treasures of
pp. 9-11 · Read in the full issue
Letters
Lost
Nan Madol
I was very interested to read of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu (PIM Oct p 26) and its new exhibition “Big Men, Chiefs and Mariners’’, represent ing “the traditional cultures of Melanesia, Polynesia and Micro nesia’’. But, at the same time, I was sorry to see for the Micro nesian section no mention was made of any artifacts from what is certainly one of the greatest monuments to the ancient civil isations of the Pacific the 11 square miles of basalt city and canals of Nan Madol on the island of Ponape in the Carolines.
My company, the Solaise Film
Group, Sydney, completed a 50-
minute documentary on Nan Madol in June this year. While in Ponape I learnt from the Historic Preservation Commission that a great many of the more valuable
and traditionally important
pieces (artifacts) found or plun dered over the last few hundred years lie in museums in Europe the Spanish, then the Ger mans, being the first Europeans to make contact with Ponape and to excavate the many tombs and ceremonial buildings of Nan Madol.
The Historic Preservation Commission has attempted over the years to retrieve some of these artifacts for their own museum, but to no avail. I won der if perhaps the Bishop Museum may be able to help, both for their own exhibition and Ponape’s. If indeed there is some help that could be offered the address is: Ponape Co-ordinator, Historic Preservation Commis sion, PO Box 275, Kolonia, State of Ponape, Eastern Caroline Islands, 96941.
Geoff Cleminson
(Solaise Film Group) Harbord NSW Australia
New hope for
Pacific archives
I enclose information on Parbica, the Pacific Regional Branch, In
temational Council on Archives.
My fellow Parbica Bureau mem bers and I have read your publi cation with interest and ap preciate the value it has in spreading information on hap penings in the area.
Parbica is an exciting develop ment for archives in the Pacific.
The inaugural conference and seminar in Suva late last year received encouraging support, with representatives from 14 dif ferent countries as well as a representative from UNESCO and from the International Coun cil on Archives. There were 30 participants for the training semi nar, and opportunity to meet and discuss common points of inter est was of great value. There is growing realisation that irrep laceable records of significant value are at risk, and it is essen tial that there should be attention paid to the preservation of arc hives in the region.
In July the four members of the bureau met in Rarotonga for an intensive week of discussions on planning a program for Parbi ca. The result is a draft five-year program. The opportunity to meet in Rarotonga to see archival holdings there and have discus sions on the spot was extremely useful.
It is hoped that a general meet ing and seminar for Pacific ar chivists will be held in 1983 possibly in Guam and plans are already under way. We must follow up the promising begin ning as soon as possible.
The first issue of the Parbica newsletter will be published soon. Good communication and exchange of information among Pacific archivists is crucial. The few archivists scattered through out the vast area feel very isolated and gain much from con tact with colleagues from other countries.
For the record, at the inaugural conference of Parbica in Suva, Alfred Wagner, Treasurer of ICA and Director of Archives, Bundesarchiv, West Germany, was the representative of ICA and adviser.
Official regional delegates at tending were as follows; Aust ralia: Bruce Bume, Public Re cords Office of Victoria; Lindsay Cleland, President, Australian
Big men, chiefs and mariners: In October PIM published details of a Pacific display in the Bishop Museum, Honolulu, a display referred to in a letter on this page. Now Robert Graham, who wrote the October article, has followed up with pictures of some of the exhibits. The figure at the top is a sacred ti’i, associated with ancestor and guardian worship in Tahiti. Above is a ceremonial mask from the Papuan Gulf area of Papua New Guinea. See page 11 for more pictures.
Society of Archivists. Cook Is lands. George Paniani, Acting Government Archivist. Fiji: Setareki Tuinaceva, Chief Ar chivist, National Archives.
Guam: Magdalena Taitano, Ter ritorial Librarian. Kiribati: Richard Overy, Director, Na tional Library and Archives.
Marshall Islands: Tamar Jordan, Head Librarian. New Zealand: Judith Homabrook, Chief Ar chivist, National Archives; dele gate, Archives and Records As sociation of New Zealand. Palau: Faustina Rehuher, Director, Be lau National Museum. Papua New Guinea: Richard Dandi, Deputy Chief Archivist, National Archives. Solomon Islands: R.G.A. Chesterman, Govern ment Archivist. Kingdom of Ton ga: Tuilokamana Tuita, Ministry of Education. Tuvalu: Kataloto Lopati, Librarian and Archivist, National Library and Archives.
Vanuatu: Willie Toa, Acting Government Archivist. Western Samoa: Rudolf Siemsen, Office of the Prime Minister.
Judith S. Hornabrook
(Treasurer, Parbica) Wellington North New Zealand As others see us ...
For your amusement in case you haven’t already seen it, I enclose a quote from your publication in
our Sports Illustrated, our fore most sports magazine.
Last Fall my wife and I visited World War II hunting grounds
Fiji, Guadalcanal, Espiritu San
to, Efate, New Caledonia, etc. It was a glorious trip in every re spect. During the voyage, we became acquainted with Bill and Carol Shamhart, who are sailing the Pacific in their yacht. Sham my. You ran a small article about them in one of your Fall 1981 issues, and I’d certainly ap
preciate having a photocopy of
your remarks for a scrapbook I am preparing on the trip. (Done,PIM.) I know this will take some effort on your part, but consider it the other side of “there is no such thing as a free lunch” contra my sending you the Sports Illustrated article!
You’ve got a great magazine. I
really enjoyed reading it when I
was out your way.
Bob Berger Jr
Harbor Springs Michigan
Usa
And the quote from
Pim?
Appearing in the column “Scorecard’’ by Sports Illus trated writer Robert W. Creamer under the heading “As others see us”, it said: Pacific Islands Monthly is a live ly little journal that covers doings in the islands of the Pacific, from
Tahiti to Fiji to New Caledonia to the Solomons. Sometimes the rest of the world seems a bit odd to the folks in those remote parts.
For example. Great Britain. A century ago Britain regularly sent missionaries to the islands to convert the heathen. Now, ac cording to the May 1982 issue of the Monthly, an ex-captain of Western Samoa’s rugby team, the Reverend Faitala Talapusi of the United Reformed Church, has gone to the English Midlands to bring Christianity to the popu lation there. “Basically, Britain is an irreligious country,’’ says Talapusi, and the Monthly points out that while 80 per cent of the people in Western Samoa active
ly practise Christianity, 80 per
cent of those in England never set foot in a church.
Nor does America get off un scathed. The same issue notes that two students from Samoana High School in American Samoa have won football scholarships to U.S. colleges. Moamoa Vaeao will attend the University of Hawaii and Taleni Wright will go to Arizona State, trying to emulate the football careers o£ such Samoan stars as Mosiula Tatupu and Wilson Faumuina “American ‘gridiron’,’’ com ments the Monthly, “like baseball, appears to be one of the main reasons why universities exist in the United States. Ability to play the game seems as much
an asset as brains when compet ing for a place in the university. ’ ’
Hmmm.
Micronesia book:
Not so free ...
Thank you very much for pub lishing John Carter’s From Trus teeship to .. .? Micronesia and Its Future (PIM Oct p 53).
The response to the book so far has been overwhelmingly posi tive, with orders coming in from all parts of Micronesia, the U.S., and internationally.
The review mentioned that the book is available gratis. I’m sure that the promotional flyer that listed the prices got separated from the book.
The prices in fact are as fol lows: Europe, Asia, Pacific: SUS4.SO (for surface), $6.50 (for airmail); U.S., Canada: $4.50 (for surface), $5.50 (for airmail); Micronesia: $3.50.
Giff Johnson
(Micronesia Support Committee).
Honolulu Hawaii
Usa
More pictures from the Pacific display at the Bishop Museum, Honolulu. At left is a mortuary ritual mask from New Ireland in Papua New Guinea. Above is the distinctive mask of the ta mate dancers of Vanikoro in the Solomon Islands.