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 are ethnically Melanesian.
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.[1] The language of the island is Gœmulgaw Ya, alt. Mabuygilgaw Ya, a dialect of Kala Lagaw Ya.
The society consists of two moieties, the Koey Buway "Senior Buway" and Moegi Buway, "Junior Buway"; the terms relate to the senior (older brother) and junior (younger brother) leaders of the Zugubal "Sky Gods". The Moegi Buway include The Mabuygilgal of Wagedagam ("Rear-Side") on the northwest (kukidagam) side of Mabuyaagi (their totem wind and direction) and the Goemulgal of the mid-South-East side, while the Koey Buway include the Mabuygilgal of Panay-Dabangay ("Near-Side") on the north-east side (naygayidagam) and the Kaygas (shovel-nose "shark") people of the south-west (zeydoegam).