Island Fettlers: Heat of the Pilbara - 'white with salt'

In 1965, the building of a railway from Dampier to Tom Price began. The work on the Pilbara brought men from all different cultural backgrounds together. In this new place the men became firm friends, forging a relationship with each other that was akin to family. The many cultures that have contributed to the building of the nation of Australia we are reminded, are people who sacrificed a lot in order to not only survive financially, but went to great lengths to provide for their family.

Island Fettlers synopsis

A documentary that uses historical footage, with current interview and observational footage, about the journey of Torres Strait Islander men who moved to the Pilbara to work on the railways and after the job finished stayed on.

Island Fettlers curator's notes

In the 1960s, Torres Strait men left their homes to travel to the foreign country of the Pilbara, determined to provide for their family. When the work was over, many returned home, but some did not. Those Torres Strait Islanders that stayed created a community and continued their traditional culture. The juxtaposition of Torres Strait culture against the backdrop of the Pilbara offers a stark contrast, visually, physically, and aurally.

Island Fettlers begins with shots of Darnley Island in the Torres Strait, Far North Queensland, in 1964. The tropical coastline of Darnley Island sets up the visual paradox characterised by country as the story of the Island fettlers unfolds. Darnley Island, coloured by the tones of the ocean and swayed by the wispy sea breeze appeals to the senses as a place that is colourful and imbued with movement. The tones of the Pilbara is intensified by the sense of trapped heat; a different kind of island that is circumvented by vast dry land. In Indigenous cultures, there are many different tribes or nations, and these tribes or nations represent the variation in the landscape itself. Island Fettlers draws upon this understanding, gently reminding us that Australia is a great and varied land, as too are its Indigenous peoples.

Notes by Romaine Moreton

Education notes

This clip shows the Pilbara township of Wickham in its desert setting in Western Australia. Tom Saylor, one of those who came to Wickham from the Torres Strait Islands in 1965 to help build a railway, is interviewed and then tells the story of his experience in voice-over with subtitles. Black-and-white photographs show construction workers arriving by plane and building the railway. Colour footage with sound then shows the type of work the group performed and their recreation time. The music that accompanies the clip is a song sung by a group of Torres Strait Island workers, one of them playing the ukulele.

Educational value points

• Torres Strait Islanders made an important contribution to the economic development of Australia during the 1960s mining boom. The history of the Torres Strait Islands features continuous migration but following the Islands’ annexation by Queensland in 1872 the movement of Islanders was restricted.

• Torres Strait Islanders were officially permitted to travel to mainland Australia in 1947 to help fill a labour shortage in the cane fields. They also worked as fishers, agricultural labourers and railway fettlers. After the collapse of Torres Strait marine industries in the 1960s, many men, compelled to move to the mainland to support their families, found employment building railways to mines in Mount Isa and Weipa in Qld, and in the Pilbara and Port Hedland regions of WA.

• Tom Saylor and many other Torres Strait Islander men contributed to the Hamersley Iron project, the successful completion of which set a benchmark for Australian construction and paved the way for WA’s growth and Australian economic prosperity. Over an 18-month period between January 1965 when construction started and August 1966 when the first shipment of iron ore left for Japan, Hamersley Iron constructed a mine at Tom Price, a port at Dampier, 400 km of connecting railway, and new towns at Tom Price and Dampier to support its operations. The building of this infrastructure assured Australia’s iron ore export trade with Japan and led the way for WA’s mining future.

• The clip shows the building of the railway from Dampier to Tom Price, carried out according to technically challenging specifications and in the most demanding conditions. The standard-gauge railway track was the heaviest of its kind to have been built in Australia. Laying the track required a workforce of 1,400 men. This infrastructure was built in one of the most remote areas of Australia where summer daytime temperatures reach 50 degrees Celsius.

• The story of the mining industry in the Pilbara is central to the history of Australia’s economic development since the 1960s. The region produced $5.9 billion in export revenue in 2005. The industry began when the world’s second-largest known reserve of iron ore was discovered at Mount Tom Price in 1962 after the Australian Government ban on the export of iron ore was removed in 1960. Today the iron ore industry based in the Pilbara employs approximately 9,000 people and Australia is the largest exporter of iron ore in the world.

• The community of Torres Strait Islanders who were employed in the Pilbara in the 1960s as fettlers to build the railway gradually dispersed as the work was completed. They had been employed because Torres Strait Islanders had established a reputation as skilled and hard-working fettlers in other parts of Australia and also because of the lack of local workers. On completion of the railway many returned to the Torres Strait Islands but some, such as Saylor, remained in the Pilbara, maintaining traditions of Torres Strait Islander culture.

• Rio Tinto Iron Ore, a transnational company that wholly owns Hamersley Iron’s operations in WA, has been engaged in negotiations with the traditional owners of the mineral-rich Pilbara region, a region almost the size of New South Wales. Six groups claiming native title have been seeking land access agreements with Rio Tinto Iron Ore as part of a wider claim for financial compensation for the use of their land.

Education notes provided by The Learning Federation and Education Services Australia