At the heart of the Solomon Islands–Australia Partnership are enduring relationships,
and people and cultural connections.
As Pacific nations, we share an ocean and a future – custodians of the vast Blue Pacific
Continent. The spirit and energy of our people, our ancestries and cultures are our greatest
asset.
The connections between the First Peoples of our lands and waters and the peoples of the
Blue Pacific stretch back through time. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Australia’s
First Nations) are the kastom landowners of Australia; with 65,000 years of history and
continuous culture, and deep and ongoing connections with the Pacific, including Solomon Islands.
This coming week we’re very excited to be able to again host the famous First Nations’ musician
and artist Jeremy Donovan. He was last in Solomon Islands in 2024 and visited eight schools,
three marketplaces, and one church group across Western, Malaita and Guadalcanal
Provinces.
This time, Jeremy – a proud Kuku-Yalanji man – will visit primary and secondary schools
and marketplaces across Central, Makira-Ulawa and Guadalcanal Province. He will share the
music, art, and history of Australia’s First Nations people, demonstrating the many
similarities between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Solomon Islander culture.
Jeremy will bring his didgeridoo, a famous kastom instrument called ‘yiki-yiki’ in the langus
of Jeremy’s people.
Jeremy’s visit is part of Australia’s commitment to strengthen First Nations partnerships and
connections across the Pacific and Southeast Asia, with his travel outside Honiara ensuring
people in other provinces can share in the cultural exchange.
Kastom culture on display at the Australian Museum
The Australian Museum in Sydney has one of the world’s largest and most significant Pacific
cultural collections, including more than 60,000 cultural artefacts.
Over 300 objects from this collection are on display in a new, permanent Pasifika Gallery:
Wansolmoana. This includes newly commissioned pieces from 32 Pacific communities across
19 Pacific nations.
One new piece is from Solomon Islands! A model of the kastom haus in Lilisiana,
Aoke/Langalanga which will be displayed in Wansolmoana and showcase Solomon Islands’
kastom culture to Australians and international museum visitors.
Australia partnered with Kastom Keepers, through the Solomon Islands – Australia
Community Partnerships, to restore this kastom haus, and the Australian Museum are helping
to document this historic process.
Australia understands the importance of kastom culture, and this kastom haus is critical to
cultural preservation and revitalisation. It will serve as a physical space for knowledge
exchange between elders and youth to sustain the kastom way of life.
KAWAKI and Dreamcast Theatre at the at Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern
Art
The 11th Asia Pacific Triennial at Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art is one of
Australia’s most famous exhibitions, and showcases the best art of Australia, Asia, and the
Pacific.
KAWAKI and Dreamcast Theatre have collaborated on an immersive audio-visual artwork
which is being showcased right now at the Triennial.
Called ‘Kuza Ni Tege’, this exhibit presents three natural resources that are vital to the
existence of the KAWAKI communities and their distinctive cultural practices: Kuza is the
bark of a tree threatened by logging in Katupika; Te Ni is the coconut tree, of which every
part is used by the Wagina community; and Tege references the journey of endangered turtles
to the Arnavon Islands.
The 11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art runs until 27 April 2025, and I
encourage everyone in or near to Brisbane to see this FREE exhibition. It’s so inspiring to see
Solomon Islands’ stori told overseas, and art is one way to safeguard traditional practices,
rituals, knowledge, and customs.
Rich and continuing cultures, traditions and knowledge, like those in Solomon Islands and in
Australia, remind us of our enduring ties and connections, upon which we have built a deep
and meaningful relationship.
Culture brings us together and provides a way to understand each other, resolve our
differences, and work together.
Lukim iu neks taem!
