The first permanent German presence in Kieta, Bougainville, began with the establishment of a Marist mission in 1901, followed by an official German colonial administrative office in 1905 to oversee the region. They would have seen, steaming into the deep natural harbour, beautiful green hills and beyond the hills, trees in rich green foliage.
The Germans planted most of the coconut trees that are still standing today and introduced the first variety of cacao trees. Together coconut and cocoa were the mainstay of plantation economy since WW1. Since then and now both tree crops continue to remain the major earners for Bougainville, largely benefiting local small holder farmers.
Kieta has always been a picturesque shoreline with pristine coral reefs along its shores and the deep and beautiful harbour, protected by Bakawari (Pokpok Island).
During World War 2, Kieta was a squabbling ground for the Allied forces and the Japanese.
By the end of the 1950s, Kieta had more expatriates than any town on Bougainville – mostly Australian colonial administration staff headed by the District Commissioner. There was also Australian war veteran managers of these old German plantations, rewarded in Bougainville with running and living off these plantations as business as a reward for serving in Allied forces in the Second World War. These plantations in central Bougainville are along the eastern seaboard from Numanuma in the north to Toimanapu in central Bougainville.
German planted plantations are also located elsewhere, in north and south Bougainville.
In the early ’60s, the colonial administration’s Bougainville District headquarters moved from Sohano Island near Buka to Kieta. Sohano has its own rich war and colonial history preserved in books and memories. Kieta offered a more central location for the administration with more land for expansion and the attractive and useful natural harbour.
Lumber workers who set up a big sawmill inland from Aropa airport did thriving business, swelling the numbers of this small but beautiful township, which became adept at organising itself around a range of festivities and events.
Such festivities included a very colourful festival on Her Majesty the Queen’s birthday holiday every June, ANZAC Day marches in April and the New Year’s welcome with activities organised by the District Commissioner, known to everyone here as Mr Dennehy.
The residents of Kieta’s Chinatown, together with Chinese communities in Buka and Kangu, made up the single largest non-indigenous population in Bougainville. On their part the Chinese forte was business and commerce. The commodities they traded included copra, trochus shells, green snails related to trochus (from the sea) and beche de mer (mostly for domestic consumption).
As far as festivities were concerned, the big bang was at New Year when Kieta Chinatown’s six or seven trade stores would let off firecrackers that could be heard from the village on Pokpok Island. We joined in, purchasing crackers in anticipation of this day. In those days firecrackers were readily available as other merchandise over the counter at Chinese trade stores.
The main man in Chinatown’s community was the emblematic Wong Yu. Wong Yu had shops in Buka and Kieta; his children grew up around these shops before they ventured out on their own.
The three mainline churches added to the number of local activities, contributing to both religious and development fervour in the area, running schools and health centres. The robed clergy, as well as the laity and local volunteers, were conspicuous in many aspects of missionary work.
Kieta started to grow, perhaps for the better, with the building of Aropa airport and the introduction of TAA DC-3s from mainland New Guinea and East New Britain. TAA’s DC-3s replaced the Qantas Catalina sea plane, which came into service after WW2, bringing in mail and supplies, mostly for the expatriate population.
One of my most vivid memories growing up in the village on Pokpok Island, facing Kieta across the water, was seeing the big Catalina sea plane flying in and making its sea-surface landings, stopping by a big red buoy for mail and passengers to be delivered and collected. It was quite a spectacle we children enjoyed. We tried to race the sea plane along the village beach as it landed or took off.
In its colonial heyday, Kieta had a primary school, the Kieta Hotel, the Kieta Club and much later the Davara Hotel in Toniva. Kieta had a well-manned police station, a native hospital and a government wharf.
Before the wharf was built, overseas ships used to anchor deep in the harbour. All cargo – from building materials to merchandise to vehicles and machinery – was brought to land by putting together two boats and loading the gear on timber platforms. All back-cargo from coconuts, cacao to rubber was brought to ships on large hull boats towed by small boats. Of the big cargo boats that called in, Tulagi and Malaitawere most familiar.
Plantation labourers manually carted all the produce. Stevedoring on the ships was mostly done by folks brought over from Saposa Island, complemented by a small number from Pokpok. The MV Saposa, captained by the enigmatic Mr Wickham of English-Solomon Islands extraction was a nice boat that steamed to Kieta whenever the cargo ships called. I had the fortune of boarding the Saposa with my old man, who had some role in picking men for stevedoring, supporting those brought from Buka by the Saposa.
The shipping and exports added to the number of businesses that started to emerge after the Kieta wharf was built.
The mainstay of Catholic education in Bougainville was St Joseph’s Marist Brothers High School at Rigu.
There was a predominance of Catholic, Methodist and Seventh Day Adventist churches, which played major roles in education and shaping society before colonial government services really took hold.
My own youthful fascination with Kieta was interrupted by my departure from Kieta Primary School at the end of 1963 to attend the final year of primary education at Kangu (later Buin) Primary School.
Thus began a journey away from home.
Looking back, it was opportune that I attended and completed my Grade 5 in Kieta Primary ‘T’ School, a colonial government school, as opposed to a mission school nearby. I say opportune because, had I gone to St Joseph Marist nearby, my old man knew I would have run away to the lure of a very comfortable village life nearby on the island, like other island boys before and after me did. He often said to me if I didn’t go to St Joseph I could go elsewhere, to Kangu, Buin and still stay in school.
With the coming of CRA and Rio Tinto, t at Kieta started to change – slowly, but it seemed almost overnight.
A satellite town emerged in Toniva. The local hospital was moved from Kieta to Arawa, attracted by the exploration and construction of the Panguna mine.
The Kieta Open War Memorial contains Japanese war wrecks and relics and a memorial grave to Chief Barosi of Sirovai, who was beheaded on site during WW2. The graveyard and memorial still serve as witness to the vagaries of a war the locals had nothing to do with but suffered a lot because of it.
Kieta has outlived its own history.
Perhaps its epitaph could read something like: Chief Barosi’s head lies buried here today. It was removed by a samurai sword and fell. Queen Emma eloped near here and saw a small hill she claimed for herself near Toborai plantation. The first Catholics were converted just across the harbour on Pokpok Island. One of the casualties of the Bougainville crisis, MV Cosmaris, lies sunk by Kieta wharf. Before Loloho port was built, Kieta wharf was the gateway to Panguna, handling all shipping and cargo.
Where do you stop? And where do you start? A town’s history does not really have a clear beginning or end.
There is a lot of history in and around this once-popular harbour town. Sadly, like much of Bougainville, its past is rarely recalled.
Perhaps some of the past for which Kieta ought to be remembered is not recorded in history texts because it’s held in the heads and hearts of the people of Bougainville.
Let it not be lost.
QANTAS Catalina after landing in Kieta Harbour
You must be logged in to post a comment.