Christmas Island

Introduction to Christmas Island

The Territory of Christmas Island is a small, non self-governing Territory of Australia located in the Indian Ocean, 2360 km northwest of Perth in Western Australia and 500 km south of Jakarta, Indonesia. It maintains about 1500 residents who live in a number of towns on the northern tip of the island: Settlement, Silver City, Kampong, Poon Saan, and Drumsite. It has a unique natural topography and is of immense interest to scientists and naturalists due to the number of species of endemic flora and fauna which have evolved in isolation and undisturbed by human habitation. While there has been mining activity on the island for many years, 65 per cent of its 135 square kilometres are now National Park and there are large areas of pristine and ancient rainforest.