The University of Notre Dame Australia ResearchOnline@ND Theses 2019 Christmas Island: A question of self-determination Kelvin Matthews Follow this and additional works at: https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Copyright Regulations 1969 WARNING The material in this communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any further copying or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act. Do not remove this notice. This dissertation/thesis is brought to you by ResearchOnline@ND. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of ResearchOnline@ND. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Chapter 2: Historical Background From the beginning of the European settlement of Australia the various Australian colonies began as part of the British colonial empire. While Australia attained Federation as a Commonwealth in 1901, Christmas Island remained as a British administered colony since settlement in the late nineteenth century until 1958 when ‘sovereignty’ of the Territory of Christmas Island was transferred to Australia without any consultative process with the community by either the British or Australian governments at the time. The history of Christmas Island therefore tells three key stories: the first is the economic and social dominance of phosphate mining since the late nineteenth century, which continues to the present day; the second is the relative recent arrival of ‘Australia’ or ‘mainland conditions’ to the Island despite the formal annexure in 1958; and the third is the unique community that has been created, as evidenced by the remarkable cultural and social composition of the community and unusual administrative and institutional arrangements.