Their speed at building railways made them legends. What was their secret?

Warning: This story carries images of deceased Indigenous persons, supplied with permission.

Some years ago theatremaker Nadine McDonald-Dowd visited the Pilbara town of Port Hedland and saw its monument to the Torres Strait Islander workers who built the 400-kilometre railway line from Mount Newman.

The sculpture depicts a tall man with boots around his neck standing on railway tracks. It’s a life-size depiction of a labourer called Simeon whose feet were so large that when he reported for work in the 1960s he was told there were no boots to fit him.

Railway workers in Port Hedland, WA, on May 8, 1968 – the day they set a world record.Credit: Ruth Ghee/Opera Queensland

“They said, ‘you can’t work on the railway if you don’t have shoes’,” McDonald-Dowd says. “And then all the men went, ‘OK, if he doesn’t work, none of us work.’ So they had to get purpose-built shoes for him.

“And it wasn’t just the Torres Strait Islander men that laid down their tools. It was every other man on that line.”

Half a century later this story is one of several retold in a musical, Straight from the Strait – co-produced by Opera Queensland, Yumpla Nerkep Foundation and QPAC, in association with Brisbane Festival – which opens on August 28.

Straight from the Strait is the end product of a 15-year process begun by Aunty Ruth Ghee.Credit: Jade Ferguson

Fifteen years in the making, the show is a collaborative effort by Torres Strait Islander communities, QPAC, and Brisbane charity the Yumpla Nerkep Foundation. McDonald-Dowd is the director, Norah Bagiri the writer and Rubina Kimiia the composer/lyricist – but it all began with Aunty Ruth Ghee.

A Meriam Mer woman and linguist, Ghee attended the Aboriginal Centre for Performing Arts in Brisbane as a mature-age student and was inspired by shows ranging from La Traviata to Leah Purcell’s Box the Pony.

Ghee’s father, Pinau Ghee, was part of the movement of Torres Strait Islanders onto the mainland to work on cane farms and railway lines in the 1960s.

“My dad is my hero, and I wanted to tell a story about him as a railway man,” says Aunty Ruth. “He was one of the pioneers, and when we were doing the research going to all these communities those railway elders all knew who my father was.”

In the process Ghee uncovered the story of how Torres Strait Islander workers on the Mount Newman Rail Project broke a world record in 1968 by laying seven kilometres of track in under 12 hours.

A steel gang for the Mount Newman Rail Project, WA in 1969.Credit: Courtesy of John Kennell Snr

The work was gruelling in 40-degree heat, but they surpassed the previous record of 4.6-kilometre to achieve a feat unmatched to this day.

“They had this beautiful rhythm with each other,” says McDonald-Dowd, a Yuwi woman from Mackay, who previously researched the workers for an exhibition at the State Library of Queensland.

“There were a whole lot of songs and dance movements that would go with laying down the track, and that enabled them to go fast. Music forms a big part of island life. It’s in everything.”

A show like this may seem like an unusual fit for Opera Queensland, but the company’s artistic director, Patrick Nolan, could not disagree more.

“I think any arts company has to connect with the community they are part of, and the Torres Strait is a unique community in Queensland.

“New work is part of our charter. We need to be telling these stories as much as we need to be telling the stories of Dido and Aeneas and Lucia di Lammermoor.”

The show’s production has been something of a family affair. On the day this masthead spoke to McDonald-Dowd, Ghee’s brother Tony Ghee had visited to advise the 15-strong cast on the physical movements for track work and cane cutting.

Cast members rehearsing Straight from the Strait.Credit: Opera Queensland

An original worker on the Port Hedland railway, Gehamat Loban, has also visited the rehearsals.

“The Torres Strait, it’s not huge, they’ve all got family connections, everybody knows somebody,” McDonald-Dowd notes.

Straight from the Strait’s music combines ballads and jazz with traditional Torres Strait styles. Lyrics are in ancestral languages of Meriam Mir, Kala Lagaw Ya and Torres Strait Creole along with English.

“It’s not Chicago,” laughs McDonald-Dowd. “It’s much better!

Director Nadine McDonald-Dowd.Credit: Opera Queensland

“Historically, it’s a really important story that belongs to Australia, about a wonderful achievement that has gone unrecognised.

“But that aside, I think the beauty of this work is the way in which the story is told. Torres Strait Island culture is full of music and song and laughter and it really raises your spirits up.”

Straight from the Strait has four performances only at the Playhouse, QPAC, August 28-31.