Club Nouméa's Rarotongan Tiki Tour - Tiki Travel

CN Club Nouméa Member Wanganui Joined: May 03, 2010 Posts: 459	CN Club Nouméa Posted posted on Sun, Jul 10, 2016 7:46 AM Rarowhere? A little background... Rarotonga - the stuff of legend. A high-peaked island colonised by Tahitians in the 6th century AD that was not discovered by Europeans until 1814 and was not grabbed by France during its colonial scramble in the 1880s when it finally annexed its protectorate of Tahiti, along with the Marquesas and the other Polynesian islands that later, in the 20th century, came to be known as "French Polynesia". To avoid the fate of their neighbours, leading inhabitants of Rarotonga and its neighbouring islands called on the British to annex them in the 1890s, resulting in these descendants of Tahitians becoming English-speaking British subjects, and later New Zealand citizens when New Zealand took over stewardship of the Cook Islands after World War II. Since 1965, the Cook Islands have been self-governing in free association with New Zealand, a model which provided inspiration for their French Polynesian neighbours in the 1980s when Tahiti began a push for greater self-rule, leading to it becoming an autonomous overseas territory of France in the 1990s. Rarotonga - the island that was also the South Seas headquarters of the London Missionary Society in the 19th century, and served as a base for missionary activities as far away as Melanesian islands such as the New Hebrides. As occurred in Tahiti, the LMS's missionaries campaigned against heathen idolatry and were instrumental in the mass destruction of local tiki carvings as they inculcated their faith into the Rarotongans. And unlike Tahiti, the LMS's original foothold in the South Pacific, where it lost its influence in the face of encroachment by French Catholicism and the French State, the LMS maintained considerable influence in Rarotonga into the 20th century. So, given this historical background, I was curious to discover just what status tikis now have in modern Rarotonga... The earliest known tiki mug: "Ruru and Weku", designed by Harry Hargreaves of Crown Lynn, New Zealand, 1949. [ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2016-07-10 07:52 ] [ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2016-07-11 06:41 ]

Rarowhere? A little background...

Rarotonga - the stuff of legend. A high-peaked island colonised by Tahitians in the 6th century AD that was not discovered by Europeans until 1814 and was not grabbed by France during its colonial scramble in the 1880s when it finally annexed its protectorate of Tahiti, along with the Marquesas and the other Polynesian islands that later, in the 20th century, came to be known as "French Polynesia". To avoid the fate of their neighbours, leading inhabitants of Rarotonga and its neighbouring islands called on the British to annex them in the 1890s, resulting in these descendants of Tahitians becoming English-speaking British subjects, and later New Zealand citizens when New Zealand took over stewardship of the Cook Islands after World War II. Since 1965, the Cook Islands have been self-governing in free association with New Zealand, a model which provided inspiration for their French Polynesian neighbours in the 1980s when Tahiti began a push for greater self-rule, leading to it becoming an autonomous overseas territory of France in the 1990s.

Rarotonga - the island that was also the South Seas headquarters of the London Missionary Society in the 19th century, and served as a base for missionary activities as far away as Melanesian islands such as the New Hebrides. As occurred in Tahiti, the LMS's missionaries campaigned against heathen idolatry and were instrumental in the mass destruction of local tiki carvings as they inculcated their faith into the Rarotongans. And unlike Tahiti, the LMS's original foothold in the South Pacific, where it lost its influence in the face of encroachment by French Catholicism and the French State, the LMS maintained considerable influence in Rarotonga into the 20th century.

So, given this historical background, I was curious to discover just what status tikis now have in modern Rarotonga...

The earliest known tiki mug: "Ruru and Weku", designed by Harry Hargreaves of Crown Lynn, New Zealand, 1949.

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2016-07-10 07:52 ]

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2016-07-11 06:41 ]

Post #766022 by Club Nouméa on Sun, Jul 10, 2016 7:46 AM