Moa Island, also called Banks Island, is an island of the Torres Strait Islands archipelago that is located north of Thursday Island in the Banks Channel of Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia. It is also a locality within the Torres Strait Island Region local government area. This island is the largest within the "Near Western" group. It has two towns, Kubin on the south-west coast and St Pauls on the east coast, which are connected by bitumen and a gravel road. In the , Moa Island had a population of 432 people.
Geography Moa Island is a part of the Torres Strait's western island group and is the second largest island in the Torres Strait. There are two communities on Moa: Kubin community, located on the southern side of the island, and St Paul's community, located to the north, known as Wag. The communities are connected by a road.
History The Mualgal /muwal̪gal̪/ people traditionally formed two groups, the southern Italgal /ital̪gal̪/ and the northern Mualgal, and are the traditional owners of the island and refer to the island as 'Mua' or Moa.Mualgal People v Queensland FCA 157.
Captain William Bligh, in charge of the British Navy ships Providence and Assistant, visited Torres Strait in 1792 and mapped the main reefs and channels. The island was named Banks Island by Captain Bligh in honour of his patron and friend, the botanist Sir Joseph Banks.M Flinders, A Voyage to Terra Australis, (W Bulmer and Co, London, 1814)A Shnukal, 'Historical Mua' (2008) vol.4, 2, Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Cultural Heritage Series, 186-187. In the 1860s, beche-de-mer (sea cucumber) and pearling boats began working the reefs of Torres Strait but few Europeans visited Moa before the 1870s. The European beche-de-mer and pearling boats extensively worked the sea beds between Moa and Badu Islands in the 1870s and recruited local Islander men to work on their boats. A small pearling station was established on Moa Island by John Gay between 1872 and 1875.S Mullins, Torres Strait, A History of Colonial Occupation and Culture Contact 1864-1897 (Central Queensland University Press, 1994) 163A Shnukal, 'Historical Mua' (2008) vol.4, 2, Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Cultural Heritage Series, 188-191.
In 1872, the Queensland Government sought to extend its jurisdiction and requested the support of the British Government.S B Kaye, Jurisdictional Patchwork: Law of the Sea and Native Title Issues in the Torres Strait (2001) 2, Melbourne Journal of International Law, 1. Letters Patent were issued by the British Government in 1872 creating a new boundary for the colony, which encompassed all islands within a 60 nautical mile radius of the coast of Queensland.Queensland Statutes (1963) vol .2, 712. This boundary was further extended by the Queensland Coast Islands Act 1879 (Qld)See also Colonial Boundaries Act 1895 (Imp)Wacando v Commonwealth (1981) 148 CLR 1. and included the islands of Boigu, Erub, Mer and Saibai, which lay beyond the previous 60 nautical mile limit. The new legislation enabled the Queensland Government to control and regulate bases for the beche-de-mer and pearling industries, which previously had operated outside its jurisdiction.S Mullins, Torres Strait, A History of Colonial Occupation and Culture Contact 1864-1897 (Central Queensland University Press, 1994), 139-161.
Torres Strait Islanders refer to the arrival of London Missionary Society (LMS) missionaries in July 1871 as the "Coming of the Light". Reverend A W Murray and William Wyatt Gill were the first LMS missionaries to visit Moa Island in October 1872. South Sea Islander lay preachers were appointed as teachers to work on the island the following month. While the South Sea Islander teachers established a mission settlement at Totalai on the northern side of the island, by 1901 the settlement had been completely abandoned.S Mullins, Torres Strait, A History of Colonial Occupation and Culture Contact 1864-1897 (Central Queensland University Press, 1994), 21A Shnukal, 'Historical Mua' (2008) vol.4, 2, Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Cultural Heritage Series, 192-195.
A new settlement named Adam was established on the western side of the island during the 1900s. People from the villages of Totalai and Dabu moved to Adam under the leadership of Elder Abu Namai. The village of Adam had better access to the facilities of Badu Island, including its school and the stores and trading stations operated by Papuan Industries Limited (PIL).A Shnukal, 'Historical Mua' (2008) vol.4, 2, Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Cultural Heritage Series, 201-202. PIL was a philanthropic business scheme designed by the LMS missionary Reverend Walker to promote "independent native enterprise" by encouraging them to co-operatively rent or purchase their own pearl luggers or "company boats". The company boats were used to harvest pearl shells and beche-de-mer, which were sold and distributed by PIL. The Queensland Government supported the scheme and worked in partnership with PIL. Company boats provided Islanders with income and a sense of community pride and also improved transport and communication between the islands.R Ganter, The Pearl Shellers of Torres Straits (Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1994) 68-75N Sharp, Stars of Tagai, The Torres Strait Islanders (Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, 1993) 158-161. The community at Adam operated a number of company boats including the Moa and the Adam. Men from Moa Island also regularly worked with pearling crews from Badu.A Shnukal, 'Historical Mua' (2008) vol.4, 2, Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Cultural Heritage Series, 204-210.
In 1904, the Australian Government introduced a restrictive immigration policy, which resulted in the forced repatriation of many Pacific Islander labourers, following the federal government's introduction of a restrictive immigration policy in 1904, the Queensland Government set aside an Aboriginal reserve on Moa's eastern shore for those who had married Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal people. In 1908 the Anglican Church began developing St. Paul's Mission. They also established the St. Paul's Native Training College. A community council was established under the Torres Strait Islander Act 1939, and in 1985, the St. Paul's community gained ownership of their land through a Deed of Grant in Trust.
On 20 May 1908, the Queensland government formally gazetted 500 acres as a reserve for the benefit of South Sea Islander people on the eastern side of Moa Island.The size of the reserve was increased to 2000 acres in 1909, see Queensland Government Gazette (1908) vol.1, 1303Queensland, Annual Report of the Chief Protector of Aboriginals for 1908 (1909) 24Queensland, Annual Report of the Chief Protector of Aboriginals for 1909 (1910) 19 In 1908, with the encouragement of Hugh Milman (the government resident at Thursday Island), the Anglican Church founded a mission specifically for South Sea Islander families on the reserve land. Milman suggested that the new mission should be named St Pauls, after the famous St Paul's Cathedral in London.T Hall-Matthews, From Village to Mission then Community, Celebrating the Centenary of St. Paul's – Mua Island (Carpentaria Consulting Services, Yungaburra, 2004) 16-17. The mission was operated by Deaconess Florence Griffiths Buchanan who was a missionary teacher. Her work was described as "the labor of patient untiring love and energy" and she was much loved by the children, who she called "Moabites" and who called her "Teashher" (teacher) in return).
Apart from its religious purpose, St Paul's Mission was intended to be a self-supporting settlement through a mixture of agriculture, fishing and the weaving of mats and baskets. The mission was at the foot of a mountain known as the Great Peak to the south-west of the island. The village was built on flat ground between the beach and the scrub lands at the foot of the mountain. The houses were built on piles and made of grass and saplings. In 1912 there were 70 people at the settlement with expectations it would increase. Until June 1910, the settlement received no outside help but from that date the Queensland Government provided a grant of £120 per annum to "educate the natives". At that time, the government also doubled the size of the mission lands in recognition of the progress in establishing gardens and coconut plantations. The mission owed a cutter Bengal, which operated between Thursday Island and Moa as well as visiting neighbouring islands. By 1912 £40 had already been raised to build a church, as the services were being held in the schoolroom which also served as a hospital and Buchanan's residence.
From 1911, Ethel Zahel visited Adam (later Poid) village to assist the councillors and, after 1915, to supervise the mission-trained native teacher. In 1928 a European teacher was appointed.
In November 1912, 36,000 acres of land on Moa Island were officially gazetted as an Aboriginal reserve by the Queensland Government, exclusive of the land already gazetted for the South Sea Islanders. Many other Torres Strait Islands were gazetted as Aboriginal reserves at the same time.Queensland Government Gazette, vol.99, no.138 (1912) 1330. In 1922, the name of the settlement at Adam was changed to Poid.A Shnukal, 'Historical Mua' (2008) vol.4, 2, Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Cultural Heritage Series, 222.
By 1918, a Protector of Aboriginals had been appointed to Thursday Island and, during the 1920s and 1930s, racial legislation was strictly applied to Torres Strait Islanders, enabling the government to remove Islanders to reserves and missions across Queensland.
In the early 1920s, the Queensland Government made the decision to remove the Kaurareg people from Hammond Island, publicly stating that their close proximity to Thursday Island encouraged drunkenness and immorality in the community. Preparations for the removal began in 1921 with the construction of new quarters at Poid on Moa Island.Queensland, Annual Report of the Chief Protector of Aboriginals for 1921(1921) 7Queensland State Archives, Home Secretary's Correspondence, HOM/J538, 1925/228, removal of Hammond islandersA Shnukal, 'Historical Mua' (2008) vol.4, 2, Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Cultural Heritage Series, 203-204. In March 1922, the Kaurareg community were forcibly removed by government authorities from Hammond Island and transported to Moa Island on a Papuan Industries vessel named Goodwill. Three members of the Hammond Island community who protested against the removal were arrested without charge by police armed with revolvers.N Sharp, Footprints Along the Cape York Sandbeaches (Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, 1992) 110-112Sydney Morning Herald 8 March 1922, 13Queensland State Archives, Home Secretary's Correspondence HOM/J419, 1922/1962 re Hammond islandersThe Queenslander 11 March 1922, 17.
In 1936, around 70% of the Torres Strait Islander workforce went on strike in the first organised challenge against government authority made by Torres Strait Islanders. The nine-month strike was an expression of Islanders' anger and resentment at increasing government control of their livelihoods. The strike was a protest against government interference in wages, trade and commerce and also called for the lifting of evening curfews, the removal of the permit system for inter-island travel, and the recognition of Islanders' right to recruit their own boat crews.J Beckett, Torres Strait Islanders: Custom and Colonialism (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987) 54.N Sharp, Footprints Along the Cape York Sandbeaches (Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, 1992), 181-186, 278