Simon Teave Salopuka
MD and Executive Director, Vaka Valo Association, Solomon Islands

Members of the Vaka Valo Association on Taumako island, one of the Solomon Islands in the Western Pacific, still build authentic canoes called Tepuke and Tealolili and sail them using ancient navigational methods. Voyaging in these traditional canoes was once popular in this remote part of the Santa Cruz island group, now part of Temotu Province. Inter-island trading, networking and partnership, and resource reciprocity with the neighboring islands of Reef, Taumako, Veakau, Santa Cruz, Utupua, and Vanikoro was key to livelihood and sustainability. Taumako voyagers travelled far as Tikopia, Anuta, Rennel, and Otong Java Polynesia in the Solomon Islands, and the northern islands of New Hebrides, now known as TorBa Province of Vanuatu. The people of Taumako would build voyaging canoes when ordered by a partner from another island in exchange for red feather money, food, and pigs.
The Veakauans of Nifiloli, Matema, Pileni, Nukapu, and Nupani atolls were once fearless voyagers but when the last master navigator, Basil Tevake, passed away in 1971, the voyaging knowledge was lost, exacerbated by the use of outboard motors, dugout open canoes (Boru), ships, and restrictions imposed by colonial and church rulers who assumed that traditional voyaging was risky. This article explains the efforts to revive the voyaging culture in this part of the region, changes observed, and the influenced exerted on Solomon Islands society.

Jonas Kollanu (Hollani) captained the Tealolili from Taumako to Nifiloli with crew Fox Boda, Ambrose Miki, Reginal Diosi, and Simon Salopuka in August 2013 © Simon Salopuka

The Revival Era
Since 1996 the Vaka Taumako Project of the Pacific Tradition Society of Hawaii has initiated construction of several voyaging canoes but only made one round-trip deep-sea voyage from Taumako to Nifiloli, led by master navigator Kruso Kahia Kaveia in 1998. Despite the emergence of voyaging revivalist groups on Taumako, Vaka Matalele, Vaka Parangaina, and Holau Vaka Taumako associations, only Vaka Valo Association has been successful in building several voyaging canoes (Vaka), one Tealolili, three Tepuke, and one Vasuki. It has voyaged as far as the Veakau Islands of Matema, Nifiloli, Pileni, Nukapu, and Reef, Santa Cruz and Vanikoro islands en route to Sola Island in TorBa Province, Vanuatu, using only ancient navigational techniques.

Reminiscence
In the past, Taumako voyagers were affiliated with a certain tribal group, the Mata or Kaenga. When a voyaging partner ordered a Vaka from his counterpart on Taumako, the tribal leader of the Mata would convene a meeting in the Teaholau, the men’s house association. The Vaka Valo, as a revivalist group, rekindle the traditional protocols and processes, hence the successful voyaging activities. Meanwhile the Vaka Taumako Project pursued the foreign-introduced concept of community participation, which did not work well in the Polynesian dominated society of Taumako and Veakau.

Loss of Expert Voyagers
Most of the knowledgeable boat builders and voyagers have passed away, including the late Te Aliki Kaveia in 2009. On 26 May 2023, the Taumako community and voyaging revivalist group on Santa Cruz and beyond were shocked to learn of the passing of Te Aliki and Master Navigator Jonas Kollanu (Hollani). Jonas crewed a Tepuke from Taumako to participate in the Festival of Pacific Arts in Milnbay Province, Papua New Guinea, in 1979, when the calm winds of Marovo lagoon, Western Province, enabled them to land on Vela Island.

old wooden canoe © 123rf.com

The New Generation of Voyagers
When Te Aliki Kaveia passed away in 2009, Jonas Kollanu trained a new generation of boat builders and voyagers at the Taumako Indigenous Knowledge Institution, which is affiliated to Vaka Valo and includes Jonas’s son Ambrose Miki, who captained a Tepuke on several voyages from Taumako to Santa Cruz, Reef, Matema, Nifiloli, Pileni, Nukapu, and Vanikoro islands. Kollanu was an intelligent, courageous, and dedicated voyaging practitioner and teacher who trained several students as builders and a few navigators using ancient methods of wind position (Te Noho Anga Te Matangi), stars (Heitu), swells (Hokohua), flash light (Tepapa), landmarks, currents (Mdasahe), clouds over land (Mdalehu), and birds (Manumanu). Between 2016 and 2022 Vaka Valo recorded a total of 202 participants in Tepuke construction, among which 35% were youths, 43% male, and 22% female. As custodians of Taumako indigenous and voyaging knowledge, youths require more support to become adequately trained in deep-sea voyaging.
Reviving Ancient Voyaging Routes and Partnerships
Climate change has impacted Te Palapu, a northwesterly wind starting in November, and made it impossible to complete the Holau Vanuatu “Voyage to Vanuatu” reaching TorBa Province in 2016 and 2018, the Tepuke ending up at Usili Village of Vanikoro Island. Holau Vanuatu was to revive ancient voyaging routes, along with a family reunion project with the Jones siblings of Taumako who attended school in the former New Hebrides and could not return home when the border was closed by colonial rule. Sadly, Jimmy Jones Tagua passed away in 2018, but his siblings are looking forward to reuniting with his people of Taumako through the 2024 “Holau Vanuatu—a voyage of re-union.”