This is the half way mark in my 6.5km walk from Xemxija. The statue of St Paul stands on St Paul's Islands also known as Selmunett. I have only stepped on this island for about five times but have gone around it many more times in my kayak. St Paul's Island is sometimes split into two islands by a shallow isthmus, and it is therefore sometimes referred to in the plural as St Paul's Islands.
Until 1575 the islands were named after the Salomone family, who owned a nearby land in Mellieha also called Selmun (Salamone became Selmun). In 1576, Marco di Maria was being chased by Barbary corsairs off the coast of Malta. He navigated his vessel through the narrow channel between St Paul's Island and Malta, but when the pirates followed him they ran aground and were captured. As a result of this, the Grandmaster Jean de la Cassière gave St Paul's Islands to di Maria and the islands started to be called Tal-Barba Marku.
In 1844 a statue of Saint Paul was erected on the island.
Until the 1930s, a farmer called Vincenzo Borg, lived on the island in the tower built by Grandmaster Lascaris. He converted the tower and used it as a farmhouse. Borg abandoned the dwelling, and the fields on the island, just before World War II started. Since it was abandoned, the upper room has collapsed and the structure is now in ruins as can be seen in the photo at the base of the statue.
