Despite being closer to Indonesia than the mainland of Australia, Christmas Island is an external territory of Australia. It’s located in the Indian Ocean, about 2,600 kilometres northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, 360 kilometres south of Indonesia, and more than 1,400 kilometres northwest of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
Christmas Island was annexed by the United Kingdom in 1888 and was administered from the Colony of Singapore. In 1958, sovereignty of the island was transferred to Australia, and it has been administered by Australia’s Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, and Communications ever since.
While Christmas Island is a territory of Australia, it doesn’t fall under the jurisdiction of any Australian state. Instead, for administrative purposes, it is officially part of the Northern Territory. However, the legal system is under the jurisdiction of Western Australia, and it relies on Western Australia for many essential services, including education and healthcare. The island even uses Western Australian standard time.
In many ways, despite its physical distance from Western Australia, Christmas Island is closely linked to it administratively, legally, and in terms of the services provided.
