Timothy Detudamo (died 11 April 1953) was a

Nauru Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Ki ...

an politician and linguist. He served as Head Chief of Nauru from 1930 until his death in 1953.

Biography

Detudamo was born in Uaboe District. He was a layman of the Protestant Church of Nauru during his youth, and became assistant to the missionary Rev. Phillip Delaporte to be his assistant. In 1917, he was chosen to travel to the United States by Rev Delaporte to translate the Bible into the

Nauruan language The Nauruan or Nauru language () is an Austronesian language, spoken natively in the island country of Nauru. Its relationship to the other Micronesian languages is not well understood. Phonology Consonants Nauruan has 16–17 consonant p ...

. To finance the travel, Detudamo needed US$500, which he raised through Nauruan donations. His translation was carried out with the help of Rev Delaporte, a German-American missionary. Detudamo returned to Nauru in 1921. In 1938, he tried to reform the Nauruan language by making it more understandable for Europeans and Americans. However, his reforms were not widely adopted and today the old orthography continues to be more common. In November 1930 Detudamo was appointed Head Chief of Nauru by

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William Augustin Newman William is a male given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norm ...

following the death of

Daimon Daimon or Daemon (Ancient Greek: , "god", "godlike", "power", "fate") originally referred to a lesser deity or guiding spirit such as the daimons of ancient Greek religion and mythology and of later Hellenistic religion and philosophy. The word ...

. He held the office until 1942 when Japan invaded and occupied the island. During the Japanese occupation, Detudamo served as Governor of Nauru until 30 June 1943 when he was deported along with most of the Nauruan population to Chuuk in

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

. On 31 January 1946 he returned to Nauru and was duly re-elected to the position of Head Chief. Following the introduction of a Nauru Local Government Council in 1951 Detudamo was elected as a councillor for the Districts of Denigomodu, Nibok, Uaboe, and Baitsi. He was also re-elected as Head Chief by the NLGC Nancy Viviani (1970) ''Nauru: Phosphate and Political Progress'' Australian National University Press, p105 Detudamo also helped establish the first Nauruan large enterprise, a Nauruan land owners co-operative general store. It was called the Nauru Cooperative Society and adopted the name 'Eigigu' in symbolically depicting the Nauruan "Lady on the Moon" legend. Detudamo died in

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in Australia on 11 April 1953 at the age of 65, and was succeeded as Head Chief by Raymond Gadabu.Viviani, p106 His son Buraro later served as an MP and minister.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Detudamo, Timothy Year of birth missing People from Uaboe District Nauruan Christians Head Chiefs of Nauru Linguists from Nauru Translators to Nauruan Nauruan religious leaders People deported from Nauru 1953 deaths 20th-century Nauruan politicians