Page 5 of the News (Adelaide, South Australia) on Saturday 3rd March 1934 featured this headline ‘Stolen God in Museum’ and was accompanied by a photograph captioned ‘THE LOTUS God of the Solomon Islanders stolen 50 years ago’ (implying this happened about 1884) as well as this account of how and when the carved figure arrived at the South Australian Museum:
Weather-beaten, and with its origin shrouded in mystery, an ancient wooden god from the Solomon Islands stands in the corner of a case of the main gallery of the Museum.
It is not alone a relic of a dwindling race, but a reminder, when its later history is known, of the trade in kanakas, amounting almost to slavery, which took place in the last half of the nineteenth and the early part of the twentieth century.
The idol itself is a magnificent specimen of the intricate carving of the Solomon Islanders, and depicts a fearsome being with open mouth, who grips in his left hand a snake which is biting his lower lip.
It is the lotus god of the Solomons. The snake, the natives said, was praying for rain, and the idol itself has been cleverly designed so that water entering the head of it will flow down through the mouth into the snake and then again into the body of the idol, finally flowing into a basin at its feet.
Inspection of the carving which is currently on display in the Pacific Cultures Gallery of the South Australian Museum indicates that the figure is not ‘ancient’ or ‘weather-beaten’; its paint is in relatively good condition and it appears to have been carved with steel tools. It is not a carving from the Solomon Islands but probably an example of a rain-making figure (marandan) from the central north-coast of New Ireland.[1] Further, there are no passages for water from the head to the mouth into the snake through to the ‘basin at its feet’. The identification of the basin as a ‘lotus’ also is incorrect: it is a representation of the giant Tridacna clam, a not uncommon motif in New Ireland carving (see Craig 2010, MPNrs 200, 201, pp.243-4) and especially relevant for marandan figures (Kramer-Bannow 2009 [1916]:150, 203-5; Lincoln 1987:130-3). ‘So-called rainmaker figures were often posed with one or both arms extended, made separately and pegged in. Informants in the Notsi area stated that a right hand extended was related to rain, the left to sun’ (Lincoln 1987:132). The ‘Lotus God’ once had a pegged-in right arm, now lost. The painting of the face – right side black, left side white and pink – is consistent with that iconography.
The newspaper article goes on to state:
Some time in the eighties of last century an adventurous recruiter of kanakas for the Queensland and Fijian plantations stole the lotus god from an island village.
The theft aroused the wild and ferocious Solomon Islanders, and for a time there was practically open warfare between the islanders and the traders . . .
The British Government of the time offered a reward of ₤2,000 for the return of the god, but it was never recovered.
The South Australian Museum register[2] provides the following information:
A7446 Ceremonial carving “Lotus God\’\’ Solomon Islds Purch Aldridge Coll. (no.108 = old series no.)
Remarks in Norman Tindale’s handwriting: Legend states that ‘god’ is making rain by urinating into pot. Snake biting tongue of image represents natives pleading for rain. Told to J. Conroy[3] by man actively associated with original theft.
A label bearing no.109 found 1936 states “tomahawk which killed the captain and crew of the “Merry May” during the trouble over the lotus god.” J. Conroy states this image was stolen & brought to Queensland, taken secretly many miles on pack horse to avoid arrest. The Govt offered big reward for its recovery. It stood in Southern Cross Hotel K.Wm St Adelaide for many years. It was mutilated by Aldridge [its penis has been lopped].
Here we should note the disparity between the 1934 newspaper report and Tindale’s note recording the information obtained by Conroy. It is not clear who provided the information published by the newspaper or why it came to the attention of a journalist in 1934.
Apparently, the ‘Aldridge collection’ consisted of a large number of objects. There is the registration of a New Ireland mask (also currently on display), probably a kipong mask from the south-west coast of northern New Ireland:
A7438 Mask (pith top), New Ireland Purchased 1898 Aldridge Coll.
Remarks: Collection of 175 Ethnological specimens: 38 Aust., 2 New Zealand, 1 Samoa, 77 New Guinea, 3 New Hebrides, 2 Santa Cruz, 2 Fiji, 5 Solomon Islands, 33 arrows various loc, 3 Zulu shields, 3 dresses, 1 saw fish. 5/73 [=May 1973?]
Only the ‘lotus god’ and the mask are registered to be from Aldridge; the rest were likely registered as ‘Old Collection’[4].
The 1898 date recorded in the museum register for the purchase of the ‘Aldridge collection’ differs slightly from the report that Joseph Jene sold the hotel to Aldridge in 1899 and Aldridge sold the figure to the Museum subsequently.
The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA) Tuesday 13 Sep 1898, Page 5 reported that:
…. Mr J. Jene, the popular proprietor of the Southern Cross Hotel, King William-street, is evidently determined to keep abreast of the times. His hotel has long been recognised as one of the best in the colony, as he is always stocked with up-to-date novelties. The front bar of the hotel is a museum in itself, provided as it is with an interesting collection of native curios, whilst the whole house is elaborately fitted up throughout….
At a farewell luncheon on 27 March 1899 in honour of the retirement of Joseph Jene, The Express and Telegraph[5] reported that ‘The Southern Cross Hotel has changed hands, and the present proprietor is Mr Charles Aldridge, who has been connected with the business for many years, and formerly occupied the same hotel.’[6]
The 1934 News report states:
The then licensee of the Southern Cross Hotel in King William street, Adelaide, Mr. Joseph Gene [sic.], bought it [the ‘lotus god’] from the trader who stole it about 1894, and for five years it formed part of a collection of native curios in the barroom of the hotel. Then, in 1899, Mr Gene sold the hotel to a Mr Aldridge who shortly afterwards sold the god to the Museum.
The reference in the museum register to the ‘tomahawk which killed the captain and crew of the “Merry May” during the trouble over the lotus god’ suggests that the attack post-dated the theft of the figure and it may not have been the captain or crew of the ‘Merry May’ that stole the figure. If indeed the attack on the ‘Merry May’ was by Solomon Islanders, it is not credible that it had anything to do with ‘trouble over the lotus god’ which is clearly a New Ireland carving. Further, it is doubtful that the figure would have had to be stolen; after use in a ceremony, carvings were often left in the bush or in caves to rot, so New Irelanders were usually ready to sell their carvings to anyone interested in buying. Gunn and Peltier assert, ‘. . . in general, the history of collecting in New Ireland before 1884 was not marked by theft or coercion (2006:30).
In the Raymond J. Warren Register of Colonial Tall Ships, there is a section on the boats of the Blackbirders[7] – the traders who by various means, often illegal, recruited men from the south-west Pacific islands to work on the sugar plantations in Queensland and in other Pacific island colonies. The Register does not list a boat named the ‘Merry May’; there is an entry for a boat named the ‘May’ but there is no mention of the ‘May’ being attacked by Solomon Islanders. A schooner named the ‘May Queen’ was, however, attacked by natives of New Hebrides in the 1860s.
Holthouse (1969:145) remarks: ‘Different vessels with the same or similar names were often confused, and many vessels plied among the islands under several different names, with forged papers or none at all, with skippers who gave different names at different ports of call’.
The story in the Warren Register of the attacks on the ‘Elibank Castle’ could have been a source of the story about the supposed ‘Merry May’:
‘ELIBANK CASTLE’ Wood schooner of 100 Tons. Captain Augustus Routch, who put Captain James Howie in command of her and entered the vessel into the recruiting trade, owned her as a Copra trader. She sailed from Cooktown, Queensland on the 6th of November 1884 on her first voyage in that trade. With the trade now paying 25 pound per head for recruits, it was seen more as a voyage of kidnapping than of recruiting. During this period, the press [newspapers] from all sides was attacking the trade. The vessel arrived at Rendova Island on the 12th of January 1885 and there attempted, by trickery, to recruit the local natives.
Chief Poogey was already aware of the plan, as many others had tried the same type of ploy. Instead, Captain Howie and two of his crew were accompanied onto the island by some of the chief’s men and were killed. There were only three white crew and three Kanakas left aboard and after some harrowing moments, they managed to up sail and away. Three weeks later the steamer ‘City of Melbourne’ found the vessel in a disabled condition near Double Point, Port Douglas, Queensland and rescued the men aboard. The ‘Elibank Castle’ was repaired and back at work within seven weeks and command was taken over by Captain Routch himself and he took the vessel to the Solomon’s group where he invited the locals on board to trade. The natives suddenly went crazy and attacked the crew with ferocity. The bosun, David Brown, had been coming up the companionway when a native swung a tomahawk and hit him a glancing blow to the head. Having avoided being killed, he stumbled down into the hold and managed to hide himself until joined by seaman Hugh Gildie who had also been wounded in the fighting. The two men waited until nightfall and made their way on deck, only to find two natives still aboard whom they managed to kill. The two wounded seamen found that all others had been killed it was decided to try to sail in the general direction of New Guinea as neither man could navigate. The ‘Elibank Castle’ was run onto a reef off northern New Guinea and while trying to get ashore, Hugh Gildie was drowned. New Guinea natives saved David Brown and handed him over to a Dutch Brig, which took him to Queensland.
It seems highly likely that the stories recounted about ‘the lotus god’ are tales supported by knowledge of actual events. The Warren Register lists several other boats in the Blackbirding trade that were attacked by islanders, most often by Solomon Islanders. Holthouse’s book (1969) is replete with such accounts.
The note in the Register regarding the ‘Flora’ provides evidence that the ‘lotus god’ could indeed have been obtained during a visit by Blackbirders, either recruiting or returning recruits:
‘FLORA’ Wood schooner of the recruiting trade. Government Agent, Douglas Rannie. She was active around New Britain and New Ireland during the years 1880 to 1890.
Douglas Rannie recounts a voyage in the ‘Heron’ in 1884, that sailed from Maryborough in Queensland to the Solomons, Bougainville and then north and west to New Ireland. On arrival at Fisher’s Island (Tabar), ‘[w]e were invited up to the village, where we were much interested in the wonderful amount of carved work. There were great wooden demons, or gods, in their palaver house, all carved in a most grotesque manner, and inlaid with clam and pearl shell. The eyes of the demons were formed of operculums. Numerous carved masks were hanging about the houses; and of these I purchased quite a number’ (Rannie 1912:56).
On a voyage in the ‘Para’ in 1887, Rannie was given another tour of a village on Fisher’s Island (Tabar):
Many of their carvings stand out in relief, especially on their masks, used in dancing. Human beings, animals, fishes, and birds are represented, and are painted in several colours. The eyes in these effigies are generally the beautiful operculum let in with cement. Some of their carvings are made to represent the spirits they call ‘devil-devils’, whom they fear and appease with gifts . . . I managed to obtain with some difficulty two of their demon-gods. One represents the spirit which presides over their agricultural affairs . . . the ‘devil-devil belong yam and taro’. The other was the evil spirit who haunts the sea; his influence extends over the wind, waves and fishes . . . the ‘devil-devil belong salt water’ (Rannie 1912:273).
Despite variations in the reports of the ‘lotus figure’ and its cultural significance, it seems to belong to the class of New Ireland figures (marandan) associated with rain. It may well have been obtained by a labour recruiter around 1884 from the central north coast of New Ireland but probably not stolen and certainly not from the Solomon Islands. Although based on real events, the story of the ‘Merry May’ was most likely an embellishment to maximise the curiosity value of the figure.
Bibliography
Craig, B (ed.) 2010. Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes. Adelaide: Crawford House Publishing.
Gunn, M. and P. Peltier (eds) 2006. New Ireland. Art of the South Pacific. Paris: Musée du quai Branly, and 5 Continents Editions.
Holthouse, H. 1969. Cannibal Cargoes. Adelaide: Rigby Limited.
Kramer-Bannow, E. 2009 (1916). Among Art-Loving Cannibals of the South Seas. English translation by Waltraud Schmidt. Adelaide: Crawford House Publishing.
Lincoln, L. 1987. Assemblage of Spirits. Idea and Image in New Ireland. New York: George Braziller.
Rannie, D. 1912. My Adventures Among South Sea Cannibals. London: Seeley, Service & Co.
Notes:
[1] I surmise a coastal location in the Madak region of the New Ireland mainland in the vicinity of present-day Lamasong or Konos. The figure has a resemblance to the uli figures of the mountain villages south of Konos (see Gunn & Peltier 2006, Plates 55-60): oversized head; crested helmet; almond eyes; large nose; barred teeth; shoulders and chest distinct from lower torso; short, flexed legs; prominent phallus. ‘Augustus Krämer in 1909 recorded a sequence of uli ceremonies at Lamasong’ as a loan cult from the mountain villages (Gunn & Peltier 2006:172).[2] AA298 Anthro Volume 3 A7221-10457[3] SA Museum Assistant c.1900-1940[4] Systematic registration of the ethnological collections of the South Australian Museum did not begin until 1911 and by then the documentation of many objects and collections had been misplaced or lost. Such objects were usually referred to as ‘Old Collection’.[5] The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide, SA), Tue 28 March 1899, p.2.[6] There is a report that C.K. Aldridge had his license successfully renewed for the Southern Cross Hotel in 1885 (SA Register 11/3/1885, p.7).[7] http://colonialtallshipsrayw1.blogspot.com/2012/03/blackbirder-fleet.html, accessed 25 July 2021.