Abandoned Lamango Plantation Copra-Smoking Shed

Abandoned copra-smoking shed at Lamango Plantation. A growing sense of inequality was the catalyst for a 1977 demonstration at the local European-owned plantation, Lamango. A thousand men, women and children surrounded the house of Alfred Oupane, the overseer, and chanted, 'Givimbak! Givimbak!' (Give It Back!). One of the first uprisings against European control, it was also successful. The plantation was returned to its Mewun owners.

Copra is obtained by first removing the husk of the coconut, which is broken into pieces; the flesh is then allowed to dry in the sun or is smoked. In South West Bay, copra was usually smoked because of the large amount of rainfall, although smoked copra is less desirable than the sun-dried kind. The drying of the copra is usually done in the same area where the coconuts are cultivated. The fibers of the fruit's husk are often used for making rope (sennet).

• Summer 1981

• Larcom, Joan

• Skinner-Jones, Ann

• Cash Crops
• Influences of Outsiders

• Melanesia
• Oceania
• Pacific Islands
• South West Bay (Malakula, Vanuatu)

• Copra
• Plantations

• image

• No linguistic content; Not applicable

• Skinner-Jones, Ann

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2021-11-16