Tie hokara, tie vaka: Black man, white man : a study of the New Georgia Group to 1925

Abstract

This thesis is a study of the behaviour of Melanesians and Europeans in the New Georgia Group, Solomon Islands, from the beginning of European contact to the mid 1920s. For the first century of contact the islanders of the Group were able to exploit the opportunities created by European intrusion within the framework of their own culture, and to dictate largely the terms of their relationship with the white man. The imposition of colonial rule radically altered the situation. The forcible pacification of the islands destroyed the Melanesians' capacity to constrain the conduct of the Europeans in the Group and in consequence the European exploitation of the islands rapidly accelerated, particularly with regard to the alienation of land, which the colonial administration did much to encourage. The first two decades of colonial rule saw the interests and welfare of the islanders neglected as European commercial, missionary and official factions struggled amongst themselves for status and authority. These conflicts, and the mounting land problems, culminated in the Land Commission of the early 1920s. The Commission, although it too was almost submerged in inter-European rivalries, marked the adoption by the administration of a more responsible attitude towards the islanders. Other administrative reforms followed, and by the mid 1920s the turbulence and disorder that had accompanied colonial rule began to subside. Show more