Pedro Fernandes de Queiros was born in Portugal. He became a subject of the King of Spain when the two countries were dynastically united in 1580.
After returning from his first expedition, which reached till Santa Cruz, he petitioned the king to send him on another expedition into the Pacific. In March 1603, Queiros was authorized to undertake another expedition to extend the Spanish dominions.
While on this voyage, he cited an island that he called ‘Australia del Espiritu Santo’. He was hopeful that finally, he had found the much anticipated continent Terra Australis, but soon, he registered that there was no such continent.
Queiros’ fleet ran out of supplies, and had to return. But on the way back, his ships were hit by a storm, and got separated from each other. The wind forced him to sail south of New Guinea. This was how he accidentally discovered the Straits of Torres, located between Cape York in Australia and the island of New Guinea. Though he did not ‘discover’ Australia, his findings proved that the great southern continent, if it existed was away from New Guinea.