The Pearl-Shellers of Torres Strait. Resource Use, Development and Decline, 1860s-1960s.

Ganter, Regina.

ISBN 10: 0522845479 / ISBN 13: 9780522845471

Verlag: Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1994

Beschreibung

xvii,299pp, index,bibliography, notes, glossary, appendices, bw ills, maps, tables. Pictorial card. Near new. In an ethnically stratified workforce Aboriginal, South Sea Islander, Torres Strait Islander and Japanese divers brought up shell that produced mother-of-pearl, and sometimes pearls. This volume charts the progress of pearl shelling from its heyday through its several crises resulting from overfishing to its present cautious management. Greatly enhanced by the oral testimony of divers and boat owners. Size: 8vo.

Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 054398

Bibliografische Details

• Titel: The Pearl-Shellers of Torres Strait. Resource Use, Development and Decline, 1860s-1960s.
• Verlag: Melbourne University Press, Melbourne
• Veröffentlichungsdatum: 1994
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN-10: 0522845479
• ISBN-13: 9780522845471
• Bindung: Soft Cover
• Ausgabe: First Paperback.
• Zustand: Fine
• Verkäuferkataloge:
  • Australian Aborigines
  • Business/ Economics/ Politics
  • Gems, Minerals and Mining
  • Maritime/ Sailing/ Shipping
  • Australian Local History
  • Australiana

Über diesen Titel

Inhaltsangabe

In an ethnically stratified work force, Japanese, South Sea Islander, Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal divers brought up from the sea floor the shell that produced mother-of-pearl, and sometimes pearls. Many men died at this dangerous work.

This was an industry that could have given the indigenous peoples of Torres Strait an occupation that preserved their identity and independence. Yet in spite of a co-operative lugger scheme that operated fairly successfully in the early twentieth century, a real independence was not achieved. And a resource that could have been conserved by small-scale indigenous harvesting was depleted time and again by the colonial practices of resource-raiding and mass extraction.

Regina Ganter charts the progress of pearl-shelling from its heyday through its several crises resulting from overfishing to its present cautious management. The book is greatly enhanced by the oral testimony of divers and boat-owners.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Dr Regina Ganter has done extensive fieldwork as a consultant for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. A lecturer at Griffith University, she presently holds a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Australian National University to explore the dynamics of interaction between Asians, Aborigines and Europeans at the Australian frontier.