ARIA Award-winning Torres Strait Island musician Seaman Dan dies at 91

A pearl of northern Australia’s music scene, Henry ‘Seaman Dan’ Gibson, has died at 91, his family has confirmed.

Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains images of a person who has died. Permission has been granted by the subject’s family to use the image of the deceased person.

An ARIA award-winning musician and National Indigenous Music Awards Hall of Fame entrant, the Torres Strait Island singer and guitarist was best known for his albums of sweet, seaside ballads.

His songs all ring with the tropical rhythms of Thursday Island — or “TI” — his beloved home on the island archipelago off the tip of Far North Queensland.

In paying tribute to his long-time collaborator, academic Dr…