Torres Strait

**Torres Strait** is the narrow sea between Australia's Cape York and New Guinea. It is about  wide and filled with islands, coral reefs and sand banks. The first European to sail through the strait Vanessa uis Vaez de Torres in 1606. There are about 240 islands but only 17 of them have people living on them. While there are about 6,800 Torres Strait Islanders living on the islands, about 42,000 islanders now live on the mainland. The islands belong to Australia and are a part of Queensland. They are governed from Thursday Island by the Torres Strait Regional Authority. They are the only part of Australia to share a border with another country, New Guinea.

## Geography 
It is an important sea lane for ships, but because the water is not deep and is filled with many reefs and islands, it is very difficult to sail through safely.

The islands are a mix of island types. Some of the islands near New Guinea are low lying islands made from soil washed down from the rivers. The hilly and steep  granite islands in the west were once the tops of mountains which became islands when the sea levels rose 8,000 years ago. The islands in the centre are mostly coral cays. The islands in the east of the strait were made by submarine volcanos which grew above the surface of the ocean.

In 2009, the islanders asked the Australian government for AU$ 22 million to build new sea walls. Because some of the islands are quite low, rising sea levels and big tides have meant many areas are now being flooded. This has damaged houses and put salt into the fresh water supplies. People may have to leave two of the mud islands, Boigu and Saibai, unless something can be done about the rising sea.

## The people
The islands' people are called the Torres Strait Islanders. They are Melanesian peoples related to the Papuans of New Guinea. The islanders have their own culture and long history. They traded with the Papuans to the north and the Australian Aboriginal people for thousands of years.

The islanders talk two different languages:
*Kala Lagaw Ya/Kalaw Kawaw Ya/Kawalgaw Ya/Kulkalgaw Ya, 
*Meriam Mir

There is also a language called Brokan (Broken), or Torres Strait Creole. This is a mix of different languages and islander words that started when the islanders started working on ships searching for pearls in the 1860's. Other animals, such as pigs, arrived in New Guinea after the sea levels rose and closed the land bridge and were not able to get to Australia.

There is evidence of people living on the Torres Strait islands for at least 2,500 years. It is likely that people were living there long before that, but rising sea levels will have covered earlier sites.

### Missionaries
The London Missionary Society arrived on Erub (Darnley Island) in 1871. The islanders still  the coming of the missionaries as "The Coming of the Light", and it is holiday every year on the islands. The Torres Strait also has its own flag. It was designed by Bernard Namok from Thursday Island. It has a background of five stripes, green for the land, blue for the sea, and black for the people. It has a big white Dari, or headress, and a five pointed star for the five main island groups. In 1995 is was officially made a flag of Australia.

### World War II
In World War II, Horn Island in Torres Strait,  north of Cape York, became Australia's most northerly air base. In 1940 two big runways were built. It was used by thousands of Allied aircraft. With eight Japanese air raids in 1942, it was the most attacked place in Queensland. Conditions on the island were hard for the soldiers, with poor food, not enough water, diseases, and attacks from the Japanese. The airport is still working as the main airport for far north Queensland.

## Books and music
Jules Verne wrote about Torres Strait in his novel, *Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea*. It was a dangerous place where the submarine "*Nautilus*" was stranded for a short time.

## References