The Mills Sisters, formerly known as the Singing Grandmas, were a group of three sisters from Torres Strait Islands, Rita Mills and twins Cessa and Ina.

Early life

Ina and Cessa, who were twins, were born in 1927,[1] and Rita in 1934, on Naghir Island in the Torres Strait.[2] They have Torres Strait Islander heritage, including a great-grandmother of the Kaurareg people (the traditional owners of Possession Island, aka Bedanug), and a grandfather from Samoa. Ina married an Indonesian man from Timor.[1]

Their married names were Cessa Nakata, Ina Titasey, and Rita Fell-Tyrell.[3]

Career

All three sang and Rita played guitar, Cessa the ukulele and Ina the tambourine.[4]

Formerly known as the Singing Grandmas,[1] the group started singing in the 1950s,[5] with their first public appearances in pubs on Thursday Island,[6] and in the 1980s started to tour outside the Torres Strait.[5] They performed at the Brisbane Expo in 1988, the Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland,[6] around Australia, and in the early 1990s toured England, France and New Zealand.[1] They also performed all over the Pacific[7]

Their version of "TI Blues" (a song written by Seaman Dan) has been called "a signature tune for the Torres Strait".[8] In 1995 they released an album, Frangipani Land.[1]

Cessa and Ina retired in 1995[6][3] or 1996 and Rita continued on a solo career,[9] until retiring in 2001,[10] and she died in 2004.[11][12]

Musical styles and languages

The Mills Sisters had a repertoire of over 200 songs, which ranged from Torres Strait Island love songs to contemporary music, and included country, blues, reggae. They sang in many languages besides English: a variety of Samoan, Hawaiian, Papua New Guinean, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island languages.[6]

Awards

The Australia Council for the Arts has since 1993 awarded a Red Ochre Award to an outstanding Indigenous Australian (Aboriginal Australian or Torres Strait Islander) artist for lifetime achievement. It was awarded to the Mills Sisters in 1995.[13]

In film

The half-hour documentary film Frangipani Land Forever was made by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Indigenous department in 2008 in their "Message Stick" series, directed by Douglas Watkin.[14][3]

Discography

• Frangipani land (1993) - New Market Music[15]
• Those beautiful TI girls (2002) - Zuna Entertainment[16]

References