The Toumoa Bell
The Toumoa Bell
© David Kerr 2001-2007
Toumoa is a village of about 750 on Fauro Island in the Shortland Islands. You can see it on our chart of the Solomons. It is the Eastern of the two small Islands labelled "Shortland Islands" just South of Bougainville. This area at the top end of the Solomon Islands is quite close to Bougainville, PNG. The village was occupied during WWII. Initially, the Japanese Navy treated the people quite well and occupied the location as if they were permanently colonising it. As fighting intensified in the area, the Japanese Army arrived and conditions significantly worsened ; the men were enslaved, the children enrolled in Japanese schools and other women and children lived on coconuts in the hill caves. Large numbers of Japanese ships moved through the area and there were frequent dogfights overhead. The Americans bombed the village and totally destroyed it.
After the war, the people rebuilt their village, and it is now a happy, friendly place where the villagers live a subsistence lifestyle and trade fish with Bougainville in return for rice, flour, fuel and other supplies. Our visit to Toumoa in 2002 was the first for many years as the Bougainville crisis had made the area dangerous prior to that. We were impressed by the great spirit of the villagers and the evident leadership of the chief, Chris Muli. The Chief was interested in the price of a bell for the village, to replace the existing "bell"- a WWII 150mm shell casing. This is used to signal start and end of work, school, lunch time and church as watches and clocks are very scarce. We thought it would be easy to find a cheap bell back in Australia. Incorrect! After months of looking, it was clear that 30cm bells are very scarce and very expensive. A generous and well connected person in the Coastal Cruising Club of Australia (CCCA) came to the rescue. He organised for a large bronze bell to be cast and suitably engraved.
The club held a raffle and paid for the bell. The Commodore of the club talked with the Navy and they became enthused by the whole project. When the HMAS Manoora was deployed with the first troops to the Solomon Islands, the Toumoa Bell was aboard, having been flown from Sydney to Townsville courtesy of the RAAF. In an amazing piece of coincidence, our son Paul, an Australian Army Engineer was on board the Manoora, bound for Honiara, as a part of the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands [RAMSI].
A few weeks later, the HMAS Hawkesbury made contact with Toumoa and advised that they were bringing them the bell. The villagers were very excited and undoubtedly the Toumoa bell was a good lead in to the establishment of cordial relations between RAMSI and the village. The Navy then picked up the bell from Guadalcanal and delivered it to the village. Thank you and a huge "WELL DONE" to the CCCA, RAAF and the Australian Navy for making the dream of a village Chief come true for his people.
Last changed: 9th May 2004
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