Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Prefabrication, Patrilineality, and Intergenerational Reuse: The Ruined Third Church of Aniwa, Southern Vanuatu, and its Integration into Domestic Architecture

  • Published:
International Journal of Historical Archaeology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In 1959, the Third Presbyterian Church on Aniwa, a small, low lying island in the TAFEA Province of Southern Vanuatu, was destroyed in Tropical Cyclone Amanda. Following its collapse, structural and other components of the building, a prefabricated structure imported from Australia in 1894, were collected by senior male Elders of the Church and repurposed into domestic architecture. Passed through intergenerational cycles of domestic reuse and favored for structural soundness, much of this material still exists in the homes of male descendants, who still serve important roles in the Presbyterian and wider community. This prefabricated church represents both an expanding network of international capitalism and local Indigenous agency, the blend of which is still evident in Aniwa’s domestic architecture. Survey and interviews revealed not only important structural information about the Third Church, but insight into the patrilineal manner through which structural material and social memory are inherited and dispersed on Aniwa.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Advertiser. (1890). Church Intelligence, South Australia, August 6, p. 6. Church Intelligence. - Trove (nla.gov.au); accessed July 2021. 

  • Advertiser. (1906a). Church Notes, Adelaide, South Australia, July 21, p. 13. Church Notes. - Trove (nla.gov.au); accessed July 2021. 

  • Advertiser. (1906b). Public Notice for Sale of Peter Gordon's Business to Messrs. Bottger and Delank, Adelaide, South Australia, August 2, p. 2. Advertising. - Trove (nla.gov.au); accessed July 2021. 

  • Ash, J., Manas, L., and Bosun, D. (2010). Lining the path: a seascape perspective of two Torres Strait Missions, Northeast Australia. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 14: 56-85.

  • Bailiff, I. K., Blain, S., Graves, C. P., Gurling, T., and Semple, S. (2010). Uses and recycling of brick in medieval and Tudor English buildings: insights from the application of luminescence dating and new avenues for further research. Archaeological Journal 167: 165–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bayman, J. M. (2009). Technological change and the archaeology of emergent colonialism in the Kingdom of Hawai‘i. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 13: 127–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonnemaison, J. (1994). The Tree and the Canoe: History and Ethnogeography of Tanna. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cochran, C. (1990). Styles of sham and genuine simplicity: timber buildings in Wellington to 1880. In Hamer, D. and Nicholls, R. (eds.), The Making of Wellington, 1800-1914. Victoria University Press, Wellington, pp. 107-128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craig, B. (2003). Repaint the drum. Records of the South Australian Museum 36: 115–133.

    Google Scholar 

  • Douglas, B. (1979). Review of Misi Gete: John Geddie, Pioneer Missionary to the New Hebrides. Journal of Pacific History 14: 236–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flexner, J. (2016). An Archaeology of Early Christianity in Vanuatu, Kastom and Religious Change on Tanna and Erromango, 1839–1920. Australian National University Press, Canberra.

  • Flexner, J. L. (2013). Mission archaeology in Vanuatu: preliminary findings, problems and prospects. Australasian Historical Archaeology 31: 14–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flexner, J. L., Bedford, S., and Valentin, F. (2019). Who was Polynesian? who was Melanesian? hybridity and ethnogenesis in the south Vanuatu outliers. Journal of Social Archaeology 19: 403-426.

  • Flexner, J. L., Bedford, S., Valentin, F., Shing, R., Kuautonga, T., and Zinger, W. (2018). Preliminary results of the South Vanuatu Archaeological Survey: cultural landscapes, excavation, and radiocarbon dating. Asian Perspectives 57: 244–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flexner, J. L., Jones, M. J., and Evans, P. D. (2015). “Because it is a Holy House of God”: buildings archaeology, globalization, and community heritage in a Tanna church. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 19: 262–288. 

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flexner, J. L., Jones, M. J., and Evans, P. D. (2016). Destruction of the 1912 Lenakel Church (Tanna (Tanna, Vanuatu) in Cyclone Pam, and thoughts for the future of the site. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 20: 463–469.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flexner, J. L. and Spriggs, M. (2015). Mission sites as Indigenous heritage in southern Vanuatu. Journal of Social Archaeology 15: 184–209. 

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodlet and Smith (1890). Goodlet and Smith New Illustrated Catalogue. Goodlet and Smith, Sydney.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, P. (1894). Letter, Peter Gordon to Christian friends on Aniwa, 14 April 1894. Papers relating to building of mission church on Aniwa and Weasisi, Tanna, State Library of South Australia, PRG 991/32.

  • Gray, W. (1894). Specification of work for church proposed to be erected at Aniwa, New Hebrides. Papers relating to building of mission church on Aniwa and Weasisi, Tanna, State Library of South Australia, PRG 991/32.

  • Gray, W. (1895). Quarterly Jottings from the New Hebrides.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gray, W. (n.d). Plans of Church at Aniwa, New Hebrides, State Library of South Australia, PRG 991/31.

  • Guiart, J. (1961). The social anthropology of Aniwa, southern New Hebrides. Oceania 32: 34–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, R. (2006). An artifact of colonial desire? Kimberley Points and the technologies of enchantment. Current Anthropology 47: 63–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herbert, G. (1978). Pioneers of Prefabrication: The British Contribution in the Nineteenth Century. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jolly, M. (1991). “To save the girls for brighter and better lives”: Presbyterian missions and women in the south of Vanuatu, 1848-1870. Journal of Pacific History 26: 27–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahn, J. G. (2016). Holistic houses and a sense of place: contextualizing the Bishop Museum Hale Pili exhibit through archaeological analyses. Museum Worlds 4: 181–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linder, M. (1994). Projecting Capitalism: A History of the Internationalization of the Construction Industry. Greenwood Press, Westport, CT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindstrom, L. (1993). Cargo Cult: Stange Stories of Desire from Melanesia and Beyond. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lydon, J. and Burns, A. (2010). Memories of the past, visions of the future: changing views of Ebenezer Mission, Victoria, Australia. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 14: 39-55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McAtackney, L. and Palmer, R. (2016). Colonial institutions: uses, subversions, and material afterlives. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 20: 471–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Middleton, A. (2003). Maori and European landscapes at Te Puna, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, 1805-1850. Archaeology in Oceania 38: 110-124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Middleton, A. (2006). Mission station as trading post: the economy of the Church Missionary Society. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 28: 51–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, J. G. (1978). Live: A History of Church Planting in the New Hebrides, Book I: A History of Church Planting in the New Hebrides to 1880. Committees on Christian Education and Overseas Missions, General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, Sydney.

  • Miller, J. G. (1986). Live: A History of Church Planting in the Republic of Vanuatu, Book 4, 1881–1920. Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu, Port Vila.

  • Miller, J. G. (1989). Live: A History of Church Planting in the Republic of Vanuatu, Book 6, the Northern Islands, 1881-1948. Mission Publications of Australia, Lawson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrison, M., McNaughton, D., and Keating, C. (2015). “Their God is their belly”: Moravian missionaries at the Weipa Mission (1898–1932), Cape York Peninsula. Archaeology in Oceania 50: 85–104.

  • Observer. (1906). Mr. Peter Gordon, Adelaide, South Australia, July 21, p. 38. Mr. Peter Gordon. - Trove (nla.gov.au); accessed July 2021.

  • PA (Pictorial Australian). (1892). Our Illustrations: Sketches in the New Hebrides, Adelaide, South Australia, May 1, p. 70. Our Illustrations. - Trove (nla.gov.au); accessed July 2021. Paton, J. G. (1907). John G. Paton, Missionary to the New Hebrides. 2 vols. Fleming H. Revell, New York.

  • Paton, J. G. (1890). John G. Paton: Missionary to the New Hebrides, Second Part. Hodder and Stoughton, London.

  • Paton, M. W. (1894). Letters and Sketches from the New Hebrides. Hodder and Stoughton, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paton M. W. (1895). Quarterly Jottings from the New Hebrides, Number 7. John G. Paton Mission Fund, Essex.

  • Purser, M. (2003). The view from the verandah: Levuka bungalows and the transformation of settler identities in later colonialism. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 7: 293–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodman, M. C. (1985). Moving houses: residential mobility and the mobility of residences in Longana, Vanuatu. American Anthropologist 87: 56–72. 

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodman, M. C. (2001). Houses Far from Home: British Colonial Space in the New Hebrides. University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Saxton and Binns (1910). The Saxton and Binns Illustrated Catalogue. Saxton and Binns, Sydney.

    Google Scholar 

  • SMH. (1890). Sydney Morning Herald. New South Wales. July 2, p. 3.

  • Spriggs, M. (1985). "A school in every district": the cultural geography of conversion on Aneityum, Southern Vanuatu. Journal of Pacific History 20(1): 23–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spriggs, M. (1986). Landscape, land use, and political transformation in southern Melanesia. In Kirch, P. V. (ed.), Island Societies: Archaeological Approaches to Evolution and Transformation. University of Cambridge Press, Cambridge, pp. 6-19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sydney Morning Herald. (1890). New Guinea News, Sydney, New South Wales, July 2, p. 3. New Guinea News. - Trove (nla.gov.au); accessed July 2021. Tabani, M. (2010). The carnival of custom: land dives, millenarian parades, and other spectacular ritualizations in Vanuatu. Oceania 80(3): 309-328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • TAFEA Province Mini Census. (2016). 2016 Population and Housing Mini Census, Facts and Figures, TAFEA Province.

  • UNESCO. (2017). Safeguarding Indigenous Architecture in Vanuatu. UNESCO, Apia and Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanuatu National Statistics Office. (2009). 2009 National Population and Housing Census. Vanuatu National Statistics Office, Port Vila.

  • Warner, J. (1854). Iron Villas. Moreton Bay Courier, p. 3.

  • Watson, D. (1984). A century of distant accommodation: building prefabrication in Queensland, 1824 - c. 1920. Historic Environment 4(1): 5–18.

  • Watt, A. C. P. (1896). Twenty-Five Years' Mission Life on Tanna, New Hebrides. J. and R. Parlane, Paisley.

  • Watt, W. (1910). Aniwa. New Hebrides Magazine October: 14-15.

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would foremost like to thank the Aniwan community for their hospitality during the 2019 Aniwa Fieldschool, particularly those who participated in this study; Gabriel Mastea, Gibson Vani, Taboi David, Joshua Iautu. A special thank you is extended to Meli Whitecross for being so kind and willing to share his memory of the Third Church and to his family, for opening their home and displaying endless patience while measurements were taken in their various outbuildings. The Vanuatu Cultural Centre Fieldworker Denise Elena kept the whole project together. Thank you also to other members of the team who assisted in the study of the Third Church and its repurposed remains. This research was carried out under a Research Permit from the Vanuatu Cultural Centre (2016-2020). Financial support for the Fieldschool on Aniwa came from an Australian Research Council Grant (DP160103578).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Isabella Shaw

  2. Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, PO Box 105 291, Auckland, 1143, New Zealand

    Martin J. Jones

  3. Department of Archaeology, Quadrangle Building (A14), University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    James L. Flexner

  4. Department of Archaeology and Natural History, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    Stuart Bedford

  5. Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany

    Stuart Bedford

Authors
  1. Isabella Shaw
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Martin J. Jones
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. James L. Flexner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Stuart Bedford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Isabella Shaw.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Shaw, I., Jones, M.J., Flexner, J.L. et al. Prefabrication, Patrilineality, and Intergenerational Reuse: The Ruined Third Church of Aniwa, Southern Vanuatu, and its Integration into Domestic Architecture. Int J Histor Archaeol 26, 573–598 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-021-00615-6

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-021-00615-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation