Torres Strait Islander flag is the flag of the Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia. The Torres Strait Islander peoples are the descendants of the first people to live in the Torres Strait archipelago (group of islands). 
The wide horizontal blue panel across the center of the flag represents the sea, and the green panels above and below it represent the land. The thin black lines between the panels represent the Torres Strait Islander people. At the flag’s center is a white Dhari, a traditional Torres Strait Islander headdress, and a five-pointed star symbolizing peace. For the seafaring people of the islands, the star is also a symbol for navigating the sea. The star’s five points stand for the five island groups of the Torres Strait Islands, located off the northern coast of the Australian mainland.
Bernard Namok, Sr., was the flag’s designer. Namok was a Torres Strait Islander artist from Thursday Island. His flag design won a competition organized by the Island Coordinating Council. It was unveiled during the Torres Strait Islands Cultural Festival in May 1992. The following month, the design was adopted as the flag of the Torres Strait Islander peoples by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC). The commission was an elected government body that represented the interests of Australia’s Indigenous peoples at that time. The Australian government officially recognized the Torres Strait Islander flag as a flag of Australia in 1995.
