Cocos (Keeling) Islands

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands are far out in the Indian Ocean.

There are two rings of coral islands. Palm trees grow on them.

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands lie in the eastern Indian Ocean, about 3,685 kilometers west of Darwin, Australia, and about 900 kilometers southwest of Christmas Island. They are made of two coral atolls. The southern atoll has 26 islets around a lagoon, and the northern one is a single island, North Keeling.

The islands are an external territory of Australia, and an administrator is appointed by Australia's governor-general. The administrative headquarters is on West Island, and people pay with the Australian dollar.

Britannica places the territory 3,685 km west of Darwin and about 900 km southwest of Christmas Island: two coral atolls, the southern with 26 islets and the northern containing only North Keeling Island, 14 km² of land in all. The administrative headquarters is on West Island.

The islands became an Australian territory under the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act 1955. An administrator appointed by the governor-general is the senior official; the Territories Law Reform Act 1992 applied Western Australia's legal structure and created a Shire Council for most local services, and islanders vote in the federal electorate of Lingiari.

Most people live on Home Island.

West Island has the airport and long white beaches.

The southern atoll's main islands are West Island, the largest at about 10 kilometers long, and South, Home, Direction and Horsburgh islands, around South Lagoon. At the 2021 census, 432 people lived on Home Island and 147 on West Island.

The photo shows a beach on West Island at sunset, with palm trees, gentle waves and a pink and purple sky. Flights link the islands with Perth and with Christmas Island.

West Island, 10 km long, is the largest island in the territory; the other main South Keeling islands are South, Home, Direction and Horsburgh, around South Lagoon. The 2021 census counted 432 people on Home Island (Bantam Village) and 147 on West Island; Britannica describes West Island's residents as mostly mainland-recruited staff of the territory administration and their families.

An airstrip built on West Island in 1945 served flights between Perth and Johannesburg until 1967; regular passenger flights now connect the islands with Perth and Christmas Island. The photo shows a West Island beach at sunset.

The islands are very low, just a little above the sea.

The lagoon water is clear and blue. Most of the plants are coconut palms.

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands are made of coral, and the land is very low: the highest point is only about 6 meters above sea level. It is warm and humid, from 25 to 29 °C, and about 1,970 millimeters of rain falls in a year. Cyclones sometimes strike early in the year.

Most of the plants are coconut palms. In 1836 the English naturalist Charles Darwin studied the islands' coral reefs.

Britannica describes low coral islands rising only about 6 m above sea level, with North Keeling about 24 km north of South Lagoon. The climate is warm and humid (25 to 29 °C) with about 1,970 mm of rain a year; destructive cyclones may strike early in the year, and earthquakes occur periodically.

Vegetation is chiefly coconut palms, formerly cultivated for copra on plantations, with coarse grass on North Keeling and Horsburgh. Charles Darwin made observations of the coral reefs here in 1836, and meteorological reports from the islands help forecast weather for a large area of the Indian Ocean.

Tens of thousands of seabirds nest on North Keeling Island.

Land crabs scuttle across the sand.

There are no native mammals on the islands, but seabirds and land crabs are plentiful. North Keeling Island and the waters around it became Pulu Keeling National Park in 1995. Tens of thousands of seabirds breed there, including one of the most important colonies of boobies in the world.

Parks Australia says the land of the park belongs to the Cocos Malay people, but the seabirds are its real rulers. The park is hard to reach, and its reefs and sea life are thriving.

Britannica notes there are no indigenous mammals, while seabirds and land crabs abound. North Keeling Island and its surrounding waters were designated Pulu Keeling National Park in 1995 for rare ecosystems, including an intact coral atoll environment, and a notable seabird breeding ground.

Parks Australia describes tens of thousands of breeding seabirds on North Keeling, including one of the most important booby colonies on Earth, reefs surrounding a thriving marine ecosystem, and land that belongs to the Cocos Malay people. The park is untouched and difficult to reach.

Most people on the islands are Cocos Malays.

They speak a kind of Malay. Many families live on Home Island.

Most islanders are Cocos Malays, descendants of plantation workers, mostly of Malay origin, who were brought to the islands from 1827. Most speak a dialect of Malay, and at the 2021 census more people spoke a language other than English at home than spoke English.

In the 1950s many Cocos Islanders moved to mainland Australia, mostly to Western Australia, because the islands had become crowded. In 1984 the islanders voted to join fully with Australia.

Britannica describes the inhabitants as predominantly descendants of the original plantation workers, mostly of Malay origin, brought by the Scotsman John Clunies-Ross in 1827 to 1831; most Cocos Malays speak a dialect of Malay and are Muslim. At the 2021 census, 381 residents spoke a language other than English at home and 113 English.

Many Cocos Islanders moved to the mainland in the mid-1950s because of overcrowding, settling mainly in Western Australia. In 1979 Home Island residents set up the Cocos Islands Council, and in a 1984 referendum they voted for full integration with Australia. The ABS estimated 603 residents in June 2021; the census that August counted 593.