Chapter I Intro & Objectives - SPREP

PHOENIX ISLANDS PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT PLAN
Chapter III. Background, 2. Human Activities
Draft 1 March 2007
In 1897, the John T. Arundel and Company was merged with Henderson, McFalane &
Company to become the Pacific Islands Company, Ltd. (Skaggs 1994). This merger was
necessary as guano production had declined and copra production was needed to offset costs.
Lever Brothers transferred their lease to the Phoenix Islands to the Samoa Shipping and
Trading Company (Foreign Office 1920). Samoa Shipping and Trading Company planted
coconut trees and expected to harvest 635 to 907 tonnes (700 to 1,000 tons) of copra within a
year.
There were about 50 laborers that were working for the Samoan Shipping and Trading Co. on
a few coconut plantations in the Phoenix Islands (Foreign Office 1920). In that report, both
Baker and Howland were included as part of the Phoenix Islands. No details were provided
about which islands had the coconut plantations or how many people were on each island.
In 1925, Captain Allen of the Samoa Shipping and Trading Co. died (Degener and Gillaspy
1955). In 1926, liquidators of the Samoa Shipping and Trading Co. (Captain Allen) sold the
lease for Abariringa (Canton), Manra (Sydney), Orona (Hull), Nikumaroro (Gardner),
Rawaki (Phoenix), and Birnie (Birney) to the Burns Philp Co., Ltd. (Anon 1940e). The
original 99 year lease had 75 years remaining.
In 1931, the population of the Phoenix Islands was 31(Wiens 1962).
In the mid-1930s, there were about 50 workers on the Phoenix Islands (Knudson 1977).
Most were working the copra plantations on Manra (Sydney) and Orona (Hull). There were
no indigenous inhabitants.
The natives of the Phoenix Islands were Polynesians (Rhodes 1936a).
In 1937, Burns Philp and Co. held the lease for the Phoenix Islands (Knudson 1965).
A major problem of the Phoenix Islands was the lack of anchorage (Ellis 1937). Any deepsea
mooring was liable to slip if any undue strain was put on it. Also, if the easterly wind shifted,
the vessel would swing toward the reef. A square rigged vessel would have no chance of
clearing the lee shore if the anchor slipped.
No one really cared who owned the Phoenix Islands until the Kingsford-Smith pioneer flight
across the Pacific in 1928 and 1934 that drew attention to the need for a half-way stop (Clune
1951; Luke 1962; Murphy et al 1954). Kingsford-Smith flew directly over the Phoenix
Islands (Oates 2003). The Phoenix Islands were an example of how useless, scorned, and
disowned little equatorial islands can become international aviation value overnight (Robson
1942; see also Office of Territories 1963).
On March 18, 1937, the Phoenix Islands became part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony
(Bryan 1951; see also Luke 1945a; 1938 according to Robson 1942). According to Grattan
(1963a), the protectorate was cancelled and the islands were annexed by the Gilbert and
Ellice Islands Colony. On April 8, 1937, the Western Pacific High Commission Gazette
reported the official proclamation that the boundaries of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony
had been extended to include all of the Phoenix Islands (Anon. 1937b; Cowell 1966; 1939
according to Bunge and Cooke 1984).
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