Official launch of the Dr Lee Duffield book Arnie: Pearl and Luggers in the Torres Strait and the Queensland Maritime Museum exhibition Indigenous Watercraft and Pearling

Delivered by Mrs Kaye de Jersey: Queensland Maritime Museum Chair; authors, Mr Arnie and Dr Lee Duffield and members of the Duffield family; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.

I too acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and seas near which we gather, and extend respectful greetings to Elders and emerging leaders.

It is a great honour to be here today to launch this very special book and to open the Museum’s ‘Indigenous Watercraft and Pearling’ exhibition.                                      

Early on in Paul’s term as Governor, we were greatly honoured to visit several of the Torres Strait Islands – Horn Island, Thursday Island and tiny Masig Island, closer in distance to Papua New Guinea than mainland Queensland.

It was for us a most memorable visit. We were deeply touched by the warmth of the welcome of the Torres Strait Islanders we met.

But that visit also served as a powerful reminder to us, early in Paul’s term, of the incredible geographic, social and cultural diversity of Queensland.  

It was hard for Paul and me to imagine then, from the relative comfort of the Government Air Wing, the often perilous conditions the crews of the pearl luggers must have faced on the seas below.

The weather could be blisteringly hot and the equipment rudimentary – no GPS or outboard motors back then! They were largely at the whim of the winds!

Thanks to the efforts of Lee and Arnie, we no longer have to just imagine what these conditions were like.

We can read about it in vivid and at times humorous detail, as we follow Arnie’s amazing life battling storms and sharks while at constant risk of shipwreck – not to mention crocodiles and the perils of a world war.

Through this book, the authors have, I think, achieved something quite extraordinary.

They have captured, in a lively and highly readable format, a remarkable chapter of Queensland’s history, based on first-hand accounts from the ‘last man standing’ of this remarkable era.  

In doing so, they have also honoured the thousands of people who gave their blood, sweat and tears – and often their lives – to sustain an industry which contributed so much to the development of our State and nation.  

I congratulate Arnie, Lee, the entire Duffield family and the publisher for bringing this book to fruition. 

I thank the Queensland Maritime Museum for agreeing to host today’s launch – I can think of no location more fitting.

I further commend the Museum’s staff, volunteers and supporters for all you do to preserve Queensland’s maritime history. Paul is very proud to be your Patron, and he sends his best wishes for today.  

Without further delay, it now gives me enormous honour to officially launch Arnie and Lee Duffield’s ‘Arnie: Pearls and Luggers in the Torres Strait’, and to declare officially open the ‘Indigenous Watercraft and Pearling’ exhibition. 

I encourage the people of Queensland to put the ‘wind in the sails’ of both initiatives, and to embrace them enthusiastically.