National Geographic's Collectors Corner

Collaborative site for collectors, dealers, & anyone interested in our history.

Albert Henry's grave at Cook Islands Christian Church graveyard in Avarua, Rarotonga.

Albert Royle Henry (11 June 1907 - 1 January 1981) was the first Premier of the Cook Islands and a colorful and charismatic figure in Cook Islands politics for many years. Albert Henry was a pioneer in Cook Islands politics, and a driving force behind Cook Islands self-government, which it obtained on 4 August 1965. Henry founded the Cook Islands Party after returning from living in New Zealand for 22 years from 1942-1964. Shortly after his return he was elected Premier in 1965 in the first national elections, and then re-elected consistently in 1968, 1972, 1974 and again controversially in March 1978.
Albert Henry's achievements include enlarging Rarotonga's airport (Queen Elizabeth II officiated at the grand opening), building the Rarotongan Resort (now the Rarotongan Beach Resort & Spa) and helping to turn the Cook Islands into a significant international tourist destination.

But his most passionate achievement was to introduce a Universal Old Age Pension Scheme in 1966 in which every person 65 years and over, received a small government sponsored pension at that time being 2 pounds NZ per month. The Cook Islands is still the only South Pacific nation that has such a scheme.

For his achievements, Henry was knighted in 1974 by Queen Elizabeth II, shortly after the opening of Rarotonga International Airport.

Bill Johnson - Johnsons' Photography Rarotonga

Views: 173

Comment

You need to be a member of National Geographic's Collectors Corner to add comments!

Join National Geographic's Collectors Corner

Members

Legal notice about this site

Community Rules and Legal notice about this Site

Note: Management of this site has been transferred from the National Geographic Society to a third party (the Host). Any sales or trade arrangements are solely between users of this site (the Site). The Site’s host and/or The National Geographic Society is not a party to and does not endorse or promote any particular sale or trade arrangements between collectors, dealers, or others and bears no liability for such transactions.

This community was created to facilitate communication between collectors, dealers, and anyone interested in the history of National Geographic publications. Please use the forums area to buy, sell, trade, and swap stories and information.

A member can be removed from the group for inappropriate, pornographic or offensive, or otherwise objectionable content. The Host may also edit or entirely remove such posts from the group.

Due to the immediate nature of this medium, the Host also does not review, censor, approve, edit or endorse information placed on this forum. Discussion boards on this Site are intended to be appropriate for family members of all ages. Posting of indecent material is strictly prohibited.

The placement of advertisements or solicitations or SPAM unrelated to National Geographic also is prohibited. The Host shall review information placed on this forum from time to time and delete inappropriate material that comes to its attention as soon as it is practicable but cannot guarantee that such material will not be found on the forum. By posting material on this discussion board, you agree to adhere to this policy prohibiting indecent, offensive or extraneous advertising material, and to legally assume full and sole responsibility for your posting.

Engage in dialogue respectfully. We encourage open and candid discussions and debates. However, all communications should be respectful. Differences of opinion are okay; personal attacks are not. Comments or content that are violent, threatening, abusive, sexually explicit, obscene, offensive, hateful, derogatory, defamatory, or are racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable content will be removed.

Stay on topic. Comments, questions, and contributions should be relevant to the topic being discussed. Keep in mind that this is not a place for unsolicited personal or commercial solicitation or advertising (e.g., “Win a free laptop”, etc.).

Keep it legal. Participating in, suggesting, or encouraging any illegal activity is cause for immediate removal and termination of a member’s use of and registration in the group.

Observe copyright and trademark law. The posting of copyrighted videos, photos, articles, or other material beyond what is protected as fair use is prohibited, and the Host may remove such posts from the group. Provide appropriate credit for any media and resources that you share.

Respect privacy. Keep personal or any other information that you do not want made public, such as phone numbers or addresses, confidential. You may choose to share this information via direct message or email. Please also respect the privacy of other members of the group and do not share information about them (but of course it’s fine to repost or share content they have already posted). Any information you post here will be subject to the platform’s privacy policy.

 

Let us know. We do monitor posts, but we may miss something. We encourage members to flag content which they feel violates any of the above Community Rules so we can review and take the appropriate action.

© 2025   Created by Richard Kennedy.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service