William Bligh saw it on 11 September 1792 and called it exactly what it looked like: an island with two hills. He named it The Brothers. The Spanish had sailed past 186 years earlier, during Luis Vaez de Torres's 1606 transit of the strait that would eventually bear his name. Charts over the following centuries would label it Brothers Hills, Two Brothers, Gabba. Today it is Gebar, a basaltic island rising above the coral reefs of the central Torres Strait, roughly 20 kilometres northwest of Yam Island. Nobody lives there. But that does not mean it is unclaimed or forgotten.
Gebar is volcanic in origin, a basalt formation jutting above surrounding reefs in waters that experience a pronounced tropical wet season from December through March. Annual rainfall in the broader region ranges between 1,000 and 3,000 millimetres, and cyclones occasionally sweep through from November to May. The twin hills that gave Bligh his descriptive name remain the island's defining feature, visible from considerable distance across the flat waters of the strait. Unlike the low-lying coral cays that characterize much of the central Torres Strait, Gebar's volcanic rock gives it elevation and permanence, a landmark in a seascape where many islands barely rise above the tide.
The waters around Gebar belong to one of the most ecologically significant marine environments on Earth. Seagrass beds stretch across the Torres Strait floor, feeding populations of green, hawksbill, and flatback turtles alongside dugongs whose grazing patterns researchers track by satellite. James Cook University's TropWATER program monitors seagrass health here in collaboration with regional authorities, studying how these underwater meadows respond to seasonal cycles and the chronic pressure of megaherbivore grazing. Above the waterline, over 50 bird species depend on the Torres Strait islands for feeding and nesting. Among them are migratory visitors like the endangered eastern curlew and curlew sandpiper, birds that fly thousands of kilometres only to depend on these scattered outcrops of land.
The traditional owners of Gebar are the Gebaralgal people, based on nearby Yam Island. Their connection to Gebar predates European contact by centuries, maintained through regular visits for turtle hunting, egg collecting, fishing, and gathering plant materials. On 13 December 2004, the Federal Court of Australia made a consent determination recognizing native title over the island. In evidence before the court, elder Dick Peters described continuing visits to Gebar for traditional purposes, a living relationship rather than a historical one. Broader archaeological research across the Torres Strait documents maritime cultural traditions spanning over 7,000 years, a heritage of sustained resource use, sea-based mobility, and spiritual landscapes that encompass islands like Gebar even when they carry no permanent settlement.
On the last day of 1913, the 15-ton ketch Newton was reported lost off Gabba Island, one more vessel claimed by the reefs and currents that make the Torres Strait hazardous for navigation. The island's story has always been intertwined with the sea, and the sea is now changing. Sea levels in the Torres Strait are rising at approximately three times the global average, and climate-driven shifts in weather patterns, ocean temperature, and ecosystem health are already reshaping the region. Gebar itself is uninhabited, but it exists within an interconnected web of islands, reefs, and communities where rising waters and degrading ecosystems threaten both natural and cultural heritage. The twin hills will likely endure longer than the low-lying cays, but the marine environment that gives Gebar its ecological and cultural value is under pressure that grows with each passing year.
Gebar Island (9.77S, 142.64E) rises as a distinctive twin-hilled basaltic formation above the reefs of the central Torres Strait, approximately 20 km northwest of Yam Island. The island's volcanic profile makes it easily identifiable from altitude against the flat coral cays surrounding it. Horn Island Airport (YHID) is the nearest significant airfield. Approach from the east to see Gebar in relation to Yam Island and the broader Torres Strait island chain.