Hammer DeRoburt

His Excellency Hammer DeRoburt GCMG, OBE
Hammer DeRoburt, 1968
President of Nauru
In office 17 May 1968 – 22 December 1976
Deputy	Buraro Detudamo
Preceded by	Office Established
Succeeded by	Bernard Dowiyogo
In office 15 May 1978 – 17 September 1986
Deputy	Buraro Detudamo
Preceded by	Lagumot Harris
Succeeded by	Kennan Adeang
In office 1 October 1986 – 12 December 1986
Deputy	Buraro Detudamo
Preceded by	Kennan Adeang
Succeeded by	Kennan Adeang
In office 22 December 1986 – 17 August 1989
Deputy	Buraro Detudamo
Preceded by	Kennan Adeang
Succeeded by	Kenos Aroi
Chairman of the Council of State
In office 31 January 1968 – 17 May 1968
Preceded by	Office Established
Succeeded by	Office Abolished
Member of the Nauruan Parliament for Boe
In office 31 January 1968 – 15 July 1992
Preceded by	Constituency Established
Succeeded by	Michael Aroi
Personal details
Born	(1922-09-25)25 September 1922 Nauru
Died	15 July 1992(1992-07-15) (aged 69) Melbourne, Australia
Spouse	Lukale Harris ​ ​ (m. 1950; died 1986)​
Profession	Schoolteacher

Hammer DeRoburt GCMG OBE (25 September 1922 – 15 July 1992) was a Nauruan politician and independence leader. He led negotiations for independence from Australia and the end of the country's status as a United Nations trust territory. He was subsequently elected as the inaugural president of Nauru, serving three terms in office (1968–1976, 1978–1986, 1986). Prior to independence he was head chief of Nauru and chair of the Nauru Local Government Council.

Early life

DeRoburt was born in Nauru on 25 September 1922. He was the son of DeRoburt and Eidumunang; his maternal grandfather Daimon was the island's head chief from 1920 to 1930. He also had Banaban heritage, as his grandmother was from the island. DeRoburt was a member of the Iruwa tribe. He was raised in Boe District. After being educated on Nauru, he attended the Gordon Institute of Technology in Geelong, Australia. After returning to Nauru, he started working as a teacher.

During the Japanese occupation of Nauru he was deported to Truk by the Japanese, along with most of the Nauruan population. When he returned to Nauru in 1946 he started working at the Department of Education. He decided to stand in the first elections to the Local Government Council in 1951, and although he gained enough support to be nominated as a candidate in the Boe constituency, he was disqualified due to irregularities in his nomination. Local residents and European residents protested without success, whilst a petition to the 1953 Visiting Mission from the United Nations was also overlooked.

In 1955 elections he stood again in the Boe constituency and was elected to the Council. In 1956, the Council elected him the last Head Chief of Nauru.

Presidency of post-independence Nauru

DeRobert at the Pacific Islands Forum, 5 August 1971, Wellington

Electoral and political record

On 31 January 1968, Nauru's Independence Day, DeRoburt was elected by the Legislative Assembly as one of the five members of the Council of State, an interim body tasked with exercising executive power pending the adoption of a final constitution. He was elected chairman of the Council of State, serving until 17 May 1968 when the legislature elected him as the country's inaugural president upon the adoption of the new constitution. He was elected unanimously, although Austin Bernicke and Buraro Detudamo received nominations but declined to stand for election.

In addition to the presidency, DeRoburt assumed the cabinet portfolios of external affairs, internal affairs, and island development and industry. He was re-elected as president unopposed in January 1971 after the 1971 Nauruan parliamentary election. In his second term, DeRoburt faced opposition from a ginger group of young MPs, who felt he had mismanaged the economy, was governing without consultation, and had failed to renew his cabinet. His opponents formed the Nauru Party, the first formal political party on the island. In July 1976, parliament failed to pass financial legislation introduced by DeRoburt. He treated the defeat as a motion of no confidence and resigned as president, but renominated himself in the ensuing election and was re-elected unopposed.

On 22 December 1976, following the 1976 Nauruan parliamentary election, DeRoburt was unexpectedly defeated in his bid for re-election to the presidency, with 30-year-old Bernard Dowiyogo defeating him by nine votes to seven and appointing a Nauru Party cabinet. Dowiyogo had reportedly not expected to win the ballot and offered to resign in DeRoburt's favour if he agreed to make concessions on cabinet choices, but DeRoburt refused to do so. He subsequently pressured Dowiyogo to resign and moved a motion attempting to declare Dowiyogo's election as unconstitutional, on the grounds that the constitution had not allowed for party politics.

DeRoburt remained an influential figure in Nauruan politics following his ouster and with his supporters managed to force Dowiyogo to an early election in November 1977. Dowiyogo was re-elected as president, but remained in office only until April 1978 when he resigned following a defeat on a phosphate royalties bill. His successor Lagumot Harris was ousted only a month later on a vote on an appropriations bill, with DeRoburt returning as president.

Domestic affairs

In his first years in office, DeRoburt's government established Air Nauru, the first national carrier, and Nauru Pacific Shipping Lines.

Foreign affairs

In his final term, DeRoburt's government filed a case against Australia in the International Court of Justice for not rehabilitating mined-out areas of the island. His last public appearance was in the ICJ hearing in November 1991.

Personal

DeRoburt married Lukale Rowena Harris in 1950, with whom he had one daughter. He was precedeased by his wife and died on 15 July 1992 while in Melbourne for medical treatment.

He was given an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in 1982.

DeRoburt is credited with popularising Australian rules football to Nauru, which became the national sport.