NAURUANS ANGRY

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30531, 28 August 1964, Page 11

NAURUANS ANGRY

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) CANBERRA, August 27. An angry head chief of Nauru, the phosphate island, today bitterly attacked Australia over the failure of the proposal to settle his people on Curtis Island, off the Queensland coast.

The head chief, Mr Hammer de Rouburt, said he felt a section of the Australian community rejected the Nauruan Islanders because of the colour of their skin.

He was commenting on the breakdown of the protracted talks between his delegation and Australian officials on the offer to resettle the 2700 Nauruans on Curtis Island. Mr de Roburt declared that the Australian Government had not kept in mind the wishes of the United Nations of the retention of the Nauruans’ separate identity. “Australia definitely has not made sufficient effort to meet this request,” he said at a news conference. Well Aware Commenting on Curtis Island, the head chief said: “We are well aware of the hostility to our settlement here. “Two months ago when a small group of our people went to have a look at Curtis, their guide told them not to reveal their Nauruan identity because he feared the local people’s reaction. “One member of the Curtis Island community has talked of punching on the nose the first ‘nigger’ who comes ashore on Curtis Island. “This wrong atmosphere was hardly the fault of our people. We asked for Fraser Island which is completely uninhabited, but we have never even received a proper and formal reply to our request.” Mr de Roburt said some Nauruan people had not been treated well in Australia because of their colour. “We think this is a reflec-

tion on a section of the community,” he said. “We think there should be no such feelings at all.” Mr de Roburt said he saw

no hope of getting any concessions from Australia, and he was going home to Nauru prepared to continue living on the island.