Writes John Hamilton, courtesy of MELBOURNE HERALD SUN (july,'99)

The first human being to greet the dawn of the new millennium will be the oldest and most powerful reigning monarch on earth. His Majesty King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV of Tonga who celebrated his 81 st birthday last week will sail out into the Pacific, as close to the international dateline as he can, to watch the sun rise. The King will set out from his royal palace in Nuku'alofa aboard a giant double-decked outrigger war canoe that is being built especially for the occasion. He will watch the dawn somewhere off the island of Aeaua, on of the 171 islands that make up his unique kingdom.

The 20 m long canoe, which the king has already christened the Milentume, is a replica of the traditional Tongan seacraft called a KALIA. The kalias, carrying up to 200 warriors each , were used by the king's ancestry to cross the Pacific for wars and cannibal raids. These were carried out until European missionaries stopped the practice at the beginning of the 19th century.

Today, the last kalia to be built in the 20 th century is being hand-crafted by a team led by Siome Tuione Pulotu, a Tongan living in Hawaii who has studied traditional Polynesian boat building. The canoe's hull and outriggers are being cut by axe from hardwood logs brought to Tonga from Fiji. Tongan women in several villages are busy making the woven pandanus sails and fibre rigging.

Siome is also building two other slightly smaller canoes to train the 14-man crew needed to sail the Milentume and to accompany the king when he goes to sea.

"We need four men just to handle the steering paddle," he said. "In the old days if they didn't steer right, the king of chief would knock them on the head with a club and they would be replaced. "We obviously can't do that sort of things nowadays."

The Milentume project will cost $300,000 and Tonga, which bills itself as the nation "Where Time Begins", is seeking donations from around the world. Everybody who sends a donation to the Tongan National Centre will get a certificate signed by Tongan Prime Minister Baron Vaea of Houma. Baron Vaea is a relative of the king, who appointed him and other members of Tonga Cabinet.

This nation of 100,000 people, only four hours flying time from Australia, is a unique country that has been ruled by a unique king for the past 34 years. True there is a parliament and there are elections every three years. But the only South Pacific country that was never colonized by an European power has only one absolute authority - the king. Of the 29 members of Parliament, only 9 are elected. The rest comprise the Speaker (appointed by the king), the Cabinet (appointed) and seven nobles who are elected ... by the 33 hereditary Tongan nobles, or chiefs

When King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV appears in public, several fo the nobles sit cross-legged beneath him. For as Cpt. James Cook observed in 1777 of the then Tu'i Tonga, or king: "Whenever he walks out, all who meet him must sit down till he passes. No person is suffered to be over his head; but on the contrary, all must come under his feet".

 Last week the Herald Sun sat beneath the king. His Majesty granted photographer Craig Borrow and David Hamilton a rare and exclusive audience in his royal palace on the waterfront of Nuku'alofa. We were in Tonga for a momentous time in the nation's affairs.

First, there was a "pongi pongi" ceremony to confirm the elevation of a new member to the Tongan nobility. A vacancy had been caused by the death of one of Tonga's two barons, father-in-law to the king's only daughter. Chieftains clad in traditional woven straw waist cloths arrived with people from four villages ruled by the new nobleman. They carried 200 dressed pigs, 1000 yams, piles of sweet potatoes, and two dozen stacks of sandalwood for fuel as an offering to the king for a celebratory feast. The village headmen solemnly counted the pigs, and at every tenth pig shouted out a tally of the gifts. Seated in the shadow of the palace, the king's noble "talking chiefs" echoed the count and shouted royal thanks back. In Tonga, commoners do not address the king directly and nobles may only do so using a special royal language.

The food would be cooked and distributed to the needy at the discretion of the king. Ancient customs rule life in Tonga. Normally, the celebrations marking the king's birthday last for two weeks, but this year they were curtailed. The royal court of Tonga is in 100 days and nights of mourning after the death of the king's brother. Public buildings are covered in swathes of black and imperial purple cloth and most Tongans are dressed in severe black, with elaborately woven straw ta'ovala wraparounds, worn as a sign of respect . Nevertheless, the 81st birthday of His Majesty King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV was celebrated in style.

His Majesty arrived in his stretched Cadillac limousine, with its two motorcycle police escorts, at the Centenary First Wesleyan Church of Tonga for a service of thanksgiving last Sunday. The outriders are important in clearing the way for the king as there are no traffic lights in Tonga and drivers tend to meander at a tropical pace.

Queen Halaevalu Mata'aho, with the couple's four children and 11 grandchildren, was in the church as two 90-voice choirs, a brass band and a congregation of 1500 sang hymns and "Happy birthday, Your Majesty" in magnificent harmony. The king sat on an elevated throne in a special enclosure near the altar. The rest of the royal family sat a levels beneath him. But the old king stood like the rest of his subjects when the choirs sand the Hallelujah Chorus. The next day, there was a ceremonial military parade to mark the birthday. Guests including the Australian, British and New Zealand high commissioners, wearing morning suits and top hats, sat under awnings as the Tonga Royal Guards, the Royal Tonga Marines, the Royal Tonga Navy and the Tonga Police Force marched on to a grass parade ground next to the palace.

His Majesty's arrival in a ceremonial military uniform covered in medals and sashes. He was also wearing knee-high black boots with spurs. The king had traded the Cadillac for an enclosed Mercedes "king mobile" so that his subjects seated on each side of the roadway, could see their sovereign.

He then climbed on to an open four-wheel-drive, hanging on to a rail grimly, as he was driven up and down the ranks to review is troops. Crown Prince Tupouto'a made his own dramatic arrival at the parade ground - in a black London taxicab with tasseled silk curtains. The prince was dressed as a naval captain in a vintage Victorian uniform design with a gold sword belt, frock coat and black peaked cap. His Royal Highness reached in his pockets and employed a monocle to study the royal program. He sat, eyes screwed up, on a wooden throne, covered with ancient royal woven mats, his feet resting on tapa cloth.

Tonga , the land "WHERE TIME BEGINS" , is also the fascinating land where time has stood still. For this millennium, and quite possibly the next.

 

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