Torres Strait Islanders

Torres Strait Islanders are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, a group of islands lying between the northern tip of Queensland, Australia, and Papua New Guinea, and are recognized in Australian law as a distinct Indigenous people alongside, but culturally and historically separate from, Aboriginal Australians. Traditional Torres Strait Islander society was organized around seafaring, fishing, and garden horticulture across the strait's main island groups, each with distinct customs and, historically, separate languages, chiefly Kalaw Lagaw Ya of the western islands and Meriam Mir of the eastern islands. The 1992 Mabo v Queensland High Court decision, brought by Torres Strait Islander Eddie Mabo, overturned the legal doctrine of terra nullius and established native title in Australian law, a landmark case that remains central to Torres Strait Islander identity and Australian Indigenous rights more broadly.