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. 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. 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. The strike produced a number of significant reforms and innovations. Unpopular local Protector J.D McLean was removed and replaced by Cornelius O’Leary. O’Leary established a system of regular consultations with elected Islander council representatives. The new island councils were given a degree of autonomy including control over local police and courts. On 23 August 1937, O’Leary convened the first Inter Islander Councillors’ Conference at Yorke Island. Representatives from 14 Torres Strait communities attended the conference. Wees Nawie and Sailor represented Poid at the conference. After lengthy discussions, unpopular bylaws, including the evening curfews, were cancelled and a new code of local representation was agreed upon. In 1939, the Queensland Government passed the Torres Strait Islanders Act 1939, which incorporated many of the recommendations discussed at the conference. A key section of the new Act officially recognised Torres Strait Islanders as a separate people from Aboriginal Australians. During the 1920s and 1930s, the settlement at Poid experienced regular epidemics of malaria and dengue fever, as well as shortages of fresh water. In 1943, the community at Poid made the decision to move to a new location named Kubin, situated on the south-west coast of Moa Island. The country near Kubin had