Darnley Island
This monument is at Kemus, a bay on the northern shore of the island. It was here on the first of July 1871 that missionaries first landed in Torres Strait.
They arrived on the schooner SURPRISE from the Loyalty Islands & on behalf of the London Missionary Society introduced Christianty to the region.
In mid 1793 the whaling ships SHAW HERMOZIER of Calcutta & the CHESTERFIELD anchored in this bay & a boat was sent to explore along the shore. In this, the first recorded contact of the islanders with a ship's crew on their soil, a confrontation ensued with tragic consequences. The local verbal account told of several islanders being killed & the written account in the ship journal tells of five of their number killed.
The bay was given the english name Treacherous Bay.
They arrived on the schooner SURPRISE from the Loyalty Islands & on behalf of the London Missionary Society introduced Christianty to the region.
In mid 1793 the whaling ships SHAW HERMOZIER of Calcutta & the CHESTERFIELD anchored in this bay & a boat was sent to explore along the shore. In this, the first recorded contact of the islanders with a ship's crew on their soil, a confrontation ensued with tragic consequences. The local verbal account told of several islanders being killed & the written account in the ship journal tells of five of their number killed.
The bay was given the english name Treacherous Bay.
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