Direction Island
| Direction Island | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Waters | Indian Ocean | |
| Archipelago | Coconut islands | |
| Geographical location | 12 ° 5 '31 " S , 96 ° 53' 5" E | |
|
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| surface | 34 ha | |
| Residents | uninhabited | |
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Direction Island , also called Pulau Tikus , is an island in the atoll of the South Keeling Islands , part of the Cocos Islands of Australia . The island is located 28 km southeast of North Keeling , about 2,930 km northwest of Perth , 3,690 km west of Darwin , 960 km southwest of Christmas Island and more than 1,000 km southwest of Java and Sumatra . It was of strategic importance in the First and Second World Wars , as a telecommunications cable and radio station was located on it.
meaning
The cable station connected Australia with other continents. The cables were laid in the Indian Ocean in 1901 and connected South Africa via Mauritius with Cottesloe Town in Western Australia. The station's cables also went to Jakarta and Darwin .
There was a radio and rescue station on the island. The shape and manufacture of the two buildings, believed to have been prefabricated in Australia, is historically significant. Therefore, they were listed in 2004. Five modern bungalows, constructed for the local weather conditions and prefabricated in Australia, had been set up along the lagoon coast. All buildings on the island were dismantled after the station closed in 1966 and transported to West Island . The radio and rescue station buildings have been erected at the south end of the west side of the island airport.
Armed conflicts
The light cruiser SMS Emden planned during the First World War on November 9, 1914, a meeting with the supply ship Buresk in Direction Iceland , and also the located on the island of cable telecommunications station should be turned off. A command of 50 men occupied the station, which had previously made an emergency call, whereupon the light cruiser HMAS Sydney hurried up. The Sydney was superior to the Emden because of her armament, hit her hard and the captain had to set her aground off North Keeling .
Some of the German soldiers who held Direction Island under the command of Hellmuth von Mücke fled with the old three-masted schooner Aysha , which was anchored off the island .
During the Second World War, a unit of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery was to act as an advanced post on the offshore Horsburgh Island to repel Japanese attacks on the telecommunications cable station. The Ceylonese unit stationed there became known for their Cocos Islands mutiny on May 8, 1942. Only infantry was stationed on Direction Island .
On March 3, 1942, Direction Island was shelled by a Japanese destroyer, the technology and the cables were not damaged. The British War Department radioed the message that the station had been destroyed and was then given fictional names for camouflage to deceive the Japanese. Messages between Australia and Great Britain could continue to be transmitted via cable in a tap-proof and unencrypted manner.
tourism
You can moor on a jetty on the island. It is covered with palm trees and surrounded by white beaches.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b awm.gov.au : Peter Stanley: Noel Crusz, The Cocos Islands mutiny , Journal of the Australian War Memorial, Fremantle Arts Center Press, Fremantle 2001, in English, accessed September 10, 2011
- ↑ environment.gov.au : Australian Heritage Database: Direction Island (DI) Houses, Air Force Rd, West Island Settlement, EXT, Australia , in English, accessed September 15, 2011
- ^ Report from the commandant Karl von Müller to Kaiser Wilhelm II. On the events at the Cocos Islands , accessed on June 6, 2015