[7] Five communities of Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal Australians live on the coast of mainland Queensland, mainly at Bamaga, Seisia, Injinoo, Umagico and New Mapoon in the Northern Peninsula area of Cape York.

They have links with the people of Papua New Guinea, several islands being much closer to PNG than Australia, as well as the northern tip of Cape York on the Australian continent.

[16] Sources are generally agreed that there are five distinct geographical and/or cultural divisions, but descriptions and naming of the groups differ widely.

The people have long been agriculturalists (evidenced, for example, by tobacco plantations on Aureed Island[18]) as well as engaging in hunting and gathering.

Dugong, turtles, crayfish, crabs, shellfish, reef fish and wild fruits and vegetables were traditionally hunted and collected and remain an important part of their subsistence lifestyle.

[19] The islands have long history of trade and interactions with explorers from other parts of the globe, both east and west, which has influenced their lifestyle and culture.

[20] The Indigenous people of the Torres Strait have a distinct culture which has slight variants on the different islands where they live.

After the "Coming of Light" (see below), artefacts previously important to their ceremonies lost their relevance, instead replaced by crucifixes and other symbols of Christianity.

[21] During the first half of the 20th century, Torres Strait Islander culture was largely restricted to dance and song, weaving and producing a few items for particular festive occasions.

[22] In the 1960s and 1970s, researchers trying to salvage what was left of traditional knowledge from surviving elders influenced the revival of interest in the old ways of life.

[24] Mythology and culture, deeply influenced by the ocean and the natural life around the islands, have always informed traditional artforms.

Featured strongly are turtles, fish, dugongs, sharks, seabirds and saltwater crocodiles, which are considered totemic beings.

[25][26][27] Elaborate headdresses or dhari (also spelt dari[28]), as featured on the Torres Strait Islander flag, are created for the purposes of ceremonial dances.

The Islands have a long tradition of woodcarving, creating masks and drums, and carving decorative features on these and other items for ceremonial use.

[30][31] While some of these stories had been written down by Haddon after his 1898 expedition to the Torres Strait,[32] many had subsequently fallen out of use or been forgotten.In the 1990s a group of younger artists, including the award-winning Dennis Nona (b.1973), started translating these skills into the more portable forms of printmaking, linocut and etching, as well as larger scale bronze sculptures.

Other outstanding artists include Billy Missi (1970–2012), known for his decorated black and white linocuts of the local vegetation and eco-systems, and Alick Tipoti (b.1975).

These and other Torres Strait artists have greatly expanded the forms of Indigenous art within Australia, bringing Melanesian carving skills as well as new stories and subject matter.

[36] Artist Ken Thaiday Snr is renowned for his elaborately sculptured dari, often with moving parts and incorporating the hammerhead shark, a powerful totem.

Sporting events bring together people from across the different islands and help to connect the Torres Strait with mainland Australia and Papua New Guinea.

[42] One of the stories passed down in oral history tells of four brothers (bala) named Malo, Sagai, Kulka and Siu, who paddled their way up to the central and eastern islands from Cape York (Kay Daol Dai, meaning "big land"), and each established his own tribal following.

[43] The cult of Kulka was in evidence on Aureed Island with the finding of a "skull house" by the rescuers of survivors two years after the wreck of Charles Eaton, in 1836.

[55][56] They sailed to the Torres Strait after the French Government had demanded the removal of the missionaries from the Loyalty Islands and New Caledonia in 1869.

The people of the Torres Strait Islands adopted the Christian rituals and ceremonies and continued to uphold their connection to the land, sea and sky, practising their traditional customs, and cultural identity referred to as Ailan Kastom.

)[60] A traditional cultural practice, known as kupai omasker, allows adoption of a child by a relative or community member for a range of reasons.