Masig Island, Queensland

Masig Island, also known as Yorke Island, is an island and locality in the Torres Strait Island Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Masig Island had a population of 283 people.

The name Masig is from the Kalau Lagau Ya language for this coral cay island of the Torres Strait Islands archipelago, situated in the eastern area of the central island group in the Torres Strait, at the top end of the Great Barrier Reef and northeast of the tip of Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia. The Masigalgal people, of the Kulkulgal nation of the Central Torres Strait, are recognised as the traditional owners of Masig. They are of Melanesian origin and had followed traditional patterns of hunting, fishing, agriculture and trade for many thousands of years prior to contact with the first European visitors to the region. The Queensland Government moved the people of Aureed to Masig after it was declared an Aboriginal reserve. Luggers owned by Masig families continued to operate until the pearling and shell industry collapsed in the 1960s. The people then shifted successfully into commercial mackerel fishing, prawning and crayfishing. A highly profitable fish factory has operated on the island since the late 1970s, freezing the catch and air freighting it to southern markets.

Masig Island is one of the Yorke Islands (9°44′41″S 143°25′46″E / 9.7446°S 143.4295°E / -9.7446; 143.4295 (Yorke Islands)), the other being Kodall Island (9°44′24″S 143°26′49″E / 9.7400°S 143.4469°E / -9.7400; 143.4469 (Kodall Island)).