Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian
This knife comes from the Cocos-Keeling islands in the Indian Ocean. The sparsely populated islands are part of Australia and are owned by the Clunies-Ross family. A British presence on the islands during WWII led to a number of these knives eventually finding their way on to the market. I'm told they were produced by a couple of generations of the same family.
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A very cool knife.
It looks like the Clunies-Ross family have not owned the islands since 1979.
"In the 1970s, the Australian government's dissatisfaction with the Clunies-Ross feudal style of rule of the island increased. In 1978, Australia forced the family to sell the islands for the sum of A$6,250,000, using the threat of compulsory acquisition. By agreement, the family retained ownership of Oceania House, their home on the island. In 1983, the Australian government reneged on this agreement and told John Clunies-Ross that he should leave the Cocos. The following year the High Court of Australia ruled that resumption of Oceania House was unlawful, but the Australian government ordered that no government business was to be granted to Clunies-Ross's shipping company, an action that contributed to his bankruptcy.[41] John Clunies-Ross later moved to Perth, Western Australia. However, some members of the Clunies-Ross family still live on the Cocos."