On another expedition between 1872-76 naturalist Dr John Murray collected mineral species and urged the British to lay claim to the island, to make use of what he predicted was rich with natural resources. The British did just that, and Dr Murray was proved right with phosphate deposits being found on the island.
Dr Murray and George Clunies-Ross were granted a joint 99 year lease of the phosphate deposits by the British government in return for a small royalty. This brought imported labour to the island in the form of mainly Chinese and Malaysian men. Japan was the biggest customer in the lead up to the First World War.
During the Second World War Christmas Island was fortified by the British to protect against invasion by the Japanese. Japan did indeed attack, with one of their submarines sinking a Norwegian vessel that was loading phosphate in Flying Fish Cove. After a spate of aerial bombings and mutiny by a group of labourers, the British surrendered the island to the Japanese.
After the war the Christmas Island Phosphate company was struggling with re-establishing their operations, and with Australia and New Zealand becoming the biggest customers of phosphate, their governments organised an agreement to buy the company and all of its assets, effectively taking control of the island.
An expansion in infrastructure began and workers from Singapore, Malaya and the Cocos Islands as well as supervisory staff from Australia administered the island as part of the colony of Singapore.
As part of the de-colonisation process that happened after the Second World War, Australia took full control of Christmas Island in January 1958, after paying the Singaporean government 2.8 million pounds. on the 1st October of the same year, the island officially became a territory of Australia. This day is celebrated as "Territory Day".
In the 1970's unionisation of the mine workers changed the face of Christmas Island. Dramatic improvements in working and living conditions benefited the workers greatly. The conservation of the island was of concern to the Australian government, and so it appointed a Conservation officer from the National Parks and Wildlife Service in 1977.
The Egeria Point area of the island was declared a National Park in 1980, and today, more than 63% of the island is National Park land.
Christmas Island Detention Centre
In 2001 Prime Minister John Howard implemented his "Pacific Solution", which involved 4000 of Australia's islands being removed from Australia's migration zone. What this meant was that any "boat people" that landed on any of these islands could not claim asylum. Any such asylum seekers were now being sent to Christmas Island or the island nation of Nauru.
The Department of Immigration finished construction of the Processing Centre which now houses 800 beds, at the cost of $400 million to Australian taxpayers, and ongoing costs of $30 million per year to run and maintain.
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