Cocos Keeling Islands Visitor Centre

The Cocos Malay people of Home Island in the Cocos Keeling Islands have a history of isolation from the outside world, only a handful of outsiders having lived among them. The first group of settlers were brought to the islands as workers by the merchant Alexander Hare in 1826. They were mostly of Malay decent with a number of people of Chinese, Papuan and Indian heritage. While now being referred to as Cocos Malay, the settlers came from places such as Bali, Birma, Celebes, Madura, Sumbawa, Timor, Sumatra, Pasir-Kutai, Malacca, Penang, Batavia and Cerebon.