HISTORY OF THE ISLANDS

1609 - discovery of the islands is generally attributed to Captain William Keeling during one of his homeward voyages from Java to England, although he did not record it in his journals.

1805 - the British hydrographer, James Horsburgh, called them the Cocos-Keeling Islands in his sailing directory and named one of the islands after himself.

1825 - Captain John Clunies-Ross, a Scottish trader, sailing the Borneo for the Trading House of Hare made a brief landing on the islands on his homeward voyage from the East Indies. He had orders to investigate Christmas Island on Alexander Hare's behalf as a possible site for a settlement. Bad weather prevented these plans and he surveyed the Cocos-Keeling Islands instead.

1826 - the first settlement was established on the islands by Alexander Hare. Clunies-Ross delivered him and approximately 100 other people to the islands in May. Hare set up a settlement on Home Island and subsidiary camps on most of the other larger islands.

1827 - Captain John Clunies-Ross returned to the islands with his family and a small party of servants, seamen and tradesmen. Relations between Clunies-Ross and Hare became strained.

1829 - the total population of the atoll was 175, with 20 Europeans and 155 people from the Indies, New Guinea and the Cape.

1831 - John Clunies-Ross was in sole possession of the islands as Hare had departed following disagreements with Clunies-Ross and financial trouble in the House of Hare company. Hare never returned to the islands.

1834 - John Clunies-Ross moved his small group to Home Island, assumed control over the remnants of Hare's people and turned his attention to planting out coconut palms and teaching the islanders shipbuilding. A schooner called the Harriet was built on South Island and launched in 1835.

1836 - Charles Darwin, aboard the HMS Beagle, visited the islands on his round the world voyage. They were the only atolls he visited and from which he formed his theory of atoll formation.

1837 - John Clunies-Ross had succeeded in recovering his investment, trading in coconuts, coconut oil and copra, mainly in Java. his increasing prosperity was boosted by the visits of whaling ships on their return trips from the Southern Ocean. The crews from these ships played havoc in the Cocos community however, and Clunies-Ross sought help from the authorities in Ceylon. HM Sloop Pelorus visited in December. The problems were solved, a code of law and order established and better pay and conditions for the Cocos workers secured.

1841 - Captain Clunies-Ross's eldest son, John George, married to a Javanese girl named Supia Dupong, returned to Cocos.

1842 - Captain Clunies-Ross's brother, James arrived to settle on the islands.

1845 - Captain John Clunies-Ross died and John George assumed control of the settlement and his father's debts.

1857 - in a bureaucratic blunder, the islands were annexed to Britain. The annexation made J.G. Clunies-Ross a Governor under the Crown and responsible for the conduct of the colony. The settlers began in earnest to develop the islands' coconut plantations.

1862 - a disastrous cyclone struck the islands and Clunies-Ross' eldest son, George, was recalled from studies in England to assist in running the estate.

1871 - John George Clunies-Ross died and his son, George, assumed control of the estate.

1878 - Responsibility for administration of the islands was given to the British governor of Ceylon.

1886 - Queen Victoria granted all of the islands to George Clunies-Ross in perpetuity. The Straits Settlements acted in a supervisory capacity.

1901 - A telegraphy relay station was established on Direction Island. Up until this time the islanders rarely saw people form the outside world. The islands became a vital link in world communications.

1910 - George Clunies-Ross died and his son, John Sydney, assumed control of the settlement.

1914 - November 14, the German light cruiser, SMS Emden, was scuttled on North Keeling following a sea battle with the HMAS Sydney 1 in the waters off the islands. Survivors were picked up but some perished on North Keeling trying to evade rescuers. This battle was Australia's first naval victory.

SMS Emden	Remains of SMS Emden	HMAS Sydney I
image courtesy of HMAS Sydney Assoc.	image courtesy of "Greenie" Thorn	image courtesy of HMAS Sydney Assoc.

1941 - The advent of World War II shattered the tranquility. The Ceylon Garrison arrived to set up and man cannons on Horsburgh Island to protect the Telegraph.

1944 - Sydney Clunies-Ross died and the islands were placed under the control of a series of military administrators.

1945 - The population swells to 10,000 as the islands became a base for military operations.

The railway line	A group of soldiers	Christmas Day 1945
images courtesy of Mr Thomas Diston - U.K.

1946 - Mrs Sydney Clunies-Ross and her son John Cecil return to the islands to run the estate.

1955 - The Islands were formally detached from the British Colony of Singapore and accepted by Australia as a Territory.

1978 - The Australian Government negotiated the purchase of the islands from John Cecil Clunies-Ross. This excluded the family home and grounds on Home Island.

1979 - A local council was established and a workers co-operative set up to look after the islander's business interests.

1984 - The Cocos Malay people voted overwhelmingly in favour of political, social and economic integration with Australia. Most of the land was vested in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Shire Council.

1987 - The Cocos copra industry was declared to be unprofitable, and the islanders were forced to seek diversification of their limited economic base.

1993 - The Cocos (Keeling) Islands Shire Council voted to lease North Keeling Island to the Australian Government for the creation of a National Park.

1995 - Pulu Keeling National Park was proclaimed. The Park is managed by Parks Australia in concert with the local community.

2004 - November 11th was the 90th anniversary of the sinking of the notorious German Raider, the SMS Emden by Australia's HMAS Sydney I. The sinking of the Emden was Australia's first Naval victory. A plaque, kindly donated by the HMAS Sydney Association, will be mounted to a plinth and displayed on Direction Island.

2005 - June 27th marks the 60th anniversary of the crash of the Catalina JX435 in the Cocos lagoon. 9 persons out of the crew of 14 died as a result of the crash. The crew was a mixture of Canadian and British RAF personnel.

For more detailed information on the history of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, please visit:
www.cocos-history.cc