{{Short description|Legal document establishing Fijian independence}} thumb|Instruments of Independence 1970 {{History of Fiji}}
The '''Instruments of Independence''' is a legal document that established Fiji's independence from the United Kingdom in 1970, when it was handed over by Prince Charles on behalf of the British Monarch on 10 October.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Constitutional history of Fiji |url=https://constitutionnet.org/country/fiji |access-date=2024-05-17 |website=ConstitutionNet |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Constitutional Documents [Cap 1] |url=https://www.paclii.org/fj/legis/consol_act_OK/cd283/ |access-date=2024-05-17 |website=www.paclii.org}}</ref>
The document was lost by the National Archives of Fiji and the Fijian Government requested a copy of the document retained by the United Kingdom in 2010.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2010-10-19 |title=Who, what, why: What happens when a country loses its 'birth certificate'? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-11565853 |access-date=2024-05-17 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-10-15 |title=Fiji 'loses' independence document |url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/fiji-loses-independence-document-20101015-16nd7.html |access-date=2024-05-17 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}</ref> It had been missing since at least 2005.<ref>{{Cite web |title=FIJI: Key independence document missing on 40th anniversary celebration {{!}} Pacific Media Centre |url=https://pmcarchive.aut.ac.nz/pacific-media-watch/fiji-key-independence-document-missing-40th-anniversary-celebration-7065.html |access-date=2024-05-17 |website=pmcarchive.aut.ac.nz}}</ref>
The Prime Minister's Office was unsure whether they held the document, and Fiji Museum Director Sagale Buadromo told the Fiji Live news service on 26 January 2006 that it was not and had never been in their possession.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}} Government Archivist Setareki Tale said it was possible that the then-Governor-General, Sir Robert Sidney Foster, had returned the document to the United Kingdom - but that was only conjecture. {{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}
The document was recovered at the National Archives of Fiji in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 April 2014 |title=Fijian Government recovers Instruments of Independence |url=https://www.fiji.gov.fj/Media-Centre/News/FIJIAN-GOVERNMENT-RECOVERS-INSTRUMENTS-OF-INDEPEND |access-date= |website=Fiji Government}}</ref> The Acting Principal Archivist Timoci Balenaivalu said in 2020 that it was found during a stock take, and that it was not missing, but was not recorded in the Archives' inventory during a transfer of records.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Archivist: Fiji's Independence Order Was Never Missing |url=https://fijisun.com.fj/2020/08/07/archivist-fijis-independence-order-was-never-missing/ |access-date=2024-05-17 |website=fijisun.com.fj |language=en-US}}</ref> Fiji Category:1970 in Fiji Category:October 1970 in Oceania == References == <references /> {{Fiji-stub}} {{Oceania-hist-stub}}