Editing Christmas Island (section)

===Settlement and exploitation===
[[File:Flying Fish Cove at Christmas Island.jpg|thumb|right|The Settlement, also called [[Flying Fish Cove]], Christmas Island's capital]]
Soon afterwards, a small settlement was established in Flying Fish Cove by [[Clunies-Ross Family|G. Clunies Ross]], the owner of the [[Cocos (Keeling) Islands]] some {{convert|900|km}} to the southwest, to collect timber and supplies for the growing industry on Cocos. In 1897 the island was visited by [[Charles William Andrews|Charles W. Andrews]], who did extensive research on the natural history of the island, on behalf of the [[British Museum]].<ref name="Andrews">{{cite journal |url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=5316016&jid=GEO&volumeId=7&issueId=07&aid=5316008 |volume=II |title=A Monograph of Christmas Island |series=Indian Ocean: Physical Features and Geology |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805060407/http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=5316016&jid=GEO&volumeId=7&issueId=07&aid=5316008 |archive-date=5 August 2011 |first=Charles W. |last=Andrews |journal=Geological Magazine |quote=With descriptions of the fauna and flora by numerous contributors. [[octavo|8vo]]; xiii+337&nbsp;pp., 22&nbsp;plates, 1&nbsp;map, text illustrated. |publisher=British Museum |place=London, UK |year=1900|issue=7 |pages=330–331 |doi=10.1017/S0016756800174461 }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Handy Book of Curious Information |url=https://archive.org/details/ahandybookcurio00walsgoog |first=William |last=Walsh |year=1913 |page=447 |publisher=Lippincott |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Jupp |first1=James |title=The Australian People: An encyclopedia of the nation, its people, and their origins |year=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |isbn=9780521807890 |page=225 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wgoFxfSTfYAC&pg=PA225 |access-date=2 January 2017 |chapter=Christmas Islanders |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103165431/https://books.google.com.au/books?id=wgoFxfSTfYAC&pg=PA225|archive-date=3 January 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

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 [[Colony of Singapore|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 [[Solar eclipse of September 21, 1922|a solar eclipse in late September]] from the island to test [[Albert Einstein]]'s [[theory of relativity]].<ref name=Hunt2012>{{cite news |first=John |last=Hunt |title=Eclipse on Christmas Island |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |date=5 September 2012}}</ref>