The Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands consist of two atolls and twenty-seven coral islands, located in the Indian Ocean, approximately midway between Australia and Sri Lanka. It is a Federal territory under the control of an Administrator, who is based on Christmas Island, 975 km east-north east from there. A local flag has been unofficially in use since 2003. The crescent acknowledges that a majority of the small population are Sunni Muslims, descendents of Malays originally brought to the island to provide labour on copra plantations.