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7 unusual facts about Banaba Island


31st Battalion, Royal Queensland Regiment

The battalion took no further part in the fighting and after the Japanese surrender the battalion was moved to Nauru and Ocean Island to carry out garrison duties where they remained until December 1945 when they were transferred to Rabaul on New Britain.

Banaba Island

An account of the Banaban's struggle with the British Phosphate Commission and the British government, as of 1985, can be found in the book On Fiji Islands by Canadian author Ronald Wright.

On 23 December, Reteta Rimon, Kiribati's High Commissioner to Fiji, clarified that Rabi Islanders were, in fact, entitled to Kiribati government benefits - but only if they returned to Kiribati.

Colonial Fiji

A further 8 seats were reserved for "General electors" - Europeans, Chinese, Banaban Islanders, and other minorities; 3 of these were "communal" and 5 "national." With this compromise, Fiji became independent on 10 October 1970.

Kenneth Zinck

On 10 August 2005, he complained that the 8 seats allocated to minorities (Europeans, Chinese, Banaban Islanders, and others) under the 1970 Constitution had been whittled down to 5 in 1992 and 3 in 1997.

Leonard Whibley

Leonard was a half-brother of Fred Whibley, copra trader, on Niutao, Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu); and his half-sister was Eliza Eleanor (Lillie), wife of John T. Arundel, owner of J. T. Arundel and Company which evolved into the Pacific Islands Company, and later the Pacific Phosphate Company, which commenced phosphate mining in Nauru and Banaba Island (Ocean Island).

Mick Beddoes

In mid-2003, Beddoes responded to rising interest among indigenous and Indo- Fijians by announcing that membership of his party, which had been confined to minority groups like Europeans, Chinese, and Banaban Islanders, would now be open to all races, and that the party would contest all 71 seats in the House of Representatives in the next parliamentary election, scheduled for 2006.



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