Biographical entry: Bako, Edmund

Details

Edmund Bako was a policeman and a Headman in the pre-war years and knew all of the leading personalities from those years. He was later chief of Kia and paramount Headman and chief of Isabel Island. He also served as President of the Ysabel Native Council and had a copra plantation on the coast at St. George's Channel, which he rented to Ron Detheridge. Colin Allan described him in 1953 as 'a huge dark man with long split ear lobes and great charisma [who] was often conveniently deaf, a cultivated disability'. He 'had a remarkable presence and authority which was exercised in the interests of Kia and Ysabel and his family. Bako was a pillar of the Melanesian Mission and successive Anglican Bishops relied on him'. He was awarded a M.B.E in 1958. (Allan 1989, pt. 1, 60; NS 31 Jan. 1958; Bennett 1987, 250)

Published resources

Books

• Allan, Colin H., Solomons Safari, 1953-58 (Part I), Nag's Head Press, Christchurch, 1989. Details
• Bennett, Judith A., Wealth of the Solomons: A History of a Pacific Archipelago, 1800-1978, University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu, 1987. Details

Journals

• British Solomon Islands Protectorate (ed.), British Solomon Islands Protectorate News Sheet (NS), 1955-1975. Details