AustLit logo

AustLit

Dela Mopwali Dela Mopwali i(A143538 works by)
Gender: Male
Heritage: Torres Strait Islander
(Storyteller) assertion
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Works By

Preview all
1 Waiat Robert Pitt , Dela Mopwali , 1970 single work prose Indigenous story
— Appears in: Myths and Legends of Torres Strait 1970; (p. 344)
1 Gelam Dela Mopwali , 1970 single work prose Indigenous story
— Appears in: Myths and Legends of Torres Strait 1970; (p. 297) Tales from Torres Strait 1972; (p. 3-6)

Author's note: 'Dugong, which abound in Torres Strait, are an important source of meat and fat for Torres Strait Islanders. Indeed, were it not for dugong and turtle, the people would have very little meat and fat to eat, because there are no food-animals on their islands except a few pigs which are reserved for feasts. It takes all a man's strength and skill to capture a dugong, for these sea-mammals are big and heavy-bodied and, besides being very sky, have a keen sense of hearing.

'Everyone in Torres Strait knows the story of Gelam. Eastern Islanders, who speak a different language from the rest of the people in Torres Strait, call Gelam's mother Amer. in West Torres Strait and Central Torres Strait everyone calls her Usar.'

X