Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01389:body:0:p47
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that sighting.
In 1805, when sailing through this region of the Indian Ocean, the British hydrographer James Horsburgh named the island group the Cocos-Keeling Islands, after the coconut (Cocos nucifera) which grow in profusion on the islands, and named Horsburgh Island after himself.
On 6 December 1825, Captain John Clunies-Ross, a Scottish merchant seaman sailing the Borneo made a brief landing on the uninhabited islands when searching for a possible new place to reside for English merchant Alexander Hare, who owned and operated the merchant vessel Borneo.
The first permanent settlement on the islands was led by Alexander Hare, arriving in 1826. Hare commenced commercial activity on the islands with the harvesting of coconuts and the production of coconut oil. A second settlement began in 1827 with the arrival of a party led by Captain John Clunies-Ross. Clunies-Ross was also keen to establish his own settlement and exploit the island's coconut supplies.
The relationship between Clunies-Ross and Hare was poor, with both claiming ownership of the islands, but in 1831 Hare eventually departed the atoll, while the Clunies-Ross family remained for more than 150 years.
In 1857 the islands were declared a part of the British Dominions by Captain Fremantle, who arrived aboard HMS Juno (Gibson-Hill 1947). In 1886, Queen Victoria granted all of the islands, under certain provisions, to John George Clunies-Ross (the third descendant of Captain Clunies-Ross) and his heirs in perpetuity.

      Map 2:      Location of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands

      Map 3:      Pulu Keeling National Park

Formal responsibility for supervision of the islands was transferred over the years to the Governments of Ceylon (1878), the Straits Settlements (1886), Singapore (1903) and Ceylon once again (1939–45). They became a Territory of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1955. In 1978 Australia purchased all of the land, except the family home, from the Clunies-Ross family for $6.25 million. The Clunies-Ross family papers contain detailed information on the history and use of the islands during this time. The family home and the Clunies-Ross collection of historic books, documents, furniture and paintings were purchased by the Australian Government in 1993 for $1.2 million.
In 1984, through a United Nations supervised Act of Self Determination (ASD), the Cocos-Malay population on the islands voted to formally integrate with Australia. The ASD process instigated a commitment by the Commonwealth to raise services and standards of living to comparable Australian levels within 10 years (Carlsen 1995).
Early inhabitants of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands called the islands the Borneo Coral Reefs after the supply vessel, the Borneo, earlier captained by John Clunies-Ross. The islands were also known as the Keeling-Cocos Islands until 1955, when they officially became the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
There are about 460 Cocos-Malay people currently