Tonga Heritage Society forms [1]
Wednesday, August 26, 2015 - 12:03. Updated on Thursday, August 27, 2015 - 16:55.
By Mary Lyn Fonua
The inaugural meeting of the Tonga Heritage Society last night chose foundation officers who will move to formally register the group as an incorporated society.
The group came together following public concern over the loss of heritage areas to development activity in Tonga, and the lack of a body to create awareness of important historical sites and an organisation through which the public may convey their concerns to development authorities.
The aim of the Tonga Heritage Society is to identify, preserve and promote better understanding of the cultural and natural heritage sites and artefacts of Tonga.
A petition that was launched online this month to save the Popua Si'a Heu Lupe and related mounds as a heritage area, attracted over 700 signatures in less than a week, including local Tongans and diaspora. It was presented to Lord Vaea at parliament's office on August 11 by Dr ‘Ana Koloto the Director of USP Tonga, supported by historian Dr Wendy Pond and others. The area is currently threatened by a planned residential subdivision to settle poor communities on the tidal flats.
Wendy said yesterday that the Petition is number 15 on a list of petitions that are currently before parliament. Wendy gave a presentation to last night's meeting, showing the locations of the important mounds from satellite imagery and their relationship to the ancient Tu'i Tonga's malae at Patangata. She said Captain Cook stayed at the location for a month where he was entertained by the Tu'i Tonga during a voyage to Tonga. “The area of the Tu'i Tonga's mala'e also needs to be preserved as the natural access point to the sia heu lupe,” she said. Wendy described the area as an ancient wild life sanctuary, which had been preserved by the Tongan adminstrators of the past.
“What's happening now is a violation of centuries of history,“ she said. The area is a wet area and the central mound is a man-made island that stands out when the tide comes through. “It is an incredibly beautiful area with the reflections of the mound in the water,” she said. Raised walkways built around 600 years ago connected the mounds that were used for traditional pigeon snaring activities.
Tevita Motulalo said that the area around Patangata was central to Tongan administration before the modern governments were put into place. “If there is any place in Tonga that is Tonga, it's that little place,” he said.
Shane Egan noted that the flights of the lupe could still be observed in the area, and the ancient pigeon hunters knew exactly where to build the mounds on the flight path of the seasonal migration of the birds through the Pacific Islands.
Tevita Fale, a local historian from Lapaha, also noted the importance of the end of the pennisula, at the entrance to the Mu'a lagoon, in his accounts of the ancient navigators of Tonga.
Inaugural office bearers of the Tonga Heritage Society are President, Paul Johansson; Vice President, Rosinda Soakai; Secretary, 'Eseta 'Aholelei; Media and communications officer, Shane Egan; committee members Tanya Edwards, Olivia Fukofuka-Fulivai and Tevita Motulalo.
An Annual General Meeting will be organised following registration of the society.
Related article: Petition urges Parliament to save Popua's ancient Sia complex [2]