The territory was made in 1969 by the Coral Sea Islands Act (before, the area was thought part of Queensland) and extended in 1997 to let in Elizabeth & Middleton Reefs nearly 800 km further South, already in the Tasman Sea.

The two latter reefs are so very much nearer to Lord Howe Island, New southland Wales (about 150 km) than to the southernmost island of the rest of the district, Cato Island. The islands, cays & reefs of the Great Barrier Reef are not section of the province, consisting to Queensland instead.

The outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef is the edge betwixt Queensland and the Coral Sea Islands province.

The district is a ownership of Australia, administrated from Canberra by the Australian Department of the Environment, which has control condition across the activities of visitors. Defence mechanism is the responsibility of Australia, & the province is visited on a regular basis narrated by the Royal Australian Navy.

Australia holds automatic weather posts on many of the isles & reefs, & claims a 200 nautical mile (370 km) exclusive fishing zone. In that location is no economic activity, & single a staff of 3 or four people to course the meteorological station on Willis Island (south Islet), founded in 1921.

Scattered over more than three-quarters of a million square kms of ocean, the Coral Sea Islands were announced a territory of Australia in 1969. They are uninhabited exclude for a little meteorological staff on the Willis Islets. Automated weather posts, beacons, and a lighthouse interest numbers of other islands and reefs.