AustLit

Thomas Salam grew up in the South Western Islands of the Torres Strait. As a young man Salam's first job was cutting cane in the area around Mossman in Far North Queensland and for a short period of time he also worked at the Mossman sugar mill guiding the draught horses that hauled the cane to the chutes. In 1949 he followed the Islander tradition of working in the pearling industry as a diver collecting pearls and trochas shell around the Gulf of Carpentaria and down the East Coast as far as Mackay. He returned to Mossman in 1955 to work in the timber cutting industry. Thomas Salam was the husband of Joan Salam.