Society has been defended: Following the shifting shape of state through Australia's Christmas Island

The interdiction and detention of irregular arrivals has become one of the key means by which wealthy states enforce and promote secure mobility. This article presents a detailed genealogy of the problems and solutions that enabled Australia's Christmas Island to become an integral site for the reproduction of Australian society through practices of border protection. A close examination of Christmas Island reveals broader, deeper currents that follow the shifting shapes of state internationally, and the dreams and ruins such transformations produce in their wake.