Mauri! My name
is Ken Sigrah and I’m a Banaba currently here in
Australia writing a book on behalf of the Te Aka, Te Maiu,
Te Karieta and the Teinamoriki Clans. I have been partly
sponsored by Manabu Kitaguchi and the Society Branch in
Japan. Some of the Society members know me from the
‘Homecoming’ Trip. I, as a Banaban hope my book will
help my people restore their culture and dignity.
It is a great privilege
for me to write this article for the December Issue. The
writing of this book is of great importance to the future
of the young Banaban generation in respect to our history,
culture and customs.
I also feel so honoured
to acknowledge to our readers, that I will be the first
Banaban to write on Banaban issues from a Banaban point of
view. Thus the reason for my visit to Australia.
I acknowledge the support
of the four Clans mentioned in my opening paragraph, and
the help of dependent friends and relatives, in the
undertaking of this very necessary duty. Also, I would
like to thank my late Elders and those who are still on
Rabi, for being my teachers. I have been in training as a
Clan Spokesman since I was 14 years old. Since then I’ve
been attending-general Clan meetings, and believe that
this knowledge of Banaban Culture should be recorded and
kept for guidelines, for the future generations.
Unfortunately, previous
writings about the Banabans has been confusing and
inaccurate in relation to true Banaban history, culture
and customs. This, only served to make me more determined
to write about what I have learnt from my Elders. This
written record will take away the confusion and correct
the mistakes of the past, before it is too late.
The three hour flight
from Nadi to Brisbane brought me to a different land, with
different cultures. It will stand out as a great
experience in my life, as will the people I have met and
still yet to meet in Australia. A lot of Banaban history
is stored in the Archives in Canberra, Australia’s
capital city.
Another Adventure Begins
FRIDAY 7th. of November
was the most exciting day of my visit to Australia which
marks the beginning of my ‘great Aussie’ tour to
Canberra with Stacey as host for this trip. We spent
three-quarters of the day travelling from the Gold Coast
to the New South Wales town of Taree and left again at 3am
the next morning in order to pick up Manabu Kitaguchi by
10am who was arriving at Sydney’s International Airport
on a flight from Tokyo.
We had a good time in
Sydney quickly sight-seeing and visiting the famous land
marks like the Harbour bridge, the tunnel under the
harbour and the Sydney Opera House, which brought back
fond memories of my last visit to Australia in 1972 as a
member of the Banaban Cultural Dance group who performed
at the Opera House Opening Celebrations. Manabu was also
keen to take some video footage of Nauru House and it took
us over 2 frustrating hours to finally locate the building
in the maze of one-way streets that run through the heart
of Sydney’s business district. By 1.30pm Saturday we
left Sydney heading south for Australia’s Capital City
of Canberra.
We arrived in Canberra
with our mighty VW - ‘spitting the dummy’, an Aussie
expression which means in my society as ‘spitting her
guts out!’ This happened because Stacey and Manabu had
pushed her so hard for the past 1,350 klms in 22 hours of
driving. It was in the middle of the Capital’s first set
of city traffic lights that our beloved VW conked out. To
my surprise and joy I was given the honour of the day by
our host to push our poor VW off the busy street to give
way to the other motorists.
I was so proud to have
Manabu as my assistant to execute the honour - what a way
to go. To see people driving past with such beautiful
broad smiles makes me wonder if people thought that we had
been pushing our VW, with Stacey at the wheel from where
we came from. Maybe it was a good sight for the people of
Canberra to see three different nationalities crammed into
a tiny, overloaded VW beetle. Anyway, the smiles were a
most acknowledged Aussie welcome, so I am told.
It was at Canberra Motor
Inn that we set camp with Manabu christening our
12’x12’ tent as our Banaban Heritage Society
International Headquarters in Canberra.
A Wonderful Discovery Awaited Me
In Canberra
SUNDAY 9th. of November
was spent in a bit of a panic finding a mechanic to look
at our ailing VW. Our first appointments had already been
arranged for 10am the next morning, and we needed our car.
After the assistance of a local mechanic, who couldn’t
stop scratching his head in wonderment when he heard of
the journey we had been through. Apparently the VW was
down to her last two cylinders, and he couldn’t work out
how the car had even made it’s way to his workshop.
The mechanic disappeared
under the car and began tinkering and tapping away. Stacey
conveniently had disappeared not wanting to see her car in
it’s final death throws. A nervous Manabu and I stood
by, waiting for the final verdict. Suddenly a large burst
of black smoke coughed out of the exhaust and the engine
began to rev.
Somehow, Stacey had once
again pulled off one of her so called ‘miracles’,
(like some of our readers will remember on the recent
‘Homecoming’) Even the mechanic stood back in awe and
amazement as he told Stacey - ‘You must be blessed!’
How could Manabu and I
tell him that after pulling off taking a leaking boat
across the Pacific on mostly one engine, a trip aboard our
sick VW was nothing. Just another one of Stacey’s
seemingly endless adventures.
MONDAY 10th. of November
saw the happy start to a very exciting day. Fellow Society
Member - Ewan Maidment from the Pacific Manuscript Bureau,
at the ANU in Canberra had helped set up and arrange all
our appointments. We met him at his office on time by 10am
to a very warm greeting from him and his assistants -
Monica and Peter.
When Stacey had first
arranged the Canberra visit some months back she had
contacted Ewan to ask his help in trying to locate files
and material she believed might be stored at the ANU
relating to the archaeological dig of my Clan’s sacred
village site back on Banaba - Te Aka.
From Stacey’s talks
with Ewan he became fascinated with the story of what had
happened and went on a personal search on our behalf to
see what he could locate. We had already received the
exciting news from Ewan before leaving the Gold Coast that
he had not only recovered the whole Te Aka file and report
but also numerous artefacts and two skeletal remains were
also in storage at the ANU.
But what was more
exciting for us was the fact that Ewan had advised the
department of our visit and arrangements had been made for
Dr. Lampert who had led the dig in 1965, and was now
retired to Moss Vale in New South Wales to come to
Canberra to meet up with us.
At this stage I would
like to express my gratitude to Stacey and Ewan for
arranging everything for me and setting up such meetings
that would be some of the highlights of my life.
It was great to meet with
Dr. Lampert and hear his first hand accounts of what he
discovered at my village. Also the fact that he never
realised the importance of the site, or the fact that
after he completed the dig, that the actual mining of the
site ended up being abandoned. For all he knew, Te Aka now
didn’t exist. (Look to page 10 for Ewan’s article in
this month’s issue of PAMBU magazine regarding our
Canberra visit)
At my meeting with Dr.
Lampert I also met Prof. Jack Golson who had been Head of
the Archaeology & Natural History, RSPAS, at ANU and
the main organiser of the Te Aka dig all those years ago
in co-operation with the Bishop Museum. What a moment it
was for me when unexpectedly Prof. Golson officially
handed back our sacred artefacts and remains to me for
return to my people. Their research over the years had
shown the relics to be dated between 300 - 400 years.
Dr. Lampert offered to do
a forward for my book and Prof. Golson agreed to write a
conclusion for me, to recount the return of these precious
items to our people. There is nothing more I could have
asked for, except that I now feel this gesture will help
the future look brighter for my people.
Bringing History to Life
TUESDAY the 11th. Nov saw
us off to the Australian National Library where we
researched on articles until lunch time. We continued our
work at the ANU Library photo-copying the essential
documents we could access, mostly the Ellis diary.
WEDNESDAY the 12th. Nov
had us visiting the Australian Archives, and another high
light of my Canberra visit. To see Manabu and Stacey
working together without a break that morning was just the
inspiration I needed, and some thing I will always admire.
At 4pm Stacey had
arranged for me to meet the seemingly ageless couple -
Honor & Harry Maude at their residence. I was so
pleased to seem them both is good health despite both
being in their 90’s.
What amazed me so much
was when Stacey introduced me to Harry and explained I was
from the Te Aka clan he immediately began speaking to me
in Gilbertese and started to tell me about my clan
history.
To have the wonderful
experience to sit down with Harry and talk about such
important issues in relation to Banaban history and what
he had written over the years. It was only while speaking
with him that I began to understand the full extent of
what he had tried to achieve through his writings,
especially in his last book the 'BOOK OF BANABA', which
our people find very controversial.
He answered so many of my
questions that are relevant for my research on my book I
am writing about our people’s history, especially our
clan - Te Aka, the indigenous people of Banaba. The most
important information of our discussion was tape recorded
by Stacey, a copy of which will be made and sent back to
my clan elders back on Rabi.
After such an
enlightening two hours spent with the Maude’s we sadly
bid ‘Ti akabo’, with Harry promising to write a
‘Forward’ for my book.
On FRIDAY 14th. November
I had the pleasure of meeting Robert Langdon at the ANU.
Robert or Bob as he is known ignited the Banaban’s
British Court case by writing the article titled
‘Scandalous Document’ in 1967, while editor for the
Pacific Island Monthly.
The pleasure in meeting
these people was very overwhelming. I can’t say more,
but my personal ‘Kam bati Raba’ (thank you very much)
for making my trip to Canberra a memorable and profitable
one, I will never forget.
Experiencing Real Aussie Bush
Hospitality
We left Canberra and made
our way back to the Gold Coast via the New South Wales
country town of Tamworth, to meet up with a fellow society
member Alan Macarthy and his family. The Macarthy family
hosted us in Tamworth, and even arranged for their local
news media to interview us on Banaban issues. This was an
exciting experience. (see news clipping no. 17) Another
valuable chance to promote my people and our culture.
We were joined by Grant,
who had flown up from Sydney to meet up with us during our
stay. Grant and Alan are working on writing a book on
Pacific Coastwatcher history.
Our 2 day stopover with
Alan and his family was a real first hand experience for
both Manabu and myself. It was my first real taste of what
is called Australian country hospitality, and a big lesson
in how not to drink so much Aussie beer.
Building New Friendships After
The Legacy of War
Poor Manabu had arrived
with a very bad back ache after being crammed in the back
of the VW with all the luggage. Manabu’s visit was also
a very big occasion for Alan as it was Alan’s first time
to personally meet with a Japanese person. (Look to
Alan’s ‘Feature Story’ page on the family’s
tragedy of his uncle being executed as a Coastwatcher
during WW2.) Through the Society Alan had heard and read
so much about Manabu’s efforts to educate the Japanese
public about the War years, and Alan wanted to meet him.
It was great to see the two of them busy chatting away,
and Alan showing Manabu all his research material on
Pacific Coastwatcher history.
To see them laughing
together and warmly shaking each others hand made me
realise what the Banaban Heritage Society was all about.
Bringing people together - not just us Banabans, but
people from all different backgrounds who shared a common
interest and more importantly genuinely cared for others.
We finally said
‘farewell’ on Monday afternoon and once again hit the
road. We arrived back at the Gold Coast around 10.30pm,
very tired and wasted physically, but well and happy in
spirit.
On SATURDAY 22nd.
November we said another ‘ti akabo’ to our good friend
Manabu from Brisbane Airport. Another adventure had come
to an end, safely and with such wonderful results.
Learning More Than I Bargained
For
I’m now busy working on
the actual writing of my book, and learning to try and
adjust to western Society here in Australia. The
technology here is amazing and Stacey is hoping to teach
me how to use the computer. Meanwhile she also has me busy
answering the mountain of mail she receives especially
over the INTERNET - another amazing aspect of new technology.
A Heartfelt Experience
As I look back now on my
great experiences in Canberra and since arriving here in
Australia, I begin to understand that my attitude to life
as a Banaban now seems different. As a younger generation
of Banaban, born and raised in Rabi I always felt the
burden of our people’s past history. Now I’m convinced
that I have suffered and looked at my life from a
‘Victim’s’ point of view, which every other Banaban
also feels. As I have learnt from another great Aussie
expression - I have carried ‘a great chip on my
shoulder’. It is time that we must no longer keep
feeling sorry for ourselves - (Another reason why I feel
so strongly about the change to our new Society Logo). We
as Banabans can achieve so much for our people in the
future, it is up to each of us to make a difference. We
can not change what has been done to us in the past, only
work towards a better future: building new friendships and
addressing the problems our community faces in today’s
modern world.
I also realise that we
Banabans need support from our network of friends world
wide. (A big thank you to all those who have contributed
over the past years in helping our people.) The Canberra
trip showed me what we could achieve when we all put our
heads down and worked together. A valuable lesson I hope I
will be able to share with my people in future years.
So here ends my story -
until the next adventure!
Copyright Ken Sigrah, Dec,
1997
