Coral Sea Islands

	Coral Sea Islands Territory
	Coral Sea Islands
flag
Official language	English
Form of government	Australian outskirts
Head of state , also head of government	Elizabeth II
surface	780,000 km²
population	3 to 4 (ward staff)
Internet TLD	no own

The Coral Sea Islands are a group of small, tropical islands and reefs in the Coral Sea , northeast of Australia . They are spread over a sea area of around 780,000 square kilometers and have a land area of 3 km². There is no port on any of the islands, there are only anchorages off the coast . With an area of 37 hectares, South East Cay in the Magdelaine Cays group is the largest of these islands. The only inhabited island is Willis Island , on it is the manned weather station Willis Islandwith a crew of four people. The islands also have important nesting sites for birds and turtles , but the islands' natural resources are negligible.

politics

The archipelago belongs to Australia as territory and is administered from Canberra by the Australian Department of the Environment , which monitors the activities of visitors. The territory was created in 1969 (previously the islands were considered part of Queensland ) and expanded in 1997 to include the reefs or atolls Middleton and Elizabeth Reef further south , which are often included in the Tasman Sea . Defense is subject to Australia and the Royal Australian Navy periodically controls the islands. The abbreviation for the territory is CR .