These were indeed heady times on the island of Banaba, an island rich in deposits of phosphate. Some 20 years earlier, prior to and during the Japanese World War 2 occupation of Banaba, all mining activity had ceased and all the mining plant had been either destroyed or rendered useless. Production was quickly restored after World War 2 and by 1960 the mining of phosphate was in full swing with supplies of phosphate lasting almost another two decades until 1979 the same year that the Republic of Kiribati gained its independence from Great Britain.

The phosphate was extracted from the ground, carried on huge trucks to the crushers and eventually loaded onto the waiting ships via ingenious rotating cantilever arms which extended out just beyond the dangerous coral reefs. The process was quite a remarkable piece of mining and construction engineering which supplied much needed fertilizer to the dry farmlands of Australia and elsewhere.

In 1960 the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (now the Republic of Kiribati and Tuvalu) were administered by Great Britain. The administrative head was the Resident Commissioner based on Tarawa, the capital of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony. All ceremonial occasions such as the Queen's Birthday were undertaken on Banaba and throughout the Gilbert and Ellice Islands with all the pomp and ceremony that one would expect from the British colonies. On Banaba, another ceremonial occasion was to commemorate the discovery of phosphate by Sir Albert Ellis who was the person who discovered phosphate on Banaba and who also obtained the rights to mine it from the Banaban elders.

The images on this Web site were taken by Dr. Ken Radnor who worked on Banaba in 1960. They provide an extremely valuable photographic record of life on Banaba at that time.

Dame Jane Resture

 

Photography
The photos on this site were taken by JK (Ken) Radnor who was the resident anaesthetist on Banaba during 1960. He was married to Patricia with children, Mark, Paul and Frances.

Web site design
Paul Radnor
paul@radnor.com.au

Monitor requirements
This site is best viewed with a colour monitor minimum size 1024x768 set to 1000s of colours.

Where is Banaba?