Phosphate mines and mining

Date: 1902-1923

From: Pacific Manuscripts Bureau : Records of the Pacific Area

By: Pacific Phosphate Company Ltd

Reference: Micro-MS-Coll-08-1207

Description: Correspondence in and out from London to the Sydney and Melbourne offices Quantity: 18 microfilm reel(s). 1 Linear Metres. Finding Aids: Complete listing at http://rspas.anu.edu.au/pambu/finals/searchLong.php.

Date: 1896-1908

From: Pacific Manuscripts Bureau : Records of the Pacific Area

Reference: Micro-MS-Coll-08-1175

Description: Correspondence, to and from the London office of the companies, is between J T Arundel, G Ellis and A H Gaze. Correspondence from Arundel in Nova Scotia, Honolulu, Ocean Island, Melbourne, San Francisco, New York, Plymouth, Japan, New Zealand, Sydney, Tahiti; mainly to the London Head Office. Includes general correspondence, shipping details, telegrams, machinery details and financial affairs. Source of title - Transcribed Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically, primarily by addressee. The Pacific Islands Company (PIC), formed in 1897 from J T Arundel and Co, a Pacific trading and phosphate company, had as chairman Lord Stanmore (Sir Arthur Gordon), with John Arundel as vice-chairman. In 1900, Albert Ellis, a company employee, confirmed that Banaba island contained huge deposits of phosphate. The PIC gained an imperial mining licence after British annexation of Banaba. With exclusive mining rights for an annual payment of £50 to the Banabans, the company was soon making up to £125,000 per annum. Eventually the PPC agreed to provide for a trust fund for environmental damage; that committment was never fulfilled. In 1902 the PIC sold its other interests and formed the Pacific Phosphate Company ltd (PPC) with Jaluit Gesellschaft of Hamburg, giving it mining rights on German Nauru. After World War I, the PPC was replaced by the British Phosphate Commissioners (BPC), with the company's former executives becoming commissioners. The BPC was wound up in 1981 with Banaba mined out and almost completely depopulated while Nauru, independent since 1968, had taken over its own phosphate mining. The origins of many of these developments can be traced to the PIC and PPC. Quantity: 15 microfilm reel(s). Finding Aids: Inventory available.

Date: 1836-1975

From: Australian Joint Copying Project : Miscellaneous Series microfilm

Reference: Micro-MS-Coll-20-2649

Description: Comprise selected letters concerning the Phoenix periodical, letters from the Haslam family in Melbourne on birth control, reports and sketches from G A Selwyn in Tonga, notes on the New Zealand social security system, papers from Union of Democratic Control concerning the post-war situation in South East Asia and Australia, letters from the Bell Ferguson and Howard families in Australia, papers of the Revolutionary Communist Party and other Trotskyist organizations, and correspondence between Lord Ammon and relatives in New Zealand. Quantity: 1 microfilm reel(s). Finding Aids: Detailed inventory available.

Date: 1993

From: Clark, Laurence [Klarc], 1949- :New Zealand Herald; Cartoons, 3 August - 28 August, 1993

Reference: H-013-006

Description: Shows two Nauruans beside a statue of a seagull on the sea shore. Refers to the amount New Zealand is likely to pay in compensation for environmental damage caused by phosphate mining Quantity: 1 cartoon bromide(s). Physical Description: Bromide photograph

Date: 2 Feb 1904-Feb 1974

By: Ellis, Albert Fuller (Sir), 1869-1951; Milne, Joan Izod, 1903-1991; Gibbs, Christina Frances, 1937-; Orange, Jennifer Joan, 1934-; Milne, Grant Stewart Ellis, 1936-

Reference: MS-Group-2321

Description: Collection consists of papers which provide an overview of Albert Fuller Ellis's life and his involvement in the phosphate industry in the Pacific. Papers cover his youth in the Waikato, his discovery of superphosphate on Nauru, details of his employment on Ocean Island, information about the islands and the phosphate industry, and the impact of World War II on the islands and the phosphate industry. Also contains some personal papers, including some material relating to his involvement with the Presbyterian Church. Source of title - Supplied by Library Arrangement: Series for this collection are based on listing provided by donor. Two publications not allocated to a series in the listing were assigned to existing series by processing librarian. Quantity: 12 folder(s). 3 volume(s). 0.24 Linear Metres. Physical Description: Mss, typescript, printed matter Provenance: Jennifer Orange, Christine Gibbs, and Stewart Milne, the children of Joan Milne (daughter of Sir A F Ellis) donated the collection Donor/Lender/Vendor - Donated by Jennifer Orange, Christina Gibbs and Stewart Milne, June 2014 Transfers: Collection taken into Manuscripts and transfers made from here - To Photographic Archive - 'Launch of M.V. "Tri-Ellis" for the British Phosphate Commissioners, at the Govan Shipbuilding Yard, Glasgow of Messrs. Harland and Wolff, Limited, 15th May 1958" photograph album (PA1-o-1880). Processing information: Staff removed and discarded sticky notes denoting relationship to listing provided by donor. Provided no further information to that now available in the records.

Date: 1897-1909

From: Pacific Manuscripts Bureau : Records of the Pacific Area

Reference: Micro-MS-Coll-08-1176

Description: Correspondence from files held in the Australian Office of the companies. Source of title - Transcribed Quantity: 22 microfilm reel(s). Provenance: Donor/Lender/Vendor - Purchase, PMB, 2003

Date: Feb 1987-Jan 1988

From: Pacific Manuscripts Bureau : Records of the Pacific Area

Reference: Micro-MS-Coll-08-1268

Description: Transcript of proceedings, including closed sitting days. Source of title - Transcribed In 1987-1988 the government of Nauru held a Commission of Inquiry into the the rehabilitation of its worked-out phosphate lands, and in 1988 published a 10 volume report which concluded that island's former administrators - Australia, United Kingdom and New Zealand - were responsible for the rehabilitation of the land mined during the Mandate and Trust periods. A Compact of Settlement was finally reached in 1993. Quantity: 5 microfilm reel(s). Finding Aids: See http://rspas.anu.edu.au/pambu/. Provenance: Donor/Lender/Vendor - Purchase, PMB, 2006