Clunies-Ross Family

Clunies-Ross Family, first settlers, of the Cocos, or Keeling, Islands in the eastern Indian Ocean. John Clunies-Ross, a Scotsman, settled (1827) with his family in the Cocos and set about developing the islands’ natural coconut groves. Although the islands became a British possession in 1857, the family retained complete control, which was recognized by a royal grant in 1886. The family’s position as owner of nearly all the property and sole employer of the inhabitants led to their designation in the press as “Kings of the Cocos” and continued through the transfer of the islands from Great Britain to Australia in 1955. In late 1972, John Clunies-Ross, fifth in the line of succession, agreed to relinquish his authority to the Australian government, which sought United Nations advice before appointing its first administrator to the islands in 1977.

George Clunies-Ross, beneficiary of the grant of 1886, established the first settlement on Christmas Island, about 750 miles east of the Cocos (and not to be confused with its namesake in the central Pacific), in 1888. His son Sidney Clunies-Ross discovered large deposits of phosphate of lime there in 1895–96 and received a concession to work the deposits in 1897. The Australian and New Zealand governments acquired the remaining Clunies-Ross family mining interests and assets in 1948.