Eulogy
Ina Titasey (nee Mills)
Ina Titasey (nee Mills)
6 September, 1927, Poruma (Coconut Island) – 24 October, 2014, Cairns
Ina Mills made a surprise entry into the world when she was
delivered by Aka Alala shortly after the birth of her twin, Cessa on Poruma, 6
September, 1927. Ina’s parents, Frank
and Masalgi Mills (nee Paiwain) returned home to Naghir Island and to older
brother, Alfie. Over the years, the
Mills brood grew to include Wrench, Sammy, Laura, nicknamed Lala, Rita, Benny
and Ruth known as Neneh. Sadly, a
daughter, Ruth was stillborn in about 1941.
Ina led an idyllic life on Naghir, surrounded by the large Mills
family. Although Cessa was raised by her
Aka Neru, the twins were close. Ina
spent her earliest days gardening, fishing and playing with her cousins and
siblings. Cessa was always by her side.
In her memoir, Ina’s Story,
Ina recalled a treasured memory. “After
gardening, we’d go back to the house and sit with Mama, with the young ones
like Lala and Sammy on her lap. I loved
resting my head on Mama’s lap for her to comb my hair. Then it was Cessa’s turn for get her hair
combed. Then Lala would crawl up for
some susu before falling asleep at
the breast, the rest of us leaning against Mama. Mama’s lap was big enough to take all of us,
and her arms seemed long enough to reach around us all.”
At five and a half, Ina couldn’t imagine a life that didn’t
involve her island, her family and her Mama’s warm embrace and loving hands. But in March, 1933, Ina, Cessa and Alfie,
found themselves, quite suddenly on Thursday Island after sailing with their
father in the family lugger, Cessa. What Ina thought was going to be a short adventure
to TI became a nightmare when her father left and then Alfie was taken away.
In an instant, Ina’s world was transformed. Where there had been blue skies, there were
ceilings. Where there had been
rainforest and coconut palms, there were walls of plaster and concrete. What had been reef and sand was now polished
wood and stone. Garden produce like maniotha (cassava) and kumula (sweet potato) and seafood like
fish, shellfish and sugu (octopus) was
replaced with stale bread and tasteless soup.
Ina recounted a life of hard work and starvation and conditions
that today would amount to abuse and neglect such as bed bugs, kerosene tin
chamber pots, once-weekly baths and
constant chores such as polishing the wooden floors, cooking and washing
clothes. At all times, Cessa was with
her.
Yet at no time is Ina critical of the hardship she endured for nine
years. On the contrary, she was thankful
to the nuns for her education, the discipline and the skills they taught her
such as sewing and drafting, cleaning, music and cooking. What could have been a lifelong source of
resentment was a treasure trove of opportunities for Ina to learn.
Ina says, “I came to love learning and school and I wanted to
learn, to know all kinds of things. I
was big eye, excited, hungry for
learn. I came to see learning as an
escape from the trap that the convent was.
I might have been stuck inside the convent grounds, but in my mind I
could imagine anything.”
Few people know that Ina Mills was a talented writer who won a
cup for the John Batman essay writing competition and this was reported in The Courier Mail on Friday, 6 June,
1941.
Ina welcomed the invasion of Pearl Harbour in 1941 for it meant
the evacuation of all civilians from TI.
Ina and Cessa and the Mills girls at the convent on TI (sisters, Lala
and Rita and cousins, Thelma and Elsie) and her brothers, Alfie, Wrench and
Sammy on Hammond Island sailed for Naghir on 16 December, 1941.
The threat of the Japanese bombing inhabited islands was so
great the Mills family abandoned the village and established new dwellings in
the bush, unseen by air. Between 1942
and 1943 Horn Island was bombed eight times.
Ina remembers seeing Japanese and American planes overhead and being
able to differentiate between the sounds of the engines; the oo-oo-oo of the plane with the red
circle and the mosquito-like buzz of the
plane with the stars and stripes. It was
about two years before the family returned to the village and during that time,
Ina went to Mabuiag Island with her heavily pregnant, Mama. Ina remembers this time fondly, her mother’s
company and the birth of her youngest sister, Ruth, nicknamed Neneh.
Ina’s father sent her to Badu in early 1945 to train as a
nurse. However, months later, he
insisted she return to Naghir months to
care for her ailing mother.
Tragically, Ina’s mother passed away in September, 1945 and Ina
threw herself into working for her father in the store and caring for her
younger siblings, especially young Neneh whom she adored.
Not long after Mama’s death, Ina remembers pausing during her
chores and sitting near her mother’s grave.
Ina felt her mother next to her and her hand stroking her head, “the way
she used to when I laid my head in her lap.” Then Ina heard Mama talking.
“Never mind. Somebody from long way go come take yu.”
Ina was confused. Hearing
her mother’s voice was one thing, but Ina didn’t know anyone who’d come from
afar and she forgot about her mother’s prediction. All she knew was that, as the oldest
daughter, her duty was to look after her father and her siblings.
In early 1948 Ina’s father married a young woman, Gebi Blanket
from Badu and Gebi became a mother-figure for Neneh which pleased Ina. This also meant Ina had more time to work in
the store doing the books and maintaining the stores. Ina then had a different life: a life that
wasn’t bound by the duty to care for her father and family.
At this time, Ina began corresponding with the Malay skipper of
the lugger, Kestrel, Henry
Titasey. She wrote letters to him
through her sister-in-law, Ella, Alfie’s wife and then Ella wrote letters in
reply for Henry because he didn’t speak English.
Ina finally met Henry on Naghir in 1948.
“He was Malay and very handsome with his straight hair slicked
back. He looked even more handsome all
dressed up in his grey suit.”
Henry and Ina met later that night, in secret, so Ina’s father
didn’t know.
“Yu go stop here,”
whispered Henry, “and I go get yu.”
Soon after, Frank Mills sent his twin daughters to TI and they
started working at See Hops. At this
time, Ina and Henry began courting and they were married on Naghir in May, 1949.
It wasn’t until Ina was settled back on TI and Henry had gone to
sea for the neap that Ina remembered her mother’s words.
“She was right. Somebody from Indonesia came and took me to TI.”
After giving birth to Ellie Joan, Ina and Henry bought 10 Pearl
Street and then Martha and Tinus were born.
In late 1952, Henry was struck down with tuberculosis and was
quarantined at the TB hospital, the present site of Star of the Sea Aged
Home. Ina had no income and had to
support three children and maintain a house.
The Department of Native Affairs noted on Ina’s file she was
“destitute” and the Director appealed to the authorities for help. However, as a non-Australian, Henry was not
entitled to a Tuberculosis Allowance or an Invalid Pension.
In 1956, Ina’s younger brother, Benny died tragically when
diving for kabar (trochus) off
Bowen. Later that year, Cathy Ella was
born. A few years later, Tony were born
then Margaret and Ann-Maree joined the family.
It wasn’t complete until Ricky arrived in 1972.
At all times, Cessa was living at the other end of town with
husband, Tommy Nakata and their children and the twins saw each other daily.
In the early seventies, Ina’s father suffered a stroke on
Entrance Island where he and Mama Gebi lived.
The couple then moved into the flat under 10 Pearl Street.
By this time, Ina, Cessa and Rita had started singing at the
Grand Hotel and that led to nights at the Torres Hotel. They were a popular attraction for their
songs and their trademark colourful island dresses, bead necklaces and flowers
in their hair. They sang country and
western, golden oldies, war time tunes and island songs, music to appeal to all
people.
They started out as The Singing Grandmas and became The Mills
Sisters when scouted at the Brisbane Expo in 1988, the same year Frank Mills
died, aged 88. Rita’s husband, Brett
Tyrell became their manager and they sang at folk festivals and even toured New
Zealand, England and France. In 1995,
The Mills Sisters retired, the same year they won the Red Ochre Award.
Always, Ina supported herself earning an income sewing island
dresses. She was known as one of the best dressmakers in the Torres
Strait. She sewed her sisters’,
daughters’ and friends’ wedding and bridesmaids’ dresses along with those of
many other women. Ina had a special
ability to see a dress or shirt and create it without a pattern.
Ina lost her sister, Rita in December, 2005, brothers Alfie in
January, 2005, Sammy in May, 2012 and Wrench in January, 2014.
Ina has always been grateful to Mama Gebi for enabling her the
freedom to marry and raise her own family rather than remaining on Naghir
caring for her father.
For years, Ina wanted her story to be written. In late 2010, daughter-in-law, Cate, applied
for a grant to record Ina’s memoir.
Before Ina and Cate knew about the grant decision, Ina was rushed to
Townsville for heart surgery and for a few days, her prognosis was uncertain. Her fighting spirit pulled her through and as
soon as she was transferred back to TI hospital, Cate, with her computer, was
waiting in the ward to start typing her story.
The result, Ina’s Story: The
Memoir of a Torres Strait Islander, was published in April 2012, fulfilling
Ina’s dream.
Ina lived a quiet life at 10 Pearl Street till September, 2013
when she moved to Cairns and lived with her best friend, Geraldine Kirk. After six months Ina moved into her own villa
at Coral Sea Gardens, Westcourt and really appreciated the time she spent with
her grand daughters, Ashlea and Nikki.
She loved having visitors, especially her grandchildren and
great-grandchildren.
Sadly, Ina was diagnosed with secondary lung cancer on 20 August
and immediately her family, from near and far, were by her side. Ina was initially in a share ward, but the
laughing and singing from her visiting family prompted the nurses to move her
into her own ward. Ina was in hospital
for almost six weeks before being transferred to the Mary Potter Nursing Home and
then settling in the Bethlehem Home for the Aged.
Since Ina fell ill, Cessa visited her every day and younger
sisters, Lala and Ruth (Neneh) visited when possible. Her daughter Ann-Maree was a huge support for Ina, attending to all administrative matters while working full-time and caring
for her youngest children, Lachlan and Chey, all while partner Greg Kirk
negotiated work on TI and visits to Cairns to see his family. Nikki was always by her grandmother’s side,
attending to her needs, yarning with her, being there.
Ina - mother, sister, aunty, grandmother, great-grandmother,
great-great-grandmother and friend -
passed away on 24 October, 2014.
She was a great woman who will be missed always and remembered
forever.
In the same way as Ina’s mother’s lap was large enough to hold all
her children and her arms long enough to embrace them all, Ina’s smile touched
everyone she and her enthusiasm for life and her love for her family and
friends had no limits.
Vale Ina.
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