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| Solomon Islands Five Dollars Note |
Solomon Islands Banknotes 5 Dollars banknote 1977 Queen Elizabeth II
Solomon Islands Monetary Authority
Obverse: Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and sundry embellishments of Solomon Islands "custom" designs & artifacts: In top left corner is stylized bird. At lower right are three fish. In top right is a masque. On the right side are the Solomon Islands jewelry. Kap kap white shell disc with dark brown turtle shell filigree overlay, probably flower/plant motifs. On banknote, probably, is Dala kapkap. It is still worn as a head or breast ornament on Malaita and Guadalcanal. The intricate overlay design is cut by hand. All photographs courtesy of a private collection. Shell disk ornaments overlaid with filigree turtle shell are typical of the Solomon Islands. Commonly known as kapkaps, they were worn westward to New Ireland and on into the Papuan Gulf in Papua New-Guinea. (Art-Pacific (Carolyn Leigh - Ron Perry): Guide to artifacts). Denominations in numerals are in top and lower right corners, in words centered.
Reverse: Native man of the Solomon Islands with traditional martial canoe (Traditional Solomon Islands War Canoe) - Tomoko canoe against typical background, and sundry Solomon Islands "custom" designs and artifacts: At lower left side and in top right corner are the figureheads from the canoes (Nguzu Nguzu War Canoe Prow Figurehead Toto isu). On the left side are, again, the Solomon Islands jewelry. Denominations in numerals are in top and lower left corners, in words and in numeral in lower right corner.
Watermark: Falcon landing.
Original Size: 145 × 75 mm.
Printer: Thomas De La Rue & Company Limited, London, England.
Signatures: Chairman: Mr. John Palfrey; Member Monetary Authority: Mr. Jezriel Korinihona.
Solomon Islands Banknotes - Solomon Islands Paper Money
Solomon Islands Monetary Authority
1977-1981 "Queen Elizabeth II" Issue
2 Dollars 5 Dollars 10 Dollars 20 Dollars
Traditional Solomon Islands War Canoe - The War Canoe of the Western Province
The war canoe from Western Province was once a revered sight in the waters of the Western Solomon Islands.
It comes from the people of Roviana in the Western Province, known as "Tomoko" in their native mother tongue. The Tomoko was used during the head hunting days to carry war raiding parties.
The maximum the Tomoko can carry depends on the size of the boat, but an average sized Tomoko could fit fifty to two hundred warriors.
Often, when these warriors were paddling, they call on their gods and deities for strength. "They were all possessed by the gods, who makes their body strong during travel, it also prepares them for fighting".
This ancient god is called Tiola, when the warriors go out to war, they call on him because they regarded it as the god of the province. Even now, when there is an escort in the Western province for a celebration, they still use the war canoe, some still pray to the Tiola to paddle the canoe.
Nguzu Nguzu War Canoe Prow Figurehead Toto Isu
Canoe-prow figureheads were an important part of a war canoe. Their main positive supernatural function was to serve the canoe and its warriors in a protective manner. The spirit of the prow figure protected against natural and supernatural elements: anything from storms and dangerous waters to menacing water spirits. The large eyes and ears aided in warding off sea spirits; the ears to hear everything in the air and underwater, the eyes fixed open in an ever-watchful, piercing gaze. The figureheads are quite small and, due to being tied to the prow low down at the water-line, could be easily overlooked. The majority have horizontally thrusting (prognathic) jaw-lines and long curved upturned noses which combine to give them a somewhat dog-like countenance.
Canoe-prow figureheads are ubiquitously painted black, occasionally with red, white or blue paint applied to the hair, hat or teeth. Lines of carefully inlaid shell decorate their faces, in rigid lines and flowing patterns that replicate the white-painted designs of everyday facial decoration. On the inlay is particularly finely cut into Z-shaped sections called asepaleo, or 'small baitfish's mouth', in Roviana. The treatment of the ears commonly resembles the large circular lobes created by the insertion of earplugs.
Most figureheads have hands pressed together under the chin; some clutch objects such as birds and small human heads. The severed head is an obvious head-hunting symbol, but the meaning behind a bird cupped in the hands is unclear. The bird relates to navigation, for the sighting of certain birds assisted in locating land.
Nusa Roviana in New Georgia - a larger island in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands - was the regional centre of political power, demoted by British colonial intervention in the late 19th century. ‘The natives of these islands’ - says an anthropological study – ‘have for many centuries been in the habit of making raids upon neighbouring islands for the purpose of taking human heads and capturing slaves.’ The main instrument of these raids was the large war canoe called tomako – one of the biggest and most graceful indigenous watercraft of all times.
‘Their canoes are very well made and very light ... shaped like a crescent, the largest holding about thirty persons. ... Their speed in rowing is marvellous,’ this observation was recorded by Alvaro de Medeña, a Spanish navigator who visited the Solomon Islands in 1568 during his unsuccessful search for Terra Australis. ‘The canoes of these islands are constructed with great good sense, and finished with much skill: they are not formed of a trunk of a tree, made hollow by stone implements or fire ... but are made of pieces put together’ observed Jean-François-Marie de Surville - a French explorer in 1769. He described how the canoe was built of thin planks of timber ‘tied strongly with rattan to ribs of wood, bent in the shape of the boat, and serving as its frame. ...the joints are stopped with a black mastic, ... which renders these ... vessels impenetrable to the water.’
‘The bow and stern of all the war canoes’ – reads a 19th century report – ‘are beautifully patterned with an inlay work of mother-of-pearl and a string of porcelain cowries is secured all the way to the great prows. On the top of the prow of the war canoes there is usually a carved figure, the commonest being a kesoko’ - a bird or sea spirit.