Westwards they went to Moa, Mabuiag, and there fought with local Aboriginal people and married some of the women, though apparently ‘purists’ who wanted to avoid further mixture moved north to Saibai, Boigu and Dauan.

Much later, the Trans-Fly Meriam people of Papua moved to Mer, Erub and Ugar, taking most of the original inhabitants' land.

When the Kiwai people started raiding and taking over territory, some of the Yama escaped to the Trans-Fly Papuans on the mainland, and others went across to Saibai, Boigu and Dauan to join their fellow Islanders there.

However, the majority wanted to keep their tribal identity, and so decided to get as far away from the Kiwai as possible, and headed to the far south of Torres Strait, and settled on Moa, Muri and the Muralag group.

The first recorded sighting by Europeans of Yam Island was by the Spanish expedition of Luís Vaez de Torres on 7 September 1606.

The London Missionary Society established a station at Yam's western end making it possible for a permanent village with people settling around the mission.

During World War II, many Yam men enlisted in the army, forming C Company of the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion.

This resulted in Margaret conducting research into the cultural history of the Torres Strait and collecting transcripts, audio recordings, photographs, slides, art works and stories.

In addition to providing a library service,[17] the IKC is a space used by the community to revive, preserve, and share their culture through language, art, song, and dance.

[19] The State Library of Queensland holds the Margaret Lawrie Collection of Torres Strait Islander material.

[20] This collection, which was added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2008, consists of material gathered by Margaret Lawrie on the Torres Strait Islander people's culture between 1964 and 1973.