The Church of Torres Strait (TAC) on Saibai Island in the Torres Strait
has the very attractive church dedicated to the Holy Trinity in which to
worship.
The construction of the church, completed in 1938, is a moving testimonial
to the faith and commitment of the Saibai people, taking place as it did
during nineteen difficult years which included the Great Depression Australia-wide.
Saibai people are renowned for the depth and strength of their Christian
faith and produced the first Torres Strait Islander bishop, the Right Reverend
Kiwami Dai, who died last year, and many fine priests and people willing
to serve God wherever He might send them.
Many Saibai Islanders
remember well the dedication on December 4, 1938. The beach and harbour
at Saibai were a splendid sight with outrigger canoes, which brought invited
guests from neighbouring Papua New Guinea, lined up on the sand and pearl,
beche-de-mer and trochus luggers moored alongside the mission vessel Herald
1.
The Bishop of Carpentaria,
the Right Reverend Stephen Davies, had come in the Herald 1, to open a
church which had taken the Saibai people 19 years of sacrifice and toil
to build.
The Church
of the Holy Trinity was the fourth on Saibai. The original London Missionary
Society missionaries used the island style building for services but the
first real church was called Panetha (Morning Star in the Samoan language
and Goeyga Thithuy in the local dialect). It was built by Nermia, the Samoan
missionary who came to Saibai for the London Missionary Society around
1881, with the help of Daku from Dauan and Kebesu. The third church was
called Mari Yoewth, and it was a "temporary" home for services
until the current church was finished and built from the corrugated iron
taken from Panetha.
No one
knew the dedication of the new church until Bishop Davies called it out
when he knocked on its door with his staff. It was opened in the traditional
Anglican way by Gabugub Daunau, one of the Churchwardens.
It would be
difficult for anyone who does not know the Torres Strait islands to understand
and appreciate the labour and effort that went into the Church of the Holy
Trinity.
The Saibai
people truly made an act of faith when, under Chief Council Gauga Awabu,
they met on the beach between the two fig trees Baythana Dhani and Goeynawoena
Dhani at Maub and decided that Panetha was no longer satisfactory and should
be replaced.
They decided some
of the men could go to sea and earn the money they needed for timber, cement
and corrugated fibro roofing. It was a decision that would eventually involve
three generations of Saibai people, who had to keep earning a living while
trying to raise the extra money they needed for the church. That is why
the building took a long nineteen years to complete. As Jack Warusam, Dhoeybaw
(wild yam totem) elder and grandson of Asa says, "Our grandfathers
started the work, our fathers continued it until the eldest sons of our
fathers came along and joined them. Then we came along and joined our fathers
and brothers".
In 1917, the Archbishop of Queensland blessed the great granite foundation stone, laid by elders of the time on its imposing site looking across the sea to Papua New Guinea.
Nemia, the
Samoan missionary, contributed to the new church in two ways. He had taught
Saibai people to adze and shape Wongai timber for the rafters in Panetha
and how to burn coral to make a serviceable lime.
Imported Portland
cement was used for the foundations and concrete slab floor, the 30cm thick
walls were made from lime, gravel and sand poured in a mangrove timber
framework. The lime, gravel and sand were mixed in old canoes, using wooden
paddles for spades.
Canoes were used
for transporting the coral from Saibailgau Maza (Saibai Reef) on the traditional
boundary line with Papua New Guinea, Dauanalgau Maza, Gawal Maza and Wai
Reef.
The coral was placed in a great heap. Logs were cut, placed in a heap and
covered by dried coconut leaves as is done for earthovens, and set on fire
with the coral on top. As the wood burnt, so did the coral, disintegrating
into ash or lime. People camped at the coral burning sites, the women keeping
up supplies of food and generally supporting their menfolk. The Dauan and
Boigu people who have genealogical links with the Saibai people helped
in this work.
As the walls of the new church crept upwards the financial situation improved,
thanks to the new generation of Saibai seamen who were earning better pay
on the luggers. They could afford the cement for the concrete slab floor,
which was the second stage of construction.
At no
stage was money available to employ a European carpenter to supervise construction.
Saibai people did all the construction themselves. A European mission carpenter
with the unlikely name of Irish was only needed to build the roof of Holy
Trinity.
The magnificent
lime-stone and coral Church of the Holy Trinity stands today as a great
place of worship in the finest Anglican expression of the Catholic Faith.
The people of Saibai, Church of Torres Strait, give thanks to Almighty
God for the special blessings bestowed upon them over the past 61 years.
Thanks to the dedication of the Saibai People, the magnificent Church of the Holy Trinity, Saibai Island was finally completed after 19 years of hard toil and little money. The National Trust will ensure its preservation. (Photos by Fr. Eric Babia, a former priest of Saibai and now parish priest of St. Clare's Cairns).
The sanctuary of Holy Trinity, Saibai Island.