Today Christmas Island has around 2000 residents. The most common ancestries reported by residents are: Chinese (the largest ethnic group) Australian.
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In 1958, the island was excised from Singapore and sovereignty was transferred to Australia. As part of the transfer, Australia paid Singapore £2,800,000 as compensation for lost phosphate revenue. Christmas Island became an Australian territory on 1 October 1958 – a day still celebrated on the island as Territory Day.
The Christmas Island detention centre holds around 30 men seeking asylum mixed in with about 200 men exiting prisons from across Australia after serving sentences of varying length for crimes of varying severity.
There are numerous holiday homes available for short-term stays on Christmas Island. They are a great option for families and larger groups, and having your own kitchen means you can make your holiday budget go further by not eating out.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) provides community policing services to Christmas Island. In addition to normal police functions, the AFP carries out other duties such as immigration, processing aircraft, visiting ships and yachts, and coordinating emergency operations.
Language. English is the official language on Christmas Island. However, more than half of our residents speak a language other than English at home. While on the island, you might hear people conversing in Mandarin, Malay, Cantonese, Min Nan, Tagalog and a variety of other languages.
There are currently around 212 people held on Christmas Island around 90 of whom had protection, refugee or humanitarian visas, which were cancelled by the Minister of Home Affairs under their 'god-like' powers.
Christmas Island International AirportCheck-in counters are open two and a half hours before departure. Baggage carousels are located in the Arrivals Hall.
Christmas Island's remote location has produced an extraordinary range of flora and fauna, including rare birds and land crabs. Despite its relative isolation, Christmas Island can be easily reached by air from Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Since the detention centre was built on the island in 2006, the island population of about 1,500 locals has jumped dramatically. Mr McDonald says the cost of living is now estimated at about 180 per cent above that on the mainland. An iceberg lettuce at the local store can cost as much as $12.
That means you can score a great deal on popular duty-free items such as fragrances, leather goods, electronics, jewellery, watches and sunglasses. It also means Christmas Island has some of the cheapest alcohol in Australia – perfect for treating yourself to a beer or a gin and tonic as the sun goes down.
The importation of dogs and cats into Christmas Island is prohibited by the Importation of Dogs and Cats Ordinance 1973, due to concerns about environmental, social, cultural, animal health and welfare issues.
Christmas Island is around a four-hour direct flight from Perth on Australia's west coast. Some scheduled flights from Perth first fly to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, a 95-minute flight from Christmas Island. Hire cars, shuttle services and taxis are available at the airport.
Bringing food to Christmas Island is quite an easy process. You can check in a Styrofoam box which are easy to get from grocery stores and farmers markets. You can bring pretty much anything except for prawns. Please ENSURE you keep a receipt of your purchases to show customs upon declaration.