Curacoa Island (pron. KEWR-ə-sow) is one of the

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

s in the Palm Islands group off the coast of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. The nearest island is Great Palm Island, after which the group is named. Curacoa Island is uninhabited. The Aboriginal name for this island is Noogoo Island. Along with nine of the other islands within the Palm Islands group, it falls under the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

of the Aboriginal Shire of Palm Island. It was named after HMS ''Curacoa'', flagship of the Australia Station from 20 April 1863 until May 1866. The island was gazetted as an

Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th ...

on 20 September 1941, along with neighbouring small islands, with the intention of extending Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement, but it was never used as such.

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