Gebar is an uninhabited island in the

Torres Strait The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes ( Kalaw Lagaw Ya#Phonology 2, �zen̪ad̪ kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, ...

in the Australian state of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. The first recorded sighting by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of

Luís Vaez de Torres Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...

on 10 September 1606. It was recorded again by Bligh on 11 September 1792 as 'an island with two hills' and given the name The Brothers. Subsequently, it has been known as Brothers Hills or Two Brothers, while the anglicisation 'Gabba' is frequently seen on historical maps. The

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

of Gebar are the Gebaralgal who today reside on Yam Island, to the southeast. On 13 December 2004, their native title claim over Gebar was determined in the Federal Court of Australia. In a deposition to the court, Mr Dick Peters, a member of the claim group, said: '''I confirm that ... Gebaralgal have always enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, their rights to use, occupy and live on their land and to exclude others from it and to use and enjoy the natural resources of the land such as animal and plant life. For example, my family and I frequently visit Gebar to hunt for turtle, collect turtle eggs, fish from the beach and collect plant materials for food and other purposes'.'' The ''Newton'', a

ketch A ketch is a two- masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the ketch f ...

, foundered off Gabba Island in December 1913.Loney, Jack, ''Australian shipwrecks. Volume 4, 1901-1986.'' Portarlington, Victoria: Marine History Publications, 1987

References

Torres Strait Islands Uninhabited islands of Australia {{Queensland-geo-stub