SPATIAL REDISTRIBUTION OF THE TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER POPULATION - A PRELIMINARY-ANALYSIS

Until World War II, Torres Strait Islanders were restricted in their d istribution to the Torres Strait itself. Since that time, migration to the Australian mainland has contributed to a significant redistributi on with the majority of Torres Strait Islanders now resident in the ma jor cities of eastern Australia. Despite the importance of migration i n determining Torres Strait Islander involvement in the labour market, study of their population movement has been limited and such analysis as does exist is unsystematic, spatially restricted and generally dat ed. This paper is therefore an attempt to draw from the literature wha t is known about the redistribution of Torres Strait Islanders and to supplement this with an analysis of the most recently available intern al migration data from the 1986 and 1991 censuses. While it appears th at the search for employment was an important stimulant for migration in the past, this is probably less so now, not least because Torres St rait Islanders now find themselves located in places where labour mark ets exist. No evidence is found from the 1986 Census to support the id ea of sustained redistribution away from areas of long standing settle ment in northern Queensland. This contrasts intuitively with distribut ion patterns revealed by the 1991 Census, and the extent to which this discrepancy is due to migration or census error raises a critical iss ue in the analysis of Islander population change.