Donald Gilbert Kennedy

[4][Note 1] He published journal articles and books on the material culture of Vaitupu atoll, land tenure, and the language of the Ellice Islands.

[5][6] The two most famous Tuvaluans from the school were Tuvalu's first Governor General, Sir Fiatau Penitala Teo and its first Prime Minister, Toaripi Lauti.

He published Field Notes on the Culture of Vaitupu, Ellice Islands in the Journal of the Polynesian Society in instalments between 1929 and 1932 and as a book in 1931.

[2] In April 1932 Kennedy became the resident District Officer at Funafuti in the administration of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony.

[2][7] In 1938 he was awarded a Carnegie Travelling Scholarship to study for a year at University College, Oxford for a Diploma in Anthropology.

[2] Following the attack of the Japanese on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, he was commissioned as a captain in the BSIP Defence Force.

[2][8][9] On 20 April 1942, Kennedy established a base at Mahanga (Mahaga), which overlooked Thousand Ships Bay on the south coast of Santa Isabel Island.

Kennedy reported on Japanese shipping in the New Georgia Sound (known as ‘The Slot’), which were attempting to reinforce the troops on Guadalcanal, and also rescued downed American airmen.

[10] Kennedy gained a reputation for physical abuse of his subordinates and islanders that he viewed as defying his authority.

In December 1944, after receiving hospital treatment for alcoholism, he was appointed by the WPHC to an administration position in Fiji.

They were unwilling migrants to Fiji, and they were angry because the British Phosphate Commission had made Ocean Island uninhabitable.

Kennedy was involved in the establishment of a branch of the Australian Security Service in PNG, which appears to be motivated by a fear of Communist infiltration.

[14] Kennedy encouraged Neli Lifuka in the resettlement proposal that eventually resulted in the purchase of Kioa island in Fiji.

[5][6][7] In June 1946, Kennedy and Henry Evans Maude, bought the island of Kioa in Fiji on behalf of the Vaitupuans who wanted to migrate.