British Western Pacific Territories Explained

Conventional Long Name:British Western Pacific Territories
Common Name:British Western Pacific Territories
Era:19th and 20th centuries
Status:Colonial entity
Empire:British Empire
Government Type:Constitutional monarchy, colony
Event Start:Western Pacific Order in Council
Event End:Dissolution
Flag:Flag of the United Kingdom
Flag Type:Flag
Capital:Suva 1877–1952
Honiara 1952–1976
National Anthem:

Common Languages:English (official), Fijian, Tongan, Gilbertese and various Austronesian languages regionally
Currency:British pound sterling
Leader1:Sir Arthur Hamilton-Gordon
(1st)
Leader2:Sir Donald Luddington
(23rd and final)
Year Leader1:1877–1880
Year Leader2:1973–1976
Title Leader:High Commissioner
Deputy1:Sir John Gorrie
(1st)
Deputy2:Sir Harry Luke
Deputy3:Sir Jocelyn Bodilly
(14th and final)
Year Deputy1:1877–1882
Year Deputy2:1938–1942
Year Deputy3:1965–1975
Title Deputy:Chief Judicial Commissioner
Life Span:1877–1976

The British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) was a colonial entity created in 1877 for the administration of a series of Pacific islands in Oceania under a single representative of the British Crown, styled the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific. Except for Fiji and the Solomon Islands, most of these colonial possessions were relatively minor.

History

The Pacific Islanders Protection Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 51), then later, the Foreign Jurisdiction Act 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 37), provided for jurisdiction over British subjects in the Pacific.[1] In 1877 the position of Western Pacific High Commissioner was formalised by the Western Pacific Order in Council 1877 by the Privy Council of the United Kingdom.[1] Article 12 established the Chief Justice of Fiji as the Chief Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific.[1] [2] The Order in Council created the colonial entity – the British Western Pacific Territories – and granted the authority to manage the engagement of indentured labourers and to otherwise give the colonial entity authority over British subjects in the Western Pacific beyond the jurisdiction of British and colonial Australian laws.[1]

The Governor of Fiji was given authority over persons and acts in the islands south of the equator. The Governor, as High Commissioner and Consul-General, was given the authority: to conduct diplomatic relations with local representatives of the foreign powers, to regulate the labour trade where it was conducted by British subjects only, and to maintain law and order among British subjects in the Pacific islands where there were no recognised governments.[1] The High Commissioner appointed resident commissioners to manage specific island territories. Following a commission of inquiry, a revised Order in Council was issued in 1893, which gave the resident commissioners wider autonomy over the islands under their control.[1]

Composition of the British Western Pacific Territories

The composition of the territories of the BWPT varied over time.[1] [3] [4] As the islands were spread over the South Pacific, administration of the territories was problematic.[5] The most durable members were Fiji (from 1877 to 1952) and the Solomon Islands (from 1893 to 1976). Between 1942 and 1945, the high commission was suspended. While most islands were under British military administration, the Solomon Islands and Gilbert Islands came under Japanese occupation.

In 1952, Fiji was separated from the High Commission. Following this, the High Commissioner's post moved to Honiara in the Solomon Islands, and the High Commissioner was also the Governor of the Solomon Islands. The High Commissioner's Court, however, continued to meet in Suva, with the Chief Justice of Fiji continuing as Chief Judicial Commissioner for another decade, until 1962, when the two offices were separated. Under the Western Pacific (Courts) Order in Council, gazetted on 15 August 1961 and effective from 9 April 1962, the High Commissioner's Court was renamed the High Court of the Western Pacific and relocated to the Solomon Islands.[2] The court consisted of a Chief Justice (as the office of Chief Judicial Commissioner was renamed) and two puisne judges, one based in Port Vila, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), and the other in Tarawa, Gilbert and Ellice Islands (now Kiribati and Tuvalu).

Most of the island groups had gained either independence or internal self-government by 1971. On 1 January 1972, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands were taken off with their own governor. On 2 January 1976 after nearly all had been given separate statehood, the office of High Commissioner and the entity of the Pacific Territories were abolished. A remnant of the High Commission, however, was the right of appeal from the courts of many island nations to the Fijian Court of Appeal, which persisted into the late 1970s.[6] With the independence of Kiribati in 1979, all islands formerly a part of the territories (except the Pitcairn Islands) had either gained independence or been attached to other entities.

In 2002 the archived records of this High Commission were transferred to New Zealand, and are now held in the Special Collections of the University of Auckland Library.[7]

Administration of the British Western Pacific Territories

At first, the BWPT were administered by a high commissioner who resided in Fiji (and later in the British Solomon Islands). Then, Sir John Bates Thurston appointed Charles Richard Swayne as the first resident commissioner of the Ellice Islands in 1892 and as the first resident commissioner of the Gilbert Islands in 1893.[8] He was succeeded in 1895 by William Telfer Campbell, who established himself on Tarawa, which was chosen because its lagoon has an opening large enough for ships to comfortably pass through.[8]

In 1908, the headquarters of the BWPT was moved to Ocean Island (today known as Banaba). Ocean Island had been hastily added to the protectorate in 1900 to take advantage of the improved shipping connections resulting from the Pacific Phosphate Company's increased activities.[9] [10] The British colonial authorities emphasised that their role was to procure labour for phosphate mining on Ocean Island, and to maintain law and order among the workers.[9]

The Western Pacific High Commission imposed the King’s Tax, payable in copra, with order maintained through the elders of each island and local magistrates.[8] [11] [12]

The regulation of the coercive labour trade in Melanesia, which was known as Blackbirding, was significant problem for the Western Pacific High Commission. Ships of the Royal Navy Australian Station were responsible for limiting blackbirding.[13]

Island groups

In Polynesia

In Micronesia

In Melanesia

See also

Sources, references and external links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Lawrence . David Russell . The Naturalist and his "Beautiful Islands": Charles Morris Woodford in the Western Pacific . October 2014. ANU Press . 9781925022032 . Chapter 5 Liberalism, Imperialism and colonial expansion . http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p298111/pdf/ch053.pdf .
  2. Web site: Judicial System . Solomon Islands Historical Encyclopaedia 1893–1978 . 20 August 2015.
  3. Book: Lawrence . David Russell . The Naturalist and his "Beautiful Islands": Charles Morris Woodford in the Western Pacific. October 2014. ANU Press . 10.22459/NBI.10.2014. 9781925022032. 198–206 . Chapter 7 Expansion of the Protectorate 1898–1900 . http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p298111/pdf/ch073.pdf . free .
  4. Commonwealth and Colonial Law by Kenneth Roberts-Wray, London, Stevens, 1966. P. 897
  5. Web site: XX(12) Pacific Islands Monthly . G. and E. Colony – A Headache In Administration. 1 July 1950. 30 September 2021.
  6. Justice Gordon Ward (2005) Achieving effective legal representation in small Pacific island Commonwealth States . Commonwealth Law Conference, London, September 2005
  7. Web site: Western Pacific Archives . University of Auckland . 2 February 2016.
  8. Book: Macdonald, Barrie Keith. 2001 . Cinderellas of the Empire: Towards a History of Kiribati and Tuvalu. Canberra. (Australian National University Press, (first published 1982) . 982-02-0335-X.
  9. Book: Macdonald, Barrie Keith . 1985 . The Phosphateers: A history of the British Phosphate Commissioners and the Christmas Island Phosphate Commission . Carlton, Vic.. Melbourne University Press. 9780522843026.
  10. Web site: XX(8) Pacific Islands Monthly . G. and E. Colony's Headquarters. March 1950. 30 September 2021.
  11. Book: Noatia P. . Teo . Hugh . Larcy . Tuvalu: A History. 1983 . University of the South Pacific/Government of Tuvalu. 127–139. Chapter 17, Colonial Rule .
  12. Doug Munro, The Lives and Times of Resident Traders in Tuvalu: An Exercise in History from Below, (1987) 10(2) Pacific Studies 73
  13. Book: Docker . Edward W. . The Blackbirders . registration . 1970 . Angus and Robertson. 9780207120381 .
  14. Book: Maslyn Williams & Barrie Macdonald . The Phosphateers . 1985 . Melbourne University Press . 0-522-84302-6 . 11 .
  15. Book: Ellis . Albert F. . Albert Fuller Ellis . Ocean Island and Nauru; Their Story . 1935 . Angus and Robertson, limited. Sydney, Australia . 3444055 . 29 .