Bob Hampton's Nauru Island
Photos by Bob Hampton
In 1983 I spent a couple of days at Nauru, a small, island nation that lies just south of the equator. The entire nation consists of a single, isolated island, 8.2 square miles in area. A paved road around the perimeter of the island is about 10 miles long.
At some point in the distant history of Nauru the island rose from the ocean, revealing thousands of tall coral pinnacles. The 20-30 ft. high pinnacles were soon overgrown with thick jungle, and a great multitude of birds populated the island. Over the vast aeons the droppings of the birds filled the gaps between the almost evenly arrayed pinnacles. Eventually most of the pinnacles were completely buried just below the surface of the island.
Big cranes and shovels were scooping the phosphate from between the pinnacles and dumping it onto the conveyors. Several huge cantilevers loaded it onto large freighters moored just beyond the edge of the reef. When I was there they were operating day and night, with more freighters always waiting on the horizon.
The mining had stripped most of the island of it's topsoil and vegetation, leaving a barren expanse of exposed pinnacles. I was told that there would soon be no phosphate left on Nauru.
Thousands of workers, mostly Gilbertese and Marshallese, were employed in the mining operation. These "indentured workers" lived in a huge complex of apartment buildings owned by the government.
While I was on Nauru there was a Kiribati Independence Day celebration. The Republic of Kiribati (pronounced Kiribas, and formerly known as the Gilbert Islands) had gained it's independence exactly four years earlier, on July 12, 1979. There were several thousand Gilbertese living and working on Nauru, making it the largest concentration of Gilbertese outside Kiribati. That afternoon and evening there was a great celebration in the worker's housing complex. Being a visitor to the island, I was automatically welcome to join in all of the activities. Strange how everyone wanted their picture taken, even though they knew they would never see the photos!
Text and Photos © 1985 by Bob Hampton All Rights Reserved