Banaba

Banaba ( ; formerly Ocean Island) is an island of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean. A solitary raised coral island west of the Gilbert Island Chain, it is the westernmost point of Kiribati, lying east of Nauru, which is also its nearest neighbour. It has an area of , and the highest point on the island is also the highest point in Kiribati, at in height. Along with Nauru and Makatea (French Polynesia), it is one of the important elevated phosphate-rich islands of the Pacific Ocean.

Banaba ( ; formerly Ocean Island) is an island of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean. A solitary raised coral island west of the Gilbert Island Chain, it is the westernmost point of Kiribati, lying east of Nauru, which is also its nearest neighbour. It has an area of , and the highest point on the island is also the highest point in Kiribati, at in height. Along with Nauru and Makatea (French Polynesia), it is one of the important elevated phosphate-rich islands of the Pacific Ocean.

Precolonial period

According to Te Rii ni Banaba (The Backbone of Banaba) by Raobeia Ken Sigrah, Banaban oral tradition supports the claim that the people of the Te Aka clan, which originated in Melanesia, were the original inhabitants of Banaba, having arrived before the arrival of later migrations from the East Indies and Kiribati. The name Banaba in the local Gilbertese language is correctly spelled Bwanaba, but the Constitution of Kiribati (12 July 1979) writes Banaba, meaning "hollow land". Settlement of Banaba began over 2,000 years ago, over the course of at least three waves of migration. Like the indigenous inhabitants of Nauru and Rapa Nui, Banaba was viewed as the buto, the navel or centre, of the world by the Banabans. Unlike other Pacific island societies, land on Banaba was held by individuals, rather than communally held by chiefs or aristocratic families. Several categories of both landholding and land-based transfers and transactions were recognized, including land for the aged, land for adopted children, land of marriage, and so on. Sigrah makes also the controversial (and politically loaded) assertion that Banabans are ethnically distinct from other I-Kiribati.

Early European interactions

The first known sighting of Banaba by Europeans occurred on 3 January 1801. Captain Jared Gardner of the American vessel Diana sighted the island. Then in 1804, Captain John Mertho of the convict transport and merchant ship Ocean sighted the island and named it after his vessel. Whaling vessels often visited the island in the nineteenth century for water and wood. The first recorded visit was by the Arabella in March 1832. The last known visit was by the Charles W. Morgan in January 1904. Banaba is prone to drought, as it is a high island with no natural streams and no water lens. The traditional source of water was a cave in which freshwater collected. A three-year drought starting in 1873 killed more than three-quarters of the population and wiped out almost all of the trees; many of those who survived left the island on passing ships to escape the drought, and only some were able to return, often years later. In 1879, British sea captain John Daly was convicted in Sydney of blackbirding offences, including an instance of kidnapping at Ocean Island.

Demographics

At the census of 1931, when the production of phosphate was at its highest point, and the headquarters of the entire colony concentrated there, the total population of Ocean Island was of 2,607 inhabitants¹ (1,715 Gilbertese; 65 Elliceans; 129 Europeans; 698 "Mongoloids" [Asians]). After World War II, at the census of 1947, just after relocation of Banabans on Rabi Island in 1945, there were 2,060 left (considering notably the massacre of Banabans at the end of the Japanese occupation). The new ethnic distribution was then the following: 1,351 Gilbertese (the main losses); 441 Polynesians (the main gain from overcrowded Ellice Islands); 138 Europeans; 112 "Mongoloids"; 11 "half-caste" European-Gilbertese; 2 "half-caste" European-Ellicean; 4 "Gilbertese-Mongoloids" and 1 "other races". At the end of World War II, the Gilbert Islands' (and Fiji's) British colonial rulers decided to resettle most of Ocean Island's population on Rabi Island, because of the ongoing devastation of Banaba caused by phosphate mining. Some have since returned, but the majority have remained on Rabi or elsewhere in Fiji. The Banabans came to Fiji in three major waves, with the first group of 703, including 318 children, arriving on the BPC vessel, Triona, on 15 December 1945. Accompanying them were 300 other Gilbertese. The Banabans had been collected from Japanese internment camps on various islands, mainly Nauru and Kosrae; they were not given the option of returning to Banaba, on the grounds that the Japanese had destroyed their houses, which was not true. Only 100 to 200 returned and represent the landowners that stay in Fiji. The population was 2,706 in 1963, 2,192 in 1968, 2,314 in 1973 and 2,201 in 1978, the year before the end of phosphate exploitation. At the following census, in 1985, only 46 Banabans were living there. With the return of some people from Rabi Island, they were 284 in 1990, 339 in 1995, 276 in 2000, 301 in 2005, 295 in 2010 and 268 in 2015. While only about 268 people live on Banaba, there is an estimated 6,000 people of Banaban descent in Fiji and other countries.

Original villages

Prior to the deportation of its inhabitants at the end of World War II, there were four villages on the island: Ooma (Uma), Tabiang (Antereen), Tapiwa (Tabwewa) and Buakonikai. The local capital was Tabiang, now called Antereen.

Bibliography

David Jehan: Tramways, Coconuts and Phosphate: A History of the Tramways of Ocean Island and Nauru. Light Railway Research Society of Australia Inc.

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1370730900 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.