The Mabuyag (plural Mabuygilgal) are an Indigenous Australian group of Torres Strait Islander people united by a common language, strong ties of kinship and survived as skilled hunter–fisher–gatherers and horticulturalists in family groups or clans living on and around Mabuiag Island, in Torres Strait in Queensland, Australia.
They in common with all Torres Strait Islanders had a mixed reputation for hostility as well as eagerness to develop trading links with outsiders before they became Christian over the 1870s.
[2][3][4] Further, the Mabuiag identify the origins of Kuyam with Cape York: Kuyama, Kuyam's father, armed only with a spear and woomera, followed a downdrift of blades of grass northwards from Kuuku Ya'u territory on north-east Cape York, walked across the sea and set foot on Mabuyaagi in Dugong buway territory (north-east Mabuyaagi), where he married Kuinama, of the South-West Goemu people, though she was originally from Muri.
When one day his aged, half-blind mother, failing to recognise him, cursed him for stepping on the strands she was using to weave a mat, he stabbed her eyes and mouth with a three-pronged spear, and runs amok on head-hunting raids on Boigu, mainland Papua, and back, until he was finally on Mabuyaagi killed by warriors from Moa.
Today they continue to speak their traditional language, they practise fishing, hunting and collecting and in doing that, they make use of the specialised historical knowledge accumulated over centuries.
Before the arrival of missionaries, when someone died, the people of Mabuiag, as was the case for all other Islanders and neighbouring Papuans, would assist the deceased into Kibu by performing a mortuary ritual consisting of sacred dances and feasting at a particular point a few weeks after the death of the person.
The role of the marigeth is still very important: 'in-laws dig deep into their pockets to present the deceased's family with an engraved headstone, brought all the way from Cairns, Townsville or even Brisbane, shrouded in hundreds of yards of colorful cloth and money envelopes'.
[5] The Torres Strait Island Regional Council operate the Ngalpun Ngulaygaw Lag Resource Centre in Main Street.
In the Culture Love workshop, the children created clay sculptures, images, and recorded animated story in the local Kalaw Lagaw Ya language.