West Island (Cocos Islands)
| West Iceland | ||
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| Waters | Indian Ocean | |
| Archipelago | Coconut islands | |
| Geographical location | 12 ° 11 '13 " S , 96 ° 49' 42" E | |
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| surface | 6.23 km² | |
| Residents | 134 (2011) 22 inhabitants / km² |
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The island of West Island , also called Pulau Panjang , is the main island and with 6.23 km² also the largest island of the Australian outer area of the Cocos Islands . West Island is an island in the South Keeling Islands atoll . The archipelago is located about 2,930 km northwest of Perth , 3,685 km west of Darwin , 960 km southwest of Christmas Island and more than 1,000 km southwest of Java and Sumatra . The closest mainland point to Australia is Cape Low Point on the North West Cape Peninsula at a distance of approximately 2,100 km.
The island has 134 inhabitants (2011); however, most of the Cocos Islands population lives in Bantam on Home Island .
The administration buildings of the government and the airport of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Airport are located on West Island , as is a general store .
history
When Captain William Keeling reached the Cocos Islands in 1609, they were uninhabited.
The Southern Keeling Islands were first settled with 100 Malays, including his harem , in 1826 by the slave trader and businessman Alexander Hare . John Clunies-Ross settled on Home Island in 1827 with 40 people whom Clunies-Ross brought there against their will. Clunies-Ross installed an authoritarian social and political system. On December 22, 1837, there was an unsuccessful revolt by the Malays against it. As a result, John Clunies-Ross, who called himself King Ross I, pushed through an agreement that forced the Malay , Bantamese and European families living on the Cocos Islands to live in his homes and work for him or to leave the island.
Coconut palms were planted on the islands and copra and coconut oil were made from them. This was exported while other products had to be imported.
The military occupied the islands from 1941 and 3000 had to be withdrawn at the end of World War II . There were also 1,800 civilians, 900 of whom had to be returned to Borneo , Singapore and Christmas Island .
In 1944 an Australian government administrator came to Home Island for the first time .
The Royal Air Force , Royal Indian Air Force and Fleet Air Arm built a runway on West Island in March 1945, which involved cutting thousands of coconut trees. The runway was closed again in 1946.
In 1951, despite objections from the Clunies-Ross family, the Australian government took control of the islands and bought 150 hectares of them along the runway. Since the runway was only suitable for light aircraft, it was paved in 1952 and used by Qantas for refueling on their flights to Europe via South Africa .
It was not until 1953 that the first government buildings were built on West Iceland and that was followed by government, administrative and hospital staff. The Cocos Islands were declared an Australian outer area in 1955.
In the late 1960s, the authoritarian forms of rule of the Clunies-Ross family penetrated as far as the United Nations , which sent a delegation there.
It was not until 1978 that Australia made the Cocos Islands a self-determined outer area when it bought the islands for AUD 6.250 million. In 1979 the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Shire was founded on Home Island , but it was not until 1984 that the government was able to expand to all of the Cocos Islands.
In 1987 copra production stopped due to inefficiency and there is high unemployment among islanders.
From 2001 to 2002 a refugee camp run by the Australian government for boat people , the Cocos Island Contingency Reception Center, was located near the airport in a former cattle quartet station . There they were in immigration detention .
Buildings and monuments
In West Iceland dominate historical and consisting of modules houses from asbestos cement were built and partially prefabricated in Australia. A distinction can be made between two types. The type T houses , so named because of their shape, were built during the 1950s and renovated in 1979. You have three bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and living room and a hall. The Type 2 was built in the 1950s, has the same number of rooms, but a large hall, which turns into a vestibule.
The historic government administration building was built in 1953. In the vicinity of the government building there are listed type 2 houses on stilts , which create better climatic conditions inside the building.
The spatial arrangement and the buildings are unusual, possibly unique for Australia, and listed.
Other listed buildings are located on West Iceland earlier Qantas Huts (German: Qantas cabins ), the rare examples of lounges in Australian aviation history are from the time when aircraft between Perth and Johannesburg in South Africa on the Indian Ocean a tank stay at the airport from West Island . These buildings were also used by the Indonesian government for military and private flights in the 1960s. They consist of six rooms, are made of asbestos cement and clad with wood and have a veranda to the north. You are on the Sydney Highway on the corner of the island's Clunies Ross Avenue .
The West Island Mosque (German: Mosque on West Island ) is of historical importance and serves the religious practice of the Cocos Malays . The mosque building was originally located on Direction Island , where it served the air and sea rescue station until 1966 and was dismantled there in 1996.
population
In 1981, 58% of the population on the Cocos Islands were Cocos Malay people and 26% were Europeans , who lived mainly on West Island. Around 58.1% of the population were Muslim .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Census 2011 of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (English), accessed April 28, 2015
- ↑ a b environment.gov.au : Place Details: Direction Island (DI) Houses, Air Force Rd, West Island Settlement, EXT, Australia, History , in English, accessed September 16, 2011
- ^ A b Regional Surveys of the World: The Far East and Australasia 2003 . 34th Edition. P. 145 f. Routledge 2002. ISBN 1857431332 Online on Google Books
- ↑ environment.gov.au : Place Details: West Island Elevated Houses, Orion Cl, West Island Settlement, EXT, Australia , in English, accessed September 16, 2011
- ↑ environment.gov.au : Place Details: West Island Housing Precinct, Air Force Rd, West Island Settlement, EXT, Australia , in English, accessed September 16, 2011
- ↑ environment.gov.au : Place Details: Qantas Huts (former), Sydney Hwy, West Island Settlement, EXT, Australia , in English, accessed September 16, 2011
- ↑ environment.gov.au : Place Details: West Island Mosque, Alexander St, West Island Settlement, EXT, Australia , in English, accessed September 16, 2011