Talk:Nauru/Archive 1

Ref
--Stone 09:03, 11 May 2006 (UTC)
 * --Stone 08:47, 11 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 
 * DOI
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 * DOI
 * DOI

Congrats
Congrats to all the editors whose contribution made this article a featured one. It is really an intersting and well-made article. Regards.--Dwaipayan (talk) 14:13, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I would like to congratulate all whose effort and creativity exists here: this article is now top-notch! - GilliamJF 08:21, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

Added New Links
I added two links, one to CenPac, the Nauru ISP, and one to the official website of Air Nauru. Inkan1969 16:31, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Satellite photo
Check out the birdseye view of Nauru on the Luxembourg Wikipedia article (lb:). It shows the effects of strip mining much better than the satellite photo shown here. I propose that the current photo here be switched with the one on lb:. GilliamJF 19:59, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
 * It's a great photo, but there are a couple of problems with it (1) As of 2003, about 63% of former mining land is revegetated, which is shown in the more recent photo, and something I was going to add to the caption. (2) It's one of the photos CdaMVvWgS got permission to use as PD, but the stauts of the image is a bit murky since we don't know the original photographer. It'd be great if we could get an aerial shot from the 80s and the more recent one and put them side by side, that'd show the decline in mining and the restoration work.--nixie 23:02, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

Speaking of photos, the pic "Nauru Island under attack by B-24 Liberator bombers of the US Seventh Air Force" is very distorting as it looks as though either the plane is enormous or the entire island is smaller than an airfield. I propose that that photo be changed.--M3rrick 09:38, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

New plane
Air Nauru (renamed Our Airline) bought a 737 this summer and has resumed regular passenger service Darkspots 17:10, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Proposed WikiProject
There is now a proposed WikiProject dealing with the area of Micronesia at WikiProject Council/Proposals. Any interested parties should add their names there, so we can see if there is enough interest in this project to try to officially start it. Thank you. Badbilltucker 21:21, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Want more on Nauru
Whats Nauru's Literacy Rate, Years Of Schooling,Doctors Per 100,000 people, AIDS deaths per annum & access to clean water? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 60.230.67.194 (talk) 10:20, 10 May 2007 (UTC).

Interesting....
According to the figures in this article, about 65 Nauruans work for someone other than the government. does that sound right? --Someones life 06:21, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

No capital?
We read in the article on London, "Unlike most capital cities, London's status as the capital of the UK has never been granted or confirmed officially — by statute or in written form. Its position as the capital has formed through constitutional convention, making its position as de facto capital a part of the UK's unwritten constitution." But London is treated as the capital by the article on the United Kingdom. So why is the UK treated differently from Nauru? Constitutionally neither has a capital; de facto, both do. -86.134.12.250


 * The distinction between de jure and de facto capital is somewhat nerdy. There are in fact many countries without an 'official' capital. My city, Copenhagen, is another one of these 'unofficial' capitals, in the sense that no law states where the capital is. According to the article, Yaren is where Nauru's Parliament and government resides, so Yaren is the capital. In medieval kingdoms where the king was always on the move with his staff, clerks and army, one could maybe speak of states with no capital, but today they hardly exist. --Sasper 21:19, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

Poor References
The reference for the claim that Australia has sent more refugees to Nauru in 2007 simply outlines how much it costs to maintain the detention camps. 58.165.135.252 08:05, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Nauruan Scouting
Can someone please render "Be Prepared", the Scout Motto, into Nauruan? Thanks! Chris 05:13, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

Smallest Commomwealth Member?
The into states that "The smallest independent member of The Commonwealth" I dispute that, as Tuvalu is a member of the Commonwealth, with only 11,000 people. A fact that is backed up on the Commonwealth of Nations article. I'll remove it from the into in a couple of days, unless anyone objects. Brian | (Talk) 23:36, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Economy
A November 2007 Asian Development bank report lists Nauru's per capita GDP at US$2038 in 2006. I will update the figure from the current one of $5000, which i think significantly misrepresents the level of productive activity there.

192.195.49.10 (talk) 00:20, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

The same article, although referenced here as saying the country had the highest GDP/capita in the world, does not actually make this claim. I think this may be an urban legend. (JS)

The article clearly states

f"since 2001 it [Nauru] has accepted aid from the Australian government; in exchange for this aid, Nauru houses an 'offshore' detention centre that holds and processes asylum seekers trying to enter Australia."

yet, there is no mention in the Economy section of detention being a significant part of Nauru'a economy. Surely detention should be listed as part of Nauru's economy? According to one source it is the single largest contributor to Nauru's economy. John Dalton 01:29, 10 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Recieveing foreign aid isn't really an economic activity. Also I'd like to see some more reliable sources before any changes are made. At last count there were only two people in the centre, so mangement of the centre isn't really a big employer atm either.--Peta 02:13, 10 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I agree that reliable sources are needed. It's just that the article clearly states that the aid is in exchange for detention.  The 'aid' appears to be payment for a service rendered and so should form part of the economy.  Scoop  reports that Nauru has received A$22million over two years for detaining refugees.  isScoop doesn't call the payment aid and says it is on top of aid (A$13.5 million for 2004-5) and compensation for phosphate mining (A$2.5million/year). As I understand it Scoop is one the major players in NZ's online media and not on either side the refugee debate.  The article is two years old though.  Do the arrangements still stand or even being expanded, especially in light of the Australian government's current plans to send more people to Nauru? John Dalton 04:15, 10 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I disagree that it is relevant to the economy section, the aid situation is described in the foreign relations section. I also don't think a 2 year old news report, that mentions even older data is a good source for the issue today.--Peta 04:19, 10 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Also of interest is the Australian government's budget for "Offshore processing strategy - Nauru" (last entry on 7th page).  It mentions numbers for 2006-2010 increasing to around A$10 million/year. Consulting the glossary for the budget, "Dept. items" are expenses within the department, while "Admin. items" are expenses outside the department, such as paying others for detention services.  The term "Admin." means the item is administered on behalf of DIMA by a third party. I'm posting this here mainly as a record for others to add to, as the budget doesn't state that this money is going directly into pockets in Nauru (Aid normally goes via AusAID , not DIMA.)  More sources, which I don't have, are need to make that link, if it is there.  This budget does reliably show that the Australian government is planning to expand its Nauru operations over the next three years, which might belong in the article.   If I find any more sources I will post them on this talk page. John Dalton 05:02, 10 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Unless the government makes an announcment updating the details of Memorandum of Understanding in light of the legislation changes - then what you are proposing is original analysis of the budget and does not belong in an encyclopedia article.--Peta 05:20, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Smallest population?
It is the world's smallest independent republic both in terms of population and land area. Exactly the same is said about Tuvalu. Which is correct? The Singing Badger 21:59, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)

According to the Tuvalu entry (emphasis added), "Tuvalu is a constitutional monarchy". https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tv.html : "constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy; began debating republic status in 1992" Apokrif 08:37, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

In 2002 or therabouts Nauru repatriated a large number of i-Kiribati and Tuvaluan workers. At this point eh population dropped (probably to below the level of Tuvalu, since their po' n increased at teh same time, and the ethnic makeup of Nauru changed. The demography section should be updated to reflect this if someone has the data.  192.195.49.10 (talk) 00:27, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

Copyright Infringement
Much of the text in this article is directly taken from NationMaster. See here: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Nauru NationMaster has copyrighted its material. Americanjoe1776 (talk) 18:44, 14 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Dude, as the guy who uploaded several of the images used in this article to Commons, I can guarantee you that it is NationMaster that has copied Wikipedia and not the other way around. It is obvious when you look at NationMaster’s style, article layout and source code. Also, their copyright notice on the bottom says: “The Wikipedia article included on this page is licensed under the GFDL. Images may be subject to relevant owners' copyright.” Q.E.D. Jon Harald Søby (talk) 22:04, 14 January 2009 (UTC)


 * You're right man. It was my mistake. I looked, but somehow missed the GFDL the first time around. Sorry about the trouble. Americanjoe1776 (talk) 19:46, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

Historical GDP per capita
I could find nothing in the reference for this statement establishing Nauru's GDP as second only to the UAE's in 1980. I'll remove that if no citation is provided. Reb42 (talk) 03:18, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

Disaster!
Surely Nauru has to be included into the major ecological disasters ever to have happened, going from the article it seems to be one of the worst places in the world to live in. Brutaldeluxe (talk) 22:47, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

mormons
mormon missionaries are not employed, they are volunteers and pay their own costs. jehovah's witnesses, i'm not sure, but i'm changing it so it doesn't say anything not true. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.137.240.62 (talk) 16:38, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

never mind i get it now. very poorly worded and confusing, had to look at the resource get what it was talking about —Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.137.240.62 (talk) 16:43, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Captain Solda
In the History section, the name of the Japanese commander is given as "Captain Solda". "solda" is not a possible Japanese name. I don't know the correct name, but this is definitely an error.Bill (talk) 02:14, 28 February 2010 (UTC)
 * It is Soeda--Kimdime (talk) 15:56, 21 January 2011 (UTC)

The New York Times Upfront resource, regarding Sea level rise and global warming-related climate change.
A Sinking Feeling; Why is the president of the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru so concerned about climate change? by Marcus Stephen, the President of Nauru, November 14 & November 28, 2011. 99.181.136.185 (talk) 02:36, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Featured article status:
From a look through the current revision, this article may fail the following criteria: Aiwo • Anabar • Anetan • Anibare • Baiti • Boe • Buada • Denigomodu • Ewa • Ijuw • Meneng • Nibok • Uaboe • Yaren". Also, several one sentence paragraphs.
 * 1b: What about the climate?
 * 1c: Several unreferenced paragraphs.
 * 1) Information is out of date. Stephen is no longer president.
 * 2) MOS issues: An example would be the horizontal list "Nauru is divided into fourteen administrative districts which are grouped into eight electoral constituencies. The districts are:


 * These issues must be addressed, otherwise the article could lose its featured status. Crisco 1492 (talk) 23:29, 18 November 2011 (UTC)


 * Well, this has been a long time coming. In regards to 1b, climate information is included in the geography section. The rest is definitely relevant though. Chipmunkdavis (talk) 03:08, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Orphaned references in Nauru
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Nauru's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "cia": From Saint Vincent and the Grenadines:  From Barbados: Barbados: People. CIA World Factbook From Botswana:  From Guam: CIA Factbook: Guam. Cia.gov. Retrieved on 2012-06-13. From List of sovereign states and dependent territories by population density: Population density calculated using surface area and population figures from Ministry of Interior, Taiwan, May 2012. From Madagascar:  From Tanzania:  From Burundi: CIA – The World Factbook – Burundi CIA. Retrieved June 8, 2008.</li> <li>From New Caledonia: </li> <li>From Sudan: </li> <li>From Languages of Papua New Guinea: CIA World Factbook: Papua New Guinea</li> <li>From Palau: </li> <li>From Guyana: </li> <li>From Japan: </li> <li>From Languages of Ethiopia: </li> <li>From Kenya: </li> <li>From Malta: </li> <li>From Cocos (Keeling) Islands: </li> <li>From Guernsey: </li> <li>From Wallis and Futuna: World factbook: Wallis and Futuna</li> <li>From Bermuda: </li> <li>From Suriname: </li> <li>From Canada: </li> <li>From Falkland Islands: </li> <li>From Vanuatu: </li> <li>From Turks and Caicos Islands: </li> <li>From Georgia (country): Georgia, from CIA World Factbook.</li> <li>From Brunei: </li> <li>From Uganda: </li> <li>From Ascension Island: </li> <li>From Belize: </li> <li>From Hong Kong: </li> </ul>

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT ⚡ 19:43, 19 June 2012 (UTC)

Clickable map?
Would anyone be opposed to me making a clickable map of the districts, instead of the one currently at Nauru ? I wouldn't be able to make the diagonal text used for Uaboe, but other than that I think a clickable map would be more useful. Jujutacular (talk) 14:15, 25 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Actually, I can leave the map as it is visually and make it clickable, so it would still look the same -- look at List of counties in Florida for example. Jujutacular (talk) 14:17, 25 January 2013 (UTC)
 * I can't see any harm in it, especially if it looks the same. CMD (talk) 19:16, 25 January 2013 (UTC)

Obscurity
Interesting — never heard of it. Perhaps Nauru should replace the time-honored but no longer operative Timbuktu as a byword for remoteness. Sca (talk) 14:02, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Space Program
Can someone please write a section detailing their space program? 70.192.129.84 (talk) 03:55, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

It is in an almost perfect equatorial launch site. I believe there have be references to a Nauruan space program in fiction. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.100.151.101 (talk) 20:23, 4 November 2014 (UTC)

English pronunciation
I've changed the pronunciation guide and in doing so I removed the link to the sound file because it was no longer consistent.

In researching the English pronunciation of Nauru I found three online dictionaries:
 * Oxford Dictionaries: /nɑːˈuːruː/
 * Collins English Dictionary: /nɑːˈuːruː/
 * Meriam-Webster: \nä-ˈü-(ˌ)rü\ which (ignoring the optional secondary stress mark) corresponds to one of
 * /nɑːˈuːruː/
 * /nɒˈuːruː/

Most Americans don't distinguish between /ɑː/ and /ɒ/ which is why the Meriam-Webster transcription is ambiguous, but it's clear from context the first vowel should be an /ɑː/ not an /ɒ/.

This shows pretty clear agreement between a variety of dictionaries on the English pronunciation, so my change should, in theory, be uncontroversial. The problem is that Australian prime ministers seem to call the country /nəˈruː/ and a previous editor had transcribed it as /nɑː(ə)ruː/, so there does seem to be some debate about to say the country's name.

Ben Arnold (talk) 02:45, 5 December 2014 (UTC)


 * If you go on youtube you will see that English-speaking people of the region, i.e. Australians and New Zealanders, as well as Nauruans themselves do not pronounce the country's name as Nah-oo-roo. 121.73.7.84 (talk) 15:08, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

nah-oo-roo?
This wikipedia article is the only place i've ever heard Nauru pronounced as Nah-oo-ru. In New Zealand & Australia we pronounce it as Nauru and I've never heard a Nauruan pronounce it as nah-oo-roo either. This pronounciation sounds like an Americanism - much in the way they pronounce Haiti as Haytee. 121.73.7.84 (talk) 15:00, 19 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Ditto. I've never heard "Nauru" pronounced in Australia with the stress on the second syllable. In fact, the second syllable is often destressed to an /ə/ or even omitted entirely. ABC newsreaders are about as finicky as their BBC counterparts when it comes to pronunciation, so I'd prefer them as a source to dictionaries, which have probably "guesstimated" a pronunciation or prescribed a "correct" pronunciation that bears little resemblance to reality <small style="border: 1px solid;padding:1px 3px;white-space:nowrap"> IgnorantArmies  14:22, 1 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Changed per Oxford cite. (Though there's also  NAH-ROO.)  /ɑːə/ is not a normal sound sequence in English.  — kwami (talk) 20:08, 2 January 2015 (UTC)

Consolidation
Why is there a link at the bottom of the page for "Outline of Nauru?" Shouldn't these be consolidated into a single Nauru article? 148.177.1.211 (talk) 13:44, 19 February 2015 (UTC)

Local pronunciation of Naoero
Hi, does anyone out there know how to pronounce "Nauru" in Nauruan? I know it's spelled /Naoero/, but this doesn't give me the pronunciation. Please give me an accurate IPA transcription for this. (IPA is unfortunately absent from the Nauruan language page). I am annoyed that the pronunciation is only given for English (first line), and not in the local language. Cheers, Womtelo 08:21, 3 March 2007 (UTC).
 * Hi, I know that this post is a bit old, but I would like to achieve that I've found the local pronunciation in an anti-government song. I don't know the IPA, so, please transcript and add to the article. Thanks.


 * Observe that now there is a section of the Nauruan phonology in the article. --Arthurteb303 (talk) 18:26, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

"Fortnightly"
The Culture section lists "Mwinen Ko" as a "fortnightly publication." Seriously? Fortnightly? How about "biweekly?" 86.124.211.46 (talk) 16:32, 11 July 2011 (UTC)


 * There's nothing wrong with "fortnightly", which is standard in Commonwealth English. "Bi-weekly" is potentially ambiguous. Chris Cunningham (user:thumperward) (talk) 11:36, 9 November 2011 (UTC)


 * Fortnightly is a common, every day English word outside of the USA. Americans seem to forget that they speak a dialect, not standard English. Bi-weekly is ambiguous. I think people will be confused as to whether that means every two weeks (fortnightly) or twice a week. 121.73.7.84 (talk) 04:59, 20 December 2014 (UTC)

Fortnight is a common term in English for the most part only in the UK and Australia. In the rest of the English speaking world, it is a dead word. Why? Because outside of pretty much those two countries, American English is the standard, not British/UK/Aus English. Having said this, that does not mean that people in the rest of the world do not know the word, or what it means. To make such a generalization as the person above has, it is clear they are a little Englander still living in the past of when Great Britain actually mattered in the world. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.164.204.92 (talk) 19:00, 16 August 2016 (UTC)

Prosecution of Trustees?
Curious if there should be discussion of the prosecution (if any) of those which squandered the wealth. Was it legal under their law? Was anyone tried on behalf of the residents? It seems amazing that the population let this happen without consequences. 2620:0:1000:6B00:3960:1731:5775:B93D (talk) 21:39, 8 September 2017 (UTC)

Nauru the first country that would be entirely swallowed up by sea level rise?
I seem to remember reading this somewhere. Does anyone know if this has been verified or not?--h i s  s p a c e   r e s e a r c h 12:56, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

No, that's Tuvalu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuvalu#Geography 58.165.135.252 08:07, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Would seem Maldives would be at the greatest risk first, having the lowest elevation overall of any country in the world. The highest point in Maldives is only 8 feet above sea level. 75.70.123.215 01:48, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Correct, 75.70.123.215, and Lesotho would be the last country to be swallowed up by the sea level rise. The Uncyclopedian (talk) 22:05, 8 March 2013 (UTC)

Nauru is a raised coral atoll, unlike Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands. Carlojacky (talk) 10:34, 28 July 2018 (UTC)

The only country in the world with no official capital?
I think neither the Vatican City has any official capital. Jakro64 22:14, 21 Nov 2004 (UTC)


 * Most reference books seem to list the capital of the Vatican City as (wait for it) the Vatican City. Matthewmayer 15:54, 23 Nov 2004 (UTC)


 * You might consider Yaren as the capital of Nauru, because that's where the government buildings were. I lived with my family in Nauru for 4 years :-)

Yes, Yaren is the “capital” because of the Government buildings; also the International Airport. Carlojacky (talk) 10:36, 28 July 2018 (UTC)

Wild Pigs
Pigs and chickens run wild there. By last count there were 2,500 wild pigs. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Myleftelbow (talk • contribs)


 * Do you have a source for that? Jon Harald Søby 11:09, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Ah... Not anymore. It accidently went back to the library.

I'll see if I can find it again. Mango Butt 03:43, 27 April 2006 (UTC)
 * The world Almanac, 2007 edition, under livestock, reports 5,000 chickens and 2,800 pigs on Nauru. The implication is they are domesticated. --Marc Kupper&#124;talk 06:29, 18 June 2011 (UTC)

I’ve spent some time on Nauru, and saw only two live pigs wandering about, plus two (not the same ones) cooked at big public feasts. It’s not like other South Pacific islands (Samoa, for instance) where you see pigs everywhere. Carlojacky (talk) 10:40, 28 July 2018 (UTC)

I’ve spent some time on Nauru, and saw only two live pigs wandering about, plus two (not the same ones) cooked at big public feasts. It’s not like other South Pacific islands (Samoa, for instance) where you see pigs everywhere. Carlojacky (talk) 10:40, 28 July 2018 (UTC)

Hunting birds with lassos?
In the culture section, the article describes hunting noddy birds at the beach with a lasso. But the referenced article describes hunting the birds inland with nets:

"Topside, in the evening, you’ll probably pass quite few young men out hunting for noddy birds, with nets at the end of long metal poles."

Lassoing a flying bird seems an unlikely feat... is the existing text some kind of subtle vandalism?

Jrauser (talk) 20:26, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

When I was on the island I had a few beers with the president of nauru, and a chat about catchign noddy birds (it's a small, small place). Apparently they do use a lasso. noddy birds aren't too smart it seems and he told me their population is in decline. The presdient also demonstrated the call the people used to make to attract the birds, and told me people now use a cassette recording of a noddy bird call instead. so there you go. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.195.49.10 (talk) 00:45, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

Which President was that? Carlojacky (talk) 10:45, 28 July 2018 (UTC)

Noddies are small: I can’t imagine anyone bothering to try to catch one with a lasso. They are caught with nets. Frigate birds, on the other hand, are tamed and kept to catch fish with, by means of a band around the bird’s neck which prevents it swallowing the fish: this is an ancient tradition practised by a particular family group. Carlojacky (talk) 10:49, 28 July 2018 (UTC)

history section
I've split the History section into sub-sections to mirror the Main Article a bit. I've also moved the images to make the text a bit less disjionted. I hope that's OK with everyone. Moonraker12 (talk) 15:40, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

https://www.sallymcinerney.com/Nauru-Impressions/Nauru-Diary Carlojacky (talk) 10:57, 28 July 2018 (UTC)

I found this photo of Nauru

 * [[Image:Aerial_view_of_Nauru.jpg|400px]]
 * -Indolences 03:09, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

https://www.sallymcinerney.com/Nauru-Impressions/Nauru-Diary Carlojacky (talk) 11:02, 28 July 2018 (UTC)

Money laundering
This text was recently added by an IP user (only contribution to date):

"Nauru is currently battling the United States in Australian court over an underground agreement gone sour. Nauru claims that agents representing the United States government offered billions of dollars worth of economic recovery to the island in exchange for new legislation limiting the efficacy of overseas money laundering and tax evasion as well as the establishment of a Nauruan "stooge" embassy in China to function under United States control as a means of secretly ushering defecting North Korean scientists and officials across the border, including Kyong Won-ha, the scientest supposedly responsible for much of Pyongyang's nuclear program. This initiative was termed, "Operation Weasel". When news of this agreement came to light after Nauru faithfully followed through with the necessary legislation and the preliminaries of the embassy (which rightfully drew suspicion from China as it was staffed entirely by westerners), the United States responded that the agents who made the deal with Nauru never had the authority to make such a contract, and Nauru has not yet received the promised aid. Nauru's case against the United States is currently still pending, but preliminary judgements favor the island nation over the superpower."

Can anyone shed any light on the truth of this?

Matthewmayer 14:11, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)


 * The topic is real, there were a number of Australian newspaper articles about "Operation Weasel", the entirety of which is way more convoluted than the above paragraph implies, as the goal of "Operation Weasel" was to create a safe way for North Korean officials to defect, and the above-mentioned aid was supposedly part of the US's incentive for Nauru's assistance.  Oy.  Cleaning up the money laundering was secondary, and the US was applying all sorts of diplomatic pressure on that front.   This needs cleanup.  Perhaps I'll have to research a page on Operation Weasel.  For now, here are some random links of varying legitimacy:, ,  .  -- Kaszeta 21:33, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * This was reported on by American author Jack Hitt in an informative (and honestly quite interesting) radio documentary about the island that was aired on NPR's "This American Life" . The page for Operation Weasel, however, seems like it could be incorporated as a section on this page; as diplomatic incidents go the operation probably doesn't deserve its own page, but within the 'Economy' section of this article it would shed light on the desperate lengths the Nauruan government has gone to recently in searching for alternative revenue sources. 67.64.73.234 12:25, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

National sport

Can anyone shead some light on this. In this artice it's claimed that Australian Rules is the national sport, yet Culture_of_Nauru indicates that Football and Softball are the popular sports. Can anyone confirm either of these, so this error can be fixed? --Tancred 05:50, August 22, 2005 (UTC)


 * May Softball not be a popular sport because Australian Football is the national sport? (Which it is.) Jon Harald Søby \ no na 19:45, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

AFL is very strong in Nauru Carlojacky (talk) 18:51, 11 October 2018 (UTC)

problem sentence
Peta:

Naurans subsisted on coconut, pandanus fruit and fish caught with trained Man-of-war Hawks or ibija fish that they raised in Buada Lagoon.[2]

It's unclear which food (all three types?) are caught with which predator (the hawkes/fish), and which predators the Nauruans raise in the lagoon.

Tony 02:06, 9 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I broke it down into two sentences, I think it is more clear now.--Peta 02:25, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

Frigate birds are traditionally used for fish catching. There are no hawks or other raptors in Nauru. Carlojacky (talk) 18:53, 11 October 2018 (UTC)

How high, and why resettle?
The fraser island article notes a proposal (rejected) to resettle the population there. It doesn't indicate why this might be thoguht a good idea - is there a need for discussion of resettlement proposals here? How tall is the island, and what effect would a 5-15 metre rise in sea level have on it? Midgley 05:21, 8 January 2007 (UTC)
 * In the 1950s resettlement plans probably didn't have anything to do with sea-level rise; rather most of the islands population had been displaced during WWII. Since there is not much on Nauru someone in the Australian government probably thought they might like a nicer island. Sea level rise would probably flood most of the little arable land on the island - but I have not read of any recent resettlement plans for Nauru. --Peta 05:46, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

There are no resettlement plans for Nauruans. They are very attached to their island and the island community. Carlojacky (talk) 18:56, 11 October 2018 (UTC)

The Nauru Files
Apologies, this is my first edit/question, please forgive my formatting or inexperience.

Are there any plans to incorporate the Article with the atrocities committed in the Nauru immigration camps? See the 2016 Guardian piece on the incident reports: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/10/the-nauru-files-2000-leaked-reports-reveal-scale-of-abuse-of-children-in-australian-offshore-detention — Preceding unsigned comment added by Soundessence (talk • contribs) 20:10, 29 August 2018 (UTC)

Committed by whom? Carlojacky (talk) 18:59, 11 October 2018 (UTC)

Bahai adherents inconsistency
The main page for Nauru says that 10% of Nauruans are Bahai, with the source a Bahai website. The article on Religion in Nauru does not mention Bahai, and states that only 7% of Nauruans practice "other" religion. Should the Bahai stuff be removed or corrected? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 14.201.204.3 (talk) 07:13, 5 October 2015 (UTC)

Yes, probably. Carlojacky (talk) 19:00, 11 October 2018 (UTC)

Phosphate rock ?!
All this talk of phosphate rock, and not a single mention that it was bird shit, i.e. Guano. It was not a geological deposit, it was the buildup of thousands of years of efforts by the birds which the British Phosphate company dug up for the benefit of farmers in other countries. Like other nations that relay on mining & other primary produce, Nauru sold its only asset other nations wanted without building a local sustainable living for its people; they just accepted the mining industry claims that the people were 'lucky' to have some temp jobs for fifty or so years. It's best economic hope is to act as host to John Howad's Pacific solution efforts to keep asylum seekers out of Australia.58.107.1.200 01:39, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

nah, that's a myth. I spoke to the Managing director of NPC and he told me it's mainly fossilised sea creatures. SAme on nearby Banaba island (Kiribati) 192.195.49.10 (talk) 00:25, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

Is it really a myth? I've heard it from a bunch of sources. I'm having trouble finding many (or any) claiming the fossilized sea creature angle. It seems that the Managing director of the NPC would probably prefer paint their export in a better light than bird droppings and may not be the greatest source. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.154.121.6 (talk) 04:23, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

actually it cannot be a myth. The water solubility of phosphate precludes its deposition over time in the quantities observed in Nauru. The only reasonable explanation is that these phosphate sediments originated from sea birds that used Nauru as their public toilet. For more information go to the MIT geological department website.

Phosphate levels from sea creatures —Preceding unsigned comment added by 18.74.6.144 (talk) 18:45, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm going to agree with 58.107.1.200 here. I'm fairly certain Nauru was made from seagull turds dropped over the millennia. The Uncyclopedian (talk) 22:41, 7 March 2013 (UTC)

I've seen the 'bird poop' explanation for Nauru's phosphate rock in SO many sources too. I just took it as fact until I came across a passage in Gregory Cushman's 'Guano and the Opening of the Pacific World' (2013: 120) stating that while raised coral atolls like Nauru, Banaba and Makatea were initially assumed to be guano islands (like Kiritimati/Christmas Island, which IS covered with bird droppings), there were several pieces of evidence that contradicted this. Nauru's phosphate deposits are devoid of bird fossils but do contain reef organisms and high levels of heavy metals which would indicate a marine origin of the material. Also see this article (in French) by Bernat et al. (1991): http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00102/21374/18974.pdf. Their opinion is that 'these phosphates originate from the endo-upwelling of phosphorus rich deep seawater through the fracturated and porous mass of the carbonated reef' (Bernat et al. 1991: 325). Chaffinches (talk) 17:26, 26 October 2014 (UTC)

It’s probably a combination of both: however, Nauru is a raised coral atoll formed on an ancient volcanic seamount with, over the millenia, tonnes of microscopic marine organisms deposited in the coral. These formed the phosphatic deposits of today. It’s interesting to see all the marine fossils in the pinnacles on the high ground of Topside. Carlojacky (talk) 19:06, 6 December 2018 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 21:36, 14 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Nauru National Anthem.ogg