Assigned the country calling code +672, four Antarctic bases operated by Australia can be reached by direct calling from anywhere in the world. The area codes are 10-6 for Davis, 11-7 for Mawson, 12-8 for Casey and 13-9 for Macquarie Island, in each case followed by three additional digits.
British Antarctic Territory
The British Antarctic Territory is a sector of Antarctica claimed by the United Kingdom and is a British overseas territory. It is a triangle in Antarctica from the South Pole to 60° S latitude between longitudes 20° W and 80° W. The Territory was formed on March 3, 1962, although the UK first claimed this part of the Antarctic in 1908. Before 1962, the area now covered by the Territory comprised three separate dependencies of the Falkland Islands;
The Territory overlaps other claims on Antarctica by Argentina and Chile
The Territory is inhabited largely by the staff of research and support stations operated and maintained by the British Antarctic Survey and other organisations.
The United Kingdom has had a presence in the South Atlantic since 1833 when it occupied the Falkland Islands. In 1908 the UK claimed the territory that is British Antarctic Territory today, as well as South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The territory was governed as three separate dependencies; Graham Land, the South Orkneys, and the South Shetlands, administered from Falkland Islands by the Governor.
In addition to continental Antarctica, within which the BAT claim includes the Palmer Land peninsula, and the Ronne Ice Shelf, Weddell Sea, the territory also includes the South Shetland Islands and South Orkney Islands.
It is administered by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). A Commissioner is appointed and is always the Head of the FCO's Overseas Territories Department.
The Territory has a full suite of laws, and legal and postal administrations. Given the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty System, the Territory does not enforce its laws on foreign nations who maintain scientific bases within the Territory. It is self-financing, with income from the sale of postage stamps and income tax.
The British Antarctic Survey has three permanently staffed research stations in the Territory:
British Indian Ocean Territory
The British Indian Ocean Territory is a dependency of the United Kingdom. It includes many small islands in the Indian Ocean. The territory is the seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago with over 1,000 individual islandsmany very small. There is a total land area of . The largest island is Diego Garcia.
Both India and Mauritius claim the territories, and do not recognise the United Kingdom's authority over the Chagos Archipelago. India does not recognise Anglo sovereignty over these "Cultural Indo-Indian/Indies islands" and has disputed their status since 1947.
The natives of these islands were deported (made to leave their homes) by the British government. They were sent to Mauritius and the Seychelles. This happened in 1968 to 1973, to allow the United States to build a joint UK/US military base. In 2000, the High Court of the UK first ruled that the natives had the right to return home, but the government have been fighting hard against this court decision, and many of the natives are still said to be trying to move back to the islands.
Christmas Island
The Territory of Christmas Island is a small island that belongs to Australia. It is in the Indian Ocean, 2600 kms northwest of Perth in Western Australia and 500 km south of Jakarta, Indonesia.
About 1,600 people live on Christmas Island, mostly in a number of "settlement areas" on the north of the island:
Christmas Island is far from other islands. That is why many of the plants and animals are only found on that Island. Much of it is undisturbed by humans.
There used to be mining on the island, but now 65% of Christmas Island is National Park.
Captain William Mynors of the British East India Company ship, the "Royal Mary", gave the island its name because they arrived on Christmas Day, 25 December 1643.
The earliest recorded visit was in March 1688 by William Dampier of the British ship "Cygnet". Dampier was blown away from the direction he wanted to go, and he got lost. After 28 days he arrived on Christmas Island. Two of his crewmen were the first recorded people to set foot on Christmas Island.
There were several visits and explorations of the island, but it was only when valuable phosphate of lime was discovered that the island was "annexed to" (claimed by) the British Crown on 6 June 1888.
Soon afterwards, a small settlement was started in Flying Fish Cove by G. Clunies Ross, the owner of the Keeling Islands (some 900 kilometres to the south west) to collect timber and supplies for the growing industry on Cocos.
Phosphate mining began in the 1890s using indentured workers from Singapore, China, and Malaysia.
The island was ruled jointly by the British Phosphate Commissioners and District Officers from the United Kingdom Colonial Office through the Straits Settlements, and later the Crown Colony of Singapore.
Japan invaded and occupied the island in 1942, as the Indian garrison mutinied, and they interned the residents (made them stay where they were) until the end of World War II in 1945.
Australia asked the United Kingdom to allow them to rule the island; in 1957, the Australian government paid the government of Singapore £2.9 million in compensation. This amount of money was decided by guessing how much the phosphate given up by Singapore was worth.
The first Australian Official Representative arrived in 1958 and was replaced by an Administrator in 1968 . Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands together are called the Australian Indian Ocean Territories and since 1997 share one Administrator who lives on Christmas Island.
Since the late 1980s boatloads of refugees have gone to Christmas Island, mostly from Indonesia. During 2001, Christmas Island received a large number of asylum seekers travelling by boat, most of them from the Middle East and intending to apply for asylum in Australia. The Norwegian cargo vessel MV "Tampa" rescued people from a sinking Indonesian fishing-boat "Palapa". The ship had 420 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, 13 from Sri Lanka, and five from Indonesia. The captain of the ship asked to let the refugees leave the ship at Christmas Island. The Australian SAS boarded and took control. The asylum seekers were sent to Nauru. Another boatload of asylum seekers was taken from Christmas Island to Papua New Guinea. It was said that many of the adult asylum seekers threw their children into the water in protest at being turned away. This was later proved to be untrue. Many of the refugees were accepted by New Zealand.
The Australian Parliament later passed a law to ban people who arrive on Christmas Island from being able automatically to claim refugee status. This allows the Australian navy to move them to other countries (Papua New Guinea's Manus Island, and Nauru). In 2005, the Department of Immigration began to build an "Immigration Reception and Processing Centre", completed in 2007 at the cost of $210 million. It has 800 beds.
Christmas Island is a non-self governing territory of Australia. The Queen of Australia is represented by an administrator appointed by the Governor-General. Neil Lucas was appointed administrator on 28 January 2006.
Federal government services are provided through the Department of Transport and Regional Services and the Christmas Island Administration.
The Western Australian Government and other contractors provide state government services, but because Christmas Island is a territory the Commonwealth (federal) Australian Government pay the costs.
The local government is the Shire of Christmas Island. This council has 9 members, half the members are elected every two years.