Coconut Island
Australia · Oceania
About
Coconut Island, Poruma Island, or Puruma in the local language, is an island in the Great North East Channel near Cumberland Passage, Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia. One of the Torres Strait Islands, Coconut Island is 130 kilometres (81 mi) north-east of Thursday Island and 106 kilometres (66 mi) south of Papua New Guinea. It is a narrow coral island approximately 1.4 kilometres (0.87 mi) long and 400 metres (0.25 mi) wide, bounded by shallow, fringing coral reefs. Administratively, Coconut Island is a town and Poruma Island is the locality within the Shire of Torres.
The ancestors of Coconut Island built their houses out of grass, coconut leaves and trees that floated down from the Fly River jungles of Papua New Guinea.
The islands have sea turtle hatcheries, bird life, giant clam ground, huge palms, World War II relics and massive sand flats.
In the 2021 census, Poruma Island had a population of 164 people.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.