John Sidney Clunies-Ross John Sidney Clunies-Ross was born in the Coco Islands on 13 November 1868, the son of George Clunies-Ross and Inin. Known as Tuan Ross, he inherited an economic disaster after a cyclone destroyed almost every house and coconut palm on Home Island in November 1909. During the Second World War, the Cocos islands served as a major base for the Royal Air Force. John Sidney Clunies-Ross died of a heart attack during a Japanese bombing on the islands in August 1944. The British military took over control of Home Island until John Cecil Clunies-Ross returned to the Cocos on 6 July 1946. John Cecil Clunies-Ross The title to the islands was claimed by the Ross family until 1978, when John Cecil Clunies-Ross (born 29 November 1928), known as Tuan John, sold them to the Commonwealth of Australia for £2.5m ($4.75m) under threat of expropriation, with the exception of his house on Home Island, which was eventually purchased by the government in 1993. The Commonwealth had already been administering the islands since November 1955, with the proclamation of the Cocos (Keeling) Island Act 1955. John C. Clunies-Ross eventually went bankrupt after the Australian government refused to give any business to his shipping line company. He then moved to Perth with his wife. During the 1984 referendum, he campaigned for independence but the majority of the islanders chose integration with Australia. He died in Perth at the age of 92 on 13 September 2021. Legacy , John "Johnny" George Clunies-Ross (born 1957), the son of John C. Clunies-Ross, lived on the West Island, breeding clams. He stated that he was initially frustrated with the 1978 transfer of the islands to Australia, but that he had changed his mind since then: "I was 21 and I'd been brought up to do the job. But even in the old man's time, it had become anachronistic. It had to change". List of resident magistrates See also List of administrative heads of Cocos (Keeling) Islands Ian Clunies Ross, prominent Australian scientist and administrator and relative of the Clunies-Ross family Alfred Clunies-Ross, the first non-white rugby union international player and relative of the Clunies-Ross family Pulu Cocos Museum References Further reading Clunies-Ross, John Cecil; Souter, Gavin The Clunies-Ross Cocos Chronicle, Self, Perth 2009, External links Cocos Island page Genealogical Gleanings Cocos (Keeling) Islands History of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands History of Christmas Island Scottish