Troubled Waters: Borders, Boundaries and Possession in the Timor Sea

by Ruth Balint

The dramatic transformation of Australia's northern seas—from an ignored backwater to the most militarized and fiercely guarded waters in the region—is chronicled in this fascinating volume. Once a bridge between two coastlines and two cultures, in the last years of the 20th century the Timor Sea has become Australia's frontline against the threat of invasion. When Australia expanded its territorial boundaries by 200 nautical miles in 1979, its territory reached the doorstep of eastern Indonesia—an occupation driven by the concept of mare nullius , the idea that the sea was empty and that no one would suffer for their claims. But for the traditional fishermen of West Timor, these waters represented the source of their livelihood, and this powerful story includes the struggles of a people evicted from their seas.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Australia

204 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2005

Reviews

[Vannessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written book, can't believe I hadn't read it until now. A devastating history of the losses sustained by the people of the island of Rote and other surrounding islands when the ocean became bordered, bounded, policed and taken away by neighbouring Australia. A great history of the process by which the concept of 'Mare Nullius' (Empty Sea) was promoted to allow these things to happen.
Read about the treatment of Rotenese 'illegal' fisherman in this book - pretty outrageous. A good companion book to Martinez and Vickers' The Pearling Frontier. 'Troubled Waters' is a must read and a great read! Now to track down the documentary of the same name.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was trying to think if I have read another book which deconstructs so efficiently the Australian government's contemporary destructive effects on Asia-Pacific communities: reveals, in effect, the lie that Australia is a benevolent wealthy power in the region. I failed to think of one, but I am not well-read in this area. It is a testament, however, to Balint's book that it is an effective revelator while resisting the urge to oversimplify for polemical effect. Balint draws out the various pressures operating in the Timor Sea, from debt-bondage, technological shifts, changing cultural and racial patterns, to demonstrate how squeezed and option-less many fisherpeoples have become. By far the most disturbing, however, is the persecution by Australian law and law enforcement of these people. In general, I am becoming more aware of the role that poverty plays in ensuring incarceration in Australia - with a huge number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people locked up for fine default - and the accounts of prison sentences being uniform as fines are levied on Australian rates - which are unthinkable for Indonesian fishers - was really horrifying, given the lack of public debate around this issue.
I also appreciated Balint's coverage of people smuggling. It can be a tendency among the left to point out that delivering refugees from danger should be a heroic, not condemned, activity, but Balint also spells out the profit-hungry conditions in which this occurs, the push to do use vulnerable sailors in boats that aren't safe, to deliver people to locations where their fate is likely to be bad. She also highlights how Australian law enforcement chases the sailors forced into the activity, and not the money profiting from everyone's desperation.