Everything about The Torres Strait totally explained
The
Torres Strait is a body of water which lies between
Australia and the
Melanesian island of
New Guinea. It is approximately 150
km wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is
Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost continental extremity of the
Australian state of
Queensland. To the north is the
Western Province of the independent state of
Papua New Guinea.
Geography
The strait links the
Coral Sea to the east with the
Arafura Sea in the west. Although it's an important international sea lane, it's 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. 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. 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. 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. The central islands are predominantly
coral cays, and those of the east are of
volcanic origins. The islands are considered Australian territory and are administered from
Thursday Island.
The islands'
indigenous inhabitants are the
Torres Strait Islanders,
Melanesian peoples related to the Papuans of adjoining New Guinea. 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.
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. 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.
History
The islands of the Torres Strait have been inhabited for at least 2,500 years, and possibly much longer.
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. After Quiros's ship returned to
Mexico, Torres resumed the intended voyage to
Manila via the
Moluccas. 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.
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. This information was later made use of by Captain
James Cook.
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. The
London Missionary Society arrived on Erub (Darnley Island) in 1871. 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.
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-shelling was responsible for the arrival of experienced divers from many countries, notably
Japan.
In 1978 an agreement between Australia and
Papua New Guinea determined the maritime border in the Torres Strait.
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.
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. In November 2007 community leaders held emergency talks with Australian immigration officials with a view to having illegal residents returned to
Papua New Guinea.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Torres Strait'.
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