Pulu Cocos Museum, also Home Island Visitor Centre & Museum, also Cocos Museum, is a tourism office, visitor centre and museum on

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 ...

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 = ...

Background

The museum was established in 1987, in recognition of the fact that the distinct culture of Home Island needed formal preservation. The site includes the displays on local culture and traditions, as well as the early history of the islands and their ownership by 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'' ...

. The museum also includes displays on military and naval history, as well as local botanical and zoological items. In February 2021 the

Shire of Cocos The Shire of Cocos (Keeling) Islands is a local government area which manages local affairs on the Australian external territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands (; post code: 6799). The island is grouped with Western Australia but is administered ...

applied for a grant in order to adapt the Tokoh/Old Workshop on Home Island into a new museum and visitor centre.

Collections

The collection includes objects relating to the Malay communities who were indentured labourers under the Clunies-Ross family. Military objects in the collection include firearms cannonballs and bows and arrows. There is also a small numismatic collection. Objects include traditional Malay costumes and examples of wayang kulit, which were used in performances by Nek Ichang, the island's dalang (puppeteer) until his death in 1949. Examples of the wayang kulit from the museum's collection featured on a set of Australian $1 and $2 stamps in 2018. Objects relating to the cultural heritage of the islands are held in overseas collections: for example the

American Numismatic Association The American Numismatic Association (ANA) is an organization founded in 1891 by George Francis Heath. Located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, it was formed to advance the knowledge of numismatics (the study of coins) along educational, histori ...

holds a complete set of the island' plastic token currency.

References

{{coord, -12.11543, 96.89407, format=dms, type:landmark_region:CC, display=title Museums in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Organisations based in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Buildings and structures in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Museums in Oceania