PITCAIRN ISLANDERS’ LIFE

Press, Volume C, Issue 29536, 10 June 1961, Page 8

PITCAIRN ISLANDERS’ LIFE

Education Officer’s Two-year Stay Lying roughly 1400 miles east-south-east of Tahiti, and 3300 miles east-by-south of Suva, where its administrative headquarters are located, is the tiny volcanic island of Pitcairn. In the following article from the “South Pacific Bulletin,” the journal of the South Pacific Commission, Mr E. Schubert, who recently spent two years on the island as education officer, describes how the people live and are progressing steadily towards a more modern way of life.

For veers before my recent stay there, Pitcairn Island, the hideout and home of nine of tile famous Bounty mutineers, had greatly interested me and I had read eservthing I could find about it Unfortunately there was very little that was either up-to-date or authentic. The test and latest book was "The Story of Pitcairn Island,” printed in 1892. It was written by an islander. R salind Young. Such out-of-date material did not satisfy my interest, however, so when in 1957, I saw an advertisement for an education officer for that very Island I warted little time in submitting an application for the port. Little did I think, of course, that I would be fortunate enough to be chosen to fill the position for the next two years, but the unexpected does happen, and to me it did, this time. In January 1958, with my wife and son I prepared to leave my homeland of three million square miles for two years on Pitcairn's two square miles Pitcairn Island is a two square-mile volcanic outcrop situated in the South Pacific Ocean at latitude 25 degrees 01' south and longitude 130 degrees OS’ west. It is nearly 1400 miles east-south-east of Tahiti and over 3300 miles east by south of Suva, Fiji, its administrative headquarters. Captain Cartaret discovered and named it in 1767. when he crossed the Pacific in the Swallow. After the mutiny on the Bounty in 1789, nine of the mutineers with their Tahitian wives re-discovered it and made their home there. Mort of the present inhabitants are in some way descended from these original settlers. Landing Difficult Being volcanic. Pitcairn is e rugged island with steep cliffs around most of its perimeter. Many of the cliffs are capped with volcanic ash and tuff, the highest rising to an almost sheer 1100 feet. There is only one small and nearly inaccessible beach, so landing is difficult. The safest landing place is at Bounty Bay, a small cove on the north-east side of the island. Running down to the sea on all sides of the island are many eroded depressions known locally as “walleys.” Most of them are too small to be listed as valleys, but to the Pitcairner born and bred on such a minute island, the term is justified. Flat and rolling land would cover nearly 500 out of Pitcairn’s estimated total of 1120 acres. Mort of this is highly fertile, except for a deficiency in nitrogen .which has been somewhat remedied in recent years by the introduction of leguminous crops or the application of urea. When the Bounty mutineers settled here in 1790. Pitcairn must have been al-

meet completely covered with forest, but after 170 years of clearing and burning this has been reduced to a thin patch on the western tip of the island. Miro And Rata The only indigenous trees are miro and rata. The former of these trees is greatly valued for making wooden souvenirs, while the latter is much used for boat and house building. On the morning of the eighth day after sailing from Wellington we sighted Pitcairn, some 25 miles dirtant. It did not look at all inviting. As we rounded the northwestern tip of the island and moved towards Bounty Bay on the south-eastern side, three sailing boats glided gracefully out to meet our ship the Athenic. Before the ship had stopped completely they had moved alongside and were quickly secured by long ropes, while simultaneously 50 or 60 burly, barefooted islanders scrambled up the Jacob's ladder with the agility of jungle creatures. Not all of their clothing fitted well, but it all belonged to the present half of our century, and most of it was good quality with plenty of colour, especially in the young men’s shirts. A good half of tt.c men wore automatic watches, a luxury not yet enjoyed by as many outsiders Brisk Salesmen Within seconds of their arrival on deck, the islanders had their goods displayed and were briskly selling souvenirs and fruit to the ship’s passengers in a truly businesslike manner. Their souvenirs are hand-carved models of fish, birds, and turtles made by the men, and baskets, hats and fans made by the women. My visions of a community where cash was not desired or even needed soon faded. Some made a few shillings while others made pounds. Later I discovered that eight or 10 pounds was not out of reach of the best sale* people. As I left the ship and climbed down the Jacob’s ladder into a bobbing whaler boat I saw my family swung out over the ship’s side in a bosun’s ehai-r and slowly lowered towards the boat. I held my breath in fear and excitement. What a relief it was when I saw them landed safely in the bobbing boat! After the singing of the traditional songs at the ship’s side, the course for Bounty Bay was set. For the next two hours we tacked towards shore. Arriving off Bounty Bay. ail three boat crews downed sail and brought out rowlocks and oars. After a short wait for a "good time”—as a break between the breakers is called—the order to “pull ahead” set a dozen powerful

and skilled oarsmen straining a* their oars.

A short swift pull brought s aground in Bounty Bay.

There was no jetty or gangplank, eo when a brawny pair of shoulders was offered I rode pick-a-back fashion and was soon set safely on Pitcairn’s rocky shore. Two Motor-boats When we landed I was surprised to find that Pitcairn had two motor boats. The larger—then under repair after four years of work—was powered by a 30 h.p. diesel engine and was capable of towing two of the island’s whaleboats at a time. The engineers were • islanders trained by a fanner missionary who was an engineer. In 1958 the islanders built a second boat 27ft long and installed a 12 h.p. petrol engine in it. Small and light items of cargo were unloaded on the shoulders of the islanders but heavy goods were landed with a manually-operated derrick which had been only recently installed. After over 160 years of hand loading and unloading this was a great step forward, and greatly appreciated. When all cargo is unloaded the boats are pulled up into the boatsheds by a winch driven by an ancient diesel engine. In spite of much tugg ing, jerking and greet noise, this ancient equipment did the job with much less effort than nineteenths century conditions would have required. Visit To Village The village is some 250300 ft above sea level, and to get there we had to climb a one-in-three track to “The Edge" las the ledge around the island is called) and there rest. A flying-fox, built at the same time as the radio station in 1944, brought all • articles of less than 400 pounds up to “The Edge.” When we walked through Adamstown as the village is called, further evidence of progress appeared. The traditional bamboo house with thatched roof was absent, and in its place were timber homes with glass windows and galvanised iron roofs. The church was even more modem, being of concrete bricks. The village square, around which are the church, dispensary, post office and courthouse. I found had been recently cemented. All of these buildings are lit with electricity. I later found that there were six or seven privatelyowned generating plants all supplying a number of consumers. and this explained the need for the great tangle of electricity wires that crisscrossed the Island streets. Hardly a home on Pitcairn is without electricity. A further maze of wires proved to be the telephone system, a party line connecting the whole village. Each home had its own call sign, it

usually being the morse code signal for the first letter of the subscriber’s name. While the type of “’phone” used is approaching museum status in more progressive countries, for Pitcairn it proved a great blessing, and far more efficient than any known form of “coconut radio.” Stamp Collectors It is most fortunate for the Island that there are millions of stamp collectors in the world, for it is from the sale of stamps that the island gets most of its Government revenue. In 1940 the first Pitcairn Island stamps were put on sale, and they were soon in great demand. By 1948 the accumulated revenue was sufficient to build and equip a fine modern school and residence for the schoolmaster, and to pay his salary and those of minor Island officials. Since the completion of the school in 1949, Pitcairn has had a Government - paid schoolmaster. Up until then it was always an islander or mission teacher who controlled the school. The school, is well equipped. By the end of 1959 when my term was completed, it was equipped with piano, duplicator, sewing machine, record player, typewriter, 16 mm. movie and 35 mm. slide projectors. In addition there was a good library and yearly provision for extension. None that I have seen in Australia. New Zealand or Fiji approaches this school in quality and variety of equipment for 30 pupils. Secondary education was introduced to Pitcairn in 1957, when correspondence courses from the New Zealand Correspondence School were introduced. Three girls completed a secondary course under the stipervision of the education officer. This was’ a big step forward, and each year since there have been students doing secondary courses. For six montihs before my arrival I had not been to the cinema, but my first night on Pitcairn changed that. It was the beginning of a run of picture screenings that helped me to catch up on the last 10 years. I attended an average of three a fortnight. Full-length feature films were not regularly screened, but at least six a year were shown. The majority were of an educational type, either from the British Council in Suva, or the Central Office of Information, London. Still Popular On Pitcairn all pictures are popular and any that had a strong appeal were screened two or three times. "Mutiny On The Bounty” wag shown at least five times, and was still popular. The Pitcairn Islanders are not «ble to indulge in the twentieth century habit of riding everywhere in a car.

but still gain a little of the spirit by introducing outboard motors to drive their fishing canoes. Up until 1958 it was either sail or an oar that provided the power but now sails are going mouldy in a corner while an outboard does the work. For some of the younger! men spear-gun fishing is thej new craze. They can spear j twice as many as they can' hook, so its popularity is understandable. Agriculture on Pitcairn Island follows much the same pattern as on other South Sea islands, with major subsistence crops being mainly starchy. Sweet potatoes <kumaras in local parlance), yams, taro and breadfruit are all grown. Bananas grow wild in the valleys, while pawpaws and citrus are scattered in small patches over much of the island. Citrus fruits grow particularly well. Most common vegetables are now grown, with tomatoes, beans, cabbages and lettuce the most popular. Only very small quantities of Pitcairn agricultural products are exported, most; being bartered on the ships that call at the island. Bananas, oranges and pawpaws are most popular tor the latter purpose. Small quantities of yams, kumaras. taro and oranges are exported to New Zealand, mostly for Islanders resident ’ there. Voyage To Oeno Once a year the islanders go to Oeno, a tiny coral island 75 miles north-north-west of Pitcairn. They go mainly for coconuts and fish, but also for coral and clam shells. This journey is made in an open boat, and usually under sail. One of the motor-boats is taken along just in case the wind fails, when it can tow the other boats. In 1959 my wife, son and I went on this trip. Camp was set up on the coral sands under the coconut palms. A week was spent in fishing, gathering coral and clam shells and coconuts. The surplus fish were salted down to be used later. The coconuts hadn’t been touched tor more than a year, so were plentiful The -corals and clam shells gathered were to be sold as souvenirs on the ships that call at the island. The coral is usually dyed and the clam shells painted with a floral motif and the words "Pitcairn Island.” This type of souvenir is merely a sideline, as the major cash business is from carvings and woven ware. As far as household goods and personal effects are concerned. Pitcairn is not backward. In every home I found at least one sewing machine, while many have refrigerators. A few have washing machines. Steam irons are common, as are radios. Cameras are not uncommon, either, but tape recorders and projectors are limited to the fortunate three or four. In church, the little girls wear frilly nylon frocks and sandals or shoes, while the boys prefer jeans. The adults have few if any tailor-made suits or dresses, but all have ample, good quality, clean clothing. Shoes and sandals are becoming increasingly popular.