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Togarao Village—Annual census figures taken August 26, 1965
–1 yr 1–5
6–10 11–15
16–45 46–55+
children adults
M F M F
M F M F
M F M F
M F M F
2 5 15 14
8 8 6 15
33 43 8 7
58 64 64 61
Deaths: one between eleven and fifteen years of age, one between forty-six and fifty-five+ years of age Births: three males, ten females
Migrations: two in, three out
Average size of family: 2.90 persons Although the above population figures indicate a relatively large village, this may not have been the case.
A government officer, who did malaria research in the area shortly after the census, collected different figures. His count of blood slides taken supposedly of the entire village, showed only eighty-seven adults present in
Togarao. At that time, many of the men worked on the coast and returned to the higher villages only at the weekends or for special occasions. Some were working at the copper mine site several hours away during the
exploration and construction period.
3.2 Village Sites
In 1963, there were fifteen villages 1,640 population reported in the Rotokas Proper dialect area, four villages 765 population in the Pipipaia dialect, eight villages 1,003 population in the Aita dialect, and one
village of 112 speakers of the Atsilima sublanguage on the west coast. Several villages were “created” as a result of World War II operations in this area. In one of many stories
about the “fight days,” a Rotokas man describes how as Allied troops advanced into Japanese territory, villages were built to house indigenous help and to hold supplies. Willy, a 60-year-old Rotokas man, remembers fleeing
from the NumaNuma area carrying David Akoitai on his back to the new village site of Sirioripaia. Other villages established about this time are: Beteriopaia now moved from its original location, Tokuo, Ture,
Pikiepa, and the large central camp for soldiers, Viateripaia. The latter four do not appear on government maps and we have no knowledge of where they were located.
Some of the villages were moved after the war, as in the case of Togarao formerly known as Uriiko tuikou or “to preserve taro”. Government officers instructed the men to move the village closer to the Patrol
Post of Wakunai. It was subsequently moved down from a higher ridge to the present site, about twenty minutes’ walking time. On government maps, the village retained the name Togarao. The people themselves,
however, called the new site Sureko and continue to do so today. The local name for the relocated village of Ruruvu is Reesotoaro, and for Mapiaro, Kaareva.
When our family first moved to Togarao in 1965, most houses were arranged as a typical “line village,” with the buildings in two parallel lines facing each other. The Methodist church stood at one end and the
Catholic church at the other. The Patrol Officer’s house haus kiap and police quarters were off to one side. Outhouses were located a short distance behind the two rows of houses.
Togarao village included a well-kept and landscaped cemetery at this time. The common grave of World War II Allied forces is said to be located nearby. Villagers’ interest in their cemetery fluctuated over the years
and it was nearly overgrown the last time we saw it in 1982. The village saw two significant changes during the seventeen-year period that we were acquainted with it.
The first diagram below shows its arrangement as of 1965. The second diagram reflects the period 1970–1975 when an airstrip occupied the center of the village. The final diagram shows the village after the Wakunai
valley road was completed and the airstrip came into disuse.
2
2
All village names in this ethnography are spelled according to the government census records of 1963, unless subsequently officially changed. Pronunciations of the village names by Rotokas speakers are at variance with several of the spellings.
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Diagram of Togarao village as it appeared in 1965
Diagram of Togarao village as it appeared in the late 1970s
Diagram of Togarao village as it appeared in 1982
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4 Social Grouping, Marriage, Family, Youth, and Kinship
4.1 General Groups Defined
