Sagim Beberbeber [Hardships]

In 2018 the Australian War Memorial commissioned artist and Elder Kapua Gutchen Senior (Meriam Mir) of Erub Erwer Meta (Erub Arts) on Erub (Darnley Island) in the Zenadh Kes (Torres Strait). He was asked to create a suite of drawings depicting Second World War stories unique to Erub and the eastern region of the Torres Strait, including those relating to his own service with C Company, 51st Battalion, Far North Queensland Regiment.

Born on Waiben (Thursday Island) in 1957, Gutchen grew up on Erub. A Meriam Mir man, he enlisted with the Australian Army in 1987, and later taught himself to draw. For more than 20 years he sketched people, campsites, community infrastructure, shipping, and boat movements, before he began to draw from his imagination and memory.

Although too young to have witnessed the war firsthand, Gutchen’s drawings reflect knowledge of the war gathered from his own military service and that of other Erubam families, as well as from accounts passed down through oral history, dance, and song. They are inspired by contemporary commemorative ceremonies performed in the region, and by Gutchen’s contributions and performances made with the Australian Army’s Sarpeye dance troupe.

This drawing shows the tough reality of hard, labour-intensive work for the Torres Strait Islander women who had to undertake both men and women's tasks during wartime. One such task was the constant repair work on the 'sai' (stone fish traps) so as to keep feeding the village people. Here, a work party collects rocks to fix sections of the traps where driftwood has caused damage. The work party also erects pinar made from dry banana leaves (golab) and pieces of bush rope tied to a bamboo pole. This pole is then positioned into the fish trap rocks to anchor it stable. These pinar chase the fish back into the fish trap when it is moved by the wind.