24 Facts About Hammer DeRoburt

Hammer DeRoburt was a Nauruan politician and independence leader.

Hammer DeRoburt led negotiations for independence from Australia and the end of the country's status as a United Nations trust territory.

Hammer DeRoburt was elected as the inaugural president of Nauru, serving four terms in office.

Hammer DeRoburt was the son of DeRoburt and Eidumunang; his maternal grandfather Daimon was the island's head chief from 1920 to 1930.

Hammer DeRoburt had Banaban heritage, as his grandmother was from the island.

Hammer DeRoburt decided to stand in the first elections to the Nauru 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.

In 1953, Hammer DeRoburt led the Nauru Workers' Organisation in a four-month strike which successfully secured an increase in wages and greater training opportunities from the Australian administration.

Hammer DeRoburt subsequently became a key figure in the independence negotiations known as the Nauru Talks, which took place between 1965 and 1967.

Hammer DeRoburt's lobbying of the Trusteeship Council and UN General Assembly was key in securing virtually all desired concessions from the Australian government, which was ambivalent towards independence.

In June 1967, Hammer DeRoburt signed the Nauru Island Phosphate Industry Agreement on behalf of the NLGC, which provided for a transition to Nauruan ownership of phosphate reserves and removed one of the last stumbling blocks in the independence negotiations.

On 31 January 1968, Nauru's Independence Day, Hammer 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.

Hammer DeRoburt was elected chairman of the Council of State, serving until 17 May 1968 when the legislature unanimously elected him as the country's inaugural president upon the adoption of the new constitution.

Hammer DeRoburt was re-elected as president unopposed in January 1971 after the 1971 Nauruan parliamentary election.

Hammer DeRoburt's opponents formed the Nauru Party, the first formal political party on the island.

Hammer DeRoburt 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, Hammer 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.

Hammer DeRoburt 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.

Hammer 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.

Adeang's government collapsed only two weeks, with Hammer DeRoburt returning as president on 1 October 1986.

Hammer DeRoburt married Lukale Rowena Harris in 1950, with whom he had one daughter.

Hammer DeRoburt was precedeased by his wife and died on 15 July 1992 while in Melbourne for medical treatment.

Hammer DeRoburt was accorded a state funeral, before being buried in Boe cemetery, Nauru.

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

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