Image
The small and beautiful island of Banaba (Ocean Island) in the Kiribati group was mined for rock phosphate from about 1906. The first photograph shows the island shortly before mining began. The second was taken soon after, and shows how the vegetation and soil of Banaba were removed to extract the phosphate rock.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Alexander Turnbull Library, Colville Collection
Reference: PAColl-6044-15; PAColl-6044-01
by Lilian Arundel
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.