Queen Elizabeth II 25th Anniversary Coronation First Day Cover, Christmas Island postmarked on April 21, 1978.
Christmas Island
Lying 224 miles south of Java Head, in the Indian Ocean, Christmas Island is 11 miles long and 4*2 miles across. It is the top of a submerged mountain composed of limestones with volcanic intrusions, forming an elevated plateau over one thousand feet above sea level. Extremely rich in phosphate of lime, it has been extensively mined since 1897. The population are nearly all employees of the British Phosphate Commissioners, who control the extraction and export of phosphorite. There is a local broadcasting station, and the 3,000 Chinese and Malays have no less than 2,000 radios between them.
Lack of phosphorus in plants causes stunted root growth, spindly stalks and delayed maturity, and phosphates are used extensively as fertilizers. Some rock phosphate is used directly, finely ground, on acid soils, but most is dissolved in acids to make water-soluble phosphates such as super-phosphate from sulphuric acid. Other major producers of rock phosphate include the USA, North Africa, Nauru, Makatea, Ocean Island and Angaur Island.
Christmas Island was annexed by Britain in 1888, and in the following year placed under the control of the Straits Settlements. (Later forming part of Malaysia, the Straits Settlements then consisted of the three British East India Company Territories of Penang, Singapore and Malacca.) Sovereignty was transferred in October, 1958, to Australia.
This Omnibus issue displays the White Swan of Bohun and Abbott's Booby. The White Swan of Bohun is to be seen in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, supporting the arms of Bohun. Used by Henry IV by right of marriage to Mary of Bohun, it was later adopted as a Royal Beast by Henry VII, who reunited the Houses of York and Lancaster by his marriage to Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth.
Abbott's Booby, only to be found on Christmas Island, is related to the gannets and pelicans. It has a strong neck and a thick, tapering beak ideal for catching fish, which it does by plunging vertically into the sea and swallowing them underwater. They nest in colonies, but are excellent fliers, sometimes found hundreds of miles from land in their search for food.
