Poon Saan is the second largest village on

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 ...

, an external territory of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is administrated as part of the island capital -

Flying Fish Cove Flying Fish Cove ( zh, 飛魚灣, ms, Pantai Ikan Terbang) is the capital city and main settlement of Australia's Christmas Island. Although it was originally named after British survey-ship '' Flying-Fish'', many maps simply label it "The Set ...

. Ethnic Chinese make up the majority of inhabitants. In

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

, Poon Saan (,

Jyutping Jyutping is a romanisation system for Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK), an academic group, in 1993. Its formal name is the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Cantonese Romanization Scheme. The LSHK advocates for ...

: ''bun3 saan1'') means "halfway up the hill". The architecture of Poon Saan reflects the Chinese heritage of the majority of residents in being Singapore style units, rather than the Western style common in

. The

Java sparrow The Java sparrow (''Padda oryzivora''), also known as Java finch, Java rice sparrow or Java rice bird, is a small passerine bird. This estrildid finch is a resident breeding bird in Java, Bali and Bawean in Indonesia. It is a popular cage bird, ...

has become established on the island with populations near Poon Saan.

Heritage

An area of the settlement, including the Poon Saan Club,

Union of Christmas Island Workers The Union of Christmas Island Workers (UCIW) is a trade union in Christmas Island, the non self-governing territory of Australia. It represents workers on the island, and is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions The Austral ...

office, cinema and several residential blocks, is listed on 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 ...

as the "Poon Saan Group" for its "significance to the Chinese population", "architectural styles imported from Singapore and rarely found in other parts of Australia", and for the "number of structures associated with the inception and development of the union movement on Christmas Island", while the cinema was considered significant for its role as a venue for mass meetings and as "an uncommon example of a relatively intact outdoor cinema". The Phosphate Hill Historic Area, east of the settlement is also listed on the Commonwealth Heritage List.

References

Populated places in Christmas Island {{ChristmasIsland-geo-stub