West Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands
capital of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands
West Island (Cocos Islands Malay: Pulu Panjang, Malay: Pulau Panjang; lit. 'Long Island'), part of the South Keeling Islands, is the capital of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, an Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean. The population is roughly 120, making it the third smallest capital in the world, and consists mainly of Europeans. It is less populous than Home Island, the only other inhabited island.
West Island was part of the Clunies-Ross plantation and an airstrip was built here during World War II. As well as all the government buildings, it contains the airport, a general store and tourist accommodation. In November 2013 it was revealed that the Australian Signals Directorate operates a listening station on West Island.
Education
Cocos Islands District High School operates a primary and secondary campus on West Island. Most of the students of that campus originate from the Australian continent.
Heritage listings
West Island contains a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
Morea Close: Administration Building Forecourt
Air Force Road: Direction Island Houses
Qantas Close: Government House
Sydney Highway: Qantas Huts
RAAF Memorial
Air Force Road: Type 2 Residences
William Keeling Crescent: Type T Houses Precinct
Orion Close: West Island Elevated Houses
Air Force Road: West Island Housing Precinct
Alexander Street: West Island Mosque
Climate
West Island experiences a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen: Af, Trewartha: Aral), with hot and humid conditions experiences year round. The islands experience two seasons that often overlap: the trade wind season from May/June to September/October, and the calmer doldrum season from November through to May. Precipitation is moderate to high year round, thanks to its position at the southern edge of the equatorial low pressure belt.
The public source identifies “West Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands” as capital of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around West, Island and Cocos.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q48675. Authority coordinates are -12.187, 96.828. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2013.
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This entry incorporates text from “West Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands” 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.