Drums of Mer

A fictional story from Ion Idriess, set in the Torres Straits Islands, at the end of the era for the bloodthirsty natives, as they battle the modernity that contact with the white man will soon bring.

Idriess commented in a prologue (in a copy more padded out than mine) that while it is totally a work of fiction, the locations are real (Mer, Erub etc are in the Eastern Islands),and the events of the book were based on true events - although they have been embellished and put to a fictional narrative.

The events in time - the increase of pearl diving ships in the Strait, the white men making more regular contact with the natives, the introduction of firearms and metal tools to the natives via trade and salvage - are all in context. Similarly the tribal way of life, the ceremonies the culture and their interactions and trade with other tribes is all portrayed accurately and in detail, which suggests Idriess spent time researching before he write this.

The story is well explained in the short blurb: All the magic stillness of a primitive people's fear are in the pages of this novel by Ion L. Idreiss. As an authentic picture of life among the head-hunting warriors of the Torres Strait Islands it is probably unsurpassed. At its centre is a story of a white man and two lovely white girls, brought up native fashion, and their struggle to escape from primitive savagery to civilised life.

There is much to like in this book - there is a deep level of description, there is plenty of bloodthirsty fighting and battle, and there are interesting characters, but ultimately I have enjoyed Idriess's biographical works best, of what I have read. Nevertheless, one of the better fiction books I have read lately. 4 stars.

A bloodthirsty novel to say the least. The narrative was more complicated than I was prepared for and it was also anthropological in many of the detail. Race relations mixed with human relationships made a rather heady mix in this tale of Jakara, an Australian boy in his late 20's who had been shipwrecked as a child in the Torres Strait. He had been claimed by an islander as the spirit of a relative returned from the dead, therefore survived the usual death meted out to any unlucky enough to be shipwrecked in the islands in a time long gone. In a nutshell, the story consists of Jakara's survival by involvement in the culture of the islands and his plans to attempt to escape from a world alien to him. This was not really like anything I had read before, so that probably assisted in what was an enjoyable read.


With that I found an interesting link to an item called “A Novel Approach to Tradition: Torres Strait Islanders and Ion Idriess” by Maureen Fuary of Anthropology and Archaeology, James Cook University. Fuary says “....this novel is a sensual rendering of a Torres Strait past, and at this level it operates as a mnemonic device for Yam Island people, triggering memories and the imagination through the senses. This Torres Strait Islander detour by way of a past via a story, can be understood as a means by which Yam Island people continue to actively produce powerful images of themselves, for both themselves and for others.” She quotes Idriess at one point claiming that “This story is in all essential historical fact” and that a Rev. W. H. MacFarlane had “put me in personal touch with the Island historians.” I suppose that this novel could be seen as a historical narrative of a people's history. I would have thought a rarity for such a novel.

https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/5214/1/A_Novel_Approach_to_Tradition_-Fuary.pdf


Written in 1933 this is recommended to those that have an interest in the Torres Strait Islands and its history (or just enjoy a good bloody thirsty yarn.)