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128-699: The Territory of Christmas Island is an Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean comprising the island of the same name. It is located approximately 350 kilometres (190 nautical miles) south of Java and Sumatra and about 1,550 km (840 nmi) north-west of the closest point on the Australian mainland . It has an area of 135 square kilometres (52 sq mi). The territory derives its name from its discovery on Christmas Day 1643 by Captain William Mynors . Christmas Island had

256-564: A governor , appointed by the monarch (currently King Charles III ), which by convention he does on the advice of the state premier. The Administrator of the Northern Territory, by contrast, is appointed by the governor-general . The Australian Capital Territory has neither a governor nor an administrator. Instead, since the enacted of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 (Cth) ,

384-648: A mainland coastline of 32,994 kilometres (20,502 mi) and claims an exclusive economic zone of about 8,200,000 square kilometres (3,200,000 sq mi). At Federation in 1901, what is now the Northern Territory was within South Australia, what are now the Australian Capital Territory and Jervis Bay Territory were within New South Wales, and Coral Sea Islands was part of Queensland. Ashmore and Cartier Islands

512-600: A contiguous residential of Queanbeyan , was excised out of New South Wales when the Australian Capital Territory was established in 1909. Some Urban Centres and Localities reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics include some agglomerations of cities spreading across state borders, including Gold Coast –Tweed Heads, Canberra –Queanbeyan, Albury – Wodonga (New South Wales-Victoria) and Mildura – Wentworth (Victoria-New South Wales) Challenger expedition The Challenger expedition of 1872–1876

640-479: A dozen Japanese bomber aircraft launched an 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. They rounded up the workforce, most of whom had fled to the jungle. Sabotaged equipment

768-442: A line with a weight attached to it until it reached the sea floor. The line was marked in 25-fathom (150 ft; 46 m) intervals with flags denoting depth. Because of this, the depth measurements from Challenger were, at best, accurate to the nearest 25-fathom (150 ft; 46 m) demarcation. The sinker often had a small container attached to it that would allow for the collection of bottom sediment samples. The crew used

896-681: 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. The island was administered jointly by the British Phosphate commissioners and district officers from the United Kingdom Colonial Office through

1024-505: A past age." Nothing of the sort came to pass, however; though a few organisms previously regarded as extinct were found and cataloged among the many new discoveries, the harvest was typical of what might be found in exploring any equivalent extent of new territory. Furthermore, in the process of preserving specimens in alcohol , Thomson and chemist John Young Buchanan realized that he had inadvertently debunked Huxley's prior report of Bathybius haeckelii , an acellular protoplasm covering

1152-399: A population of 1,692 residents as of 2021, with 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. Today, around two-thirds of the island's population is estimated to have Straits Chinese origin (though just 22.2% of

1280-559: A secretary-artist and a photographer. The Royal Society of London obtained the use of Challenger from the Royal Navy and in 1872 modified the ship for scientific tasks at Sheerness , equipping it with separate laboratories for natural history and chemistry . The expedition, led by Captain George Nares , sailed from Portsmouth, England , on 21 December 1872. Other naval officers included Commander John Maclear . Under

1408-676: A ship with the name Challenger should put the seal on the work of that great pioneering expedition of oceanography. The expedition also verified the existence of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge extending from the southern hemisphere to the northern one. Findings from the Challenger expedition continued to be published until 1895, 19 years after the completion of its journey, by the Challenger Office, Edinburgh, established for that purpose. The report contained 50 volumes and

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1536-696: 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 . Phosphate mining began in 1899 using indentured workers from Singapore, British Malaya , and China. John Davis Murray,

1664-424: A stable environment that evolution would slow or stop entirely. Louis Agassiz believed that in the deeps "we should expect to find representatives of earlier geological periods." Thomas Huxley stated that he expected to see " zoological antiquities which in the tranquil and little changed depths of the ocean have escaped the causes of destruction at work in the shallows and represent the predominant population of

1792-750: A state or internal territory. Excluding the Heard Island and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory (which are governed by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water ), the external territories are governed by the federal Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts . Norfolk Island had its own legislature from 1979 to 2015. Each state

1920-428: A total coverage of 744,000 square kilometres (287,000 sq mi). The park will help to protect spawning of bluefin tuna from illegal international fishers, but local people will be allowed to practise fishing sustainably inshore in order to source food. Christmas Island lies near the southern edge of the equatorial region. It has a tropical monsoon climate ( Köppen Am ) and temperatures vary little throughout

2048-411: A variety of dredges and trawls to collect biological samples. The dredges consisted of metal nets attached to a wooden plank and dragged across the sea floor. Mop heads attached to the wooden plank would sweep across the sea floor and release organisms from the ocean bottom to be caught in the nets. Trawls were large metal nets towed behind the ship to collect organisms at different depths of water. Upon

2176-713: Is a small supermarket and several restaurants, the Malays live in their coastal kampong , and the Chinese reside in Poon Saan ( Cantonese for "in the middle of the hill"). 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. Religion in Christmas Island (2021) Note that some statistical noise

2304-547: Is a successor to historical British colonies , and each has its own constitution. The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Northern Territory for the most part operate indistinguishably from the states (for example, both have representation in the Parliament since 1948 and in the Senate since 1975), even though they do not have constitutional status as states and territorial legislation can be overridden. Surrounded by

2432-597: Is added to the publicly released census data, in order to protect residents' privacy. Religious practices differ by geography across the island and effectively correspond to the island's three primary settlements: the capital (known simply as The Settlement), the Cantonese area Poon Saan , and the Malay water village which is referred to often as the Kampong . Due to the large numbers of English and Australians who make up

2560-476: Is called the "legislative assembly", except in South Australia and Tasmania, where it is called the "house of assembly". Tasmania is the only state to use proportional representation for elections to its lower house; all others elect members from single member constituencies, using preferential voting . The upper house is called the "legislative council" and is generally elected from multi-member constituencies using proportional representation. Along with Queensland,

2688-504: 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) east-northeast of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and 2,748 km (1,708 mi) west of Darwin , Northern Territory. Its closest point to

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2816-801: The Australian Capital Territory , the Jervis Bay Territory , and the Northern Territory on the Australian mainland ; and seven are external territories : the Ashmore and Cartier Islands , the Australian Antarctic Territory , Christmas Island , the Cocos (Keeling) Islands , the Coral Sea Islands , Heard Island and McDonald Islands , and Norfolk Island that are offshore dependent territories . Every state and internal territory (except

2944-501: The Australian Capital Territory , which collectively forms 79% of the entire population of Australia (more than three-quarters of all Australians). Most of the major population centres are located east and south of the Great Dividing Range on the coastal plains and their associated hinterland regions. The states originated as separate British colonies prior to Federation in 1901. The Colony of New South Wales

3072-574: The Colony of Western Australia (initially established as the smaller Swan River Colony in 1829), the Province of South Australia (1836), the Colony of New Zealand (1840), the Victoria Colony (1851) and the Colony of Queensland (1859). Upon federation, the six colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania became the founding states of

3200-555: The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications (from 29 November 2007 until 14 September 2010, administration was carried out by the Attorney-General's Department , and prior to this by the Department of Transport and Regional Services ). The legal system is under the authority of the Governor-General of Australia and Australian law. An administrator appointed by

3328-658: The Division of Fraser until 2016) in the ACT and by the ACT's two senators. In other respects, the territory is administered directly by the Federal Government through the Territories portfolio. The external territory of Norfolk Island possessed a degree of self-government from 1979 until 2015. Each state has a bicameral parliament, except Queensland, which abolished its upper house in 1922. The lower house

3456-528: The Federal Parliament can override territorial legislation. The federal High Court of Australia acts as a final court of appeal for all matters, and has the authority to override any state judiciary. While all states and internal territories have their own judicial system (subject to appeal to the High Court), most external territories are subject to the judiciary and legislature of either

3584-645: The German New Guinea . Following World War I , the Australian government received a League of Nations mandate for Nauru . After World War II, the Territory of Papua, Territory of New Guinea and Nauru were all controlled by the Australian government as United Nations trust territories . Nauru was granted independence in 1968. The majority of Australians live in the eastern coastal mainland states of New South Wales , Queensland , Victoria , and

3712-775: The Indian , Pacific , and Southern oceans, Australia is separated from Maritime Southeast Asia and New Guinea by the Arafura Sea , the Timor Sea , and the Torres Strait , from Island Melanesia by the Coral Sea , and from New Zealand by the Tasman Sea . The world's smallest continent , Australia is also the sixth-largest country by land area and sometimes considered the world's largest island . Australia has

3840-477: The Poon Saan area Buddhism is common, and Sunni Islam is generally observed in the shoreline water village where the Malays live. The religion question in the Australian census is optional, and 28% of the population do not declare their religious belief. 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

3968-516: The Rudd government decommissioned Manus Regional Processing Centre and Nauru detention centre ; processing would then occur on Christmas Island itself. 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. In

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4096-698: 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 . From the outbreak of the South-East Asian theatre of World War II in December ;1941, Christmas Island

4224-468: The 1860s and 1870s and their efficient laying and operation were matters of great strategic and commercial importance. At each of the 360 stations the crew measured the bottom depth and temperature at different depths, observed weather and surface ocean conditions, and collected seafloor, water, and biota samples. Challenger 's crew used methods that were developed in prior small-scale expeditions to make observations. To measure depth, they would lower

4352-837: The Australian Constitution the federal Parliament has plenary power to make laws for all territories including all external territories. The Cocos (Keeling) Islands voted for integration in 1984. Together with Christmas Island, these two territories comprise the Australian Indian Ocean Territories . Commonwealth laws apply automatically to the territories unless expressly stated otherwise and residents of both external territories are associated with Northern Territory for federal elections. They are, thus, constitutionally part of Australia. The Heard Island and McDonald Islands, although uninhabited, are treated as constitutionally part of Australia by

4480-517: The Australian federal government under Section 122 of the Constitution of Australia no longer exist: Two present-day Oceanic countries, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Nauru , were administered by the federal government of Australia as de facto or de jure external territories for differing periods between 1902 and 1975. Following World War II , the Papua and New Guinea Act 1949 placed

4608-401: The Australian mainland is 1,550 km (960 mi) from the town of Exmouth , Western Australia. 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

4736-739: The Cape of Good Hope to the parallel of 60 degrees south . The islands visited during this period were the Prince Edward Islands , the Crozet Islands , the Kerguelen Islands , and Heard Island . February 1874 was spent travelling south and then generally eastwards in the vicinity of the Antarctic Circle , with sightings of icebergs, pack ice and whales. The route then took the ship north-eastward and away from

4864-649: 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 . But after the Japanese naval group sailed away, the British officer raised the Union Flag once more. During the night of 10–11 March, mutinous Indian troops, abetted by Sikh policemen, killed an officer and

4992-755: The House of Representatives by the Division of Lingiari in the Northern Territory and in the Senate by Northern Territory senators. At the 2019 federal election , the Labor Party received majorities from Christmas Island electors in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. While there is no permanent Australian military presence on Christmas Island, the Royal Australian Navy and Australian Border Force deploy Cape and Armidale -class patrol boats to conduct surveillance and counter-migrant smuggling patrols in adjacent waters. As of 2023,

5120-545: 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. The Christmas Island Immigration Reception and Processing Centre closed in September 2018. The Morrison government announced it would re-open

5248-579: The Jervis Bay Territory) is self-governing with its own independent executive government , legislative branch , and judicial system , while the rest only have local government status overseen by federal departments . State and territory governments may legislate on matters concerning their citizens, subject to the limits of the federal constitution (notably section 51 and section 109 ). Each state and internal territory (except Jervis Bay Territory) has its own legislature , although

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5376-559: The Navy's Armidale -class boats are in the process of being replaced by larger Arafura -class offshore patrol vessels . The airfield on Christmas Island has a 2100m long runway while that on Cocos (West Island, 1,000 km, 620 mi to the west) is 2,400 m (7,900 ft) in length. Both airfields have scheduled jet services, however, the airfield on Cocos is being upgraded by the Australian Defence Force for

5504-901: The North America and West Indies Station), east to the Azores , back to Madeira, and then south to the Cape Verde Islands . During this period, there was a detour in April and May 1873, sailing from Bermuda north to Halifax and back, crossing the Gulf Stream twice with the reverse journey crossing further to the east. After leaving the Cape Verde Islands in August 1873, the expedition initially sailed south-east and then headed west to reach St Paul's Rocks . From here,

5632-604: The Pacific to a point due north of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiʻi), and then turning south, making landfall at the end of July at Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu . A couple of weeks later, in mid-August, the ship departed south-eastward, anchoring at Hilo Bay off Hawaiʻi Island , before continuing to the south and reaching Tahiti in mid-September. The expedition left Tahiti in early October, swinging to

5760-484: The Pacific, past the Juan Fernández Islands, before turning to the south-east and back towards South America, reaching Port Otway in the Gulf of Penas on 31 December 1875. Most of January 1876 was spent navigating around the southern tip of South America, surveying and touching at many of the bays and islands of the Patagonian archipelago, the Strait of Magellan , and Tierra del Fuego . Locations visited here include Hale Cove, Gray Harbour, Port Grappler, Tom Bay, all in

5888-412: The Territory of New Guinea in an "administrative union" with the Territory of Papua, and the combined Territory of Papua and New Guinea was created. However, both territories remained technically distinct for some administrative and legal purposes, until 1975, when the combined entity eventually was given independence as Papua New Guinea. Nauru was previously under the German colonial empire as part of

6016-643: The bulk of the island's capital, there is a strong Anglo-Celtic influence in The Settlement which has contributed to the strong presence of Catholicism. This has been further reinforced by recent Filipino arrivals. In the Poon Saan area, which functions like the island's Chinatown, Buddhism is commonplace. Traditional Cantonese folk practices also are represented in this area. Chinese temples and shrines include seven Buddhist temples (like Guan Yin Monastery (观音寺) at Gaze Road), ten Taoist temples (like Soon Tian Kong (顺天宫) in South Point and Grants Well Guan Di Temple) and shrines dedicated to Na Tuk Kong or Datuk Keramat on

6144-464: 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. As of 20 June 2013, after the interception of four boats in six days, carrying 350 people,

6272-413: The central government. Norfolk Island's status is controversial, with the present (as of 2018 ) government taking measures to integrate the territory into Australia proper (including representation in parliament and compulsory voting). The Norfolk Islanders have not formally consented to this change in constitutional status and assert that they are not Australian. Two internal territories established by

6400-490: The centre in February the following year, after Australia's parliament passed legislation giving sick asylum seekers easier access to mainland hospitals. 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. The evacuees arrived on 3 February. They left 14 days later to their homes on

6528-434: The composition of seawater. Murray and Alphonse François Renard mapped oceanic sediments. Thomson believed, as did many adherents of the then-recent theory of evolution , that the deep sea would be home to " living fossils " long extinct in shallower waters, examples of " missing links ". They believed that the conditions of constant cold temperature, darkness, and lack of currents, waves, or seismic events provided such

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6656-419: The depression, the Challenger Deep , now bears the name of the vessel and its successor, HMS Challenger II , which in 1951 identified a depth of 5,944 fathoms nearby. Thomas Gaskell , the Chief Scientist on HMS Challenger II, observed that the later measurement was not more than 50 miles from the spot where the nineteenth-century Challenger found her deepest depth [...] and it may be thought fitting that

6784-617: The depths, 15 of Challenger 's 17 guns were removed and its spars reduced to make more space available. Laboratories, extra cabins and a special dredging platform were installed. Challenger used mainly sail power during the expedition; the steam engine was used only for dragging the dredge, station-keeping while taking soundings, and entering and leaving ports. It was loaded with specimen jars, filled with alcohol for preservation of samples, microscopes and chemical apparatus, trawls and dredges, thermometers, barometers, water sampling bottles, sounding leads , devices to collect sediment from

6912-402: The end of August and thence arriving at Cape York, at the tip of Australia's Cape York Peninsula . Over the following three months, from September to November 1874, the expedition visited several islands and island groups while sailing from Cape York to China and Hong Kong (then a British colony ). The first part of the route passed north and west over the Arafura Sea , with New Guinea to

7040-429: The end of August. The ship arrived in New Zealand in late June and left in early July. Before reaching Wellington (on New Zealand's North Island), brief stops were made at Port Hardy (on d'Urville Island ) and Queen Charlotte Sound and Challenger passed through the Cook Strait to reach Wellington. The route from Wellington to Tonga went along the east coast of New Zealand's North Island, and then north and east into

7168-429: The end of February, heading first due east and then due north, arriving at Ascension Island at the end of March 1876. The period from early- to mid-April was spent sailing from Ascension Island to the Cape Verde Islands. From here, the route taken in late April and early May 1876 was a westward loop to the north out into the mid-Atlantic, eventually turning due east towards Europe to touch land at Vigo in Spain towards

7296-427: The end of May. The final stage of the voyage took the ship and its crew north-eastward from Vigo, skirting the Bay of Biscay to make landfall in England. Challenger returned to Spithead , Hampshire , on 24 May 1876, having spent 713 days out of the intervening 1,250 at sea. The Royal Society stated the voyage's scientific goals were: One of the goals of the physical measurements for HMS Challenger

7424-472: The expedition departed in early January 1875 to retrace their route south-east towards New Guinea. The first stop on this outward leg of the journey was Manila. From there, they continued on to Samboangan, but took a different route through the interior of the Philippines, this time touching at the island of Zebu . From Samboangan the ship diverged from the inward route, this time passing south of Mindanao—in early-February 1875. Challenger then headed east into

7552-417: 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. 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

7680-676: The federal government. They have their own constitutions , legislatures , executive governments , judiciaries and law enforcement agencies that administer and deliver public policies and programs. Territories can be autonomous and administer local policies and programs much like the states in practice, but are still legally subordinate to the federal government. Australia has six federated states : New South Wales (including Lord Howe Island ), Queensland , South Australia , Tasmania (including Macquarie Island ), Victoria , and Western Australia . Australia also has ten federal territories , out of which three are internal territories :

7808-446: The flora and fauna. 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. 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. Soon afterwards,

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7936-455: 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". At dawn on 31 March 1942,

8064-444: The functions of the head of the Executive – commissioning government, proroguing parliament and enacting legislation – are exercised by the Assembly itself and by the chief minister . Jervis Bay Territory is the only non-self-governing internal territory. Until 1989, it was administered as if it were a part of the ACT, although it has always been a separate territory. Under the terms of the Jervis Bay Territory Acceptance Act 1915 ,

8192-462: The governor will appoint as premier whoever leads the party or coalition which exercises control of the lower house (in the case of Queensland, the only house) of the state parliament. However, in times of constitutional crisis , the governor can appoint someone else as premier. The head of government of the self-governing internal territories is called the "chief minister". The Northern Territory's chief minister, in normal circumstances whoever controls

8320-406: 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. The Australian government provides services through the Christmas Island Administration and the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development. Under

8448-477: The ice regions in March 1874, with the expedition reaching Melbourne in Australia later that month. The journey eastward along the coast from Melbourne to Sydney took place in April 1874, passing by Wilsons Promontory and Cape Howe . When the voyage resumed in June 1874, the route went east from Sydney to Wellington in New Zealand, followed by a large loop north into the Pacific calling at Tonga and Fiji , and then back westward to Cape York in Australia by

8576-417: The instrument traveled. Several of these thermometers would be lowered at various depths for recording. However, this design assumed that the water closer to the surface of the ocean was always warmer than that below. During the voyage, Challenger ' s crew tested the reversing thermometer , which could measure temperature at specified depths. Afterwards, this type of thermometer was used extensively until

8704-406: 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, the final cost was over $ 400 million. In 2007,

8832-426: The island since 1899. The first European to sight the island was Richard Rowe of the Thomas in 1615. Captain William Mynors of the East India Company vessel Royal Mary named the island when he sailed past it on Christmas Day in 1643. 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

8960-474: The island's interests." John William Stokes succeeded Nickels 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

9088-441: The island's population were evacuated to Surabaya prison camps, leaving a 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. 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

9216-450: The island's population. As an external territory of Australia , the two religious festivals which are official holidays are Christmas and Easter . Other non-official festivals include Spring Festival , Chap goh meh , Qingming Festival , Zhong Yuan Festival , and Hari Raya . Christmas Island is a non-self-governing external territory of Australia as of February 2020, part of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories administered by

9344-496: The island. Malays who have settled on the island's edge in their shoreline kampong tend to follow Sunni Islam. The kampong has a mosque but it is in a state of decay and disrepair with rotting timbers and cracks. Other smaller and less geographically concentrated groups include Anglicans who make up 3.6%, Uniting Church adherents who make up 1.2%, other Protestants who make up 1.7%, and other Christian groups with 3.3%. Other religious communities collectively constitute 0.6% of

9472-539: The island. Goos labelled the island "Mony" or "Moni", the meaning of which is unclear. 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. In writing his account, he found the island uninhabited. 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

9600-613: 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 . The Howard government operated the " Pacific Solution " from 2001 to 2007, excising Christmas Island from Australia's migration zone so that asylum seekers on

9728-684: The laws of the ACT apply to the Jervis Bay Territory insofar as they are applicable and providing they are not inconsistent with an ordinance. Although residents of the Jervis Bay Territory are generally subject to laws made by the ACT Legislative Assembly, they are not represented in the assembly. They are represented in the Parliament of Australia as part of the Electoral Division of Fenner (named

9856-651: The legislative assembly, is appointed by the administrator. The term interstate is used within Australia to refer to a number of events, transactions, registrations, travel, etc. which occurs across borders or outside of the particular state or territory of the user of the term. Examples of use include motor vehicle registration, travel, applications to educational institutions out of one's home state. There are very few urban areas bifurcated by state or territory borders. The Queensland-New South Wales border runs through Coolangatta (Queensland) and Tweed Heads (New South Wales) and splits Gold Coast Airport . Oaks Estate ,

9984-403: The mainland. 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. 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

10112-446: The majority of Christmas Islanders were those of Chinese, Malay and Indian origins, the initial permanent settlers. Today, the plurality of residents are Chinese , with significant numbers of European Australians and Malays as well as a smaller Indian community, alongside more recent Filipino arrivals. Since the turn of the 21st century and right up to the present, Europeans have mainly confined themselves to The Settlement, where there

10240-475: The material brought back from the expedition including the paleontologist Gabriel Warton Lee . George Albert Boulenger , herpetologist at the Natural History Museum, named a species of lizard, Saproscincus challengeri , after Challenger . Before the Challenger expedition, oceanography had been mainly speculative. As the first true oceanographic cruise, the Challenger expedition laid

10368-517: The members standing for election. As of 2024 women held one of the nine seats in the Christmas Island Shire Council . Its second president was Lillian Oh , from 1993 to 1995. The most recent local election took place on 21 October 2023 alongside elections in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Christmas Island residents who are Australian citizens vote in Australian federal elections . Christmas Island residents are represented in

10496-465: 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. The volcanic island is the flat summit of an underwater mountain more than 4,500 metres (14,800 ft) high, which rises from about 4,200 m (13,780 ft) below the sea and only about 300 m (984 ft) above it. The mountain

10624-480: The new Commonwealth of Australia. The two territory governments (the Australian Capital Territory [ACT] and the Northern Territory [NT]), were created by legislation of the Federal Parliament—the NT in 1978 and the ACT in 1988. The legislative powers of the states are protected by the Australian constitution , section 107, and under the principle of federalism , Commonwealth legislation only applies to

10752-608: The newly independent government of India, their sentences were reduced to penal servitude for life . The United Kingdom transferred sovereignty of Christmas Island to Australia at the latter's request, with a $ 20 million payment from the Australian government to Singapore as compensation for the loss of earnings from the phosphate revenue. The United Kingdom's Christmas Island Act was given royal assent on 14 May 1958 by Queen Elizabeth II, enabling Britain to transfer authority over Christmas Island from Singapore to Australia by an order-in-council. Australia's Christmas Island Act

10880-670: The north-east and the Australian mainland to the south-west. The first islands visited were the Aru Islands , followed by the nearby Kai Islands . The ship then crossed the Banda Sea touching at the Banda Islands , to reach Amboina ( Ambon Island ) in October 1874, and then continuing to Ternate Island . At the time, all these islands were part of Netherlands East-Indies and are since 1949 part of Indonesia . From Ternate,

11008-745: The officers was Thomas Henry Tizard , who had carried out important hydrographic observations on previous voyages. Though he was not among the civilian scientific staff, Tizard would later help write the official account of the expedition, and also become a Fellow of the Royal Society . The original ship's complement included 21 officers and around 216 crew members. By the end of the voyage, this had been reduced to 144 due to deaths, desertions, personnel being left ashore due to illness, and planned departures. Challenger reached Hong Kong in December 1874, at which point Nares and Aldrich left

11136-647: The older beds. Reefs near the islands have healthy coral and are home to several rare species of marine life. The region, along with the Cocos (Keeling) Islands reefs, have been described as "Australia's Galapagos Islands ". In the 2021 budget the Australian Government committed $ A39.1M to create two new marine parks off Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The parks will cover up to 740,000 square kilometres (290,000 sq mi) of Australian waters. After months of consultation with local people, both parks were approved in March 2022, with

11264-712: The open Pacific, passing by the Kermadec Islands en route to Tongatabu , the main island of the Tonga archipelago (then known as the Friendly Islands). The waters around the Fijian islands, a short distance to the north-west of Tonga, were surveyed during late July and early August 1874. The ship's course was then set westward, reaching Raine Island —on the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef —at

11392-790: The open sea, before turning to the south-east and making landfall at Humboldt Bay (now Yos Sudarso Bay ) on the north coast of New Guinea. By March 1875, the expedition had reached the Admiralty Islands north-east of New Guinea. The final stage of the voyage on this side of the Pacific was a long journey across the open ocean to the north, passing mostly west of the Caroline Islands and the Mariana Islands , reaching port in Yokohama , Japan, in April 1875. Challenger departed Japan in mid-June 1875, heading east across

11520-480: The population declared a Chinese ancestry in 2021), 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. Religious beliefs vary geographically; the Anglo-Celtic influence in the capital known simply as The Settlement means it is closely tied to Catholicism, whereas in

11648-421: 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. In contrast, the 2021 figures for the whole of Australia were 50.7% female, 49.3% male. Since 1998 there has been no provision for childbirth on the island; expectant mothers travel to mainland Australia approximately one month before their expected due date to give birth. Historically,

11776-537: The population was of Indonesian origin. As of 2021, most are people born in Christmas Island and many are of Chinese and Malay origin. 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). Additionally, there are small local populations of Malaysian Indians and Indonesians. The 2016 Australian census recorded that

11904-530: The publication, described the report as "the greatest advance in the knowledge of our planet since the celebrated discoveries of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries". The report is available online as the Report of the Voyage of HMS Challenger . Challenger sailed close to Antarctica , but not within sight of it. However, it was the first scientific expedition to take pictures of icebergs. To enable it to probe

12032-418: The purpose of acting as a forward operating base for Australian surveillance and electronic warfare aircraft in the region. States and territories of Australia#External territories The states and territories are the second level of government of Australia . The states are partially sovereign , administrative divisions that are self-governing polities , having ceded some sovereign rights to

12160-470: The retrieval of a dredge or trawl, Challenger crew would sort, rinse, and store the specimens for examination upon return. The specimens were often preserved in either brine or alcohol. The primary thermometer used throughout the Challenger expedition was the Miller–Casella thermometer , which contained two markers within a curved mercury tube to record the maximum and minimum temperature through which

12288-696: The route went north-westward towards the Philippines, passing east of Celebes ( Sulawesi ) into the Celebes Sea . The expedition called at Samboangan ( Zamboanga ) on Mindanao, and then Iloilo on the island of Panay, before navigating within the interior of the archipelago en route to the bay and harbour of Manila on the island of Luzon. The crossing north-westward from Manila to Hong Kong took place in November 1874. After several weeks in Hong Kong,

12416-564: The route went south across the equator to Fernando de Noronha during September 1873, and onwards that same month to Bahia (now called Salvador) in Brazil. The period from September to October 1873 was spent crossing the Atlantic from Bahia to the Cape of Good Hope , touching at Tristan da Cunha on the way. December 1873 to February 1874 was spent sailing on a roughly south-eastern track from

12544-541: The scientific supervision of Thomson himself, the ship traveled approximately 68,890 nautical miles (79,280 miles; 127,580 kilometres) surveying and exploring. The result was the Report of the Scientific Results of the Exploring Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–76 which, among many other discoveries, catalogued over 4,000 previously unknown species. John Murray, who supervised

12672-575: The sea bed and great lengths of rope with which to suspend the equipment into the ocean depths. Because of the novelty of the expedition, some of the equipment was invented or specially modified for the occasion. It carried 181 miles (291 km) of Italian hemp rope for sounding . On its landmark journey circumnavigating the globe, 492 deep sea soundings, 133 bottom dredges, 151 open water trawls and 263 serial water temperature observations were taken. About 4,700 new species of marine life were discovered. The scientific work

12800-467: The sea bottoms, which was purported to be the link between non-living matter and living cells. The net effect was a setback for the proponents of evolution. On 23 March 1875, at sample station number 225 located in the southwest Pacific Ocean between Guam and Palau, the crew recorded a sounding of 4,475 fathoms (26,850 ft; 8,184 m), which was confirmed by a second sounding. As shown by later expeditions using modern equipment, this area represents

12928-562: The second half of the 20th century. After the return of the Challenger, C.W. Thomson asked Peter Tait to solve a thorny and important question: to evaluate the error in the measurement of the temperature of deep waters caused by the high pressures to which the thermometers were subjected. Tait solved this question and continued his work with a more fundamental study on the compressibility of liquids leading to his famous Tait equation . William Dittmar of Glasgow University established

13056-676: The ship from Portsmouth (December 1872) south to Lisbon (January 1873) and then on to Gibraltar . The next stops were Madeira and the Canary Islands (both February 1873). The period from February to July 1873 was spent crossing the Atlantic westwards from the Canary Islands to the Virgin Islands , then heading north to the North Atlantic archipelago and Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda (home base of

13184-554: The ship to take part in the British Arctic Expedition . The new captain was Frank Tourle Thomson. The second-in-command, and the most senior officer present throughout the entire expedition, was Commander John Maclear . Willemoes-Suhm died and was buried at sea on the voyage to Tahiti . Lords Campbell and Balfour left the ship in Valparaiso, Chile, after being promoted. The first leg of the expedition took

13312-470: The southern end of the Mariana Trench and is one of the deepest known places on the ocean floor. Modern soundings to 6,012 fathoms (36,070 ft; 10,994 m) have since been found near the site of the Challenger ' s original sounding. Challenger ' s discovery of this depth was a key finding of the expedition in broadening oceanographic knowledge about the ocean's depth and extent;

13440-729: The states where permitted by the constitution. The territories, by contrast, are from a constitutional perspective directly subject to the Commonwealth government ; laws for territories are determined by the Australian Parliament. Most of the territories are directly administered by the Commonwealth government, while two (the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory) have some degree of self-government although less than that of

13568-412: The states. In the self-governing territories, the Australian Parliament retains the full power to legislate, and can override laws made by the territorial institutions, which it has done on rare occasions. For the purposes of Australian (and joint Australia-New Zealand) intergovernmental bodies, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are treated as if they were states. Each state has

13696-468: The summit of the plateau, but they failed to find a route up the inland cliff and were forced to turn back. During the 1872–1876 Challenger expedition to Indonesia, naturalist John Murray carried out extensive surveys. 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

13824-550: 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

13952-401: The three self-governing territories, the ACT, the Northern Territory, and Norfolk Island, each have unicameral legislative assemblies. The legislative assembly for the ACT is the only parliament with responsibility for both state/territory and local government functions. The head of government of each state is called the "premier", appointed by the state's governor. In normal circumstances,

14080-568: The time, the American Matthew Fontaine Maury . All these results of physical measurements were synthesized by John James Wild (i.e. the expedition's secretary-artist) in his doctoral thesis at the University of Zurich. A second important issue concerning the collection of different kinds of physical data on the ocean floor was the laying of submarine telegraph cables. Many transoceanic cables were being laid in

14208-696: The vicinity of Wellington Island ; Puerta Bueno, near Hanover Island ; Isthmus Bay, near the Queen Adelaide Archipelago ; and Port Churruca, near Santa Ines Island . The final stops, before heading out into the Atlantic, were Port Famine , Sandy Point , and Elizabeth Island. Challenger reached the Falkland Islands towards the end of January, calling at Port Stanley and then continuing northward, reaching Montevideo in Uruguay in mid-February 1876. The ship left Montevideo at

14336-656: The west and south of the Tubuai Islands and then heading to the south-east before turning east towards the South American coast. The route touched at the Juan Fernández Islands in mid-November 1875, with Challenger reaching the port of Valparaiso in Chile a few days later. The next stage of the journey commenced the following month, with the route taking the ship south-westward back out into

14464-816: The west coast, at "the Dales ". Two of his crewmen became the first Europeans to set foot on Christmas Island. 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 . The first attempt at exploring the island was made in 1857 by Captain Sidney Grenfell of the frigate HMS  Amethyst . An expedition crew were sent ashore with instructions to reach

14592-433: The wet season, bringing very strong winds, heavy rain, wave action, and storm surge . ancestry of Christmas Island' (2021) As of the 2021 Australian census , the population of Christmas Island is 1,692. 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

14720-400: 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

14848-573: Was a scientific programme that made many discoveries to lay the foundation of oceanography . The expedition was named after the naval vessel that undertook the trip, HMS  Challenger . The expedition, initiated by William Benjamin Carpenter , was placed under the scientific supervision of Sir Charles Wyville Thomson —of the University of Edinburgh and Merchiston Castle School —assisted by five other scientists, including Sir John Murray ,

14976-527: Was a target for Japanese occupation because of its rich phosphate deposits. A naval gun was installed under a British officer, four non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and 27 Indian soldiers. The first attack was carried out on 20 January 1942 by the Japanese submarine  I-59 , which torpedoed the Norwegian freighter Eidsvold . The vessel drifted and eventually sank off West White Beach. Most of

15104-475: Was accepted by Australia in 1934 and was annexed to the Northern Territory prior to adoption of the Statute of Westminster in 1942, deemed effective from 1939; it has thus become part of Australia. Each external territory is regulated by an Act of the federal Parliament. These Acts contain the majority of provisions determining the legal and political structure applying in that external territory. Under s 122 of

15232-517: Was appointed the first official representative of the new territory. 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

15360-521: Was built in the 1970s, with aluminium-clad houses that were supposed to be cyclone -proof. 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. From the late 1980s and early 1990s, boats carrying asylum seekers , mainly departing from Indonesia, began landing on

15488-455: Was conducted by Wyville Thomson , John Murray , John Young Buchanan , Henry Nottidge Moseley , and Rudolf von Willemoes-Suhm . Frank Evers Bed was appointed prosector . The official expedition artist was John James Wild . As well as Nares and Maclear, others that were part of the naval crew included Pelham Aldrich , George Granville Campbell, and Andrew Francis Balfour (one of the sons of Scottish botanist John Hutton Balfour ). Also among

15616-535: Was first settled in the late 19th century. 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. The majority (63%) 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

15744-423: Was founded in 1788 and originally comprised much of the Australian mainland, as well as Lord Howe Island , New Zealand , Norfolk Island , and Van Diemen's Land , in addition to the area currently referred to as the state of New South Wales. During the 19th century, large areas were successively separated to form the Colony of Tasmania (initially established as a separate colony named Van Diemen's Land in 1825),

15872-490: 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 . 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

16000-577: Was over 29,500 pages in length. Specimens brought back by Challenger were distributed to the world's foremost experts for examination, which greatly increased the expenses and time required to finalize the report. The report and specimens were displayed at the British Natural History Museum from January to July, 2023. Some specimens, many of which were the first discovered of their kind, are still examined by scientists today. A large number of scientists worked on categorizing

16128-694: Was passed in September ;1958, and the island was officially placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 October 1958. This transfer did not see any process involving the local population, who could remain Singaporean citizens or obtain Australian citizenship. Links between Singapore and Christmas Island have occasionally reemerged in Singaporean politics and in Australia–Singapore relations . Under Commonwealth Cabinet Decision 1573 of 9 September 1958, D.E. Nickels

16256-399: 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. Isolated acts of sabotage and the torpedoing of the cargo ship Nissei Maru at the wharf on 17 November 1942 meant that only small amounts of phosphate were exported to Japan during the occupation. In November 1943, over 60% of

16384-467: Was to be able to verify the hypothesis put forward by Carpenter on the link between temperature mapping and global ocean circulation in order to provide some answers on the phenomena involved in the major oceanic mixing. This study is a continuation of the preliminary exploratory missions of HMS Lightning (1823) and HMS Porcupine (1844) . These results are important for Carpenter because his explanation differed from that of another renowned oceanographer at

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