Peter Ambuofa was an early convert to Christianity among Solomon Islanders who established a Christian community on Malaita, and a key figure in the history of the South Seas Evangelical Mission (now South Seas Evangelical Church, SSEC).
Peter Ambuofa was from north Malaita and worked in Queensland as a kanaka labourer. He converted to Christianity and was baptised at Bundaberg, Queensland in 1892. [1]
When he returned to the Solomon Islands in 1894, he established a Christian community at Malu'u. At first he was shunned by his relatives, who thought he had brought a strange devil (akalo) with him. He was left to die of hunger, not allowed to move freely; but an old woman, taking pity on him, offered him roast taro on market days, and he was also able to take fruit from a wawao tree nearby and take water from a well he dug nearby. A traditional story also counts that he had a hen which laid an egg for him whenever he prayed. [1]
In another story, some relatives of his tried to shoot him while he was praying, but as they attempted to shoot a thick smoke came up and ruined their aim. Later, when the smoke cleared, they tried again, but the triggers did not work. They went off to shoot a fruit, and the guns worked fine, so they came to believe that Ambuofa's spirit was more powerful than their own, and accepted Christianity as a result. [1]
Peter Ambuofa was uneducated and had some confusions regarding Christian teaching, [2] so he solicited help from the Queensland Kanaka Mission to help teach his flock, and in response, in 1904, Florence Young led the first party of missionaries to the Solomon Islands in 1904. Eventually this led to the creation of the South Seas Evangelical Mission. [1]
In March 1994 a special celebratory service was held at Bundaberg in honor of the centennial of Ambuofa's return to the Solomon Islands, which 130 members of the SSEC attended. [3]
Bundaberg is a city in south-east Queensland, Australia, about 385 kilometres (239 mi) north of the state capital, Brisbane. It is 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) inland from the Coral Sea coast and situated on the Burnett River. It is a major centre within the broader Wide Bay–Burnett geographical region
Harold Keke is a Solomon Islands warlord involved with the Guadalcanal Revolutionary Army (GRA).
Blackbirding involves the coercion of people through deception and/or kidnapping to work as unpaid or poorly paid labourers in countries distant to their native land. The term has been most commonly applied to the large-scale taking of people indigenous to the numerous islands in the Pacific Ocean during the 19th and 20th centuries. These blackbirded people were called Kanakas or South Sea Islanders. They were taken from places such as the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Niue, Easter Island, Gilbert Islands, Tuvalu and the islands of the Bismarck Archipelago amongst others.
Malaita Province is the most populous and one of the largest of the nine provinces of Solomon Islands. It is named after its largest island, Malaita. Other islands include South Malaita Island, Sikaiana Island, and Ontong Java Atoll. Britain defined its area of interest in the Solomons, including Malaita, and central government control of Malaita began in 1893, when Captain Gibson R.N., of HMS Curacoa, declared the southern Solomon Islands as a British Protectorate with the proclamation of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate.
Sir Peter Kenilorea KBE was a Solomon Islander politician, officially styled The Rt Hon. Sir Peter Kenilorea as a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom.
Malaita is the primary island of Malaita Province in Solomon Islands. Malaita is the most populous island of the Solomon Islands, with a population of 140,000, or more than a third of the entire national population. It is also the second largest island in the country by area, after Guadalcanal. A tropical and mountainous island, Malaita's pristine river systems and tropical forests have not been exploited.
Santa Isabel Island is the longest in Solomon Islands, the third largest in terms of surface area, and the largest in the group of islands in Isabel Province.
‘Are‘are is the name of a people from the south of the island of Malaita, which is part of the Solomon Islands. Their language is the 'Are'are language, which is part of the Austronesian language family. In 1999 there were an estimated 17,800 speakers, up from about 8-9,000 in the 1970s.
Kwaio is an ethnic group found in central Malaita, in the Solomon Islands. According to Ethnologue, they numbered 13,249 in 1999. Much of what is known about the Kwaio is due to the work of the anthropologist Roger M. Keesing, who lived among them starting in the 1960s.
The South Seas Evangelical Church (SSEC) is an evangelical, Pentecostal church in the Solomon Islands. In total, 17% of the population of the Solomon Islands adheres to the church, making it the third most common religious affiliation in the country behind the Anglican Church of Melanesia and the Roman Catholic Church. The SSEC is particularly popular on Malaita, the most populous island, where 47% of its members live; there are also smaller populations in Honiara and elsewhere on Guadalcanal, on Makira, and in other provinces.
The Malaita massacre inflicted a large number of deaths on the island of Malaita in the Solomon Islands in late 1927. William R. Bell, the District Officer of Malaita in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, and many of his deputies were killed by Basiana and other Kwaio warriors as part of a plan to resist the head tax imposed by the colonial authorities and what was perceived as an assault on the traditional values. A retributive raid was organised that ultimately resulted in the death of about 60 Kwaio, in addition to nearly 200 incarcerated and a systematic destruction and desecration of important Kwaio ancestral shrines and ritual objects. The event was of extreme significance for the Kwaio people, and has greatly affected their way of life.
The Solomon Islands Christian Association (SICA) is an ecumenical Christian non-governmental organisation in the Solomon Islands. The association comprises the five largest Christian churches in the country, the Anglican Church of Melanesia, the Roman Catholic Church, the South Seas Evangelical Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the United Church.
Florence Selina Harriet Young was a New Zealand-born missionary who established the Queensland Kanaka Mission in order to convert Kanaka labourers in Queensland, Australia. In addition, she conducted missionary work in China and the Solomon Islands.
Lau Lagoon is a part of Solomon Islands. It is located on the northeast coast of Malaita Island. The lagoon is more than 35 kilometers long and contains about 60 artificial islands built on the reef.
The majority of the population in Solomon Islands are Christians, with a majority of Christians belonging to Protestant churches. The constitution of Solomon Islands establishes the freedom of religion, and this freedom is respected in practice by both the government and general society.
Laulasi island is an artificial island in the Langa Langa Lagoon, South of Auki on the island of Malaita in the Solomon Islands. It is believed that hostilities among the inlanders of Malaita forced some people into the lagoon where over time they built their islands on sandbars after diving for coral. The religion of the island was based on prayers and offerings to the ghosts of dead ancestors, mediated by priests who kept their skulls and relics in tabu houses. Some ancestors were incarnated as sharks which protected their descendants. Langalanga is also the main source of the shell money now made in Solomon Islands.
South Sea Islander Church and Hall is a heritage-listed church at 46 Johnston Street, Millbank in Bundaberg, Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built c. 1920. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 July 2000.
St John's Anglican Church is a heritage-listed church at 278 Ford Street, Berserker, Rockhampton, Rockhampton Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1912. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 5 August 2003.
Malu'u is a village on the north coast of Malaita island in the Solomon Islands. The seat of the sub provincial area, it lies on Suafa Bay, within Malaita Province, along the road between Auki and Lau Lagoon.
