Luis Vaez de Torres sighting Cape York, 1606, (1886). Cape York Peninsula in Queensland is the northernmost extremity of Australia. Luis Vaez de Luis Vaez de Torres, a Portuguese seaman, is known for the first recorded navigation of the strait which separates Cape York from the island of New Guinea, and which was named after him (Luis Vaez de Torres Strait). Wood engraving from 'Picturesque Atlas of Australasia, Vol I', by Andrew Garran, illustrated under the supervision of Frederic B Schell, (Picturesque Atlas Publishing Co, 1886).