[1] During the early 1900s the Co-op shop was originally used as a copra store - this was when industrial activity was moved away from Lot 14 to other parts of Home Island.

The roof timbers of the original building are in a visual sound condition, although the connections through the top and bottom wall plates and into the footings are showing the effects of rust and moisture penetration.

It also provides evidence of the contract labour of the Cocos Malay people who developed the Islands as a coconut plantation and copra processing works from the early nineteenth century until the late 1970s.

The building's conversion to a Co-op Shop dates from the period when the Cocos Malay people achieved self government.

[1] This Wikipedia article was originally based on Old Co-op Shop (Canteen), entry number 105409 in the Australian Heritage Database published by the Commonwealth of Australia 2019 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 15 May 2019.