“For me, growing up on Boigu Island was like living in heaven on earth”, says indigenous evangelist, Laurel Pabai.
Located in the northernmost tip of Queensland’s Torres Strait Islands and just six kilometres from Papua New Guinea, Boigu Island is where Laurel was born and raised, among idyllic natural beauty, within the love and strength of her indigenous culture and community.
This week on Helping Hands, we join Laurel as she returns home for the first time in 20 years. We journey with her through emotional reunions with family, see her reconnect to indigenous tradition, and understand more about how those in Laurel's Boigu Island community all play an integral part in keeping local Indigenous culture alive.
As the tiny single turboprop Cessna aircraft starts its descent towards Boigu Island’s airstrip, Laurel’s excited anticipation at being so close to home is evident in the upturned corners of her wide smile and the joy in her eyes. They reflect happy memories of home bubbling ever closer to the surface of her mind.
Once on the ground, Laurel immediately sees changes and improvements in her community. It now has many “Queenslander” style homes (raised off the ground so the flow of cool air can bring relief from the intense tropical heat), plantations of fruits and vegetables to sustain daily life, and greater employment, evidenced by buildings for a supermarket, ranger headquarters and a police station.
“Time flies! You know, I get busy with my evangelism work. You’re not realising that there are family that are getting old because in your head you are thinking they are still young! It’s exciting. It’s a great time to come back and really get reconnected back into the culture … To us, culture is a way of life.”
While reliving childhood memories and reflecting on culture, Laurel invites us into a yarning circle.
“The yarning circle of the First Nations Peoples of Australia is (for) storytelling and the passing of culture to the younger generations,” says island elder, Uncle Fred Pabai, “making sure that our culture is alive … It’s the survival kit to the community to maintain and to be able to come together as one and unite.”
Storytelling is an important part of all indigenous cultures across Australia, Uncle Fred says. It is how indigenous people share and learn important cultural knowledge and history.
Uncle Fred also acknowledge the role the Christian faith plays in the Boigu Island indigenous community. It's as much a part of their everyday lives now as the storytelling traditions are that have been passed down through the generations for thousands of years.
"Our culture, our heritage, our identity, who we are ... we must know our culture to be able to survive," he says.
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