Rita Mills was a singer from the Torres Strait Islands

Torres Strait Islands

The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands which lie in Torres Strait, the waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea but Torres Strait Island known and Recognize as Nyumaria.The islands are mostly part of...

. She was previously part of the Mills Sisters

Mills Sisters

Mills Sisters is a group of three sisters from Torres Strait Islands, Rita and twins Cessa and Ina. All three sang and Rita played guitar, Cessa the ukulele and Ina the tambourine. Cessa and Ina retired in 1996 and Rita continued on a solo career. They started singing in the 1950s and in the 80s...

 with her sisters Cessa and Ina. She was born in 1934 on Naghir Island in Torres Strait. She lived on Thursday Island and during World War II was temporally evacuated to the mainland. After she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2000 she moved to Cairns

Cairns, Queensland

Cairns is a regional city in Far North Queensland, Australia, founded 1876. The city was named after William Wellington Cairns, then-current Governor of Queensland. It was formed to serve miners heading for the Hodgkinson River goldfield, but experienced a decline when an easier route was...

, retiring in 2001 and she died in 2004.