Horn Island, or Ngurupai/Narupai (pronounced Nœrupai/Nurupai) in the local language, is an island of the Torres Strait Islands archipelago located in the Torres Strait, in Queensland in Northern Australia between the Australian mainland and Papua New Guinea. It is within the locality of Horn within the Shire of Torres. The town of Wasaga is on the north-western coast of the island (). In the , the locality of Horn had a population of 531 people. Geography The island is in area. Horn Island is the site of Horn Island Airport, which also serves Thursday Island. Therefore, it is a gateway for travellers to the mainland and outer islands. The present-day population consists of islanders drawn from all islands of the Torres Strait, as well as non-islanders. Residents travel daily by ferry across the Ellis Channel to Thursday Island for work and school. Shire of Torres is the local government authority, providing the island community's municipal services. History Horn Island is known as Nœrupai (colloquially Nurupai) to the Kaurareg people and was given its English name by Matthew Flinders in 1802. The town of Wasaga was named on 1 April 1971 by the Queensland Place Names Board after Wasaga Billy, the first leader of the Horn Island community. After the 1871 massacre on Prince of Wales Island (Muralag), remnants of the people settled here for a short while, until the government relocated the Kaurareg to Hammond Island (Kœriri), where they remained until 1922. These islands (along with the other islands in the group) are the lands of the Kaurareg, each island – or parts thereof – owned by different clans. The language of the Kaurareg is Kala Lagaw Ya, in the form of Kaiwalgau Ya (called Kauraraigau Ya [colloquial variant Kauraregau Ya] in the 19th century). Gold was mined on Horn Island in the 1890s. In the early 20th century, a town flourished as a result of the pearling industry, but declined when non-islander residents were evacuated to southern Queensland during World War II. A major Allied airbase, known as Horn Island Aerodrome, was constructed on the island and this was attacked several times by Japanese planes. The World War II airbase on Horn Island is described in Jack Woodward's historical biographies Under It Down Under and Singing for the Unsung. Woodward was a World War II RAAF wireless operator stationed on Horn Island. Church influence was the London Missionary Society