The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Coral Sea Islands
external territory of Australia, comprising scattered small islands and reefs spread over c.400,000 sq mi (1,035,995 sq km) of the South Pacific Ocean, E of the Great Barrier Reef, off NE Australia. The islands, uninhabited except for a meteorological station on the Willis Islets, became a territory in 1969.