Cocos (Keeling) Islands – 400 Years

Date of Issue : 21 Apr 2009

Postmark : Cocos (Keeling) Islands WA 6799

Denomination : 2 x 55c, AU$1.10 and AU$1.65

Stamp Size : 35 mm x 35 mm

Paper : Tullis Russell

Printing Process : Lithography

This stamp issue by Australia Post celebrates the 400th anniversary of the first European sighting of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in 1609. The islands were previously known as the Cocos Islands due to the profusion of coconut palms growing there, but by the early 18th century they were known as Keeling Islands or Cocos-Keeling Islands. The stamps in this issue feature the sighting of the islands by Captain William Keeling of the English East India Company in 1609 (55c); a detail from Charles Darwin's notebooks and a sketch of a fish he found, who visited the islands on The Beagle in its second survey voyage, arriving on 1 Apr 1836 (55c); coconut labourer on the islands during Clunies Ross era (AU$1.10); as well as a Dugong, with a map of Australia (AU$1.65).