our islands our history 1

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Our Island Our Histo


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WHAT ARE THE FALKLAND ISLANDS? Who are Falkland Islanders and what does it mean to be acitizen of our countr y? These are questions which Islanders are asked frequently but to which thereare no quick answers.

Our history goes some way towards explaining what it is to be a Falkland Islander. It is a fairlyshort history. Settlement is relatively recent: it began in the eighteenth century and has only beencontinuous from the early nineteenth century. Unlike when the Spanish and Portuguese colonialempires settled the southern Americas, the Falkland Islands never had an indigenous population,so we have no ancient monuments or romantic mythologies to dene our identity as Islanders.

Other people have spun their own myths around our history and this explains why there are so many misconceptions about whowe are and about our right to call the Falklands our h ome.

The series of events which serve as the foundations upon which the Falkland Islands were built are what Our Islands, OurHistory aims to set out. Our history is one of long periods of tranquillity, punctuated by urries of complex activity. The events ofthe 1760s and 1770s are involved but, with the help of the time line running throughout this publication, hopefully comprehensible. Theperiod 1820 to 1833 is also complex and further complicated by the tendency to weave nationalist myths around the basic narrative.

Although not a heavyweight reference document, this book is intended to explain to the interested reader how our diversecommunity has matured, embracing inuences from the many nations whose sailors visited these shores or who settled in theIslands, developing a cultural identity all of our own, but always maintaining a close kinship with Britain. This close affinity withBritain and loyalty to the Crown remains today – perhaps not entirely fashionable to the rest of the modern world but a genuineelement of our national identity.

This book is not a history of the events of 1982 as plenty of these exist already. But we are eternally grateful to the British forceswho liberated our Islands from a brief but painful Argentine occupation; their sacrice returned our freedom and secured ourfuture and will never be forgotten.

Falkland Islanders are more than just the product of a set of historical dates and events. There are families which can proudlydeclare up to nine generations born in these Islands and we are truly a distinct people in our own right - proud to be ‘Kelpers’, thenickname our ancestors adopted generations ago, tak en from the rich forests of seaweed (kelp) which surround our shores.

What this book cannot describe is that intangible element that binds us so inextricably to thissubtly beautiful land. To try to grasp this you sh ould read this book’s companion volume– Our Islands, Our Home – or better yet, visit the Falklands an d see for yourself...

Leona RobertsManager, Falkland Islands Museum and National Trust

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Commodore Byron takespossession of the Islands in thename of the British Crown.

MAIN EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE FALKLAND ISLANDS

Captain John Strong makes rst recorded landing on theuninhabited islands.

ORIGINS

The sea and the Islands

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Sighting of the Falkland Islandsby crew of the English shipDesire , commanded by Captain John Davis.

Louis-Antoine de Bougainvilleestablishes a French colony at Port Louis, East Falkland.

THE FALKLAND ISLANDS , lying about 300nautical miles (560km) off the mainland ofSouth America, comprise two large islands,East and West Falkland, and a swarm ofother islands ranging from substantialones off the western edge of West Falklandto smaller islets and reefs scattered all alongthe coasts.

Who rst discovered these Islands is amystery. Parties of Patagonian Indians mayhave been blown across from the mainlandand some stone tools have been found onFalklands shores. Two maps in the archivesin Paris and Istanbul from the early sixteenth

century which appear to represent the Islandshave a Portuguese connection. But therst published mention of a sighting of theFalkland Islands followed the voyage of theEnglish explorer John Davis who in August1592 was blown by a storm into ‘certaineIsles never before discovered’. Davis’s accountwas published in 1600 in London by RichardHakluyt.

Davis was followed by the English seamanSir Richard Hawkins in 1594 and the Dutchexplorer Sebald de Weert who visited inJanuary 1600. The rst recorded landing onthe uninhabited islands took place on WestFalkland on 27 January 1690, when the Englishsea captain John Strong came ashore. Strongnamed the passage between the two Islands‘Falkland’s Sound’and Lord Falkland’s name laterbecame attached to the entire main islandsgroup. In the early eighteenth century Frenchsailors from the port of St Malo gave their nameto ‘Les Iles Malouines’, (see box, right).

The 1760s: rst settlementsMore than half a century later, in the 1760s,two settlements were established in East andWest Falkland almost simultaneously by twodifferent countries. The French nobleman LouisAntoine de Bougainville, in a brief chapter ofhis remarkable life, landed settlers who hadleft Nova Scotia after the British conquest ofFrench Canada at Port Louis in East Falklandin 1764. In January 1765 Commodore Byronlanded at Saunders Island north of WestFalkland and claimed the isles for the crownof Great Britain. A second British expedition in1766 returned to Saunders and named their

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British establishsettlement at PortEgmont, West Falkland.

France sells Port Louis toSpain. Renamed Puertode la Soledad.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?An English Lord or a Welsh Saint.

The first captain to land on the Islain 1690, John Strong, named the Sbetween them after an English peeViscount Falkland, who had invesin Strong’s expedition to find treasFalkland’s name remained firmly ato the Islands as a whole from thenSome years later the Islands receivFrench name: merchants from the port of St Malo, (named after a Wsaint Melu –‘the apostle of the Brewho founded the town in the sevenAD,) passed the Islands on their wtrade with ports in Chile. A French produced by the explorer Frezier idescribed them as ‘New Islands diby the vessels from St Malo sincewhich the western part is still unknLater cartographers preferred the s‘Isles Malouines’ and the Spanish this usage as Islas Maluinas, whichevolved into Islas Malvinas.

A sketch of Saunders Island by Thomas Boutower, anEnglish surveyor who visited West Falkland in 1766 anddrew the settlers hunting and shing. South is at the topof the map. The British settlement, Port Egmont, is on theleft (east) of the map.


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of inuence. The Spaniards took over Port Louiswhich they named Puerto de la Soledad. Keen

to assert their authority, a Spanish eet arrivedat Saunders Island in 1770 and obliged thesmall British garrison to leave. An internationalcrisis followed, which was only resolved in 1771when Spain agreed that the British settlementshould be restored and three ships sailed outto re-establish British authority in September1771. It was short lived because in 1774 thegovernment in London decided to withdrawtheir settlement on grounds of economy. Thegarrison left in May of that year, leaving behinda lead plaque asserting British sovereignty. TheSpanish garrison remained on East Falklanduntil 1811 when, under pressure of Frenchinvasion at home and revolutions in its SouthAmerican empire, Spain withdrew its force,also leaving a plaque asserting its sovereignty.

1833 and all that During the late eighteenth century and earlynineteenth century the Islands were the

centre of a lucrative whaling and sealing tradeundertaken by sailors from New England,

Britain and France. The whalers campedon outlying islands, many of them on NewIsland, killing geese and other birds for food,and sometimes killing cattle on East Falkland,repairing their ships and ‘trying’ (renderingdown) seal, sea lion, whale and penguincarcasses for oil.

In 1820 a Buenos Aires privateering ship,under the command of David Jewett, who wasfrom the United States but was commissionedas a colonel in the Buenos Aires navy, put intoPort Louis. Jewett, on his own initiative, for noinstructions have ever been found, claimedthe Islands for the United Provinces (of BuenosAires). He did not establish a settlement and didnot reveal that he had claimed the Islands; itwas not until November 1821 that Buenos Aireslearnt of it from foreign newspaper reports.

In the mid-1820s Louis Vernet, from aFrench Huguenot family, born in Hamburgand living in Buenos Aires (see box, right),

THE WARRAH FOX

The only indigenous land mammal on theFalkland Islands was the Warrah Fox (orwolf), Dusicyon antarcticus, whichapproached the early explorers with trustingcuriosity. How its ancestors reached the Islands is a mystery – recent research castsdoubt on the suggestion that they werehunting dogs in the canoes of Patagonian Indians blown there by storms. The Warrahwas exterminated by sealers and farmers – thelast one probably died in the 1870s. A stuffedspecimen remains in a Brussels museum and paid a visit to the Islands in 1989.

Spain withdraws from East Falkland,maintaining claim to sovereignty. The Islands are without a settled populationor administration.

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Britain withdraws from Port Egmont on grounds ofeconomy, but maintains claimto sovereignty.

Colonel David Jewett, in the service of the government of Buenos Aires, but actingwithout authority, claims the Islands in the name of Buenos Aires. But no settlement follows his visit and the Islands remain without government. News of Jewett’s actionreaches Buenos Aires a year later via the foreign press.

settlement Port Egmont. They built housesand a prefabricated blockhouse and plantedgardens. Although British and French colonistsbecame aware of each other’s activitiesrelations were polite, helped no doubt by thedistance between Port Louis and SaundersIsland. But in 1767 Bougainville was obliged tohand his settlement to Spain, which resented aforeign colony in what it considered its sphere

organised expeditions to the Islands. Therst in 1824 was a disaster, but a second

in 1826 was better organised and Vernetfounded a successful settlement at PortLouis on the site of the Spanish colony. In1829 he was appointed commandant of thesettlement by the government in BuenosAires. However Vernet over-reached himselfwhen he conscated ships owned by UnitedStates sealers on the grounds that they werepoaching. As Americans had been sealing andwhaling in Falklands waters since the 1770sthey were outraged and a naval frigate, theUSS Lexington, sailed to Port Louis in December1831, dismantled Vernet’s defences andtook away most of the Europeans among hissettlers. Ten months later, in October 1832 theArgentine government sent a garrison to PortLouis who promptly mutinied and murderedtheir commander.

The British had been watching eventsclosely as Vernet set up his colony andtheir diplomatic mission in Buenos Aires

After an unsuccessful attempt in 1824,Louis Vernet leads an expedition to the Islands and settles Port Louis.

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LOUIS VERNET

the ambiguous pioneer

expelling the garrison in 1833.Vernet had left the Islands in November

1831, on one of the American ships he had

captured, and never returned. He tried to getcompensation from both the American andBritish governments. The Americans dismissedhis claim totally. Britain rejected his claim forbuildings and land, but did eventually award him£2,400 for the horses which he had left in thesettlement. Vernet was clearly a man of ability,but his venture was essentially a personal oneand he looked for settlers from Northern Europeand the USA rather than Argentina. He wouldhave welcomed British protection, but Londonwas not prepared to recognise the holdingswhich he held under an Argentine grant.

He died in Buenos Aires in 1871. His twosons pursued his claims to the Falklands andStaten Land (Isla de los Estados) and theirinterest may have induced the ArgentinePresident Roca to resuscitate the national claimin the 1880s after more than thirty years hadelapsed since the Convention of Settlementhad ended all disputes.

In recent years the descendants of Louis Vernethave joined the Argentine delegation at theUnited Nations to lend historical justication tothe Argentine case. But their ancestor’s role inthe founding of the Port Louis settlement is amore ambiguous one than they admit.

Born in Hamburg in 1791, Louis (orLewis, Luis or Ludwig) Vernet came from aFrench protestant family and moved rst toPhiladelphia and then to Buenos Aires. In 1823he obtained a grant from the Buenos Aires

government to slaughter cattle on the Falklandsand an unsuccessful expedition followed. In1828 Vernet obtained a grant of nearly all EastFalkland from the Argentine government. TheBritish representative saw Vernet in 1829 anddescribed him as ‘a very intelligent man…(who)would I believe be very happy if His Majesty’sGovernment would take his settlement undertheir protection’. Britain protested againstArgentina’s infringement of sovereignty inNovember that year after Vernet was given theofficial rank of Commandant.

Vernet’s settlement was established withcolonists from Argentina, Britain and NorthAmerica. But in an attempt to prevent anysealing which he had not licensed, Vernetarrested several American vessels and provokeda US naval attack on his settlement in 1831.In 1832 the Argentine government placed ashort lived garrison at Port Louis and the Britishgovernment then resumed administration by

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Four Spanish warships arrive at Port Egmont and British settlers are forced to leave, bringing Spain and Britain to the verge of war. Madridsubsequently disavows action taken by local commander and restores Port Egmont to Britain

Port Louis in 1833 by Conrad Martens


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ANTONINA ROXA

princess among the gauchosNo-one knows where or when AntoninaRoxa was born but she was one of the mostcelebrated gures of the early history of theFalklands. Supposedly ‘a princess’, the daughterof an Indian chief in the territories of the RiverPlate, she came to Port Louis around 1831 whenLouis Vernet was in charge. During the murdersof 1833 she took refuge from Antonio Riveroand his followers with the other colonists on asmall island offshore. In 1834 the British navalofficer in charge agreed that she might keepevery second calf of the wild cattle which shehad tamed. A later commander described heras ‘a very humane and good character andparticularly useful as a doctrix and midwife’.

She was the rst person to swear an oathof loyalty to the British crown in 1841 and wasthe owner of property, cattle and sheep in PortLouis. She moved to the new capital Stanley andowned a plot of land there. She had married anAmerican sailor named Kenney in the 1830sbut obtained a divorce in 1838. In the 1850sshe married a gaucho from Montevideo namedPedro Varela and in 1866 she leased 6,000 acres(2,450 hectares) in her own name on the westcoast of East Falkland. She died in 1869 and isburied in Stanley cemetery.

Antonina left a vivid impression and was

accepted by everyone who met her as aperson in her own right. She was one of themost colourful personalities of the early days ofthe colony.

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United States warship Lexington , destroys property at PortLouis in reprisal for the arrest of three American vessels byVernet. Her Captain, Silas Duncan, removes Vernet’s Europeansettlers and states that there is no sovereignty in the islands.

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An attempt to found a penal settlement on the Islands fails when the commandant newly appointed byBuenos Aires is murdered by his own soldiers.

had protested at Vernet’s appointmentand again when the new ill-fated garrisoncommander was appointed in 1832. Londonwas concerned that the Falklands woulddescend into anarchy and become a base forpirates. In 1832 Captain Onslow of HMS Clio was instructed to reassert British sovereigntyover the Islands, but without expelling thecivil population. He arrived at Port Louis on 2January 1833. On the following morning in arm but tactful manner, Onslow instructed theArgentine naval schooner whose captain hadtaken charge at Port Louis to leave. No shotswere red; there was no violence of any kind.

Four civilians chose to leave with the mutinousgarrison in the schooner but the majority ofVernet’s two dozen settlers, mostly gauchos,remained under the British ag.

Onslow made no provision for theadministration of the Islands beyond givingthe Irish storekeeper a Union Jack and 25fathoms of rope to y it with. Charles Darwin,who visited with Captain Fitzroy in the Beaglein March 1833, described the storekeeper asthe ‘English resident’. Vernet, who was stilladministering his property from Buenos Aires,was the unwitting cause of shocking eventsin August 1833 when the gauchos, led byAntonio Rivero, turned on and killed his agentsin Port Louis (including the storekeeper) inprotest against Vernet’s refusal to pay themin hard currency. A small British party led by anaval lieutenant, Henry Smith, was landed inJanuary 1834, restored order and arrested themurderers. They were sent to England for trial,however as only British subjects could be tried

Charles Darwin visited the Islands in 1833 and 1834with the Beagle.

Gauchos at work: one of a series of watercolours by Will Dale (1826-1870).

Sir James Clark Ross, ‘the handsomest man in the Navy’ ,wintered at Port Louis with the Antarctic Expedition in1842.

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The Buenos Aires Government issues a decree setting out its rights, supposedly derived from the Spanish colonial authorities andappoints Louis Vernet commandant. Britain formally protests that the decree infringes her sovereignty. British representative inBuenos Aires reports to London that Vernet would be happy if Britain would take his settlement under its protection.


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JACK SOLLIS

marinerJack was born in Darwin in 1915 and spent hischildhood in the settlements of Goose Greenand Port Louis. As a boy he became fascinatedwith boats and at the age of fteen he joinedthe ketch Perfecto Garcia which belonged toJack ‘Cracker’Davis, popularly known as the lastof the Falklands pirates. During the 1930s hemoved to a more conventional employer, theFalkland Islands Company, whose steamships– the Fitzroy and the Lafonia – collectedwool around the Islands and delivered it toMontevideo. During World War II Jack wascoxswain of the government launch Alert andhe received the British Empire Medal for hiswar-time work in delivering supplies and mailto the numerous far-ung observation postsround the coast of the Falklands. In 1940 hemarried Maude Duffin. In 1949 he becamemaster of the new government launchPhilomel and when she was replaced by thesmall coaster Forrestin 1967 Jack took over andcommanded her for the rest of his working life.In 1982 he held the Forrest off Stanley, tracking

the Argentine invasion force on the ship’s radar.He retired in 1983.

Jack Sollis was thanked in 1977 by thecommander of the small Royal Marinedetachment in the Islands for his invaluableservice to them and it is recorded that even afterhis retirement naval surveyors came to his houseto discuss their work programme with him. Hedied in 1985 and is buried in Stanley cemetery.Sollis Rock, located near Sedge Island (to thenorth of West Falkland), is named after him.

ANTONIO RIVERO

gaucho and murderer

the ships of the Falkland Islands Company (FIC)sailed to Montevideo from Stanley and thisenabled passengers to move on by liner or byair to Europe. The FIC’s vessels also sailed intosmall harbours around the Islands to delivergoods and to collect wool bales for export.When in 1971 the FIC decided that its l ast ship,

the much loved Darwin, was uneconomic andprepared to sell her, Islanders were left with noobvious route to the outside world.

The way was clear for the ArgentineGovernment to step in with the offer of an air-link to the Islands (see The Argentine Claim).

RED ENSIGN

The Falkland Islands Government its own register of shipping in 185listing of the schooner Victor, ownJohn Phillips of Stanley’. In July 1the British government had made p

for the Red Ensign, previously in by the Royal Navy, to be flown in privately-owned merchant vesselsBritain and its colonies.

On 15 September 2003, the origregister was replaced with a four-pregister arrangement similar to thain the United Kingdom when the F Islands adopted modified parts of Merchant Shipping Act 1995.

The Falklands Register is ordinarestricted to merchant vessels not e150 gross tons, fishing vessels andthe owners or charterers of which connection with the Falkland Islan for privately owned small ships mthan 24 metres in length all applicaregister require the approval of the(on the advice of Executive CouncMerchant vessels exceeding the 15register restriction also require theof the UK Secretary of State for Tr

Two British Antarctic Survey shto the Falklands’ merchant fleet, a that was established in 1925 with tregistration of the Antarctic researship Discovery.

in Britain for homicides committed outside theBritish Isles they were returned to Montevideo.For the next eight years the Islands wereadministered by a succession of navallieutenants who reported to the Admiralty,keeping a log of events as though they wereon ship and always remembering to recordthe weather. The population of Port Louisslowly grew under British rule and a Britishship conducted the rst careful survey of theFalklands’ coasts. In 1841 the government inLondon decided to regularise the situation anddespatched a young engineer officer RichardMoody to the Islands as lieutenant-governor

(see Administration and Government).

The sea and the Falklands The sea continued to dominate life on theIslands. On Moody’s arrival in 1842 the Antarcticexpedition of Sir James Clark Ross sailed intoPort Louis to over-winter. The great exploreradvised Moody that he should move his tinycapital south to a harbour more accessible tosailing ships, and this Moody did, foundingStanley. The new town grew steadily during thesecond half of the 19th century, largely due totrade and the needs of the ships which passedthrough the busy harbour. As new settlersarrived and moved on to the pasture lands ofEast and West Falkland, their settlements wereall placed by natural harbours or anchoragesso that shipping could bring in stores and carryaway bales of wool.

At this time the Islands were on one of theworld’s main shipping routes from Australia

First British Lieutenant Governor, Richard Moody, appointed: he landsat Port Louis in January 1842.

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Civil administration establishedby Act of Parliament. Moody promoted to full governor.

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Seat of government moved from Port Louis to Stanley. Executive andLegislative Councils set up.

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Captain Onslow resumes control of the Islands for Britain. Charles Darwin visitsthe Islands in the Beagle.

and New Zealand or from the west coastof the Americas, around Cape Horn and ontowards Europe and the American east coast.A lighthouse was erected in 1854, assembledfrom cast iron plates made in England – i t stillstands today – and Stanley became a port ofrefuge for ships which had been damagedrounding the Horn. A busy ship repair tradesprung up and merchants bought thedamaged ships which were incapable of repairto use for storage or as cargo jetties. It was atthis stage that Stanley acquired many of thehulks of wooden sailing ships which maketoday’s harbour unique. A Stanley register of

shipping was opened in 1859 and is still inoperation (see box, right).By the start of the twentieth century

the scene was changing: ships were moresoundly built, many of iron, and most hadsteam power, so ship repair was no longer sonecessary or so protable. I n 1914 the PanamaCanal opened and much of the traffic aroundCape Horn fell away.

Whalers and sealers continued to huntin Falklands waters and in the wider SouthAtlantic. Government attempted to controlboth groups and in particular to protect the‘rookeries’on shore where seals and sea lionsgathered and where the sealers came closeto exterminating them. A whaling station wasset up in West Falkland in the early years of thetwentieth century, but it was short lived as theindustry became centred on South Georgia.

Stanley continued to rely on the sea links toMontevideo and on to Britain. After World War II

Antonio Rivero was among the gauchosbrought from Argentina by Louis Vernet towork at Port Louis. Captain Onslow’s list of theinhabitants of Port Louis notes that he was 26years old (in 1833) and born at Buenos Aires.Before sailing away, Onslow noted that thegauchos were dissatised with their wages andindeed Vernet was paying his men in notes hehad printed.

On 26 August 1833 Rivero led two farmworkers and ve Indians in an attack on Vernet’sagent, Mathew Brisbane, killing him and four

other settlers. The remaining settlers ed to anisland offshore and six months elapsed beforea party of British marines and loyal gauchostracked down Rivero and his followers. In March1834 Rivero betrayed his men to the British, whoarrested them and sent them to England for trial.But the government law officers decided it wasnot clear that Rivero and his men were Britishcitizens at the time of the murders and decidedto return them to South America. Rivero wasreleased in Montevideo.

Rivero has been portrayed as a patriotic rebelsince the 1950s, when a ctional account of themurders as a patriotic event was published in abook and when President Peron was promotingthe Argentine claim to the Falklands. In 1982after the Argentine invasion Stanley was brieyrenamed Puerto Rivero, until it was realised hewas a dubious role model. Reputable Argentine

historians have no illusions about Rivero and hismotives - he was formally described as a criminal,not a patriotic hero, in a report unanimouslyapproved by the Argentine National Academy ofHistory in 1966 - but he is acclaimed from time totime by less fastidious politicians.


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ADMINISTRATION &GOVERNMENT


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The crew ofHMS Good Hope returning after a run ashore in Stanley in October 1914. On 1 November the warshipwas sunk in the Battle of Coronel. There were no survivors.

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The British Government and the Republic of Argentina ratify the Convention of Settlement,settling existing differences and the establishment of ‘perfect friendship’. Argentine protests overthe Falklands cease for the next ninety years (with one exception in 1888).

WHEN LIEUTENANT MOODY landed at PortLouis in January 1842 several British settlerswere already there as well as the survivorsof Vernet’s colony and a shifting populationof whalers and sealers. Moody established arudimentary administration and recommendedthat the Islands should be settled. He askedfor a doctor and a chaplain and these wereprovided, along with a magistrate. This was theparty which relocated to Stanley in 1845 whenMoody moved the seat of government.

The records of Moody’s governmentare still held in the Jane Cameron NationalArchives in Stanley in large bound volumes.His conscientious administration is impressive.Laws were enacted, duties and taxes collectedand law and order enforced. A census wastaken at regular intervals; the visits of shipping

were listed; and births, deaths and marriageswere recorded.

Moody was instructed by London to set upan executive council and a legislative counciland this he did in 1845. The rst councillorswere Moody and his senior officials; laterthe occasional landowner or merchant wasadded to the councils. This was representativegovernment but it was not democraticgovernment. The rst elected councillors onlytook their seats in 1949.

Defence and the World Wars The defence of the Islands was a continuouspreoccupation for successive governors. Whilethey could call on the Royal Navy, they rarelyhad ships dedicated to the Falklands and feltvulnerable to upheavals on the mainland of

South America. In 1845 hostilities on the RiverPlate between British and French eets andthe Argentine Government of General Rosasinduced Governor Moody to send for artiller y andraise a militia, using his own military engineers– less than a dozen of them – as trainers andnon-commissioned officers. The artillery nallyarrived from England. The threat receded andthe militia dissolved. It was not resurrecteduntil 1891 when Governor Goldsworthy wasalarmed by the unexpected arrival in Falklands

British Government sign agreement to sell large tracts ofEast Falkland to the Lafone Brothers of Montevideo andLondon. Lafone’s men arrive in May 1847.

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The Falkland Islands Company (FIC) founded in London: it buys out theLafone interests, becoming the largestland-owner in the Islands.

A Spanish eet led by Admiral Pinzony Alvarez visits Stanley, salutes theBritish ag and pays the normalcourtesies to the Governor.

Entire land area of West Falklandopened up for farming: all land leasedby 1869.

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waters of Chilean ships holding a large numberof revolutionaries. The militia was named theFalklands Islands Volunteer Force and is still inexistence today as the Falkland Islands DefenceForce. It was mobilised during both World Wars

RICHARD CLEMENT MOODY

first governor

recommended Stanley over Port Louis as theseat of government, planned the new town andsupervised the move in 1845.

The British Government were unwillingto subsidise emigration, but a few settlerscame on their own initiative. The Anglo/ Uruguayan Lafone brothers invested in largeareas of land, becoming the precursors of theFalkland Islands Company. Moody established aregular administration and in 1845 appointedthe members of a legislative and an executivecouncil; a court of law was set up; a church anda gaol built; a militia raised.

As governor, Moody’s chief failing was

his inability to get on with his subordinates(not least his unbalanced brother James whowas colonial chaplain) and with visiting navalofficers. But he established the framework onwhich his successors built. He left the Islandsin 1848 and returned to service in Britain. Hemarried in 1852 and in 1858 was promotedcolonel and appointed lieutenant-governorof British Columbia, where he served until1863. He retired in 1866 and died in 1887 inBournemouth.

Moody Brook west of Stanley is named afterhim but his true legacies are 180 years of Britishadministration and the town of Stanley.

Richard Moody was born in Barbados in 1813,the son of a Royal Engineer who had enteredcolonial administration. Moody followed hisfather into military engineering, which includedsurveying. In 1841, only a lieutenant aged28, he was selected to go to the Falklandsas lieutenant-governor to determine whatthe British government should do with theIslands. Moody prepared a comprehensive‘General Report’ on the Islands recommendingthat the government encourage settlers andproposing large scale sheep farming. He also

and during the Argentine invasion of 1982.Remote though they are, the Islands were

touched by both World Wars. In 1914 the Battleof the Falkland Islands took place when theGerman cruiser squadron of Admiral von Spee,

ushed with victory after the Battle of Coronelwhen they had destroyed a British squadron,confronted British battle cruisers under thecommand of Admiral Sturdee within sight ofStanley. Von Spee’s eet was destroyed and the

CONSULS IN STANLEY

William H Smyley was the first forrepresentative in the Falkland Islanwhen he was appointed as comme for the United States in 1851 and con the governor wearing his new cuniform. He was followed by a sucAmerican professional (career) con1908 when the last one left. Other appointed prominent residents of Sas honorary consuls in the 19th cenin 1936 Chile, France, Italy, NorwUruguay were all represented.

Thesign fromthe Uruguayanconsulatein Stanley


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‘THE MOST BEAUTIFUL STAMP IN THE WORLD’stationery have joined these early issuesto the delight of collectors locally andinternationally. Each design is carefullychecked and beautifully printed.Particularly appealing are the 1891 ‘bisects’,

stamps which had been cut inhalf to take the place of newlyordered designs which were lostin a shipwreck at sea.

Philately has playeda significant part in theFalklands economy and the Islands’ stamps continueto enjoy pre-eminent statusand popularity across the globe amongst collectors, someof whose Falkland Islands’

collections have achieved gold medals ininternational competitions. Falklands stampshave been handsome ambassadors for theircountry for more than 130 years. Todaythe latest issues can be obtained from thePhilatelic Bureau in Stanley.

The first Falkland Islands stamps wereissued on 19 June 1878, and with new values,watermarked paper and further printings,the set grew to eight values plus high valuesof 2/6d and 5/-. In fact the Queen Victoriahalf-crown (2/6d) value wona contemporary internationalcompetition as the mostbeautiful stamp in the world.These were all replaced in1904 after King Edward VIIascended the throne. In 1933, came the iconic, pictorial Centenary issue, an

outstanding commemorative setcelebrating one hundred yearsof British administration.Argentina strongly disapproved, and sincethen their postal authorities have randomlydelayed, taxed and interrupted Falklands’mail which entered their country.

More new issues, definitive, commemorativeor postage due, air letters and postal

Argentine Governor of Santa Cruzprovince, Carlos Moyano, visits Falklands to recruit settlers. He nds himself a bride.

Visit by HRH Prince Alfred,Duke of Edinburgh, second son ofQueen Victoria.

Stanley Cathedral consecratedby Bishop Stirling.

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Correspondence between the British and Argentine governments over aproposed Argentine map which would include the Falklands concludeswith a formal protest by the British Embassy in Buenos Aires.

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victory became a public holiday in the Islands:Battle Day is still celebrated on 8 Decemberevery year at the memorial on the Stanleysea front.

During World War II, the Islands witnessedthe aftermath of the battle of the River Plate,when the victorious but battered British shipssailed to Stanley to make repairs. Later, when

Japan entered the war, the garrison wasreinforced by a British battalion which providedsecurity for the Islands until the war ended.Fundraising was carried out in the Islands duringthe World Wars and resulted in the donationof one Pusher aircraft and two Bristol ghtersto the Royal Flying Corps in 1914-18 and tenSpitres to the Royal Air Force in World War II.

The search for diversity Another unchanging concern of governmentwas the Falklands economy. The success ofthe wool industry in the nineteenth centuryeffectively produced a monoculture economy.In the early twentieth century whaling appearedto offer an alternate source of employment, butthe whaling station established on New Islanddid not last long and the industry concentratedon the island of South Georgia. In the 1950s theBritish government invested heavily in the meatprocessing plant at Ajax Bay, but this provedto be an expensive failure, only redeemed bythe shelter which the derelict sheds gave toa military hospital – the ‘Red and Green LifeMachine’– during the conict of 1982.

Real diversication only arrived in the late1980s and 1990s with shing, a new abattoirand oil prospection, (see Winning the Peace).

Wi re le ss st at ion opened. In t he Ba tt le of the Fa lkl and I sl ands the Royal Navydestroys the German eet of Admiral Graf von Speeand retains control of the South Atlantic.

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WILLIAM ALLARDYCE

governor & conservationist

administration was introduced. Allardyce wasequally concerned about over-exploitation ofthe seal rookeries around the Falklands. Above

all he wished to ensure that income from thenew industries should be invested to protectthe Islands against a possible collapse of thewhaling industry. Unfortunately the regulationshe introduced were suspended in 1914 withthe outbreak of World War I and the pressing

Allardyce was born in India in 1861 and joinedthe colonial service at age 18. For 25 years heserved in Fiji becoming an expert on Fijianculture and giving his two daughters Fijiannames. He became governor of the FalklandIslands in 1904 and his eleven year termcoincided with the advent of the southernwhaling industry, the establishment of theFalkland Islands Dependencies and theoutbreak of World War I. In 1904 the Norwegians

established whaling stations on SouthGeorgia and Allardyce introduced legislationto licence whaling vessels and to establish aconservation regime. South Georgia and Britishterritories in the Antarctic were designatedthe Falkland Islands Dependencies and a basic

demand for whale oil for explosives. The War soon affected the Falklands directly.

After sinking two British cruisers off Chile,the victorious German eet of Graf von Speeheaded for the Falklands. Allardyce and theIslands were rescued by the last minute arrivalof a British eet with heavy battle-cruisers whichdestroyed the Germans in a day long battle off Stanley. The wireless station which Allardycehad opened in 1912 played a crucial part insaving the Falklands.

Allardyce was probably the most impressivegovernor in the Islands history. During histime the King Edward VII Memorial Hospitalwas opened, so was the town hall, whichincluded a library and museum and the seniorschool. He was transferred in 1915: his laterpostings included the Bahamas, Tasmaniaand Newfoundland. Allardyce died in Englandin 1930.

Darwin 1902


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STANLEY

The Falklands’ Capital

ORISSA DEANbenefactorGeorge Dean died and the family company,less the farms, was sold to the FalklandIslands Company.

Orissa Dean had no children of her own, butshe took the family of William Luxton, a marine,under her wing when he died. She arrangedtraining for his children and a marriage for hisdaughter. The next generation were equallyclose to Orissa and when she died she leftthe farm at Chartres to the younger WilliamLuxton whose descendants still live there. Shehad played the harmonium in the church inthe Exchange building until it was destroyedby the peat slip of 1886. Thereafter she was amajor benefactor of the new Cathedral, payingfor the west window, the turret clock and veof the bells.

Born in Orissa, India, in 1840, Orissa Wattonmarried George Markham Dean in 1862 andcame to the Islands with him the followingyear. They bought Stanley Cottage, supposedlythe rst house in Stanley, a charming villa onthe sea front.

George and his brother Charles ran thevery successful trading business founded bytheir father JM Dean in the 1840s. I n addition,George had consular responsibilities forDenmark and the United States. When WestFalkland was opened for settlement in 1866the Deans leased two farms from government,adding a third in 1874. To celebrate QueenVictoria’s golden jubilee in 1887, the Deansbuilt Jubilee Villas, the terrace of brick builthouses close to the jetty in Stanley. In 1888

Orissa’s kindness to all was marked by thepresentation of a set of silver gilt tableware toher by the colonists, which is in the Museum inStanley today. She died in 1920 and is buried inStanley cemetery. For several generations, Orissawas a favourite name among Falklands girls.

AS A MILITARY ENGINEER, GOVERNOR Moody was well tted to survey and lay out thenew capital of Stanley and he was helped byhis small escort of military sappers, all of themskilled tradesmen who undertook much of thebuilding work.

The town was laid out in a grid patternalong the sea shore because all goods wouldbe imported by ship and could be unloadedclose to where they were needed. It faced northto the midday sun and sloped gently up the hillrunning back from the sea to peat banks alongthe crest of the hill; in a har d winter children canstill sledge down the cross streets to Ross Roadwhich runs along the shore.

Stanley developed quickly, relying for itsliving on the administration and the port. Notonly were there cargoes to be unloaded for

the town and for settlements in Camp (thecountryside), but there was a sizeable shiprepair trade. Stanley received a signicantincrease in population in 1849 when a groupof former soldiers – the so-called ‘militarypensioners’ – arrived in the Islands to settleand to provide a garrison. With the pensioners,who were largely Irish, came their families anda suite of prefabricated wooden cottages. Manyof the pensioners left the Islands when theirterms of engagement expired but those whoremained played leading roles in Stanley life. Their cottages still stand on Pioneer Row: onehas been converted into a museum to give animpression of life in Victorian Stanley.

As the century progressed the buildingsrequired of a miniature capital city were erectedin Stanley. Government House, designed by

Governor Moody, was not completed untilthe late 1850s. The second governor, GeorgeRennie, was a sculptor and industrial designerand planned the Exchange Building with anItalianate tower in the 1850s. The Exchange hadspace for public gatherings and for worship. Abarrack block for the sappers was built in the1840s; a police station and gaol went up in1873. In 1878 the Falkland Islands Companyconstructed a grand brick villa for their manager– Stanley House – which is now a hostel forchildren from Camp attending school inStanley.

Finally, in the last years of the nineteenthcentury three religious buildings werecompleted. The Anglican cathedral, a solid redbrick Gothic church was consecrated in 1892;the Roman Catholic church was a wooden

Stanley in 1866: watercolour by a visiting Italian artist, E de Martino. The tower of the Exchange Building is prominent.

Ellaline Terriss, star of the West End stage,was born in Stanley in 1871.


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PEAT AND THE PEAT SLIPS

A fuel formed by undecomposed andcompressed vegetable matter, peat is verycommon on the Islands and provided warmth for almost every household for the firsthundred or so years of British rule. Althougheffectively free, cutting peat was a laborioustask and once it was dried it was not a particularly efficient fuel. In Stanley a public holiday was designated for the work.Since the 1982 Conflict peat has largely beenreplaced by fuel oil.

A large peat bog stood on the hill aboveStanley, convenient for the town but not properly drained. Twice in the 19th centurysodden peat slipped down the hill into theharbour. On the first occasion, in 1878, no-onewas hurt and only a few houses damaged, butthe second slip in 1886 was more destructive.Two people were killed and several housesdestroyed and the Exchange Building withits fine tower was so weakened that it had tobe demolished. Thereafter an effective systemof drainage was introduced and the dangerof further slips was ended.

Members elected by universaladult suffrage are introduced to theLegislative Council.

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9

Following the battle of the River Plate, the victorious British squadronputs in to Port Stanley for repairs.

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HENRY FELTON

pensioner pioneer patriarHenry Felton was born in London in 1798 andenlisted in the Life Guards in 1820. He retiredfrom the army in 1844, with discharge papersstating that he was excellent, honest, sober andkept his troop in excellent condition. He hadmarried Martha Ann Staples in 1838 and by1849 they had seven children.

In the early years of settlement, the governorof the Falklands was looking for men of goodcharacter and with military training: the solutionwas to nd former soldiers – military pensioners

– and Henry Felton was an ideal candidate. Hebecame sergeant major, responsible undera captain for the thirty other pensioners, andarrived at Stanley in October 1849. It was hisresponsibility to supervise the erection ofthe pre-fabricated cottages sent out for thepensioners (which still stand in Stanley) and heduly moved into one of these with his family.

Martha produced seven more children inStanley and as their cottage became too small,Felton became landlord of the Queen’s Armspub. He succeeded to the command of thepensioners and later of the militia and served asa justice of the peace (JP) and as a member ofthe executive council.

He died in Stanley in 1876, followed byhis wife in 1880. His children prospered: two

were very successful farmers, one became amember of executive council and another ofthe legislative council. A stamp issued in 1994to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Stanleyfeatures a portrait of Henry Felton and there areFeltons ourishing in Stanley today.

performances. Broadcasting was introduced in1929 by Governor Hodson (who was also a keenproducer of amateur theatricals). Programmeswere transmitted by telephone line to Stanleyand nearby areas of Camp.

The introduction of radio-telephone

communication with Camp in 1950 was awelcome step in reducing the isolation of

structure which was opened in 1873, and movedto a larger building, the present church, in 1899;the non-conformist community purchaseda prefabricated chapel, the Tabernacle, fromEngland and assembled it in 1891.

Domestic housing was usually built ofwood, though some of the earlier dwellingswere made of stone (and it was these whichwere designated as shelters for civilians duringthe 1982 Conict). The commercial scenewas dominated by two rms, the FalklandIslands Company and the rival body JM Dean’scompany with its West Store. In 1888 the FICacquired Dean’s business with the store, twotaverns, a hotel, a club, housing for employees,a eet of ships, a ship repair business andbanking services for most of the farmers. TheFIC dominated commercial life in Stanley for thenext century and it was difficult for any aspiringbusinessman to challenge them.

Ship repair was a ourishing trade and thefew craftsmen in Stanley could ask for highwages. Ships’ captains were shocked at Stanleyprices and governors assured London that thecolonists were far from hard up.

Amusements in Stanley were similar tothose in Victorian England: gardening, football,the pub, darts, full-bore target shooting (Islandteams regularly competed with distinction atthe annual gatherings in Bisley in England). Therst cinema was opened by the Roman Catholic

priest in 1913. There was a tradition of amateurentertainment with theatrical and operatic

First incursion by Argentinelight aircraft.

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Visit by the Duke of Edinburgh as partof a Commonwealth tour in the royalyacht Britannia.

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Christ Church Cathedral pre-1902

Jubilee Villas, built 1887


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Temporary airstrip constructed by Argentine workforce at Stanley for use of Argentine civil aircraft.

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Visit by junior minister LordChalfont met with demonstrations.Third aerial incursion.

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THE STANLEY SPORTS

Although the early settlers first competed for the Governor’s Cup in the late 1840s, itwas not until 1907, some 63 years after the founding of the town, that a committee was formed to organise a one-day competitivesports meeting in the capital. The StanleySports Association was officially formedin 1908.

Boxing Day, 26 December, was consideredto be the most suitable date for the meeting,but its popularity soon led to a second day ofevents and now a third has been added.

Horse racing always featured prominentlybut foot and gymkhana events have theirsupporters too. The Governor’s Cup is themost prestigious race on the programme.Three horses have each won this race on fiveoccasions, most recently Dashing Dancer,owned by Maurice Davis, which won in 2006,2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Bets can be placed with the tote, run under the auspicesof the Stanley Sports Association.

Stanley racecourse is a straight gof 900 yards, with two small grandeither side of the course at the finisline. During his visit in 1957, the D Edinburgh, Prince Philip attended sports meeting; he took part in theRace – and won it on Itata.

The course survived the landing take-off) of a hijacked Argentine Daircraft in 1966. During the Argeninvasion of 1982 the ground was uammunition dump and helicopter da massive clean-up operation was rto prepare the course for the traditDecember meeting.

The Christmas Sports are also a sevent which traditionally brings Isltogether. Not as many horses and j participate these days, compared tonumbers of 30, 40 or 50 years agoevent still has a charm and excitemattracts young and old alike.

families in the countryside. The operators inStanley were key gures in Falklands society,dispensing news, advice and comfort toeveryone who called in.

The great sporting occasion of the year wasthe Stanley Sports on the day after Christmaswhich attracted horses and riders from East andWest and the entire town turned out. Fishingwas also popular, for the local ‘mullet’or the seatrout which were successfully introduced intoFalklands rivers in the 1950s.

Social services were modest. The rst doctorcame to the Islands in 1843 but the hospital -the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital - wasonly opened in 1914. A primary school wasestablished in the 1840s and provided a basiceducation while the Roman Catholic churchalso offered a school where the teaching wasdone by nuns. But the school leaving age wasonly 12 until 1910. The better off sent theirchildren to Britain or Uruguay for secondaryor university education, but there were fewopportunities back on the Islands and the topposts in government were reserved for colonialservice officers from the UK.

But after nearly 140 years of relativeprosperity, Stanley before the Argentineinvasion was a town in decline. Access tothe Falklands was effectively controlled byLADE, the commercial arm of the Argentineair force, which provided the only regular linkto the outside world. The Argentine state oil

company, YPF, provided all the Islands’ fuel. Itseemed that the Falklands were sliding into

the arms of Argentina. Emigration, to the UK orNew Zealand, increased and the birth rate fell.

The population of the Islands declined to 1,800.It took the events of 1982 to reverse

the trend.

Hijacking of Aerolineas Argentinas DC4 toStanley racecourse by extremist group.

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Stanley Cottage

Dancing in Stanley town hall in the 1950s.


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CAMP

The Falklands coun


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ELIZA JANE MCASKILLMrs MacMrs Mac was born at Leicester Creek on WestFalkland in 1889. Her (Scots) father GeorgeMcKay was an ‘outside shepherd’, living andworking at a distance from the main settlement.She married Jack McAskil l in 1911 and they madetheir home at Goring House near Chartres. Shewas known as a small, energetic and hospitablewoman, who was an excellent housekeeper andbutter maker. But she came into her own whenthe radio station was installed at Fox Bay in 1918and the other settlements linked themselves bytelephone to the centre. All four lines passed

through Goring House and a switchboard wasinstalled which Mrs Mac took over. She became

unofficial telephone operator helping peopleall hours of the day and the night as well if amedical emergency arose.

Goring House lay on the main north/ south track of West Falkland and everyone whopassed by dropped in for ‘smoko’(tea and cakes),whether they were travelling by horse in the olddays or by Land Rover or motor bike in later year s.Her service to the community was recognisedby an award in 1961, presented by the Governorwho travelled to her house, as Mrs Mac did notconsider it necessary to go to Stanley.

None the less after her husband died in1968 she retired to Stanley in 1973, taking with

Lord Shackleton’s mission visits the Islands. Reporting, he concludes that the Islands couldbe made economically viable.

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Permanent airport built in Stanley funded by the British OverseasDevelopment Administration

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FOR FALKLAND ISLANDERS, ‘Camp’ is thecountryside - everywhere except Stanley. They have adopted the Spanish word campo,meaning eld or countryside. The Islands havea temperate climate with moderate rainfall(around 25 inches (635mm) a year in Stanley),well suited for pasture. But the strong windsmake it difficult to grow trees unless they arecarefully sheltered.

The rst agriculturists in the Islands werethe sailors – whalers or sealers – who put pigsor rabbits ashore, condent that they wouldmultiply and provide fresh meat for visitsin future summers – as indeed they did. Inaddition horses abandoned by French and

Spanish garrisons formed several herds of wildhorses on East Falkland. The stocks of cattle,which the rst British Governor, Richard Moodyestimated at 40,000 head in 1842, were thegreat attraction for early settlers. Louis Vernetplanned to slaughter large numbers for hidesand beef – so did the Lafone brothers whosigned a lease for enormous acreage with theBritish government in 1846. Wild cattle couldonly be herded and exploited using SouthAmerican gauchos and the Lafone brothersbrought considerable numbers of gauchosfrom Uruguay when they set up their cattlestations in East Falkland in the 1850s. But thisstyle of farming was not sustainable: in effect by

slaughtering without breeding fresh stock, thegauchos were depleting a nite resource.

Traditional Camp:sheep and wool Governor Moody recommended sheep farmingas the best option for the Islands, using qualitystock from Britain, crossed with local breedsfrom the mainland. This proved a successfulformula and future settlers adopted it. At rst thetake up of land was slow, but by the 1860s all ofEast Falkland had been allocated and between1866 and 1869 the mainland of West Falklandwas offered to pioneers and quickly settled.

The sheep ‘stations’were extensive tracts ofpoor land, where one sheep required on averageve acres of grass. They were established alongthe shore, usually beside natural harboursas freight could only be imported and woolexported by ship. Each settlement had asubstantial wool-shed for shearing sheepand packing the eeces, a big house for theowner and his family, housing for families anda bunkhouse for the single men. The Campyear revolved around the sheep culminatingin January with the gruelling work of shearingand the packing of the wool. After the ship hadtaken away the bales of wool, there was timefor sports and parties. And all year round therewas peat to cut and stack, fences to mend andinfrastructure to maintain.

The larger companies tried to set up

schools for the children, often employing theiraccountant as a part time teacher. In the largestsettlement, Goose Green, the Falkland Islands

to seaplane form. The Beaver seap provided a good service for over tbut they were expensive to operateto corrosion from the sea water. Wairport was completed FIGAS decit was time to reintroduce a land baaircraft and purchased a Britten No Islander with nine passenger seats delivered in 1979.Since then the Islander fleet has p

an efficient service to almost everyon the Falklands. During the 1982 Islander was destroyed when Stan

was bombed, but it was replaced aare currently three passenger Islanone which is equipped for fishery With the construction of roads in Cthe introduction of a regular ferry sthe demands on FIGAS have dimiits pilots continue to provide an unservice to tourists and locals on graairstrips in all sorts of wind and we

her two favourite cows and her old dog. Shedied in 1979.

FIGAS The Falkland Islands Government Air Servicewas founded in 1948 when Governor Cliffordbought two ex-military Auster spotter planes for £700 ($2,800) each and shipped them toStanley. The first flight was on Christmas Eve1948 when one of the aircraft flew to NorthArm to bring a girl with appendicitis back to

Stanley. It was a striking demonstration ofthe aircraft’s value.After several years, one of the Austers was

adapted to become a seaplane, as all thesettlements were close to the coast. When in the1950s Canadian Beaver aircraft were boughtto replace the Austers they too were adapted

A sovereignty umbrella is established to allow commercialtransactions to be carried out between the Falkland Islandsand Argentina. Agreement signed for supply of fuel by Argentine state oil company, YPF.

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One of the two original Austers

C id d l g f th i S t Th h d j tb g h th A g ti id f h Th i t d ti Miller was elected to Legislative Council


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HOWARD WICKHAMWick CLEMENT

farmerWick Clement was born in England in 1903,but baptised in the Cathedral in Stanley. Hewas brought up at Roy Cove on West Falkland,enjoying the freedom of all Camp children,riding, shooting and sailing small boats. Afterschool in England he returned to Roy Cove tohelp his father who was managing the farm. Hebecame government stock inspector in 1933,riding long distances to supervise quarantine forimported sheep and programmes of dipping.

In 1934 he became manager for PackeBrothers, based at Fox Bay East, and responsiblefor three farms which were separated by milesof camp. The early years were difficult as therewas no money for investment and the sheepwere producing coarse wool. Eventually theyimported New Zealand Hill Merino sheepwhich formed the foundation of the excellentsheep bred on the station. In 1960 Clement saidwistfully: ‘if only I could start all over again withthe sheep I have today.’

He was appointed to Executive Councilin 1950 for four years and after he had retiredto Stanley he was nominated to LegislativeCouncil in 1968. He married Viola (Babs) Luxtonand they had two daughters who live in Stanleytoday. He died in 1979.

Visit by junior minister Nicholas Ridleyends without Islanders’ agreement tonegotiation with Argentina.

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Company provided a clergyman for their Scotsshepherds.

There were about 35 substantial land-owners and the largest by far was the FalklandIslands Company which had taken over theholdings of the Lafone brothers in 1851 andadded to them over the years. At its peak in1964 the FIC owned almost half of the Islands’farm land.

Wool production ourished and theFalklands ourished too. The Islands becamenancially self-supporting around 1885 and thenumber of sheep peaked at 807,000 in 1898,against about 2,000 human inhabitants. Butthere were problems: the more enlightenedgovernors were concerned that the economywas effectively a monoculture and that thequality of stock was declining as numbers grew.In addition the settlement of West Falklandmeant that no further land was available andmany ambitious Islanders who wished tobetter themselves were obliged to emigrateto Patagonia, as a number did in the latenineteenth century using stock and capitalfrom the Islands.

Numerous experts came to studyagriculture in the Falklands during thetwentieth century, but their recommendationsfound little favour with the conservativelandowners, while a government experimentalfarm founded by Governor Middleton in 1925was closed down by his successor. No progress

was made in subdividing the large estates untilLord Shackleton’s mission to the Islands in 1976rmly recommended that they be broken up.

On 2 April Argentine armed forces invade the Islandsand illegally occupy them for 74 days. A British task force lands on 21 May and achieves an Argentinesurrender on 14 June.

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The process had just begun when the Argentineinvasion happened in 1982.

Modernisation had effects on the structureof sheep farming and on the shape of thesettlements. The rst hydraulic wool-pressarrived in 1872 and mechanical shearingequipment was introduced in the 1920s. Whenelectric shears arrived in the early 1960s it waspossible to reduce the number of peopleemployed on the farms as travelling gangs ofshearers took over the work.

Prots from the wool trade were largelydependent on the world price of wool, whichin turn depended on demand. Prices werehigh when demand for uniforms was strong,although wool prices were controlled until1953 by the Ministry of Supply in London. Muchof the investment in Camp stations was putin during the two World Wars and the KoreanWar. Both government and the Falkland IslandsCompany made attempts to diversify awayfrom exclusively wool farming: during WorldWar I the FIC produced tins of tallow (animalfats) and meat in Goose Green, but had to ceaseonce conditions returned to normal. In the early1950s the British government invested heavilyin a meat processing plant at Ajax Bay, near SanCarlos, but this failed after two years.

Life in CampLife on the Camp stations was hard, physicallytough and isolated, with a culture of hard work

and hard riding. Medical care was primitive:there was a doctor in Fox Bay who rode out tosee patients, but even to summon help could

mean a ride of many hours. The introductionof a radio network for Camp in 1950 reducedisolation and consultations were given on theradio. Once FIGAS, the government air service,was established in 1948 medical evacuationbecame possible and indeed the rst ight wasto evacuate a young girl with appendicitis fromNorth Arm to Stanley.

For most stations and isolated houses,travelling teachers were supplied bygovernment. Each teacher had three or fourfamilies to care for. They rode from farm to farmstaying with the family tutoring the children andleaving homework behind them for the parentsto supervise. After the Camp radio network wasestablished in 1950 a radio teaching service wasintroduced.

Even the dentist travelled from station tostation by horse, bringing his treadle operateddrill with him. The advent of the Land Rover inthe late 1950s made life much easier for boththe doctor and the dentist.

Camp life bred a spirit of can-do practicality,comradeship and hospitality. In Camp to movehouse one lifted the house on sledges andtowed it across country with a brace of tractors.Nothing was ever thrown away – everythingcould be re-used by someone, sometime,somewhere. Camp sports - horse-racing, footevents, dog trials and shearing competitions– were the occasion for epic parties – in whichone settlement would invite all the others over

and the whole community took part. ManyIslanders look back to the traditional days ofCamp with nostalgia. For them Camp was theheart of the Islands, the source of wealth and ofIslanders’ traditions and distinct identity.

SYDNEY MILLER

manager councillor writerSyd Miller was born at Hill Cove on WestFalkland in 1905. After education in England hereturned to Hill Cove and then in 1925 went tothe San Julian estancia in Patagonia which wasowned by the Blake family who had developedHill Cove. Returning from Patagonia, he brieymanaged Hill Cove but then moved to Roy Covewhere he became well known for introducingnew stock and for recognising the importanceof grassland in improving production.

Miller was elected to Legislative Council(Legco) for West Falkland from 1956-1960 andagain from 1964 – 1971. He was on ExecutiveCouncil in 1968 when with three other councilmembers he broke his oath of secrecy to makea direct appeal to the House of Commons inLondon over the British government’s secrettalks with Argentina which had concludedwith a memorandum of understanding (whichwas never signed). He followed this with avisit to London where he lobbied membersof parliament making the case for self-determination.

Miller retired in 1970 and representedStanley in Legco from 1971-1976. From 1975-1990 he edited the Falkland Islands Journal , anacademic publication of Falklands studies andin 1990 he published A Life of Our Choice, lookingback across his lifetime’s experience. He died inStanley in 1992, leaving his wife Betty who diedin 2004. Their four sons have all been active inFalklands life.

Camp sports shearing competition

THE ARGENTINE CLAIM ARGENTINA’S CLAIM TO THE ISLANDS was spent six weeks exchanging courtesies with protest only to receive the reply that Argentina


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THE ARGENTINE CLAIM ARGENTINA S CLAIM TO THE ISLANDS waspursued in diplomatic channels during theseventeen years following 1833, but it wasdropped completely following the signaturein May 1850 of a ‘Convention of Settlement’, acomprehensive peace treaty which settled alldifferences and established ‘perfect friendship’between Great Britain and Argentina.

Thereafter in 1865 President Mitre told theArgentine Congress that there was ‘nothing toprevent the consolidation of friendly relationsbetween this country and those (the British andFrench) governments.’The following year vicepresident Marcos Paz told Congress that onlyone question between Britain and Argentinahad not yet been settled, and that was claimsfor damages suffered by British subjects in1845. It is clear that the Falklands were nolonger considered an issue between the twogovernments.

Just before these statements, in February1863, two Spanish frigates on an official scienticexpedition had called at Stanley where they

New constitution inaugurated. Mount Pleasant airport opened.

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Prime Minister Margaret Thatchervisits the Islands and receives the Freedom of the Falkland Islands.

Interim Fishery ConservationZone established.

The sovereignty umbrella is re-establishedto facilitate the resumption of diplomaticrelations between the United Kingdom and Argentina.

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spent six weeks, exchanging courtesies withGovernor Mackenzie and recognising Britishauthority in the Falklands. Clearly Spanishpretensions to exercise sovereignty in theIslands had evaporated since their garrison leftin 1811 and the Spanish admiral was preparedto acknowledge British government.

In the 1880s two Argentine maps revealedconicting views on Falkland sovereignty. TheLatzina map (below) produced in 1882 by theArgentine National Statistical Office whosedirector was Francisco Latzina, depicts theFalklands and Chile in a different shade fromArgentina itself. However in 1884 the ArgentineGovernment commissioned a second mapwhich did include the Falklands and informedthe British representative in Buenos Aires thatthey intended to revive their claim. In December1884 the British Government made a formal

protest only to receive the reply that Argentinadisclaimed all responsibility for this map, whichhad not yet been published.

The claim revived The dispute slumbered, with only occasionalstirrings, until World War II and the arrival ofGeneral Peron as President of Argentina. Peron’spolitics were nationalist and anti-British and theFalklands claim became a subject of domesticpropaganda and an increasing preoccupationin Argentine foreign policy. Argentina resolvedto exploit the growth of anti-colonial sentimentat the United Nations by stressing the colonialstatus of the Falklands, while ignoring the

basic principle of anti-colonialism – the rightof peoples to determine their own future. TheArgentine speech to the UN’s DecolonisationCommittee in 1964 made a number of

Lord Chalfont’s visit, 1968

The Latzina Map, 1882The DC4 hijack 1966

AG Barty BARTON Hector Garcia, who was prepared to create


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AG Barty BARTON

manager and councillorAG Barton was born in England in 1901. He wasrecruited to work as a cadet at Chartres on WestFalkland in 1921 and went on to work for theFIC in Lafonia in 1923 as assistant manager. Forseventeen years he managed the Dean family’sisland properties off West Falkland (Pebble,Keppel and the Jason Islands) and then movedto Teal Inlet on East Falkland. In 1950 he becameColonial Manager for the FIC, with responsibilityfor the widespread company estates and alsofarm supply, shipping and general trading.

From 1947 to 1974 Barton was a memberof Legislative and Executive Councils andplayed a leading role in Stanley society, beingchairman of the Stanley Sports Association,chairman of the Sheep Owners Association

and of the Horticultural Association. Duringthe crisis caused by the hijack of the ArgentineDC4 aircraft, the acting governor consultedBarton, who gave a series of ve broadcastskeeping the public informed. He provided anal commentary for radio as the DC4 justsucceeded in taking off from the racecourse on4 October 1966.

In February 1968 Barton led the otherthree councillors in making a direct appealto British members of Parliament against theMemorandum of Understanding reachedbetween British and Argentine officials. Thisrepresented a breaking of his oath of secrecybut he considered the need overwhelming. This was followed by some hard lobbying of

Parliament and the press in London, but nallythe government accepted that the wishes ofIslanders would be paramount.

Barton retired from Exco in 1974 and diedlater that year. The current Director of NaturalResources, John Barton is his grandson.

historically incorrect assertions which havebeen repeated over the years: that Britain hadexpelled the Argentine population in 1833; thatthe Falkland Islanders could be ignored becausethey were a ‘temporary’population and so on.

In 1965 the UN General Assembly invitedBritain and Argentina to negotiate to resolvethe dispute and negotiations continued onand off for seventeen years without reachinga solution which was acceptable to Islanders

– and successive British Governments hadinsisted that the wishes of Islanders must berespected. Agreement was reached for LADE,the commercial arm of the Argentine airforce,to open a service to Stanley and for this a metalairstrip was built. In 1974 a ‘sovereignty umbrella’was introduced to cover all possible commercial

transactions and it was under this that thesupply of fuel to the Islands was given as amonopoly to the Argentine state oil companyYPF. Both these developments offered practicalbenets to Islanders, but they were insufficientto counter the fear that the British Governmentwas prepared to give up their sovereignty overthe Islands. British ministers who came southto sell particular solutions to Islanders receiveda hostile reception. At the same time, friends

of the Falklands in Britain ensured that the UKParliament was alert to Islanders’ concerns andextracted a promise from government thatIslanders’wishes would be paramount.

Alongside official pressure from Argentinawere a series of free-lance intrusions by aircraftwhich caused alarm and induced the British

Government to provide a minimal garrison ofRoyal Marines (a platoon of 37 men).

In 1964 an Argentine private pilot, MiguelFitzgerald, landed on Stanley racecourse,hoisted an Argentine ag and ew off again.A potentially more dangerous episode occurredin 1966 when members of an armed extremistgroup hijacked a civil airliner and crash-landedit – again on the racecourse. Hostages weretaken and it needed several days of negotiation

before the hijackers could be sent back toArgentina and the airliner make a delicate takeoff to return to the mainland. Finally in 1968during the visit of a Foreign Office Minister, LordChalfont, another aircraft crash-landed nearStanley. The last two of these incidents wereinspired by an Argentine newspaper editor,

REX MASTERMAN HUNT

governor

Rex Hunt was born in Yorkshire in 1926 andentered the Royal Air Force directly from school.He ew ghters in India and Germany until 1948.After university he joined the colonial serviceand spent twelve years in Uganda. In 1951 hemarried Mavis Buckland, who accompaniedhim to all his posts; they had two children. Heentered the Commonwealth Office – later theForeign and Commonwealth Office – and had avariety of postings. Early in 1980 he was postedto Stanley as Governor and High Commissionerfor the British Antarctic Territories.

On arrival Hunt found himself in a difficultposition. The British Government expectedhim to promote their policy with Islanders, buthe was all too aware that Islanders distrustedthe Government in London and loathed theprospect of an Argentine takeover. Despitepoor relations with Argentina, the invasion of1982 came as a shock. With a tiny garrison ofmarines, Hunt defended Government House

until the arrival of armoured vehicles forced

the news, rather than simply report it. Theseadventures were unsettling for Islanders and theactivities of nationalist self-publicists continuedto bedevil relations with Argentina even afterthe 1982 conict.

The 1960s and 70s were years ofdeepening depression for Islanders. TheBritish Government, which should haveprotected them, seemed to see them simplyas a problem to be solved, while not beingprepared to invest serious money in makingthem more self-sufficient. For the Islands’elected councillors personal pressures becameacute. They were expected to represent theirconstituents on the one hand but to goalong with British official policy on the other.In 1968 they were informed by the Governorthat a Memorandum of Understanding hadbeen reached between Britain and Argentinaabout their future. The four elected Councillorsbroke their oath of secrecy and wrote directlyto every British Member of Parliament tellingthem what was happening. The resultingParliamentary outcry ensured that successiveBritish Governments had to take full accountof Islanders’ wishes. The Memorandum wasnever signed.

As the tortuous negotiations betweenthe two governments dragged on, Islanders’suspicion of Argentina only deepened. Themilitary government which took power in

1976 had pursued a ruthless policy of internalsuppression – the ‘dirty war’- which did notmake the prospect of an Argentine takeover

him to give up. Returning to England he foundhimself a public personality widely admired forhis courage and stout defence of the Falklands.

After liberation, Hunt was knighted andreturned to the Islands. He supervised therecovery of Islands society, helped by generousassistance from the British Government andmanaged relations with the large garrison andthe construction of the new base and aireld atMount Pleasant. He retired at the end of 1985– the shery zone, which he had persistentlyadvocated, was introduced the following year.

Hunt returned to the Islands on severaloccasions and was delighted by the newatmosphere of condence which he foundthere. His memoirs My Falkland Days provide anexcellent account of his time in the Islands andof his tireless energy and his sympathy for theIslands and their people. When invasion struck,he was the right man, in the right place, at theright time. He died on Remembrance Sunday,

11 November 2012.

Designation of oilprospection areas.

Falklands Outer Conservation Zone established. Bilateral South Atlantic Fisheries Commission established inaugurating cooperation on sheriesbetween Argentina and the UK with Falklands involvement. Air link with Chile opened.

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Seismic surveys begin.

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any more appealing and Islanders were very

WINNING THE PEACE


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conscious that access to the Islands and theirfuel supply were in the hands of Buenos Aires. The Islands seemed to be sliding inevitablytowards Argentina.

Invasion 1982Nonetheless the invasion, when it came in April1982, was a surprise. The Argentine junta hadbeen planning for an attack later that year buttheir unpopularity at home led them to hastentheir preparations which were greeted withenthusiasm by the crowds in Buenos Aires.

British resistance was swiftly overcomeon 2 April, and the Islanders were subjected

to a traumatic 74 days of foreign occupation.Stanley was occupied by Argentine troops andin several Camp settlements, notably GooseGreen, Islanders were imprisoned for weekson end and only liberated by the arrival ofBritish troops.

While the Argentine army’s conduct wasgenerally correct, it did nothing to endearArgentina to Islanders who were shocked atthe harsh way the Argentine officers treatedconscripts and by the looting and devastationleft by the defeated army.

In the last stages of the land campaignseveral farmers helped the British army bymoving supplies up to the front with tractorsand trailers and there were many acts of small-scale resistance by Islanders. Life in Stanley wasdifficult and frightening as heavy naval gunretargeted Argentine troop positions in theoutskirts of the town and although the capitalwas spared ghting, three Islanders were killed

British and Argentine governments sign Joint Declaration on exploration for andexploitation of hydrocarbons in the SouthWest Atlantic

Chilean air link suspended, butresumed after British/Argentineagreement of 14 July.

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First exploratory oil drilling rigstarts work.

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by shelling in the last days of the war.When Argentine forces surrendered on

14 June – Liberation Day as it was to become– there was joy, relief and profound gratitudeto the British armed forces, 255 of whom haddied in the ghting, but there was also deep

concern at the size of the task of reconstructionconfronting the Islands.

As it turned out, recovery was swifter andmore successful than even the optimists couldhave forecast in 1982.

WINNING THE PEACE

1982 to the present

Last full meeting of the South Atlantic Fisheries Commission.

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An iconic photograph from the 1982 Conict: the Royal Marines approaching Stanley.

LIBERATION ON 14 JUNE 1982 found theIslands with a host of problems War damage in

it was possible to slim the numbers of troopsand the quantity of equipment as the years

around the Islands. On 29 October 1986 theFalklands Interim Conservation Zone (FICZ)

Finance and the economy Falklands-wide signicance. But they can alsospeak for the Islands at the United Nations


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THE JANE CAMERON N ATIONAL ARC HIVES

The Falkland Islands Governmentbuilding was purpose-built to meeminimum requirements of the NatArchives Standard for Record Repand was opened in late 1998 to ho government records. The GovernmArchivist, Jane Cameron, was passabout the history of the Islands anto collect a wide variety of non-gorecords; after her tragic death in 2archives became the national archire-named The Jane Cameron NatioArchives in her memory.

Since then the National ArchivistBishop, has continued to expand tcollections and to ensure the preseand accessibility of records held inthat maximum use can be made ofarchives attract researchers globalldeal with a wide variety of researceach year along with providing a rroom for those that choose to visit

FALKLAND ISLANDS MUSEUMAND NATIONAL TRUST

Although museums existed in various formssince the early 1900s, it was only in 1991 thatthe Falkland Islands Museum & NationalTrust was created to serve as keeper of muchof the Islands’ cultural heritage. It is now alocally registered charity, supported by theFalkland Islands Government.

The overarching aim of the Trust is to promote awareness and appreciation of theheritage of the Falklands and wherever possible to preserve this for future generations.

The museum has a diverse collection of morethan 4,000 items, held and exhibited for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment.Other roles and responsibilities are varied butinclude work with wrecks and hulks, historicsites and projects such as archaeologicalsurveys and oral history.

Argentina repudiates 1995oil co-operation agreement.

Second exploratoryround of drilling for oil

New Falkland IslandsConstitution adopted.

Argentine pressure increases with thirtieth anniversary of the Conict, Prince William’s tour of duty at Mount Pleasant and visit of modern frigate,HMS Dauntless . Rockhopper Exploration announces commercial nd and join with Premier Oil to exploit it. Oil is forecast to come on stream in 2017.

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Islands with a host of problems. War damage inStanley and to a lesser extent in Camp; a largegarrison mainly billeted in private homes or onships in the harbour; no obvious prospect ofan adequate income; the continuing need forexpensive defence; and a population relievedto be free once more, but shaken by invasionand occupation.

Before the Conict ended, the Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher had commissioned LordShackleton, who had presented his economicreport on the Islands in 1976, to produce afurther study in the light of the new situation.Shackleton presented in effect a blue-print for

the economic future of the Islands and most ofhis recommendations were implemented in thesucceeding years.

Defending our Islands The rst requirement was to design a structurefor the defence of the Islands which wasreasonably economical yet offered a deterrentto possible attack. The solution chosen was astrategic airport built at Mount Pleasant about35 miles from Stanley where a garrison couldbe stationed. The rst runway was opened inMay 1985 and a regular air service, operated bythe RAF, became feasible, open to military anda few civilian passengers. This made it possibleto minimise the number of troops in the Islandsand rely on rapid re-inforcement of the garrisonin times of tension. The cost of constructing theMount Pleasant base had been put at around£400 million, but once it was complete the costsof maintaining the garrison were reduced and

and the quantity of equipment as the yearspassed without incident. Twice a year exerciseswere held to test antiaircraft defences, involvingthe ring of short range Rapier missiles. Theseexercises became routine and warnings werealways publicised. In 2010 the ArgentinePresident Cristina Fernandez de Kirchnersuddenly announced that these missiles(range four miles) were a threat to Argentinaand her neighbours. Argentine claims that theSouth Atlantic is being militarised ignore theprogressive reduction in British forces on theIslands since 1982.

Relations with Argentina were slow to

improve after the Conict, as Buenos Airesmaintained its claim to the Islands and insistedthat Britain should negotiate on their future. Butwhen President Menem came to power in 1989it was possible to discuss resuming diplomaticrelations (nally achieved in 1990) and opentechnical talks on such matters as shing and oilprospection.

The ConstitutionA new Constitution was introduced in 1985.It guaranteed the Islanders’ right to self-determination, restored the post of governor(who had briey been replaced by a ‘civilcommissioner’– supposedly a less ‘colonial’title),and provided for eight elected councillors whowould in turn elect three of their number to forman executive council – effectively a cabinet. Therehave been further changes to the Constitution,all passing more responsibility to councillors.In 2002 the governor relinquished the role of

chairman of the legislative council and the newchairman was elected by vote of councillors.

With the new Constitution of 2009,

councillors are designated ‘Members ofthe Legislative Assembly’ (MLA). They areexpected to decide local issues and matters of

Falklands Interim Conservation Zone (FICZ)was introduced at a radius of 150 miles fromthe Islands, save on the south west side whereaccount was taken of the Argentine mainland.

Despite widespread misgivings andoutright opposition from Argentina and others,the Zone proved to be a great success. Demandfor licences for squid shing outstripped thesupply and income was abundant. The FalklandIslands Government’s total income rose from£6 million in 1985-6 to £35 million in 1988-9.A rigorous and science-based administrationensured that licences were issued for a limitednumber of days and the government did not

hesitate to close the shery if stocks were indanger of over-shing.

More than any other event, the introductionof the FICZ transformed the Islands, but it wouldnot have been possible to introduce it withoutthe military security guaranteed by the Britishgarrison. The British aid programme was woundup and Islanders enjoyed the condence whichcomes from a healthy bank balance. IndividualIslanders entered the industry, at rst as agentsfor foreign companies, then in partnership withthem and nally as the owners of shing boatsin their own right.

For a while Argentina and the FalklandIslands Fisheries Department co-operated ina programme of joint research cruises andexchanging information on catches. This wasobviously advantageous to both sides as theprincipal squid stock oated from the highseas into Argentine and Falklands waters andovershing in one area would affect bothsides. Unfortunately in 2005 the governmentof President Nestor Kirchner broke off this co-operation in protest at a new legal frameworkfor shery companies introduced by the Islandsgovernment.

In the years after Liberation, development fundswere largely provided by British official aid andpartly administered by the Falkland IslandsDevelopment Corporation, which had beenestablished on Shackleton’s recommendation.But the situation was transformed by theincome from the shery and a programmeof capital investment was set in motion. Thenew Community School was built to provideeducation up to 16 year old level. A satellitetelecommunications station was establishedby Cable and Wireless. The Islands government

speak for the Islands at the United Nationsin New York, or represent them at the mainparty political conferences in England and atthe various meetings of the CommonwealthParliamentary Association.

Agriculture: land for the peopleLord Shackleton’s rst report recommendedthat the larger estates, particularly those ofthe Falkland Islands Company, should besub-divided and sold or leased to ownerproprietors. This process had just begun beforethe Conict and after Liberation it was resumed.

Before the 1982 Conict, almost 90% of the

land was owned by people who did not liveon the Islands: by 2003, 95% of the land wasowned and farmed by those who live and workon the Islands. The Falkland Islands Governmentmade strenuous efforts to improve the qualityof Falklands wool by importing stock from Tasmania and founding the National Stud Flock.As throughout Falklands history, farmers wereexposed to the uctuations of the wool price,which in turn was set by global conditions.However an alternative source of incomewas established in the late 1990s when a newabattoir was built to the highest Europeanstandard. This enabled farmers to breed dual-purpose sheep and produce high quality meatfor export.

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