Nelson
pp. 9-10 · Read in the full issue
Death Of Ivan
Fine Type of Old Islands Merchant
MR. Ivan Nelson, head of the firm of Nelson and Robertson Pty. Ltd., well-known in Pacific trade, died at his home in Lindfield, NSW, on July 30.
In the halcyon days of the early 1900’s, he was a leader in that band of traders whose commercial activities did so much to develop the South Pacific territories.
Born in Sweden, he came to Australia some 50 years ago; and presently, see ing more clearly than most men the pos sibilities of South Seas trading, he joined with Mr. G. J. Robertson in 1895 to found
Nelson and Robertson Ltd., in Sydney.
Mr. Robertson, whose specialty was ship ping, died some 20 years ago.
Mr. Nelson ranged over all the South Pacific, from Tonga, Samoa and Fiji in the east to New Guinea and Papua in the west, extending his firm’s business in every direction—buying, selling and shipping Islands produce.
His earliest trade connections were with Polynesia. For many years, N. and R. sailing clippers carried coal to Fiji and loaded sugar for Vancouver. Mr.
Nelson was linked for a time with O. F.
Nelson and Co. Ltd., of Samoa. It was in Samoa, too, that he met Captain Ron dahl and induced him to go to New Guinea (then under German rule) in the schooner, “Three Cheers”—the start of a long and profitable association between these two vigorous traders.
MR. Nelson pioneered the cocoa indus try in the Samoan Islands. He was instrumental, also, in establishing a canned pineapple trade there, making regular shipments to Europe and Austra lia, long before the Honolulu enterprise got under way. The esteem in which the Samoans held Mr. Nelson culminated in their making him a chieftain, Afamasaga.
In New Guinea, he established wide connections in the copra trade, and dur ing the last war, he made his own ship ments direct to Denmark. In 1918 he was appointed agent in Sydney for the influ ential HSAG and other big German firms in New Guinea, until their expro
priated properties were sold. During this period he handled all the buying, etc., for shipments totalling sometimes over £30,000.
Mr. Nelson bought the original Rabaul Hotel when it was a three-room shack.
To-day, still under Nelson and Robert son management, it is one of the largest and best hotels in Western Pacific.
In his heyday, Mr. Nelson controlled, either by ownership or charter, a fleet of some 30 sailing ships, perhaps the best remembered being the graceful sailer, “City of Hankow”. After the war, when steam replaced sail in the Pacific, he relinquished most of his shipping busi ness, retaining only an interest in the Australian coastal trade.
An easy mixer, big physically as well as in kindness of heart, Ivan Nelson made a legion of friends throughout the South Seas, and the N. and R. office was always first “port of call” for dozens of Pacific planters and settlers who had shared his generous help and shrewd trading ability. Typical was his action in sending the “Upolu” around Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, loaded with food and supplies, when communication was cut off by the big NZ shipping holdup.
Apart from his Islands connections, Mr. Nelson was interested in world-wide timber, wheat and coal chartering—he sent Newcastle coal to USA during the great British strike. South America claimed his attention, too, and for very many years he was Vice-Consul in Syd ney for the Argentine.
Mr. Nelson, who was privately cre mated, is survived by his wife, Mrs. Mary Nelson, and two children, Mrs. Vera Gardner, and Mr. Norman Nelson (who now is in charge of Nelson and Robert son Pty. Ltd.).