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Home Island

Island of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Australia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Home Island
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Home Island (Cocos Islands Malay: Pulu Selma) is one of only two permanently-inhabited islands of the 26 islands of the South Keeling Islands of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, an Australian external territory in the central-eastern Indian Ocean. The island contains the largest settlement of the territory, Bantam.

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Description

It is 95 hectares (230 acres) in area and is home to about 500 Cocos Malay people in the village of Bantam. Local attractions include a museum covering local culture and traditions, flora and fauna, Australian naval history, and the early owners of the Cocos-Keeling Islands.[2] Bantam was formerly listed as the capital of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands by the European Union, until it was changed to West Island in 2012.[3]

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Home Island Mosque

The Home Island Mosque is one of the busiest places on the island, and the minaret is painted in territorial flag colours of green and gold.[4][5]

There is also a trail leading to Oceania House, which was the ancestral home of the Clunies-Ross family, the former rulers of the Cocos-Keeling Islands and is over a century old.[6]

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History

Alexander Hare and Robert Clunies-Ross established the first settlement on Home Island in 1826, with a group of slaves Cluines-Ross brought. In 1831, Cluines-Ross gained control over the island after Hare left for Batavia due to his financial problems. In 1836, Cluines-Ross went to Mauritius to seek British annexation. George Clunies-Ross and his descendants were granted the island by Queen Victoria in 1886.[7]

27 houses on the island were destroyed by bombings in 1944.[7]

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Education

Cocos Islands District High School operates a primary education centre on Home Island; most of the staff live on West Island and travel to their jobs on a daily basis. Secondary level students go to the West Island campus.[8]

Heritage listings

Home Island contains a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

References

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