MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Death of Falklands Champion and Legislator Adrian Monk, OBE.

Falkland Islanders are saddened by the death of one of their great champions in their sovereignty dispute with Argentina ? Adrian Monk, OBE. He has died aged 85, in Wales, where he and his wife, Norah, had run a smallholding in retirement.

He had been a master mariner, expert farmer, a long-time member of the Falkland Islands Legislative Council, and above all, a formidable opponent of Argentina's claim to the Islands. His name will be forever linked with his opposition to Argentina and its 1982 invasion. He had represented the Falklands Islands in abortive talks with the Argentines prior to the invasion and had run San Carlos Farm where the British Task Force later landed to liberate the Islands.

First Falklands London Representative

He was the first holder of the important office of Falkland Islands Government Representative in the United Kingdom, created in the aftermath of the war. He was chosen for this task by his fellow Islanders and opened the Falkland Islands Government Office (FIGO) in London on 12th January 1983, which, by chance, coincided with publication of the (Lord) Franks Report into the events surrounding the invasion. Within hours of taking up the post, Adrian Monk appeared on two television programmes, three United States radio networks and was interviewed by countless members of the media. He was later to hold his own in radio debate with the veteran Labour Member of Parliament, Tam Dalyell, an arch critic of Britain's conduct of the war, especially the sinking of the Argentine cruiser, General Belgrano. More than anyone, Adrian Monk, was able to articulate the spirit, attitudes and wishes of the Falkland Islanders. In the years leading to the invasion, he had become the foremost and fiercest opponent of the Argentine campaign to acquire sovereignty over the Falkland Islands. His craggy, outdoor, weather-tanned face disguised a man of great intelligence and legislative experience. He proved to be an articulate and formidable debater, as the British and Argentine negotiators discovered in talks forced on the Islanders by the Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, and the Minister of State for Latin America, the late Nicholas Ridley. As a Legislative Councillor, Adrian Monk represented the Islanders at some of the most crucial talks. His firmly-held conviction was that "the Argentines would not cooperate on anything unless Britain first conceded sovereignty".

Led challenge to FCO's Nicholas Ridley

He led the challenge to Ridley's proposals to solve the impasse which the Minister outlined during an ill-tempered visit to the Islands in 1980. The three alternatives were a "freeze" whereby both sides would agree to disagree and take no further action for a period of years; a condominium involving joint rule of the Islands with Argentina; or "leaseback", as favoured by Ridley, by which the United Kingdom would formally cede sovereignty but the Islands would be leased back to the Islanders for a period of say 99 years to preserve the Islanders way of life. Adrian Monk made what the Governor, Sir Rex Hunt, called a "Churchillian" broadcast on Falkland's radio, arguing against Ridley's proposals, which he summed up in two words: "They stink". The Falkland Islands Legislative Council later passed a resolution saying they disliked Ridley's proposals but agreeing to talks by the United Kingdom with Argentina to seek a "freeze" of the dispute for a specific period. Only Adrian Monk voted against, and he was one of the two Councillors chosen to represent the Islanders at subsequent Anglo-Argentine talks in 1981.

Trusted Senior Legislative Councillor

He was trusted implicitly by the Islanders to argue their case, as a senior member of the Legislative Council, which he served from 1959 for more than 20 years. He was ineligible for further re-election on becoming a Government employee as Agricultural Officer. After the war, he was the natural choice to set up the Falklands Islands Government Office in London, with the able assistance of the current holder of that post, Sukey Cameron. It was a well-balanced team which laid firm foundations for FIGO Adrian Monk, the veteran Falklands Councillor Islander who had argued so long and forcefully against the Argentines, and Sukey Cameron, grand-daughter of a former Colonial Secretary and Governor of the Falkland Islands, who knew her way around the corridors of power in London, having helped to operate the Falkland Islands Association headquarters throughout the trauma of the Argentine invasion. Their work load was increased by hundreds of immigration applications from Britain, stimulated as a result of the war. Adrian Monk ran the office for two arduous, pioneering years until faltering health forced him to retire in 1984, handing over the post to Sukey's brother, the late Alastair Cameron.

Pioneering ancestors

Adrian Monk had relatives on his mother's side dating back to the original settlers. His grandfather was a pioneering farmer, who had trekked over the Andes, crossed the Patagonian Plain, and sailed to the Falklands in the 1860's. His grandfather managed Darwin Settlement, then leased 300,000 acres on West Falkland from the Government to start a sheep-farming enterprise. Adrian Monk was a man of the world who had gone to sea as a young man, became a master mariner, and then switched to farming. He farmed first in Wales and then the Falkland Islands, on Pebble Island for ten years, and later managed the 107,000 acre farm with 26,000 sheep at San Carlos, where he had first trained in the 1950s. In 1979, he was involved in radical reform of Falklands farming, much of which had been previously owned by the Falkland Islands Company and other owners not living in the Islands. He was appointed chairman of the committee over-seeing the first farm sub-division when Green Patch farm, north-west of Stanley, was released by the Falkland Islands Company in response to a recommendation of the 1976 Shackleton Report. All the new owners were Islanders. It was appropriate that the remaining part of his grandfather's enterprise, Roy Cove, was also sold for sub-division and sale to Islanders.

Argentine Opponent until the End

Adrian Monk was awarded an OBE in 1979 and made a Vice-President of the Falkland Islands Association. In retirement in Wales, though losing his sight, he continued his strong opposition to Argentina's relentless sovereignty campaign, and was critical of the 1999 Anglo-Argentine accord for closer co-operation with Argentina. Ironically, on the day he died, Argentina was intensifying its sovereignty campaign in the wake of abortive talks with the present Foreign Office Minister for the Region, Mr Bill Rammell. A proposal for direct Argentine-operated flights to the Falklands was rejected by the Falkland Islands' Council, which Adrian Monk served with such vigour and distinction for so many years.

Harold Briley - London

Categories: Falkland Islands.

Top Comments

Disclaimer & comment rules

Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!