Island life

Advertisements from The Falkland Islands magazine (1899)The Foyle Special Collections Library holds 371 issues of The Falkland Islands magazine, dating from 1899 to 1933.

The cover of the early issues shows Christ Church Cathedral in the capital, Stanley, on East Falkland, the symbolic centre of the Falkland Islands, and the magazine comprises the assortment of community interactions - religious, economic and administrative - that one would expect from a parish magazine on the mainland United Kingdom.

The early issues include advertisements for sheep dips (sheep farming being a major industry of the islands), times of church services, records of visits by ships and marriage and death notices.

Interestingly, the pages on display here show a wanted notice for a kitchen stove juxtaposed with a wanted notice for a home for an orphaned girl of 11, resident on West Falkland. Although the second item may seem anomalous to the modern eye, it indicates the high level of community togetherness, in that there is a genuine hope of facilitating this request.

Since 1833 the Falkland Islands have been inhabited by residents who wish to remain citizens of the United Kingdom. These magazines represent a link to the mother country through their recording of patriotic community events, such as the collection of funds for a memorial to Queen Victoria, and of wider imperial issues, such as the record of a Falkland Islander‟s service in the Second Boer War.

They also provide a window on world events in an era before telephonic and mass communication, in, for example, the reporting of the 1901 assassination of the American president, William McKinley.

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