The History of Christmas Island | AUSPOL EXPLAINED

[@chrisscullynz]

Hello from Christmas Island, my Dads on the council!

[@marcusrees5364]

Ah hell now I've got to go back and watch every other one of your videos! These are so well written, much love from Tassie

[@MartinJones-n6r]

Thank you for putting your time good answers. I like the humor I think you're gonna be a good person on broadcast in small stories🎉❤❤❤❤

[@Marc-lx2ni]

Awesome vid! You deserve more recognition

[@bugger897]

I love this crab narrative

[@joely4552]

I genuinely laughed every time he circled back to the crabs. Sometimes it was so unexpected

[@AuspolExplained]

All hail crab

[@zlimvos]

"So the brits ate the robber crabs to eliminate the competition" brilliant

[@skippymaster57]

Dave, great videos and very informed. Great local insights from a fellow sandgroper (explanation, maybe a subject for another video), now exiled in another state due to SARS Cov-2. Hoping to visit WA again soon. I happened to travel to Christmas Island (and stop-over in Cocos/Keeling Islands) in 1997 for work with Telstra and the facts you provided are there. Here are some of my observations. : There is less than 1km total of sandy beaches scattered in small locations around the island. When I went to them the most abundant things I found were; thongs / flip-flops / jandals - depending on where you come from. The rest of the island has a 3-10m rocky cliff face from the sea level. There are also spectacular blowholes accessible on the South side of the island. : The island has no underground telecommunications cable connecting to the outside world, so uses Satellite (8m dish) from the exchange on the top level of the island. Incidentally there are 2 main land levels on the island; one 3-10mt from sea level and and a level approximately 200mt from sea level where the exchange and the airport are located (it is an inactive volcano after all). There is also a transmitter array next to the exchange for the OTHR (Over The Horizon Radar - used to track the wooden boats coming from Indonesia); The receiver is located outside Alice Springs NT (I have been there also). : At the time, there was a closed Casino and Resort. It was operating until mid '90s. I stayed at one of the rooms there and was shown around by the Manager/Caretaker who used to be the Security Manager. There was a disused pool and the obligatory concrete Dinosaur there. Reminds me of Palmer's Resorts in Qld. During the time there for 2 weeks it rained continuously for 1 of them making it a fun time for a 4wd RAV4 to drive around the mostly unpaved roads in the jungle. : There are no venomous snakes on the island (the one I found was small - approx 300mm) , but the only dangerous wildlife is a 3-500mm centipede which when bitten gives excruciating pain. A friend of mine's son living there at the time, had been bitten whilst sleeping in his bed, so he used the local (cure?) of a mash up of liquid (unknown) and chopped up centipede which is claimed to ease the pain. I didn't offer to test this theory for obvious reasons. : The Robber crabs are generally slow moving, so you can easily get out of their way, however are very scary looking at night in the car park lit by moonlight or incandescent light. They are the stuff of nightmares. They are a protected species, so cannot be eaten, (I heard that some of the islanders do so, but illegally); the red crabs are inedible as they eat the mangrove plants). The red crabs are ubiquitous throughout the island and even during the non-spawning season millions become road-kill (almost impossible to avoid in a car). : There is a golf club there where I played a round and one of the obstacles are the Robber and red crabs. It is safer to lose a shot than to lose a finger trying to take the shot. : There are 2 main settlements; Flying Fish Cove - where a lot of the Anglo Australians live and work and another up the hill where the majority of Malay and Chinese people live. : The vision shown on TV of the boat people shipwreck is near Flying Fish Cove and I have seen waves crashing over the Fuel storage Tanks (about 10m high and 5m from sea level) so the waves were over 15mt high. Not a safe environment to be at sea there : There are remains of a WW2 Gun emplacement on the North of the island along with a fuel supply and phosphate loading area. : The Detention centre was small, but operational at the time of my visit and in the discussion with AFP officers, there was an opinion voiced by some that the boat people were mainly economic refugees. Whilst I was there, overnight, a small wooden boat appeared outside my lodgings and I observed the conditions of the vessel in which these people arrived on the island. I wouldn't have used it to traverse Lake Monger, let alone one of the deepest channels of water in the world to get there. This makes me wonder about the claim and the sheer desperation of these people to gain access to a better life. I do blame the people smugglers for taking advantage of desperate people, but not those with no other choice. Great videos, keep them coming.😀

[@josephsolomon4684]

I only knew about Christmas Island was that prior before 1958, it was administered by the British together with Singapore until it was sold to Australia for a tidy sum (in millions of dollars) a year before Singapore gained self-governance in 1959, but the inhabitants were ironically similar to Singapore, (Chinese, Malay Indian) and much of the local cuisine on the island is similar to Singapore.

[@thomassharp2719]

What side of the road do they drive on ? The British way ? OR the American way ?

[@killy6028]

very nice educational video. Hello from christmas island

[@iamalienfrommars9215]

This island is amazing. My friend SpongeBob lives on this beautiful island. Love from Mars 👽

[@mistermiles3271]

The British vs the Robber Crabs to see who can steal the most stuff

[@Popsicle757]

Fantastic video, very informative! Could you please do a video explaining the history of the Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre and the overall controversy surrounding our treatment of asylum seekers? It's very briefly explained here, and I'd love to know more. Thank you!

[@Angie-Way]

Are you being held hostage by the crabs? Blink twice if you need help

[@AuspolExplained]

Please help the crabs have my family

[@knightrider585]

The crabs weren't compensated? They got a whole bridge!

[@AuspolExplained]

That's just porkbarelling

[@alanbstard4]

wasn't just Chinese who suffered from mining. they aren't refugees. They're illegal immigrants. Many sail straight to Christmas Island a nearly all male. One reason Australia took it over was due to Indonesian hostility to Malaya and Singapore, and the island wold have become Indo territory. Island considered strategically valuable to Australia

[@Occamification]

Hmmm. You missed the whole story about the prisoners of war who sabotaged the mining equipment, burying vital components in the jungle and thus preventing the Japanese from shipping phosphate from the island ... and the way that when they were recaptured the Japanese put them to work clearing the jungle to find the missing components - the area they cleared eventually becoming the golf course!

[@Occamification]

And the whole period when it was jointly governed by Australia and New Zealand ... :|

[@fionajane7481]

Hmm but are there any crabs on Christmas island?

[@AuspolExplained]

I've heard rumours

[@tysont2380]

Does an Australian need a passport or visa to visit Christmas Island?

[@AuspolExplained]

No, Christmas Island is not a foreign country

[@tysont2380]

@@AuspolExplained so you could just hop on a plane and visit. For that matter can you visit all external Australian territories that have an airport of course like Norfolk lsland

[@Erinkyan]

🦀🦀🦀🦀

[@omaronnyoutube]

Siapa di sini berasal dari Pulau Krismas?

[@emmastanton3515]

c r a b