Coral Sea Islands 🏳

Departmental minutes later argued that Cook's 1770 proclamation of British sovereignty had made the Coral Sea Islands British possessions. This claim underpinned later Australian arguments over jurisdiction, though officials conceded some islets were not in any nation's possession.

Middleton Reef was sighted in 1788 and named after the admiral Charles Middleton. It formed part of the early European charting of the Coral Sea features later incorporated into the Australian territory.

The islands and reefs of the Coral Sea Islands Territory were first charted during the early nineteenth century, with Elizabeth Reef likely discovered in 1820. Numerous shipwrecks occurred in the region during the 1800s, underlining the hazards of the poorly mapped waters.

Between the 1870s and 1880s many of the Coral Sea islands were mined for guano. No permanent settlements were established, leaving the territory uninhabited apart from later official outposts.

Letters patent included within the boundary of the colony of New South Wales all islands in the Coral Sea west of the 154th meridian east not already part of Queensland or British New Guinea. The measure left jurisdiction over the outer islands ambiguous for decades.

A weather monitoring outpost was first established on Willis Island in 1921, giving Australia a permanent manned presence in the Coral Sea and an early-warning capability for tropical weather affecting Queensland. The islands remain uninhabited except for the small meteorological staff on the Willis Islets, while automated weather stations, beacons and a lighthouse occupy many other islands and reefs.

During the 1930s Australia became more concerned about the status of the islands due to increasing American and Japanese activity in the region. Uncertainty over whether sovereignty lay with Britain, New South Wales or Queensland, compounded by the Second World War, halted investigation for a time.

Following a 1950s review of maritime boundaries in line with evolving continental shelf definitions, cabinet resolved in 1957 to assert federal jurisdiction over the islands. Action was delayed by uncertainty over state and British Solomon Islands claims.

After discussions with state governments over proposed sea and submerged lands legislation, Bowen proposed the Commonwealth annex the islands on the basis that prior exercise of authority had already made them Commonwealth territory. This cleared the political path to the 1969 Act.

At Australia's request, Britain confirmed it made no claim over specified islands between the 154th and 158th meridians east and recognised Australian sovereignty. This resolved outstanding jurisdictional issues over the outer Coral Sea islands.

The marine park was created covering an area that included the former Lihou Reef and Coringa-Herald National Nature Reserves. The Lord Howe Island Marine Park likewise replaced earlier Commonwealth reserves including the Middleton and Elizabeth Reefs reserve.

Activists landed on Cato Island, raised the pride flag and laid a plaque, proclaiming a micronation in protest at a proposed amendment to the Marriage Act 1961 codifying a heterosexual definition of marriage. The micronation announced its dissolution in 2017 after Australia legalised same-sex marriage.

The Coral Sea Islands Act 1969 was amended to bring the two southern reefs, nearly 800 kilometres from the other islands, within the territory. They had been excluded originally on continental shelf definition grounds.

Acting on 1986 advice from the Attorney-General's Department that the reefs were territory otherwise acquired by the Commonwealth under section 122 of the constitution, the government declared them a marine national nature reserve under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975. This preceded their formal inclusion in the territory.

Two national nature reserves were created in parts of the Coral Sea Islands Territory in 1982. They marked the beginning of formal environmental protection of the territory's reefs.

The Act received royal assent on 2 September 1969 and came into force on 30 September, establishing the islands as a separate Australian external territory. It empowered the federal government to enact ordinances for the territory, with the Governor-General authorised to make them.