Capital: West Island
Population: 544
Languages: English
Currency:
Australian Dollars
COCOS (KEELING) ISLANDS

Cocos (Keeling) Islands is an Australian External Territory located in the eastern Indian Ocean
1,170 km2 southwest of Java and 2,160 km2 northwest of Western Australia.
Comprising two inhabited islands (Home and West) and 27 atolls, its name comes from the
combination of two earlier names. i.e. Cocos Islands (1622) and Keeling Islands (1703).
The islands were annexed by the United Kingdom in 1857 and in 1878 control
was handed to the Governor of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) but in 1886 the islands
became part of the Straits Settlment and then the Crown Colony of Singapore.
After the fall of Singapore in 1942 control verted back to Ceylon but was returned to Singapore in 1946,
until 1955 when soverignty was transferred to Australia.
The first Cocos (Keeling) Islands stamps were issued in 1963.
Christmas Island is home to several endangered endemic reptiles and they feature on the island's stamps.

The other Australian External Territories issuing herpetological stamps:
Christmas Island
Norfolk Island

 

1994


TRANSFER OF POSTAL SERVICE TO AUSTRALIA POST
(SG 301-305)

10c Green turtle

 

 
Name on stamp
Current name
Accepted common name
10c
none
Chelonia mydas
Green sea turtle

 

Twenty stamps printed together as a se-tenant sheet so that their backgrounds form one composite design, with the second row comprising five stamps featuring Green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas).

1994

1999

ISLAND WILDLIFE
(SG 366)

[no image available yet]

Twenty stamps printed together as a se-tenant sheet so that their backgrounds form one composite design, with one stamp featuring a Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) and a Hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata).

 

2002

SEA TURTLES
(SG 393-396)

45c Loggerhead turtle
45c Hawksbill turtle
45c Leatherback turtle
45c Green turtle

 

 
Name on stamp
Current name
Accepted common name
45c
none
Caretta caretta
Loggerhead sea turtle
45c
none
Dermochelys coriacea
Leatherback sea turtle
45c
none
Eretmochelys imbricata
Hawksbill sea turtle
45c
none
Chelonia mydas
Green sea turtle

 

A nice set of four stamps featuring four of the sea turtles found in the waters around the
Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

2009

AUSTRALIAN JOINT TERRITORIES ISSUE: SPECIES AT RISK
(SG n/a)

Australia
Norfolk Island
Australian Antarctic Territory
Christmas Island
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
55c Bridled nailtail wallaby
55c Norfolk Island green parrot
55c Subantartic fur seal
55c Christmas Island blue-tailed skink
55c Green turtle

 
55c Green turtle

 

 
Name on stamp
Current name
Proposed common name
55c
none
Chelonia mydas
Green sea turtle

One of a series of five stamps issued for Australia and her Territories, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands stamp featuring the a Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas). The Christmas Island issue features a skink (see Christmas Island page). The stamps were issued as gummed and perforated, and as self-ashesive sets.