Coral Sea Islands

Common card · No. 211878

The Coral Sea Islands Territory is an external territory of Australia covering an area of 780,000 km2 (301,160 sq mi) in the Coral Sea, north-east of Queensland. The territory includes a number of small islands and reefs, with a total land area of about 7 km2 (3 sq mi). Apart from a small staff of Bureau of Meteorology employees at a weather station on Willis Island, the territory is uninhabited. The islands and reefs of the Coral Sea were charted in the early 1800s, and some were briefly mined for guano between the 1870s and 1880s. A weather monitoring station was established on Willis Island in 1921. In 1969 the Australian parliament passed legislation proclaiming the Coral Sea Islands Territory as an external territory, and in 1997 the legislation was amended to include Elizabeth Reef and Middleton Reef within the territory. Today, the territory is covered by the Lord Howe Island Marine Park and Coral Sea Marine Park. The islands are an important breeding site for turtles and seabirds...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Unknown (Vector graphics image by Ian Fieggen) (only minor code changes by uploader.), Public domain