Christmas Island, a tiny spec in the Indian Ocean, was handed over by the British to Australia after World War 11, and has a population of 2,600 - 400 of them ex-pat Britons.
Englishman Barry Fullard, who runs the island power station, says: 'We came here six years ago for three months. We love the life. We're certainly not grumbling.'
Temperatures on the island rarely drop below 20 deg.C. and remain between 20-30 C., with varying humidity. There is golf, tennis, snorkelling, superb fishing and boating. Last year Barry was Commodore of the yacht club that opens its doors to "yachties" sailing in from all over the world. 'We give them a terrific welcome when they get here.'
There are two television programs, and islanders see Australian Broadcasting Corporation programs on video a week after they've been seen in Australia. Many people own satellite dishes. Mail is flown in twice a week via Jakarta. On Saturday two Australian newspapers are jetted in the same day they are printed on the mainland.
Trish Fullard says her budget gets a bit of a knock when she has to pay $5 for a lettuce and $1 each for apples at the supermarket; it is, however, balanced by plentiful tuna, Spanish mackerel and barracuda, which is cheap. 'You can be an alcoholic and smoke yourself to death pretty cheaply,' Barry reminds her. 'I pay $12 for a bottle of Scotch whisky, $9 for a carton of beer and $26 a carton for cigarettes. Our duty on drink and cigarettes is generous, though it was once more so. Last year cigarettes were just $10 a carton.'
Until the end of 1993 the 140-sq.km. island had an alarming unemployment figure of 70%. Then the casino opened. In flew 300 chefs, croupiers and hotel staff for the huge new Christmas Island Resort, built in the shape of a crab, and owned by a tycooon from nearby Indonesia. Trish Fullard got a job in housekeeping and says the casino and its attracted spending has rejuvenated the island.
'There are new shops, small businesses and tourist ventures springing up every day.'
On the day the resort and casino opened, 27 jets landed on the coral airstrip. High rollers from nearby Indonesia, where gambling had been outlawed in response to Moslem fundamentalists' demands, now drop single chips worth $150,000 on to the green baize gambling tables. The Australian Government has relaxed immigration rules applying on the mainland, to allow gamblers to stay five days without the need of a visitor's visa. So much money is flowing in from Indonesian, Malaysian and Singapurain gamblers - not to mention Australians coming in on cheap package deals - that Christmas Island hopes one day to be financially independent of the mainland coffers.
The phosphate mine, which was deemed uneconomical, opened again recently and is now run by the union, which owns it, employing 90 workers.
Says Trish: 'Before we landed on the island I had been worried by David Attenborough's films about the huge crabs. They are a spectacular sight, but they don't hurt anyone. They are a bit of a nuisance, though, when they go swimming in the resort pool.'
Barry explains: 'The crabs are red, and about six inches across. They are good garbage collectors and after eating all the leaf mould off the floor of the rainforest, they then eat each other. At the start of each Wet Season, when the first rains come to the island, they come down from the hills en masse and head for the sea. They get under the wheels of cars and into the swimming pools. Finally, when they reach the sea, the male crabs wash themselves, then dig into the sand and wait for the females. Because of their diets they are not edible.'
The annual parade of over 100 million land crabs caused so much headache that the Australian government spent $7,950 on a special crossing involving a culvert that went under the road. But because it was dark in there, the crabs refused to use it. A technician came up with the idea of a mesh crossing, similar to cattle stops on a country road. And it worked.
To fly from "nearby" Perth, 2,800 kms away, is normally $1,250 return fare. But gambling packages to the resort can now be had for $990 including three days' accommodation. When Trish and Barry want to fly back to the UK on holidays they will soon be able to do so direct from Christmas Island via Singapore.
Schooling, says Trish, is good, but after Year 10, their 15-year-old son will be sent to boarding school in Perth. Some 60% of Christmas Islanders are ethnic Chinese, 15% Malay, and the rest white Australians.
Two years ago the island's three policemen had to keep order when 1,300 residents rallied outside the Administrator's office to protest against laws frustrating land and home ownership. When it was over, the islanders and the policemen went off for a drink. There was a punch-up a few months later between the Administrator and a disgruntled Asian resident, claiming discrimination.
'There is often talk of secession to set up an independent state,' says Barry Fullard, 'but it is not a popular movement.
