Story by Jon Jonassen

According to a Traditional source of Aituaki, Palmerston was originally discoveredby ocean explorer Ti several years before European Aririval. It is uncertian if Ti was an Aituakian Native, but moreso spent a considerable amount of time in Aitutaki while passing through.

Ti came across a small atoll, what was nothing but a few sandbanks sitting just above the high water line. Ti and his followers were the first to establish coconut trees on this atoll, with the hope of it growing and providing susteance to any who pass by.

Ti called this island “Avarau”.

After a period of time Ti and his follwers left Avarau and landed in Niue, it is here where he spoke of the discovery of Avarau. Ti remained in Niue for the rest of his life where he left many descendants.

Sometime after his death, News spread to Aitutaki about Ti and his crew settling in Niue. Word also broke that there was an Island in close proximity he found called “Avarau”.

While no one is sure of who “discovered” Palmerston first, Ti is held in high regard as being the first to establish Coconut trees and life for the atolls. Therefore solidifying his legacy as the first person to discover Palmerston.

A insert from Missionary William Wyatt Gill who was the resident missionary for Mangaia, spoke about some archaeological finds in Takamoa, Rarotonga. Twelve ancient graves were found with no clear explanation of whom they were, as well as 30 – 40 stone adze (Traditional stone Axes). These Stone Adze were found at the root of Multiple Coconut trees within the area.

It is unknown who put them there, but archaeologists see this as a prominent feature in knowing what trees were purposefully planted and what trees were there naturally.

If your uprooting a Coconut tree anytime soon, Check the roots !

A collection of these stone adze are at the Cook Islands Museum on show currently

(My heritage has a future – Jon Jonassen)

I thought you might like to read something different to the usual fare of our current situation. I submitted this draft for a magazine. I’m not sure it made the cut but maybe you my friends and family, might enjoy a light hearted essay about my childhood and have a giggle:

The early daybreak light before the sun rose was the start of our day, and my alarm clock was Granny’s voice in her Palmerston Island -dialect of English saying, “Get up for the prayer”. Sometimes I’d stay lying not wanting to arise, aware of the scent of the kerosene lantern that lingered in the morning air. My mother would shake me up with an urgent whisper, “Baby get up.” No one stayed sleeping through morning prayer.

Prayers was a daily part of our life in Palmerston. The evening prayers at sunset was preceeded by the ringing of the big ship’s bell which sent us scurrying home from our games. It hung in the corner-front verandah of the Big House, my great uncle William Marsters’ home. His sister, Elizabeth, was my great grandmother and was known as One Gal, William Marsters’ favoured daughter. Her eldest child, Tehinano, was my grandmother who died in the cyclone of 1926. Mum was 2 years old when that cataclysmic event happened and she was brought up by her mother’s sister Sarah, whom we called Granny.

The house had a thatched coconut roof and walls with a raised wooden floor. The posts were native timber, milled from the trees growing on Palmerston which is my birth place. The sides of the house had large hinged sections from the floor to ceiling called ‘lifting’. Someone would be despatched to “Go put up the lifting” to bring in the sea breeze for Granny’s benefit; she suffered badly from asthma.

Breakfast was often yesterday’s leftovers, usually fish. Weetbix and cornflakes was as uncommon as the supply ship which came from Rarotonga, some 280 km southeast of us.

My brother and I had daily chores; to sweep up the fallen leaves, fetch water from the well or the water tank for a morning wash, and help Granny to feed the chickens. ‘Helping’ meant sitting by her and biting extracted coconut flesh into little bits and tossing them out to the chickens that came running. Instead of tossing, sometimes I would chew and swallow and Granny smiling, would gently chide me. “Baby, it’s for the chickens, not you.” I was always “Baby” not Stella or Sarah, her name given as a middle moniker. Granny had a special part in my life: she was the midwife at my birth.

Some of the men of my mother’s generation and their fathers were superb craftsmen – building longboats and canoes for fishing and transporting people, loads of coconut, copra and supplies. Once, when returning from Rarotonga on the schooner Tiare Taporo, we came ashore on my uncle’s boat. I was four and was seated on my mother’s lap, wrapped tightly in her arms. Her brother steered with a long oar and as we approached the passage in the reef, ropes were thrown out to men standing on either side. A call was made to, “Pull away.” The men pulled, and the oarsmen on our boat leaned into their oars; a heart-stopping thrilling ride on the swell of a wave.

In the earlier part of the century, school was held in a house at the end of the road towards the lagoon and the curriculum was supervised by the London Missionary Society (LMS). Each child had a slate and chalk to write with. They were supposed to have their own rag and bottle of water to clean the slate. Spitting and using your hands was not allowed; a rap across the knuckles was the stinging consequence.

When I was ready to go to school , it had been built inland in its present location for protection from cyclones. Named Palmerston Lucky School, there were two large rooms and books and pencils were supplied. I would dawdle on my way to school watching the sea birds flying above the tree tops. The path ran alongside a cemetery, the rocks exposed in the crumbling concrete graves of people from long ago and that of my grandmother.

My school lunch was often uto (coconut kernel) or ‘tachi cake’ – a sweetened, crispy pancake of plain flour and water. Sometimes I was given my favourite: a piece of smoke dried or dried salted fish. Because there was no electricity (therefore no freezers), fish had to be preserved by smoking, drying or salting.

I was once given a task to keep the flies away from the drying, salted parrotfish fillets hanging from their tails over wooden rods. They were my absolute favourite. I walked up and down the rows with the tip of a coconut frond in each hand to fan away the pesky flies.
When the sun’s heat became unbearable, I sought shelter: squatting and crawling duck-like beneath the rows. Now hanging tantalisingly close – just inches from my face, the inevitable happened and I surrendered to the irresistible aroma of sun-dried fish. “Don’t eat the fish,” mum had said. She might as well have had said “Don’t breathe!” To avoid detection , I pinched off random bits. It didn’t save me. At dinner one night, my uncle casually said, “We have some big flies with really big mouths, eating the salt fish. They bite here and there. Really clever flies we got.” I didn’t say a word. A guilty red flush spread over my burning face.

The next day I had a new chore – to collect fallen coconut branches. It took all of my seven year old strength to drag one branch to the pile for burning but I didn’t mind. I’d had enough of walking in the hot sun and my craving for salted fish was satisfied. Temptation had also been removed and safely stored out of my reach.

If you search on Google for Palmerston Island and William Marsters, you will find a plethora of information about our island atoll and William with his three wives. It was recently named as one of twelve most isolated and least visited places in the world.

Some of Frances’s photos are also used in a very short video about Palmerston . View that here – “Holiday time for the family?”

If you want to know more about how to make these Doodly videos, check out doodles4fun.com.

Amusing Planet – Palmerston where everyone is related.

It is not often I come across an article about Palmerston that I like and this one was interesting . Click here or onto the caption of the photograph of Palmerston Island from the air. The right hand island is the one that everyone lives on, although the three families have access to their own coconut trees and other crops that they might grown on the other smaller islets around their lagoon. The focus of this story is the relatedness between those who live on the island. Many are not from the island but are married to those who are real Palmerston Islanders. There are only about 60 people on the island at any one time, and it is very isolated, sometimes not seeing a boat or getting supplies for several months.

Family trip to Palmerston Island 2004

We were seen off on our voyage by family and friends because Boat Day to any of the outer islands is a special occasion – especially as it is going to take at least 2 and half days – if the going is good. But the rest of the trip was quite memorable and I would recommend it to everyone.

My journey to Walcote, Leicestershire, 2007

The cover of this eBook consist of my key informants – descendants of the brothers of William’s father John. The most interesting was Des Masters who was descended on his mother’s side as well as his father’s side from two of John’s brothers. Another informant was Kath Green, whose family has lived in Walcote for generations and was able to show me some family members who were in photos around the walls of the Walcote Inn which existed in the days William’s family lived in Walcote.

Early documents from Palmerston Islands and their implication for the origins of Palmerston English. (2013)

Rachel Hendery from the Australian National University visited Palmerston and spoke to inhabitants on the island, as well as some on Rarotonga to complement the documents she had located which helped her with her study on Palmerston English.

Palmerston Family Fundraising Group Annual General Meeting 2016

In 2016 the family on Rarotonga were tasked with fundraising for the Palmerston Hostel – as it was to be called in the day. We had a lot of fun and not only mobilised our own small group but also assisted with helping to mobilise and support other family groups in Auckland, Hamilton and even Wellington whom I was also able to visit. Everyone was very supportive of the project and in the end they all assisted to get the building up, and it is done. But this was the report that was given to the family about our work during 2016 in support of this project.

Unfortunately I was to miss the Health Conference as I was expected within the next few days at an Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Conference of my own in Vladivostok, in Russia with other Pacific Islands participants from Samoa and Fiji, and at least two hundred other attendees from all over the Asia Pacific region.

Meanwhile, Norman George wrote up a report for CINews recording the celebration of the opening of the Palmerston Hostel but also in preparation for the annual Health Conference.

“The grand opening of the Marsters House on July 8 injected euphoria, joy and ebullience amongst the descendants of William Marsters from Palmerston Island.

Their stunning success in a six-month blinding speed construction work rewarded with poetry in motion.

The costumes split amongst the five family lines of the Marsters descendants, with hundreds of head and neck ei worn by the happy masses, dancing to the drumbeats and music drawing gasps of admiration from those attending.

The proud descendants of William Marsters seized the moment to live their dreams! The hard work, the laborious fundraising, the frustrations and disappointments spread over a period of 30 years work in the Cook Islands, New Zealand and Australia suddenly came together!

Some of the original project creators have passed on, but are not forgotten. They received the accolades they all deserved.

As the last of ten outer-islands to build accommodation houses, hostels, and utility buildings on Rarotonga in the past 40 years, one can easily say, “out of the many, one stood out!” The House of Marsters and the parrot fish island of Pamati stood out!

The nation applauds you, the great people of Palmerston Island. You have won the hearts and minds of the people of the Cook Islands. You provided us with inspiration, great feelings, enhanced realism, new levels of pride, moral uplift and so much more!

The combination of heart and mind, courage, determination and hard work is the Mt. Everest that the Palmerston people conquered.

The other great event was the 21^st Annual Health Conference of the Cook Islands, held at the auditorium from Wednesday 10-Friday 12 July. The organisers being the Cook Islands doctors from New Zealand, Dr Joseph Williams, Dr Kiki Maoate, Dr Robert Woonton, together with the dynamic team from Te Marae Ora, under the amazing leadership of Health Minister Vainetutai Rose Toki Brown.

With Dr Josephine Aumea Herman to complete the two prodigious high performing duo, with support staff from the Ministry equal to the task!

This annual conference gets bigger and better since Dr Kiki and I launched it in the Rarotonga Hospital kitchen 21 years ago. I was then minister of health. Dr Kiki ultimately linked up with Dr Joe and Robert to build the Health Conference in what I consider to be the best run conference in the Cook Islands.

The level of representation from medical experts presenting papers is incredible. The conference kicked off with a riveting prayer service from Bishop Tutai Pere.

He urged Cook Islanders to take more care of their health! The Bishop told the audience when he confronted some sick people for not taking their medicine, they replied they much preferred to rely on prayers. He encouraged them to do both!”

-Norman George

But he did allow some leeway for the parent who had been introduced to the island. He allowed them to teach their children a second language, their introduced parent’s tongue, so that the children were mainly bilingual.

The problem is, that if they had been able to talk to each other in their second language, they probably wouldn’t have been able to understand much of each others language because they would have learned to speak the dialect of their parent, and that may not necessarily be the language of the family next door..

Many of the men from the second generation married women from the Northern Group. Those wives from Penrhyn or Manihiki would have used the name Matauia. My great grandmother Teipoitemarama was from Rakahanga.

However those wives from the southern group, including Rarotonga, would have called her Matavia. The name identifies a regional lineage. From those that I have met who use the name Matavia, most are not from her lineage.

Those who are descended from the Matavia lineage (and I already show my lineage because our family use the name Matavia) are very staunch about using her name correctly – and rightfully so. It is the name as she would have been called on Penrhyn, and that is Matauia.

(from maureenhilyard.blogspot 2007)

Again, sticking to Google, the definition that illuminates certain characteristics about our family hero includes: “…The character [has] ambiguous morals, or character defects and eccentricities…” Marsters may not totally be described as a hero.

There were some definite shortfalls in his character. He wasn’t an axe murderer or anything terrible, but it cannot be denied that he had some “character defects and eccentricities” . These had already been noticed by observers who met him during his travels around the Pacific (refer to “Stories of Palmerston – Sisters of the Sun”).

Most significantly, it must be admitted that he did have an unusual attitude towards marriage and friendship. He married Akakaingaro (whom he called Sarah) soon after he arrived in Penrhyn around about 1856 and took her and their children with him on his journeys around the islands as he worked on the trading boats.

It was not too long after he arrived on Palmerston in 1863 with Sarah and his two sons, that he engaged in a polygamous relationship with his wife’s cousin, Tepou, who had originally been brought from Penrhyn to look after Sarah’s young children.

He later also became involved in a relationship with Matavia, the wife of his best friend. Jean-Baptiste Fernandez who had left his wife behind on Palmerston while he worked on the whaling ships in the region. Yet, although Portugese Fernandez would have been surprised by his wife’s coffee-coloured children on his return, it did not appear to spoil is relationship with his best friend and drinking buddy.

All told, Marsters had 22 children to these three women on Palmerston. And apparently they lived quite harmoniously together – each with their own residences around the island (refer “The Masters of Walcote” Chapter 1.)

This attitude to multiple relationships at the same time could possibly have evolved from England where (in 1851, as Richard Masters) he married Charlotte Farmer from his home village of Walcote (most probably at his father’s coercion) to legitimize his son. Yet a couple of years later he also had a daughter to a woman called Sarah who may have lived in a de facto relationship with him – she was named Sarah Masters on the entry of their daughter’s baptism record in the St Leonards Church, in Misterton.

On Palmerston, he openly engaged in the polygamous relationships with his recognized wife, Sarah and her cousins Tepou and Matavia. Yet, despite his own situation, he did not allow his sons to behave similarly which exemplifies the “…ambiguous morals, character defects and eccentricities…” of the definition above

(from maureenhilyard.blogspot 2007)