Makmoom

Makmoom is a wooden open boat, known as a jukong, from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Based off a whale boat design, it is a double-ended, carvel planked vessel with a single chine hull. The rudder is mounted to the stern and steered with two ropes. The deck and thwarts are varnished. The aft (rear) thwart serves as a mast partner for the mast, which holds the mainsail, jib and boom.

The Cocos-Keeling jukongs were built to three different lengths: 4.5, 5.1 and 5.8 meters. At 5.73 meters long, Makmoom is one of the larger types.

Unusual paint job

Makmoom’s hull is painted white on the outside and orange on the inside. The use of the orange paint on a Cocos-Keeling jukong is unusual, however the Department of Housing and Constructions used an identical shade of orange on their departmental boats. It is not known if Makmoom was used by the Department or if the owner simply liked the colour.

Traditionally, the inside and the top of the boat were lacquered, while the lower three-quarters of the outside hull were painted white, topped with a blue and yellow stripe. Further analysis needs to be undertaken to determine if this is the original paint used on the vessel.

Makmoom, meaning ‘follow together’ or ‘follow as one’ in Malay, was one of four jukongs built to this design, and part of the third batch built by the Clunies-Ross company workshop on Home Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The vessel was completed in August 1939, which is stated on its mast collar. Haji Dubney bin Bohin, former-President of the Christmas and Cocos Islanders Social Welfare Office in Perth, recalled that Makmoom was used by coconut-gathering supervisors.

In 1977, Captain Paddy Keenan obtained the vessel and used it as pleasure craft until 1981, when he put it ashore in Fremantle.

Makmoom changed owner again in 1985 - Trevor Richards intended to sail the boat as pleasure craft but sold it to the WA Museum in 1986.

Cocos (Keeling) Islands

The first recorded European sighting of the Cocos Atoll was in 1696 by Captain William Keeling. Just over 100 years later, in 1805, British hydrographer James Horsburgh charted the 25 islands and named them the Cocos-Keeling Islands. In 1825, the Scottish trader Captain John Clunies-Ross surveyed the islands, dug wells, and planted fruit trees. A year later in 1826 the first settlement was established by Alexander Hare, who brought over enslaved Malay, Chinese, Papuan and Indian people.

In 1827, John Clunies-Ross returned to the islands to settle and began a coconut plantation. Over the subsequent years tensions rose between Hare and Clunies-Ross, but eventually Hare’s financial problems force him to leave the islands. He returned to Batavia (present-day Jakarta), and Clunies-Ross took full control of the islands. In 1886, Queen Victoria granted the islands to the Clunies-Ross family.

On 6 April 1984, Cocos Islanders voted in a referendum to end feudal control of the islands by the Clunies-Ross family, which led to the islands becoming part of Australia. This anniversary is celebrated annually as Act of Self-Determination Day.

John Clunies-Ross

John Clunies-Ross started as an apprentice with the Greenland whale fishery in 1798, when he was thirteen years of age. He followed the whaling path for the next twenty years, before taking the command of the brig, Olivia. His work as a whaler influenced his approach to the design of the jukong, and it was modelled off the contemporary whaleboat design. The design was modified to allow the vessel to negotiate the shallow waters of the Cocos atoll, while also retaining stability in rougher seas. The final jukong design combined Malay and Scottish boat building techniques. 

Jukongs

 The jukongs carried a single mast and two sails, a jib and a mainsail. The boats were steered with ropes attached to the rudder and could be sailed by one or two people. The design of the vessel evolved over time, and they continued being built on the islands until 1978. While these boats were originally used for moving coconuts, general transport, and fishing, they soon became popular for recreational racing in the lagoon.

https://australiapostcollectables.com.au/stamp-issues/cocos-keeling-islands-historical-jukongs

https://cocoskeelingislands.com.au/history

Gibson-Hill, C. A., John Clunies Ross & Alexander Hare, Journal Malayan Branch, Vol XXV, Pt. IV, 1952, Royal Asiatic soc., p17-18

Prince, B. and Randall, N.; Makmoom. A Cocos Island Djukong, 1986, pp. 1ff