As the pearling industry was being developed in Australia, in the Philippines, political events challenged the Spanish colonial authority. What began as a reform movement led to the Philippine revolution in 1896, compelling some ‘natives’, mostly entrepreneurs and sojourners, to move abroad, including Australia.

By 1884, a newly arrived Catholic priest found 40 Filipinos living in Thursday Island in Australia. “Four hundred Catholics from Manila” were scattered among various islands, with the best-documented and longest-lasting community being in Horn Island, south of Thursday Island.

Filipinos were referred to as ‘Manilamen’, ‘Manillamen,’ or simply ‘Manillas,’ despite not necessarily originating from the capital, Manila. In the late 1880s Northern Australia, Manilamen at times found themselves categorized as ‘Malay’, a generic term referring to Southeast Asians such as those from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and East Timor.

Thomas Puertollano arrived in Australia on the S.S. Australind schooner from Singapore on 12 October 1889, and worked as a pearl diver. He was originally from Sta. Cruz, Marinduque, Philippines, born to Victorino Puertollano and Barbara Pampilo. His wife, Agnes Guilwill Bryan, was daughter of aboriginal woman Kanondion, and white man Bryan William Martin Bryan. Thomas and Agnes had six children who were raised in the communities of Beagle Bay, Disaster Bay and Lombadina.

Working with Father Nicholas Emo, a Trappist priest, Thomas built one of the first churches in Lombadina. He also gave his own house to the St. John of God Sisters. In Broome, he also built one of the first bakeries. Even though he applied for citizenship to Australia, he passed away not having gained naturalization in the country.

The narrators, Kevin Puertollano, is Thomas’ great grandson, while Evelyn and Ellen are his grand daughters. When Kevin was about six years old, Marcelo Querdo, an old Filipino man lived with them, whom they called lulu. Marcelo was born in the Philippines in 1885 and arrived in 1898 to Australia.

Catalino Torres was born in 1875 in Manila, Philippines.

He arrived in Australia on June 1884, marrying Matilda Ida Tiolbadonga in Beagle Bay four years later in 1898. He had had four children with Matilda, who was of Jabirr Jabirr and Bard ancestry.

Sally Bin Demin, one of the narrators, is the granddaughter of Catalino Torres. Her mother, Mary Barbara, along with her sister Bella Lynott, were taken to Beagle Bay in 1909 as children because of the government policy which removed half-caste children from their Aboriginal mothers. They were placed in missions of governmental institutions.

Severo Corpus worked as a pearl diver in Broome. His date of arrival is unknown. He married a Yawuru woman, Maria Emma Ngobing (or Pelean) on 4 May 1898. They had six daughters—Ester, Louise, Regina, Olalia, Josephine and Halina. Two died in childhood.

Aside from where he lived with his family, he had another house at Thangoo where he built a little jetty at a creek, which later became known as Severo’s Creek. Severo first worked as a diver and boat repairer, and later started his own business by providing the pearling luggers with fresh water, wood, and other supplies.

Elsta Foy, described her grandfather as very strict and religious. Elsta’s father, Edward Roe was known for speaking up against discrimination of other Asians. He managed two butcher shops and owned a café in Chinatown.

Antonio Cubillo Ozie(a)s came to Australia in November 1887 and worked as a pearl diver in Broome. He was
born in July 1867, and hailed from Mindanao, Philippines. He later worked as a yardsman at the Continental
Hotel in Broome and at the Broome Shire. He married Cecelia Nganagon, a Djugun aboriginal woman from
Broome, and together had a son, Phillip.

Phillip married Dominica Fitzgerald, a mixed-race woman from Halls Creek, whose mother was an aboriginal
Kija. They had seven children, Anthony, Francis, Cecelia and Philipena. After Phillip died, Dominica re-married
and had three children, Annie, Daisy and Carim.

The narrators, Anthony Fitzgerald Ozies was Antonio’s grandson, while
Yisah is Anthony’s granddaughter.

Nicholas Sabatino was born in 1871 in Iloilo, Philippines. He went to Torres Strait and married Johanna Lohado. Johanna’s Filipino father, Antonio Lohado, was from Antique, Philippines, and her mother, Nancy Saki, was of Kaurareg ancestry and born in Burke Island. The Kaurareg are the traditional owners of the Inner Islands in the Torres Strait. Nicholas and Johanna had eight children, Francis, Lucio, Stanislaus, Tino, Monica, Lucy, Patranella, and Mary.

Mario Sabatino, the narrator, is a great grandson of Nicholas. His father, Lucio, was the second son of Stanislaus and Camilla Durante. His Filipino lineage can be traced to three Manilamen—Sabatino, Lohado and Durante. Sabatino was from Iloilo, Lohado from Antique, and Durante was from Samar, Philippines.

Cornelius Tolentino was born in 1873 in the Philippines and arrived in Australia around 1902. He had a family back in the Philippines—her wife Christina and sons, Pascal and Paul, and Juanita. After his wife died, he married Teresa Santiago from Idarr country.

Teresa’s father was Manilaman Amasio Santiago, who was from Capiz, Philippines and arrived in Australia in 1887. He died in Broome on 10 February 1912. Her mother was a full-blood Aboriginal woman.

Cornelius and Teresa had five children, including Mary Manolis, the narrator. Her family lived at Front Beach, Broome. Mary also recounted other Manilamen families in their community—Thomas Puertollano, Thomas Ybasco, Severo Corpus, Sariego, Trankellino, Tolentino, Ozies, Rodriguez, Bargas and Torres.

Telesforo Ybasco was from Camarines Norte, Philippines and came to Broome after 1901, working as a pearl diver until his retirement. Telesforo was also known as Broome’s first barber.

He married Theresa Marquez, who was of Filipino-Japanese heritage, in Beagle Bay in November 1917. Theresa was an orphan among the aboriginal group brought up in the Beagle Bay Mission.

Her mother was Omito Serotama, and her father was Basilio Marquez. Basilio is a Manilaman who was born in April 1861 and came to Australia in 1879, where he later worked as a diver in Broome. Telesforo and Theresa had twelve children. They later went back to the Philippines with their younger children, Annie, Theresa, Betty, Peter, James, and Rosie.

Magdalene, the narrator, is their sixth child. She recounted that her siblings got married and settled in the Philippines. Magdalene left
Broome when she was 15 years old and married a former prisoner of war, Camille Edward Van Prehn. They lived in Holland for 30 years
before returning to Australia.

Agostin (Augustin) Cadawas was born in 1865 in Santa Yloco (Ilocos) in Luzon, Philippines. He came to Torres Strait possibly in the late 1800s or early 1900s, arriving in Yam Island in a long fishing boat with a house. He met and married Lavinia Ware and had two daughters, Anacleta and Josephine.

A firm Catholic, Agostin sent his daughters to a Catholic orphanage in Thursday Island when they grew up. Agostin was called ‘naked diver’ because he did not use a breathing apparatus and special suits. He fished for sea cucumbers, a sought-after delicacy in Asia, which used to teem in the Torres Strait.

His Certificate of Registration of Alien in 1917 described him as 4 feet and 11 inches tall, with brown eyes, grey hair, and a tattoo on the right arm. Agostin died at a very old age and was buried in Yam Island.

Josephine David-Petero, is the great granddaughter of Agostin. Her grandmother Anacleta married Younga David, with whom she had three children. Their eldest, Jack Louie, married Ladda George and they had three children, including Josephine.

Nicholas Albaniel was born in 1879 in the Visayan Islands, Philippines to Marcos Albaniel and Ygnacia dela Rosa. He was one of the twelve Filipinos who went to Papua New Guinea in the 1880s as part of the missionaries.

Nicholas married Rosy Bombay, daughter of John ‘Juma’ Bombay with a part Torres Strait Islander and part Australian Aboriginal woman from New Norcia missions near Darwin. Nicholas and Rosy had six children—Emmanuel, Joseph, Nicholas, Mary Mecedes, Catherine (Katie) and Ligouri Albaniel.

Katie married Pedro Torrisheba, son of Manilaman Gregorio Torricheba, who was born in 1869 in the Visayan Islands, Philippines. Ligouri, on the other hand, was married to Salvatore Kala Fabila, son of Manilaman Marcello Fabila, born in 1869 in Dancalan, Antique, Panay Island, Philippines.

The narrators, Emmanuel Ryan Ali-Torrisheba, sisters Micheline Lucille Fabila and Leoncia Geraldine Fabila, trace their lineage to three Manilamen—Albaniel, Torrisheba and Fabila.

Marcello Fabila was born in 1869, in Dancalan, Antique, Panay Island, Philippines. Born from parents Hildephonso Fabila and Josephia Delgato, Marcelo was the youngest of ten children. He had worked as a pearl diver on the luggers for 3 years before being a catechist.

He joined the early missionaries of Yule Island’s Catholic Diocese in the Bereina District of the British New Guinea in 1898. Marcello worked as seaman on St. Andrew, the mission ship.

While working as a catechist, he met a Yule Island girl Raurau Ke’e, and married her in 1901. They had three children—Mika (Michael) Marcello, Kala (Salvatore) Marcello Fabila, and Juliana. Kala later married Ligouri, one of the daughters of Manilaman Nicholas Albaniel. Sisters Micheline and Leoncia, the narrators, traces their Filipino lineage to both their parents.

Another Manilaman, Gregorio Torricheba, came to Papua New Guinea in the 1890s, and was believed to be born during the mid to late 1860’s. He was a Catechist teacher, planter, and printer, who later married Lele Saula from Sideia Island, Milne Bay Province. They had five children—Emmanuella (b. 1903), Matthia (b.1904), Prudence/Podentio (b.1907), Pedro (b.1908), and Josephine (b.1910).

Pedro married Katie, another daughter of Nicholas Albaniel and together, they had five children. One of the children, Emmanuel, married Mary Monica Ali, the parents of Ryan Emmanuel Torrisheba, one of the narrators. Ryan’s Manilamen ancestors are from both sides of his parents, the Albaniel and Torrisheba family line.

After Gregorio’s death in 1910, his widow, Lele, married Francis Castro, also a Manillaman who was a catechist and boat builder from Panay Island, Antique Province.

Magno Lloren arrived in Torres Strait on 22 August 1899. He was the son of Mariano Lloren and Rosa Asis from Carigara, Leyte, Philippines. Magno worked as a diver and later a beche-de-mer (pearl fisherman).

He married Feliz(i)a Losbanes and together, they had five children, with only Isabella and Lorenzo having survived. He later married the children’s nanny, Luisa Carabello, after Felicia died at the age of 26. He later decided to return to the Philippines with Luisa and the three children.

Isabella married Cirilo Irlandez from Leyte, with whom she had six children, all born in Manila. Isabella and Luisa insisted on returning to Torres Strait, but this did not materialize. It was only in the early 1990s when Angelino, their third child, was granted Australian Citizenship by Descent, along with his siblings. He brought Isabella back to Australia in 1994.

The narrators, Angel Paterno and Lallaine Barrios, are Magno Lloren’s great grandchildren, along the lineage of Angelino. Lallaine brought her family to Australia in 1997, and in 1998 Angel moved to Sydney.