CHRISTMAS ISLAND

 

Located some 2600km north-west of Perth, Western Australia Christmas Island is a mere dot in the Indian Ocean.

Its closest neighbor is Java; 360km away However Christmas Island is an Australian Territory.

Christmas Island was for centuries protected by its isolation and rugged coasts.

The island was first included on British and Dutch navigational charts from the early seventeenth century but it was the Captain of the East India Ship Company vessel the Royal Mary, William Mynors, who named the island after he arrived on Christmas Day 1643.

It was phosphate mining which first brought prosperity to the island in 1891 which continued right up until the Japanese occupied the island during the Second World War.

Then After World War II Christmas Island came under the jurisdiction of the new Colony of Singapore until in 1957 when the Australian government acquired Christmas Island from the Singapore Government for a compensation of 2.9 million pounds.

The island was a Crown colony until its transfer to Australia was finalized on 1st October 1958.

In 1980, a National Park was declared in the Egeria Point area. The National Park now covers over 65% of the island.

Although phosphate mining continues in a small way and the authorities have flirted with gambling as an attraction the islands main source of prosperity now is tourism.

Christmas Island is a natural paradise with its national park containing species of flora & fauna found nowhere else in the world.

The vivid Red Crab for example inhabiting the forest floor and the Myriads of tropical fish swimming in the coastal waters or further out the spinner dolphins or the majestic whale shark.

Now in the 21^st century The Island has been chosen as a suitable site for a space satellite launching station the decision will be made shortly.