Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

Torres Strait Islanders (1898)

play Please note: this clip is silent May contain names, images or voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
clip Shake-a-leg dance on the beach

This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

A small group of young Aboriginal men demonstrate a shake-a-leg dance on the beach at Murray Island. They perform this dance in the same location where Haddon recorded the Torres Strait Islander men’s dance.

Curator’s notes

It was believed Haddon filmed only Torres Strait Islander men, but at the end of the reel Haddon recorded a dance performance by a small group of young Aboriginal men who travelled over to Murray Island from the mainland in a bêche-de-mer (sea cucumber) fishing boat.