The Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Cocos Islands Malay: Pulu Kokos [Keeling]), officially the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands (/ˈkoʊkəs/;Cocos Islands Malay: Pulu Kokos [Keeling]), are an Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean, comprising a small archipelago approximately midway between Australia and Sri Lanka and relatively close to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The territory's dual name (official since the islands' incorporation into Australia in 1955) reflects that the islands have historically been known as either the Cocos Islands or the Keeling Islands.
Cocos (Keeling) Islands/Pulu Kokos (Keeling) (Cocos Islands Malay)/Wilayah Kepulauan Cocos (Keeling) (Malay)
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 A$6,250,000, 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 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.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. 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. 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.
The airstrip on West Island has an airstrip that is more than two kilometres 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. 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.
Indigenous status
Descendants of the Cocos Malays brought to the islands from the Malay Peninsula, the Indonesian archipelago, Southern Africa and New Guinea by Hare and by Clunies-Ross as indentured workers, slaves or convicts are as of 2019 seeking recognition from the Australian government to be acknowledged as Indigenous Australians.
"Cocos, Cocos Islands!"
Lyrics: adopted 2024
Islands prized as pearls in the Ocean.
To see the beauty is over any notion.
Here each one´s heart feels the same,
as under our Sun is one name :
Cocos, Cocos Islands ! The lovely times at thy tides
Welcomed is who with a right comes
happy is here who loves
Here each one´s heart feels the same,
as under our Sun is one name :
Cocos, Cocos Islands ! Prized land of happy smiles.
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