Mr. A. Lennox Boyd, Secretary of State for the Colonies, told the British Parliament on 6th June, 1957 :-

"In the light of the new constitutional arrangements now being agreed upon for Singapore, Her Majesty's Government do not consider that they San ask the Singapore Government to continue to administer Christmas Island (which lies in the Indian Ocean some 800 miles south of Singapore) on their behalf. Christmas Island has since 1900 been associated for administrative purposes with Singapore. The sole activity on the island is the extraction of phosphates by the Christmas Island Phosphate Commission, which is wholly owned by the Australian and New Zealand Governments. Arrangements are accordingly being made to transfer the administration of the island to the Government of Australia, which draws about one-third of its phosphate requirements from the island and is the Government most closely concerned with its administration.

The island, which should not be confused with Christmas Island in the Pacific, which is the site for the United Kingdom atomic tests, has no indigenous inhabitants as such, the present population being a labour force employed by the Phosphate Commission for working the phosphate deposits.

The Australian Government have given assurances that British subjects ordinarily resident on the island at the time of transfer and those born there afterwards will enjoy the same rights regarding citizenship and immigration as were extended to the inhabitants of the Cocos Islands when these were transferred to Australia in 1955.

The Singapore Government have in the past enjoyed certain revenues in respect of the phosphate operations, and Her Majesty's Government are making an ex-gratis payment of 20,000,000 Straits dollars to the Singapore Government to ensure that they do not suffer economically by the transfer. The Australian and New Zealand Governments will reimburse Her Majesty's Government in respect of this payment."

Following this statement, the necessary legislative steps were taken in the Australian and United Kingdom Parliaments and the formal transfer of Christmas Island to Australian administration became effective on and from 1st October, 1958.

The Island.

The accompanying map shows the position of Christmas Island in relation to Singapore, Indonesia, Cocos (Keeling) Islandsand the Australian mainland.

Christmas Island, which is roughly quadrilateral in outline, is some 12 miles by 9 miles An extent, and has an area of about 64 square miles. As earlier stated, there are no indigenous inhabitants, and the population at the beginning of 1958 was approximately 2,650, of which about 2,000 were Chinese, 500 Malayans and 150 Europeans.

Discovery and Development.

The island was discovered and named by Captain William Mynors on Christmas Day, 1643. Possibly the first white man to land on the island was William Dampier in 1688, the same year in which he made his landing on the west coast of Australia. Dampier found Christmas Island completely uninhabited.

In 1886, Captain Maclear of H.M.S. "Flying Fish" visited Christmas Island and discovered suitable anchorage in a bay which he named Flying Fish Cove. In the following year the island was visited by another party from H.M.S. "Egeria", and samples of rock then taken were proved to be almost pure phosphate of lime. As a consequence the British Government annexed the island in 1888 and began to administer it, along with the Straits Settlements, from Singapore.

Shortly afterwards, a settlement was established at Flying Fish Cove by G. Clunies Ross from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, 530 miles to the westward. Mr. Ross and Sir John Murray were granted a lease to mine the phosphate deposits but found these to be so vast that they sold their interests to the Christmas Island Phosphate Company. This company granted in 1891 a 99 years' lease, which in 1949 was transferred to the Australian and New Zealand Governments, who agreed to establish the Christmas Island Phosphate Commission to conduct phosphate extraction operations on their joint behalf.

Period of World War II.

The island was occupied by the Japanese during World War II. Some attempt was made by them to recover and export phosphate but they were forced to abandon their efforts as a result of Allied attacks upon the phosphate vessels.

Postal History and Postage Stamps.

The first post office in Christmas Island appears to have been established in 1892 and the postage stamps then employed were those of the Straits Settlements. As the only regular communication with the island was by Company steamer, the incidence of the mail service was almost wholly dependent upon the itinerary of the phosphate vessels.

The Christmas Island post office had its own postmark, of Malayan pattern, simply inscribed "CHRISTMAS ISLAND". The allied military units on the island during World War II were possibly served by a field post office but particulars thereof have not come to attention.

Following the resumption of phosphate extraction operations after the war, the post office continued to operate under the aegis of the Straits Settlements administration. When distinctive stamps inscribed "SINGAPORE" were issued in 1948 they were then introduced for use on Christmas Island and were not discontinued until replaced by the provisional Australian Christmas Island series described briefly in the August 1958 number of the Philatelic Bulletin.

Apart from the postmarks which were used during the Straits Settlements and Singapore regimes, and the possible use of an army field post office postmark, it is of interest to note that a type of cachet was used on mail articles originated by members of a Royal Naval Weather Station which operated at Christmas Island during the first half of  1956.

The Australian Post Office.

 The postage stamps issued by the Australian administration for use in Christmas Island are essentially a Territorial issue and of the same status as the stamps of Nauru, Norfolk Island and Papua and New Guinea. Christmas Island stamps are not valid for use in any other Australian Territory, or on the Australian mainland, and Australian Commonwealth stamps are not valid for use in Christmas Island.

 To meet the convenience of the local population, it was decided that after the transfer Malayan currency would continue to be used and, as a consequence, it was necessary that the stamp denominations be expressed in the same medium. The range of denominations and colours of the stamps were published in the August number of the Philatelic Bulletin, and as indicated therein, the 1/7d. Australian stamp has been utilized as the basis for the series, being modified as shown by the accompanying illustrations.

The new stamps were issued at Christmas Island on 15th October, 1958, and it is expected that they may continue in use for 18 months or 2 years, by when it may prove practicable to replace them by a regular series. 

Coincidently with the issue of the new stamps, the post office in Christmas Island commenced usage of new postmarkers in the type illustrated.

Extracted from APO Philatelic Bulletin Vol 6, No 2, October 1958