Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Ellis, Albert Fuller
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1869-1951
History
Born in Queensland, Australia, educated in Aotearoa/New Zealand. In the 1890s, Ellis became an employee of the Pacific Islands Company Ltd of London, which was involved in the guano industry on islands in the Coral Sea and the Phoenix Group (Kiribati). In 1900, he became curious about a rock which was used as a doorstop in the Sydney office of his company and this led to the discovery of the phosphate deposits on Ocean Island and Nauru. He was a prominent figure in the Pacific Phosphate Company Ltd in 1902. After the phosphate company was bought out by the British, Australian and New Zealand governments after World War I, Ellis became commissioner for New Zealand on the British Phosphate Commission, which was established to exploit the phosphate deposits on Ocean Island and Nauru. He was the author of three books, Ocean Island and Nauru (1936), Adventuring in Coral Seas (1937), and Mid-Pacific Outpost (1946).