John Clunies-Ross, ‘king’ of the Cocos Islands, was toppled by Canberra Source:-smh.com.au John Clunies-Ross, who has died aged 92, became the last “king” of the Cocos, a tiny (5.5 square miles) coral archipelago in the Indian Ocean, in 1944, but spent much of his “reign” fighting rearguard actions against hostile governments in Canberra, which assumed sovereignty in 1955. The islands, roughly halfway between Sri Lanka and Australia, were discovered in 1609 by Captain William Keeling of the East India Company and named the Cocos-Keeling Islands by a British hydrographer in 1805. John Clunies-Ross’ great-great-grandfather and namesake, a sea captain from the Shetland Islands, visited in 1814 and returned with his family and eight “sailor-artisans” in 1825. They dug wells and established a coconut plantation for copra production, subsequently importing Malay labourers to work it. John Clunies-Ross on his paradise island in 1972. CREDIT:FAIRFAX Another adventurer, Alexander Hare, an English merchant infamous ...
Oct 13, 2021
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Tagged Bob Hawke, Cocos-Keeling Islands, John Clunies, king” of the Cocos, Mr Clunies-Ross, Oceania House, Tuan Besar
