Editing Cocos (Keeling) Islands (section)

==History==
===Discovery and early history===
[[File:AMH-5134-NA Compass chart of the Kokos islands.jpg|thumb|Historic compass chart of the Cocos islands<ref>Nationaal Archief, The Hague, archive 4.VEL inventorynumber 338</ref>]]
The archipelago was discovered in 1609 by Captain [[William Keeling]] of the [[East India Company]], on a return voyage from the East Indies. [[North Keeling]] was sketched by Ekeberg, a Swedish captain, in 1749, showing the presence of [[coconut|coconut palm]]s. It also appears on a 1789 chart produced by British hydrographer [[Alexander Dalrymple]].<ref name=PKNPMP>{{cite book |year=2004 |title=Pulu Keeling National Park Management Plan |publisher=Australian Government |isbn=0-642-54964-8}}</ref>

In 1825, Scottish merchant seaman Captain [[John Clunies-Ross]] stopped briefly at the islands on a trip to India, nailing up a [[Union Jack]] and planning to return and settle on the islands with his family in the future.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ohwAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA293|title=Gleanings in Science, Volume 2|date=1830|publisher=Baptist Mission Press|access-date=6 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231220345/https://books.google.com/books?id=4ohwAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA293|archive-date=31 December 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Wealthy Englishman [[Alexander Hare]] had similar plans, and hired a captain{{spaced ndash}} coincidentally, Clunies-Ross's brother{{spaced ndash}}to bring him and a volunteer [[harem]] of 40 [[Malays (ethnic group)|Malay]] women to the islands, where he hoped to establish his private residence.<ref name="joshua">[[Joshua Slocum]], "[https://archive.org/stream/sailingalonearou00slocuoft#page/212/mode/2up Sailing Alone Around the World", p. 212] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226134257/https://archive.org/stream/sailingalonearou00slocuoft#page/212/mode/2up |date=26 December 2016 }}</ref> Hare had previously served as resident of [[Banjarmasin]], a town in [[Borneo]], and found that "he could not confine himself to the tame life that civilisation affords".<ref name="joshua"/>

Clunies-Ross returned two years later with his wife, children and mother-in-law, and found Hare already established on the island and living with the private harem. A feud grew between the two.<ref name="joshua"/> Clunies-Ross's eight sailors "began at once the invasion of the new kingdom to take possession of it, women and all".<ref name="joshua"/>

After some time, Hare's women began deserting him, and instead finding themselves partners amongst Clunies-Ross's sailors.<ref>[http://www.clunies-ross.com/ The Clunies-Ross Chronicle] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905222330/http://www.clunies-ross.com/ |date=5 September 2015 }}</ref> Disheartened, Hare left the island. He died in [[Bencoolen (city)|Bencoolen]] in 1834.<ref>Morning Post (London) 20 March 1835</ref> Encouraged by members of the former harem, Clunies-Ross then recruited Malays to come to the island for work and wives.

Clunies-Ross's workers were paid in a currency called the Cocos rupee, a currency John Clunies-Ross minted himself that could only be redeemed at the company store.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6730047.stm|title=BBC NEWS - Programmes - From Our Own Correspondent - The man who lost a 'coral kingdom'|access-date=19 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080927212633/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6730047.stm|archive-date=27 September 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Chart of Cocos Keeling Islands.png|thumb|220px|right|1840 chart of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands]]
On 1 April 1836, {{HMS|Beagle}} under Captain [[Robert FitzRoy]] arrived to take soundings to establish the profile of the atoll as part of the [[second voyage of HMS Beagle|survey expedition of the ''Beagle'']]. To the naturalist [[Charles Darwin]], aboard the ship, the results supported a theory he had developed of how atolls formed, which he later published as ''[[The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs]]''. He studied the natural history of the islands and collected specimens.<ref>{{citation |last=Keynes |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Keynes |year=2001 |title=Charles Darwin's Beagle Diary |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=F1925&pageseq=445 |pages=413–418 |access-date=20 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226134647/http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=F1925&pageseq=445 |archive-date=26 December 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> Darwin's assistant [[Syms Covington]] noted that "an Englishman [he was in fact Scottish] and HIS family, with about sixty or seventy [[mulatto]]s from the [[Cape of Good Hope]], live on one of the islands. Captain Ross, the governor, is now absent at the Cape."

===Annexation by the British Empire===
The islands were annexed by the British Empire in 1857.<ref name="Kenneth Roberts-Wray 1966. p. 882">Commonwealth and Colonial Law by [[Kenneth Roberts-Wray]], London, Stevens, 1966. p. 882</ref> This annexation was carried out by Captain [[Stephen Grenville Fremantle]] in command of {{HMS|Juno|1844|6}}. Fremantle claimed the islands for the British Empire and appointed [[King of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands|Ross II]] as Superintendent.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Cocos Islands|journal=The Chambers's Journal|year=1899|volume=76|pages=187–190|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ddUXAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA187|access-date=6 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231220345/https://books.google.com/books?id=ddUXAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA187|archive-date=31 December 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1878, by [[Letters Patent]], the Governor of [[Ceylon]] was made Governor of the islands, and, by further Letters Patent in 1886,<ref>S.R.O. & S.I. Rev. XXI, 512.</ref> responsibility for the islands was transferred to the Governor of the [[Straits Settlement]] to exercise his functions as "Governor of Cocos Islands".<ref name="Kenneth Roberts-Wray 1966. p. 882"/>

The islands were made part of the Straits Settlement under an Order in Council of 20 May 1903.<ref>S.R.O. 1903 No. 478, S.R.O. & S.I. Rev. XXI, 515</ref> Meanwhile, in 1886 [[Queen Victoria]] had, by indenture, granted the islands in perpetuity to John Clunies-Ross.<ref name="Kenneth Roberts-Wray 1966. p. 883">Commonwealth and Colonial Law by Kenneth Roberts-Wray, London, Stevens, 1966. p. 883</ref> The head of the family enjoyed semi-official status as [[Resident Magistrate]] and Government representative.<ref name="Kenneth Roberts-Wray 1966. p. 883"/>

In 1901 a [[telegraph]] cable station was established on Direction Island. Undersea cables went to [[Rodrigues]], [[Mauritius]], [[Jakarta|Batavia]], [[Java]] and [[Fremantle]], [[Western Australia]]. In 1910 a wireless station was established to communicate with passing ships. The cable station ceased operation in 1966.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cocoskeelingislands.com.au/home-2/history/money-22 |title=Timeline of major dates |access-date=2013-12-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215033702/https://www.cocoskeelingislands.com.au/home-2/history/money-22 |archive-date=15 December 2013}}</ref>

===World War I===
[[File:WW1 Landing at Direction Island.jpg|thumb|220px|right|A landing party from the [[Imperial German Navy|German Navy]] cruiser ''[[SMS Emden (1908)|Emden]]'' leaves the Cocos (Keeling) Islands via this jetty on [[Direction Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands|Direction Island]] on 9 November 1914.]]
{{main|Battle of Cocos}}
On the morning of 9 November 1914, the islands became the site of the [[Battle of Cocos]], one of the first naval battles of [[World War I]]. A landing party from the German cruiser {{SMS|Emden|1906|6}} captured and disabled the wireless and cable communications station on [[Direction Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands|Direction Island]], but not before the station was able to transmit a distress call. An Allied troop convoy was passing nearby, and the Australian cruiser {{HMAS|Sydney|1912|6}} was detached from the convoy escort to investigate.

''Sydney'' spotted the island and ''Emden'' at 09:15, with both ships preparing for combat. At 11:20, the heavily damaged ''Emden'' beached herself on [[North Keeling Island]]. The Australian warship broke to pursue ''Emden''{{'}}s supporting [[Collier (ship)|collier]], which scuttled herself, then returned to North Keeling Island at 16:00. At this point, ''Emden''{{'}}s [[battle ensign]] was still flying: usually a sign that a ship intends to continue fighting. After no response to instructions to lower the ensign, two salvoes were shot into the beached cruiser, after which the Germans lowered the flag and raised a [[flag of surrender|white sheet]]. ''Sydney'' had orders to ascertain the status of the transmission station, but returned the next day to provide medical assistance to the Germans.

Casualties totaled 134 personnel aboard ''Emden'' killed, and 69 wounded, compared to four killed and 16 wounded aboard ''Sydney''. The German survivors were taken aboard the Australian cruiser, which caught up to the troop convoy in [[Colombo]] on 15 November, then transported to [[Malta]] and handed over the prisoners to the [[British Army]]. An additional 50 German personnel from the shore party, unable to be recovered before ''Sydney'' arrived, commandeered a schooner and escaped from Direction Island, eventually arriving in [[Constantinople]]. ''Emden'' was the last active [[Central Powers]] warship in the Indian or Pacific Ocean, which meant troopships from Australia and New Zealand could sail without naval escort, and Allied ships could be deployed elsewhere.

===World War II===
During [[World War II]], the cable station was once again a vital link. The Cocos were valuable for direction finding by the [[Y service]], the worldwide intelligence system used during the war.<ref>McKay, S. 2012. ''The Secret Listeners''. Aurum Press Ltd. {{ISBN|978 1 78131 079 3}}</ref>

Allied planners noted that the islands might be seized as an airfield for [[Nazi Germany|German]] planes and as a base for commerce raiders operating in the Indian Ocean. Following [[Empire of Japan|Japan]]'s entry into the war, Japanese forces occupied neighbouring islands. To avoid drawing their attention to the Cocos cable station and its islands' garrison, the [[seaplane]] anchorage between Direction and [[Horsburgh Island|Horsburgh]] islands was not used. Radio transmitters were also kept silent, except in emergencies.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-07-19 |title=Cocos (Keeling) Islands - Page 3 of 6 - Smoke Tree Manor |url=https://www.smoketreemanor.com/cocos-keeling-islands/3/ |access-date=2024-07-13 |language=en-US}}</ref>

After the [[Fall of Singapore]] in 1942, the islands were administered from Ceylon and West and Direction Islands were placed under [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] military administration. The islands' garrison initially consisted of a platoon from the British Army's [[King's African Rifles]], located on Horsburgh Island, with two {{convert|6|in|mm|adj=on|sigfig=4}} guns to cover the anchorage. The local inhabitants all lived on Home Island. Despite the importance of the islands as a communication centre, the Japanese made no attempt either to raid or to occupy them and contented themselves with sending over a reconnaissance aircraft about once a month.

On the night of 8–9 May 1942, 15 members of the garrison, from the [[Ceylon Defence Force]], [[Mutiny|mutinied]] under the leadership of [[Gratien Fernando]]. The mutineers were said to have been provoked by the attitude of their British officers and were also supposedly inspired by Japanese anti-British propaganda. They attempted to take control of the [[Artillery|gun battery]] on the islands. The [[Cocos Islands Mutiny]] was crushed, but the mutineers murdered one non-mutinous soldier and wounded one officer. Seven of the mutineers were sentenced to death at a trial that was later alleged to have been improperly conducted, though the guilt of the accused was admitted. Four of the sentences were commuted, but three men were executed, including Fernando. These were to be the only [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]] soldiers executed for mutiny during the Second World War.<ref name=CIM>{{cite book |last=Cruise |first=Noel |title=The Cocos Islands Mutiny |publisher=Fremantle Arts Centre Press |year=2002 |location=Fremantle |page=248 |isbn=1-86368-310-0}}</ref>

On 25 December 1942, the Japanese submarine ''[[Japanese submarine I-166|I-166]]'' bombarded the islands but caused no damage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.combinedfleet.com/I-166.htm|title=Imperial Submarines|access-date=25 September 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921203309/http://www.combinedfleet.com/I-166.htm|archive-date=21 September 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>

Later in the war, two airstrips were built, and three bomber squadrons were moved to the islands to conduct raids against Japanese targets in South East Asia and to provide support during the [[Operation Tiderace|planned]] reinvasion of [[British Malaya|Malaya]] and reconquest of Singapore. The first aircraft to arrive were [[Supermarine Spitfire]] Mk VIIIs of [[No. 136 Squadron RAF]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Fail|first=J.E.H.|title=FORWARD STRATEGIC AIR BASE COCOS ISLAND|url=http://www.rquirk.com/cocos/cocosart.htm|work=rquirk.com|access-date=13 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130207075824/http://www.rquirk.com/cocos/cocosart.htm|archive-date=7 February 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> They included some [[B-24|Liberator]] bombers from [[No. 321 Squadron RAF|No. 321 (Netherlands) Squadron RAF]] (members of exiled Dutch forces serving with the [[Royal Air Force]]), which were also stationed on the islands. When in July 1945 [[No. 99 Squadron RAF|No. 99]] and [[No. 356 Squadron RAF|No. 356]] RAF squadrons arrived on West Island, they brought with them a daily newspaper called ''Atoll'' which contained news of what was happening in the outside world. Run by airmen in their off-duty hours, it achieved fame when dropped by Liberator bombers on POW camps over the heads of the Japanese guards.

In 1946, the administration of the islands reverted to [[Colony of Singapore|Singapore]] and it became part of the Colony of Singapore.<ref>Colony of Singapore. Government Gazette. (1 April 1946). The Singapore Colony Order in Council, 1946 (G.N. 2, pp. 2–3). Singapore: [s.n.]. Call no.: RCLOS 959.57 SGG; White paper on Malaya (26 January 1946). The Straits Times, p. 2. Retrieved from NewspaperSG; Tan, K. Y. L. (Ed.). (1999). The Singapore legal system (pp. 232–233). Singapore: Singapore University Press. Call no.: RSING 349.5957 SIN.</ref>

===Transfer to Australia===
On 23 November 1955, the islands were transferred from the United Kingdom to the [[Commonwealth of Australia]]. Immediately before the transfer the islands were part of the United Kingdom's Colony of Singapore, in accordance with the Straits Settlements (Repeal) Act, 1946 of the United Kingdom<ref>9 & 10 G. 6, c. 37</ref> and the British Settlements Acts, 1887 and 1945, as applied by the Act of 1946.<ref name="Kenneth Roberts-Wray 1966. p. 882"/> The legal steps for effecting the transfer were as follows:<ref>Commonwealth and Colonial Law by Kenneth Roberts-Wray, London, Stevens, 1966. pp. 133–134</ref>
*The Commonwealth Parliament and the Government requested and consented to the enactment of a United Kingdom Act for the purpose.
*The Cocos Islands Act, 1955, authorised Her Majesty, by Order in Council, to direct that the islands should cease to form part of the [[Colony of Singapore]] and be placed under the authority of the Commonwealth.
*By the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act, 1955, the Parliament of the Commonwealth provided for the acceptance of the islands as a territory under the authority of the Commonwealth and for its government. 
*The Cocos Islands Order in Council, 1955, made under the United Kingdom Act of 1955, provided that upon the appointed day (23 November 1955) the islands should cease to form part of the Colony of Singapore and be placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia.
The reason for this comparatively complex machinery was due to the terms of the Straits Settlement (Repeal) Act, 1946. According to Sir [[Kenneth Roberts-Wray]] "any other procedure would have been of doubtful validity".<ref>Commonwealth and Colonial Law by Kenneth Roberts-Wray, London, Stevens, 1966. p. 134</ref> The separation involved three steps: separation from the Colony of Singapore; transfer by United Kingdom and acceptance by Australia.

H.&nbsp;J. Hull was appointed the first official representative (now administrator) of the new territory. He had been a lieutenant-commander in the Royal Australian Navy and was released for the purpose. Under Commonwealth Cabinet Decision 1573 of 9 September 1958, Hull's appointment was terminated and [[John William Stokes]] was appointed on secondment from the Northern Territory police. A media release at the end of October 1958 by the Minister for Territories, Hasluck, commended Hull's three years of service on Cocos.

Stokes served in the position from 31 October 1958 to 30 September 1960. His son's boyhood memories and photos of the Islands have been published.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stokes |first=Tony |title=Whatever Will Be, I'll See: Growing Up in the 1940s, 50s and 60s in the Northern Territory, Christmas and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory |year=2012 |publisher=Tony Stokes |isbn=9780646575643 |page=238}}</ref> C.&nbsp;I. Buffett [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]] from [[Norfolk Island]] succeeded him and served from 28 July 1960 to 30 June 1966, and later acted as Administrator back on Cocos and on Norfolk Island. In 1974, Ken Mullen wrote a small book<ref>{{cite book |title=Cocos Keeling, the Islands Time Forgot |year=1974 |author=Ken Mullen |publisher=Angus & Robertson |location=Sydney |page=122 |isbn=9780207131950 |oclc=1734040}}</ref> about his time with wife and son from 1964 to 1966 working at the Cable Station on Direction Island.

In the 1970s, the Australian government's 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 {{currency|6,250,000|AUD}}, using the threat of compulsory acquisition. By agreement, the family retained ownership of Oceania House, their home on the island. In 1983, the Australian government reneged on this agreement and told [[Clunies-Ross Family#John Cecil Clunies-Ross|John Clunies-Ross]] that he should leave the Cocos. The following year the [[High Court of Australia]] ruled that resumption of Oceania House was unlawful, but the Australian government ordered that no government business was to be granted to Clunies-Ross's shipping company, an action that contributed to his bankruptcy.<ref>{{cite web|title = Cabinet papers: The last King of Cocos loses his palace|url = https://www.smh.com.au/nsw/cabinet-papers-the-last-king-of-cocos-loses-his-palace-20151217-glqb6m.html|website = The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date = 2016-01-01|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160101220559/http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/cabinet-papers-the-last-king-of-cocos-loses-his-palace-20151217-glqb6m.html|archive-date = 1 January 2016|url-status = live|date = 30 December 2015}}</ref> John Clunies-Ross later moved to [[Perth, Western Australia]]. However, some members of the Clunies-Ross family still live on the Cocos.

Extensive preparations were undertaken by the government of Australia to prepare the Cocos Malays to vote in their referendum of self-determination. Discussions began in 1982, with an aim of holding the referendum, under United Nations supervision, in mid-1983. Under guidelines developed by the UN Decolonization Committee, residents were to be offered three choices: full independence, free association, or integration with Australia. The last option was preferred by both the islanders and the Australian government. A change in government in Canberra following the March 1983 Australian elections delayed the vote by one year. While the Home Island Council stated a preference for a traditional communal consensus "vote", the UN insisted on a secret ballot. [[1984 Cocos (Keeling) Islands status referendum|The referendum]] was held on 6 April 1984, with all 261 eligible islanders participating, including the Clunies-Ross family: 229 voted for integration, 21 for Free Association, nine for independence, and two failed to indicate a preference.<ref>Kenneth Chen, "Pacific Island Development Plan: Cocos (Keeling) Islands- The Political Evolution of a Small Island Territory in the Indian Ocean" (1987): Mr Chen was Administrator, Cocos Islands, from December 1983 – November 1985.</ref> In the first decade of the 21st century, a series of disputes have occurred between the Muslim and the non-Muslim population of the islands.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/lost-in-transition/news-story/de35303c2eaa07c5ffd2a897e4a6e8a8|title=Lost in transition|date=2009-08-31|website=www.theaustralian.com.au|access-date=2018-12-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223114416/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/lost-in-transition/news-story/de35303c2eaa07c5ffd2a897e4a6e8a8|archive-date=23 December 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

The airstrip on West Island has an airstrip that is more than two kilometres&nbsp;long and is designed to accommodate [[Boeing 737]] passenger flights and smaller military planes. In 2023, the Australian parliament approved plans to extend the airstrip by 150 metres so that it could take [[Boeing P-8 Poseidon]] aircraft capable of low-level [[anti-submarine warfare]] operations and high-tech military surveillance. Construction was scheduled to start in 2024 and be completed by 2026.<ref name="abc010923" />  Prior to the upgrade, the United States had been using the airstrip for several decades as a stopover point between [[Diego Garcia]] and [[Guam]], and as a partial alternative to the [[Paya Lebar Air Base]].<ref name="dip160419">{{cite web |last1=Bashfield |first1=Samuel |title=Australia's Cocos Islands Cannot Replace America's Troubled Diego Garcia |url=https://thediplomat.com/2019/04/australias-cocos-islands-cannot-replace-americas-troubled-diego-garcia/ |website=thediplomat.com |access-date=30 May 2024 |date=16 April 2019}}</ref>

===Indigenous status===
Descendants of the Cocos Malays brought to the islands from the [[Malay Peninsula]], the [[List of islands of Indonesia|Indonesian archipelago]], [[Southern Africa]] and [[New Guinea]] by Hare and by Clunies-Ross as [[Indentured servitude|indentured workers]], [[Slavery|slaves]] or [[convict]]s are {{as of|lc=yes|2019}} seeking recognition from the [[Government of Australia|Australian government]] to be acknowledged as [[Indigenous Australians]].<ref>{{cite web|website=The Conversation|url=https://theconversation.com/a-group-of-southeast-asian-descendants-wants-to-be-recognised-as-indigenous-australians-98186|title=A group of Southeast Asian descendants wants to be recognised as Indigenous Australians|date=25 June 2018|first1=Nicholas|last1=Herriman|first2=David R.M.|last2=Irving|first3=Greg|last3=Acciaioli|first4=Monika|last4=Winarnita|first5=Trixie Tangit|last5=Kinajil|access-date=2 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726020326/https://theconversation.com/a-group-of-southeast-asian-descendants-wants-to-be-recognised-as-indigenous-australians-98186|archive-date=26 July 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref>