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 448 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 2 communities on Moa: Kubin community, located on the southern side of the island, and St Paul’s community, located to the north. 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. 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. 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. In 1872, the Queensland Government sought to extend its jurisdiction and requested the support of the British Government. 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. This boundary was further extended by the Queensland Coast Islands Act 1879 (Qld) 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