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Irvine Hill – What’s in a name?

Karl Richard Hanitsch
Dr. Karl Richard Hanitsch 1860-1940
Entomologist and museum curator who served as the first director of the Raffles Museum in Singapore 1908-1919.

In 1904 Karl Hanitsch and Henry Ridley set out for Christmas Island together on a scientific expedition. Dr Hanitsch’s main interest was in entomology and Ridley was a botanist, geologist and naturalist.

Hanitsch drew a map of Christmas Island at that time and indicated camp location sites and interestingly clearly marked an area on Irvine Hill as Irvine Hall. Perhaps he made a mistake? But upon further investigation, Ridley who would write in 1906 about that time in an article titled  “An expedition to Christmas Island”, mentioned no less than 12 times “Irvine Hall“. 

It is mentioned here a couple of times in this interesting excerpt from his article:

Went up to Irvine Hall with my boy, Kassan, and two boatmen and a gardener to stop there the night and start early for the Murray Hill Track next morning. Accordingly started at 6.15 and walked fast to Ross’ camp and started from there along a track to the Northwest, at the commencement of which was an inscription in Chinese stating that it was the road to the big hill and place for water.

Henry Nicholas Ridley
Henry Nicholas Ridley 1855-1956
CMG, MA (Oxon), FRS, FLS, F.R.H.S.
Discovered the means to tap rubber trees without seriously damaging them and was largely responsible for establishing the rubber industry on the Malay peninsular. He was known as “Mad Ridley” for his passion in promoting rubber trees.

The track immediately disappeared and the woods proved very dense. Here I noticed upwards of a hundred Birgus [robber crabs] beneath an Arenga [palm] devouring the fruit. They had eaten almost every seed rejecting the pulpy outside cracking and eating all the seeds with their powerful jaws.

After pushing a long way and finding no track or rise, I thought it advisable to return and found the men behind had neglected to mark the track properly, so that we had some difficulty in finding the way back. After a short rest returned to Irvine Hall and after a cup of tea back to the Settlement. The whole time occupied in walking was ten hours and a half. It is clear that it is practically impossible to get to Murray Hill and back in the day, unless the track was specially opened beforehand.

Was Irvine Hall a specific spot on Irvine Hill as we know it today or was it naming the whole hill? Was the “Hall” in fact just a shack, tent or shed that had been erected and someone with a sense of humour having a joke with the place name? Yet by the 1904 expedition it appears nothing much was there. Ridley wrote:

… there was a track for some way known as the Murray Hill Track, starting a little beyond Irvine Hall. Accordingly tents and provisions were brought to Irvine Hall … 

Hanitsch map 1904 showing Irvine Hill
Map drawn by Hanitsch in 1904 clearly shows Irvine Hall. Expedition route and campsites are indicated in red.
Hanitsch, K.R. 1923. A visit to Christmas Island. Unpublished manuscript.
Used with permission. ©Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Original map image has been cropped and edited.

Who was Irvine anyway?

Robert Irvine was a chemist and friend of Sir John Murray.  They collaborated together on joint chemistry works. Murray discovered the phosphate deposits on Christmas Island and Irvine supported him by investing in shares in the Christmas Island Phosphate Company. Irvine was also a Director of the company. Upon Irvine’s death in 1902 the trustees of his Will were instructed to accumulate his interest in the island until a fund of £30,000 was available for the foundation of a Chair of Bacteriology in Edinburgh. That story, from a 1949 newspaper account is told below:

OLD STORY, RECALLED

Robert Irvine
Robert Irvine 1839 – 1902 FRSE. 
Sailed with Sir John Murray on the Challenger Expedition

An interesting story was recalled at a meeting of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh managers yesterday, with the announcement that the sum of £33,000 had been received as further payment to account of one-third share of residue of the estate of Robert Irvine, Royston, Granton.

Robert Irvine died in 1902. His wife had previously died of cancer, and he was anxious to do something to help towards research into and alleviation of the disease. He had shares in the Christmas Island Phosphate Co., Ltd, and left instructions that, with the money saved from the dividends, his trustees were to institute a chair of bacteriology. In 1913 they had saved £30,000 from dividends and the Chair of Bacteriology in Edinburgh University was founded.

When the 1914-18 war came the shares lost their value. The trustees were advised to sell but it was found that there was no market. The three charities interested – the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, the Royal Edinburgh Hospital for Incurables, and the Dunlop Cancer Fund then asked the trustees to continue to hold them. When in the last war the island was taken over by the Japanese their value became negligible.

After the war, however, the company revived, both the Australian and New Zealand Governments having an urgent need of phosphates. The company was bought out last year by both Governments jointly at a cost of £2,750,000. The liquidators resolved to pay to account 200 per share on the 1600 shares left by Mr Irvine, to be divided between the three charities mentioned, and of the £99,000 received by the trustees £33.000 falls to each.

The Scotsman – Wednesday, 11th May 1949

And so this faded and almost forgotten story of Irvine Hall/Hill includes a lost story about a part of its original name, scientific men traipsing through jungle tracks in their quest to document the natural habitat of Christmas Island and importantly about Robert Irvine himself. His bequest to the field of medicine would help benefit humanity for decades to come.

This story contains a term that reflects a historical author’s choice of language as accepted in the period in which it was written, but which would not be considered appropriate today. It is provided in historical context.

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Christmas Island Archives was selected for preservation by the State Library of Western Australia. It is now listed in perpetuity on PANDORA, Australia’s website archive established by the National Library of Australia.

Grant acknowledgement

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I came across this interesting little site in the I came across this interesting little site in the corner of the post office padang on Christmas Island. I have been told that this was the base of a short wave radio mast. It was a substantial tower about 30 metres high and connected to the radio building where the post office now stands. I was also told by another source that this was part of a weather station when the radio house was standing. Either way the steps are a bit of a mystery as the structure is, from memory, just over a metre wide.
#christmasisland #history #oldstructure #christmasislandarchives #ruin
An ammunition cave used by the Japanese during the An ammunition cave used by the Japanese during their occupation of Christmas Island in WW2. The circular opening in the wall is where I believe a ventilation pipe was inserted. Its purpose was to keep a stable temperature and extract noxious fumes. Its use as an ammunition cave may have predated WW2. To find out more about this cave read Helena van der Riet's excellent thesis "The Archaeology of the Japanese World War II Occupation of Christmas Island". It can be found on my website (see link in my bio) under the "Documents" section. 
#christmasisland #cave #ammunition #ww2 #ww2history #worldwar2 #worldwar2history #japaneseoccupation #ww2japanese #christmasislandarchives
I love Victor Purcell's observations of human beha I love Victor Purcell's observations of human behaviour on Christmas Island in 1926. The European community caused him the most angst.
#christmasisland #christmasislandhistory #history #islandlife #colonial #straitssettlements #christmasislandarchives
An old water tank near South Point located along t An old water tank near South Point located along the old railway track. I understand that a couple of years ago it was totally overgrown by the jungle and was invisible until it was cleared.
#christmasisland #ruin #relic #industrialrelic #watertank #colonial #christmasislandarchives
Back in 2020 as we were leaving the Old European C Back in 2020 as we were leaving the Old European Cemetery my sis-in-law @mily_barrett spotted this now 72 year old engraving in the concrete path. A nice little reminder from a long gone workman that he was once doing a job there.
"1.7.1951
Pipe Repar" ... 
The last seen letter is partially obscured. The word repair has likely been misspelt?
#christmasisland #history #christmasislandhistory #relic #cemetery #path #oldpath #christmasislandarchives
A sad end for Norman Howard. His gravesite lies in A sad end for Norman Howard. His gravesite lies in the Old European Cemetery on Christmas Island. His story and the mystery loss of his headstone lead to a surprising misidentification of his gravesite. Read about it now on my website. See bio for link. Look under “latest updates” for “Norman Howard - turning in his grave”.
"In memory of Norman Howard
European Overseer
Aged 32
Died 6.3.24"
#christmasisland #straitssettlements #christmasislandhistory #cemetery #headstone #gravesite #grave #colonialhistory #christmasislandarchives
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