The today's flag of the Torres Strait Islanders was first shown in public on 29th of May in 1992 on the occasion of the occupation of Murray Island by natives and was officially introduced on 14th of July in 1995 with the Flag Act 1953, and got – along with the Australian Aboriginal flag – an official status. The flag was created by Bernard Namok and features five stripes of green, black, blue, black and green, with the black stripes being narrow dividing stripes. A white emblem with a five-pointed white star appears in the center of the blue stripe. The colour green represents the islands, blue stands for the ocean, white stands for peace and black for the population. The white emblem is the headgear (dhari) of a native dancer and represents the people. The star is a symbol of navigation and its five points stand for the five regions of the archipelago. The colours are fixed, last time as blue = Pantone 280 c and green = Pantone 342 c.
1606 · discovery of the islands by the Dutch seafarer Willem Janszoon
1606 · the Spanish seafarer Luiz Vaéz de Torres visits the islands and discovers the passage between New Guinea and Australia (Torres Strait), that discovery becomes a by Spain hold secret for over 150 years
1770 · the British seafarer James Cook visits the islands and appropriates them for
United Kingdom
26th of June in 1879 · the Torres Strait Islands become a part of the British colony of Queensland
1901 · Queensland becomes a feeral state of Australia
29th of May in 1992 · natives appropriate Murray Island as a first step in the directon of autonomy for the whole archipelago, the appropriation becomes recognized by the Australian government
1st of July in 1994 · the Torres Strait Islands get autonomy from Queensland
The Torres Strait Islands are named after the water-strait between the Australian continent and New Guinea Island in which they placed (Torres Strait). It is named after the Spanish seafarer Luiz Vaéz de Torres, which sailed as first though this strait in the year 1606.
