A New Home – Migration to Western Australia

Fast becoming legendary figures of the Australian railroad construction scene.

BHP Review, 1968

Caption: Charter planes flew Torres Strait Islander workers from Queensland to northern Western Australia from 1965. Many stayed to work on numerous projects including the Port Hedland to Mt Newman record-breaking railway.
Credit: Rio Tinto

From the mid-1960s, many Torres Strait Islanders moved to Western Australia to work on railway projects servicing the State’s booming mining industry. On the mainland, they found unique freedoms as part of a multinational workforce.

On the Islands, the Queensland government strictly controlled the lives of Torres Strait Islander peoples. The 1897 Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act (QLD) and its subsequent amendments established a Protection Board with the power to negotiate wages and conditions for workers, and to collect and tax their earnings. Permits were required to travel from island to island.

**Caption: During lunch breaks the workers sometimes killed animals on the side of the tracks to share for lunch. Port Hedland to Mt Newman Railway Line, 1968.**
Credit: BHP Collection, BH0506, State Library of Western Australia

Migrating to the mainland allowed Torres Strait Islanders to escape the strict governance of the Protection Board - as railway workers, they were union members with access to fair contract and equal wages.

Torres Strait Islanders were considered an exotic group by West Australians and treated like minor celebrities by the media - word from Queensland was that they were some of the best tracklayers in the world. In WA, the men were part of a multicultural workforce comprising Yugoslavs, Greeks, Italians and Portuguese who came together to work on the track. At first, the different languages presented challenges, however most workers eventually learned enough English to communicate effectively across the teams.