On a tiny dot perched 1550km north-west of Australia, life is roaring at this time of year.
One of Australia's seven external territories, Christmas Island — which sits off the coast of Western Australia — is the nation's only jurisdiction to mark Lunar New Year with a public holiday.
The annual celebration, commemorating the start of the new lunar calendar which falls this year on 10 February, is so widely embraced on the island that two public holidays are observed.
Lunar New Year public holidays
While the public holidays are on 12 and 13 February this year, celebrations for some Christmas Island residents often extend into the full 15 days of festivities.
"It’s always been like the first celebration of the year for everyone on the island," Poon Saan Club secretary Suzane Chan said.
The Poon Saan Club is a popular community hall that holds local events, especially during Chinese New Year, Moon Cake Festival, Hungry Ghost Festival and Seniors Week.
Suzane Chan teaching a traditional Chinese dance to a group of young girls at Poon Saan Club. Credit: Christmas Island Stories
A steamboat dinner is prepared, there's fish, meat, popular snacks, kung fu performances, red packets containing money for good luck, karaoke, a spectacle of fireworks, and a lion dance.
This year marks the Year of the Dragon — considered by some to be the most famous of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals. Julius Caesar (100BC), Joan of Arc (1412) and Martin Luther King Jr (1929) were all born in the Year of the Dragon.
A traditional Chinese dance performance on Christmas Island. Credit: Christmas Island Tourism Association
She says the club welcomes everyone to join in the celebrations despite their heritage, especially those without any family on the island.
"There are some who left Christmas Island for studies or to start a family, and never came back," she said.
"Others left for studies and, and only return to visit while on their (semester) break.
"What we are noticing though, is the younger generation bringing back their partners to the island. That is a good sign."
Christmas Island's population and politics
According to the 2021 census, Christmas Island has a population of 1692, down from 2072 a decade ago.
The majority of people on the island are of Chinese ancestry at 22 per cent, while Australian and Malay people account for 17 and 16 per cent respectively, and English and Indonesian 13 and 4 per cent respectively.
Locals crowd around a traditional lion dance performance during Lunar New Year celebrations in Christmas Island. Credit: Christmas Island Tourism Association/Alex Cearns
There is a local government, but no state-level representatives, and residents are still required to vote in federal elections and referendums, including the recent Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum.
Christmas Island first appeared on the charts of English and Dutch navigators in the early 1600s, before it was sighted in 1643, on Christmas Day — hence the island's name.
But it wasn’t until after World War Two that it came under the jurisdiction of the new British Colony of Singapore.
Australia then expressed an interest in acquiring Christmas Island in 1958 and so the island was excised from Singapore and sovereignty was transferred — including Australia paying £2,800,000 ($1.04 billion in today's money) as compensation for lost phosphate revenue.
The Poon Saan Club is the venue for Lunar New Year celebrations every year. Credit: Christmas Island Tourism Association
The newcomer
Taiwanese-born 40-year-old Kim (Ya-Ju) Sung grew up in Taiwan’s Taichung City, but by the time she turned 18, she'd lost contact with her family including her sister, following a difficult upbringing.
Financial challenges meant she did not finish university, so she enlisted in Taiwan’s armed forces, during a period where women could start volunteering for most combat and non-combat roles.
Kim (Ya-Ju) Sung and her sisters grew up in Taiwan. Credit: Kim (Ya-Jun) Sung
"When I came to Perth, my bad luck continued," she said.
"It was a struggle to find a job as there was a backlog of working holiday visa applicants."
Sung met her life partner, who told her of a job opportunity on Christmas Island, and she was employed for six years as a cleaner for the now-empty detention centre, which remains open.
It didn't take long for Sung to step inside the Poon Saan Club, where she felt like she had family for the first time in her life.
Family traditions
"In Taiwan, families make it an effort to get home to welcome the new year – including making time for a reunion dinner," she said.
"Then there's a bit of gambling (games of Mahjong) and even if you lose, Grandpa and Grandma will return the money to you."
But those weren't part of her core memories.
"When I was in Taiwan, everyone at the (Army) base would have a family to go home to, but I didn’t, so I'd volunteer to stay on so everyone else could celebrate," Sung said.
"On Christmas Island, everyone here is family. I find that I fit in here — because at the end of the day some people here are alone and have stories like mine, so we know how it feels."
Kim (Ya-Ju) Sung (seated on left) and her new friends at Poon Saan Club. Credit: Kim (Ya-Jun) Sung
It’s just one of the many Chinese traditions kept alive on the island. Similarly, the Islamic festivals Hari Raya Puasa and Hari Raya Haji are observed as public holidays on Christmas Island for the Malay population.
The return resident
Chan, who left the island for five years to study fashion design in Perth, chose to return in 2010.
She spends her evenings and weekends keeping local kids engaged in community activities in dance, costume, and drumming.
"If I hadn't come back, Chinese cultural dancing on the island would’ve been a thing of the past," she said.
Suzane Chan passes on her knowledge of Chinese drums to the next generation. Credit: Christmas Island Stories
"To me it's quite important to keep going with your traditions. We don't want it to be forgotten, certainly not here. All it takes is a few years – and then there'll be nothing left to preserve.
"Tradition and culture were how we became, this community."
