Torres Strait Island Regional Council

Torres Strait Island Regional Council

Torres Strait is an island-studded sea passage between Cape York and Papua New Guinea, with the Arafura Sea on its west and the Coral Sea on its east. It was named by Alexander Dalrymple, British hydropher, after Luis Vaez de Torres, Spanish navigator. De Torres encountered the strait in 1606 when he parted from an expedition from Peru in search of Terra Australis Incognito. He finally journeyed to the Philippines via the Moluccas.

Further Reading: 

Jeremy Beckett, Torres Strait Islanders: custom and colonialism, Melbourne, Cambridge University Press, 1987

J. Singe, The Torres Strait: people and history, St Lucia, University of Queensland Press, 1989

Steve Mullins, Torres Strait: a history of colonial occupation and culture contact 1864-1897, Rockhampton, University of Central Queensland Press, 1994

Gerald Peel, Isles of the Torres Straits: an Australian responsibility, Sydney, Current Book Distributors, 1947

Badu, Bamaga, Cape York Peninsula, Horn Island, Murray Island, Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council, Thursday Island and Torres Shire entries

Headwords: 
Torres Strait Island Regional Council

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