Bauro Tokatake
| Bauro Tokatake | |
|---|---|
| Bauro II | |
| King of Abemama | |
| Predecessor | George Tekinaiti Tokatake |
| Successor | Donald Tokatake |
| Born | 1932 |
| Died | 2003 |
| Issue | 5, including Donald and Willie |
| Father | George Tekinaiti Tokatake |
Bauro Tokatake (Bauro II;[a] 1932–2003) was an I-Kiribati politician and landowner. In the 1960s, Bauro succeeded his father, Tekanaiti, as the seventh king of Abemama. While this title was only customary, Bauro also served as President of the Island Council from 1968 to 1977 and on the Legislative Council, as the member for Abemama, from 1971 to 1978.
Life
[edit]Bauro Tokatake was born c. 1932.[1] His father was George Tekinaiti Tokatake,[3] the sixth king (uea) of Abemama, Kuria, and Aranuka.[2]:274 His mother was the daughter of Captain Jimmy Smith, a famous resident trader on Abemama, and his wife, an American–Samoan woman.[4] Bauro once worked as a merchant seaman.[5]:378 In the 1960s, his father, Tekinaiti, went to live in the Solomon Islands and left Bauro to inherit the kingship. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Bauro consolidated his power as a member of the Island Council and the committee of a cooperative society.[6] Bauro was elected to the Legislative Council of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in 1971.[1] He lost his seat by twenty-five votes in 1978. However, he claimed that his loss stemmed from the people's confusion about multiple-choice voting.[1][7]:378
Reign
[edit]Bauro Tokatake was knowledgable in the history, rights, and responsibilities of the kings of Abemama, which were taught to him by his father, Tekinaiti, and senior elders (unimane).[8]:33 However, his royal authority relied on the acceptance of the people;[1] compared to Baiteke and Binoka, the nineteenth-century autocrats of the Kingdom of Abemama, his power was trivial.[1][8]:33
The abolishment of social classes in the 1880s and the 1892 British annexation of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands significantly diminished the king's authority. After World War II, colonial officials opposed many customs that they viewed as exploitative, such as the king receiving half the output of copra. After becoming a government employee, Bauro Tokatake abolished the practice because it undermined the system of communal labour the government instituted.[8]:33–34 Bauro Tokatake served as President of the Island Council from 1968 to 1977, while his uncle was the Island Executive Officer. During their time, the Council’s funds were consistently short each month, and Bauro's uncle asked him to cover the missing money. This ongoing issue led to Bauro’s uncle being fired and Bauro resigning from his position.[9]:293
Though his title was only customary, Bauro retained certain rights: for example, he could ask anyone to cut copra on his land for him; and if he needed labour for a task, such as building a new house, he could ask the elders of each village to send men to work for him, for a few days at a time. He also had many responsibilities. He was obliged to help his subjects when they ask for money or to temporarily use his land, in return for their service.[8]:34 Many were also free to take whatever they wished from the king, an artefact from the days when the king was considered the owner of everything on the island.[5]:385 According to Thurston Clarke,[b] Bauro complained that "being a king on Abemama is a bum deal. No power, and people help themselves to whatever you own. No, these days it is better to be a commoner than a king."[5]:386
Bauro Tokatake still owned the most land on Abemama; he is said to have once owned over 400 lands.[8]:40 His land ownership helped perpetuate his high status.[8]:35 In 1981, Bauro claimed that he ruled only as long as his subjects let him, and that they had not expressed any desire to end the royal line.[1] However, in 1972, Bauro had sold off most of his lands and only had 132 parcels in the Lands Register.[8]:40 This impacted his reputation, as the I-Abemama viewed the excessive sale of land as profligate and considered the king's land not just his property, but land held for the collective benefit of the people.[8]:71[13]:266 Gavin Bell, a journalist who viewed Bauro unfavourably, wrote in 1995 that the king had become unpopular with some of his neighbors. After Bauro sold a hundred acres, Bell claimed, his house mysteriously burned down, and he and his wife were temporarily living in little tin shacks when Bell met him.[13]:266[c]
When the United Kingdom granted Kiribati independence in 1979, the elders of Abemama penned a letter to Queen Elizabeth II, requesting that Abemama, Kuria, and Aranuka either be made a seperate country or remain a British protectorate.[1][5]:380 Bauro told Thurston Clarke that the request was "not based on whim but on history, laws, and our rights! [...] I assure you that most people on these islands would prefer to break away." There was no reply; the letter likely never reached the Queen,[5]:380 and Clarke was unable to find a copy.[5]:392 Nevertheless, the new government of Kiribati recognized Bauro as king, and officials consulted him on matters affecting the three islands.[1]
Legacy
[edit]
Bauro Tokatake died in 2003.[11] A new village, Bangotantekabaia,[d] was recorded in 2005 with a population of 140,[15] near where Bauro once lived. R. F. Watters suggests that Bauro allowed I-Abemama families to rent some of his land, perhaps cutting copra for the king and fishing in the lagoon, leading to the development of what is now a community of 525 (2020) — the second-largest village on Abemama.[9]:297[16] Bauro was succeeded by Donald Tokatake, his eldest son.[1][11] Don is now an elderly kava bar owner.[17] When asked by an Australian aid worker how it felt to be king, Don compared himself to "a dog with no teeth," since the title, he said, was nothing but a word.[11] His brother,[5]:376 the politician Willie Tokatake,[18] described Don as "only a figurehead".[19]
Notes
[edit]- ^ Bauro Tokatake is also referred to as Bauro II;[1] Bauro Timon was the fourth king. Both kings were also known as Paul, from which Bauro is derived. Bauro's surname was the name of his grandfather, who was the fifth king.[2]
- ^ Thurston Clarke, who visited Abemama in 1985, wrote that a George Tokataake was the king at that time.[5]:378[10] This is the same person as Bauro Tokatake; Ray Watters, who visited Abemama in 1972 and 1984, reported that Bauro was incumbent on both occassions,[8][9]:293 and a King Paulo was later reported as having died in 2003.[11] Bauro's father, Tekinaiti, also went by George Murdock, the name of Tekinaiti's maternal grandfather, a European trader.[12]
- ^ Bauro posed for Bell's camera at the tomb of Tem Binoka, next to Binoka's portrait. The photo can be found in Bell's book, In Search of Tusitala: Travels in the Pacific After Robert Louis Stevenson (1994).[13]:266
- ^ It was first recorded in the 1995 census with a population of 38.[14]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j The Canadian Press (20 April 1981). "King does not perform all traditional royal tasks". The Saskatoon Pheonix. pp. C9.
- ^ a b Roberts, R. G. (1953). "The Dynasty of Abemama". The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 62 (3). Polynesian Society: 267–278. JSTOR 20703382.
- ^ Wood, Terence (May 2014). Solomon Islands Election Results: 1967 – 2013. The Centre for Democratic Institutions. p. 67.
- ^ "How Captain Jimmy Smith Kept His Watch". Pacific Islands Monthly. Vol. XVI, no. 7. 15 February 1948. p. 24.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Clarke, Thurston (1990). Equator: A Journey. New York: Avon Books. ISBN 978-0-380-70855-0.
- ^ Macdonald, Barrie (1982). Cinderellas of the Empire: Towards a History of Kiribati and Tuvalu. Canberra: Australian National University Press. p. 201. ISBN 0708116167.
- ^ Knudson, Kenneth E. (1987). "Butaritari and Abemama: Contrasting Gilbertese Adaptations to European Contact". In Donald, Leland (ed.). Themes in Ethnology and Culture History: Essays in Honor of David F. Aberle. Archana Publications.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Watters, Ray; Banibati, Kabiritaake (1984) [1977]. Abemama. Atoll Economy: Social Change in Kiribati and Tuvalu. no. 5. Canberra: ANU Press. ISBN 0867844019.
- ^ a b c Watters, Ray (2008). Journeys Towards Progress: Essays of a Geographer on Development and Change in Oceania. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 9780864735966.
- ^ Clarke, Thurston (2002). Islomania. London: Abacus. p. 187. ISBN 9780349114552.
- ^ a b c d Arkus, Mike (29 January 2014). "5 Storied Isles of the South Pacific: Going Literary on the Looney Front". HuffPost. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
- ^ Moore, W. Robert (February 1945). "Gilbert Islands in the Wake of Battle". The National Geographic Magazine. Vol. LXXXVII, no. 2. p. 161.
- ^ a b c Bell, Gavin (1995) [1st ed., 1994]. In Search of Tusitala: Travels in the Pacific After Robert Louis Stevenson. Picador. ISBN 0330342452.
- ^ Office, Kiribati Ministry of Finance Statistics (1997). Report on the 1995 Census of Population: Basic information and tables. Statistics Office, Ministry of Finance.
- ^ "Kiribati - Population and Housing Census 2005". microdata.pacificdata.org. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
- ^ "Kiribati - Population and Housing Census 2020". microdata.pacificdata.org. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
- ^ "Chatty Frangipani: University of Tuangaona, Abemama (Warning: Slightly X Rated Blog)". Chatty Frangipani: Adventures in Kiribati. 17 February 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
- ^ Bingke, Biiko (15 September 2024). "Willie Tokataake Appointed as the new Speaker of the House of Parliament". BPA News. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
- ^ Stephenson, Pamela (2006). Treasure Islands: Sailing the South Seas in the Wake of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson. London: Headline Publishing Group. p. 286. ISBN 9780755312863.
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