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Celebrate - A walk around Direction Island Cocos Keeling



We have been at anchor in this island paradise for a few days. It has been quite breezy (25-30 knots) so our movements have been limited but we have had a chance to explore both Direction Island and nearby Home Island.

Direction Island is now uninhabited but has a very rich history. At the beginning of the 1900s a submerged communications cable was laid between South Africa and Australia connecting UK to the colonies . Cocos was the location of a manned cable station (a sort of terminal) and later a cable was run up to Singapore connecting Asia as well. The cable came ashore in Cottesloe, Perth WA (I thought our Perth friends and ex Cottesloe residents would appreciate this)During the First World War the station was blown up by a German cruiser Emden which was later sunk by an Australian warship Sydney. The exchange was carried out in a very courteous manner with limited casualties and the damage included cutting a dummy cable that was repaired very quickly afterwards. The station finally closed in the 1960s when communications technology advanced sufficiently to dispense with cables. Little evidence of the station or substantial settlement supporting it now remains.

Much of this information is included in an excellent 3 km interpretation trail around Direction Island. One of the more memorable anecdotes was that life on the island was short of luxuries with supply ships more than 3 months apart. Whenever a cruise ship (steamer) passed close by they took pity on the inhabitants, slowed down and dropped off a barrel of goodies picked up by a shore party in a small sailing vessel. This party also brought out messages for home. One package included kittens and another puppies. The ecology of the island has not been the same since!

We have snorkeled in beautiful coral between Direction and Home Island. Charlie and Peter have also made a 'wet' expedition to Home Island in the dinghy. This settlement of some 500 people are all Malays. The community is very organized and tidy (entered for the best kept Australian town 2008-we assume they didn't win) clearly benefiting from considerable support from Australia. We checked out all the local facilities including a mosque and very well stocked supermarket so no problem re-provisioning here apart from beer!

Charlie, Cathy and Peter

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