Christmas Island
Australian Indian Ocean Territory External territory of Australia
Territory of Christmas Island 圣诞岛领地 / 聖誕島領地 (Chinese) Wilayah Pulau Krismas (Malay)
Flying Fish Cove, the territory's capital
Flag
Location of Christmas Island (red circle) and the location of Australia mainland (continent in red)
Sovereign state	Australia
British annexation	6 June 1888
Transferred from Singapore to Australia	1 October 1958
Named for	Christmas Day when it was found
Capital and largest city	Flying Fish Cove ("The Settlement") 10°25′18″S 105°40′41″E / 10.42167°S 105.67806°E / -10.42167; 105.67806
Official languages	None[a]
Spoken languages	English Malay Mandarin Cantonese Hokkien
Ethnic groups	21.2% Chinese 18% Malay 12.7% Australian 8% English 2.5% Irish 40.8% other (including Straits Indians and Eurasians)
Demonym(s)	Christmas Islander
Government	Directly administered dependency
• Monarch	Charles III
• Governor-General	David Hurley
• Administrator	Natasha Griggs
• Shire President	Gordon Thompson
Parliament of Australia
• Senate	represented by Northern Territory senators
• House of Representatives	included in the Division of Lingiari
Area
• Total	135 km2 (52 sq mi)
• Water (%)	0
Highest elevation	361 m (1,184 ft)
Population
• 2021 census	1,692[1] (not ranked)
• Density	10.39/km2 (26.9/sq mi) (not ranked)
GDP (nominal)	2010 estimate
• Total	US$52,177,900[2]
Currency	Australian dollar (AU$) (AUD)
Time zone	UTC+07:00 (CXT)
Driving side	left
Calling code	+61 891
Postcode	WA 6798
ISO 3166 code	CX
Internet TLD	.cx[3]

Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around 350 kilometres (190 nautical miles) south of Java and Sumatra and around 1,550 km (840 nmi) northwest of the closest point on the Australian mainland. It lies 2,600 km (1,400 nmi) northwest of Perth and 1,327 km (717 nmi) south of Singapore. It has an area of 135 square kilometres (52 sq mi).

Christmas Island had a population of 1,692 residents as of 2021^[update],^[1] the majority living in settlements on the northern edge of the island. The main settlement is Flying Fish Cove. Historically, Asian Australians of Chinese, Malay, and Indian descent formed the majority of the population.^[4][5] Today, around two-thirds of the island's population is estimated to have Straits Chinese origin (though just 22.2% of the population declared a Chinese ancestry in 2021),^[1] with significant numbers of Malays and European Australians and smaller numbers of Straits Indians and Eurasians. Several languages are in use, including English, Malay, and various Chinese dialects. Islam and Buddhism are major religions on the island. The religion question in the Australian census is optional and 28% of the population do not declare their religious belief, if any.^[6]

The first European to sight Christmas Island was Richard Rowe of the Thomas in 1615. Captain William Mynors named it on Christmas Day (25 December) 1643. It was first settled in the late 19th century.^[7] Christmas Island's geographic isolation and history of minimal human disturbance has led to a high level of endemism among its flora and fauna, which is of interest to scientists and naturalists.^[8] The majority (63 percent) of the island is included in the Christmas Island National Park, which features several areas of primary monsoonal forest. Phosphate, deposited originally as guano, has been mined on the island since 1899.

History

Geological history

Christmas Island is situated at the peak of a basalt volcanic seamount which arose from the ocean floor in the Eocene era about 60 million years ago, when the ocean eroded cliffs from uplifts, forming steep terraces and cliffs at the central plateau.^{[citation needed]}

First visits by Europeans, 1643

The first European to sight the island was Richard Rowe of the Thomas in 1615.^[9] Captain William Mynors of the Royal Mary, an English East India Company vessel, named the island when he sailed past it on Christmas Day, in 1643.^[10] The island was included on English and Dutch navigation charts early in the 17th century, but it was not until 1666 that a map published by Dutch cartographer Pieter Goos included the island. Goos labelled the island "Mony" or "Moni",^[11] the meaning of which is unclear.^[12]

English navigator William Dampier, aboard the privateer Charles Swan's ship, Cygnet, made the earliest recorded visit to the sea around the island in March 1688.^[11] He found it uninhabited.^[11][13] Dampier wrote an account of the visit.^[14] Dampier was trying to reach Cocos from New Holland. His ship was blown off course in an easterly direction, arriving at Christmas Island 28 days later. Dampier landed on the west coast, at "the Dales". Two of his crewmen became the first Europeans to set foot on Christmas Island.^[15]

Captain Daniel Beeckman of the Eagle passed the island on 5 April 1714, chronicled in his 1718 book, A Voyage to and from the Island of Borneo, in the East-Indies.^[16]

Exploration and annexation

The first attempt at exploring the island was in 1857 by the crew of the Amethyst. They tried to reach the summit of the island but found the cliffs impassable.^{[citation needed]}

During the 1872–1876 Challenger expedition to Indonesia, naturalist John Murray carried out extensive surveys.^[17]

In 1886, Captain John Maclear of HMS Flying Fish, having discovered an anchorage in a bay that he named "Flying Fish Cove", landed a party and made a small collection of the flora and fauna.^[11] In the next year, Pelham Aldrich, on board HMS Egeria, visited the island for 10 days, accompanied by J. J. Lister, who gathered a larger biological and mineralogical collection.^[11]

Among the rocks then obtained and submitted to Murray for examination were many of nearly pure phosphate of lime. This discovery led to annexation of the island by the British Crown on 6 June 1888.^[17]

Settlement and exploitation

Soon afterwards, a small settlement was established in Flying Fish Cove by G. Clunies Ross, the owner of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands some 900 kilometres (560 mi) to the southwest, to collect timber and supplies for the growing industry on Cocos.

In 1897 the island was visited by Charles W. Andrews, who did extensive research on the natural history of the island, on behalf of the British Museum.^[18]

Phosphate mining began in 1899 using indentured workers from Singapore, British Malaya, and China. John Davis Murray, a mechanical engineer and recent graduate of Purdue University, was sent to supervise the operation on behalf of the Phosphate Mining and Shipping Company. Murray was known as the "King of Christmas Island" until 1910, when he married and settled in London.^[19][20]

The island was administered jointly by the British Phosphate commissioners and district officers from the United Kingdom Colonial Office through the Straits Settlements, and later the Crown Colony of Singapore. Hunt (2011) provides a detailed history of Chinese indentured labour on the island during those years. In 1922, scientists unsuccessfully attempted to view a solar eclipse in late September from the island to test Albert Einstein's theory of relativity.^[21]

Japanese invasion

From the outbreak of the South-East Asian theatre of World War II in December 1941, Christmas Island was a target for Japanese occupation because of its rich phosphate deposits.^[22] A naval gun was installed under a British officer and four NCOs and 27 Indian soldiers.^[22] The first attack was carried out on 20 January 1942, by Japanese submarine I-59, which torpedoed a Norwegian freighter, the Eidsvold.^[23] The vessel drifted and eventually sank off West White Beach. Most of the European and Asian staff and their families were evacuated to Perth.

In late February and early March 1942, there were two aerial bombing raids. Shelling from a Japanese naval group on 7 March led the District Officer to hoist the white flag.^[22] But after the Japanese naval group sailed away, the British officer raised the Union Flag once more.^[22] During the night of 10–11 March, mutinous Indian troops, abetted by Sikh policemen, killed Captain Leonard Williams and the four British NCOs in their quarters as they were sleeping. "Afterwards all Europeans on the island, including the district officer, who governed it, were lined up by the Indians and told they were going to be shot. But after a long discussion between the district officer and the leaders of the mutineers the executions were postponed and the Europeans were confined under armed guard in the district officer's house".^[22]

At dawn on 31 March 1942, a dozen Japanese bombers launched the attack, destroying the radio station. The same day, a Japanese fleet of nine vessels arrived, and the island was surrounded. About 850 men of the Japanese 21st and 24th Special Base Forces and 102nd Construction Unit came ashore at Flying Fish Cove and occupied the island.^[22] They rounded up the workforce, most of whom had fled to the jungle. Sabotaged equipment was repaired and preparations were made to resume the mining and export of phosphate. Only 20 men from the 21st Special Base Force were left as a garrison.^[22]

Isolated acts of sabotage and the torpedoing of the Nissei Maru at the wharf on 17 November 1942^[24] meant that only small amounts of phosphate were exported to Japan during the occupation. In November 1943, over 60% of the island's population was evacuated to Surabaya prison camps, leaving a total population of just under 500 Chinese and Malays and 15 Japanese to survive as best they could. In October 1945, HMS Rother re-occupied Christmas Island.^{[25][26][27][28]}

After the war, seven mutineers were traced and prosecuted by the Military Court in Singapore. In 1947, five of them were sentenced to death. However, following representations made by the newly independent government of India, their sentences were reduced to penal servitude for life.^[22]

Transfer to Australia

At Australia's request, the United Kingdom transferred sovereignty to Australia, with a $20 million payment from the Australian government to Singapore as compensation for the loss of earnings from the phosphate revenue.^[29] The United Kingdom's Christmas Island Act was given royal assent on 14 May 1958, enabling Britain to transfer authority over Christmas Island from Singapore to Australia by an order-in-council.^[30] Australia's Christmas Island Act was passed in September 1958 and the island was officially placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 October 1958.^[31]

Under Commonwealth Cabinet Decision 1573 of 9 September 1958, D. E. Nickels was appointed the first official representative of the new territory.^[32] In a media statement on 5 August 1960, the minister for territories, Paul Hasluck, said, among other things, that, "His extensive knowledge of the Malay language and the customs of the Asian people ... has proved invaluable in the inauguration of Australian administration ... During his two years on the island he had faced unavoidable difficulties ... and constantly sought to advance the island's interests."

John William Stokes succeeded him and served from 1 October 1960, to 12 June 1966. On his departure, he was lauded by all sectors of the island community. In 1968, the official secretary was retitled an administrator and, since 1997, Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands together are called the Australian Indian Ocean Territories and share a single administrator resident on Christmas Island.

The settlement of Silver City was built in the 1970s, with aluminium-clad houses that were supposed to be cyclone-proof.^[33] The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami centred off the western shore of Sumatra in Indonesia, resulted in no reported casualties, but some swimmers were swept some 150 metres (490 ft) out to sea for a time before being swept back in.^[34]

Refugee and immigration detention

Immigration Detention Centre

From the late 1980s and early 1990s, boats carrying asylum seekers, mainly departing from Indonesia, began landing on the island. In 2001, Christmas Island was the site of the Tampa controversy, in which the Australian government stopped a Norwegian ship, MV Tampa, from disembarking 438 rescued asylum-seekers. The ensuing standoff and the associated political reactions in Australia were a major issue in the 2001 Australian federal election.^[35]

The Howard government operated the "Pacific Solution" from 2001 to 2007, excising Christmas Island from Australia's migration zone so that asylum seekers on the island could not apply for refugee status. Asylum seekers were relocated from Christmas Island to Manus Island and Nauru. In 2006, an immigration detention centre, containing approximately 800 beds, was constructed on the island for the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. Originally estimated to cost A$276 million,^[36] the final cost was over $400 million.^[37] In 2007, the Rudd government decommissioned Manus Regional Processing Centre and Nauru detention centre; processing would then occur on Christmas Island itself.^[38][39]

In December 2010, 48 asylum-seekers died just off the coast of the island in what became known as the Christmas Island boat disaster when their boat hit the rocks near Flying Fish Cove, and then smashed against nearby cliffs.^[40][41] In the case Plaintiff M61/2010E v Commonwealth of Australia, the High Court of Australia ruled, in a 7–0 joint judgment, that asylum seekers detained on Christmas Island were entitled to the protections of the Migration Act. Accordingly, the Commonwealth was obliged to afford asylum seekers a minimum of procedural fairness when assessing their claims.^[42] As of 20 June 2013^[update], after the interception of four boats in six days, carrying 350 people, the Immigration Department stated that there were 2,960 "irregular maritime arrivals" being held in the island's five detention facilities, which exceeded not only the "regular operating capacity" of 1,094 people, but also the "contingency capacity" of 2,724.^[43]

The Christmas Island Immigration Reception and Processing Centre closed in September 2018.^[44] The Morrison government announced it would re-open the centre in February the following year, after Australia's parliament passed legislation giving sick asylum seekers easier access to mainland hospitals.^[45] In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government opened parts of the Immigration Reception and Processing Centre to be used as a quarantine facility to accommodate Australian citizens who had been in Wuhan, the point of origin of the pandemic.^[46] The evacuees arrived on 3 February.^[47] They left 14 days later to their homes on the mainland.^[48]

Geography

Christmas Island Map (1976)

The island is about 19 kilometres (12 mi) in greatest length and 14.5 km (9.0 mi) in breadth. The total land area is 135 square kilometres (52 sq mi), with 138.9 km (86.3 mi) of coastline. The island is the flat summit of an underwater mountain more than 4,500 metres (14,800 ft) high,^[49] which rises from about 4,200 m (13,780 ft) below the sea and only about 300 m (984 ft) above it.^[50]

The mountain was originally a volcano, and some basalt is exposed in places such as The Dales and Dolly Beach, but most of the surface rock is limestone accumulated from coral growth. The karst terrain supports numerous anchialine caves.^[51] The summit of this mountain peak is formed by a succession of Tertiary limestones ranging in age from the Eocene or Oligocene up to recent reef deposits, with intercalations of volcanic rock in the older beds.^[18]

Steep cliffs along much of the coast rise abruptly to a central plateau. Elevation ranges from sea level to 361 m (1,184 ft) at Murray Hill. The island is mainly tropical rainforest, 63% of which is national parkland. The narrow fringing reef surrounding the island poses a maritime hazard.

Christmas Island lies 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi) northwest of Perth, Western Australia, 350 km (220 mi) south of Indonesia, 975 km (606 mi) ENE of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and 2,748 km (1,708 mi) west of Darwin, Northern Territory. Its closest point to the Australian mainland is 1,550 km (960 mi) from the town of Exmouth, Western Australia.^[52]

Beaches

Christmas Island has 80 kilometres (50 mi) of shoreline but only small parts of the shoreline are easily accessible. The island's perimeter is dominated by sharp cliff faces, making many of the island's beaches difficult to get to. Some of the easily accessible beaches include Flying Fish Cove (main beach), Lily Beach, Ethel Beach, and Isabel Beach, while the more difficult beaches to access include Greta Beach, Dolly Beach, Winifred Beach, Merrial Beach, and West White Beach, which all require a vehicle with four wheel drive and a difficult walk through dense rainforest.^[53]

Climate

Christmas Island lies near the southern edge of the equatorial region. It has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen Am) and temperatures vary little throughout the year. The highest temperature is usually around 29 °C (84 °F) in March and April, while the lowest temperature is 23 °C (73 °F) and occurs in August. There is a dry season from July to October with only occasional showers. The wet season is between November and June and includes monsoons, with downpours of rain at random times of the day. Tropical cyclones also occur in the wet season, bringing very strong winds, heavy rain, wave action, and storm surge.

Demographics

Christmas Island's population pyramid, from a census in 2011, showing a large proportion of males over females.

As of the 2021 Australian census, the population of Christmas Island is 1,843.^[1] 22.2% of the population had Chinese ancestry (up from 18.3% in 2001), 17.0% had generic Australian ancestry (11.7% in 2001), 16.1% had Malay ancestry (9.3% in 2001), 12.5% had English ancestry (8.9% in 2001), and 3.8% of the population was of Indonesian origin. As of 2021, most are people born in Christmas Island and many are of Chinese and Malay origin.^[1] 40.8% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was Malaysia at 18.6%. 29.3% of the population spoke English as their family language, while 18.4% spoke Malay, 13.9% spoke Mandarin Chinese, 3.7% Cantonese and 2.1% Southern Min (Minnan).^[1] Additionally, there are small local populations of Malaysian Indians and Eurasians.^[55][56]

The 2016 Australian census recorded that the population of Christmas Island was 40.5% female and 59.5% male, while in 2011 the figures had been 29.3% female and 70.7% male.^[1] In contrast, the 2021 figures for the whole of Australia were 50.7% female, 49.3% male.^[57] Since 1998 there has been no provision for childbirth on the island; expectant mothers travel to mainland Australia approximately one month before their expected date to give birth.^[58]

Government

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Christmas Island is a non-self-governing external territory of Australia as of February 2020^[update], part of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories administered by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications^[59] (from 29 November 2007 until 14 September 2010, administration was carried out by the Attorney-General's Department,^[60][61] and prior to this by the Department of Transport and Regional Services).^[62]

The legal system is under the authority of the Governor-General of Australia and Australian law. An administrator appointed by the Governor-General represents the monarch and Australia and lives on the island. The territory falls under no formal state jurisdiction, but the Western Australian Government provides many services as established by the Christmas Island Act.^[63]

The Australian government provides services through the Christmas Island Administration and the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development. Under the federal government's Christmas Island Act 1958, Western Australian laws are applied to Christmas Island; non-application or partial application of such laws is at the discretion of the federal government.^[64] The act also gives Western Australian courts judicial power over Christmas Island. Christmas Island remains constitutionally distinct from Western Australia, however; the power of the state to legislate for the territory is delegated by the federal government. The kind of services typically provided by a state government elsewhere in Australia are provided by departments of the Western Australian government, and by contractors, with the costs met by the federal government. A unicameral Shire of Christmas Island with nine seats provides local government services and is elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms. Elections are held every two years, with four or five of the members standing for election.^[65]

Federal politics

Christmas Island residents who are Australian citizens vote in Australian federal elections. Christmas Island residents are represented in the House of Representatives by the Division of Lingiari in the Northern Territory and in the Senate by Northern Territory senators.^[66] At the 2019 federal election, the Labor Party received majorities from Christmas Island electors in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.^[67][68]

As of 2020^[update] women held two of the nine seats in the Christmas Island Shire Council.^[69] Its second President was Lillian Oh, from 1993 to 1995.

Residents' views

Residents find the system of administration frustrating, with the island run by bureaucrats in the federal government, but subject to the laws of Western Australia and enforced by federal police. There is a feeling of resignation that any progress on local issues is hampered by the confusing governance system. A number of islanders support self-governance, including shire president Gordon Thompson, who also believes that a lack of news media to cover local affairs had contributed to political apathy among residents.^[70]

Flag of Christmas Island

Flag

In early 1986, the Christmas Island Assembly held a design competition for an island flag; the winning design was adopted as the informal flag of the territory for over a decade, and in 2002 it was made the official flag of Christmas Island.

Economy

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

A proportional representation of Christmas Island exports, 2019

Phosphate mining had been the only significant economic activity, but in December 1987 the Australian government closed the mine. In 1991, the mine was reopened by Phosphate Resources Limited, a consortium that included many of the former mine workers as shareholders and is the largest contributor to the Christmas Island economy.^[71]

With the support of the government, the $34 million Christmas Island Casino and Resort opened in 1993 but was closed in 1998. As of 2011^[update], the resort has re-opened without the casino.^[72]

The Australian government in 2001 agreed to support the creation of a commercial spaceport on the island; however, this has not yet been constructed and appears that it will not proceed. The Howard government built a temporary immigration detention centre on the island in 2001 and planned to replace it with a larger, modern facility at North West Point until Howard's defeat in the 2007 elections.

Culture

Ethnicity

Historically, the majority of Christmas Islanders were those of Chinese, Malay and Indian origins, the initial permanent settlers.^[4] Today, the majority of residents are Chinese, with significant numbers of European Australians and Malays as well as smaller Indian and Eurasian communities too. Since the turn of the 21st century and right up to the present, Europeans have mainly confined themselves to the Settlement, where there is a small supermarket and several restaurants; the Malays live in the Flying Fish Cove, also known as Kampong; and the Chinese reside in Poon San (Cantonese for "in the middle of the hill").^[73]

Language

The main languages spoken at home on Christmas Island, according to respondents, are English (28%), Mandarin (17%), Malay (17%), with smaller numbers of speakers of Cantonese (4%) and Hokkien (2%). 27% did not specify a language. If the survey results are representative, then approximately 38% speak English, 24% Mandarin, 23% Malay, and 5% Cantonese.^[74]

Copyright.sk © 2024