The New Hebrides became the Republic of Vanuatu in 1980. The country had a
unique colonial history. Forms of joint control and administration by different
powers are rare enough, but the New Hebrides had a British ‘national’ administration for
those who had British citizenship (or ‘opted’ to be treated as British), the French had
their parallel administration, and for those departments of government which could not
be run separately (such as education and health were), there was the ‘Condominium’
administration covering public works, posts and telecommunications etc. The French and
British Resident Commissioners could make Joint Regulations, when they agreed, and
these could apply to everyone, including New Hebrideans. However, the indigenous
inhabitants could not ‘opt’ to be either French or British, and so were stateless in their
own country! There were French and British courts for ‘nationals’ and ‘optants’, and
also ‘Native Courts’ with indigenous assessors assisting the District Agents, as they were
called (not “District Commissioners”). There were problems when those of a different
nationality, or New Hebrideans and others, were involved in court cases. Infringements
of Joint Regulations were handled by the two District Agents sitting together in the local
Court of First Instance. At the highest level the Joint Court was supposed to have a
Judge appointed by the King of Spain, on the assumption that a Spanish judge would be
impartial. When there ceased to be a King of Spain after the Spanish Civil War, the
French and British judges had to sit together! As many people before the court would
speak the local form of Pidgin, known as Bislama, and there was no requirement for
either judge to have a knowledge of it - or of his colleague’s language - there was much
dependence on translators and interpreters. The system should not have worked, and
from time to time it nearly didn’t. What made it possible was the general good will and
competence (and sometimes the rivalry) of the colonial administrators who were
entrusted with this extraordinary situation and expected to make the best of it, although
the two colonial powers often had different or conflicting interests or policies.
This book shows how the Resident Commissioners and overseas civil servants
attempted to operate, how they co-operated (or sometimes refused to do so), and how
they related to the indigenous inhabitants, who sometimes managed to manipulate the
system to their own advantage.
This book is much more than reminiscences of Tufala Gavman (Two Governments).
It has a valuable introductory historical note by Keith Woodward, who worked on the
British Residency staff from 1953-78. The co-editor, Brian Bresnihan, an Irishman,
worked in the British administration there from 1971-80. They have brought together
contributions from a wide circle of people from the three administrations and elsewhere,
both expatriate and indigenous, to provide an insight into the inner workings of a significant, and sometimes shameful, colonial experiment. The independence of the New
Hebrides had implications for other French territories in the Pacific, which was one
reason why it took time and was such a difficult process and why it left the ni-Vanuatu,
as the citizens of the republic are known, with so much to sort out.
The University of the South Pacific published a book to celebrate independence in the
three official languages in 1980 entitled just Vanuatu, as well as another book,
researched by indigenous people from the Churches there, entitled YUMI STANAP:
Some People of Vanuatu, which I co-edited. Together these three books, with others
written by individuals, will stand as a tribute to what was achieved, in spite of the odds,
by civil servants, politicians, the members of the Churches and others, to enable this
small country to take its rightful place among the nations of the world. This volume is
also a tribute to the enthusiasm and dedication of Will Stober who with Keith Woodward
conceived the project, but who died in 1997 before it could be completed.
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