THE CLAY POTS of MAILU

 

Senior citizens Mele Alabu, 73, Mawari Pokaroka, 80 and Rachel Kau, 72, are the last Potters of Mailu Island in Abau district.

The last Potters of majestic Mailu Island

By Big Pat

They are among the oldest citizens of Mailu. And they hold a rare distinction in their island community.
Oldies Mele Alabu, 73, Mawari Pokaroka, 80 and Rachel Kau, 72, are the last Potters of Mailu Island in Abau district, east of Papua New Guinea capital Port Moresby.
These are the remnants of a clay potting tradition that stretches back centuries when Mailu was the cornerstone of trade along the coast.
However, after the Toea Armshell festival last December, there seems to be no apprentices for the once revered job.
We found these happy mamas under a big tree. They were smiley and super friendly. They even took a close look at Lofty probably wondering which clay field did this ‘giant’ emerge from?

Lofty and Iksy enjoying bananas baked in coconut milk in a Mailu pot served by the owner of the Mailu Resort Martha.

On Mailu, there is a mighty sticky strong clay field which keeps potting great pottery. From these came Mailu’s famous water pots, which were once a feature of the island’s trade and prominence in the days of legends.
The pots were much sought after along the Papuan Coast as far east as the Milne Bay Islands and west as far as Gabagaba in Central Province.
The clay field is still there but the workers are now few. The digging of the clay, its storage and making of clay pots, molding and firing, is now left in the hands of just these three grand mamas.
What has been passed down with pride from generation to generation will be lost if the young maidens of Mailu do not take time to learn the trade that made their name famous.
Their bubbly demonstration of clay pot making drew a curious crowd of onlookers, mainly children, who are more used to plastic buckets and saucepans for cooking and water storage.

Visiting journos with their Mailu made clay pots, toea arm-shell, necklaces and pandanus mats.

The women also demonstrated how meals in the old days were cooked in clay pots. A mouth-watering mix of bananas in coconut cream was quickly dispatched by visiting news journos from NBC with nothing left for King Sox.
These sweet toothy mamas were able to fire up a dozen pots, some of which were given as gifts to visiting media personnel from Port Moresby.
The magic of Mailu remains in those beautiful old hands unless as Uncle Iksy Mero from NBC Central observed: “I hope the future generation will step in and carry on this proud tradition.”

History records that in 1606, Spanish navigator Torres invaded the island of Mailu, killed several native warriors with cannon and musket fire, and captured 14 children as hostages.

He landed at a place now known as Magarida and claimed it as Margarita Town in honour of the King of Spain's wife.

The last of the Mailu Potters.

Pictures by Steven Umaru of PNG Post-Courier