Austral Islanders (Tuha'a Pae)

## Country of Origin

Austral Islands (French Polynesia): 6,500

## Related Ethnic Groups

Polynesians Austronesians

The **Austral Islanders** (Austral: *Tuha'a Pae*) are the islanders of the Austral Archipelago's islands, except Rapa Iti, in French Polynesia, an overseas country of the French Republic in the South Pacific. Inhabitants of the islands are known for their pandanus fiber weaving skills.

In the past, European ships received numerous offerings from the Australs but also plundered some of the islands' sites, notably the missionaries of the London Missionary Society, anxious to eradicate all traces of ancient worship. The marae, Polynesian places of worship, were thus excavated and gradually disappeared. In Raivavae, for example, out of sixty-two marae present at the beginning of the 20th century, only twenty-three remain visible today.

The best known work of art stolen from the Austral Islands is certainly the sculpture of the God A'a, discovered in Rurutu and currently exhibited at the British Museum in London. There is a reproduction on the island. It is composed of thirty small figures sculpted on its body; its back had a cavity that could accommodate twenty-four other small sculptures which were however destroyed in 1822.

The Austral Islands are also known for their large vertical drums or "pahu" often decorated with human figures that often welcomed Christian explorers or missionaries.

## Etymology

Austral is a rarely used synonym for "southern". Tuha'a Pae is of uncertain meaning, it could mean "part of the horizon", or "split in five".

## History (A'amu)

The island has been inhabited for more than 2000 years. In the ancient past a road was built that encircled the island. There exists on the island today the stone ruins of a “great number of structures, house platforms, marae complexes, and cemeteries...” According to David Stanley's *South Pacific Handbook*:

"The Austral islands were one of the great art areas of the Pacific, represented today in many museums. The best-known artifacts are tall sharkskin drums, wooden bowls, fly-whisks, and tapa cloth."

### Bounty's Pirates (Nana Eiâ no Bounty)

Raivavae was sighted by Europeans was recorded by the Spanish naval officer Tomás Gayangos on board of the frigate *El Aguila* on 5 February 1775. Gayangos had taken over the command of the expedition of Domingo de Bonechea of 1774 after his death in Tahiti and was returning to the Viceroyalty of Peru. The main source describing this sighting is that of José Andía y Varela, pilot of the packet boat *Jupiter* that accompanied *El Aguila* in this return trip. On 6 February, a boat was sent in, and made contact with the inhabitants at the shore edge, but landing was not made. Raivavae was charted as *Santa Rosa* by the Spaniards, who recorded as *Oraibaba* the name of the island said by the inhabitants.

Tubuai was first viewed by Europeans when it was mapped by James Cook in 1777, although his party did not disembark. Cook discovered the island's name, "Toobouai", from the natives who surrounded his ship in their canoes; a Tahitian named Omai, who was part of Cook's group, translated.

The next Europeans to arrive were the mutineers of HMS *Bounty* in 1789. Mutineer Fletcher Christian, in looking for an island on which to permanently hide, had "scoured" William Bligh's maps and nautical charts and decided on Tubuai.

Upon arrival at Tubuai, a conflict arose while the mutineers were still on their ship and several islanders were killed in their canoes. The site of this event in the lagoon on the north side of the island is called *Baie Sanglant* "Bloody Bay".

Mutineer James Morrison wrote: "The Island is full of Inhabitants for its size and may Contain 3000 souls." After only ten days on the island, the mutineers sailed for Tahiti to get women and livestock in which they were only nominally successful. When they returned to Tubuai, they built a fort on the northeast part of the island at Ta'ahueia, manned with cannon and swivel gun which they named Fort George. The mutineer leader, Fletcher Christian, knew that settling on Tahiti was sure to mean the mutineers' eventual discovery and arrest, so despite being viewed as intruders, Christian was reluctant to view permanent settlement on Tubuai as unfeasible. Christian favoured using diplomacy over time to eventually obtain wives, but many of the other mutineers insisted on raiding parties to take wives by force.

The islanders of Tubuai did not want to allow their women to stay at the mutineer camp or to allow them to become wives. They also were not disposed to trade food. It was not long before armed parties of mutineers started burning houses and desecrating marae during skirmishes to obtain women. More battles ensued and more natives were killed. One mutineer, the heavily tattooed Thomas Burkett (who was later tried and hanged in England for mutiny), was speared in the side by one of the islanders during one of the skirmishes.

After only two months since their first arrival on Tubuai, the mutineers left for good.

### 1800

Increased contact with Europeans also meant more exposure to diseases to which the islanders had no immunity. This proved particularly devastating to the population of Tubuai. At some point during the 30 years from when the mutineers left the island on September 17, 1789, and the early 1820s when accounts by Christian missionaries began to be recorded, the population that was estimated by the mutineer Morrison to be 3000 was now reduced to no more than 300 people. One Protestant minister when visiting a congregation on Tubuai on January 3, 1824, wrote that several islanders were still suffering from a devastating illness. He described the symptoms and noted that several hundred had died within the previous four years.

Rimatara was one of the last Polynesian islands to receive European visitors. Captain Samuel Pinder Henry discovered the island in 1811. Two Tahitian missionaries from Bora Bora arrived in 1822 and established a Protestant mission.

Raivavae was annexed to France in 1880, Tubuai in 1881.

Teuruarii IV, lost the Kingdom of Rurutu when it was annexed to France in 1900, he died 36 years later.

Queen Tamaeva V of Rimatara's Kingdom was annexed by France in 1901, she died 22 years later.

## Language (Reo)

Those who originally spoke Austral were the Tubuaians, the people of Tubuai. Because there is no recorded history of its earlier discovery (before European colonization), there is no precise time or date of the initial inhabitance of Tubuai. However, some say that the indigenous people started to occupy the island around the year 1000. The reason that is, is because during this time was a major increase of habitation in the Polynesian islands.

Centuries later, around 1777, James Cook "discovered" the island. Subsequently, Europeans made their way to this Polynesian isle to settle. Although the Tubuaians created their own society and culture, the Europeans objective was to convert the islanders into their beliefs. In results, the European influence had a negative effect on the Austral culture and population. It had caused the island to decrease from a population of 3000 to 300 over a course of years because of the emergence of new diseases and the introduction to alcohol.

Some traditional practices, beliefs, and languages had been lost or had been struggling to revive. The languages of the Austral area still lack official recognition, as of 2015.

## Religion (Ha'apa'ora'a)

The majority of the population is Christian mostly belonging to various Protestant groups and the Catholic Church. Catholics follow the Latin rite and administer 4 churches under the Archdiocese of Papeete, 2 on Tubuai Island: the Church of Mary and the Church of Saint Joseph (Église de Maria no te Hau; Église de Saint-Joseph) one on Rurutu Island: the Church of Saint Francis Regis (Église de Saint-François-Régis), and one more on Raivavae Island: the Church of Saint Peter (Église de Saint-Pierre). According to 1991 data, Protestant Christian groups represent the majority on these islands.

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