Lies and misdemeanours: Nauru, phosphate and global geopolitics

Abstract

The remote, equatorial Pacific island of Nauru once possessed perhaps the world’s purest deposits of rock phosphate, the precursor of the agricultural fertiliser, superphosphate. Scheming for this resource by the big nations of the western Pacific has seen Nauru play a major role in a series of global geopolitical dramas during the course of the 20th century.In 1900, the economies of Australia and New Zealand were overwhelmingly agricultural. Yet both countries had begun to experience serious declines in agricultural productivity as the initial fertility of their soils was exhausted, and both possessed large tracts of marginal land unexploitable because of its low fertility. Access to phosphatic fertilisers was essential, not only to maintain and stimulate the agricultural sector, but to promote the development of the rest of the economy.The discovery in the early 20th century of vast reserves of high-quality, easily accessible phosphate on the islands of the equatorial Pacific promised to be the catalyst that both nations needed to transform their economies. The largest reserves were those discovered on Nauru, and Australia and New Zealand went to extraordinary lengths to safeguard access to the island’s resources. This began in 1914 when Australia seized the opportunity offered by the start of the First World War to invade the then-German protectorate, deport the German population and secure control of the island. With the end of the war, and at risk of losing the spoils of victory to the idealistic philosophies that gave rise to the League of Nations, the Australian Prime Minister threatened the USA, manipulated the Empire Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference and even considered refusing to sign the Treaty of Versailles until Australia was guaranteed access to the island and its resources. A similar set of events played out at the end of the Second War. Captured and garrisoned by the Japanese, Nauru was by-passed and cut off by the Allied advance across the Pacific. The island was once again secured for Australian interests by Canberra’s prompt dispatch of HMAS Diamantina to accept the Japanese surrender.For most of the 20th century, the resources of Nauru were depleted to support the economic growth of Australia and New Zealand. Between 1922 and 1966, at least 83% of Nauru’s annual output ended up on the fields and paddocks of Australia and New Zealand; whilst, along with Banaba and Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, Nauru supplied almost the whole of Australia’s superphosphate needs for much of the 20th century.Without access to phosphate, neither Australia nor New Zealand would have been able to establish the industrial agricultural systems that were fundamental to their demographic, economic and social expansion. Without superphosphates, agriculture in Australia and New Zealand may not have been viable, whilst in marginal areas cultivation may not have been possible at all. The histories of these nations would have followed unpredictably different paths, their development would have been impeded and it is possible that neither country would have achieved First World standing.