are the torres strait islands part of australia
Torres Strait Islanders Torres Strait Islanders (/ˈtɒrɪs-/[1] ) are the indigenous people of the Torres Strait Islands, part of Queensland, Australia. They are distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, and are generally referred to separately. There are also two Torres Strait Islander communities on the nearby coast of the mainland at Bamaga and Seisia.
Torres Strait Islands Lieutenant James Cook first claimed British sovereignty over the eastern part of Australia at Possession Island in 1770. The London Missionary Society mission led by Rev. Samuel Macfarlane arrived on Erub (Darnley Island) on 1 July 1871. The Islanders refer to this as "The Coming of the Light", and all Island communities celebrate the occasion annually on 1 July.[3] In 1879 Queensland annexed the Torres Strait Islands. They thus became part of the British colony of Queensland and (after 1901) of the Australian state of Queensland - although some of them lie just off the coast of New Guinea.
Strait Straits are the converse of isthmuses. That is, while a strait lies between two land masses and connects two larger bodies of water, an isthmus lies between two bodies of water and connects two larger land masses.
Government of Australia The Government of the Commonwealth of Australia (also referred to as the Australian Government, the Commonwealth Government, the Federal Government, and formally Her Majesty's Government) is the government of the Commonwealth of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy.