History
DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT
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| This sketch of Christmas Island was made in 1714 by Captain Daniel Beekman. The view shown is looking from the South West towards Smithson Bight. Photo from publication "Where We Live" and by courtesy of Natural History Museum, London. |
For centuries, Christmas Island's isolation and rugged coasts provided natural barriers to settlement. British and Dutch navigators first included the island on their charts from the early seventeenth century, and Captain William Mynors of the East India Ship Company vessel, the Royal Mary, named the island when he arrived on Christmas Day, 25th December, 1643. He was unable to land, however, and it was not until 1688, when the English buccaneering ship Cygnet arrived under Captain Swan, that the first recorded landing took place.
In his New Voyage around the World (1699), Dampier, who was second mate or master's mate, recounted how crewmen landed on the west coast (probably at The Dales) and brought back on board large Robber Crabs (Birgus latro) to eat and wood for a pump. This was the first recorded landing on Christmas Island. During the 1872-76 HMS 'Challenger' oceanographic expedition around the world, naturalist Dr John Murray collected many mineral specimens, including some from the sea-bed adjoining the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia). He predicted that phosphate deposits would be found on an island in the area. British Navy landings on Christmas Island in 1887 confirmed his prediction, and, at his urging, Britain annexed the Island on 6 June 1888.
In November 1888 George Clunies-Ross, owner of the
Cocos (Keeling) Islands some 900 kilometres to the south west, sent his
brother Andrew and a small party of Cocos Malay workers to form a settlement
at Flying Fish Cove to pre-empt any other claim to the Island's resources.
Timber was exported to Cocos and experimental planting took place - none
of it successful.
Sources:
William Dampier: A New Voyage around the World (1699)
H L Burstyn: 'Science Pays Off: Sir John Murray and the Christmas Island
Phosphate Industry' 1886-1914. Social Studies of Science 1975
Public Record Office, England Colonial Office Correspondence/Straits Settlements.
PHOSPHATE MINING
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1932 - Christmas Island Manager, between two Sikh Jagars or watchmen in the Settlement area next to a sentry box. Sikhs were employed as watchmen from the turn of the century. In 1932 there were still 5 of 6 of them. Photo from publication "Christmas Island - the Early Years - 1888 - 1958". |
Murray in England and George Clunies-Ross on Cocos
became rivals for control of the phosphate deposits. The British Government
offered them a joint 99 year lease in return for a small royalty. Exploration
by the Clunies-Rosses showed that the deposits were enormous, and samples
sent to England proved to be of high quality. In 1897 the rival claimants
were induced to form the Christmas Island Phosphate Company and the lease
was transferred to this commercial body. In 1899 Andrew Clunies-Ross and
his party returned to Cocos just as the first imported labour arrived. Chinese
coolie labour and a small number of Malays and Sikhs operated under European
supervision. The first commercial exports of phosphate were sent to Japan
and Germany in January 1900. By 1901 the Island population had taken shape:
640 Chinese, a dozen Sikh policemen, 20 Malay boatmen and pony-handlers,
a British CIP Co Island Manager, engineers and trade supervisors and a Chinese-speaking
British District Officer from the Straits Settlements with a clerk/interpreter.
The rush to take advantage of high world phosphate prices led the Company
to cut corners, and a serious outbreak of beri-beri, caused by vitamin deficiency,
led to almost 550 deaths from the disease, almost all coolies, in the period
1900-04. Conditions were eventually improved and the mining operation began
to flourish in the period up till the First World War, with Japan the biggest
customer.
Sources:
Public Record Office, England Colonial Office Correspondence/Straits Settlements
John Hunt: 'Reaction to Mistreatment of Chinese Coolie on Christmas Island
1900-04' Litt, B thesis, ANU 1982
WORLD WAR II
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1930 - Flying Fish Cove & the "Islander" jetty. Also known pre-war as "Japanese Pier" (because Japan was the Island's best phosphate customer). The Japanese phosphate vessel, the Nissei Maru", was torpedoed here in 1942 by an allied submarine. |
From the outbreak of war in South East Asia in December
1941, Christmas Island was a target for Japanese occupation because of its
rich phosphate deposits. A naval gun was installed under a British officer
and four NCOs supported by Indian soldiers. The first attack was by a Japanese
submarine that torpedoed a Norwegian vessel, the Eidsvold, loading phosphate
in Flying Fish Cove. This was on 21 January 1942. The vessel drifted and
eventually sank off West White Beach. 50 European and Asian staff and their
families were evacuated to Perth. In late February and early March 1942,
two aerial bombing raids and shelling from the sea led the District Officer
to hoist the white flag. After the Japanese naval group sailed away the
British officer raised the Union Jack once more. During the night of 10-11
March, a mutiny of the Indian troops, abetted by the Sikh policemen, led
to the murder of the five British soldiers and the imprisonment of the remaining
21 Europeans. On 31 March a Japanese fleet of 9 vessels arrived and the
Island was surrendered. A naval brigade, phosphate engineers and 700 marines
came ashore and rounded up the workforce, most of whom had fled to the jungle.
Sabotaged equipment was repaired and preparations were made to resume the
mining and export of phosphate.
Isolated acts of sabotage and the torpedoing of the 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 the Island's
population was evacuated to Surabayan prison camps, leaving of total population
of just under 500 Chinese and Malays and 15 Japanese to survive as best
they could. In October 1945 HMS Rother reoccupied Christmas Island.
Sources:
Public Record Office, England War Office and Colonial Office Correspondence/Straits
Settlements
J. Pettigrew: 'Christmas Island in World War II ' Australian Territories
January 1962
Interviews conduced by J G Hunt with Island residents, 1973-77
Correspondence J G Hunt with former Island residents, 1973-79
SOVEREIGNTY
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Part of the Settlement in the early 1950's The police Station and the Barracks are still here today. Photo from the Publication "Where we live". |
The Christmas Island Phosphate Company found it difficult
to re-establish their operations at the profitable pre-war levels. Australia
and New Zealand had become their biggest customers, and on 31 August 1948
their Governments entered into an Agreement to purchase the Company and
all its assets. This was given effect by the Christmas Island Agreement
Act of 1949. The two Governments employed the British Phosphate Commissioners
(BPC), who already mined Ocean Island and Nauru, as their managing agents
to run the Christmas Island operation. A massive expansion of infrastructure
capacity followed; recruitment of labour from Singapore, Malaya and the
Cocos (Keeling) Islands expanded the population; and increasingly the supervisory
staff were recruited from Australia. The Island was administered as part
of the Colony of Singapore, with a resident District Officer and staff.
The United Kingdom had embarked on a de-colonisation process in the period
following the Second World War, and the Australian Government expressed
interest in acquiring Christmas Island from the UK, just as it had acquired
the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in 1955. Agreement was reached, and on 1 January
1958, Christmas Island was excised from the Colony of Singapore and made
a separate Crown Colony. The Second Reading Speech in the Australian Parliament
on 30 September 1958 for the Christmas Island Agreement Bill included the
following: "The principal item in this connexion is the ex gratia payment
of approximately 2,800,000 pounds to the Singapore Government to compensate
for the loss of revenue from royalties and rent, which were applied to Singapore
when the island was a British Colony." On 1 October of the same year,
sovereignty was transferred from the UK to the Commonwealth of Australia.
1 October is still celebrated as Territory Day. The Christmas Island Act
1958 provides the basis of the Territory's administration, and an Administrator,
appointed by the Governor-General of Australia, resides on the Island.
Sources:
Public Record Office, England Colonial Office Correspondence/Colony of Singapore
Australian Archives: Department of Territories Correspondence
Parliamentary Debates, Commonwealth of Australia 1948-58 (especially 30/9/58
pages 1753-4)
Christmas Island Annual Report 1985-86 AGPS page 4
Barrie Macdonald and Maslyn Williams: The Phosphateers 1985 pp 440-443
MODERN MINING AND CONSERVATION
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1978 - Mined areas at Ross Hill Garden, an example of the degree to which minefield were cleared and an illustration of the challenge facing forest rehabilitation programmes undertaken by the Chrismas Island Phosphate Company and Parks Australia. |
Dramatic social and political changes occurred in the 1970's with the unionisation of the mine workers. The Union of Christmas Island Workers, "The Union", remains a strong force in island politics today, and, in conjunction with the Sweetland Enquiries of 1980 and 1982, has been responsible for dramatic improvements in living and working conditions. Also in the 1970's, conflicts between conservation and mining interests led to the company appointing a conservation officer in 1974. This was followed in 1977 by the appointment of a Government Conservator from the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service. In 1980, a National Park was declared in the Egeria Point area. The National Park now covers over 63% of the island. Around this time, Australia and New Zealand Governments re-negotiated their agreement for provision of phosphate to the two countries. As part of this process, the British Phosphate Commissioners relinquished the management of the mine to the newly formed Phosphate Mining Company of Christmas Island (PMCI). As deposits of preferred quality phosphate neared exhaustion, the mining operation faced economic constraints and probable closure. Initial steps in this direction were two generous redundancy schemes in 1984 and 1986.The Government created the Christmas Island Services Corporation to relieve the mining operation of community services such as housing, domestic roads, street lighting, swimming pools and cinemas. 1984 also saw the benefits of Australian Citizenship extended to the island in the form of social service benefits and voting in Commonwealth elections. Taxation was also introduced. The effects of drought and low phosphate prices led to a Government decision to close the mine in December 1987.
Historical account to 1958 by J G Hunt - John.Hunt@dotars.gov.au