Mona - plank built boat
As a child, the first vessel I ever saw in my village was the Mona, or the more common Solomon name Mon. The Mona style is unique to the Buka, built from planks hewn from a balsa type species called Polats tree. The planks are then sewn together with a special vine and the gaps tarred together with putty from the tsita (parinarum nut) tree. The production of one Mona can take as long as six months because of the various ceremonies associated with its construction beginning with the felling of the first tree.
The large Mona may be built for a chief and his warriors or for seafaring expeditions with a crew of up to 20 oarsmen plus the captain. A medium-sized Mona, of nine oarsmen, was used for atun (bonito) fishing whereas the smaller Mona of four seats, such as the example here, was built for chiefly boys in order to develop their skills. My father first built a Mona about this size for me when I was only five or six years old and I had to learn to face the elements from my earliest years.
Moses Havini
Plank canoe, Buka Island, acquired by the Australian Museum in 1887 from Captain Farrell, length 410cm, width 45cm, height 70cm. Photo: C Bento.
Copyright © Australian Museum, 2003
