Hammer DeRoburt

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Hammer DeRoburt (1968)

Hammer DeRoburt GCMG , OBE (born September 25, 1922 in Nauru , † July 15, 1992 in Melbourne ) was the founding president of the Republic of Nauru and led the country for most of its first 20 years of independence.

In the 1930s he was one of the first Nauruer to attend an Australian school, the Geelong Technical College in the Australian state of Victoria . Non-white students formed only a small minority there. De Roburt took a liking to the Australian school system and became a member of the school's "Aussie Rules" team. He returned to Nauru at the age of 18 and was captured by the Japanese. He was one of the 737 survivors of the Japanese deportation of most of the Nauru people to Chuuk from 1942 to 1946. This experience had a strong impact on him and made him want to fight for the island's independence. In 1951 he took over the chairmanship of the Local Government Council, a westernized form of the former "Council of Tribal Chiefs". In 1955 he started negotiations as chief negotiator with the Royal Phosphate Society and the colonial power Australia , which administered Nauru as a UN trust territory . Because of his Australian education, he became the preferred interlocutor for the Australian administrators.

DeRoburt led the country to independence on January 31, 1968 and was President for most of the period up to August 17, 1989. In December 1976, younger politicians won a majority and made Bernard Dowiyogo president, but DeRoburt was re-elected in May 1978. He was also out of office for two brief periods in September and December 1986.

1982 Queen Elizabeth II accepted him as Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the British Empire .

He died in Melbourne on July 15, 1992 of diabetes mellitus .

literature

  • Luc Folliet: Nauru. The devastated island. How capitalism destroyed the richest country on earth. Verlag Klaus Wagenbach, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-8031-2654-2 , pp. 33-35

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1989/mar/14/british-honours-and-orders-of-chivalry
  2. ^ Honorary Knights and Dames at Leigh Rayment's Peerage
personal data
SURNAME DeRoburt, hammer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Nauruan politician, founding president of the Republic of Nauru
DATE OF BIRTH September 25, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Nauru
DATE OF DEATH July 15, 1992
Place of death Melbourne