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Torres Strait
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torres strait

Torres Strait

strait, Pacific Ocean
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News •

Torres Strait leaders lost their landmark case. How can governments be held to account on climate? • July 17, 2025, 2:12 AM ET (The Guardian)
Torres Strait community leaders in ‘deepest pain imaginable’ as federal court dismisses landmark climate case • July 15, 2025, 2:12 AM ET (The Guardian)
‘We don’t want to be climate refugees’: Torres Strait uncles fear for their islands and their people • July 13, 2025, 7:13 AM ET (The Guardian)

Torres Strait, passage between the Coral Sea, on the east, and the Arafura Sea, in the western Pacific Ocean. To the north lies New Guinea and to the south Cape York Peninsula (Queensland, Australia). It is about 80 mi (130 km) wide and has many reefs and shoals dangerous to navigation, and its larger islands are inhabited. Discovered (1606) by the Spanish mariner Luis Vaez de Torres, its existence was kept secret until 1764. The second European to sail the strait (1774) was Capt. James Cook. The Australia–Papua New Guinea boundary is about 3 mi from the New Guinea shore.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.