Coronavirus – Where is Christmas Island and why are Australians being quarantined there?
AUSTRALIA has announced plans to quarantine its evacuees on Christmas Island, a small island that sits over a thousand miles from the mainland.
The decision is drawing controversy as in Australia as residents are upset about being exposed to the virus that is spreading rapidly across Asia.
The Australian Medical Association are also calling the use of Christmas Island "inhumane" and saying that the detention centre is "not appropriate". The World Health Organisation has also advised against taking foreign residents out of Wuhan.
Labour leaders have pointed out that other countries are not going to such lengths.
Australia has a total of seven confirmed cases of coronavirus as of January 29.
The Chinese national women's football team are being quarantined for two weeks in Brisbane as they passed through Wuhan before coming to Australia.
The island's history
The island was discovered by Richard Rowe of the Thomas in 1615 and got its name when it was later named on Christmas Day 1643 by Captain William Mynors.
It was a British territory from 1888, but was given to the Australians in October 1958. Its capital 'Flying Fish Cove' is named after the HMS Flying Fish that made a landing in 1886 under Captain John Maclear.
It was settled in the late 19th century and has been broadly undisturbed by human contact other than for scientific projects and phosphate mining.
It changed hands a few times during the second world war and was finally re-captured from the Japanese by HMS Rother in October 1945.
On October 1 1958 it was transferred to the Aussies for $20 million.
A controversial detention and immigration centre was built and was gradually expanded at a cost of $400 million since 2001 and was closed in September 2018, but re-opened in 2019.
The multi-million dollar facility has been empty since it was re-opened except for the family of four that currently live there.