įurther information: History of Indigenous Australians the Shire of Torres, which governs several islands as well as portions of Cape York Peninsula, is effectively colocated with the Northern Peninsula Area Region, which covers a number of Deed of Grant in Trust (DOGIT) areas on the peninsula, and the Torres Strait Island Region and administers those sections of its area which are not autonomous.the Northern Peninsula Area Region, administered from Bamaga, on the northern tip of Cape York and.the Torres Strait Island Region, covering a large proportion of the Island.įurther to the TSRA, there are several Queensland LGAs which administer areas occupied by Torres Strait Islander communities: Today, the Torres Strait Regional Authority, an Australian government body established in 1994 and consisting of 20 elected representatives, oversees the islands, with its primary function being to strengthen the economic, social and cultural development of the peoples of the Torres Strait area. Until the late 20th century, Torres Strait Islanders had been administered by a system of elected councils, a system based partly on traditional pre-Christian local government and partly on the introduced mission management system.
Administration įurther information: Torres Strait Islands § Administration įive communities of Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal Australians live on the coast of mainland Queensland, mainly at Bamaga, Seisia, Injinoo, Umagico and New Mapoon in the Northern Peninsula area of Cape York. People identifying themselves as of Torres Strait Islander descent in the whole of Australia in the 2016 census numbered 32,345, while those with both Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal ancestry numbered a further 26,767 (compared with 29,515 and 17,811 respectively in 2006).
In 2006 the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) had reported 6,800 Torres Strait Islanders living in the Torres Strait area. (64% of the population identified as Torres Strait Islander 8.3% as Aboriginal Australian 6.5% as Papua New Guinean 3.6% as other Australian and 2.6% as "Maritime South-East Asian", etc.). The 2016 Australian census counted 4,514 people living on the islands, of whom 91.8% were Torres Strait Islander or Aboriginal Australian people. Today the society is multicultural, having attracted Asian and Pacific Island traders to the beche-de-mer, mother-of-pearl and trochus-shell industries over the years. The islands are culturally unique, with much to distinguish them from neighbouring Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and the Pacific Islands. Of the 133 islands, only 38 are inhabited. In June 1875 a measles epidemic killed about 25% of the population, with some islands suffering losses of up to 80% of their people, as the islanders had no natural immunity to European diseases. Torres Strait Islanders as a percentage of the population in Australia, 2011 census