Overview

The year is 1900, and John Williams has come to the remote Pacific island of Ocean Island (now known as Banaba) to oversee the new phosphate industry. His wife, Ella, and their two-year-old daughter, Gwennie, follow him to begin their new life. After her initial culture shock, Ella grows to love the island and its people and to care deeply about their plight as the phosphate mining gradually destroys their beautiful home. While John supervises hundreds of indentured workers, Ella and Gwennie get to know the Banaban people, their culture and beliefs. Tetabo, their houseboy, teaches Gwennie about his people's magic and mysteries. John fears that his daughter is growing up like a native, but Ella refuses to send Gwennie to Australia to school. John, while loyal to the mining company, is uneasy at his superiors' treatment of the island and its people. Discontent and riots among the imported mine workers challenge him, the Banabans' anxiety about the mining worries him while the changes to his family perturb him. Nakaa's Awakening; Land of Matang is based on the author's researched family history. It is a story of conflicting loyalties, cultural differences and a family adjusting to a new environment while destructive mining practices threaten the near-extinction of the Banaban race. The survival of the Banaban people into the twenty-first century is a triumph of the human spirit over industrial might. They continue to believe that good will overcome evil as they struggle to survive the wrath of the evil spirit Nakaa and his Awakening. Yet, though Matang was lost forever, a cherished tradition said that the ancestor gods had promised to return to their children one day, wherever they might be...

Full Product Details

9780648546238

Table of Contents

Reviews

Naaka's Awakening is the warm-hearted story of Ella Williams and her life on Ocean Island (now Banaban) in the early 20th Century. While her husband oversees the phosphate mining enterprise that brought the family to the island, Ella learns to love the rich culture of the island. Her loyalties are torn when she sees the damage the company is doing to the Banabans' way of life. I highly recommend this story to anyone interested in the impact of European activities in the Pacific, and to anyone who loves to read of new and exotic places. Inspired by true events, and real people, this story held my attention and sent me off on a virtual visit via Google Earth . Sally Odgers, Author / Editor ______________ Stacey King has created a fascinating story about her great-grandparents and their life on Banaba Island in the early 1900s. The sad saga of the rape of the island and the usurpation of the rights of the Banabans by Australian and British phosphate miners is told through the eyes of the Williams family. Ella and John Williams shared a unique experience of adjusting to life on a tropical island, learning to respect and understand the original owners and bringing up their daughters far from their Australian home. Due to their strong and loving relationship, they were able to deal with the challenges that faced them with great courage. Their two daughters, Gwennie and Uma, grew up on Banaba and became unusual and independent women as a result of their experience. The author has brought to life the Banaban people they met and came to love. The tale of the beliefs and traditions of the Banabans and the photos throughout the book help to make the story even more vivid. I am looking forward to the next book in this intriguing series . Virginia Falealili, Author ______________ What an incredible story well written. I look forward to the next and the next and the next . Alice Billing, Australia _______________ A very effective mix of historical facts and a well-written narrative to bring the history alive. It kept me wanting to keep reading to find out what happens to each of the characters and their individual character arcs. The Banaban words throughout assisted in placing you in the time and presence of the island, together with the rich description of the environment. I felt I was right there on the island participating in the lives of the characters. I also loved how you proffered the different perspectives of each character and their point of view of their dynamic environment. Fiona Macrae, Australia _______________

Naaka's Awakening is the warm-hearted story of Ella Williams and her life on Ocean Island (now Banaban) in the early 20th Century. While her husband oversees the phosphate mining enterprise that brought the family to the island, Ella learns to love the rich culture of the island. Her loyalties are torn when she sees the damage the company is doing to the Banabans' way of life. I highly recommend this story to anyone interested in the impact of European activities in the Pacific, and to anyone who loves to read of new and exotic places. Inspired by true events, and real people, this story held my attention and sent me off on a virtual visit via Google Earth. Sally Odgers, Author

Naaka's Awakening is the warm-hearted story of Ella Williams and her life on Ocean Island (now Banaban) in the early 20th Century. While her husband oversees the phosphate mining enterprise that brought the family to the island, Ella learns to love the rich culture of the island. Her loyalties are torn when she sees the damage the company is doing to the Banabans' way of life. I highly recommend this story to anyone interested in the impact of European activities in the Pacific, and to anyone who loves to read of new and exotic places. Inspired by true events, and real people, this story held my attention and sent me off on a virtual visit via Google Earth . Sally Odgers, Author / Editor ______________ Stacey King has created a fascinating story about her great-grandparents and their life on Banaba Island in the early 1900s. The sad saga of the rape of the island and the usurpation of the rights of the Banabans by Australian and British phosphate miners is told through the eyes of the Williams family. Ella and John Williams shared a unique experience of adjusting to life on a tropical island, learning to respect and understand the original owners and bringing up their daughters far from their Australian home. Due to their strong and loving relationship they were able to deal with the challenges that faced them with great courage. Their two daughters, Gwennie and Uma, grew up on Banaba and became unusual and independent women as a result of their experience. The author has brought to life the Banaban people they met and came to love. The tale of the beliefs and traditions of the Banabans and the photos throughout the book help to make the story even more vivid. I am looking forward to the next book in this intriguing series . Virginia Falealili, Author ______________ What an incredible story well written. I look forward to the next and the next and the next . Alice Billing, Australia Naaka's Awakening is the warm-hearted story of Ella Williams and her life on Ocean Island (now Banaban) in the early 20th Century. While her husband oversees the phosphate mining enterprise that brought the family to the island, Ella learns to love the rich culture of the island. Her loyalties are torn when she sees the damage the company is doing to the Banabans' way of life. I highly recommend this story to anyone interested in the impact of European activities in the Pacific, and to anyone who loves to read of new and exotic places. Inspired by true events, and real people, this story held my attention and sent me off on a virtual visit via Google Earth. Sally Odgers, Author

Author Information

Stacey M. King is a businesswoman with commercial interests in the natural health industry and indigenous arts throughout Australia and the Pacific. She is an author and historian who specialises in Banaban Colonial history. Her association with the Banabans is more than a casual interest. Four generations of her family were involved with the early mining industry of Banaba (also known as Ocean Island) from the discovery of phosphate from 1900 to 1931. In 1989, she began research on her family's history for a historical novel based on their lives titled - Nakaa's Awakening, the first in the Land of Matang four-book series. From her first meeting with the Banabans in 1992, she has worked extensively on aid projects to try and assist the Banaban communities on Rabi and Banaba Islands. She went on to become the founder of the Banaban Heritage Society in 1995, a non-profit incorporated association to preserve Banaban history and better the lives of the Banaban people. During this period, she was involved in the research and coordination of various Australian and international television documentaries. She has also written various articles on the Banabans for worldwide publication over the past 30 years. In 1997, she formed a personal and collaborative partnership with Ken Raobeia Sigrah, a Banaban Clan historian and spokesperson. They both soon discovered their shared passion for seeking justice for the Banaban people and to see the rehabilitation of the Banaban homeland left destroyed by the mining. Together they have built one of the largest private collections on Banaban history from a European and indigenous perspective. Their first published work, Te Rii Ni Banaba (2001), is a history book written from an indigenous perspective and endorsed by Banaban Clan elders. King and Sigrah share the belief that their lives and destiny are intertwined, bringing them together so they could try and right the wrongs of the past. With the establishment of Banaban Vision Publications, they are converting much of their writings and research findings into digital publications for future Banaban generations and for a broader audience keen to learn more about the plight of the indigenous Banaban people in the modern world.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available