Echoes of Pacific War

ECHOES of Pacific War Edited by Deryck Scarr, Niel Gunson, Jennifer Terrell Echoes of Pacific War Edited by Deryck Scarr, Niel Gunson, Jennifer Terrell Papers from the 7th Tongan History Conference held in Canberra in January 1997 TARGET OCEANIA CANBERRA 1998 © Deryck Scarr, Niel Gunson, Jennifer Terrell 1998 This work is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Book and cover design by Jennifer Terrell Printed by ANU Printing and Publishing Service ISBN 0-646-36000-0 Published by TARGET OCEANIA c/ o Division of Pacific and Asian History Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies Australian National University Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia Contents Maps and Figures v Fo reword ix Introduction xiii 1 Behind the battle lines: Tonga in World War II EUZABETHWOOD-EILEM 1 2 Changing values and changed psychology of Tongans during and since World War II 'I. F. HELU 26 3 Airplanes and saxaphones: post-war images in the visual and peiforming arts ADRIENNE L. KAEPPIER 38 4 Tonga and Australia since Wo rld War II GARETH GRAINGER 64 5 New behaviours and migration since Wo rld War II SIOSIUA F. POUVALU LAFITANI 76 6 The churches in Tonga since World War II JOHN GARRE'IT 87 7 Introduction and development of fa mily planning in Tonga 1958-1990 HENRY IVARATURE 99 8 Analysing the emergent mi ddle class - the 1990s KERRY JAMES 110 9 Changing interpretations of the kava ritual MEREDITH FILIHIA 127 10 How To ngan is a Tongan? Cultural authenticity revisited HELEN MORTON 149 Bibliograp hy 167 Index 173 Contributors 182 Maps Map 1: TheTonga Islands vii Map 2: Tongatapu 5 Map 3: Nuku'alofa 10 Figures Figure 1. Prince We llington Nga 's Band, 1884 43 Fig ure 2. 'Fuiva-'o-Fangatapu' string band with a saxophone 44 Fig ure 3. Ngatu with Hala Paini design 45 Figure 4. Ngatu with Sisi maile o Tugi designshowing Spitjires 46 Fig ure 5. British Sp itji re named 'Queen Salote' purchasedfor the British by the people of Tonga 53 Figure 6. Tapa'i ngatu with Koe Sisi o Pilinisi Tungi design showing Spitji res 54 Figure 7. Ngatu with Sisi maile o Tungi design showing Sp itjires 55 Figure 8. Ngatu with Hala Paini designshow ing P-38 Lightning airplane 56 Figure 9. Detail of P-38 Lightning 57 Fig ure 10. Lockheed P-38 Lightning 58 Figure 11. Barkcloth child's dress with Spitfires 61 Figure 12. Reverse showing Sila design 62 Interviewee's mental map 118 0 17� w 0 50 If 1 I It NIUAFO'OU kilometres TAFAHI, 0 LATE NIUATOPUTAPU _J - ... : : KAO (�j <�/ 0 TOFUA 0) TONGATAPU f- ;��:( 0 50 I I kilometres 175° i MAP 1: The Tonga Islands Foreword By H.R.H. Prince 'Ulukalala Lavaka Ata THE FIRST TONGAN HISTORY CONFERENCE (in January 1987) was planned initially as a workshop attended by six or seven Tongans and papalangi studying Tongan history and already in Canberra on fellowships or scholarships. Then word got out, and people from Tonga, the United States, New Zealand and all over Australia asked if they could come. In the end, 45 people met in Canberra forfour days. People who attended that conference tell me that the first meeting was marked by the exceptional good feeling, generosity and comradeship of people working together and helping each other in the common cause of studying the history and anthropology of Tonga. That friendliness was its first tradition. The Tongan History Association was formed at a conference in Foa, in 1989, with H.R.H. Princess Pilolevu as its patron and the late Rev. Dr Sione Latukefu as its president, a position Sione held until his death in 1995. The reason forthese conferences is to exchange knowledge. Participants are thus building upon a Tongan tradition that goes back for as long as people have lived in Tonga. Tongans have always told stories, for entertainment and to pass on knowledge about the past. Knowledge of the techniques of canoe building, fishing, planting and so on, were passed on from one generation to another - very likely in a narrative form - by women and men who had acquired the knowledge from those who had lived before them. Women and men living in Tonga who had the skill of storytelling must have been valued members of Tonga's past, for they not only entertained the chiefs by commenting on historical events (making jokes and issuing challenges), but they were also preseivers of traditional knowledge. An example of the preseivation of tradition is the narrative of genealogies, not mere lists of names and descent, but also of the passing of power from one line to another, of alliances of one kainga with another. Genealogies may be compared with guide books and etiquette books for they determine the contemporary privileges and obligations of individuals in relation to each other as derived from the past. Traditions are not static. They change and these changes in themselves become new traditions. When writing was introduced to Tonga by the papalangi, new possibilities were opened up, which were seized with alacrity by chiefs and people alike. x ECHOES OF PACIFIC WAR Very soon, as well as reading the texts given to the Tongans by their missionary teachers, the Tongans began to create their own texts; genealogy books and the narratives of the villages, tales explaining events in the past and an enormous outflowof poetry and songs which perpetuate stories about the past and present. Writing became a new Tongan tradition. And in their writings the Tongans preserved not only the words but the very nuances of Tongan thought, especially the use of heliaki, that veryTongan form of metaphor. Some of the stories written down by Tongans were shared with papalangi friends, who put them into books, where the names of the storytellers are recorded along with their narratives, most notably in the books put together by Gifford and Collocott. Radio, television and now the Internet can also aid tradition, being ways in which knowledge can be passed on to new generations. The late Queen Salote understood very well the value of tradition, and the way it cemented together her people and helped them to preserve their identity in an increasingly intrusive world. Queen Salote followed the old tradition of narrative and exhortation, for she was a notable orator. She also used the new tradition of writing when, as a very young woman, she began recording old customs, stories, and genealogies in order to preserve them for the future. She continued the old tradition of creative storytelling by writing her own stories in poetic form. The Queen understood that making a record of the past was a task she could not do solely on her own, and she approved a proposal from Parliament that a Tongan Traditions Committee (Komiti Tala Fakafonua) be set up to mark her 50th birthday. In thanking the members of Parliament, she said: customs and traditions have always been practised and preserved by certain loyal families and individuals, but it is particularly pleasing to me that the matter of their permanent recording and publication in a form which would lead to a more widespread knowledge of them and a more general observance of them should have been brought before the House for amore serious discussion and I appreciate such a gesture and regard it as a further step forward towards the preservation of Tonga's national identity. The Queen loved traditions for their own sake, but she gave three practical reasons for setting up the Tonga Traditions Committee. The first was that there were a number of cases in the Land Court that could be settled only if genealogies were available. The second was to make easier the collecting of materials for a history of Tonga, which would include her own reign. The third task for the Tonga Traditions Committee was to set up a museum and a library for the collection and preservation of artefacts and records. So the Tonga Traditions Committee was set up in 1954 with the Queen as the chairperson and the noble Ve'ehala (Leilua) as the Secretary. Notable members were Feleti Vi, Valu and Havili Hafoka. The committee employed people to go around the villages and collect information from the old people. Foreword xi People were also employed to hide behind trees and take notes when the taumafa kava was being filmed during the Great Lo'au of 1959. Some of the people employed by the Committee went on to do their own research and writing. The names of some of these are familiar to us! Sione Lato.kefu, Tupou Posesi Fanua, Elizabeth Bott Spillius. The writers here are building on the work they have done, just as others will build on their work. Queen Salote understood not only the value of traditions but how traditions could be adapted to the present. One example was the 'new traditional' Tongan dress. In earlier days, the Queen explained, the wearing of certain clothes and the way of wearing hair were an indiction of one's rank and of one's virginity or lack of it. The chiefs knew which ta'ovala to wear on which special occasion. But this changed in the 19th century, for imported cotton was a more durable and practical material forclothing than tapa made from bark cloth. Cotton had to be paid for, so for a long time the wearing of papalangi clothes indicated chiefly status. It may have been at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in June 1953 that Queen Salote realised the value of distinctive Tongan dress.

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