Keeling Cocos islands are a group of 27 small coral islands located in the Indian Ocean. Discovered by Captain Keeling of the East India Company in 1609, they became a British protectorate in 1857. The islands were successfully administered from Ceylon frm 1878, the Straits Settlements from 1886, and the Crown Colony of Singapore from 1903. However, the real adminstration was vested in the hands of the Clunies-Ross family, who established themselves in the islands in about 1827. In 1955 the administration of the islands was transfered from the United Kingdon to Australia on the understanding that the Clunies-Ross family would retain their ownership of their property although the islanders have been given the opportunity to acquire Australian citizenship. In July 1978 the Australian Government announced that it had arranged to buy the islands from Mr. John Clunies-Ross, thus ending the grant of territory in perpetuity by Queen Victoria.