Torres Strait and islands

The Torres Strait - Cape York Peninsula is at the bottom; several of the Torres Strait Islands can be seen strung out towards Papua New Guinea to the north. This article is about the peninsula located in the Australian state of Queensland; it should not be confused with either Yorke Peninsula in South Australia The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small Islands which lie in Torres Strait, the waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape Papua New Guinea (or ˈpæpjuːə in Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini) officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania (NASA, STS-35)

The Torres Strait is a body of water which lies between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA, ˈnæsə is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program STS-35 was the tenth flight of Space Shuttle ''Columbia'', the thirty-eighth shuttle flight and a mission devoted to deploying ASTRO-1 an observatory consisting For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Melanesia (from Greek: μέλας black, νῆσος island) means "islands of the black-skinned people" New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known It is approximately 150 km wide at its narrowest extent. The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost continental extremity of the Australian state of Queensland. This article is about the peninsula located in the Australian state of Queensland; it should not be confused with either Yorke Peninsula in South Australia For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern corner of the mainland continent To the north is the Western Province of the independent state of Papua New Guinea. Western Province is a Coastal Province in southwestern Papua New Guinea, bordering the Indonesian province of Papua. Papua New Guinea (or ˈpæpjuːə in Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini) officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania

Geography

The strait links the Coral Sea to the east with the Arafura Sea in the west. The Coral Sea is a Marginal sea off the north-east coast of Australia. The Arafura Sea is west of the Pacific Ocean overlying the Continental shelf between Australia and New Guinea. Although it is an important international sea lane, it is very shallow, and the maze of reefs and islands can make it hazardous to navigate.

Several clusters of islands lie in the Strait, collectively called the Torres Strait Islands. The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small Islands which lie in Torres Strait, the waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape There are at least 274 of these islands, of which 17 have present-day permanent settlements. Over 6 800 Torres Strait Islanders live on the Islands and 42 000 live on the mainland.

These islands have a variety of topographies, ecosystems and formation history. Topography ( topo-, "place" and graphia, "writing" is the study of Earth 's Surface features or those of Planets An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants animals and micro-organisms( Biotic factors in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical ( Several of those closest to the New Guinea coastline are low-lying, formed by alluvial sedimentary deposits borne by the outflow of the local rivers into the sea. Alluvium (from the Latin, alluvius, from alluere, "to wash against" is Soil or Sediments deposited by a river or other running Many of the western islands are hilly and steep, formed mainly of granite, and are peaks of the northernmost extension of the Great Dividing Range now turned into islands when sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age. Granite (ˈɡrænɪt is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, Felsic, igneous rock. The Great Dividing Range, also known as the Eastern Highlands, is Australia 's most substantial Mountain range. An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the Temperature of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere resulting in an expansion of continental Ice sheets The central islands are predominantly coral cays, and those of the east are of volcanic origins. Corals are Marine organisms from the class Anthozoa and exist as small Sea anemone –like Polyps typically in colonies of many Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the The islands are considered Australian territory and are administered from Thursday Island. Thursday Island, also known as TI or Waiben, is the administrative and commercial centre of the Torres Strait Islands.

The islands' indigenous inhabitants are the Torres Strait Islanders, Melanesian peoples related to the Papuans of adjoining New Guinea. The term Indigenous Peoples or autochthonous peoples can be used to describe any Ethnic group who inhabit a geographic region with which they have the earliest historical Torres Strait Islanders are the indigenous people of the Torres Strait Islands, part of Queensland, Australia. Melanesia (from Greek: μέλας black, νῆσος island) means "islands of the black-skinned people" The various Torres Strait Islander communities have a distinct culture and long-standing history with the islands and nearby coastlines. Their maritime-based trade and interactions with the Papuans to the north and the Australian Aboriginal communities have maintained a steady cultural diffusion between the three societal groups, dating back thousands of years at least. This is an article about a class of people as identified and defined within Australian law Cultural diffusion, as first conceptualized by Alfred L Kroeber in his influential 1940 paper Stimulus Diffusion, or trans-cultural diffusion in later reformulations

Two indigenous languages are spoken on the Torres Strait Islands, known by dialect names : Kala Lagaw Ya/Kalaw Kawaw Ya/Kawalgaw Ya/Kulkalgaw Ya, and Meriam Mir, as well as Brokan [Broken], otherwise called Torres Strait Creole. Torres Strait Creole (also Torres Strait Pidgin Torres Strait Brokan/Broken Cape York Creole Lockhart Creole Papuan Pidgin English) is an oral Creole In the 2001 Australian national census, the population of the islands was recorded as 8,089, though many more live outside of Torres Strait in Australia. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar.

History

The islands of the Torres Strait have been inhabited for at least 2,500 years, and possibly much longer. ^[1]

The first recorded European navigation of the strait was by Luis Váez de Torres, a Spanish seaman who was second-in-command on the Spanish expedition of Pedro Fernandez de Quirós who sailed from Peru to the South Pacific in 1605. Luis Váez de Torres (born c 1565; fl 1607) was a 16th-17th century Spanish maritime explorer serving the Spanish Crown Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Pedro Fernandes de Queirós (1563 - 1615 was a Portuguese-born navigator and explorer, more commonly known by the Castilian spelling Pedro Fernández de Quirós. Peru (Perú Piruw Piruw officially the Republic of Peru ( reˈpuβlika del peˈɾu is a country in western South America. The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions After Quiros's ship returned to Mexico, Torres resumed the intended voyage to Manila via the Moluccas. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. The City of Manila The Maluku Islands (also known as the Moluccas, Moluccan Islands, the Spice Islands or simply Maluku) are an Archipelago He sailed along the south coast of New Guinea, and may also have sighted the northernmost extremity of the Australian mainland, however no specific records exist that indicate he did so. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics.

In 1769 the Scottish geographer Alexander Dalrymple found Torres' report of this voyage in Manila, and it was he who named the strait after Torres. Year 1769 ( MDCCLXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. A geographer is a Scientist whose area of study is Geography, the study of Earth 's physical environment and Human habitat Alexander Dalrymple ( July 24, 1737 &ndash June 19, 1808) was a Scottish Geographer and the first Hydrographer The City of Manila This information was later made use of by Captain James Cook. Captain James Cook FRS RN ( – 14 February 1779) was an English Explorer, Navigator and

In 1770 Cook claimed the whole of eastern Australia for the British Crown, and sailed through the strait after proceeding up the eastern coast of the continent. Year 1770 ( MDCCLXX) was a Common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting on Friday The London Missionary Society arrived on Erub (Darnley Island) in 1871. The London Missionary Society was a non-denominational Missionary society formed in England in 1795 by evangelical Anglicans and Although some of the Torres Strait islands lie just off the coast of New Guinea, they were annexed in 1879 by Queensland, then a British colony. New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern corner of the mainland continent

There was an important pearling industry from the 1860s until about 1970 when it collapsed in the face of competition from the plastics industry. Pearl hunting or pearl diving refers to a now largely obsolete method of retrieving Pearls from Pearl oysters Freshwater pearl mussels and on Pearl-shelling was responsible for the arrival of experienced divers from many countries, notably Japan. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. ^[2]

In 1978 an agreement between Australia and Papua New Guinea determined the maritime border in the Torres Strait. Papua New Guinea (or ˈpæpjuːə in Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini) officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania ^[3]

Torres Strait is mentioned in Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea as a dangerous strait where the submarine, the Nautilus, is briefly stranded. Jules Gabriel Verne ( February 8 1828 &ndash March 24 1905) was a French Author who pioneered the science-fiction For the 1954 film starring Kirk Douglas see 20000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Illegal Immigration

Due to the proximity to the Papua New Guinea mainland the northern Torres Strait islands have been experiencing significant numbers of illegal long-term residents from Papua New Guinea, putting significant strain on scarce local resources such as fresh water. Papua New Guinea (or ˈpæpjuːə in Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini) officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania Papua New Guinea (or ˈpæpjuːə in Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini) officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania In November 2007 community leaders held emergency talks with Australian immigration officials with a view to having illegal residents returned to Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea (or ˈpæpjuːə in Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini) officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania ^[4][5]

See also

• Birds of Boigu, Saibai and Dauan Islands (Torres Strait)
• Torres Strait Islands

References

Singe, John. (2003). My Island Home: A Torres Strait Memoir. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 0-7022-3305-6