Post #619412 by komohana on Sat, Dec 31, 2011 8:33 PM

A very serious topic indeed, and to take the focus off the pacific island nations for a moment,
it probably should be remembered that cannibalism was/is not confined to that part of the world.

For example, various parties here in Australia have sought to gain political milage from tales of
cannibalism, particularly [but not exclusively] among the aboriginal tribes of our eastern seaboard.

There are literally days of reading to wade through so i'll just post a few links and anyone interested
can make of it all what they will...

http://www.warriors.egympie.com.au/cannibalism.html
http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/40001

...and an exceptionally interesting article here;

http://sydney.edu.au/law/slr/slr27_4/Biber.pdf

Tales of cannibalism among early seafarers are also nothing new, with established traditions dating back
hundreds of years;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custom_of_the_Sea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_v_Dudley_and_Stephens

Also worth a look for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, is the film "Van Diemens Land", the incredibly
bleak but utterly compelling tale of british/irish convicts transported to the penal colonies in
Van Diemens Land, later to become the state of Tasmania.

http://www.vandiemensland-themovie.com/