The Shire of Cocos (Keeling) Islands is a

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

which manages local affairs on the Australian external territory of

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 = ...

(;

post code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal a ...

: 6799). The island is grouped with

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

but is administered by the

Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Cities was an Australian Public Service department of the Government of Australia that existed between December 2017 and May 2019, charged with the responsibility for infrastr ...

and an Administrator. The Shire covers an area of in the Indian Ocean, about north-west of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

and south-west of

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. The current shire president is

Seriwati Iku Seri Wati Iku (sometimes given as Seriwati Iku) is a politician from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Australia, was President of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Shire Council from 2017 to 2019. Career Iku was first elected to a position on the Cou ...

, who was elected in October 2017 as the first woman to hold the position.

History

From the 19th century onwards, the islands were owned 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'' ...

, and in 1886 were granted to them in perpetuity by

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 Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

. On 23 November 1955 the islands were transferred to Australian control under the ''Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act 1955''. In 1978, Australia entered a form of purchase of the islands with the Clunies-Ross family, and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Council came into existence in July 1979 as a representative of the

Cocos Malay Cocos Malay is a post-creolized variety of Malay, spoken by the Cocos Malays of Home Island, Christmas Island, and those originally from the Cocos Islands currently living in Sabah. Cocos Malay derives from the Malay trade languages of the 19 ...

community.

Administration

The Administrator is

Natasha Griggs Natasha Louise Griggs (born 24 January 1969) is an Australian former politician and the administrator of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories from 2017 to 2022. Griggs was first elected at the 2010 federal election as a member of the Hous ...

, who was appointed on 5th October 2017 and is also the Administrator of

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around south of Java and Sumatra and around north-west of the ...

. These two Territories comprise Australia's Indian Ocean Territories. The Australian Government provides Commonwealth-level government services through the Indian Ocean Territories Administration and the

. As per the Federal Government's

Territories Law Reform Act 1992 A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

, which came into force on 1 July 1992,

n laws are applied to the Cocos Islands, "so far as they are capable of applying in the Territory";Territories Law Reform Act 1992
Comlaw.gov.au. Retrieved 16 July 2013. non-application or partial application of such laws is at the discretion of the federal government. The Act also gives Western Australian courts judicial power over the islands. The Cocos (Keeling) Islands remain constitutionally distinct from Western Australia, however; the power of the state to legislate for the territory is a power delegated by the federal government. The kind of services typically provided by a state government elsewhere in Australia are provided by departments of the Western Australian Government, and by contractors, with the costs met by the federal government. There also exists a unicameral Cocos (Keeling) Islands Shire Council with seven seats. A full-term lasts four years, though elections are held every two years; approximately half the members retire each two years, alternating elections of three and four members for a total of seven. The first elections to the Shire Council, established by ordinance, were held in May 1993. The shire has seven councillors and no wards. The Shire's offices are at Jalan Bunga Kangkong,

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 ...

. Federally, Cocos (Keeling) Islanders form the electorate of Lingiari with Christmas Island and outback Northern Territory.

History

Administration

See also