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FIRST
ARRIVAL ON RABI
At
the end of World War II,
with exaggerated reports
from the British government
that all of the villages of
the island had been
destroyed, the Banabans were
gathered and
taken
to Rabi in Fiji, over 3,200
kilometres away. On 15 December 1945,
703 ill-treated and weary
Banabans, of whom 318 were
children, and 300 Gilbertese
arrived at their new home.
Rabi was a freehold
island owned by Lever’s
Pacific Plantations Pty Ltd,
which the British government
then bought at the beginning
of the war using the
Banabans’ own phosphate
royalties. About 70 square
kilometres in area, or 10
times larger than Banaba,
Rabi has a rugged interior,
which rises to 470 metres.
Despite its physical
beauty and lushness,
Banabans found it hard to
adapt to this strange new
home.
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Rabi's location
within the Fiji
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THE
BANABANS HAVE TO DECIDE
THEIR
FUTURE
The
Banabans only agreed to this
resettlement for a period of
two years, with the option
of permanently settling
there. If after the two year
period, any or all of them
should wish to return to
Ocean Island, suitable
transport would be arranged
at the expense of the
Gilbert & Ellice Island
Colony Government.
At
the start, the old Banaban
form of government from
Ocean Island was requested
to carry on until a new
system could be devised.
However on the 27th.
December the Fiji government
enacted the Banaban
Settlement Ordinance No. 28
of 1945, which enabled the
Governor in Council to make
regulations for the peace,
order and good government of
the Banaban community on
Rabi.
The
Banaban arrival on Rabi saw
the Banabans face new
adversities. A
different environment and
climate change of cold
winters, cyclone seasons and
mosquito born diseases saw
the lost of many of the
Banaban children and elders
from pneumonia and dengue
fever. Meagre army
tents held no protection
against the cyclonic rains
that lashed the island and
the Banabans had never
experienced any cold weather
before. They were only
left with two months
supplies of rations and told
that they were now on an
island of 'plenty'.
Plenty of running spring
water, groves of swaying
coconut trees and pandanus
to feed them, and a
multitude of cattle and wild
pigs to hunt and farm. No
one explained that the
cattle were riddled with
T.B., the Banabans had no
knowledge of farming and the
pigs were indeed wild.
The Banabans had never known
the art of hunting, only
fishing in their own
environment. They
welcomed the idea of not
having to worry about
droughts, but no one told
them about the other dangers
of drinking contaminated
water in the tropical dry
season.
After
this turbulent period the
majority of Banabans decided
to stay on Rabi while those
who wanted to return to
Banaba had to return to live
in a makeshift camp (more
like refugees in their own
homeland) and not allowed to
return to their land.
With not a lot of options
the Banabans who stayed on
Rabi also had more strife
ahead. Now under the
control of various European,
so called Banaban Advisors,
the people found themselves
increasingly at odds with
their Advisors as their Rabi
Council of Elders clashed
with the British Phosphate
Commission (BPC) and their
plans to acquisition more
land for mining back on
Banaba.
Eventually
the Banabans were left to
administer their own affairs
under the Rabi Council of
Elders after Major Laxton
reluctantly left in
controversial circumstances
in the 1960’s. This period
was followed by the court
case in London during the
1970’s, where the Banabans
sued the British government
and the British Phosphate
Commission for compensation
in relation to phosphate
mining back on Banaba.
THE
STRUGGLE TO STOP MINING ON
BANABA
While
the Banabans elders fought
in the British High Courts,
approximately 100 young
Banaban men and women from
Rabi went willingly to try
and regain Banaba. Here they were met
with opposition from the
local police force which was
made up entirely of
Gilbertese (now known as
I-Kiribati) recruits under
control from the colonial
office based on Tarawa.
After days of various
clashes where the police and
the local Gilbertese labour
force employed by the mining
company united, using batons
and tear gas against the
Banabans, resulting in many
of the Banabans being
arrested and thrown into
prison on their own
homeland. The
Ellice labourers with BPC
would not involve themselves
in these actions and even
assisted some of the
Banabans during this time of
conflict.
These skirmishes
resulted in fatal injuries
to one of their young men,
Tabare Biara aged twenty-one
years, when he was struck by
a tear gas canister and hit
over the head with a baton.
He became paralysed
and died of brain damage a
few months later. During
the weeks that followed the
Banabans made plans to stop
all mining on the island
with a peaceful
demonstration, including
young and old.
From informants the
Banabans received
information that the police
had been instructed by head
office in Tarawa to use guns
and whatever force was
necessary to stop them.
Knowing all this they
were prepared to sacrifice
all for the land they loved.
On the day in
question, and with only
hours to spare, a message
was received from the Rabi
Council of Leaders to cease
further protest actions.
LIFE
BACK ON RABI
One
of the major problems the
Banabans had to overcome was
the cost of imported food.
Since the move to Rabi they
had to adapt to new skills
and a life in a completely
new environment. The
Banabans were now relying
more and more on the Banaban
owned Co-operative and
brought cans of tinned tuna
and fish (ironically caught
on a nearby Pacific Island
and canned in China). Many a
visitor to Rabi in the
seventies though impressed
with the community spirit
and the charm of the Banaban
people were also greatly
alarmed at the amount of
canned food the Banabans
were eating.
After
this period in the seventies
not much was heard of the
Banabans and their life on
Rabi or Banaba for that
matter. Visitors to Rabi
decreased and contact with
the outside world diminished
while the court case in the
British courts continued and
the phosphate mining on
Banaba by the BPC and the
three governments involved
would only increase.
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