and nuns of the Sacred Heart Order. The families of Nicholas Sabatino and Joseph Kanak were the first to settle at the mission. Catholic families from other Torres Strait Islands were encouraged to move to St Joseph’s mission, where St Joseph's School (Hammond Island) opened in 1935. The school closed during World War II when the island was evacuated. Nuns returned in 1950 to reopen school, but it closed in 1963. In 1936, 70% of Torres Strait Islander workers went on strike, protesting against government control over their livelihoods. The strike produced significant reforms including the establishment of a system of government consultations with elected Islander council representatives. The new island councils were given a degree of autonomy including control over local Island police and courts. The first Inter-Islander Councillors Conference was convened at Yorke Island in August 1937. Representatives from 14 Torres Strait communities, including Hammond Island, attended. In 1939, the Queensland Government passed the Torres Strait Islander Act 1939, which incorporated many of the recommendations made at the conference. A key section of the new act officially recognised Torres Strait Islanders as a separate people from Aboriginal Australians. During World War II, the civilian population of Hammond Island was evacuated to the Sisters of Mercy Convent at Cooyar in southeast Queensland. The mission buildings on the island were taken over by the army, and an RAAF radar station operated between 1942 and 1943. 1950–2000 After World War II, the pearling industry declined across Torres Strait and Islanders were permitted to work and settle on Thursday Island and the Australian mainland. However some mission residents returned to Hammond Island where they found that white ants had destroyed their church. Work began on the construction of a new Catholic church. In 1952, St Joseph’s Church was built on top of a hill overlooking the sea, using locally quarried stone and volunteer labour. In 1964, the priest and sisters of the mission were moved to Thursday Island. After gaining its independence from Australia in 1975, Papua New Guinea asserted its right to the islands and waters of the Torres Straits. A proposal was put forward to divide the Torres Straits between the two countries at a longitude of 10 degrees. The proposed division was completely rejected by the Queensland Government and the Torres Strait Islander community. In December 1978, a treaty was signed by the Australian and Papua New Guinea governments