Pinu village is geographically located on the coastline of Western Central Province, Papua New Guinea. It is about 60 km north west of Port Moresby, and is accessible by Hiritano highway from the city of Port Moresby. This village is also surrounded by a number of smaller Gabadi language speaking villages.
These villages used dugout canoes with sails to travel to and from Port Moresby up until the 1970s, when Hiritano Highway was built. This 300 kilometres highway was the first to be built by the government, connecting Port Moresby and Gulf Province capital, Kerema town.
Pinu village coordinates are 9.0501' S, 146.8353'E between Aroa River towards the North East, the Gallery Reach, on the East, and Iovi beach towards the Southwest. Ironically, it is strategically positioned in the middle of rivers, a stretch of beach, swamps and abundant flat land.
The area has great potential given it is one of the largest area of flat land in Central Province especially in Kairuku area. There are at least two rivers on both sides; the Aroa river and Galley Reach river both running from inland and pouring itself on the sea at Toutu and Manumanu respectively. The commercial interests in the area date back to the mid 1800s, with Australian business interest for sugar cane farming. Today, rubber estates have been exported from Doa plantation for some time. The beach front has much potential as a tourist attraction due to its proximity to Port Moresby by boat attracting holiday makers and fishing enthusiasts to the galley reach and kekeni rocks for fishing and other interest as well.
Pinu village falls under the political jurisdiction of Kairuku Hiri District with its district headquarters at Bereina. The political representation is under Kairuku Rural consisting of 17 Local Level Government (LLG) councils, represented by their respective elected councillors. The 17 LLGs elect a Council president who represents them in the Provincial Assembly. The provincial Assembly is responsible for ensuring services such as infrastructure in the form of roads, bridges, schools, health centres are established and maintained each year. The Provincial Assembly is chaired by the Provincial Governor, unless otherwise the incumbent holds a portfolio in the National Parliament, the chair position is voted for within the provincial assembly.
Pinu village has an elementary school and community school together covering Elementary Prep to Grade 8. The school is part of government school system that was originally a church school establish by the United Church in early 1960s. This is important to highlight because the United Church has its origins in London Missionary Society, and it had previously started this vernacular education system; which was British schooling system, however, in 1902, Australia when it annexed Papua, and the Australian system was implemented until, the Government took full control of it after independence in 1975.
By then it had already produce students that were attending Della Salle High School and Iarowari High School for the male students and Our ladies of Sacred Heart (OLSH) High School, and Marinville High School for the female students. There were also a few students that were attending Sogeri and Kerevat National High School, and many of them have gone on to tertiary institutions and other technical colleges.
The elite group of Pinu people today hold senior positions both in the Public Service, and the private sector. Most of them today enjoy the privileges of their own success; living and working in the city of Port Moresby and elsewhere, and in turn, enlist their own children in private schools and government schools in the urban areas. Most of them have also contributed significantly to the development of this country in their respective duties, and also given their share of resources to Pinu Village.
Other services include the health service which is run by a medical orderly, and treat patients from the village and the nearby villages. There is no proper water supply, and the villagers draw water from the wells, and catch rain water for drinking, cooking and laundry. A river tributary flows close to the village and it is used for bathing and laundry.
It is also well documented that the road system to the village is in atrocious condition, and is inaccessible during rainy seasons. Pinu people, including Manumanu and Toutu are disadvantaged during the wet periods, and have to walk long hours to get to the main highway, or use sea transport to access Port Moresby for goods and services.
Kabadi, was blessed with extended land mass provide wild game supply of wallabies and wild pigs, and the water ways, provide seasonal fishing yields of fish, crabs, prawns, and shellfish. This food source continues to be plentiful for the people.
The surplus is usually sold in the city markets for goods such as sugar, tea, rice, flour, and other staples. There is no cash crop, but informal sales of coconut, betel nut, and other tree species such as eaglewood.
Pinu village was previously mentioned in historical writings as one of the oldest settlement and was previously named Vanuapaka in the Kabadi area. Early explorers and missionaries arrived on the shores around the mid 1800s and immediately built churches and schools, this was the commencement of colonisation by the British and then Australia thereafter:
Historical literature (C. G. Seligman) records the name Vanuapaka, a village that trades regularly with the motuans; The British explorers especially anthropologists and Missionaries, used this name due to its large population and size. There were other names used such as Ma’i Vanua, which belong to paramount chiefs Aro Ure and Ure Vado. Moreso, and interestingly, literature records these people as the original settlers and owners of all the land in Kabadi, the Pinu people are referred to as Kabadi or Abadi Pinu.
However, the people are generally referred to as "Abadi Pinu." The word "Abadi" refers to power, ownership, and prestige by the paramount chief, while "Kabadi" refers to communal ownership or origin. The word Abadi literally means I own, and it is synonymous with the paramount chief.
Pinu was recently coined name. In some circles of discussions, many have suggested that this name came into being after the introduction of schools and other necessary administrative support from the British Empire.
The colonial administrators decided that the productive approach to managing this savages was to coerce the powerful and influential individuals. The administration, had a plan, and it was the chief that would be used for this purpose. They proposed that chiefs accept the colonial administration and it is believed that they battered with the chiefs to coerced them. And an important aspect of this new authority was to usurp control by forcing small hamlets to come together to form bigger villages, to benefit from colonial administration services such as schools and other necessary services.
Therefore, Pinu village was formed and many villages were somewhat forced to move and build houses close to and around the chiefs village. This is understood to be around the 1890s.
Nearby villages such as Ukaukana, Kave ona, Kou ' puana, and Matepaela have very close ties to Pinu, having broken away from Pinu. Therefore, they are also referred to as Kabadi. The word 'Kabadi' was recorded by early European patrols. Some also recorded it as 'Kabatsi,' closely associating it to the Roro-speaking people. Over time, pronunciation of the word transformed gradually to Gabadi and was reinforced and used by Motuan interpreters who accompanied the colonial administrators in the 1890s.
Language
The local dialect spoken by the Kabadi people is called Abadi. Walter Mersh Strong wrote that the "Kabadi language is spoken in the villages of Vanuapaka, Ukaukana, Kapuana, Keviona, and Matapaile." It is still spoken in these villages today with minor changes in the adoption of pidgin and English words. The Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) has embarked on a project with the people of Kabadi to translate the Bible in the Kabadi language, for the purpose of language preservation.
History The journey of the Kabadi tribes
From the outset, it is necessary for accountability in the management of information and how it is justified for the reader today. Oral history over time can be subjected to interpretations of different perspectives, and for varying reasons. Therefore, oral history and its authenticity is measured at minimum its correlation to that of a nearby tribal stories, customs and traditions, and myths. For example, the name of a Kabadi chief must be verifiable by the Nara or Waima, Doura or Mekeo tribe. Additionally, an oral account must be proven against documents such as anthropological writings, newspaper articles, and transactions such as land sales which may prove names of individuals and events depicting activities that even today can be traced and accounted for against oral history.
According to historical accounts, and conversations surrounding the various Kabadi tribes that co-exist today, and it is also logical to deduce that respective tribes have their accounts of migrational routes, yet all these tribes have a common destination. While, they had different routes, several walked the inner mountains, others along the coast line.
The other common character is the point of origin, where the Kabadis descended from Mt Yule (Kovio). This is confirmed by their previous settlements along the way, including land that they had settled briefly, buried their dead, planted food gardens. Along the plains of what is called 'Gabadi' today, and even retracing their paths to Meke'o and the Roro land, the Kabadi's still have old sago trees growing in places where they settled briefly. The people in those areas still speak of land previously settled by the Kabadis. There were no inhabitants or civilization when the Kabadi's arrived. They settled in different locations on this land; they progressively advanced at different times and locations strategically for purposes of defense or claiming of land. It was not until a couple of hundred years later, approximately between the late 1700s and early 1800s, that interaction with the Koitabus and Motus, when differences emerged.
Early writings by the Explorers, missionaries and anthropologist such as G Seligman, James Chalmers, J F Barton, Strong W Mersh, the o name a few, captured events with their visitations around this period especially in the 1890s. Hence, it is fair that the migration of the various tribes would be earlier.
Another notable event was a war between the Elemas and Kabadis, when a Roro man murdered an Elema man, and the murderer tracked his way to the paramount chief's doorstep. Consequently, battle and chaos ensured with horrific atrocities perpetrated by all parties.
There is another story of a man,‘Abau Kama’ who was enemies with the Kabadi’s, a descendent of Geita Hari, and the line of Ova Geita. His maternal line of Navu Kave, Hedu Navu, Rohi Hedu, Abau Rohi. Abau Kama led men to fight the Kabadis at the mouth of the Toutu river. Both sides fought with losses of up to 100 men on both sides.
Abau returned home to Vauria, on the Hill in Nara, after the battle. Even then, the Kabadi’s return and fighting continued between the two sides until Abau’s village was decimated by an epidemic that scattered his people along Manumanu to the Koitabu and Motuan villages new Port Moresby. Abau Kama or Abau Rohi, came to Hohodae and lived with Ganaga Abau, who was the headman of Dubara iduhu.