Torres Strait

Torres Strait and islands
The Torres Strait seen from space – 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. (NASA, STS-35)

The Torres Strait is a strait which lies between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is approximately 150 km (93 mi) 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 Papua New Guinea. It is named after navigator Luis Vaz de Torres who passed through the Strait in 1606.

Geography

The strait links the Coral Sea to the east with the Arafura Sea in the west. 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. In the south the Endeavour Strait is located between Prince of Wales Island (Muralug) and the mainland.

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: Kala Lagaw Ya/Kalaw Kawaw Ya/Kawalgau Ya/Muwalgau Ya/Kulkalgau Ya, and Miriam 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.[1]

The first recorded European navigation of the strait was by Luís Vaz de Torres, a pilot who was second-in-command on the Spanish expedition led by navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós who sailed from Peru to the South Pacific in 1605. After Queirós's ship returned to Mexico, Torres resumed the intended voyage to Manila via the Maluku Islands. 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.[2]

In 1769 the Scottish geographer Alexander Dalrymple, whilst translating some Spanish documents captured in the Philippines in 1762, had found Luís Vaz de Torres' testimony proving a passage south of New Guinea now known as Torres Strait. This discovery led Dalrymple to publish the Historical Collection of the Several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean in 1770–1771, which aroused widespread interest in his claim of the existence of an unknown continent. It was Dalrymple who named the strait after Torres. Dalrymple was bitterly disappointed that it was James Cook and not he who was appointed commander of the expedition that eventually led in 1770 to the British encounter and charting of the eastern coastline of Australia.

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.

In 1823 Lieutenant John Lihou, then Master of HMS Zenobia, was on passage from Manila to South America and chose a route through Torres Strait. This was the first occasion a ship was navigated through Torres Strait from west to east. It was also the first occasion a ship was navigated through the Coral Sea from Torres Strait, south-eastward to the southward of New Caledonia. Lihou saw Sir James Saumarez' Shoal (now Saumarez Reefs) on 27 February and named the reef system after Vice-Admiral James Saumarez. On this same trip, Lihou discovered the Lihou Reef and Cays and Port Lihou.

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.[3]

In 1978 an agreement between Australia and Papua New Guinea determined the maritime border in the Torres Strait.[4]

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.

The people of the Torres Strait have a unique indigenous culture, which has been the centre for anthropological work completed by Cambridge University's Alfred Haddon in 1898 and Australia's Margaret Lawrie from 1960 to 1973.

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.[5][6]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ John Burton. "History of Torres Strait to 1879 – a regional view". Torres Strait Regional Authority. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
  2. ↑ Brett Hilder (1980) The Voyage of Torres.University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia, Queensland. ISBN 0-7022-1275-X
  3. ↑ Ganter, Regina. (1994). The Pearl-Shellers of Torres Strait: Resource Use, Development and Decline, 1860s–1960s. Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0-522-84547-9.
  4. ↑ for a detailed map see "Australia's Maritime Zones in the Torres Strait" (PDF). Australian Government – Geoscience Australia. Retrieved 2008-04-13.,
    for the agreement see "Treaty between Australia and the Independent State of Papua New Guinea concerning sovereignty and maritime boundaries in the area between the two countries, including the area known as Torres Strait, and related matters, 18 December 1978" (PDF). United Nations. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
  5. ↑ "Illegal PNG immigrants to be deported". National Nine News. 2008-11-28.
  6. ↑ "Minister reduced to tears". Torres News. 2007-12-12.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Torres Strait.

Coordinates: 9°50′S 142°30′E / 9.833°S 142.500°E