Rita Mills

Rita Mills
Born	25 August 1935 Naghir Island, Torres Strait Islands, Queensland, Australia
Died	December 2004 Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Genres	Folk
Years active	1975 – 2001

Musical artist

Rita Mills (25 August 1935 – 8 December 2004), also known as Rita Fell Rita Tyrell, and Rita Fell-Tyrell, was an Australian singer from the Torres Strait Islands. She was one of the band the Mills Sisters.

Biography

Mills was born in 1934 on Naghir Island in Torres Strait.^[1] She lived on Thursday Island, and during World War II was temporarily evacuated to the mainland.^[2]

Rita was one of the Mills Sisters with her twin sisters Cessa and Ina.^[3] All three sisters sang, and Rita played guitar in their band.^[4] After the twins retired in 1996, Rita continued her solo career.^[5]

After she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2000 she moved to Cairns,^[2] retiring in 2001^[6] and she died on 8 December 2004.^[7]^[8]

Personal life

As of 1970 she was married to Jack Fell.^[9] She was later also known as Rita Tyrell^[10] and Rita Fell-Tyrell.^[11]

Discography

Blue Mountain (1999)
Mata Nice (2001)

References

^ Stewart, Paul (11 March 2001). "Rita calls it a day, at last". Sunday Herald Sun.
^ ^a ^b Pryor, Cathy (8 September 2001). "Northern Delights". The Australian.
^ Baker, Jordan (28 March 2003). "Better late than never for Uncle Seaman". General News. Australian Associated Press.
^ The Australian, 13 December 2004, "Trailblazer sang Torres on to map" by Steve Connolly
^ Australian Associated Press General News, 28 March 2003, "Better late than never for Uncle Seaman" by Jordan Baker
^ "Sunnies select Cairns". Cairns Post. 31 August 2001.
^ Connolly, Steve (13 December 2004). "Trailblazer sang Torres on to map". The Australian.
^ "Tributes for Mills Sister". The Age. 8 December 2004. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
^ "Torres News (1957-2015) available online". State Library Of Queensland. 3 October 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
^ "Rita Mills". AustLit. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
^ "Message Stick - Frangipani Land Forever". ABC Commercial. 9 March 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2022.

Bellevue group	Aipus Cap Kamutnab Keatinge Mabuiag Pulu Subur Warakuikul Talab Widul
Bourke group	Aukane Aureed Kabbikane Layoak Mimi Roberts Yam
Duncan group	Kanig Maitak Meth
Inner group	Port Lihou Yeta
Adolphus Channel group	Albany Bush Eborac Ida Middle Brother
Talbot group	Aubussi Boigu Moimi
The Three Sisters group	Bet Poll Sue
Yorke group	Keats Marsden Rennel Smith
Ungrouped	Allison Anchor Arden Badu Barn Barney Bond Booby Bramble Browne Campbell Canoe Castle Coconut Crab Dalrymple Darnley Dauan Dayman Deliverance Dove Dugong Dumaralug East East Strait Entrance Farewell Flat Friday Gabba Getullai Goods Great Woody Green Halfway Hammond Hawkesbury High Horn Kaumag Kerr Lacey Little Adolphus Little Woody Lowry Mai Meddler Moa Morilug Mouinndo Mount Adolphus Mount Ernest Murangi Murray Nepean Nicklin North North Possession North West Obelisk Packe Passage Pearce Phipps Portlock Prince of Wales Quoin Red Red Wallis Roko Saddle Saibai Salter Sassie Spencer Stephens Suarji Thursday Tobin Travers Tree Trochus Tudu Tukupai Turnagain Turtle Head Turtle Turu Twin Underdown Wednesday West Whale Woody Wallis York Yorke Zagai

People, culture,
communities and
languages

Notable Torres Strait Islanders	Christine Anu Seaman Dan Aaron Fa'aoso Josh Hoffman Nathan Jawai Ellen Jose Robert Lui Eddie Mabo Rachael Maza Patty Mills Rita Mills Mills Sisters Danny Morseu Tanu Nona Albert Proud Wendell Sailor Sam Thaiday Brent Webb Jesse Williams
Culture	Indigenous music of Australia Mabo (film) Taba Naba
Communities	Bamaga Kaurareg Mabuiag Meriam (people) Seisia
Languages	Bine Eastern Trans-Fly Gizrra Kalaw Lagaw Ya Meriam Torres Strait Creole Torres Strait English Wipi

Governance and
legal matters

Governance	Shire of Torres Torres Strait Islander Flag Torres Strait Island Region Torres Strait Regional Authority
Legal cases and principles	Akiba v Commonwealth Mabo v Queensland No 1 No 2 Terra nullius