From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The
Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands
(
Cocos Islands Malay
:
Pulu Kokos (Keeling)
) is a territory of
Australia
. There are two
atolls
and twenty-seven coral islands in the group. The
islands
are in the
Indian Ocean
, about one-half of the way from Australia to
Sri Lanka
.
Captain
William Keeling
was the first European to see the islands, in 1609, but they remained uninhabited until the
nineteenth century
, when they became a possession of the Clunies-Ross Family.
Slaves
were brought to work the
coconut
plantation from
Indonesia
, the
Cape of Good Hope
and East Asia by Alexander Hare who had taken part in
Stamford Raffles
' takeover of
Java
in 1811. A
Scottish
merchant seaman called Captain John Clunies-Ross, who had also served under Raffles in the takeover, set up a compound and Hare's severely mistreated slaves soon escaped to work under better conditions for Clunies-Ross.
On
November 23
1955
, the islands were transferred to Australian control under the
Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act 1955
. In the 1970s, Australian government dissatisfaction with the Clunies-Ross feudal style of rule of the island increased. In 1978, Australia forced the family to sell the islands for the sum of AU$6,250,000, using the threat of compulsory purchase. By agreement the family retained ownership of Oceania House, their home on the island. However, in 1983 the Australian government moved to dishonour this agreement, and told the former last ruler, John Clunies-Ross, that he should leave the Cocos. The following year the High Court of Australia ruled that the government could not buy Oceania House. Instead the Australian government ordered that no government business was to be given to his shipping company, an action which contributed to his bankruptcy. John Clunies-Ross lives in exile in Perth, Australia, but his successors still live on the Cocos.
In 2004 there were 629 people living on the Cocos (Keeling) islands. There are about 120 Europeans on West Island and 500 Malays on Home Island. A Cocos dialect of Malay and English are the main languages spoken and 80% of Cocos Islanders are
Sunni Muslim
. India does not recognise Anglo annexation of these Cultural Indo-Indian/Indies islands as part of Australia and disputes its status to counterbalance regional hegemonic sea power.
The capital of the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands is
West Island
while the largest settlement is the village of Bantam (
Home Island
). Governance of the islands is based on the
Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act 1955
[1]
[2]
Notes
- ↑
English does not have
de jure
status on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and in Australia, but it is the
de facto
language of communication in government.
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