Images(6)

Kai-Lag

Vessel numberHV000753

Vessel type Pearling Luggers

Date1933

DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 16.76 m × 12.19 m × 3.05 m (55 ft × 40 ft × 10 ft)

DescriptionKAI-LAG was built on Thursday Island as one of a group of cutters paid for by the Queensland Government. There were up to 19 of them operating in the 1930s but there were cutters being operated by various island communities well before that decade. It appears that one was supplied for most of the major island communities in the Torres Strait, and KAILLAG was built for Yorke (Masig) Island. They were intended as general-purpose vessels – travel and transport between islands, fishing, and both pearl and trochus shelling. There was also a separate, established program, that provided various island communities with conventional pearling luggers so that they could participate in the pearl-shelling industry.

The carvel planked hull is 55 feet long and was cutter rigged. It was built by Japanese trades men and reflects a shape they developed over the decades they built craft in the region.

The vessel was very successful commercially when involved in trochus, where it was collected for the shell, appearing in the top ten tonnage harvest reports for the region in the 1930's. The name KAI-LAG in the Western Torres Strait language translates to "Here is Home" or "Sea Home" and is also understood to be the local name for Yorke (Masig) Island.

The Annual report of the Queensland Report upon the Operations of certain Sub-Departments of the Home Secretary's Department - Aboriginal Department for the year ended 31st December 1932 notes that KAI-LAG (Kailag) earnt £876 (Pounds) from the Trochus shell harvest, making her the 6th most productive cutter in the fleet for the year. The most productive boat of 1932, the WIKAID, harvested just over one ton of shell per crew member in the season, which was nearly three times that of KAI-LAG. KAI-LAG is mentioned again in the 1935 Annual report of the Department as having earnt £864 (7th in the fleet).

In October 1934 KAI-LAG reported illegal Japanese sampans operating on the Northern reefs of the pearling fields of the Torres Strait, the incident being written up in newspapers at that time (article available in the Trove collection of the National Library).

During the Second World War, KAI-LAG was used to run supplies throughout the Torres Strait and up to New Guinea. While many boats were destroyed during the war to prevent them falling into enemy hands, she survived and passed back into private hands in 1946, and was owned by the Mosby family on Masig (Yorke) Island for many years.

Captured in song and on film by well-known Thursday Island entertainer Seaman Dan, KAI-LAG features in his book "Steady Steady" which contains a photo of KAI-LAG sailing away from Thursday Island carrying missionaries who were leaving after living on the island for many years.

Badly damaged in a cyclone in the early 90's off Cairns, KAI-LAG was refitted with new cabins and an 80hp Cummins Diesel. It then passed through the hands of several private owners until its recent, major restoration in 2016 under its current owner. KAI-LAG will soon be returning to the Torres Strait to become a sailing training vessel for the Indigenous people of the Torres Strait under a trust arrangement to return her to the original community, and this is planned to commence in 2018.

SignificanceKAI-LAG is a wooden cutter built in the early 1930s on Thursday Island, Queensland. It was built by Japanese tradesmen as a general purpose vessel and had a diverse use including pearling and trochus collection, and is a rare example of a Torres Strait commercial craft from that period. The vessel remains in good condition and rigged with her original cutter configuration. The foredeck winch is one of many original features still preserved on KAI-LAG.