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British Western Pacific Territories

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Colonial entity

British Western Pacific Territories
1877–1976
Flag
Anthem: God Save the King

Status	Colonial entity
Capital	Suva 1877–1952 Honiara 1952–1976
Common languages	English (official),Fijian,Tongan,Gilbertese and variousAustronesian languages regionally
Government	Constitutional monarchy, colony
High Commissioner

• 1877–1880	Sir Arthur Hamilton-Gordon (1st)
• 1973–1976	Sir Donald Luddington (23rd and final)

Chief Judicial Commissioner

• 1877–1882	Sir John Gorrie (1st)
• 1938–1942	Sir Harry Luke
• 1965–1975	Sir Jocelyn Bodilly (14th and final)

Historical era	19th and 20th centuries

• Western Pacific Order in Council	13 August 1877; 148 years ago (1877-08-13)
• Dissolution	2 January 1976; 49 years ago (1976-01-02)

Currency	British pound sterling

TheBritish 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 theBritish Crown, styled theHigh Commissioner for the Western Pacific. Except forFiji and theSolomon Islands, most of these colonial possessions were relatively small islands.

History

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ThePacific Islanders Protection Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 51), then later, theForeign Jurisdiction Act 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 37), provided for jurisdiction over British subjects in the Pacific.^[1] In 1877 the position of Western PacificHigh Commissioner was formalised by theWestern Pacific Order in Council 1877 by thePrivy Council of the United Kingdom.^[1] Article 12 established theChief Justice of Fiji as theChief 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 ofindentured 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]

TheGovernor 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

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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 wereFiji (from 1877 to 1952) and theSolomon 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 andGilbert Islands came underJapanese occupation.

In 1952, Fiji was separated from the High Commission. Following this, the High Commissioner's post moved toHoniara in the Solomon Islands, and the High Commissioner was also theGovernor of the Solomon Islands. The High Commissioner's Court, however, continued to meet inSuva, with the Chief Justice of Fiji continuing as Chief Judicial Commissioner for another decade, until 1962, when the two offices were separated. Under theWestern Pacific (Courts) Order in Council, gazetted on 15 August 1961 and effective from 9 April 1962, the High Commissioner's Court was renamed theHigh 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 twopuisne judges, one based inPort Vila,New Hebrides (nowVanuatu), and the other inTarawa,Gilbert and Ellice Islands (nowKiribati andTuvalu).

Most of the island groups had gained either independence or internal self-government by 1971. On 1 January 1972, theGilbert 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 theFijian 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 thePitcairn 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 theUniversity of Auckland Library.^[7]

Administration of the British Western Pacific Territories

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Further information:Gilbert and Ellice Islands,British Solomon Islands,History of Solomon Islands,History of Tuvalu, andHistory of Kiribati

SSTokelau: Government Steamer Gilbert & Ellice Islands Protectorates (30 April 1909)

At first, the 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.^[8] He was succeeded in 1895 byWilliam Telfer Campbell, who established himself onTarawa, 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 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.^[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 incopra, with order maintained through the elders of each island and local magistrates.^[8]^[11]^[12]

The regulation of the coercive labour trade inMelanesia, which was known asBlackbirding, was significant problem for the Western Pacific High Commission. Ships of theRoyal Navy Australian Station were responsible for limiting blackbirding.^[13]

Island groups

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Gilbert and Ellice Islands (1892 to 1976) – now independent separately, asKiribati (in Micronesia) andTuvalu (in Polynesia) respectively.

In Polynesia

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Canton and Enderbury Islands (1939 to 1976) – now a part of Kiribati.
Cook Islands (1893 to 1901) – 15 small islands, now a self-governing parliamentary democracy in free association withNew Zealand.
Line Islands (to 1976) – eight nearly uninhabited atolls, presently part of Kiribati.
Niue (Savage Island), also known as "Rock of Polynesia" (1900 to 1901); presently a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand.
Phoenix Islands (to 1976) – eight nearly uninhabited atolls, presently part of Kiribati.
Pitcairn Islands (1898 to 1952) – a current British overseas territory.
Tonga (1900 to 1952) – a native kingdom and protected state, independent since 1970.
Union Islands (1877 to 1926, officially to 1948) – nowTokelau, a dependent territory of New Zealand.

In Micronesia

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Ocean Island (Banaba) (1900 to 1976) – now a part of Kiribati.^[14]^[15]

In Melanesia

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Fiji (1877 to 1952) – now independent.
British Solomon Islands (1893 to 1976) – now independent as the nation ofSolomon Islands.
New Hebrides (1906 to 1976), an Anglo-Frenchcondominium – now independent asVanuatu.

Sources, references and external links

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^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^gLawrence, David Russell (October 2014)."Chapter 5 Liberalism, Imperialism and colonial expansion"(PDF).The Naturalist and his "Beautiful Islands": Charles Morris Woodford in the Western Pacific. ANU Press.ISBN 9781925022032.
^^a ^b"Judicial System".Solomon Islands Historical Encyclopaedia 1893–1978. Retrieved20 August 2015.
^Lawrence, David Russell (October 2014)."Chapter 7 Expansion of the Protectorate 1898–1900"(PDF).The Naturalist and his "Beautiful Islands": Charles Morris Woodford in the Western Pacific. ANU Press. pp. 198–206.doi:10.22459/NBI.10.2014.ISBN 9781925022032.
^Commonwealth and Colonial Law byKenneth Roberts-Wray, London, Stevens, 1966. P. 897
^"G. and E. Colony – A Headache In Administration".XX(12) Pacific Islands Monthly. 1 July 1950. Retrieved30 September 2021.
^Justice Gordon Ward (2005)Achieving effective legal representation in small Pacific island Commonwealth StatesArchived 31 March 2011 at theWayback Machine. Commonwealth Law Conference, London, September 2005
^"Western Pacific Archives". University of Auckland. Retrieved2 February 2016.
^^a ^b ^cMacdonald, Barrie Keith (2001).Cinderellas of the Empire: Towards a History of Kiribati and Tuvalu. Canberra: (Australian National University Press, (first published 1982).ISBN 982-02-0335-X.
^^a ^bMacdonald, Barrie Keith (1985).The Phosphateers: A History of the British Phosphate Commissioners and the Christmas Island Phosphate Commission. Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press.ISBN 9780522843026.
^"G. and E. Colony's Headquarters".XX(8) Pacific Islands Monthly. March 1950. Retrieved30 September 2021.
^Teo, Noatia P. (1983). "Chapter 17, Colonial Rule". In Larcy, Hugh (ed.).Tuvalu: A History. University of the South Pacific/Government of Tuvalu. pp. 127–139.
^Doug Munro,The Lives and Times of Resident Traders in Tuvalu: An Exercise in History from Below, (1987) 10(2) Pacific Studies 73
^Docker, Edward W. (1970).The Blackbirders. Angus and Robertson.ISBN 9780207120381.
^Maslyn Williams & Barrie Macdonald (1985).The Phosphateers. Melbourne University Press. p. 11.ISBN 0-522-84302-6.
^Ellis, Albert F. (1935).Ocean Island and Nauru; Their Story. Sydney, Australia: Angus and Robertson, limited. p. 29.OCLC 3444055.

WorldStatesmen
Deryck Scarr,Fragments of Empire. A History of the Western Pacific High Commission. 1877–1914, Canberra: Australian National University Press & London: C. Hurst & Co., 1967.

FormerBritish Empire and currentBritish Overseas Territories

Legend: Former territory; Current territory; *CurrentCommonwealth realm; ^†Current member of theCommonwealth of Nations

Europe
Corsica 1794–1796 Gibraltar since 1713 Heligoland 1807–1890 Ionian Islands 1809–1864 Lordship of Ireland 1177–1542 Kingdom of Ireland 1542–1800(integrated into the UK) Free State 1921–1931 ^†Malta Protectorate 1800–1813 Colony 1813–1964 Minorca 1708–1757, 1763–1782 and 1798–1802

Africa

Basutoland (^†Lesotho) 1868–1966
Bechuanaland (^†Botswana) 1884–1966
Cameroons¹³ 1919–1961
Cape Colony 1795–1803
Cape of Good Hope 1806–1910
Central Africa 1891–1907
East Africa 1895–1920
Egypt 1882–1922
^†The Gambia 1816–1965
Gold Coast (^†Ghana) 1874–1957
^†Kenya 1920–1963
Lagos 1862–1906
Madeira 1807–1808
^†Mauritius 1810–1968
Natal 1856–1910
Niger Coast 1884–1900
^†Nigeria 1914–1960
Northern Nigeria 1900–1914
Northern Rhodesia¹⁵ 1924–1964
Nyasaland 1891–1964
Orange River 1900–1910
^†Seychelles 1903–1976
^†Sierra Leone 1792–1961
Somaliland 1884–1960
^†South Africa 1910–1931
South-West Africa¹² 1915–1931
Southern Rhodesia¹⁴ 1923–1965 and 1979–1980
Southern Nigeria 1900–1914
^†Swaziland 1893–1968
Sudan 1899–1956
Tanganyika¹³ 1922–1961
Transvaal 1900–1910
^†Uganda 1890–1962
Zanzibar 1890–1963
Zululand 1887–1897

¹²Now^†Namibia
¹³League of Nations mandate. British Cameroons is now part of^†Cameroon andNigeria, while Tanganyika is part of^†Tanzania.
¹⁴Self-governing Southern Rhodesiaunilaterally declared independence in 1965 (asRhodesia) and continued as anunrecognised state until the 1979Lancaster House Agreement. After recognised independence in 1980, Zimbabwe was a member of the Commonwealth until it withdrew in 2003.
¹⁵Now^†Zambia

Asia

Aden Colony 1839–1967
Afghanistan 1839–1842
- Protectorate 1879–1919
Akrotiri and Dhekelia since 1960 (before as part ofCyprus)
Bencoolen 1685–1824
Banka andBilliton 1812–1824
Bengal 1757–1947
Bhutan (protectorate) 1907–1949
Borneo 1874–1963
British Indian Ocean Territory since 1965 (before as part ofMauritius andSeychelles)²⁶
Burma 1824–1948
^†Brunei 1888–1984
^†Ceylon 1795–1948
^†Cyprus 1878–1960
Hong Kong 1841–1997
^†India¹⁸ 1858–1947
Java 1811–1816
Kuwait 1918–1961
Labuan 1848–1946
Malaya 1819–1826
- Federated States 1895–1946
- Unfederated States 1885–1946
- Union 1946–1948
- Federation 1948–1957
Malacca 1824–1946
- Crown Colony 1946–1957
^†Maldives 1796–1965
Manila and Cavite 1762–1764
Mesopotamia¹⁹ 1920–1932
Muscat and Oman 1891–1971
North Borneo 1882–1963
- Crown Colony 1946–1963
Padang 1781–1784 and 1795–1819
Palestine¹⁹ 1923–1948
Penang 1786–1946
- Crown Colony 1946–1957
Pulo Condore 1702–1705
Sarawak 1841–1946
- Crown Colony 1946–1963
^†Singapore 1946–1963
South Vietnam 1945–1946
Straits Settlements 1826–1946
Transjordan 1921–1946
Trucial States 1892–1971
Weihai 1898–1930

¹⁸Now^†India,^†Pakistan and^†Bangladesh
¹⁹League of Nations mandate. Iraq's mandate was not enacted and replaced by theAnglo-Iraqi Treaty
²⁶Legitimacy of territorial establishmentdisputed

North America

Anguilla since 1650
*Antigua 1632–1860
*Antigua and Barbuda 1860–1981
^†*Bahamas 1670–1973
^†Barbados 1624–1966
Bay Islands 1643–1860
^†*Belize 1871–1981
Bermuda since 1619
British Arctic Territories 16th c.–1880
British Columbia 1858–1866
- 1866–1871
Cape Breton Island 1754–1820
^†Dominica 1763–1978
East Florida 1763–1783
^†*Grenada 1762–1974
^†*Canada
- Lower 1791–1841
- Upper 1791–1841
- Province 1841–1867
- Dominion 1867–1931
Carolina 1663–1712
Cayman Islands since 1670
Columbia District/Oregon Country 1818–1846
Connecticut 1636–1776
Delaware 1701–1776
East Jersey 1674–1702
Georgia 1733–1776
^†*Jamaica 1655–1962
Leeward Islands 1671–1816, 1833–1960
Massachusetts Bay 1629–1691
- Province, 1691–1776
Maryland 1632–1776
Montserrat since 1632
Mosquito Coast 1655–1860
Nevis 1628–1983
New Albion 1579
New Brunswick 1784–1867
New England 1686–1689
New Hampshire 1680–1776
New Haven 1637–1662
New Jersey 1665–1674 and 1702–1776
New York 1664–1776
Newfoundland 1907–1949
Newfoundland and Labrador 1583–1907
North Carolina 1712–1776
North-Western Territory 1859–1870
Nova Scotia 1713–1867
Paulet affair 1843
Prince Edward Island 1763–1873
Pennsylvania 1681–1776
Plymouth 1620–1691
Quebec 1763–1791*Queen Charlotte Islands 1853–1863
Rhode Island 1636–1776
Rupert's Land 1670–1870
Saint Croix 1625–1650
Saint Kitts 1623–1983
^†*Saint Kitts and Nevis 1882–1983
^†*Saint Lucia 1605–1979
^†*Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1627–1979
Saybrook 1635–1644
South Carolina 1712–1776
Stickeen 1862–1863
^†Trinidad and Tobago 1889–1962
Turks and Caicos Islands since 1799
Vancouver Island 1849–1866
Virgin Islands since 1666
Virginia 1607–1776
West Florida 1763–1783
West Indies Federation 1958–1962
- Associated States 1967–1983
West Jersey 1674–1702
Windward Islands 1833–1960

South America
Providence Island 1631–1641 Willoughbyland 1651–1667 Saint Andrew and Providence Islands⁴ 1670–1688 ^†Guiana 1831–1966
⁴Now adepartment ofColombia

Oceania

New South Wales 1788–1901
Van Diemen's Land/Tasmania 1803–1901
Auckland Islands²⁰ 1807–1863
New Hebrides²¹ 1824–1980
Queensland 1824–1901
Swan River/Western Australia 1829–1901
South Australia 1836–1901
Pitcairn Islands since 1838
New Zealand 1841–1907
North Australia 1846–1847
Victoria 1851–1901
^†Fiji 1874–1970
Western Pacific Territories 1877–1976
Papua 1884–1902
Rarotonga/Cook Islands²⁰ 1888–1901
Union Islands²⁰ 1889–1948
Gilbert and Ellice Islands²² 1892–1979
^†*Solomon Islands 1893–1978
^†Tonga 1900–1970
Niue²⁰ 1900–1974
^†*Australia 1901–1942
^†*New Zealand 1907–1947
^†Samoa 1914–1962
^†Nauru 1919–1942 and 1945–1968

²⁰Now part of the^†Realm of New Zealand
²¹Now^†Vanuatu
²²Now^†Kiribati and^†*Tuvalu

Antarctica and the South Atlantic

Saint Helena²³ since 1658
Ascension Island²³ since 1815
Tristan da Cunha²³ since 1816
Falkland Islands⁵ since 1833
^†Australian Antarctic Territory(transferred to theCommonwealth of Australia) 1841–1933
^†Ross Dependency(transferred to theRealm of New Zealand) 1841–1947
British Antarctic Territory²⁴ since 1908
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands²⁵ since 1908

⁵Occupied by Argentina during theFalklands War of April–June 1982.
²³Since 2009 part ofSaint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; Ascension Island (1922–) and Tristan da Cunha (1938–) were previously dependencies of Saint Helena.
²⁴Claimed in 1908; territory formed 1962; overlaps portions of Argentine and Chilean claims, borders not enforced but claim not renounced under theAntarctic Treaty.
²⁵Claimed in 1908; territory formed 1985

Countries and territories ofOceania

Sovereign states

Entire	Australia Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Micronesia Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu
In part	Chile Easter Island Juan Fernández Islands Ecuador Galápagos Islands Indonesia Central Papua Highland Papua Papua South Papua Southwest Papua West Papua United States Hawaii Palmyra Atoll

Associated states

Dependencies and
otherterritories

Australia	Ashmore and Cartier Islands Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Coral Sea Islands Norfolk Island
France	Clipperton Island French Polynesia New Caledonia Wallis and Futuna
New Zealand	Tokelau
United Kingdom	Pitcairn Islands
United States	American Samoa Baker Island Guam Howland Island Jarvis Island Johnston Atoll Kingman Reef Midway Atoll Northern Mariana Islands Wake Island