The Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands are, famously, a self-governing British territory 300 miles from the coast of Argentina, consisting of two main islands—imaginatively named East Falkland and West Falkland. Oh, and 776 smaller islands, including the cheerily named Barren Island, Carcass Island and Bleaker Island. The islands are self-governing, Since 1833 Argentina has claimed sovereignty over them, and I suppose most people (with the possible exception of the very young) know about the 1982 invasion of the islands by Argentina, prompting the two-month (undeclared) Falklands War. Falkland Islanders are full British citizens, but are also eligible for Argentine citizenship, though the islanders reject Argentina’s claim to sovereignty. On 14 June they celebrate Liberation Day, in recognition of the 1982 withdrawal of Argentine troops from the islands. The islands are also known by the Spanish name of Islas Malvinas, though with the continuing debate over sovereignty use of the Spanish name is considered by many to be offensive.

While in the early 16th century there were many sightings recorded of what “may have been” the Falkland Islands, it was the 1541 indication of the “Sanson” islands on a Map, which corresponds with the location of the Falklands, that can be supposed to be their discovery, I suppose. However, it’s the 1600 sighting by Sebald de Weert (a Dutch name if ever I heard one) that is accredited as the first sighting. France, Britain, Spain and Argentina have all claimed possession, and at different times established (and abandoned) settlements on the islands. Prior to the 1982 to-do there was a Falklands Crisis in 1770, which nearly caused a war between the Franco-Spanish Alliance and ye olde Britannica. When Argentina attained independence in 1816, they inherited, so to speak, the Spanish claim to the islands. Britain returned to the Falklands in 1833, following the destruction of the Argentine settlement, and has remain ever since, in spite of continued Argentine dispute over the territory.

Oh, and penguins. There are penguin colonies in the islands. Also, beautiful black-necked swans that I think beat Australia’s wholly black swans hands down. As well, as is proper in a British territory, Scouts and Girl Guides.

Looking around for a poem by a Falkland Islander, I found the following poem by Gus Hales online here. Reportedly he read this poem on Rememberance Sunday at the Cathedral in Stanley last year.


Deep in my Mind where Nobody Goes


Every year on Remembrance Sunday
I sit in the corner of the British Legion Bar,
Dressed in blazer, shirt, Regimental tie
And polished shoes, with my head held high.

But deep in my mind, where nobody goes,
I see a wooden cross where the wind of victory lies.
“Three Cheers for Victory,” I hear the politician say.
But you never asked me about my victory.
And, if they did, I would have explained it this way:

It isn’t your flags or emblems of war,
Or the marching of troops past the Palace’s door.
It isn’t Mrs. Thatcher on the balcony high,
Reaffirming her pledge to serve or die.
But it’s the look and the pain on a teenager’s face
As he dies for his country, In a far off place.

It’s the guns and the shells and the Phosphorus grenades
And the wounded and the dead in freshly cut graves
Or the grieving wife or the fatherless child
Whose young, tender life will be forever defiled.

Or the iconic soldier with a shattered mind
Who takes the suicide option for some peace to find.
Well, that’s my victory but no one knows
For its deep in my mind where nobody goes.


—Gus Hales