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The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands which lie in Torres Strait, the waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea.They are part of Queensland, a constituent State of the Australia, with a special status fitting the native (Melanesian) land rights, administered by the Torres Strait Regional Authority.

History It was at Possession Island, Queensland that Captain James Cook first claimed British sovereignty over the eastern part of Australia in 1770. The (Anglican) London Missionary Society led by Rev. Samuel Macfarlane arrived on Darnley Island, Torres Strait on 1 July 1871. This is referred to by the Islanders as "The Coming of the Light" and is celebrated annually by all Island communities on 1 July. The Torres Strait Islands were annexed in 1879 by Queensland. They thus later became part of the British colony of Queensland, although some of them lie just off the coast of New Guinea.

In 1888-1889 the Torres Strait Islands were visited by the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition.

In 1904, the Torres Strait Islanders become subject to the Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act. 1897 (QLD)

The proximity to Papua New Guinea became an issue when it was moving towards independence from Australia, which it gained in 1975. The Torres Strait Islanders insisted that they were Australians, but the Papua New Guinea government objected to complete Australian control over the waters of the strait.

Eventually an agreement was struck whereby the islands and their inhabitants remain Australian, but the maritime frontier between Australia and Papua New Guinea runs through the centre of the strait. In practice the two countries co-operate closely in the management of the strait's resources.

In 1982, Eddie Mabo and four other Torres Strait Islanders from Mer (Murray Island) started legal proceedings to establish their traditional land ownership. Because Mabo was the first-named plaintiff, it became known as the Mabo. In 1992, after ten years of hearings before the Queensland Supreme Court and the High Court of Australia, the latter court found that Mer people had owned their land prior to annexation by Queensland.

This ruling overturned the century-old legal doctrine of terra nullius ("no-one's land"), which held that native title over Crown land in Australia had been extinguished at the time of annexation. The ruling was thus of far-reaching significance for the land claims of both Torres Strait Islanders and Australian Aborigines.

On 1 July 1994 the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) was created.Chairmen of the Torres Strait Islands Regional Authority:

Geography The islands are distributed across an area of some 48 000 square kilometre. The distance across the Strait from Cape York to New Guinea is approximately 150 kilometre at the narrowest point; the islands lie scattered in between, extending some 200-300 km from furthest east to furthest west.

The Torres Strait itself was formerly a land bridge which connected the present-day Australian continent with New Guinea (in a single landmass called Sahul or Australia-New Guinea). This land bridge was most recently submerged by rising sea levels at the termination of the last ice age glaciation (approximately 12,000 years ago), forming the Strait which now connects the Arafura Sea and Coral Sea seas. Many of the western Torres Strait Islands are actually the remaining peaks of this land bridge which were not submerged when the ocean levels rose.

The islands and their surrounding waters and reefs provide a highly diverse set of land and marine ecosystems, with niches for many rare or unique species. Marine animals of the islands include dugongs (an endangered species of Sirenia mostly found in New Guinean waters), as well as Green Sea Turtle, Hawksbill turtle and Flatback Turtle Sea turtles.

The Torres Strait Islands may be grouped into five distinct clusters, which exhibit differences of geology and formation as well as location. The Torres Strait is home to Birds of Boigu, Saibai and Dauan Islands (Torres Strait), including the Pied Imperial-pigeon, which is seen as the iconic national emblem to the islanders.

Top Western islands The islands in this cluster lie very close to the southwestern coastline of New Guinea (the closest is less than 4 kilometre offshore). Saibai Island (one of the largest of the Torres Strait Islands) and Boigu Island are low-lying islands which were formed by deposition of alluvium and mud from New Guinean rivers into the Strait accumulating on decayed coral platforms. Vegetation on these islands mainly consists of mangrove swamps, and they are prone to flooding.

The other main island in this group, Dauan Island, Queensland (Mt Cornwallis), is a smaller island with steep hills, composed largely of granite. This island actually represents the northernmost extent of the Great Dividing Range, the extensive series of mountain ranges which runs along almost the entire eastern coastline of Australia. This peak became an island as the ocean levels rose at the end of the last ice age.

See also: Birds of Boigu, Saibai and Dauan Islands (Torres Strait)

Near Western islands The islands in this cluster lie south of the Strait's midway point, and are also largely high granite hills with mounds of basaltic outcrops, formed from old peaks of the now submerged land bridge. Moa Island, Torres Strait (Banks Island) is the second-largest in the Torres Strait, and Badu Island, Torres Strait (Mulgrave Island) is slightly smaller and fringed with extensive mangrove swamps. Other smaller islands include Mabuiag Island, Pulu and further to the east Naghir (correct form Nagi) (Mt. Ernest). Culturally this was the most complex part of Torres Strait, containing three of the four groupings/dialects of the Western-central Islanders. Nagi was/is culturally/linguistically a Central Island (Kulkalaig territory), Moa was/is a Kawalaig (Kaurareg) island, with two groups, the Italaig of the south, and the Muwalaig of the north. The Muwalgal and Italgal were the same people as those of the Inner Islands. Badu and Mabuiag were/are the Maluigal Deep Sea People.

Inner islands These islands, also known as the Thursday Island group, lie closest to Cape York Peninsula, and their topography and geological history is very similar. Prince of Wales Island, Torres Strait is the largest of the Strait's islands, and forms the centre of this closely grouped cluster. The much smaller Waiben Thursday Island is the region's administrative centre and most heavily populated. Another small island is Dumaralug Island, Queensland which is found a few hundred meters south of Muralag. Several of these islands have permanent freshwater springs, and some were also mined for gold in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Because of their proximity to the Australian mainland, they have also been centres of pearl hunting and fishing industries. Nurupai Horn Island, Queensland holds the region's airport, and as a result is something of an entrepôt with inhabitants drawn from many other communities. Hammong Island (Hammond Island) is the other permanently settled island of this group; Tuined (Possession Island) is noted for James Cook's landing there in 1770. Moa in the Near Western group is culturally and linguistically speaking part of this group.

Central islands This cluster is more widely distributed in the middle of Torres Strait, consisting of many small sandy cays surrounded by coral reefs, similar to those found in the nearby Great Barrier Reef. The more northerly islands in this group however, such as Gebar (Two Brothers) and Iama Island, are high basaltic outcrops, not cays. Culturally-speaking, Nagi of the Near-Western group is also part of this group, and also has high basaltic outcropping. The low-lying inhabited coral cays, such as Poruma Island, Warraber IslandWarraber (Sue Island) and Masig Island are mostly less than 2-3 km long, and no wider than 800 metre. Several have had problems with saltwater intrusion.

Eastern islands The islands of this group (principally Murray Island, Dauar and Waier, with Darnley Island and Stephen Island further north) are formed differently from the rest. They are volcano in origin, the peaks of volcanoes which were formerly active in Pleistocene times. Consequently their hillsides have rich and fertile red volcanic soils, and are thickly vegetated. The easternmost of these are less than 20 km from the northern extension of the Great Barrier Reef.

Administration An Australian Commonwealth statutory authority called the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) is responsible for governance of the islands. The TSRA has an elected board comprising 20 representatives from the Torres Strait Islander and Australian Aborigines communities resident in the Torres Strait region. There is one representative per established local community. These board members are elected under the Queensland Community Services (Torres Strait) Act 1984 and Division 5 of the ATSIC Act 1989. The TSRA itself falls under the portfolio responsibilities of the Government of Australia Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (Australia) (previously under the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (Australia)). The administrative centre of the islands is Thursday Island. The Queensland stautory authority the Island Coordinating Council (ICC), represents the local communities at the state level.

At the local level there are 18 authorities, the Torres Shire Council which governs several islands and portions of Cape York Peninsula and operates as a Queensland Local Government Areas in Australia. There are 17 Torres Strait Island Councils which are community governments, these areas have been relinquished by the Government of Queensland to specific Islander and Aboriginal Councils under the provisions of the Community Services (Torres Strait) Act 1984 and the Community Services (Aboriginal) Act 1984.







Demographics Torres Strait Islanders, the indigenous peoples of the islands, are Melanesians, culturally most akin to the coastal peoples of Papua New Guinea. Thus they are regarded as being distinct from other indigenous Australians peoples of Australia, and are generally referred to separately. There are also two Torres Strait Islander communities on the nearby coast of the mainland, Bamaga, Queensland and Seisia, Queensland.

According to the 2001 Australian census Australian Bureau of Statistics, the population of the Torres Strait Islands was 8,089 (up from an estimated 6,700 in 2000), of whom 6,214 were either of Torres Strait Islanders or Aboriginal origin.

There are two indigenous languages spoken on the islands: the Western-Central Torres Strait Language (called by various names, including Kala Lagaw Ya and Kala Kawaw Ya) and the Eastern Torres Language Meriam Mir. One language, Torres Strait Creole, or Brokan, is used throughout Torres Strait, in neighbouring Papua as far as the West papuan border area, and Cape York, as well as in many Island xcommunities in Mainland Australia. This is a creole English similar to the closely related Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea.

See also

References and external links





The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands which lie in Torres Strait, the waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea.They are part of Queensland, a constituent State of the Australia, with a special status fitting the native (Melanesian) land rights, administered by the Torres Strait Regional Authority.

History It was at Possession Island, Queensland that Captain James Cook first claimed British sovereignty over the eastern part of Australia in 1770. The (Anglican) London Missionary Society led by Rev. Samuel Macfarlane arrived on Darnley Island, Torres Strait on 1 July 1871. This is referred to by the Islanders as "The Coming of the Light" and is celebrated annually by all Island communities on 1 July. The Torres Strait Islands were annexed in 1879 by Queensland. They thus later became part of the British colony of Queensland, although some of them lie just off the coast of New Guinea.

In 1888-1889 the Torres Strait Islands were visited by the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition.

In 1904, the Torres Strait Islanders become subject to the Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act. 1897 (QLD)

The proximity to Papua New Guinea became an issue when it was moving towards independence from Australia, which it gained in 1975. The Torres Strait Islanders insisted that they were Australians, but the Papua New Guinea government objected to complete Australian control over the waters of the strait.

Eventually an agreement was struck whereby the islands and their inhabitants remain Australian, but the maritime frontier between Australia and Papua New Guinea runs through the centre of the strait. In practice the two countries co-operate closely in the management of the strait's resources.

In 1982, Eddie Mabo and four other Torres Strait Islanders from Mer (Murray Island) started legal proceedings to establish their traditional land ownership. Because Mabo was the first-named plaintiff, it became known as the Mabo. In 1992, after ten years of hearings before the Queensland Supreme Court and the High Court of Australia, the latter court found that Mer people had owned their land prior to annexation by Queensland.

This ruling overturned the century-old legal doctrine of terra nullius ("no-one's land"), which held that native title over Crown land in Australia had been extinguished at the time of annexation. The ruling was thus of far-reaching significance for the land claims of both Torres Strait Islanders and Australian Aborigines.

On 1 July 1994 the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) was created.Chairmen of the Torres Strait Islands Regional Authority:

Geography The islands are distributed across an area of some 48 000 square kilometre. The distance across the Strait from Cape York to New Guinea is approximately 150 kilometre at the narrowest point; the islands lie scattered in between, extending some 200-300 km from furthest east to furthest west.

The Torres Strait itself was formerly a land bridge which connected the present-day Australian continent with New Guinea (in a single landmass called Sahul or Australia-New Guinea). This land bridge was most recently submerged by rising sea levels at the termination of the last ice age glaciation (approximately 12,000 years ago), forming the Strait which now connects the Arafura Sea and Coral Sea seas. Many of the western Torres Strait Islands are actually the remaining peaks of this land bridge which were not submerged when the ocean levels rose.

The islands and their surrounding waters and reefs provide a highly diverse set of land and marine ecosystems, with niches for many rare or unique species. Marine animals of the islands include dugongs (an endangered species of Sirenia mostly found in New Guinean waters), as well as Green Sea Turtle, Hawksbill turtle and Flatback Turtle Sea turtles.

The Torres Strait Islands may be grouped into five distinct clusters, which exhibit differences of geology and formation as well as location. The Torres Strait is home to Birds of Boigu, Saibai and Dauan Islands (Torres Strait), including the Pied Imperial-pigeon, which is seen as the iconic national emblem to the islanders.

Top Western islands The islands in this cluster lie very close to the southwestern coastline of New Guinea (the closest is less than 4 kilometre offshore). Saibai Island (one of the largest of the Torres Strait Islands) and Boigu Island are low-lying islands which were formed by deposition of alluvium and mud from New Guinean rivers into the Strait accumulating on decayed coral platforms. Vegetation on these islands mainly consists of mangrove swamps, and they are prone to flooding.

The other main island in this group, Dauan Island, Queensland (Mt Cornwallis), is a smaller island with steep hills, composed largely of granite. This island actually represents the northernmost extent of the Great Dividing Range, the extensive series of mountain ranges which runs along almost the entire eastern coastline of Australia. This peak became an island as the ocean levels rose at the end of the last ice age.

See also: Birds of Boigu, Saibai and Dauan Islands (Torres Strait)

Near Western islands The islands in this cluster lie south of the Strait's midway point, and are also largely high granite hills with mounds of basaltic outcrops, formed from old peaks of the now submerged land bridge. Moa Island, Torres Strait (Banks Island) is the second-largest in the Torres Strait, and Badu Island, Torres Strait (Mulgrave Island) is slightly smaller and fringed with extensive mangrove swamps. Other smaller islands include Mabuiag Island, Pulu and further to the east Naghir (correct form Nagi) (Mt. Ernest). Culturally this was the most complex part of Torres Strait, containing three of the four groupings/dialects of the Western-central Islanders. Nagi was/is culturally/linguistically a Central Island (Kulkalaig territory), Moa was/is a Kawalaig (Kaurareg) island, with two groups, the Italaig of the south, and the Muwalaig of the north. The Muwalgal and Italgal were the same people as those of the Inner Islands. Badu and Mabuiag were/are the Maluigal Deep Sea People.

Inner islands These islands, also known as the Thursday Island group, lie closest to Cape York Peninsula, and their topography and geological history is very similar. Prince of Wales Island, Torres Strait is the largest of the Strait's islands, and forms the centre of this closely grouped cluster. The much smaller Waiben Thursday Island is the region's administrative centre and most heavily populated. Another small island is Dumaralug Island, Queensland which is found a few hundred meters south of Muralag. Several of these islands have permanent freshwater springs, and some were also mined for gold in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Because of their proximity to the Australian mainland, they have also been centres of pearl hunting and fishing industries. Nurupai Horn Island, Queensland holds the region's airport, and as a result is something of an entrepôt with inhabitants drawn from many other communities. Hammong Island (Hammond Island) is the other permanently settled island of this group; Tuined (Possession Island) is noted for James Cook's landing there in 1770. Moa in the Near Western group is culturally and linguistically speaking part of this group.

Central islands This cluster is more widely distributed in the middle of Torres Strait, consisting of many small sandy cays surrounded by coral reefs, similar to those found in the nearby Great Barrier Reef. The more northerly islands in this group however, such as Gebar (Two Brothers) and Iama Island, are high basaltic outcrops, not cays. Culturally-speaking, Nagi of the Near-Western group is also part of this group, and also has high basaltic outcropping. The low-lying inhabited coral cays, such as Poruma Island, Warraber IslandWarraber (Sue Island) and Masig Island are mostly less than 2-3 km long, and no wider than 800 metre. Several have had problems with saltwater intrusion.

Eastern islands The islands of this group (principally Murray Island, Dauar and Waier, with Darnley Island and Stephen Island further north) are formed differently from the rest. They are volcano in origin, the peaks of volcanoes which were formerly active in Pleistocene times. Consequently their hillsides have rich and fertile red volcanic soils, and are thickly vegetated. The easternmost of these are less than 20 km from the northern extension of the Great Barrier Reef.

Administration An Australian Commonwealth statutory authority called the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) is responsible for governance of the islands. The TSRA has an elected board comprising 20 representatives from the Torres Strait Islander and Australian Aborigines communities resident in the Torres Strait region. There is one representative per established local community. These board members are elected under the Queensland Community Services (Torres Strait) Act 1984 and Division 5 of the ATSIC Act 1989. The TSRA itself falls under the portfolio responsibilities of the Government of Australia Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (Australia) (previously under the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (Australia)). The administrative centre of the islands is Thursday Island. The Queensland stautory authority the Island Coordinating Council (ICC), represents the local communities at the state level.

At the local level there are 18 authorities, the Torres Shire Council which governs several islands and portions of Cape York Peninsula and operates as a Queensland Local Government Areas in Australia. There are 17 Torres Strait Island Councils which are community governments, these areas have been relinquished by the Government of Queensland to specific Islander and Aboriginal Councils under the provisions of the Community Services (Torres Strait) Act 1984 and the Community Services (Aboriginal) Act 1984.







Demographics Torres Strait Islanders, the indigenous peoples of the islands, are Melanesians, culturally most akin to the coastal peoples of Papua New Guinea. Thus they are regarded as being distinct from other indigenous Australians peoples of Australia, and are generally referred to separately. There are also two Torres Strait Islander communities on the nearby coast of the mainland, Bamaga, Queensland and Seisia, Queensland.

According to the 2001 Australian census Australian Bureau of Statistics, the population of the Torres Strait Islands was 8,089 (up from an estimated 6,700 in 2000), of whom 6,214 were either of Torres Strait Islanders or Aboriginal origin.

There are two indigenous languages spoken on the islands: the Western-Central Torres Strait Language (called by various names, including Kala Lagaw Ya and Kala Kawaw Ya) and the Eastern Torres Language Meriam Mir. One language, Torres Strait Creole, or Brokan, is used throughout Torres Strait, in neighbouring Papua as far as the West papuan border area, and Cape York, as well as in many Island xcommunities in Mainland Australia. This is a creole English similar to the closely related Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea.

See also

References and external links







Torres Strait Islands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands which lie in Torres Strait, the waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and ...

Torres Strait
Gateway Torres Strait Island ... WELCOME TO HORN ISLAND, TORRES STRAIT. Welcome to Horn Island in Torres Strait.

Torres Strait
Gateway Torres Strait Island ... Forgotten Isle Tour of Horn Island. Horn Island is waiting for you to discover her.

Torres Strait Islands definition of Torres Strait Islands in the Free ...
Torres Strait Islands. Island group, in the Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea. The inhabitants are a mixture of Polynesians, Melanesians, and Aboriginals.

Amazon.co.uk: Aboriginal Australia and the Torres Strait Islands ...
Amazon.co.uk: Aboriginal Australia and the Torres Strait Islands (Lonely Planet Regional Guides): Sarina Singh: Books

www.altena.euweb.nl

Torres Strait Island languages - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There are two languages indigenous to Torres Strait Islanders. The language of the western and central islands of Torres Strait is related to languages of the Australian mainland ...

Australia : Torres Strait Islanders
Profile. The Melanesian Torres Strait Islanders have lived in the islands north of Queensland for at least 10,000 years and are closely related to the nearby Papuan people of Papua ...

Torres Strait Islands on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Torres Strait Islands. View planeta's map. Taken in a place with no name (See more photos or videos here)

Charting the Pacific - Places
Pacific Regional statistical data, country profiles, and an overview of the key issues in the Island nations of the South Pacific

 

Torres Strait Islands



 
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