The highest point on Thursday Island, standing at 104 metres (341 feet) above sea level, is Milman Hill, a World War II defence facility.

[citation needed] While Thursday Island is within the Shire of Torres and is the administrative centre for that shire, it is also the administrative and commercial centre of the local government area of Torres Strait Island Region despite not being part of that local government area.

The archaeology from Badu, Pulu, Saibai and Mer shows that Melanesian occupation started around 2,600 years ago (see Kalaw Lagaw Ya).

[citation needed] In 1848 a hydrographic survey of the area was conducted by Captain Owen Stanley of the Royal Navy, the commander of HMS Rattlesnake.

[4] The original place of permanent European settlement in Torres Strait was Somerset, south-east of the tip of Cape York Peninsula, established in 1864.

[10] A lucrative pearling industry was founded on the island in 1884, attracting workers from around Asia, including Japan, Malaya and India, seeking their fortune.

[11] The Japanese community was in part indentured divers and boat hands who returned to Japan after a period of service and some longer term residents who were active in boat building and in the ownership of luggers for hire—which was illegal but bypassed by leases through third parties back to other Japanese, a practice called "dummying".

[12] Additionally, many south Pacific Islanders worked in the industry, with some originally imported against their will, in a practice known as blackbirding.

[citation needed] For part of the fleet that operated further from Thursday Island, larger vessels, typically schooners were used as mother ships to the luggers.

[16] In the late-19th and early-20th centuries Thursday Island was a regular stop for vessels trading between the east coast of Australia and Southeast Asia.

A shipping disaster to a vessel in this service occurred in 1890 when RMS Quetta struck an uncharted reef in the Strait and sank in five minutes with the loss of over 130 lives.

[citation needed] Cyclone Mahina, which hit Bathurst Bay, southeast of Thursday Island in 1899, wrecked the pearling fleet sheltering there, with huge losses of vessels and lives.

[17] Before the decline, pearl fishing was taken by the island-based fleet to the Aru Islands in what was then the Dutch East Indies.

[20] During World War II, Thursday Island became the military headquarters for the Torres Strait and was a base for Australian and United States forces.

[citation needed] The economy of the island is dependent on its role as an administrative centre and is supported by pearling and fishing, as well as a fast-developing tourism industry, with perhaps the most famous tourists being novelist Somerset Maugham and Banjo Paterson, and the most numerous being day-trippers from the cruise ships that call into the island each year.

[citation needed] Thursday Island has number of services open to the community, including a sporting complex, gym, public library as well as ANZAC park and Ken Brown Oval.

[citation needed] The Shire of Torres operates Ngulaig Meta Municipal public library at 121 Douglas Street.

[15] Tagai State College is a government primary and secondary (Early Childhood to Year 12) school for boys and girls that operates 17 campuses throughout the Torres Strait, including two on Thursday Island.

The Thursday Island secondary school campus (7-12) is at 21 Aplin Road (10°34′39″S 142°12′50″E / 10.5774°S 142.2138°E / -10.5774; 142.2138 (Tagai State College - Thursday Island Secondary))[39][40] In 2017, the school across all location had a total enrolment of 1,554 students with 168 teachers (165 full-time equivalent) and 198 non-teaching staff (142 full-time equivalent).

[41] The Torres Strait Campus of the Tropical North Queensland TAFE Institute is located on the island next to the Tagai State College.