The south pacific 'experiment'

Abstract

When colonial administrators decided to encourage a sense of unity among the members of the emergent elite of their Pacific Island territories in the late 1940s, they regarded their project as novel. Rather than a sense of tapping a pre-existing affinity, it seemed that what was being attempted was social engineering on a grand scale. The first South Pacific Conference of Pacific Island representatives held at Nasinu, Fiji, in April-May 1950, was seen by European officials and observers as an 'experiment'. The attempt to forge a sense of regional unity was seen as pushing against the perceived gulf between Melanesian and Polynesian cultures and as expecting too much in the way of conference skills from 'undeveloped' societies. But the 'experiment' was considered necessary for other important post-war goals. Although the Nasinu conference is to be seen broadly as an experiment in the promotion of trusteeship, or 'native welfare', principles, there was by no means agreement on its ultimate purposes. For some it offered the best (if risky) chance of minimising United Nations interference in the continuation of colonial control, for others a way of ensuring the demise of empire by serving the needs of self-determination. Finally, the promotion of a sense of region among Pacific Islanders was seen by some as part of an experiment in keeping the region from Communist influence. Show more