“Till I come, give ​attendance to reading, ​to exhortation, to ​doctrine.”

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I Timothy 4:13

A lil Nauru history with stamps

Historically, stamps have always been linked to the ​colonial powers that once ruled Nauru.

It began with Nauru’s annexation into the German Marshall Islands ​group in 1888 with the overprint stamps reading ‘marshall inseln’.

After World War I, from 1914 to 1916, Australia occupied Nauru ​and issued ‘North west pacific islands’ overprinted stamps. When ​great britain took over, they opted to use ‘Nauru’ overprinted ​stamps from 1916 to 1924.

Initially, there was a lot of debate of whether

Nauru needed their own internal postal service

due to its size.

However, in 1924, after around 16 years since ​the use of stamps, Nauru issued its own official ​stamps - ‘the ship series’.

My lil history with stamps

yes, our stamp history is one mired with colonialism and war. It is a sad ​history, but no matter what, it is our history. Because it is in our Pacific ​culture to share our stories through song and oral storytelling, they can ​sometimes get lost in time. Our stamps, however, have withstood the test of ​time and offer us a glimpse into the past.

A dark past it might be, but in these stamps, we see historic events that have ​made our Country, important people who forged the way for us, traditions and ​culture that have made us who we are as a people. they show us a glimpse of a ​time of hope and beauty.

It is this glimpse that i successfully made a calendar that was relatively ​popular in Nauru during its 50th independence celebrations. It was ​particularly popular amongst our elder generation.

My stamps came from my dad’s family collection and they were the start of my ​creative journey with our pleasant Island’s history and culture.

our past is a testament to the endurance and survival of our ancestors. As ​shared in Ecclesiastes 7:10 may we always honor our past and history but not ​let it deter us from our future.