Boigu Island (also known as Malu Kiyay or Malu Kiwai) is the most northerly inhabited island of Queensland and of Australia. It is part of the Top Western group of the

Torres Strait Islands The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their total land ...

, which lie in the Torres Strait separating

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...

from the island of New Guinea. The mainland of Papua New Guinea is only away from Boigu. Boigu has an area of . Boigu Island is the name of the

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

on the island within the

Torres Strait Island Region The Torres Strait Island Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia, covering part of the Torres Strait Islands. It was created in March 2008 out of 15 autonomous Island Councils during a period of statewide local gove ...

. Boigu is predominantly inhabited by indigenous Torres Strait Islanders. In the , the population of the island was 199, of whom 189 identified as Indigenous Australians. It is the largest and only inhabited island of the

Talbot Islands Talbot Islands are a group of Torres Strait Islands in Queensland, Australia. They lie between the Australian mainland and the island of New Guinea and a few kilometres west of Saibai Island, Torres Strait, only 4 km from the Papua New Gu ...

group ().

Language and affiliations

The language of Boigu is that of the Western and Central Islands of the Torres Strait. The specific dialect is Kalau Kawau Ya, also spoken on the islands of Dauan and Saibai. The people of the three islands consider themselves as one people. Kala Kawaw Ya (also known as Kalaw Kawaw, KKY) is one of the languages of the Torres Strait. Kala Kawaw Ya is the traditional language owned by the Top Western islands of the Torres Strait Island Region.

Geography

Boigu Island is approximately long, and low-lying. It was formed by the accumulation of

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

sediments deposited by the discharge of nearby New Guinean rivers into the Strait. These sediments built up over time on an old coral platform which rises from the shallow continental shelf, eventually creating the island. The village of Boigu at the northern end of the island (). It is the northernmost settlement of Australia, but the northernmost land is the uninhabited

Bramble Cay Bramble Cay, also known as Maizab Kaur (also spelt Maizub Kaur) and Massaramcoer, is a small cay located at the northeastern edge of Australia and the Torres Strait Islands of Queensland and at the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef. Lying ...

, to the east. Most of the island is subject to extensive periodic flooding, and as a result the community township has been built on the highest ground. There are a number of smaller islands nearby, including: * Aubussi Island, also known as Awbuz () * Moegina Kawa () * Sapural Kawa () * Aymermud () * Moimi Island, also known as Moeyim ()

Boigu Island Airport Boigu Island Airport is an airport serving Boigu Island in Queensland, Australia. It was officially opened as the Charlie Gibuma Memorial Airstrip on 26 July 1981 by Hon. Ken Tomkins, then Queensland Minister for Aboriginal and Island Affair ...

is on the south-western edge of the village ().

History

Boigu was visited by South Sea Islander missionaries of the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational mi ...

, some time after the establishment of a mission on nearby Saibai Island in 1871. From the 1870s to around 1910, the Boigu, Dauan and Saibai people, along with the neighbouring Papuan peoples, were being harassed by ''thugeral'' "warriors" from the

Marind-anim The Marind or Marind-Anim are an ethnic group of New Guinea, residing in the province of South Papua, Indonesia. Geography The Marind-anim live in South Papua, Indonesia. They occupy a vast territory, which is situated on either side of the ...

, fierce headhunters from what is now southeast West Papua. In literature dealing with the period, these people are generally termed 'Tuger' or 'Tugeri'. Sir

William MacGregor Sir William MacGregor, (20 October 1846 – 3 July 1919)R. B. Joyce,', ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 5, Melbourne University Press, 1974, pp 158–160. Retrieved 29 September 2009 was a Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guin ...

, the

Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guinea This article lists the colonial governors of Papua New Guinea, from the establishment of German New Guinea in 1884 until the independence of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea in 1975. List (Dates in italics indicate ''de facto'' continua ...

, noted in 1886 that the population was nearly extinct as a result of these raids. What he did not realise was that at the time the bulk of the population were staying with family on Saibai and Dauan for mutual protection. According to 2004 Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) figures, its resident population was approximately 340. Malu Kiwai State School opened on 29 January 1985. In 2007, it was one of 17 schools in the Torres Strait Islands that amalgamated, becoming the Malu Kiwai Campus of Tagai State College (which has its main campus on Thursday Island). In the , there were 271 people living on the island, of whom 231 identified as Indigenous Australians (107 male, 124 female). In the , there were 199 people living on the island, of whom 189 identified as Indigenous Australians (84 male, 104 female).

Ecology

The island is considered part of the

New Guinea mangroves The New Guinea mangroves is a mangrove ecoregion that covers extensive areas of the coastline New Guinea, the large island in the western Pacific Ocean north of Australia. Location and description The New Guinea mangroves cover an area of , ...

ecoregion, a subset of the

Australasian realm The Australasian realm is a biogeographic realm that is coincident with, but not (by some definitions) the same as, the geographical region of Australasia. The realm includes Australia, the island of New Guinea (comprising Papua New Guinea and t ...

. The interior of the island is sparsely vegetated, and mainly

swampland A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

. The coast is fringed by mangroves, which act to protect against the island's sand and mud from sea erosion. It is likely the mangrove regions harbour healthy populations of

saltwater crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been liste ...

. The waters surrounding the island are an important habitat for dugongs, a species of

sea mammal The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

listed as vulnerable by the IUCN.

Education

The Malu Kiwai Campus of the Tagai State College is a primary (Early Childhood-6) campus of Tagai State College at School Road (). There is no secondary school on the island. The secondary school campus of Tagai State College is on Thursday Island.

Amenities

The

Torres Strait Island Regional Council The Torres Strait Island Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia, covering part of the Torres Strait Islands. It was created in March 2008 out of 15 autonomous Island Councils during a period of statewide local gove ...

operates an Indigenous Knowledge Centre (library) at 66 Chamber Street (). Boigu Island Primary Health Care Centre is operated by

Queensland Health Queensland Health is the name of the overall public health service in the state of Queensland, Australia. Like all other states and territories in Australia, the Queensland Government provides low- or no-cost primary, secondary, and tertiary ...

on Chamber Street (). Boigu Island Sewage Treatment Plant is on the western edge of the village on the Esplanade ().

References

External links

Community History Boigu Community History
{{authority control Torres Strait Islands Torres Strait Islands communities Aboriginal communities in Queensland Torres Strait Island Region Islands of Far North Queensland Localities in Queensland Towns in Queensland