Place: Vaukolu, Nggela Islands
Details
A Vaukolu, or 'meeting', was held annually on Nggela starting in 1887, and functioned as a local assembly of about five hundred leaders, sponsored by the Diocese of Melanesia Melanesian Mission. It was started by Alfred Penny, fostered by John Plant, and supported by Bishop John Selwyn (q.v.), and was the first attempt to institute civil government in the Solomon Islands and formally discuss religious and civil affairs. The mission was motivated by a perception that the local leadership system had been undermined by the introduction of Christianity. The annual meeting also included representatives of neighbouring islands. The missionaries guided the Vaukolu to introduce laws on adultery and marriage, trespass by pigs, and the powers of the church teachers. People found to have broken the rules had to either pay fines or perform community service.
When the first Resident Commissioner, Charles Woodford (q.v.), set up the Protectorate administration, based at small Tulagi Island just off Nggela from 1897, he secularised the Vaukolu by inviting the bigmen to decide on a common code of laws for Nggela, and distanced the mission from government activities. The Nggela code of laws operated from 1898. Woodford also introduced an administrative system that divided the island into five districts, each with its own chief. (AR 1897-1898, 14-15) The Vaukolu continued, but as the Protectorate administration strengthened it became more social than administrative. It did, however, make decisions on a variety of issues ranging from village cleanliness and maintaining pathways to customary marriages. In 1908, its membership was limited to chiefs, clergy and teachers. (Hilliard 1978a, 95; Whiteman 1983, 143; Fox 1958, 42-43, 184; SCL Jan. 1901, 113, Oct. 1902, 59)
Related entries
Published resources
Books
- Fox, Charles E., Lord of the Southern Isles: Being the Story of the Anglican Mission in Melanesia, 1849-1949, Mowbray, London, 1958. Details
- Hilliard, David, God's Gentleman: A History of the Melanesian Mission, 1849-1942, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1978a. Details
- Whiteman, Darrell L., Melanesians and Missionaries: An Ethnohistorical Study of Social and Religious Change in the Southwest Pacific, William Carey Library, Pasadena, 1983. Details
Reports
- Southern Cross Log (SCL). Details
- British Solomon Islands Protectorate, British Solomon Islands Protectorate Annual Reports (AR), 1896-1973. Details
Images
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- Bishop Wilson addressing the Vaukolu Assembly, Nggela Islands, 1906
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- 1906
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- DOM
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- Bringing Food for the Vaukolu Church Congress at Honggo, Florida (Nggela) Islands (Solomon Islands)
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- 1906
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- Anglican Church of Melanesia
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- Bringing Food for the Vaukolu Church Congress at Honggo, Florida (Nggela) Islands (Solomon Islands)
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- 1906
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- Anglican Church of Melanesia
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- Food on Beach for the Vaukolu Church Congress at Honggo, Florida (Nggela) Islands (Solomon Islands)
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- 1906
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- Anglican Church of Melanesia
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- The Bishop addressing the Vaukolu Church Congress at Honggo, Florida (Nggela) Islands (Solomon Islands)
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- 1906
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- Anglican Church of Melanesia
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- Vaukolu Church Congress at Honggo, view from the Church, Florida (Nggela) Islands (Solomon Islands)
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- 1906
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- Anglican Church of Melanesia
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- Vaukolu Church Congress at Honggo, view from the reef, Florida (Nggela) Islands (Solomon Islands)
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- 1906
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- Anglican Church of Melanesia
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- Vaulolu Church Congress at Honggo, "A Sea of Faces", Florida (Nggela) Islands (Solomon Islands)
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- 1906
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- Anglican Church of Melanesia