TheGilbert and Ellice Islands (GEIC as a colony) in the Pacific Ocean was part of theBritish Empire from 1892 to 1976. It was aprotectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then acolony until 1 January 1976, and was administered as part of theBritish Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) until it became independent as two separate states. The history of GEIC was mainly characterized byphosphate mining on Ocean Island. In October 1975, these islands were divided by force of law into two separate colonies, and they became independent nations shortly thereafter: the Ellice Islands becameTuvalu in 1978, and theGilbert Islands withBanaba (Ocean Island) became part ofKiribati in 1979.
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TheGilbert Islands[1] sometimes also known asKingsmill Islands orKing's-Mill Islands[Note 1] are a chain of sixteenatolls and coral islands in the western Pacific Ocean. They are part ofRemote Oceania, and traditionally part of theMicronesiasubregion ofOceania. The Gilbert Islands are the main part of what is now theRepublic of Kiribati ("Kiribati" is theGilbertese rendition of "Gilberts"[1]) The atolls of the Gilbert Islands are arranged in an approximate north-to-south line.
Geographically, theEquator is the dividing line between the northern Gilbert Islands and the southern Gilbert Islands. South of the Gilbert Islands lie the Ellice Islands (now calledTuvalu), which were previously politically connected as part of the GEIC.[3] TheEllice Islands comprise threereef islands and six trueatolls, spread out between thelatitude of5° to10° south andlongitude of176° to180°, west of theInternational Date Line.[4] The Ellice Islands are midway betweenHawaii andAustralia, and they, too, lie in thePolynesiasubregion of Oceania.
In 1568, when Spanish navigatorÁlvaro de Mendaña de Neira was commissioned to explore the South Pacific, he sailed relatively close to the Gilbert Islands. He sailed between theLine Islands and thePhoenix Islands, but without sighting land. He ultimately sailed past what he called "Isla de Jesús", (probablyNui, amongst theEllice island group).[5]
In 1606,Pedro Fernandes de Queirós sighted two of the islands in the Gilbert island group:Butaritari andMakin, which he named the Buen Viaje Islands ('good trip' islands in Spanish).[6][7]
In 1788,Thomas Gilbert, a British captain, encountered the archipelago while commanding one of two ships of theFirst Fleet that were looking for an outer passage route fromPort Jackson toCanton. In 1820, a Russian admiral,Johann von Krusenstern, named the group "îles Gilbert" (French for Gilbert Islands) in honor of Captain Gilbert's earlier voyage. Around that time, the French captainLouis Duperrey became the first to map the whole Gilbert Islands archipelago. He commandedLa Coquille, circumnavigating the globe between 1822 and 1825.[8]
The first recorded sighting by Europeans of an Ellice Island was on 16 January 1568, during the voyage ofÁlvaro de Mendaña from Spain, who sailed pastNui and charted it asIsla de Jesús (Spanish for "Island of Jesus") because the previous day was the feast of theHoly Name. Mendaña made contact with the islanders but was unable to land.[9][10] During Mendaña's second voyage across the Pacific, he passedNiulakita on 29 August 1595, which he namedLa Solitaria.[6][11] CaptainJohn Byron passed through the Ellice islands in 1764, during his circumnavigation of the globe as captain of theDolphin (1751).[12] He charted the atolls asLagoon Islands.Nanumea was sighted by Spanish naval officerFrancisco Mourelle de la Rúa who sailed past it on 5 May 1781 with frigateLa Princesa, when attempting a southern crossing of the Pacific from the Philippines toNew Spain. He charted Nanumea asSan Augustin.[13][14]
In 1809, Captain Patterson in the brigElizabeth sighted Nanumea while passing through the northern Tuvalu waters on a trading voyage from Port Jackson, Sydney, Australia to China.[13] Captain Arent de Peyster sighted the rest of the Ellice island group in 1819, while sailing the shipRebecca. He namedFunafuti atoll "Ellice's Island", afterEdward Ellice, a British politician and merchant who owned the ship's cargo.[15][16] After the work of English hydrographerAlexander George Findlay was published, the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands in the Ellice Island group, which is now calledTuvalu.[17]
Two ships of theUnited States Exploring Expedition,USS Peacock (1828) andUSS Flying Fish (1838), under the command of Captain Hudson, surveyed theGilbert Islands ofTabiteuea,Nonouti,Aranuka,Maiana,Abemama,Kuria,Tarawa,Marakei,Butaritari, andMakin[18][Note 2] (then called the Kingsmill Islands or Kingsmill Group in English). While in the Gilberts, they devoted considerable time to mapping and chartingreefs and anchorages.[20]Alfred Thomas Agate made drawings of men ofButaritari andMakin.
In 1876 Britain and Germanyagreed to divide up the western and central Pacific, with each claiming a 'sphere of influence'.[21][22] In the previous decade German traders had become active in theSolomon Islands,New Guinea,Marshall Islands and theCaroline Islands. In 1877 the Governor of Fiji was given the additional title of High Commissioner for the Western Pacific. However, the claim of a 'sphere of influence' that included the Ellice Islands and the Gilbert Islands did not result in the immediate move to govern those islands.[22] Ships from the navies of the United States of America and European powers that visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands included:
Ships of theRoyal Navy, on theAustralian Station, were involved in suppressing the coercive labour recruitment practices, known asblackbirding in the South Pacific Ocean.
1872, from 10 to 14 October, thesloopHMS Blanche (1867), under Captain Cortland Herbert Simpson, visited Tawara, Abaiang and Butaritari. Also in 1872, the sloopBasilisk (1848), under CaptainJohn Moresby,[23] visited the Gilberts, and thecorvetteHMS Barossa (1860), under Captain Lewis James Moore, visited Tabiteuea.
1873, from 28 to 30 June, theschoonerHMS Alacrity (1872), under Captain Francis W. Sanders, lands islanders on Tabiteuea and Maiana who had been kidnapped in 1871 by the brigCarl.[24] Thescrew sloopHMS Dido (1869) also visited the Gilberts in 1873.
1874, in August, the screw sloopHMS Rosario (1860), under Commander Arthur Edward Dupuis, visited Tawara and Abaiang searching forWilliam "Bully" Hayes, who was notorious for hisblackbirding activities.[25][26]
1875, the survey shipHMS Myrmidon (1867), under Commander Richard Hare, visited the Gilberts.
1876, from April to June, the schoonerHMS Renard (1873), under Lieutenant Horace J. M. Pugh, visited Abaiang and Tawara, regarding the murders in 1874, of Cornelius Sullivan on Tarawa, and St. John C. Keyes on Abaiang. The screw sloopHMS Sappho (1873), under Commander Noel Stephen Fox Digby, was also sent to the Gilberts in support of HMSRenard.
1881, from 13 May to 6 June, the corvette HMSEmerald (1876), under CaptainWilliam Maxwell, visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.
1883, from 26 May to 10 June, the sloopHMS Espiegle (1880), under CaptainCyprian Bridge, visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.
1884, from 13 June to 26 July, the survey shipHMS Dart (1882), under Lieutenant-Commander W. W. Moore, visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.[27]
1886, from 10 May to 26 June, the sloopHMS Miranda, under Commander Eustace Rooke, visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.[28][29]
1892, from 14 April to 30 August, the screw sloopHMS Royalist, under CaptainEdward Davis, visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.[28][30]
1825, the schoonerUSS Dolphin (1821), under LieutenantHiram Paulding, visited Nikunau and Tabiteuea.[31]
1870, from 15 to 26 May, the sloopUSS Jamestown (1844), under Captain William Truxtun, visited Tawara, Abaiang and Butaritari.
1872, in August, the sloopUSS Narragansett (1859) visited Nikunau, Beru, Tabiteuea, Abaiang and Tawara.
1889, the steam powered sloopUSS Iroquois (1859) visited Butaritari.
1874, the corvetteL'Ariane visited Arorae andOcean Island.
1888, the cruiserLe Fabert, under Commander Benoit, visited Nikunau, Nonouti and Butaritari to deliver Father Joseph Leray, Father Edward Bontemps and Brother Conrad Weber, Roman CatholicMissionaries of the Sacred Heart,[32] who were the firstRoman Catholic missionaries to arrive in the Gilberts.
SMSEber of the GermanKaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), was sent to the Pacific to serve in theGerman colonial empire. In 1888 she visited the Gilberts, and also disarmed the inhabitants ofNauru,[33] ending theircivil war and annexing the island to the German Empire.
1891, thesteam corvette SMSAlexandrine visited the Gilberts (Marakei, Tawara, Abaiang, Abemama and Tabiteuea). Also in 1891, the gunboatSMS Wolf (1878) visited Tawara, Abaiang and Maiana, and the cruiser SMSSperber visited Butaritari, Maiana and Tabiteuea.[28]
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In 1872, the United Kingdom passed legislation in an attempt to control the coercive labour recruitment practices known asblackbirding: thePacific Islanders Protection Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 19) (the principal act), which was amended by thePacific Islanders Protection Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 51). The principal act provided for the governor of one of the Australian colonies to have the authority to licence British vessels in the South Pacific Ocean to carry "native labourers". The 1875 act amended that licensing system and stated that any "British vessel may, under the principal Act, be detained, seized, and brought in for adjudication by any officer, all goods and effects found on board such vessel may also be detained, seized, and brought in for adjudication by such officer, either with or without such vessel" with the "High Court of Admiralty of England and every Vice-Admiralty Court in Her Majesty's dominions out of the United Kingdom shall have jurisdiction to try and condemn as forfeited to Her Majesty or restore any vessel, goods, and effects alleged to be detained or seized in pursuance of the principal Act or of this Act".[34][Note 3] The 1875 act also provided authority for "Her Majesty to exercise power and jurisdiction over Her subjects within any islands and places in the Pacific Ocean not being within Her Majesty's dominions, nor within the jurisdiction of any civilized power, in the same and as ample a manner as if such power or jurisdiction had been acquired by the cession or conquest of territory",[34] although the 1875 act did not specify any Pacific islands to which this authority was to be applied.
The 1872 and 1875 acts were intended to work in conjunction with the BritishSlave Trade Act 1839[which?] to provide the authority to arrest blackbirding ships, and charge their captains and owners with slavery charges. However, this approach to suppressing blackbirding was not successful. In 1869, Commander George Palmer ofHMSRosario, commenced a prosecution in the New South Wales courts of Thomas Pritchard and Captain Dagget of theDaphne. Commander Palmer had found theDaphne in harbour atLevuka in Fiji fitted out like an "African slaver", and filled with Islanders on board looking emaciated and having little knowledge of why they were on the ship.[35][36] TheDaphne was owned byHenry Ross Lewin, a long time blackbirder who had been commissioned to import south sea islanders forRobert Towns' sugar plantations (the entrepreneur after whomTownsville is named). Despite this, SirAlfred Stephen, the Chief Justice of New South Wales, found Pritchard and Dagget innocent on the grounds that the Slave Trade Act 1839 did not apply to the South Pacific Ocean.[37]
In 1877, the United Kingdom established a protectorate over the islands designated as beingBritish Western Pacific Territories.
In 1886, anAnglo-German agreement partitioned the "unclaimed" central Pacific, leavingNauru in theGerman sphere of influence, while placingOcean Island and the future GEIC in the British sphere of influence.
German New Guinea was established in 1884, and German protectorates were established on theMarshall Islands andNauru, in 1885 and 1888, respectively. Then, between 27 May and 17 June 1892, partly in response to the presence of the United States inButaritari,[38]CaptainEdward Davis ofHMS Royalist made the sixteen islands of the Gilbert Islands aBritish protectorate[broken anchor].[39] Between 9 and 16 October of the same year, CaptainHerbert Gibson ofHMS Curacoa declared the Ellice Islands to be a British protectorate.[22] The British government found it administratively convenient to govern the Ellice and Gilberts islands together.[40]
At first, theBritish Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) were administered by ahigh commissioner who resided in Fiji (and later in theBritish Solomon Islands). Then, SirJohn Bates Thurston appointedCharles Richard Swayne as the firstresident commissioner of the Ellice Islands in 1892 and as the first resident commissioner of the Gilbert Islands in 1893. He was succeeded in 1895 byWilliam Telfer Campbell, who established himself onTarawa,[Note 4] and remained in office until 1908. Campbell was criticised for his legislative, judicial and administrative management. It was alleged that he extracted forced labour from the islanders. An inquiry into this allegation was held byArthur Mahaffy, a former district officer in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (1896–1898) andSolomon Islands (1898-1904),[42] and he issued his findings, which were published in 1910.[43] In 1913, an anonymous correspondent toThe New Age journal described the maladministration of Telfer Campbell, linked it to criticisms of thePacific Phosphate Company, which was operating onOcean Island, and challenged Mahaffy's impartiality, because he was a former colonial official in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate.[44]
In 1908, the government's headquarters was moved to Ocean Island (today known asBanaba). Ocean Island had been hastily added to the protectorate in 1900 to take advantage of the improved shipping connections resulting from thePacific Phosphate Company's increased activities. On 12 January 1916, the islands' status was changed to that of a Crown Colony.[45] 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.[22]
The islands became aCrown colony on 12 January 1916 by the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Order in Council, 1915.[Note 5]
During the year 1916, the Union Islands (Tokelau) were also annexed to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony. On 28 November 1919, Great Britain reasserted its claim toChristmas Island and annexed it to the colony.
In July 1920, thePacific Phosphate Company was liquidated and its assets sold to theBritish Phosphate Commission (BPC), a consortium established by the governments of Great Britain, Australia andNew Zealand. Themining of the phosphate on Ocean Island represented the main revenue of the colony until it ended in 1979.
In 1925, Great Britain asked New Zealand to accept responsibility for the administration of the Union Islands (Tokelau) and invited the United States to annexSwains Island. On 4 March 1925, the United States officially annexed Swains Island as part of the territory ofAmerican Samoa. On 11 February 1926, an Order in Council transferred responsibility for administration of the Union Islands (Tokelau) to New Zealand which in turn placed administration of the islands under itsWestern Samoan mandate.
Fanning Island andWashington Island also became included in the colony together with the Union Islands (now known asTokelau);Christmas Island was included in 1919 but was unofficially contested by the USA under itsGuano Islands Act of 1856.[47] TheUnion Islands were transferred toNew Zealand in 1926, but formally only in 1948.[Note 6]
The Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony continued to be administered by a Resident Commissioner. In 1930 the Resident Commissioner,Arthur Grimble, issued revised laws,Regulations for the good Order and Cleanliness of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, which replaced laws created during the BWTP.[22]
In the 1930s, British officials tried to choose a less cumbersome name for the GEIC. Critics jocularly called the arbitrary collection of atolls scattered across the central Pacific the "Gilbert and Sullivans" (a reference to the famous light opera composers). One official suggested renaming the islands "Quateria" (after the word "quarters"), because the main inhabited archipelago extends over four notable quarters of the globe: It lies partly north and partly south of the equator, and also partly east and partly west of the international dateline. There were indigenous names, such asTungaru andTuvalu, but they were used to refer to only some of the islands in the group; they did not include the mostly uninhabitedPhoenix andLine island groups, orBanaba (also called Ocean Island), whosephosphate rocks provided half of the GEIC's tax revenue. Further complicating the naming problem, theTokelau atolls were made part of the colony for a decade (1916–1926), and at one point a governor of Fiji, SirJ.B. Thurston, suggested addingRotuma to the colony to enable a more organized administration of islands that were scattered over such a vast expanse of water. In 1969, after political issues arose that had led to the creation, four years earlier, of theGilbertese National Party, the hybrid term "Tungavalu" was suggested (combining the indigenous names for the islands of Tungaru and Tuvalu); the idea was rejected because of political tensions between those islands.[48]
On 31 December 1936, the population of the Crown Colony totalled 34,443 inhabitants, including 32,390 Gilbert and Ellice Islanders, 262 Europeans and 923 Chinese ("Mongoloids").Henry Evans Maude, the land commissioner of the colony, considered the then colony overcrowded. ThePhoenix Islands were added to the colony in 1937 with the view of aPhoenix Islands Settlement Scheme.[49] On 6 August 1936, a party fromHMSLeith landed onCanton Island in the Phoenix Group and planted a sign asserting British sovereignty in the name of KingEdward VIII. On 18 March 1937, Great Britain annexed the uninhabitedPhoenix Islands (exceptHowland and Baker Islands) to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony.
Banaba (Ocean Island) remained the headquarters of the colony until the British evacuation in 1942 during thePacific War when Ocean Island and the Gilbert Islands wereoccupied by the Japanese. The United States forces landed inFunafuti on 2 October 1942 and onNanumea andNukufetau in August 1943 and constructed an airfield on each island and other bases. The atolls of Tuvalu acted as a staging post during the preparation for theBattle of Tarawa and theBattle of Makin that commenced on 20 November 1943. ColonelVivian Fox-Strangways, was the Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony in 1941, who was located on Funafuti.[50]
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After World War II, the colony headquarters was re-established onTarawa, first onBetio islet and subsequently onBairiki islet.[49][51][52][53] In November 1945, Fox-Strangways was replaced as Resident Commissioner byHenry Evans Maude (1946 to 1949). He was succeeded byJohn Peel, who retired in 1951.
By theTokelau Act of 1948,sovereignty overTokelau was transferred to New Zealand. The five islands of the Central and SouthernLine Islands were added to the colony in 1972.[49]
In 1946,Tarawa, in the Gilbert Islands, was made the administrative capital, replacing Ocean Island. The headquarters of the Colony were transferred fromBetio toBairiki. This development included establishing theKing George V Secondary School for boys and the Elaine Bernacchi Secondary School for girls.[54]
A Colony Conference was organised atMarakei in 1956, which was attended by officials and representatives (magistrates) from each island in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, conferences were held every two years until 1962. The development of administration continued with the creation in 1963 of an Advisory Council of five officials and 12 representatives who were appointed by the Resident Commissioner.[55][54] In 1964 an Executive Council was established with eight officials and eight representatives. The representative members were elected in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Advisory Council election held in 1964. The Resident Commissioner was now required to consult the Executive Council regarding the creation of laws to make decisions that affected the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony.[55]
The Tungaru Association was created byReuben Uatioa to "promote Gilbertese culture and interests", and in 1965, theGilbertese National Party, first political party of the colony, was established with the same leader, protesting about the lack of consideration that British rulers have towards Gilbertese, preferring somehow the Ellicean civil servants. The Elliceans (further Tuvaluans) were concerned about their minority status in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony. In 1974, ethnic differences within the colony caused thePolynesians of the Ellice Islands to vote for separation from theGilbert Islands (later Kiribati). On 1 October 1975, the Ellice Islands became the separate British colony ofTuvalu, but the separation was completed on 1 January 1976.
A Constitution was introduced in 1967, which created a House of Representatives for the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony that comprised seven appointed officials and 23 members elected by the islanders. Tuvalu elected four members of the House of Representatives. The 1967 Constitution also established the Governing Council. The House of Representatives only had the authority to recommend laws; the Governing Council had the authority to enact laws following a recommendation from the House of Representatives.[55]
A select committee of the House of Representatives was established to consider whether the constitution should be changed to give legislative power to the House of Representatives. The proposal was that Ellice Islanders would be allocated 4 seats out of 24 member parliament, which reflected the differences in populations between Ellice Islanders and Gilbertese.[56] It became apparent that the Elliceans were concerned about their minority status on the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, and the Elliceans wanted equal representation to that of the Gilbertese. A new constitution was introduced in 1971, which provided that each of the Ellice Islands (exceptNiulakita) elected one representative. However, that did not end the Tuvaluan movement for separation.[57]
In 1974Ministerial government was introduced in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony through a change to the Constitution.[55]
Until 1977, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (GEIC) was designatedISO 3166-1 alpha-2 (country code "GE").
The 1967 constitution created a House of Representatives (parliament), whose members were elected in the following elections:
A referendum was held inEllice Islands, including Elliceans living inOcean Island andTarawa, from July to September 1974, using a rolling ballot, to determine whether the Gilbert Islands and Ellice Islands should each have their own administration.[60][61] The result of the referendum, was that 3,799 Elliceans voted for separation from the Gilbert Islands and continuance of British rule as a separate colony, and 293 Elliceans voted to remain as the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony. There were 40 spoilt papers.[62]
As a consequence of the1974 Ellice Islands self-determination referendum, separation occurred in two stages. The Tuvaluan Order 1975 made by thePrivy Council, which took effect on 1 October 1975, recognisedTuvalu as a separate British dependency with its own government. The second stage occurred on 1 January 1976 when two separate administrations were created out of the civil service of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony.[55] The British conducted a formal inquiry into Tuvaluan attitudes towards secession, and announced that a referendum was to be held, in which Tuvaluans could choose to remain with the Gilberts or secede. They were told that if they separated they would not receive royalties from theOcean Island phosphate or other assets of the colony. Despite this, 3,799 Tuvaluans (92%) voted to secede, while 293 voted against separation. On 1 October 1975, legal separation from the Gilbert Islands (now Kiribati), took place. On 1 January 1976, full administration of the new colony was transferred fromSouth Tarawa to Funafuti. Tuvalu became an independent constitutional monarchy and the 38th member of theCommonwealth of Nations on 1 October 1978.[63][55][64]
The Gilbert Islands attained independence on 12 July 1979 under the nameKiribati by the Kiribati Independence Order 1979, as a republic with Commonwealth membership. That day the colonial flag was lowered for the last time with a parade commemorating both the newly independent state and in memorial of the intense battles fought onTarawa in World War II. The parade included many dignitaries from home and abroad. The name Kiribati (pronounced kʲiriˈbas) is the local writing rendition of "Gilberts" in theGilbertese language.
Banaba, formerly rich in phosphates beforebecoming fully depleted in the latter colonial years, also sued for independence in 1979 and boycotted the Kiribati ceremonies. TheBanabans wanted greater autonomy and reparations of around $250 million for revenue they had not received and for environmental destruction caused by phosphate mining practices similar to those onNauru. The British authorities had relocated most of the population toRabi Island,Fiji, after 1945, but by the 1970s some were returning to Banaba. The British rejected the Banaban independence proposal, and the island remained under the jurisdiction of Kiribati.
In 1926,Donald Gilbert Kennedy was the headmaster of Elisefou (New Ellice) onVaitupu. He was instrumental in establishing the first co-operative store (fusi) on Vaitupu, which became a model for the bulk purchasing and selling cooperative stores established in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony to replace the stores operated byPalangi traders.[65]
In 1935, there were 33,713 people in the Colony. (Compared to 1934 when the figures were): Gilbertese, 29,291 (28,654); Ellice Islanders, 4,154 (4,042); Europeans, 244 (254); Chinese (exclusive of indentured labourers), 24 (41).[66]
In 1935, there were 6,924 children receiving primary standard education through 4 government schools and 79 mission schools operated by theLondon Missionary Society (LMS) and the Roman CatholicSacred Heart Order.[67] Throughout the Gilbert Islands, instruction was given in the Gilbertese language, except at theKing George V. School (Tarawa) and the Sacred Heart Boys' School (Butaritari), where instruction was delivered in English. In the Ellice Islands, instruction was delivered in theSamoan language, due to the influence of the early LMS Samoan missionaries and the affinity of the Ellice language with Samoan.[67]During 1935 two students of the King George V. School were sent to the Central Medical School at Suva, Fiji. This made 4 students, 2 Gilbertese and 2 Ellice Islanders being trained as Native Medical Practitioners (as medical practitioners from the islands were described).[67] Eight former students of King George V. School were employed as Native Medical Practitioners in the Colony.[67]
In 1953, the enrolments were: in 12 government schools (722 pupils); the London Missionary Society (4,392); the Roman Catholic Sacred Heart Mission (3,088); and the Seventh Day Adventist Mission, which established schools in the Gilberts in 1950 (165).[68]
New premises for the King George V. School were opened on Bikenibeu, Tarawa, with 109 students, some of whom came from the Government Temporary School at Abemama and other boys came from Elisefou school onVaitupu, which was also closed.[68] A new curriculum was introduced for primary schools which included instruction in English to the older aged students.[68] The lack of proficiency in the English language was limiting the performance of students at the secondary school level and those seeking to attend universities in other countries.[68]
The Gilbert and Ellice Islands were represented at the 1963Pacific Games atSuva,Fiji, by tennis players, and also table tennis players who won a bronze medal.[69] A larger team was sent to the 1966 Pacific Games atNouméa,New Caledonia, including athletes to compete in the half-mile, mile and the high jump event.[69]
In 1965King George V and Elaine Bernacchi School were merged.[70]
A census in 1968 counted the population of the colony at 53,517 residents. 44,206 were in theGilbert Islands, 5,782 in theEllice Islands, 2,192 inOcean Island and 1,180 in theLine Islands. From this total 7,465 were "Polynesians" (mostly from the Ellice Islands) and 1,155 "Others" (Europeans and Mongoloids).[Note 7][71]
The Gilbert and Ellice Islands used their own postage stamps from 1911.
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