Coming of the Light Festival explained

The Coming of the Light Festival is celebrated in the Torres Strait Islands on 1 July each year. It commemorates the arrival of the London Missionary Society in Torres Strait at Erub (Darnley Island) on 1 July 1871, introducing Christianity to the region. The predominantly Christian Torres Strait Islanders hold religious and cultural ceremonies across Torres Strait and mainland Australia to celebrate the day.[1] [2] [3]

Origins

In 1871 representatives of the London Missionary Society (LMS) arrived in the Torres Straits on the schooner Surprise,[4] [5] which had been chartered by the LMS,[6] [7] after the French Government had demanded their removal from the Loyalty Islands and New Caledonia in 1869. They decided to expand into the Torres Straits and New Guinea.[8] They were represented by two Englishmen, Revs S. Macfarlane and Archibald Wright Murray,[9] [10] and eight Lifu (Loyalty Islander) evangelists: Tapeso, Elia, Mataika, Guchong, Kerisidui, Wauaded, Sevine and Josaia, and their wives.[8] [11]

The missionaries reached Erub (Darnley Island) on 1 July 1871, an event that came to be known as the "Coming of the Light". Dabad, one of the tribal elders of the island, met them at Kemus Beach. Dabad befriended the missionaries and introduced them to Amani, another tribal elder, and the rest of the Erub Islanders. His role in the bringing of Christianity to the Torres Straits is memorialised by Dabad's Monument at Badog.[8] [12]

Related

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Coming of the Light Festival . Torres Strait Regional Authority . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20071102182606/http://www.tsra.gov.au/the-torres-strait/events/coming-of-the-light.aspx . 2 November 2007.
  2. https://www.tsirc.qld.gov.au/our-communities/celebrations-holidays Celebrations and holidays
  3. https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/travel/travel-destinations/2015/07/torres-strait-islands-coming-of-the-light-festival/ Torres Strait Islands: Coming of the Light festival
  4. News: Cruise of the Jeannie Oswald. . . 7,914 . Victoria, Australia . 21 October 1871 . 4 August 2021 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
  5. News: The New Guinea Expedition. . . 8118 . Victoria, Australia . 13 January 1872 . 4 August 2021 . 3 . National Library of Australia.
  6. Missionary Ships . Shipping Wonders of the World. Part 51. 26 January 1937. 3 August 2021.
  7. Web site: The Coming of the Light . Anglican Board of Mission . 3 August 2021.
  8. Dated |20 January 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2021. Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under a Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
  9. Web site: Gibbney . H. J. . Samuel Macfarlane . . 1974 . 3 August 2021. This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, (MUP), 1974.
  10. Web site: Hammond . Philip . Performers mark Coming of the Light . . 30 June 2011 . 3 August 2021.
  11. Web site: The Bible in the Pacific. Archibald Wright . Murray . 1888. Google Books. James Nisbet and Company . 4 August 2021. 226–228.
  12. Web site: Dabad's Monument. Monument Australia. 14 July 2016.

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