The migration of the Wanigela to Tufi in Oro

GOLOVA MARI

LONG AGO MY VILLAGE PEOPLE of Wanigela in the Central Province lived harmoniously.  They shared common bonds by living, cooperating and working together in everyday life.  But one day something happened which separated some people from my village.

Altogether there are 17 clans in my village.  One day some people from the Marugai clan went to the bush - hunting and gathering food.  On their way they came across some dead trunks from some fallen mangrove trees. 

They stopped to cut up the trunks for firewood and also to extract the edible worms.  Worms from dead mangrove tree trunks are good and tasty, either cooked or eaten raw when they have been washed and cleaned properly.

The people collected plenty of edible worms and firewood from the dead mangrove trunks and returned to the village.  They planned to return to their find and get more worms and firewood the next day.

But the news of the discovery reached some other people from the same clan and they went out very early the next day and collected the worms and returned to the village before they were discovered.

When the people who had discovered the dead mangrove trunks returned to the spot later in the morning, they discovered that the worms had been stolen and none were left.  This upset them and made them uneasy and they went home after cutting some firewood and hunting birds and animals.

Back in the village they found out who the culprits were, and a fight arose among the people within the Marugai clan.

After the fight, the original victims vowed to leave the clan and the village of Wanigela.  They began to build a lakatoi, or double hulled canoe.  It took them several months to build it and, upon its completion, they loaded the lakatoi with food, water and their wives and children and sailed eastwards, after bidding farewell to the village people. 

The village people were very sad as they watched their own people sailing away.

And so they sailed eastward towards Milne Bay Province.  When they ran out of food and water, they made stopovers at coastal villages.  They sailed close to the mainland in case the lakatoi was blown off course.

After sailing for weeks and months they arrived at Samarai in Milne Bay and, after restocking with food and water, sailed northward to Oro and Collingwood Bay.

They found this area was very beautiful with long sandy beaches and swaying palm trees and friendly locals so they decided to settle near Tufi.  The locals gave them land to settle on and they built a settlement.

The local people were very sad when they told them the story of why they left their own village and sailed away in search of a new land.

From that time the settlement has grown to become a village and the name given to it was Tufi Wanigela.

The Tufi Wanigela people intermarried with the local people and slowly the culture and language of the old Wanigela disappeared as the new culture and language was adopted.

Today the Tufi Wanigela people still look similar in appearance to those people of Wanigela village in Central Province and, wherever both Wanigelas meet in life, we call ourselves brothers and sisters.

This is how the second village of Wanigela came into existence in Oro Province in Papua New Guinea.

Comments

[Chris Luxton]

Thank you, Golova Mari - this is a fascinating insight, which I've only just spotted.

I know people who hail from both Central Wanigela and Oro Wanigela, and I remember posing the question to a PNG UK domiciled person from Central: "Why are there two Wanigelas?" She didn't know.

Liz Bonshek, anthropologist (at the British Museum in London for a few years, but now back at Canberra Uni) might know more re the dates/timing, about which Jan, Norway enquires - thanks to Jan for a link to his beautiful pictures on Flickr.

Liz Bonshek lived in Wanigela, Collingwood Bay for a while when the late Sister Helen Roberts (Co-ordinator of the Anglican Medical Division for many years) was still there.

Indeed, Liz Bonshek's 2005 PhD thesis, which I've not read, is entitled: "The struggle for Wanigela: representing social space in a rural community in Collingwood Bay, Papua New Guinea”.

[John Numa]

Very interesting read. I am interested in the history of the Rigo people especially Hood Lagoon and the Vulaa people.

[Torina Bane]

Thanks Mr Mari for the information shared to remind our upcoming generation that we do have our brothers and sisters also from Wanigela in Tufi.

I believe that there are also other interesting stories similar to the one that has been shared.

How each of the clan names came, how they were they first settled and why they choose Wanigela village as their permanent place to settle apart from other village in the Marshall Largoon area.

Please can someone from my village Wanigela (Kavela Naura) write many more fascinating stories about our village - ''The Floating Village in the Lagoon''. Gera Banua Miamia.

[Lola Kemu / London, UK]

The people of Wanigela is also made up of these strangers in your land.

If they are given land to settle, I don't see any problem why they can be treated as second class people.

Give them another chance in life, they will change to help you as well in future.

[Jan Hasselberg / Norway]

Hi Gollova - This was very interesting to read. I guess this migration must have taken place a long time ago since the Wanigela name was present in the Collingwood Bay area in the latter part of the 19th Century. Do you know how long back it was?

And where was the original Wanigela land? I have been to Koki Wanigela, but I guess that might have come about through migration as well.

Cheers from Jan in Norway
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29122604@N05/sets/72157626541992236/