Information About Islands In The Torres Strait

Today we are going to talk about the islands that are located in the Torres Strait. The Torres Strait is home to at least 274 small islands. This group of islands is a waterway separating the northern continent of Australia from the island of New Guinea and the Cape York Peninsula. So let's gather a little more information about islands in the Torres Strait.

The population of this type of island was 1770 at the 2016 Australian Census, of which 91.8% were identified as Indigenous Torres Strait Islanders. The Torres Strait Islands have a very beautiful and natural environment.

Geography

The islands of this type of island cover an area of ​​about 48,000 km2. The width of this island from the Cape York area to New Guinea is at a narrow point of about 150 kilometers. All of the islands of the Torres Strait extend from east to west for about 200 to 300 kilometers. The land of the islands of Iceland is used only for agricultural purposes.

In the past, Torres Strait Island was considered a land bridge connecting the present Australian continent with New Guinea. This type of no land bridge sank quickly rising to sea level at the end of the last ice-age glacier about 12,000 years ago and forms the belt connecting the Arafura and Coral seas at the present time. To the west, there are high and beautiful peaks on many islands of this type and which are not completely submerged as the sea level rises.

This type of island provides a very diverse set of surrounding rocky islands and water, land and marine ecosystems and is unique to many rare species. It inhabits the islands of the Torres Strait, along with Queensland, saltwater crocodiles and neighboring Papua New Guinea. The marine animals of the Torres Strait include dugongs as well as hawksbill, green, ridley and flatback sea turtles.

The Torres provide habitat for numerous birds on the Strait Islands. The islands of this type include the Torresian royal dove and are seen by the islanders as an iconic national symbol. The Torres Strait Islands are also a separate physical division of the larger Cape York Platform province.

1. Top Western Islands

The western islands of the Torres Strait are the Boigu lowland islands formed in the Strait formed on a coral platform formed by the erosion of mud and silt from the rivers of New Guinea. Vegetation on the western islands consists mainly of mangrove swamps and islands of this type are at risk of flooding.

Dauan, another major island in the Western Islands, is a small island with steep hills. Dauan Island is mostly composed of granite. The Western islands represent the northern boundary of a truly great dividing range and a wide range of mountain ranges that run through almost the entire east coast of Australia.

2. Inner Islands

The Inner Islands are also known as the Thursday Island Group. And the islands of this type are located close to the Cape York Peninsula and have very similar topography and geological history. The islands of this type are very small. The Inner Islands is the administrative center of the region and has the largest population. Permanent freshwater springs are found on some of the islands of the Inner Islands. Due to the proximity of the Inner Islands to the Australian mainland, it has also been the center of pearl and fishing industries.

3. Eastern Islands

The islands of the Eastern group are formed along Erub Island, Dauar and Waier and further north along Stephens Island and are found to be formed separately from the rest. Volcanoes are native to the eastern islands and were active during the Pleistocene. As a result the mountain ranges of the eastern islands have rich and fertile red volcanic land.

4. Near Western Islands

The Near Western islands are located south of the midpoint of the Torres Strait. And on the Near Western islands there are also massive high granite hills and mounds of basaltic outcrops formed from the old peaks of existing submerged bridges. Other smaller islands in the Near Western islands include Pulu, Mabuiag and further east Naghir. Culturally the Near Western islands were the most complex part of the Torres Strait.

5. Central Islands

The central islands consist of many small sandy roads and are similar to those found in the nearby Great Barrier Reef. The islands of this type are Gerbar and Iama. The central islands also have high basaltic outcrops. Low lying coral cages on the central islands such as Warraber Island, Poruma and Masig are mostly 2 to 3 kilometers long and are not seen to be wider than 800 meters.

History

Indigenous people living on the Torres Strait Islands are called Torres Strait Islanders on. The inhabitants of these islands are also known as ethnic Melanesians and also inhabited the northern part of the Cape York Peninsula. The inhabitants of these islands are ethnically and linguistically distinct from the aboriginal peoples of Australia.

Torres Strait islands were known as hypersensitive raiders and headhunters. The people of these islands were constantly at war with their neighbors in the Darnley Islands. The Spanish navigator Luís Vaez de Torres discovered the Torres Strait in 1606. In the center of the Torres Strait islands include the Northern Peninsula area and coastal communities such as Townsville, Cairns, Mackay, Rockhampton and Brisbane.

In 1899, a man named John Douglas began the process of electing an island council with the aim of loosening the power of missionaries in the Torres Strait islands. The people of The Island were subjected to the Aboriginal Protection and Sale of Opium Act 1897 in 1904, which gave the Queensland government strict powers to impose legal restrictions on natives and their land use.

The proximity of the Torres Strait Islands to Papua New Guinea became an issue when the Torres Strait Islands began gaining independence from Australia and gained it in 1975.

Torres Strait Islands List