One and a Half Pacific Islands: Stories the Banaban People Tell of Themselves.

• Author: Capie, David
• Position: Book review

Edited by: Jennifer Shennan and Makin Corrie Tekenimatang

Published by: Victoria University of Wellington Press, Wellington, 2005, 264pp, $39.95.

On 15 December 1945 the entire population of the tiny central Pacific island of Banaba (Ocean Island) was relocated to Rabi Island in Fiji. The Banaban people had survived the island's harsh environment for centuries, only for insatiable phosphate mining and a brutal Japanese military occupation to finally force them out. Today, Banaba is part of Kiribati and just a tiny handful of the original islanders remain. Most live in exile as a forgotten 'fifth minority' in Fiji. Despite leaving their physical homeland behind, the Banaban people remain intensely connected to the island. Their remarkable story is told in One and a Half Pacific Islands. Part history, part collection of personal memoirs, this unusual edited volume was published to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the relocation in late 2005.

The book is in four parts. It opens with 'glimpses of the homeland'--some general reflections on Banaban life, including traditional stories, legends and poems. Two sections that follow...