Christmas Island National Park
national park of Australia
Christmas Island National Park is an Australian national park that includes most of Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean southwest of Indonesia. The park is home to many species of animal and plant life, including the eponymous Christmas Island red crab, whose annual migration sees around 100 million crabs move to the sea to spawn. Christmas Island is the only nesting place for the endangered Abbott's booby and critically endangered Christmas Island frigatebird, and the wide range of other endemic species makes the island of significant interest to the scientific community.
History
Concerns were expressed in the early 1970s about the effect of phosphate mining on the flora and fauna of Christmas Island. A particular focus was on the habitat of Abbott's booby (Papasula abbotti), which appeared in danger of extinction. In 1974, a governmental committee examined the environmental impact of mining and other commercial activities and advised on measures to protect the island. The committee's recommendation that an area of the island be set aside for conservation was implemented in a series of measures culminating in the establishment of the Christmas Island National Park on 21 February 1980 under the terms of the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975.
The park initially covered the south-west corner of the island, and was extended in 1986 and 1989 to include most of the rainforest on the island. Today the park covers approximately 85 km2 (33 mi2), or 63% of the island.
Geology and geography
Christmas Island consists of an uplifted limestone cap metamorphosed from coral reefs overlying more ancient volcanic andesite bedrock.
The public source identifies “Christmas Island National Park” as national park of Australia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Christmas, Island and National.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Christmas Island National Park”, the useful work is to connect “national park of Australia” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1089780. The first chronological checks are 1974, 1980, 1975 and 1986.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Christmas Island National Park”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Christmas Island National Park primary sources, Christmas Island National Park archive and Christmas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Christmas Island National Park”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Christmas Island National Park” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.