The British Christmas Island Nuclear tests 1950`s

[mei mei]

Not sure what motivated LYH Govt to sell it but it is a liability.

I don't think LYH govt got paid for Christmas Island and thus was never a sale.

Christmas Island was under the adminitration of Singapore, which is a crown colony. The crown simply transferred the administration from Singapore to Australia.

 

[mei mei]

I don't think LYH govt got paid for Christmas Island and thus was never a sale.

Christmas Island was under the adminitration of Singapore, which is a crown colony. The crown simply transferred the administration from Singapore to Australia.

Transfer to Australia

At Australia's request, the United Kingdom transferred sovereignty to Australia; in 1957, the Australian government paid the government of Singapore £2.9 million in compensation, a figure based mainly on an estimated value of the phosphate forgone by Singapore.

Wikipedia

 

[vamjok]

that place was bloody rich in phosphate, the only natural resource sg could have harvast. but that fucktard sold it away for just a few million

 

[Ramseth]

that place was bloody rich in phosphate, the only natural resource sg could have harvast. but that fucktard sold it away for just a few million

There was no choice as a colony in transiton to federation or independence. The decision was made by the British and Australians. Remember, Australia was higher ranked than Singapore. It wasn't a colony, it was a dominion in the empire hierarchy. And the the highest ranked with the final say was of course, England.

 

[neddy]

Not sure what motivated LYH Govt to sell it but it is a liability. The natives have gone on to Perth or elsewhere in Australia. It now serves as a detention centre.

I have spoken to some of them and they tell me that it is just too far away for anything economic including tourism as the airfare is exorbitant. They now regard Perth as their base or new home. Some have relatives here and do visit Singapore but only when they are in Perth due to airfare.

If it still belongs to Singapore, it will be a SAF military camp, a holiday resort and getting revenue as a Tax Free Haven, perhaps an alternative to Labuan.

But in Aussie hands, it is overlooked and a hardship posting for SERCO and gov Immigration staff. The mining is almost gone now.



Christmas Islanders pay 300pc more for vegies
Updated September 16, 2011 20:38:34

Photo: A Cos lettuce on Christmas Island costs almost $10 (Jane Norman)
Video: Composting technique to battle worm pest (7pm TV News NSW)
Map: Christmas Island 6798

Christmas Islanders are being forced to pay up to 300 per cent more for fruit and vegetables than people on mainland Australia, because a tiny worm in the soil makes it almost impossible to grow their own.

The island may supply fertiliser to the world but fruit and vegetables cannot be grown on the island because of parasitic 'nematodes' in the soil, which attack the roots of nearly anything that is planted.

Shire President Gordon Thomson says locals are paying up to $10 for imported lettuce.

"It is impossible to live properly and have a properly balanced diet at those sorts of prices," he said.

But a solution may be at hand.

A group of investors believes it has come up with a new composting technique that will counter the effect of the nematodes.

Administrator Brian Lacy says the group is hoping to finally establish an agriculture industry on the island.

"Hopefully over the course of the next 12 months we're going to have a market garden developed on Christmas Island," he said.

Mr Lacy says if the project goes ahead, the sky high prices paid for fruit and vegetables will be a thing of the past.

 

[red amoeba]

geographically, it is difficult to defend., u have to fly over indon airspace to get to Christmas island. Sea-wise, long sailing time and to circumvent Indon territory again.

Indon wouldn't like it, its like a nail poking into their ass -albeit a small nail.

and if we gonna hold it, we gotto have a way to defend it when necessary.

and if we still hold it, it will be a paradise for illegal immigrants and pirates.

more practical for Aust to administer it.

else it will become a liability.

 

[Ozalthyn]

Am I the only one who never knew that Christmas Island was a test site for Nuclear Bombs conducted by the British and the US from 1952 - 1958? When I first read about it I did some research and confirmed it did happened. The following are the corresponding letters between someone and the Bristish Ministry of Defence based on the Freedom Of Information Act. Apparently MOD has not replied depiste reminders since the first letter was written on 28th Sept. 2011. Why this is so is because there were 2000 British Servicemen stationed there whilst tests were being conducted and the implication quite unimaginable.

Brudders, we are all barking up the wrong tree - oops, Island. There are more than one Christmas Islands littered around the globe.

If you re-read the piece, it says something about "in the Pacific". In the video, the animation shows a plane landing on an island in the Pacific. The Christmas Island that we've all been getting excited about and blamed Lim Yew Hock for selling to Oz, is in the Indian Ocean. It's not the site of the nulear tests.

Actually, the "sale" of Christmas Island was a decision of the then colonial masters. Lim Yew Hock was beholden to the Brits - they were the colonial masters. Realistically, he had no choice in the matter - it a case of whoever pays the piper plays the tune.

The same thing happened to the Cocos & Keeling Islands atolls, on which were operated coconut plantations by the Clunies Ross family using Malay settlers from Singapore and this region.

The phosphate mines were run by the British Phospate Company. They imported cheap Asian labour, from Singapore & Malaya, to mine the stuff. Contrary to Oz labour practices, they did not pay their Asian workers Oz minimum wages, much to the chagrin of the Australian unions. The Australian labour unions intervened and tried to force BPC to pay Oz standard wages. This rendered working of the mines uneconomic. BPC then handed the mines to the Australian unionist to run. This caused mines to close because the phosphate then became uneconomic to mine.

With the closure of the mines, the principal economic activity on Christmas disappeared. I believe this coincided with the Oz Labour Party coming into power. The government of the day offered all Asian labour the choice of relocating to the Oz mainland or going back to wherever they came from. Many of these islanders chose to settle in Perth and took on Oz citizenship.

Many of the children of these Asian workers who were born on the Island acquired Oz citizenship as well.

Because the Island was administered out of Singapore at one time, an interesting consequence of this is that flats erected on the Island in the 50s bore a remarkable resemblance (if not identical) to the flats erected by the Singapore Improvement Trust in Tiong Bahru, the now demolished Princess Elizabeth Estate. There are Asian cemetries on the Island and some of the Chinese graves also have the same horse-shoe shape layout in our Chinese cemetries.

 

[Forvendet]

I think Christmas Island didn't belong to Singapore at any time. It was British oversea possession administered from Singapore which itself was a British colony. How can a colony own oversea possession? It was just like before Straits Settlements with Malacca and Penang were set up with proper governance and colonial status, Singapore was actually administered from British India. That didn't make Singapore an Indian possession but a British possession. That didn't make Singapore, Malacca and Penang belonging to each too. I agree with Red Amoeba that it's more practical for it to be administered from Australia after the Dutch and British left this region. When they were here, they were allies. There was no problem for British aircraft and ships crossing Indonesian airspace and sealanes.