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Malaita Province is the second largest and most densely populated
of the Solomon Islands. It was once famed for its aggressive
and hostile inhabitants known for their cannibalism and
tendency to attack strangers on sight.
Between 1871 and 1903, around 9000 men were recruited from
Malaita to work in the sugar cane plantations of Queensland,
Australia. Some of these men were excited by the opportunity
to travel abroad and hoped to gain some of the wealth and
possessions they had seen amongst white people. Others were
tricked or kidnapped in a process that became known as
‘blackbirding’. Either way, conditions were
miserable for the men and it was not long until blackbirding
was realised as just another form of slavery, and another
step towards pacific islanders’ distrust of all white
people. After a few years, many men had returned to Malaita,
still poor but with a few material goods from the western
world such as calico and Snyder rifles.
By 1927, the possession of Snyder rifles had been made illegal,
and in October of that year a group of 16 or so members of
the British administration went to the Kwaio people of the
east central mountains to collect the tribespeoples’
snyder rifles, plus a head tax of 5 shillings each. Things
did not go according to plan, and in what became known as
the ‘Kwaio rebellion’, district officer William
Bell and 14 of his officers were killed. In an extreme response
several villages and many taro gardens relied on for food
were destroyed. Around 200 Kwaio were arrested - many of whom
were either killed by police or later died in jail.
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