Abstract
Australia’s three small off-shore island territories – Norfolk Island in the
Pacific Ocean and Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Group in the Indian
Ocean – can be seen as monuments to 19th century British-style colonization, though their
early paths to development took very different courses. Their transition to the status of
external territories of the Australian Commonwealth in the 20th century – early in the case of
Norfolk and later in the cases of Christmas and Cocos – put them on a common path in which
serious tensions emerged between local populations which sought autonomous governance
and the Commonwealth government which wanted to impose governmental systems similar to
those applying to mainstream Australians. This article explores the issues involved, and seeks
to relate the governmental history of the three island territories to the exploration of island
jurisdictions developed in island studies research.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 715-728 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Island Studies Journal |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 2 |
Publication status | Published - 2016 |