The pearling, Beche-de-Mer and trochus industries feature heavily in the stories, songs and dance of the Torres Strait, a testament to their lasting impact on the community.
Nerelle Nicol grew up hearing many of these stories from her mother, who talked about the men who came off the pearling luggers and stayed with her family in Cairns in Queensland's north.
Ms Nicol's grandfather also worked in the pearling industry.
This family connection, and a realisation when her mother died, spurred the Birri-Gubba and Erubam Le and Ugaram Le woman from the eastern region of the Torres Strait to start a research project.
Through the project, called "Lugger Bort", Ms Nicol hopes to tell the stories of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men who worked in the pearling, Beche-de-Mer and trochus industries.
"A lot of our songs and the stories my mum would share with us ... revolved around that history and how we came to be one of the first families who migrated to Cairns," she told AAP.
"When she went I realised all that history and knowledge and those things we grew up with were gone.
"That's what inspired me, because with the passing of old people this history, and those memories, is fast fading."
Ms Nicol is working with five elders who had experience in pearling, in the hopes of piecing together a full and honest history of the industry.
Ms Nicol said pearling was just as significant an industry as cattle in Queensland, when it first became a federated state.
But for the divers who worked in the industry between the 1840s until the mid-1900s, the work was difficult and poorly regulated.
"For a short period of time, when the shells were first found it was a big supplier of pearl shell to the world," Ms Nicol.
"But when you drill into that, the backdrop is a lot of men who worked in that industry worked for very little and (their) wages were garnered (withheld) by the state."
"The work was very dangerous and there were no skills attached - they all learned by watching and listening and drawing on some traditional practices that had been handed down."
This is what Ms Nicol wants to draw attention to, while celebrating the elders who participated in the industry, who've never been recognised for their contribution.
"That brings a different perspective to the wealth that was generated from that industry, the hardships First Nations people endured under that history," she said.
"Some people came willingly, and others were brought in through different means like slavery and being forced into that labour."
Ms Nicol has received a Monica Clare Research Fellowship from the State Library of Queensland for her project.
This will help her visit and navigate the library's archives and tell an important story.
"The overall project and telling it from our perspective is a rich way to talk about Queensland history and to ensure the records reflect us as First Nations and the contributions we've made," she said.
"It's part of the truth-telling and I see that as being an important thing."
