Hammond Island (Indigenous name: Keriri or Kiriri) is an island with a town of the same name, in the Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia. It is the only island within the locality of Keriri Island within the local government area of Torres Strait Island Region. History of Hammond Island The Kaurareg people know Hammond Island as Keriri and are believed to have occupied this area prior to first contact with Europeans. Hammond Island is located in the Southern or Prince of Wales Island group of the Torres Strait. For thousands of years the Kaurareg followed traditional patterns of hunting, fishing and agriculture, and maintained close cultural and trading ties with the Aboriginal groups of the Northern Peninsula Area of Cape York. These close ties continue to exist today. European contact Captain Edwards of HMS Pandora named Hammond Island in August 1791, as he travelled through the Torres Strait with the captured Bounty mutineers. In 1802, the British navigator Matthew Flinders, in charge of HMS Investigator, sailed past Hammond Island. He noticed camp fires burning on the island but did not make contact with the Kaurareg people. In August 1864, a government settlement was established at Somerset at the tip of Cape York. The police magistrates of Somerset were hostile in their dealings with the Aboriginal people of the Northern Peninsula Area of Cape York and the Kaurareg. 1869 Massacre In April 1869, the crew of the cutter Sperwer was killed after the ship anchored off Prince of Wales Island. Government authorities determined that "the Korrorega natives" (Kuarareg) were responsible for the killings. Three Kaurareg men were captured, found guilty of the Sperwer killings and executed by a party of Australian native police led by Somerset police magistrate Henry Chester. Frank Jardine, Chester’s successor, led additional retaliatory attacks against the Kaurareg people on Prince of Wales Island during the 1870s. 1872 Queensland Government control 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 limit. The new legislation enabled the Queensland Government to control and regulate