SHARED CULTURE MAKES US FAMILY

At Auki Community High School, Malaita Province, Mr Jeremy Donovan demonstrates the ‘circular breathing’ technique needed to play the didgeridoo/yiki-yiki.

Mr Jeremy Donovan performed for free at Honiara Central Market. The didgeridoo is a famous kastom instrument called ‘yiki-yiki’ in the langus of Jeremy’s people.

Construction of a kastom haus in Lilisiana, Aoke/Langalanga designed to be a community meeting hall for chiefs to pass down traditional knowledge, funded by Australia.

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.

Australian High Commissioner, His Excellency Rod Hilton, his wife Ms Ewa Janus, Principal Allen Kenikeremia, Mr Jeremy Donovan, and students at Florence Young Christian School.

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.

KAWAKI and Dreamcast Theatre have collaborated on an immersive audio-visual artwork which is being showcased at the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial at Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art; one of Australia’s most famous exhibitions

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.

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.

This time, Jeremy – a proud Kuku-Yalanji man – will visit primary and secondary schools and marketplaces across Central, Makira-Ulawa and Guadalcanal Province.

*Mr Jeremy Donovan farewells students at St. Peter’s Rural Training Centre, Western Province.*

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.

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.

*Mr Jeremy Donovan, Deputy Principal Moffat Kutai, Australian High Commission staff, and students of Alota’a Community High School in Malaita Province*

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!