The Drums Are Silent
When missionaries first came to the Torres Strait, the people of the fourteen inhabited islands welcomed them because the Christian Ten Commandments are similar to their own traditional laws. But this was not enough. On the isle of Mer, known to English speakers as Murray Island, the missionaries forbade the people from speaking their local language. To ensure compliance—so the lady at the Dreamtime Cultural Centre Torres Strait Islander complex explained—they stole three artefacts which are central to the culture and rituals of her people. Among these was one of the two sacred drums of Mer. The second drum was hidden by the islanders just in time, but it cannot be played without the other. As far as I understand it has occassionally been played in church, but this has no ritual significance. Without its sister drum, the sole remaining sacred drum has been silent for generations. Its sound no longer reverberates during the initiation rituals through which boys enter adulthood.
The two other artefacts, which are so powerful that they ensured the silence of the people (and subsequent loss of part of their language), are a mask, which is back with the Meriam, and the effigy of a fertility goddess which is in a Brisbane museum, but due to be returned. However, the second sacred drum of Mer is gathering dust in a museum in London (probably the British Museum).
I have not been able to find out much about the history of the drums. During the presentation, we learned that the lost drum is the ‘sister’, the female aspect which complements the male drum. Legend talks about Malu and Bomai, two warriors and Zoga le (Holy Men) at the heart of a cult which invokes their powerful magic when the drums are played during ceremonies. There are repeated references to Wasikor, the drum still on the island, but nobody talks about the sister which may reside forgotten and of no relevance to the British people in London. It is not forgotten by the Meriam and it is of great cultural and historical relevance to them.
For generations, the drums have remained silent, the initiation rites suspended. It is time to return the final missing artefact. I’ll try to find out more about it.
Denni