Nguna - History and Cultural Relations

Nguna's first mention by Europeans came with a brief landing by Captain Cook in 1774. Another visit, by the H.M.S. Pearl in 1875, provided us with a freehand drawing of ritual carvings (slit drums) from the northern end of the island. Between these two events were many other contacts, most of which left no record. It is known, however, that beginning in the 1860s, young Ngunese men began joining ships (sometimes willingly, sometimes not) bound for the sugarcane plantations of Fiji and Queensland, Australia. Missionization, too, had begun on Nguna with the arrival of the Scot, Rev. Peter Milne, in 1870. His 54-year-long stay was unprecedented in the archipelago in terms of its length, the lasting success he had in "eradicating heathenism," and the installation of Milne's own son as his successor. Between Reverend Milne's heavy influence, reprisals launched by the colonial government against any unrest on the island, and various epidemics during the 1890s, the turn of the century saw a radically changed society and culture on Nguna. Upon becoming Christians of a strict Presbyterian denomination, the Ngunese forsook many aspects of their lives, including kava drinking, intervillage feuding, cannibalism, and competitive displays of wealth and slaughtering of pigs. Broader historical developments, of course, left indelible marks on Nguna as well. With the signing of an agreement between Britain and France in 1906, the archipelago became the New Hebrides/Les Nouvelles Hébrides under what was termed a "condominium government." This was a unique, joint-rule arrangement, some of the complications of which remain even after the country's attainment of independent nationhood, as Vanuatu, in 1980. For example, many duplicated essential services and institutions—such as two school systems, one English-speaking, one French-speaking—are still in place.