Tishiko King
Tishiko King is originally from Yorke Island in the Torres Strait Islands of Australia. She is the campaign director at Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network and took part in the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, where she also represented the Torres Strait island organization, Our Islands Our Home.[1][2]
Early life and education[edit]
King, an Indigenous Australian, which belong to Kulkalaig group who lived in Masig Island (Yorke Island) and has strong family connections with Badu Island, also in the Torres Strait. Kulkalaig is an indigenous people who lived in Central Island which located in Torres Strait Island.[3] Kulkalaig divided into people who lived in Masig, Nagir and Tud Island.[4] She left her home to attend a boarding school at a young age and grew up in a mining town, seeing the impact the mining had on the traditional owners. After one year of undergraduate study, she dropped out of university and worked at a resort on Moreton Island, north east of Brisbane, which strengthened her love of the ocean. Her decision to pursue a career as a marine biologist was further influenced by Cyclone Hamish in 2009 which caused damage to the MV Pacific Adventurer ship, resulting in spillage of fuel and containers of ammonium nitrate into the Coral Sea, which washed ashore on Moreton Island and surrounding areas. King was part of the clean-up crew on Moreton Island, enabling her to see first-hand the damage caused to the coastline and to the marine life.[5][6] King is getting her Bachelor of Science from Griffith University.[7]
Career and activism[edit]
Some years later, King returned to university, to study ocean science at Griffith University in South East Queensland with sponsorship from CSIRO, the Australian agency responsible for scientific research. She then worked as an indigenous liaison officer with a bauxite mining company in Weipa, on the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland. She then became the campaign director at Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network and also works as a volunteer impact coordinator with Environmental Film Festival Australia. She is also community organizer for Our Islands Our Home.[5][6][8]
King represented Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network and Our Islands Our Home at the COP26 meeting in Glasgow in November 2021. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, she was one of relatively few Australians to participate. She first became aware of the impact of climate change when she saw the impact of sea erosion on the graveyard of her ancestors on Masig Island, assisting with picking up their bones for reburial, and also noticed that fish were disappearing from traditional fishing grounds. She condemned the federal government of Australia for failing to make reference to indigenous people in its plan to reach net zero emissions by 2050, released shortly before the COP26 meeting.[9][10][11]
King's participation at the summit was made possible by crowdfunding.[12] On completion of the Summit she published an article entitled Empty words, no action: Cop26 has failed First Nations people, which was published in The Guardian online newspaper and reproduced on many other web sites.[13][14][15]
Personal life[edit]
King's brother, Yessie Mosby is one of eight claimants for Torres Strait 8.[16] Torres Strait 8 is a movement from eight citizen of the Torres Strait Islands who accused the Australian Government for his lack of action on climate change and making complaint to the UN Human Rights.[17]
References[edit]
- ^ "'Indigenous people feel the climate crisis. Our land is a part of us'". The Age. 7 November 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- ^ "Our Islands Our Home". Our Islands Our Home. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- ^ Shnukal, Anna (1985). "The Spread of Torres Strait Creole to the Central Islands of Torres Strait". Aboriginal History. 9 (1/2): 220–234. ISSN 0314-8769. JSTOR 24045837.
- ^ Ray, Sidney Herbert; Haddon, Alfred Cort (1893). A Study of the Languages of Torres Straits, with Vocabularies and Grammatical Notes: (Part I.). printed at the University Press, by Ponsonby and Weldrick, Printers to the Academy. p. 464.
- ^ a b "Tishiko King, Seed Mob". Groundswell. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- ^ a b "TISHIKO KING". World Science Festival. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- ^ Rogers, Melinda (26 February 2016). "Indigenous students' research projects making a difference". news.griffith.edu.au. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
- ^ "Tishiko King". Indigenous Women In Mining and Resources Australia. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- ^ "When Tishiko went home, she found exposed burial sites and empty fishing grounds. Now she's going to Glasgow". Sydney Morning Herald. 30 October 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- ^ "First Nations youth condemn Indigenous exclusion from net zero 'plan'". NITV. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- ^ "CORRESPONDENTS "System change, not climate change!"". Inside Story. 9 November 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- ^ "Help get Tish to Glasgow". Raisely.com. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- ^ "Empty words, no action: Cop26 has failed First Nations people". The Guardian. 15 November 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- ^ "Empty words, no action: Cop26 failed First Nations people". Remo News. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- ^ "Empty words, no action: Cop26 has failed First Nations people". Pehal News. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- ^ Silva, Nadine (28 October 2021). "First Nations youth condemn Indigenous exclusion from net zero 'plan'". NITV. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
- ^ Faa, Marian (29 September 2020). "Torres Strait 8 could set 'global precedent' with United Nations human rights fight linked to climate change". ABC News. Retrieved 20 April 2022.