In November 1912, an area of 35,000 acres of land on Saibai was officially gazetted as an Aboriginal reserve by the Queensland Government. Many other Torres Strait Islands were gazetted as Aboriginal reserves at the same time. Shortages of food on Saibai were mentioned in a government report dating from 1912. Between 1914 and 1918, a cargo cult known as "German Wislin" emerged on Saibai. The Wislin believers predicted that the Germans would win World War One and reward the people of Saibai with a cargo of gifts which would be brought to the island by steamer. After Britain and her allies defeated Germany in 1918, the Wislin movement died away.