Albert F. Ellis - Papers and correspondence, 1900-1951

PMB 497

fonds

Canberra : Pacific Manuscripts Bureau [19--]

440488

Microfilm : PMB 497

microfilm reel 35 mm

Ellis (1869-1951) was born in Queensland and educated in New Zealand. In the 1890s he became an employee of the Pacific Islands Company Ltd of London, which was involved in the guano industry on islands in the Coral Sea and the Phoenix Group. In 1900, he became curious about a rock which was used as a doorstop in the Sydney office of his company and this led to the discovery of the phosphate deposits on Ocean Island and Nauru. He was a prominent figure in the Pacific Phosphate Company Ltd after that company grew out of the Pacific Islands Company Ltd in 1902, and after the phosphate company was bought out by the British, Australian and New Zealand governments after World War I, he became the commissioner for New Zealand on the British Phosphate Commission, which was established to exploit the phosphate deposits on Ocean Island and Nauru. He was the author of three books, Ocean Island and Nauru (1936), Adventuring in Coral Seas (1937) and Mid-Pacific Outpost (1946)

The documents on the microfilm include: Ellis' diary for May 1900 when he went to Ocean Island to establish the phosphate industry there; clippings on the phospate industry from various nespapers and journals; and correspondence covering the period 1920-1951

PMB (Australian National University. Pacific Manuscripts Bureau) ; 497
Available for reference
Microfilm copy of original held by Department of Pacific and Southeast Asian History, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra