Paradise Lost

Once rich in phosphate, the island of Banaba, in the Pacific Ocean, is largely uninhabitable, after decades of mining destroyed its landscape and buildings were left to rot. ANU College of Asia and the Pacific academic Dr Katerina Teiwa first visited the island in 1997, while doing field research on phosphate mining in the Pacific. While she was growing up in Rabi, in Fiji, she says Banaba was often referred to as the ‘mother’ island. Also home to her grandfather, when Teiwa first visited the island, she was overwhelmed by the desiccated field of rock pinnacles, broken glass, stark buildings, abandoned bulldozers and old rusted trucks. In this video, Teiwa, the author of a new book, Consuming Ocean Island, discusses the human cost behind the island’s mining activities, which were geared at sourcing rich phosphate for fertilising farms in Australia and New Zealand.