The Early Settlers' Graves are heritage-listed burial places at Jalan Kipas,

Home Island Home Island, also known locally as Pulu Selma, is one of only two permanently inhabited islands of the 26 islands of the Southern Atoll of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, an Australian external territory in the central-eastern Indian Ocean. Des ...

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 = ...

, Australia. It was added to the

Australian Commonwealth Heritage List The Commonwealth Heritage List is a heritage register established in 2003, which lists places under the control of the Australian government, on land or in waters directly owned by the Crown (in Australia, the Crown in right of the Commonwealth ...

on 22 June 2004.

History

The community cemetery (

Home Island Cemetery The Home Island Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery at Home Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Australia. It was added to the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List on 22 June 2004. History By the end of 1827 there were two groups of Europea ...

) has not always been at the northern extremity of Home Island. During the late 1800s there were several other gravesites much closer to the present settlement. The decision to create a separate burial ground was made around the turn of the century after the recommendation of a visiting doctor who was concerned about the quality of the community's water supply. A couple of these gravesites are still in evidence today. The Early Settler's Graves are located near the present school. The grave of Suma, an original settler from Alexander Hare's party, can still be seen beneath a tree at the back of the school. Suma arrived on Cocos as a small boy and went on to become an 'imam' or priest in the late nineteenth century. His leadership was praised by lone yachtsman, Joshua Slocum, who visited the islands in 1896.

Description

The Early Settlers' Graves are located between the road (Jalan Kipas) and the sports field, behind the Home Island School, Home Island Settlement. There are three graves, two with carved timber headstones that are of European style. to the east there is a square stone that is flush with the ground. In 1996 the timber headstones were beautifully weathered with the top broken off one headstone. The concrete surround was cracked. Urgent repair of the broken headstone is required to avoid loss and further damage.

Heritage listing

The Early Settlers' Graves are rare examples of late nineteenth century settlers' graves on Home Island. The Early Settlers' Graves include Suma's Grave which is significant for providing a historic link to Alexander Hare's party which settled on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the 1820s. Suma's Grave is also associated with 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'' ...

's occupation of the Islands in the nineteenth century. Suma was a small boy who was an original member of Alexander Hare's party. He became an imam or priest in the late nineteenth century.

References

Bibliography

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Attribution

{{AHD-CC, name=Early Settlers Graves, fileNo=9/04/001/0026, id=105362, year=2019, accessdate=15 May 2019 Commonwealth Heritage List places in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Home Island Burials in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Articles incorporating text from the Australian Heritage Database 1890s establishments in Australia Cemeteries established in the 1890s