Republic of Nauru
In Mar 1975, when I was 28, I left Hong Kong for the first time, taking up my appointment as the Government Chinese Interpreter & Welfare Officer for the Republic of Nauru, a small island state in the Central Pacific where I spent 3-and-a-half happy years with my family.
Nauru is an isolated island with only 21 square kilometres. The climate is tropical because the island is near to the equator. It enjoys a long period of sunlight. I was raising a young family, and the place was perfect for me for several reasons.
In Mar 1975, when I was 28, I left Hong Kong for the first time, taking up my appointment as the Government Chinese Interpreter & Welfare Officer for the Republic of Nauru, a small island state in the Central Pacific where I spent 3-and-a-half happy years with my family.
Nauru is an isolated island with only 21 square kilometres. The climate is tropical because the island is near to the equator. It enjoys a long period of sunlight. I was raising a young family, and the place was perfect for me for several reasons.
Nauru was a wealthy country at that time because it generated a substantial amount of revenue from the export of one of the finest phosphates in the world. Those were the hay days of the country when it was building its own airline, shipping line, with a lot of local infrastructure constructions, in addition to a few ambitious overseas investments, when the country was enjoying the enormous amount of wealth derived from its natural resource of phosphate.
They were building projects in Melbourne when they were constructing the Nauru House, a 52-storey building in the CBD. They were also putting projects in Fiji and initiating several overseas investments. Locally, the country was building its roads by a Japanese company. It was constructing its Civic Centre and a new Parliament House. There were also tradespeople from Malaysia, the Gilbert & Ellice Islands, the Solomon Islands working for the Nauru Phosphate Company and a batch of around 100 Taiwanese retired servicemen, responsible for building domestic dwellings for the Nauruan population. It was one of the most vibrant periods in the history of Nauru and I was lucky enough to witness its glory.
At that time, Nauru had been employing tradespeople from Hong Kong and China for many years to help with the mining of phosphate on the island. It had around 1,000 workers with their families residing on the island with its own Chinese school for the children of the workers. The Chinese and Nauruans mixed amicably.
My work as the Chinese Interpreter & Welfare Officer included:
Acting as a Court Interpreter for cases involving Chinese.
Generally representing the interests and looking after the welfare of the Chinese community, which represented 10% of the total population on the island.
Providing assistance regarding government policies affecting matters relating to the Chinese community.
Performing administrative duties relating to Chinese workers working for the Government, including approval of Chinese dependents travelling to Nauru to live with the workers and allocation of government quarters.
Despite the busy economic activities going on the island, my workload was surprisingly light. While I was working for the HK Government, I attempted the professional examinations of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries & Administrators (CIS) no less than 3 times. There were a total of 4 Parts, each consisted of 4 subjects but candidates must pass all subjects in one sitting. I failed in each of my attempts for the First Part because I always failed in either Statistics or Accounting, with most attempts successful in passing only 3 subjects.
The working environment in Nauru provided me with a quiet and peaceful lifestyle, which was conducive to my studies. Upon arrival on the island, I commenced my studies almost immediately and, fortunately, I was able to achieve success in all four parts of the CIS exams. I became a professional member of the Institute in 1978, which enabled me to apply for migration to Australia.
I remembered that when I took my examination for my First Part in Nauru, there were 2 other examinees sitting for the external examination held in Nauru. They were gentlemen from the UK, and they were expatriates working on the island, but they were very much advanced in their progress towards completion. Sad to say, by the time when I finished with my examinations, they were still struggling to finish theirs, because they spent most of their time enjoying the company of the fair sex.
Nauru was a wealthy country at that time because it generated a substantial amount of revenue from the export of one of the finest phosphates in the world. Those were the hay days of the country when it was building its own airline, shipping line, with a lot of local infrastructure constructions, in addition to a few ambitious overseas investments, when the country was enjoying the enormous amount of wealth derived from its natural resource of phosphate.
They were building projects in Melbourne when they were constructing the Nauru House, a 52-storey building in the CBD. They were also putting projects in Fiji and initiating several overseas investments. Locally, the country was building its roads by a Japanese company. It was constructing its Civic Centre and a new Parliament House. There were also tradespeople from Malaysia, the Gilbert & Ellice Islands, the Solomon Islands working for the Nauru Phosphate Company and a batch of around 100 Taiwanese retired servicemen, responsible for building domestic dwellings for the Nauruan population. It was one of the most vibrant periods in the history of Nauru and I was lucky enough to witness its glory.
At that time, Nauru had been employing tradespeople from Hong Kong and China for many years to help with the mining of phosphate on the island. It had around 1,000 workers with their families residing on the island with its own Chinese school for the children of the workers. The Chinese and Nauruans mixed amicably.
My work as the Chinese Interpreter & Welfare Officer included:
Acting as a Court Interpreter for cases involving Chinese.
Generally representing the interests and looking after the welfare of the Chinese community, which represented 10% of the total population on the island.
Providing assistance regarding government policies affecting matters relating to the Chinese community.
Performing administrative duties relating to Chinese workers working for the Government, including approval of Chinese dependents travelling to Nauru to live with the workers and allocation of government quarters.
Despite the busy economic activities going on the island, my workload was surprisingly light. While I was working for the HK Government, I attempted the professional examinations of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries & Administrators (CIS) no less than 3 times. There were a total of 4 Parts, each consisted of 4 subjects but candidates must pass all subjects in one sitting. I failed in each of my attempts for the First Part because I always failed in either Statistics or Accounting, with most attempts successful in passing only 3 subjects.
The working environment in Nauru provided me with a quiet and peaceful lifestyle, which was conducive to my studies. Upon arrival on the island, I commenced my studies almost immediately and, fortunately, I was able to achieve success in all four parts of the CIS exams. I became a professional member of the Institute in 1978, which enabled me to apply for migration to Australia.
I remembered that when I took my examination for my First Part in Nauru, there were 2 other examinees sitting for the external examination held in Nauru. They were gentlemen from the UK, and they were expatriates working on the island, but they were very much advanced in their progress towards completion. Sad to say, by the time when I finished with my examinations, they were still struggling to finish theirs, because they spent most of their time enjoying the company of the fair sex.
I was married with two young children, and I was behaving myself because, being the only Chinese with expatriate status, my movements were always under public scrutiny. As a matter of fact, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay on the island, and my daily routine started with an early breakfast with my family, followed by a short drive from our government quarters to my office, which took less than 10 minutes.
My children attended the local school and got picked up from our quarters by a special school bus to their school from where they will be sent back home on the school bus again.
Lunch time on the island was one and a half hours, and because of the hot climate, we used to take a quick lunch, to be followed by a short nap. I would then travel back
I was married with two young children, and I was behaving myself because, being the only Chinese with expatriate status, my movements were always under public scrutiny. As a matter of fact, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay on the island, and my daily routine started with an early breakfast with my family, followed by a short drive from our government quarters to my office, which took less than 10 minutes.
My children attended the local school and got picked up from our quarters by a special school bus to their school from where they will be sent back home on the school bus again.
Lunch time on the island was one and a half hours, and because of the hot climate, we used to take a quick lunch, to be followed by a short nap. I would then travel back
to the office where I would finish work around 4:30 pm when I shall pick up my family and drive to the beach on the other side of the island near the newly built Nauru Hotel, when our children will be chasing small crabs or collecting seashells, with me contemplating my CIS examinations most of the time.
Weekends in Nauru were full of social activities. I was fortunate enough to enjoy the social lives of both the expatriate world and the Chinese community. Given the vigorous economic activities going on the island, I found myself to be invited to all the official Presidential Parties when they celebrated the opening or closing of a project, the inauguration flight of a new airplane to the Nauru Airline, the launch of a new ship in the Nauru Shipping Line, the appointment of a new Australian High Commissioner, and some other important events marking a milestone progress, etc.
Again, holding what was considered as the Number One Chinese Job on the island, I was generally respected and I benefitted also in the our social life among the Chinese community, and weekends in Nauru had always been busy and joyous for the whole of our family.
My first contract with the Nauruan Government was for 21 months, followed by a 3-month holiday. I signed up a second contract before proceeding on my holidays in 1976 when I first returned to HK but I got bored as all my friends were working. I travelled to New York where I visited my good friend who had just completed his accounting degree and got married.
I was exploring opportunities for eventual migration, and I took the trip to America with that intention. However, I did not like America at all and I can easily spend an hour talking about my experiences there, which is of course inappropriate for what I am doing here.
to the office where I would finish work around 4:30 pm when I shall pick up my family and drive to the beach on the other side of the island near the newly built Nauru Hotel, when our children will be chasing small crabs or collecting seashells, with me contemplating my CIS examinations most of the time.
Weekends in Nauru were full of social activities. I was fortunate enough to enjoy the social lives of both the expatriate world and the Chinese community. Given the vigorous economic activities going on the island, I found myself to be invited to all the official Presidential Parties when they celebrated the opening or closing of a project, the inauguration flight of a new airplane to the Nauru Airline, the launch of a new ship in the Nauru Shipping Line, the appointment of a new Australian High Commissioner, and some other important events marking a milestone progress, etc.
Again, holding what was considered as the Number One Chinese Job on the island, I was generally respected and I benefitted also in the our social life among the Chinese community, and weekends in Nauru had always been busy and joyous for the whole of our family.
My first contract with the Nauruan Government was for 21 months, followed by a 3-month holiday. I signed up a second contract before proceeding on my holidays in 1976 when I first returned to HK but I got bored as all my friends were working. I travelled to New York where I visited my good friend who had just completed his accounting degree and got married.
I was exploring opportunities for eventual migration, and I took the trip to America with that intention. However, I did not like America at all and I can easily spend an hour talking about my experiences there, which is of course inappropriate for what I am doing here.
I returned to Nauru to continue my second contract before the expiry of my 3 months holidays. At that time, the Second Secretary of the Australian High Commission in Nauru had become a social friend. Upon learning my American experience, he asked me if I would be interested to consider Australia as a host country for my future plans.
He suggested that I should visit Australia to find out if I like the place. I took his advice and he issued visa to me and another Chinese friend of mine in Nauru. We visited Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. I liked the place and it ended up with my putting in an application for my migration to Australia.
I returned to Nauru to continue my second contract before the expiry of my 3 months holidays. At that time, the Second Secretary of the Australian High Commission in Nauru had become a social friend. Upon learning my American experience, he asked me if I would be interested to consider Australia as a host country for my future plans.
He suggested that I should visit Australia to find out if I like the place. I took his advice and he issued visa to me and another Chinese friend of mine in Nauru. We visited Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. I liked the place and it ended up with my putting in an application for my migration to Australia.
One day in 1978, after I acquired my professional qualification with CIS, I received a phone call from the Second Secretary who was then acting as Australian High Commissioner in Nauru, to say that he was going to be transferred to Kingston, Jamaica to take up the appointment of Australian High Commissioner there. He wanted my family’s passports because he wanted to issue migration visas to us before his departure for South America.
One day in 1978, after I acquired my professional qualification with CIS, I received a phone call from the Second Secretary who was then acting as Australian High Commissioner in Nauru, to say that he was going to be transferred to Kingston, Jamaica to take up the appointment of Australian High Commissioner there. He wanted my family’s passports because he wanted to issue migration visas to us before his departure for South America.