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VK9GA - Christmas Island OC002 - 1996 |
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History
The island has been discovered by Captain William Mynors on the 25th of December, 1643 and called it therefore Christmas Island. The first recorded landing on Christmas Island took place in 1688 by William Dampier when he was enroute to Sumatra, Indonesia. Around 1820s, the Clunies Ross family used the island for their stop-overs when enroute from Batavia (Jakarta) or Singapore to the Cocos Keeling Islands where they exploited a coconut industry.
Geography
  Christmas Island is located 360 km south of the island of Java (Indonesia) and 2600 km north-west of Perth. Cosos Keeling Islands are located 900 km west of Christmas Island. The island is the top of a submarine mountain rising from the depths of the Java trench and has an area of 142 square kilometers. The central plateau is varying in height between approx. 200-350 meters. Most of the island is surrounded by coral reefs, cliffs and wave-cut terraces which can reach heights of up to 50 meters. There is virtually no coastal shelf and the sea drops to a depth of about 500 meters within 200 off shore. The island is almost entirely covered with limestone. The central plateau is covered by a rainforest with trees up to 45 meters.
Flora and fauna
The rainforest supports large communities of plants and animals, many of them are unique to the island. Presently there are 15 species of endemic plants and 17 species of endemic animals that have been discovered. Notably amongst these are the rare Abbott's Booby, Christmas Frigatebird and the Golden Bosunbird. Large numbers of terrestrial crabs dominate the forest floor. Over 85 square km (60%) of the island is now part of the National Park. The park protects and preserves the important ecological systems which characterize the island.
Climate
Christmas Island's climate is described as tropical, heat and humidity moderate by trade winds. It is influenced by the north-west monsoons from December to April and the south-east trade winds for the remainder of the year. It has an average rainfall of 2000-2500 mm per year. The average temperature ranges from 22-28 degrees Celsius. The humidity is between 80-90%. Tropical cyclones occasionally pass near the island. A severe storm caused major damage in 1988.
Languages
The official language spoken is English. However, several dialects of Chinese, Malay and Tamil are spoken.
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