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.

[5] Captain Edwards of HMS Pandora named Hammond Island in August 1791, as he travelled through the Torres Strait with the captured Bounty mutineers.

[6] In 1802, the British navigator Matthew Flinders, in charge of HMS Investigator, sailed past Hammond Island.

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.

Frank Jardine, Chester’s successor, led additional retaliatory attacks against the Kaurareg people on Prince of Wales Island during the 1870s.

[14] 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.

The new legislation enabled the Queensland Government to control and regulate bases for the beche-de-mer and pearling industries which previously had operated outside its jurisdiction.

St Joseph’s Catholic mission station was officially inaugurated at Hammond Island on Ascension Thursday in 1929.

[32][33] The strike produced significant reforms including the establishment of a system of government consultations with elected Islander council representatives.

[35][36] In 1939, the Queensland Government passed the Torres Strait Islander Act 1939, which incorporated many of the recommendations made at the conference.

[37][38] A key section of the new act officially recognised Torres Strait Islanders as a separate people from Aboriginal Australians.

[5][39] During World War II, the civilian population of Hammond Island was evacuated to the Sisters of Mercy Convent at Cooyar in southeast Queensland.

In 1952, St Joseph’s Church was built on top of a hill overlooking the sea, using locally quarried stone and volunteer labour,[40][41] with materials transported by the pearl luggers Little Flower and Trixen.

In December 1978, a treaty was signed by the Australian and Papua New Guinea governments that described the boundaries between the two countries and the use of the sea area by both parties.

[5][43][44] The Torres Strait Treaty, which has operated since February 1985, contains special provision for free movement (without passports or visas) between both countries.

[45] Free movement between communities applies to traditional activities such as fishing, trading and family gatherings which occur in a specifically created Protected Zone and nearby areas.