Christmas Island
Updated: Oct 2, 2022
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Country Name
Christmas Island, and officially known as the Territory of Christmas Island.
Location
Christmas Island is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name.
It is located in the Indian Ocean, around 350 kilometers south of Java and Sumatra and around 1,550 km northwest of the closest point on the Australian mainland. It lies 2,600 km northwest of Perth* and 1,327 km south of Singapore.
*the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia (WA).
Christmas Island is one of two states and territories of Australia the other being the Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Capital
Flying Fish Cove.
Flag
The flag of Christmas Island was unofficially adopted on 14 April 1986.
The flag became official on Australia Day on 26 January 2002.
The background of the flag is composed of two equal-sized triangles, one green and one blue, divided by a diagonal line. The Southern Cross constellation appears in the bottom left of the flag in the same style as it appears on the flag of Australia. In the top right, the golden bosun bird (Phaethon lepturus fulvus, one of six races of the white-tailed tropicbird) appears.
In the center of the flag on a golden disc is the map of the island in green.
The blue triangle represents the sea around the island and the green stands for the plant life on the island and the land generally. The bird is considered to be a symbol of the Island. The golden disc represents the mining industry on the island.
Language
English is the official language on Christmas Island. However, more than half of the population speaks a language other than English at home. While on the island, you might hear people conversing in Mandarin, Malay, Cantonese, Min Nan, Tagalog, and a variety of other languages.
Religion
Religious beliefs are diverse and include Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam, and Confucianism.
There is a mosque, a Christian church, a Baháʼí center, and around twenty Chinese temples and shrines, which include seven Buddhist temples, ten Taoist temples, and shrines dedicated to Na Tuk Kong or Datuk Keramat on the island.
Currency
Australian dollar (AUD).
