite otherwise being closely related, speaking the same overall language, and engaging in regular inter-Island trading and inter-Island clan business. The two groups appeared to have engaged in a cycle of feuds, whose aim was not conquest, but rather revenge, with some acquisition of women and the accumulation, viaheadhunting,of skulls for trade and as trophies. Everyday life on Mua, like all the islands, was never free of a wariness driven by fear of being attacked by sea raiders.

There was no warrior class, and while all youths (kernge) underwent three stages of aninitiatory trajectory,there was one social role, that of thepaudhau garka,'man of peace', exempt from warfare and with a role of negotiation peace between feuding clans.

The Mua people armed themselves for warfare with akalak(spear) andkubai(spear-thrower), sometimes adagal(a two or three-pronged spear), sometimes anai(small club), agabagaba"disk club made fromgòbastone ", and bows and arrows. Heads were decapitated with anupi"bamboo knife".One was reluctant to fight without the presence of the relevant emblem representing either one's totem or specialkœubu maidh"battle magic" (augadh) worn by a warrior.

In 1870 the Mabuigalgal raided the Mua twice on revenge raids: 20 Italgal died in the first attack alone. After the second assault, coordinated with and instigated by the Badu, the casualties were significantly higher.The estimated 250 Muans of 1875 were reduced to no more than 50 within 2 decades through the effects ofpearlerseizures of womenfolk and epidemics like measles.

Mua death rites were like those of the Kaurareg and all other Western and Central Islanders of Torres Strait. After the death of the person, athœrba"funeral feast" was held; all death rite matters being managed by themarigeth"ghost hand", the in-law family of the deceased. Some months after, themarkai thaay(see above) was held tocelebrate the return of themari(soul) to its totemic homeland in Kibukuth (see above). After death, the body was laid on a highsara"rack", a mortuary bier raised on four legs so as to avoid harm from dogs and pigs. It was left there until decomposition had stripped the flesh from the bones. The latter were rubbed with red ochre, gathered within a bark sheath and buried in a sand mound surrounded by shells, skulls and dugong bones. The practice of tinting the bones with red ochre is atypical of the Torres Straits mortuary customs, and may have been introduced to the Mua via the Kaurareg from aboriginal usages in theCape York Peninsula,though is also known in Papua New-Guinea.

History

If the Mua are part of the Kauraraiga (this word simply means "islander" ), their origins would overlap with the latter. The legendary lore of the area states that the Kauraraiga were originally the Hiámu/Hiámo/Hiáma (the Kiwai name) fromIama,one of theBourke Islesnorth-east of Mua, who had settled onDaruoff the coast ofNew Guineasouth of theFly Riverso as to be closer to their trading partners and clansmen of the East Trans Fly Bine and Wipi peoples, and who were eventually driven away by colonising and marauding Kiwai as these latter migrated westwards. The Hiámo sailed south to Muri (Mt Adolphus), then Waiben (Thursday Island), joining with Islanders already living there and Mua.

The first mention of Mua in European records goes back toWilliam Bligh's entry in thelogbookofHMS Bounty,dated 11 September 1792, noting its high mountain. Bligh named it Banks Island in honour ofSir Joseph Banks.To the Mua, as for other Torres islanders, white people seemed to bemarkai(the ghosts of released spirits) whose return was forbidden.

By 1870, due to successive onslaughts by the Badu andMabuiag,the surviving remnants of the Mua had been driven off their coasts, inland. A settlement with missionaries was established in 1871.

Sources

• Haddon, Alfred Cort(2011) [First published 1912]."Weapons and objects employed in warfare".InRivers, W. H. R.;Haddon, Alfred Cort(eds.).Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits.Vol. 4.Cambridge University Press.pp. 173–203.ISBN978-0-521-17988-1.
• Lawrence, David (2004)."Shared Space: Papuan Perspectives on the Torres Strait".In Davis, Richard (ed.).Woven Histories, Dancing Lives: Torres Strait Islander Identity, Culture and History.Aboriginal Studies Press.pp. 190–205.ISBN978-0-855-75432-7.
• Moore, David R. (1979).Islanders and Aborigines at Cape York.Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.ISBN978-0-855-75082-4.
• Ōshima, Jōji[in Japanese](1983). Ōshima, Jōji (ed.).トレス hải hiệp の nhân 々―その địa lý học đích ・ dân tộc học đích nghiên cứu(in Japanese). Cổ kim thư viện.ISBN978-4-772-21191-8.
• Rivers, W. H. R.;Haddon, Alfred Cort(1904)."Totemism".Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits.Vol. 5.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-855-75082-4.
• Shnukal, Anna (2008a)."Traditional Mua"(PDF).Memoirs of the Queensland Museum.4(2): 7–33.
• Shnukal, Anna (2008b)."The Last Battle of Mua: Eleven Texts"(PDF).Memoirs of the Queensland Museum.4(2): 35–59.
• Shnukal, Anna (2008c)."Historical Mua"(PDF).Memoirs of the Queensland Museum.4(2): 61–295.