A status

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

was held in the

Cocos (Keeling) Islands ) , anthem = "''Advance Australia Fair''" , song_type = , song = , image_map = Australia on the globe (Cocos (Keeling) Islands special) (Southeast Asia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands , map_caption = ...

on 6 April 1984. All registered voters participated in the vote,Issue on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands
''Decolonisation'', No 21, December 1984 with 88% voting for integration with

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. The referendum has been described as the "smallest act of

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a '' jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It sta ...

ever conducted".Phillip Tahmindji
Australia, the Cocos Islands and self-determination
''Queensland Institute of Technology Law Journal'', p192

Background

Discovered in 1609 by William Keeling and uninhabited until 1826, the Cocos Islands were administered by the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

between 1857 and 1955, when they were transferred from the

Colony of Singapore Singapore was a British colony for 144 years, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1942 to 1945 during the Pacific War. When the Empire of Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945, at the end of World War II, Singa ...

, and given the status of an external territory. However, the islands remained effectively under the control of the

Clunies-Ross family The Clunies-Ross family were the original settlers of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, a small archipelago in the Indian Ocean. From 1827 to 1978, the family ruled the previously uninhabited islands as a private fiefdom, initially as '' terra nullius ...

, who had founded a settlement on the islands in 1827 and held power since 1831, with the head of the family becoming known as the King of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. In 1886,

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

had granted the family possession of the islands in perpetuity.The man who lost a 'coral kingdom'
BBC News, 7 June 2007 In 1974, a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

(UN) mission to the islands drew attention to the territory's governance arrangements and raised concerns about the denial of basic freedoms to its residents. The UN criticised the Australian government for failing to administer the islands properly. As a result, in 1978, the Australian government purchased all lands on the islands except the Clunies-Ross house for $4.75m. A second UN visit in 1980 reported positively on the reforms. Although there was no pressure from the UN to hold a

due to recognition of the small size of the islands, the Australian government opted to proceed with a referendum.

Campaign

The island voters were given the option of integration with Australia, free association with Australia or independence.Kenneth Chan (1987
Cocos (Keeling) Islands: The political evolution of a small island territory in the Indian Ocean
Pacific Islands Development Program The Clunies-Ross family campaigned for the independence option, claiming that the Cocos Islanders would have to serve in the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (CA), who ...

if the islands opted for integration.

Conduct

A mission from the UN observed the referendum, led by

Abdul Koroma Abdul Gadire Koroma (born 29 September 1943 in Freetown, Sierra Leone) is a Sierra Leonean jurist who served two terms as judge at the International Court of Justice (from 1994 to 2012). He was educated at Kiev State University where he took LLM ...

from

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

and also including representatives from

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consis ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, and

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

. Their report stated that the referendum had been "conducted in strict accordance with the pertinent electoral ordinance, resulting in a free and fair vote."

Results

Aftermath

Following the referendum, the

Commonwealth Electoral Act The ''Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918'' is an Act of the Australian Parliament which continues to be the core legislation governing the conduct of elections in Australia, having been amended on numerous occasions since 1918. The Act was introdu ...

was extended to cover all the islands, allowing Cocos residents to vote in the December 1984 Australian federal elections. The

Social Security Act The Social Security Act of 1935 is a law enacted by the 74th United States Congress and signed into law by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The law created the Social Security program as well as insurance against unemployment. The law w ...

was also extended to cover the residents of the islands. The islands were also removed from the list of

United Nations list of non-self-governing territories Chapter XI of the United Nations Charter defines a non-self-governing territory (NSGT) as a territory "whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government". In practice, an NSGT is a territory deemed by the United Nations Gene ...

References

{{Reflist Independence referendums 1984 referendums Referendums in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands