Queen Elizabeth II 25th Anniversary Coronation First Day Cover, The Gilbert Islands postmarked on April 21, 1978.
The Gilbert Islands
The Gilberts, with their associated islands, are low-lying coconut palm and pandanus-clad coral atolls straddling the Equator and International Date Line. The predominantly Micronesian population of 52,000 live largely by fishing.
Early European voyages to Oceania were prompted by strategic, mercantile and scientific motives. They included such notable voyages as those of Captains Byron, Cook and Bligh (who was seeking breadfruit plants to supply cheaper food for the slaves in the Caribbean). Other valuable commodities offered by the islands include whales, seals, sandalwood and sea cucumbers.
After the traders came planters, who established plantations of coconut, cotton and sugar. The plantations required forced labour, and to obtain it, such nefarious methods as ramming canoes and 'rescuing' the survivors were employed. Furthermore, as ownership was not an Oceanic concept, the inhabitants offered vehement resistance to intrusions by people claiming exclusive use of territory and using forced labour.
Britain formally annexed the Gilberts in 1892, protecting interests from other European powers, curbing the worst excesses of colonialism, and quelling local resistance. In 1941, the Gilberts were invaded by the Japanese, who were driven out two years later by American forces. In 1974, the associated Ellice Islands voted to secede as the separate colony Tuvalu.
The Great Frigate-bird depicted in this Omnibus issue and imitated in the Gilbertese 'ruoia' dances, is a bird of 7 ft. wingspan with forked tail and long hooked beak. It feeds by snatching flying fish on the wing, by chasing boobies and terns, catching in mid-air the food they disgorge in panic; and by stealing chicks from bird colonies.
The Unicorn has, like the dragon and the bull, a history as long as civilisation. Known to the Chinese in the 27th Century BC (perhaps from second-hand tales of the rhino) it was regarded as a harbinger of offspring and a protector of saints and sages. It appeared later in Assyrian reliefs, and in mediaeval times was associated with the church's view of what was pure and chaste. Of secondary importance in England from the time of Edward III, the Scottish Unicorn joined the Lion as supporter of the royal arms in 1603, when James I brought it south of the border.
