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Copyright of Lembaran Sejarah is the property of Universitas Gadjah Mada, Department of History and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents information on the role of Scandinavians in the pearl rush starting in the 1870s in the area of Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea, with special attention to the wages of the workers, the pearlshelling industry, and various settlers including Alfred Christian Mortensen and Andrew Oscar Charles Sinclair. Other topics mentioned in this article include the establishment of a Scandinavian community in Australia, historical sources, and residents of Thursday Island.

'Taibobo' is the name the Torres Strait Islanders give to the style of singing and dancing that they learned from the Rotuman sailors who worked in the marine industry in the late 19th century. The Islanders of Eastern Torres Strait continued to practise them long after the Rotumans had gone, as a part of a repertoire of songs and dances, old and new. Beckett recorded Taibobo in the 1950s. When a Rotuman researcher came to Torres Strait in 2004, Islanders could still sing the songs which, as it eventuated, only the oldest people in Rotuma could remember. The paper will place the Torres Strait adoption of the songs and dances in historical context and describe Taibobo - both the songs and the dances -as one of us encountered it in the 1950s, and later in 2004. Finally the response of contemporary Rotumans on hearing Taibobo recordings from the Torres Strait is documented, as well as the Islander responses to the re-establishment of contact after so many years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the media coverage of Aboriginal women and girls who were forced into prostitution for Japanese pearlers in the 1930s. The author analyzes the use of the term "Black Velvet" in the print coverage of the scandal as colloquial language referring to interracial sexuality, explores the sexualization of indigenous women, and examines the territorial issues of the pearl trade.

Between the 1870s and the 1950s the north Australian pearl-shell industry relied on the labour of thousands of Indonesians who were employed as divers and crew on pearling luggers. While these men were referred to as Malays or Koepangers they were drawn from many different locations in eastern Indonesia, including Nusa Tenggara Timur, Maluku and southern Sulawesi. As indentured labourers, they were supposed to be temporary residents in Australia. Their migration was permitted as a rare exemption from the White Australia policy, based on the presumption that as maritime workers they would spend most of their time in the waters that connected Australia and the Dutch East Indies. During the limited time they spent in Australian ports they were to be strictly monitored. Despite these intended restrictions, a number of Indonesians were able to build lives in Australia by renewing their contracts for a period of 20 years or more. By the late 1950s those that remained successfully lobbied to be granted Australian citizenship. The pearl-shell industry, though notorious for its exploitation of labour, was responsible for developing and maintaining a long-term connection between eastern Indonesia and Australia and challenging the isolationism of White Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pinctada fucata Gould 1850 was first commercially cultivated in Japan in the early 1920s. Japan dominated this market until the proliferation of Akoya viral disease (AVD) in 1996. Since that time the Japanese industry has struggled. In 2000, Japanese production of Akoya pearls represented only 13% of the total world market value. A number of investigations into this downturn have concluded that the proliferation of AVD was a result of stress associated with increasing urbanization and industrialization. This relationship between environmental stress and altered immunological activity is well documented in a number of oyster species. The decline in Japanese pearl production has led to interest in Akoya cultivation in Australia. Commercial Akoya pearl oyster ventures are now in operation in the Australian states of New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. The development of a robust and lucrative Akoya pearl industry in Australia will rely on the cultivation and maintenance of healthy oysters. Oyster health is associated with immunological status, which can be jeopardized by both stress and disease. This review details the relationship between the oyster immune system, environmental stress and disease outbreaks in the genus Pinctada, with implications for P. fucata and the fledgling Australian industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Broome Shire Council's decision in 2009 to suspend the sister-town relationship because of controversy over Taiji's practice of culling dolphins galvanized Broome's Asian and Asian-Aboriginal community (hereafter referred to as poly-ethnic community) to oppose this move. This, and other examples explored in this paper, attests to the strong connection between these two groups that has shaped a distinctive 'Broome culture'. This paper explores ways in which Japanese working in the pearling industry contributed to the emergence of a Broome culture through their historic ties with Aborigines. Some of these ties are through family lineage; others are through vast interlocking familial and friendship networks in Broome's Asian-Aboriginal community. Recent interviews attest to the enduring nature of these networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]