Monday, October 3, 2011

In the long 'run': Kanak Stockmen, the cattle frontier and colonial power relations in New Caledonia, 1870-1988.

In the long 'run': Kanak Stockmen, the cattle frontier and colonial power relations in New Caledonia, 1870-1988. In the French settler colony of New Caledonia, the 'bush'and the rural world of the stockman hold an important place in thepopular mythology of an increasingly urbanised society. Drawing onarchival and oral sources as well as microhistorical and ethnographicapproaches, this study sketches the involvement of Kanak as stockmen inthe cattle industry over more than one hundred years. With particularreference to the locality of Kone, it traces the alliances fashionedbetween Kanak station workers and their employers in the context ofcolonisation, rebellion, evangelisation, post-war politicalemancipation, local development and the struggle for independence. Bybringing this figure into focus we aim to provide a new perspective oncolonial relations and transformations in New Caledonia. While some of the relations or dynamics described here will befamiliar from other parts of the world such as Australia (e.g., Baker1999: 102-116; Brock 1995; McGrath 1987; May 1994; Paterson 2008;Stevens 1974) and the Americas (e.g., Iverson 1997), including Hawaii(Fischer 2007), in the context of New Caledonia this is a pioneeringstudy which develops, and brings together, our earlier research on thehistory of the Kone region (Muckle 2004, 2006; Trepied 2007) and ourrealisation of the importance of the stockman as a political figure.Several studies have documented the historical development of the cattleindustry in New Caledonia (Dubois 1984; Pillon 1989; Saussol 1979) andnoted the participation of Kanak, but none has closely examined thisparticipation from the perspective of either social, cultural, politicalor labour history (let alone environmental, ecological or archaeologicalperspectives). As a result, the dominant image of the extension of thecattle frontier in New Caledonia remains that of a 'fatalimpact', documenting the ways in which Kanak were pushed off theirland by cattle or provoked into revolt but seldom discussing otherpractical forms of Kanak engagement with the industry. A commonassumption, for example, is that Kanak on New Caledonia's GrandeTerre simply did not participate in the colonial economy or could onlybe made to do so through forced labour or the implementation of headtaxes. It is this kind of fallacy--identified in Australia as a'popular racist assumption' (Curthoys and Moore 1995: 2)--thatthis study, along with other recent works in the field (e.g., Grochain2007), aims to help redress. As in Australia and other parts of the Pacific, one of the mainreasons for the neglect of Kanak labour, including stock work, in labourhistory is the greater archival visibility of convict labour andimported indentured labour from Asia and the New Hebrides (Curthoys andMoore 1995: 4; cf. Munro 1993 and Shineberg 1991, 1995, 1999). This alsoinfluences contemporary political representations of the colonial era(the preamble to the 1998 Noumea Accord, for example) which stress thecontributions made to the construction of the country by penal andindentured labour. While thereby legitimising the involvement of thedescendants of these migrants in the construction of a common destiny,such a formula tends to overlook Kanak participation in the colonialeconomy and development. In this regard the study is an attempt to getbeyond the stereotypes of colonial relations which continue tomarginalise Kanak. The microhistorical and ethnographic approach takenhere may also illustrate new, different or particular dynamicsreflecting local permutations arising from the peculiar intersection ofKanak, French colonial and Australian practices in an Oceanian setting. Focussing on the stockman as an intermediary between Kanak andEuropean orders, our aim is to examine the Kanak stockman, inparticular, as a figure of power and influence in the construction,maintenance and renewal of the local colonial order. Particularattention is paid to the relations developed between chiefs and cattlefarmers which we will argue are central to the processes by whichcertain administrative chieftaincies were created in the late-nineteenthcentury, and by which Kanak in the Kone region at least entered thebroader, territorial 'political' sphere in the second half ofthe twentieth century. As this study will demonstrate, the positions ofauthority occupied by certain Kanak stockmen had two demonstrablefoundations which have seldom been fully recognised. On the one handthey were able to mobilise the colonial 'resources' acquiredthrough stock work, notably money, the French language and privilegedsocial relations with the grands eleveurs who controlled much of therural economy until well into the second half of the twentieth century.On the other hand, their status as stockmen was simultaneously inscribedwithin a Kanak political order founded on complex hierarchies based onduration of land occupancy, family status, clan strategies and powerrelations within the reserves. THE 'TWO-HORNED LIZARD'--THE EARLY PASTORAL PRESENCE The pastoral frontier reached New Caledonia from Australia in the1840s and 1850s and from the 1860s expanded rapidly to meet the needs ofthe growing French penal colony. In the 1870s, driven by speculation andfacilitated by measures opening up land in the interior, the frontierexpanded northwards along the plains of the west coast, and by 1881 thecattle herd numbered 104,000 head. Only those with the capital necessaryto establish large herds were able to meet the penitentiary'sdemands for large quantities of meat and the economic opportunity thusfavoured Noumea's developing bourgeoisie for whom the advantageslay in the low costs of production and land (Buttet 1996: 73-85; Saussol1994: 360-362; Trepied 2007: 298). The industry was quickly dominated bythese so-called grands eleveurs--about a quarter of all cattlefarmers--who still owned about seventy percent of the herd and eightypercent of the grazing land in the 1950s (Saussol 1985: 7). The industry's Anglo-Australian foundations and connectionswould have an enduring influence. Early grazers and herds arrived by wayof Australia at the beginning of the colonial period when New Caledoniawas still very much a part of 'Australia's Pacificfrontier' (Young 1967) and it was not until the early 1900s thatFrench breeds of cattle began to replace English breeds. The anglophonelinguistic legacy remains omnipresent in the terminology of station life(Dubois 1984: 44-46) and it is likely that practices imported fromAustralia were equally enduring. The early pattern of development andexploitation involved the deliberate overstocking of unfencedconcessions (1) resulting in the gradual degradation of pasture and theherd (Pillon 1989: 513; Saussol 1985: 6-7) and conflict with bothEuropean smallholders and Kanak, as well as dictating the need formustering and stockmen. In the Kone and Pouembout valleys, almost 300 kilometres fromNoumea along the west coast, European pastoralists began to establish apermanent foothold in 1871 when the first concessions were granted(Saussol 1979: 176-178). By 1878 the pastoralists were well establishedas shown by the first maps of the region drawn up following the buildingof a military post at Kone in 1879. (2) In the 1880s, the convicts sentto Koniambo and Pouembout and the free settlers granted land at Konewould have to develop these settlements 'within a space that hadalready been carved up by a network of pre-existing cattlestations'. Extensive concessions were concentrated in the hands ofabout a dozen grands eleveurs who exercised a stranglehold over much ofthe economic, social and political life of the district into the secondhalf of the twentieth century (Trepied 2007: 306). The extension of the cattle frontier preceded the establishment ofpermanent European centres at Kone, Pouembout and Koniambo, thedelimitation of reserves, evangelisation and the imposition of thecolonial hierarchy of administrative petits and grands chefs. The cattleindustry 'was anterior to all other activities in the rural sectorand contributed largely to colonial implantation and the definition of anew spatial organisation which gave rise to the emergence and formationof ethnic distinctions' (Pillon 1989:513). For the Kanak inhabitants of the Kone and Pouembout valleys, theonly European activities prior to the arrival of the pastoral frontierwere the ephemeral sandalwood trade of the 1840s-50s and sporadicmilitary expeditions conducted against the chief Goodu in the period1865-69. While it is difficult to evaluate the extent of the disruptioncaused by these activities, there is little doubt that the extension ofthe cattle frontier, in combination with wars in the 1860s and 1878-79,was one of the main factors in the dispersal of Kanak from much of thecoastal plain, notably at Pouembout. Oral traditions make this linkclear; according to a tradition related by Firmin Dogo Gorohouna (1976:22), a seer had announced the arrival of the cows by saying that there would soon be large "Egori-toa-dougike", meaning two-horned lizard. He said that the newcomers would push us towards the upper valleys, but that we had to accept because we would soon have the same needs as them. The gradual delimitation of reserves situated mostly in the remotefoothills of the region reinforced this movement until, by the early1920s, all the region's Kanak inhabitants were living withinreserve boundaries. Cattle provoked the movements that both preceded andcontributed to cantonnement. European sources--literary representations as well as court andmission records-concerning the first three decades of Europeansettlement show that it was in the context of the pastoral industry, inthe 'run', that contact between Kanak and settlers was mostfrequent and in which a degree of social rapprochement between the twogroups occurred (Trepied 2007: 305). In novels and short stories writtenin the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, Kanak areprominent in the descriptions of life, in all its earthiness, on theregion's cattle stations (Nervat 1987 [1904]: 79-82; Thiosse 1917:152-3). While Kanak are seldom named as individuals and seldom appearoutside their reserves (an isolation consistent with colonial prognosesabout their inability to assimilate or survive as a race), the'canaque stockman' (Vermast 1902: 73ff) is the principalexception. Literary descriptions also capture something of the flavourof station life in which Kanak generally figured as indolent andreluctant servants, employees or indentured labourers, under the thumbof their European superiors: You lazy buggers, you've been drinking, eating and joking allnight while smoking yourselves in your forsaken shack and now that youhave to work you're snoring ... Degourdi and you, Jack, you have tohelp Lecoeur yoke the bulls ... And you, Poinda, go up to the house andwax the boss's boots and leggings, then go down and saddle thehorses ... When you've finished your stretching! (Nervat 1987[1904]: 81-82) George Baudoux (aka Thiosse), who began working on theregion's station in 1892 (Trepied 2007: 305), drew on theseexperiences in his short story, 'Pastorale Caledonienne',describing vividly the work for which Kanak were sought as well as thehierarchy of relations. The European station manager recruits'willing canaques in the neighbouring reserves and pays them. Theywere the carriers, the clearers, the pole cutters and the beaters forthe chase' (Thiosse 1917:152). Their principal employment was tohelp muster the semi-wild cattle; while 'the stockmen postedthemselves on the mountains and ridgelines', The more agile canaques went on foot into the forest to clear outthe cattle.... While one lot distracted the bulls, the others crept upand struck them loudly banging stones together, or drew them off in thedesired direction ... (Thiosse 1917: 153). On other occasions, lengths of calico cloth were used to corralcattle into stockyards. Although such accounts make clear thehierarchies that existed there is no question but that in the followingdecade Kanak themselves increasingly took on the status of'stockmen', becoming horsemen and assisting in all the tasksof station life. Police court records provide telling evidence of this earlyinteraction. From the moment records began the presence of Europeancattle farmers and their animals was manifest; the principal offencesdealt with being the straying of cattle and horses. When Kanak beganappearing before the court in the mid-1890s, the offences prosecutedindicated a certain sociability: the fights and brawls for which theywere prosecuted often involved European stockmen while the latter werecharged with the sale of alcohol and the sale or loan of firearms. Bythe early 1900s, drunkenness, brawls and assaults were being prosecutedmore frequently. (3) A notable example, providing further evidence of sociability in theform of the adoption of names as well as concubinage or intermarriage,concerns five men prosecuted in 1903 for 'throwing stones and othersolid objects at people': Dick Mackam, a 'metis, stockman fromKoniambo, near Kone'; Devo and Francois, both 'indigenes'from the reserve of Koniambo; and Tchaou and Boae, from the reserves ofTiaoue and Neami respectively. (4) While our sources do not permit us todraw firm conclusions about the frequency or role of intermarriage inpositioning stockmen as intermediaries, the example of Mackam indicatesthat this certainly was a factor. It also should be remembered that forKanak matrimonial alliances were central to political alliances. (5)However, the position of intermediary was probably just as frequentlyachieved through the experience of being employed 'on therun'. In the present example the use or adoption of European namesor their derivations, namely 'Devo' after either J.-B. Devauxor Lucien Devaud (both known cattle farmers the former of whom is knownto have had a Kanak wife), provides one hint of this kind ofrelationship (Trepied 2007: 305, note 698). Local historian AntoineGoromido notes the privileged position and sometimes unpopularreputation that the Kanak men hired by Europeans could acquire in theirown communities: It's the hired Kanak who, taking advantage of the situation, exercises his power and often takes vengeance on his compatriots. The Kanak living in the reserves give them the name of their employer. Example: if the employer is called Mr Soulard then the employee will be called Soulard Black. People wonder why Soulard Black acts twice as hard as Mr Soulard against his compatriots. Well, the benefits of colonisation only create jealousy and discord and so on because Kanak don't know how to manage them. In our disputes we use the cattle to destroy our plantations, causing them to be abandoned, because the land in question belongs not to your lineage but to mine. (6) As shall be seen below, the petty authority that such men assumedover fellow Kanak in disputes concerning cattle and reserve land wereincreasingly evident in the region by the early 1900s. The little that is known about the 'metis, stockman'named Mackam illustrates the vital role of stockmen (and especiallymetis) as intermediaries. Dick (Richard) Maccan (variant spellingsinclude Mackam, MacCan and McCan) appears regularly in records relatingto the Kone region between the 1880s and 1920s. Born in 1860 or 1862 atPonerihouen to an English father, John Maccan, and a Kanak mother,Djoure, Dick Maccan was working on stations in the Kone area as early as1883. (7) Like other stockmen, Maccan appeared occasionally in the localcourt on charges of drunkenness, brawling, allowing cattle to stray, andthe sale of alcohol to Kanak. He later figured prominently as anintermediary in accounts of the two major conflicts to occur in theregion in the early-twentieth century. In 1901 he was the interpreter atGovernor Feillet's peace settlement (the 'Pamale peace')with the Poyes chief, Amane. In 1917, on the eve of a much larger war,Maccan was one of several men sent by French officials to negotiate withthe presumed 'rebel' leader, Noel of Tiamou. In between time,in 1909, he was described by local gendarmes as having been'familiar with the activities of Canaques in the region for manyyears', as well as having their confidence and being conversant inthe local languages. (8) The extent of Kanak involvement in the pastoral industry alsoemerges clearly in accounts of the evangelisation that began in the1890s. Accounts of the Protestant teacher Waziarim Rosalet'sarrival from Mare in 1897-98 highlight the role played by Kanak in theemploy of Europeans on local stations in interpreting Rosalet'smessage for local chiefs and elders (Coyaud 1979: 296-297). (9) In turn,Rosalet and the evangelists who followed documented the unrest broughtto the region in the early 1900s by the still advancing cattle front.(10) They also expressed frustration that the employment of leadingchiefs as stockmen was an obstacle to evangelisation and that theirstockwork was not in the interests of their subjects. In 1914, forexample, Rosalet sought to dissuade petit chef Poindet of Paola-Netchaotfrom establishing 'white cattle' on reserve land. (11)Catholic missionaries who tried to call on the Poinda grand chef,Katelia, invariably found him absent or otherwise occupied in his cattlework; and in 1916 Rosalet related that 'Katelia was still astockman for Metzdorf and running after the Whites'. (12) Thetensions between missionaries and cattle farmers were not just due tothe problems caused by cattle; the former strongly opposed paganism aswell as the forms of sociability associated with station life includingalcohol and cohabitation with Kanak women. In this region of New Caledonia at least Kanak were stockmen beforethey were Christians or subjects of the colonial order signified bycantonnement and the establishment of a hierarchy of petits chefs andgrands chefs. Administrative control and missionary influence werediffuse, limited and to a large extent dependent upon the priorrelations established between certain European cattle farmers and theirKanak stockmen. It would not be until after the war of 1917-18, whichrenewed the local political order for the inter-war decades, thatcolonial and religious control was deployed to its maximum extent in theKone region. As shall be seen, the early alliances formed on the'runs' of the Kone-Pouembout region would come to dominate thepolitical structures and relationships which existed at the intersectionof the Kanak and European spheres until after the second world war. AN EARLY POLITICAL ALLIANCE--THE PRESENCE OF 'POINDA' The preceding sketch of the early presence of the pastoral industryand the development of relations between Europeans and Kanak in thecontext of this industry helps shed new light on the political historyof the Kone-Pouembout region in the late-nineteenth and early-twentiethcenturies. Central to the existing political history of the region are thealliances established between Kanak and the French administration whichsaw the defeat, in 1869, of the chief Goodu and the emergence, by theend of the nineteenth century, of two administrative districts--Kone(Baco) and Poindah (Poinda)--under the authority of two officiallyrecognised grands chefs. In the case of Poinda (which is the bestresearched), the existing accounts of this process--based largely onoral histories and ethnographies--foreground the relations establishedbetween the NadU and Gorotu clans represented after 1869 by Bwee AteaKatelia (d.1901/2) and the French administration (Bensa and Rivierre1988 and 1994; Bensa and Goromido 1997 and 2005; Bensa 2000:31-32 and37-42; Guiart 1992: 90-91). Guiart notes that Bwee Atea 'wasinvolved in the establishment at Pouembout of the first settlers, theOxfords, O'Donoghues and Lecomtes' who were protected by oneof his allies (Guiart 1992: 199). Little else is known, though, abouthow these relations actually developed between the early 1870s and theend of the century. The impression created in the existing histories isthat relations were established and maintained on the basis of a directalliance between chiefs and French officials. Closer examination reveals relations that were as much economic orsocio-professional as political and diplomatic thereby giving analtogether different sense to the word alliance. Bwee Atea Kateliabecame grand chef of Poinda during the last three decades of thelate-nineteenth century at the same time as the cattle industry becameestablished in the area. While Bwee Atea did provide the French withmilitary or diplomatic support during wars in 1878, 1897 and 1901 it wasthrough the development of the pastoral industry and the employment ofmen belonging to the chieftaincy as stockmen that practical relationswith the French were established. The earliest references to theemployment of Kanak on stations in the region indicate the existence ofstrong links between the cattle farmers and the chieftaincy headed byBwee Atea: in 1878 the death of a Kanak station worker, one of hismaternal uncles, at the hands of 'rebel' Kanak, brought BweeAtea into the war as a French ally (Bensa and Goromido 2005:77 and 81).Antoine Goromido explains that after this war: People had to make way. Pwejaa [Bwee Atea Katelia] was sollicited. He accepted. The good land was distributed. The stockman was the person whose dwelling was closest to Kone village or the cattle station. Horses were new and wonderful. The Chiefs were the first to help themselves. There were some very good stockmen among them; they were hired to round up the cattle at the place called "Ralliement". He became the settler's right hand, his protector or calico [l'aile ou le calicot du colon] in exchange for the benefits that his employers accorded him and which his elders could or couldn't.... Little by little the European system began to enter into the family life of the clan. (13) As well as being agents of acculturation, the chief-cum-stockmanwas able to amass considerable personal resources--social, political andeconomic. As discussed below, the resulting tensions and conflicts wouldbecome increasingly evident. In the following decades, further traces of the emerging alliancecan be seen in the recurrence, in European records, of the toponymPoinda--designating both a European station and an adjacent Kanaksettlement. Residents of 'Poinda', both Kanak and European,stockmen and cattle farmers, appear regularly in local court records andin 1886 the grand chef Bwee Atea Katelia was officially identified inadministrative records as being of Poinda. Significantly, Vermast'ssemi-fictional account of life on the region's stations in the sameperiod insists upon the friendship shown towards Europeans by'Galiate'--an anagram for Gatelia--and in the Nervats'novel from the same period (see above), a Kanak station worker is called'Poinda' (Nervat 1987 [1904; Vermast 1902: 27-37]: 81-82).Family histories reveal that at the heart of this relationship was theemployment of key figures of the chieftaincy in the cattle industry,including Bwee Atea Katelia's successor, Tea Antoine Katelia Poadja(?1875/1888-1963) who became grand chef in 1902. By the third decade ofthe twentieth century, many of Tea Antoine's relatives and clanallies were identified as stockmen or employees of local station owners.Two notable examples were his two brothers-in-law (married to two of hissisters), Boro Poindet Goroepata and Boae Mangou Gorohouna; while TeaAntoine himself was married to Boae Mangou's sister. Again it mustbe stressed that in the Kanak world political alliances were constructedon matrimonial 'alliances'; as shall be seen, relationsbetween brothers-in-law and uncles/nephews were central to theconstruction of the Kanak political order underlying the world of theKanak stockmen. In the early decades of the twentieth century the power at thedisposal of these Kanak stockmen--and the alliances built between thePoinda grands chefs and local cattle farmers--can be seen clearly inmission accounts of disputes over reserve land and evangelisation.Reporting in 1914 on plans to build a chapel in the Neami reserve, theCatholic missionary, Halbert, described an alliance between Boro, thechief stockman of Edouard Leconte, and the local grand chef, Tea AntoineKatelia, which operated at the expense of Neami's inhabitants. Boro(Tea Antoine's brother-in-law, the aforementioned Boro PoindetGoroepata) opposed Halbert's proposed chapel and threatened to letloose Leconte's cattle on the land in question. The inhabitants ofNeami complained to Halbert that the grand chef had 'ceded'half of their reserve to Leconte against their wishes. While Halbert sawthis quarrel as favouring the Protestant presence and Leconte's ownactivities, his observations also revealed that Tea Antoine had an oldquarrel with the inhabitants of Neami 'and he wouldn't be atall upset to have found an opportunity to annoy his subjects alittle'. (14) The same tensions would again be evident during thewar of 1917-18 as well as during the 'events' of the 1980s. The year-long war that pitted Kanak 'rebels' against theFrench army as well as Kanak and European volunteers in 1917-18demonstrates the important position occupied by stockmen--both Europeanand Kanak--as well as the alliance that existed between the Poindachieftaincy and the surrounding station owners. When, in the early weeksof the war, Tea Antoine's loyalty appeared to be wavering, thePoinda station owner, Camille Caujolle, and Kanak employees of thestation played an important role in winning him away from the influenceof his elders who favoured joining the war on the side of the'rebels'. Caujolle allayed Tea Antoine's fear of beingarrested by undertaking to pay an outstanding fine on his behalf andaccompanied him when he finally appeared before the administration(Muckle 2006: 323). In the following months, Poinda became a militarypost as well as a refuge for Kanak who had separated themselves from thesuspected rebels in the interior. The resettlement was encouraged withthe at least tacit approval of Caujolle while similar movements occurredon other stations in the region. Other members of the chieftaincy,notably Oue Dubos (a brother of the aforementioned Boae MangouGorohouna), played a critical role as 'partisans' supportingthe French-led repression. The war also highlights other aspects of the relations establishedbetween Kanak and nonKanak stockmen. The ravages caused by cattle overthe previous decades were one of the war's causes and it is nocoincidence that in 1917 the New Caledonian herd reached its'historic peak' of 150,000 head (Dubois 1984:44). Many'rebel' attacks targetted stations and their managers--notableexamples include properties and employees of stations belonging tomembers of the Gros family (Grochain 2007: 147-151; Muckle 2004:97 and195-6). Some of the principal suspected rebels were also known stockmen.Poindet Apengou, one of the men most wanted by the authorities, wasidentified by one missionary as a 'poor unfortunate led astray byhis life as a pagan stockman'. (15) Wai', the brother of oneof the war's figureheads, Noel of Tiamou, had been employed beforethe war on the Metzdorf brothers' station at Temala. In the ensuing repression, European cattle farmers and stockmendrew on their own local knowledge and experiences shared with Kanakemployees. Leopold Barada was permitted to lead a group of mountedsettler volunteers on the grounds that, having 'lived among thenatives of the region for twenty years', he 'is familiar withtheir habits and customs and knows, perhaps better than a canaque, allthe paths and passes of this mountainous district.' (16) On theother hand, Barada refused to recruit his own Kanak stockmen for fear ofreprisals, including the withdrawal of labour. More generally, theactions of the station holders during the war formed part of wellestablished settlement strategies, the main aims of which were to clearmore land in the interior and gain better access to Kanak labour (Muckle2004: 201). When Tea Antoine Katelia was arrested in 1918 on suspicion ofhaving provided covert support to the 'rebels', funds for hisdefence were raised by his relatives, the stockmen employed on theregion's stations. As related by Firmin Dogo Gorohouna (BoaeMangou's grandson), Tea Antoine was defended by a lawyer who was called Bourdinat and Bourdinat was paid with themoney from Mr Leconte. My grandfather worked as manager on his 10,000hectare station and he had a lot of money at that time because he workedfor months and months and years and years ... and that's how he wasable to find the money to pay the lawyer to get grandfather Gatelia outof prison ... (Gorohouna 1994 [1978]: 44; cf. Muckle 2006: 327 andTrepied 2007:251). In the war's aftermath similar strategies were adoptedelsewhere. In the nearby reserve of Baco, authorities arranged for thewages of eleven men employed as stockmen to be paid to the petit chef soas to purchase a piece of land adjacent to their reserve. (17) At the end of the 1917-18 war the Poinda chieftaincy furtherconsolidated its authority. The new petits chefs appointed in theprincipal reserves of the district had close family ties to Tea AntoineKatelia as well as with the cattle industry (Muckle 2006:331). ThePoinda petit chef, Tea Antoine's nephew and spokesperson, OueAuguste Goroepata, was the son of Neami stockman, Boro PoindetGoroepata, and himself a stockman as in turn was his son (see below).Oue Auguste's designation as spokesperson from as early as 1917 wasin part due to the linguistic expertise acquired in this role. At Neami,the petit chef, was Katelia's brother-in-law, Oue Dubos; though nothimself a stockman (he was a deacon of the Protestant church and head ofthe temperance society), Dubos was brother to the aforementioned BoaeMangou Gorohouna. Tea Antoine, too, continued to be employed as astockman as was his nephew and eventual successor, Auguste Poadja (seebelow). During the interwar years and well into the postwar era thesemen dominated local political and economic structures at theintersection of the Kanak and European worlds. Finally, the marginal status of Poinda until 1929 as an unofficialreserve provides another illustration of the dynamics of a sometimesuneasy alliance. The land occupied by Kanak at Poinda was not part of anofficial reserve, but an isolated enclave on land belonging to asuccession of station owners (notably Caujolle, the Caujolle estate andlater the Devillers family) and surrounded by other concessions (Muckle2006: 318; Trepied 2007: 230-241). This ongoing occupation appears tohave been tolerated and at times encouraged with the effect, and nodoubt the intent, of giving cattle a more-or-less free reign over thelarger reserves and concessions in the interior and creating a pool ofeasily mobilised labour at the station's doorstep. At times,though, the Kanak presence was challenged. In the 1920s, followingCaujolle's death, the manager of the estate warned the Kanakresidents that they would have to abandon Poinda and reintegrate theofficial reserve. The warning was steadfastly ignored and in 1929 thestatus quo was regularised when the land occupied by Kanak at Poinda(100ha) was declared an official reserve and, in exchange for 471hectares withdrawn from a reserve in the interior, enlarged by theaddition of an adjacent concession (c.554 ha) which, degraded bylantana, had fallen into disuse (Saussol 1979: 328-329). (18) Exchanges such as that at Poinda prepared the way for theincreasing involvement of Kanak in the industry in their own right. (19)As early as 1911 Kanak had registered their own cattle brands in someareas and it was not uncommon for Kanak stockmen to be paid in cattle.By 1928 the Melanesian herd was estimated at 5000 cattle and 5700horses. However, it would be the 'socio-economic, political andproperty transformations of the post-war period' that saw the realexpansion of the Melanesian herd (Connell 1987: Pillon 1989: 515-6; 114;Saussol 1979: 423-424). From the 1950s onward, the Kanak share of theindustry gradually increased, accounting for thirteen percent of farmsby the early-1980s (Dubois 1984). CITIZENSHIP--THE STOCKMEN OF 'TWO COLOURS, ONE PEOPLE' With the extension of citizenship to Kanak in 1946, and until atleast the Matignon Accords of 1988, the relations developed 'in therun' between Europeans and Kanak continued to play an importantpolitical role in the Kone district which was henceforth subject to newelectoral and institutional structures. These relations were mobilisedin the context of the two great political episodes of the postwar era,namely the electoral reign of the multiracial Union Caledonienne (UC) inthe 1950s and 1960s, and the political and ethnic bipolarisation thatoccurred with the call for Kanak independence in the 1970s and 1980s. In the wake of the World War Two, both Protestant and Catholicmissionaries and their indigenous collaborators (catechists andseminarians, deacons and pastors) created two large Melanesianorganisations--the Union des Indigenes Caledoniens Amis de la Libertedans l'Ordre (UICALO) and the Association des Indigenes Caledonienset Loyaltiens Francais (AICLF)--so as to supervise the politicalparticipation of the new citizens (Kurtovitch 2002; Soriano 2001).Thanks to the density of their parish networks in the Kanak milieu, theCatholic UICALO and the Protestant AICLF rapidly acquired a monopolyover the political representation of Kanak before successfullysupporting the 1951 election to France's National Assembly, of theuntil then unknown Maurice Lenormand. When Lenormand, in 1953, began toforma party with the aim of bringing together Kanak and settlers behindthe slogan 'two colours, one people', the two groups providedthe infant UC with the majority of its militants and Kanak candidates.During the 1950s and 1960s the local delegates of the UICALO and theAICLF, in close collaboration with administrative chiefs and religiousauthorities, distributed voting instructions in favour of the UC in eachreserve. According to political scientist, Eric Soriano, this'ethno-religious mediation of the vote' was independent of theother social logics upon which the UC relied outside the reserves. Inthe interior the UC's militant structures in the reserves and inthe European centres were strictly separated--the only indirect pointsof contact occurring during the party leadership's 'bush'tours during electoral campaigns (Soriano 2000: 242,247). An examination of the first municipal elections at Kone in whichKanak were eligible to vote in 1954 suggests, however, that themechanisms for Kanak political participation cannot be understood onlyin terms of questions internal to the reserves. In addition to theinfluence exercised by the UICALO, the AICLF and Lenormand, as attestedto by the written sources, witnesses stress the role played by onecattle farmer in particular. Questioned about the recruitment of Kanakcandidates in 1954, the former (European) director of the municipalschool and a former UC militant indicated that 'it was Mr Devaud,there was Joseph Devaud and Rene Devaud who both got around a lot; theywere free, they were settlers. They contacted the different chiefs [...]it was the Devauds who did most of the work'. (20) The man inquestion was the pro-UC Rene Devaud--not his anti-UC brother, Joseph--asconfirms Roger Mennesson, a cattle farmer and son-in-law of the former: Rene Devaud had a large personality and in the reserves he was very well known, he was very listened to and he got all the Kanak to vote for Mrs Rival [mayor of Kone, 1954-61]. Lenormand had him ..., he was, how do you say, not the delegate but the representative of the Caledonian Union, Rene Devaud. So he was the one who went into the reserves. (21) Biographical details suggest that Rene Devaud's politicalinfluence rested on the relations that he had established with Kanak'in the run'. Born at Kone in 1907, he belonged to a wellknown line of cattle farmers established by his father Lucien in the1880s. In the 1940s and 1950s, Rene Devaud counted as one of the largestcattle farmers in the north of the Grande Terre, controlling severaltens of thousands of hectares spread over four vast properties in theinterior between Kone and Hienghene. He was also one of the principalemployers of stockmen in the region: the station of the Ballande Companyalone, of which he was the manager (on the Pidjen peninsula, north ofKone), generally maintained about a dozen permanent stockmen recruitedfrom the different reserves in the area. (22) Rene Devaud and certain of his employees also collaborated in thecapture and distribution of wild cattle. This informal practice allowedKanak stockmen to build up or strengthen the tribal herds (eitherindividual or collective) while at the same time combatting the strayingof cattle into agricultural plantations. According to Daniel Devaud, theesteem in which both his father and Rene, his uncle, were held in thereserves was directly related to this activity: 'Along with Rene,my father was the only one in the Devaud family to be respected by Kanakin relation to the capture of wild cattle.' (23) Relations betweenRene and the principal stockman in the Netchaot reserve, for instance,were not only hierarchical relations, but also based on other forms ofsolidarity and complicity between 'friends' and neighbours:'This elder, he was very friendly with Rene Devaud who had someland at the back of Netchaot', said Joseph Goromido. 'On oneparticular occasion 'Kapouno and Devaud caught some wild cattle andafterwards they shared it.' (24) With the approach of the municipalelections in 1954, Rene Devaud's intervention in the selection ofindigenous candidates reveals a capacity for political influenceconstructed 'in the run' and spanning the colonial frontier ina manner quite different from the essentially authoritarian Church-basedstructures of the UICALO and the AICLF. The social profile of the rive Kanak chosen as candidates in 1954(all of whom were elected) supports this assessment: four were stockmenand at least two had worked for Rene Devaud. (25) Gilbert Gorohouna ofNoelly had worked for a cattle farmer at Bourail before returning tolive at Noelly in 1953. His father was none other than Boae MangouGorohouna, a stockman on the Leconte station at Noelly in the early1900s. This inherited family tradition of stock work was also at play inthe case of Auguste Oue Goroepata of Poinda, another of the men electedin 1954, who was the son of Boro Poindet Goroepata, a former stockman onthe Caujolle station. Finally, Baptiste Poigny Goroerewan fromPwanaki-Ateou, was one of the principal stockmen on the Ballande stationat Pidjen and was responsible, according to Roger Mennesson, for much ofthe operation of the property and the hiring of other Kanak labourers. As well as almost all being stockmen, Kone's first rive Kanakmunicipal councillors all had important administrative functions, asgrand chef of Baco (Wabealo) and as petits chefs of Koniambo(Parairouha), Noelly (Gorohouna), Ateou (Goroerewan), Poinda and Neami(Goroepata). One was also a Catholic catechist, another was a Protestantdeacon and a third was the nephew of a leading figure in the Protestantmission at Kone, the pastor Auguste Wabealo. Their nomination ascandidates, and their successful election, corresponded clearly with thedesire of the UICALO and the AICLF to firmly guide the entry of Kanakinto politics without disrupting the tribal social order that had beenstabilised between the two wars around the indigenous authority figuresrecognised by the French administration and the missions (Trepied 2007:162-172). The positions of power and influence collected by thesechiefs-religious figures--stockmen and their close interaction withlocal gendarmes, cattle farmers and/or missionaries facilitated theirselection as indigenous municipal candidates; they satisfied therequirements of both Rene Devaud--a cattle farmer and local Europeanrepresentative of the UC--and the Church-based Melanesian religiousgroups. This phenomenon also illustrates ongoing Kanak political strategiesdesigned to capture social and political resources. For the municipalcouncillors linked to the Nadu and Gorotu clans, the 1954 electionrepresented a new manifestation of an old strategy for local dominance,established by their ancestors in the late-eighteenth century andre-established in the 1870s as part of an alliance with the French (asdiscussed above). Over the generations, the renewal of this localpolitical strategy had led members of its clans to successively become'auxiliaries', stockmen, chiefs deacons/catechists,pastors/seminarians and finally militants and elected representatives ofthe UC (Bensa and Goromido 2005; Trepied 2007:211-285). Two particular social attributes of the Kanak stockmen seem to haveplayed a determining role in the European selection of candidates forthe Kone municipality: their familiarity with local settlers and theirknowledge of the French language. In the context of their pastoral workit was not uncommon for these men to leave their reserves for weeks at atime to work alongside their employers or managers. The everydayrelations established between Kanak employees and European employers onthese occasions could be characterised by complicity and camaraderie (ofthe sort previously described between Rene Devaud and Daniel Kapouno) aswell as by coolness and distance depending on the sensibilities of thoseconcerned as well as the place, duration and nature of the activitiesbeing undertaken. Mealtime organisation provides a good example:'At the house we ate separately, but in the bush we ate together,especially when we were taking cattle to Noumea', noted AugustePoadja, a former stockman. (26) Regardless of their heterogeneity, thesepersonal relations between European cattle farmers and Kanak employeesestablished at least basic forms of mutual understanding and familiaritywhich seem to have been crucial for the leaders of the UC at Kone whenit came to choosing local Kanak candidates. The Kanak stockmen's mastery of French was equally determiningfor their entry into politics, as indicates a former school teacherconcerning the municipal election in 1954: 'At the start, as Irecall--it was much debated--I advocated taking those who knew how toread, write and speak, who would understand.' (27) In this regardit was really their status as privileged interlocutors of the cattlefarmers which contributed to the designation of these rive candidates in1954. Until the emergence of the first Kanak graduates in the 1960s, thelanguage learnt 'in the run' seems to have been a centralfoundation of Kanak influence in the context of the administrativechieftaincies and, after 1946, in the political structure of themunicipality. (28) When shown the names of the rive municipalcouncillors, Auguste Poadja and his son, Gerard, both stressed theimportance of these men as stockmen, chiefs and elected representativesbut above all as 'spokesmen': AP: Goroerewan Baptiste, this bloke, he worked on horse a lot. Inthat kind of work you spoke a lot of French, you didn't speak yourlanguage. It's like old Oue Auguste who used to be here, he waslike Baptiste. [...] Oue Auguste, he worked with cattle a lot, he knewhow to speak French better than the others so they made him spokesmanfor grand chef Katelia. GP: Most of the time, with us Kanak, it's the one who gets bybest, in terms of French or his way of talking, that gets put forward.Looking at these names [from 1954], they were the elders who were incharge or who had a responsibility of some sort at the time. [...] AP: Those were guys who were a bit smart [degourdis], (29) in theKanak way, who spoke French a bit better. [...] By speaking French,that's how you get to be chief, you get to be the spokesman for theothers. (30) For certain Kanak stockmen from Kone, access to various levels oflocal power was closely linked to the language skills acquired in thecompany of the French cattle farmers. While knowledge of French was notthe only criterion for political advancement--the designation of chiefs,for example, was based on their influence within the reserves--it wasnevertheless a major strength when working with the administration andthe European leaders of the UC. In many respects the political reign of the UC at Kone in the 1950sand 1960s involved a takeover of power by local stockmen. In the 1970s,however, the situation became more complicated when the emergence ofcalls for Kanak independence gave rise to growing hostility betweennationalists (almost entirely Kanak) and loyalists (principallyEuropean). While they had until then played a crucial role as localpolitical intermediaries within the framework of the multiethnic UC, therelations between Kanak and European stockmen were strongly affected bytheir respective racial identities. What followed was a range ofsometimes surprising political realignments. THE STOCKMEN AND INDEPENDENCE In 1977, the UC's decision--carried by its Kanak majority--tocampaign for New Caledonia's independence provoked the departure ofalmost all the party's European members. Under the direction ofJean-Matie Tjibaou, the UC played a leading role in the formation of acoalition of independence parties in 1979, the Front Independantiste(FI), which in 1984 was transformed into the Front de LiberationNationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS). On the loyalist side, variousmovements came together in the Rassemblement pour la Caledonie dans laRepublique (RPCR), founded in 1977 and led by Jacques Lafleur. In the1980s, the split between supporters and opponents of independence gaverise to a series of violent confrontations known locally as the'events'--involving electoral boycotts, land occupations,blockades, riots, murders--and lasting until the Matignon-OudinotAccords of 1988 (Bensa 1995; Spencer, Ward and Connell 1989). In thisnew context, political relations between Kanak stock workers andEuropean cattle farmers at Kone took an original form. The complexity ofthe previous relationships and shared experiences structuring thissocial and political world is illustrated by the emergence of two newpolitical leaders, both cattle farmers by profession and each with anatypical career path. The Poinda grand chef, Auguste Poadja (1916-2005),became a loyalist supporter of the RPCR while Daniel Devaud (1947-)became an independentist supporter of the UC. As leading figures oftheir parties at Kone, they both found themselves in the firing lineduring the 'events'. For both men their political engagementreflected, in different ways, their ethos as stockmen. Auguste Poadja's career until the independentist turn in 1977was typical of the UC's Kanak stockmen in the 1950s and 1960s. Bornin 1916 at Poinda he had begun working with cattle in the late 1920s onthe station of Leopold Devillers, adjacent to the Poinda reserve (theformer Caujolle station which the Devillers family had bought inc.1929). It was in the company of Devillers that he first learnt thecraft of the stockman and the French language. In 1963 he was chosen bymembers of his clan, their supporters and allies, to succeed the lateTea Antoine Katelia Poadja, as grand chef of the Poinda district. In thesame year, during the UC party congress held at Kone, he was invited bythe party's leaders to join its executive committee. He took onthese new responsibilities while continuing to work daily 'in therun'. In 1969, Auguste Poadja also took charge of the Poindah CattleCompany (Societe civile d'elevage de Poindah), created in the sameyear by the Department of Agriculture as part of theadministration's 'Melanesian Promotion' programme.Controlling 1515 hectares made up of three blocks, the Companyoriginally had fifteen members from the reserves of Netchaot, Poinda,Noelly and Bopope (Saussol 1979: 423-427). (31) Auguste Poadja'sappointment as president of the Company reflected his undeniableexperience as a stockman and no doubt his status as a grand chef.However, he also had potential conflicts of interest. As well ascontinuing to work for Devillers, he had acquired private title to a 400hectare block adjacent to one of the Company's blocks. At thebeginning of the 1970s, the grand chef thus found himself in charge ofat least 1900 hectares of grazing land. Auguste Poadja's socialisation and expertise as a stockmanplayed a determining role in defining the projects that he initated inhis political functions as grand chef and local leader of the UC. Hisimmersion in the practices and ideologies of his European employers,based on the entrepreneurial model of the cattle farmer, conditioned anddefined the field of economic activities that he promoted at thedistrict level. Essentially these involved European-style techniques forthe management of stock and pasture. By proposing to compete with theregion's settlers at their own game, and by reproducing the westerneconomic model, Auguste Poadja's cattle raising projects were inline with Kanak determination to gain a broader share of the economy: I'm not boasting. I didn't go to school like the others. But I really think that I was the first Kanak who got ahead that way. Because I worked a lot for the Europeans who did the cattle. And because I saw things that way I thought 'but why can't we do the same thing? We have our land but we don't change; they'll take everything away and then what will we live on?' And that's how it happened.... (32) While the experience of stock work led Auguste Poadja to embracecolonial representations and practices, the same experience led toDaniel Devaud's profound immersion in a Kanak worldview and values.Immersed in station life from a very young age, Daniel Devaud haddeveloped close ties with the Kanak stockmen employed by his father: As a youngster I was constantly with my father behind the cattle. We always worked with Kanak. At the midday break, while my father took his siesta, I went to talk with the old Kanak about cattle and things. And with those old Kanak, when they have a kid 7, 8, 10, 12 years old, there's a connection between the old guy and the child that's not the same as with us. It's something you can sense without really being able to explain it. Me, I know that I grew up with all the old Oue, the Pwanitela, the Aouta, Nangue. I knew the father of Samuel Aouta really well. Samuel's the last of his family. And my son Benoit who left us [deceased], he had the Kanak name of that elder. (33) Here Daniel Devaud evokes a particularly strong symbol of hisinsertion in local Kanak social structures. By giving his son the Kanakname of a 'elder' who had been a mentor of sorts he reproduceda common Melanesian social practice which is a clear manifestation ofhis attachment to the Kanak way of managing trans-generational ties(Bensa and Rivierre 1982, Naepels 1998, Salomon 2000). In this case afamily tradition is also involved: Daniel Devaud had himself acquired aKanak name, Tiaou, during his childhood. As a child and later as anadult and cattle farmer, thanks to his close associations with hisfather's Kanak stockmen, 'Tiaou' acquired a very preciseunderstanding of the Kanak world of Kone. His rich knowledge of clanhistories and matrimonial alliances in the region, displayed again andagain in the course of this and other interviews, contrasts dramaticallywith the ignorance of many Europeans at Kone when questioned on thissubject. In the course of the 1970s, Auguste Poadja and Daniel Devaud weredirectly confronted by the growing strength of the Kanak independencecause especially in relation to land claims and political issues withinthe municipality. In this situation they each adopted partisan positionslinked with their social experiences as stockmen and deviating from thedominant norm of bipolarisation along ethnic lines. At the time of the'events', these positions would have grave consequences foreach of them. From its inception in 1969, the demarcation of the boundariesbetween the land belonging to the Poindah Cattle Company and those ofthe grand chef, Auguste Poadja, began to create difficulties. A parcelof 550 hectares assigned to the Company had been ceded to theadministration by Jean-Claude Devillers (son of Leopold) in exchange fora piece of Domain land bordering his property. The terms of thisexchange immediately became the object of a dispute between Devillersand the grand chef, on the one hand, and, on the other, members of theCompany from Noelly, Netchaot and Bopope who resented the waylast-minute changes to the block's boundaries had been drawn to theadvantage of Devillers (with the consent of his stockman, the grandchef) and at the expense of the adjacent reserve (Saussol 1979: 426, fn508). (34) The delimitation of the grand chefs own private block drewsimilar complaints from the inhabitants of Neami (which echo the disputedocumented by Halbert in 1914--see above). (35) Practices involved inboth cases strongly resembled the encroachments of European cattlefarmers earlier in the century (Dauphine 1989). Furthermore, the oldalliance between the grand chef and Devillers took the form of a closecollaboration in the management of the cattle grazing on threecontiguous blocks--the Devillers station, land belonging to the Companyand the grand chefs property. As the political climate deteriorated,Auguste Poadja's ties with Devillers led to his growingunpopularity among his Kanak neighbours and subjects. When militants belonging to the first independentist groups beganto address the issue of land confiscation (Naepels 1998: 285-292), thePoinda district was directly concerned. The issue concerned not just themassive alienation of land that had taken place at the beginning of thetwentieth century, but also the more recent disputes with the grand chefand Devillers. Formed in 1981, the West Coast Land Claims Committee(Comite de Revendications des Terres de la Cote Ouest) called for thereturn of Kanak land. In April 1982, Les Nouvelles Caledoniennesreported that the inhabitants of Neami had claimed responsibility forthe theft of cattle from Auguste Poadja's property as a politicalaction against the grand chefs encroachment on the reserve. (36) A fewmonths later, on 13 and 14 November 1982, the Devillers property wasoccupied by the Committee. The grand chef, siding with the Devillers,attempted to stop the independentist militants, but without successdespite several violent skirmishes. (37) Auguste Poadja had left the UC in 1977 and had become a member ofthe anti-independentist RPCR in the early 1980s. When the land claimmovement turned to direct action, he became active in the AssociationFraternite Caledonienne, a satellite group on the extreme-right of theRPCR, of which he became president on 17 April 1982, two weeks after thefirst violent actions directed against his own property. (38) The grandchef adhered entirely to the European point-of-view concerning theillegitimacy of the Kanak land claims; having taken on fully the socialhabitus of the cattle farmer, he had adopted the same mode of pastoralproduction as the settlers and even the same encroachment practices. Hisrejection of the land claims was consistent in terms of his own personalstrategy which consisted of obtaining land within a given legal andpolitical framework and abiding by the rules of the colonial game. Thisposition was also pragmatic and based on the cost--in time, labour andmoney--that the acquisition and pastoral development of these lands hadrequired, as indicated in an interview given in 1983: Today they want to chase out the settlers, why's that? They've worked and they're still working! As for me, I've invested. I have a property. I pay taxes. [...] Today, because a minister has said that the land should be returned to the Melanesians, people are preparing land claims. I don't think it's a good idea to give away certain properties without conditions and without anyone being able to profit. I don't want to go back to what happened before, but I don't want to chase out the settlers. (39) For the Land Claims Committee the occupation of the Devillersproperty was a media and political coup. Under threat, Jean-ClaudeDevillers finally resolved to abandon his property in the night of 26-27January 1984. Auguste Poadja, too, had thrown in his towel and hadresold his land in 1983 (R. Guiart 2001: 154, 187-196). He gave up ailhis cattle-raising activities, thus sealing the demise of the PoindahCattle Company. The Poadja and Devillers properties were purchased bythe Land Office and then redistributed to the neighbouring reserves.Yet, although his status as grand chef had been seriously challengedduring this period, Auguste Poadja managed to hold on to the title untilit was passed to his son in 1996 (Trepied 2007: 718-722). While the land claims provoked sharp divisions between theindependentists and the grand chef, Daniel Devaud had thrown himselfinto municipal politics: he was elected to the Kone municipality on theUC lists from 1971 to 1993. Under the influence of Paul Napoarea (theKanak UC mayor of Kone from 1970), with whom he had first worked'in the run', Daniel Devaud allowed the social relations hehad developed in the region's reserves, through his work with Kanakstockmen, to be mobilised on the political field. Among his reasons fortaking this partisan position was his hostility towards the sentiment ofracial superiority expressed by many whites at Kone: Had someone from the opposition asked me, I wouldn't have accepted. But when it was Paul [Napoarea] asking me that then, yes, because nothing was stopping me. [...] I couldn't go with the others on the other side because of a certain way of approaching things. Firstly, although I'm a New Caledonian myself, I find that white New Caledonians are certainly the hardest ethnic group to manage. I say that because they're people who are full of self-importance. They think that because they are European they're superior to others. (40) This political decision took on a new dimension in 1977 when the UCopted to support the cause of Kanak independence. Unlike the otherEuropeans who mostly left the party, Daniel Devaud continued to be a UCactivist. He maintained this stance when the UC joined the FI in 1979and then the FLNKS in 1984. The strength of his political and socialties with the Melanesian world led him to embrace the radicalisation ofthe Kanak movement. Of all the municipal councillors at Kone, he was oneof only two whites to openly side with the independence movement. As aresult, he experienced a violent ostracism from the other Europeaninhabitants of the township: All the fascists, who were members of our family, they kept an eye on us. In full daylight, there were people perched on the hillsides with binoculars to monitor our comings and goings. And then later, they blew up our cistern, our water reserve. There are still bits of the thing on the corrugated iron cistern. And then all the building with the woodpile, the boiler, all that went up in smithereens. They cut the fences everywhere. It was the Whites that did that. [...] Bernard X and Rene came here in a load of cars, with rifles and everything; they threatened to put a bullet in my face. (41) Daniel Devaud was even more exposed in that at the time of the'events' he had not just sided with the independentists, healso held municipal responsibilities of the first order. He was firstdeputy to the mayor from 1983 and, in 1988, when Paul Napoarea wasimprisoned for refusing to denounce the persons responsible for themurder of two gendarmes, Daniel Devaud replaced him becoming the onlyindependentist European mayor in New Caledonia until his resignation in1993. While his adherence to the independendist cause was perceived as abetrayal by local Europeans, his exceptional political career wastightly linked to the quality of the relations he had built, well beforehe entered politics in 1971, with the inhabitants of the reservesthrough working with Kanak stockmen. In New Caledonia as elsewhere colonial dynamics were structured byconfrontations and efforts to impose European domination as well as bylocal agency and negotiation. In the long history of Kone, from the1870s to the end of the 1980s, Kanak stockmen and European cattlefarmers were the first to assume the indispensable role of colonialintermediaries well before the religious figures and administrativechiefs who have featured prominently in the historiography. It is onlyin the last twenty years, with the emergence of tertiary educated Kanakspokespeople, the rapid decline of agricultural and pastoral productionand the growth of service industries that political importance of therelationships formed by and between stockmen has fallen by the waysidein the Kone region. While regional variations in New Caledonia make itdifficult to generalise our conclusions too widely--especially for theeast coast, the Loyalty Islands and the urban area of Noumea wherepastoralism had a minimal influence on the web of colonialrelations--the case of Kone can nevertheless be considered typical ofthe west coast, the principal domain of the pioneer pastoral frontierand in this regard the true 'country' of the New Caledonianstockman. In this region regardless of the era or personality--be it DickMackam or Auguste Poadja, Boae Mwangu or Rene Devaud, Baptiste PoignyGoroerewan or Daniel Devaud--the social relations constructed 'inthe run' permitted a unique form of mobility spanning the frontierbetween settlers and Kanak. Due in large part to their critical positionas intermediaries within a strongly segregated society, stockmen werethe first to be affected when the colonial order was challenged. Duringthe wars of 1878 and 1917, following the granting of citizenship toKanak in 1946, and at the time of the 'events' in the 1980s,the resources associated with the interethnic sociability of pastoralism(bilingualism, familiarity with the countryside and its people,professional expertise and wages) were harnessed for political ends.Controlling access to both the Kanak and European worlds at Kone, thestockmen occupied essential positions of power and influence. 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From January 1871 a permit system allowed settlers to occupyunsurveyed land claimed by the administration (la Domaine) on thecondition that they make a formal request; these 'concessions'from the administration were in effect leases with a right of preemption(Saussol 1979:176-178). (2.) E.g., Plan d'un terrain situe a Congo appartenant a M.Devaux, 31 oct. 1881, 22_001, CD_ARCH 34, Archives de Nouvelle-Caledonie(hereinafter ANC). (3.) Jugements de Simple Police et de Police Correctionnelle, Kone,1884-1905, 23WC-E, ANC. (4.) Ibid., audience du 14 avril 1903, minute No. 102, 23WE3, ANC. (5.) NB. The term metis was widely used to identify persons ofmixed race in New Caledonia, but metis did not have a separate legalstatus. Whether a metis was recognised as an 'indigene' (a'native' and French subject) and or as a French citizendepended on a variety of factors including formal recognition ofEuropean paternity and the community in which they had been raised. (6.) Antoine Goromido, unpublished typescript (5pp.) in thepossession of the authors. (7.) Jugements de simple police de Kone, 29 aout 1889 23WC4 (a-p),ANC; Jugements de Simple Police de Kone, 21 sept. 1901, No. 202, 23WE,ANC; Delimitation des concessions Martin, Devaux, Dezarnaulds et de latribu des Oumas, 1/20000, 18 avril 1883, 21-018, CD_ARCH33, ANC. (8.) Proces-verbal de la brigade de Kone, 1 mai 1905, signeJasseron Constant, 38APC 1, Centre des archives d'Outremer,Aix-en-Provence (hereinafter CAOM); Rapport no. 184 de la brigade deKone, 16 aout 1909, 38APC1, CAOM; Repiquet, Rapport no. 303, [c. May1917], 1W2 (mai), piece 1079,ANC. (9.) Leenhardt, Journal, ts, 4 aout 1910, 12J22, ANC. (10.) Leenhardt, Conferences des natas, Cahier 1 (1903-1904),pp.21-22, 12J70bis, ANC. (11.) Leenhardt, Carnet de Route, entry by Paul Laffay c. Sept1914, 12J70bis, ANC. (12.) Leenhardt, Journal, ts, 21 ?fev. 1916, 12J22, ANC. (13.) Antoine Goromido, unpublished typescript (5pp.) in thepossession of the authors. NB. Rolls of calico cloth held bystockworkers were used to form impromptu corridors and yards in themustering of cattle (see Thiosse 1917: 152). (14.) Halbert a Monseigneur, Kone, 9 fev. 1914 and 3 mars 1914,Archives de l'archeveche de Noumea (hereinafter AAN) 45.6. (15.) Leenhardt a Jeanne, [?Do Neva, c. 20 sept. 1917], ts (copy),12J29, ANC. (16.) Repiquet a Min. des Colonies, 28 juin 1917, 12H2 (8:254),Service historique de l'armee de terre, Vincennes. (17.) ML. Baco, le 1er juill. 1919, ts (trans.), 12J37, ANC. (18.) Halbert a Monseigneur, Kone, 31 mars 1936, AAN 46.3; PierreHervouet, 'La sous-commission active des terres a Kone--2e reponsea Veritas', press clipping, August 1928, 12J 14, ANC. (19.) Poinda is not an isolated example; similar relations areevident in other districts. Two notable examples involve the Metzdorfstation and the reserve of Ouango-Pouepai (Saussol 1979: 323-325) andthe so-called 'Ouabou' affair involving Charles Martin and theOuebias grand chef, Djouatma (see Dossier Oubatche, 1915-1943, 97W8,ANC). (20.) Interview with Paul Rival, Noumea, 24 Oct. 2002. (21.) Interview with Roger Mennesson, Tontouta, 12 Jan. 2004. (22.) Information provided by Roger Mennesson, the manager of thisstation after Rene Devaud. (23.) Interview with Daniel Devaud, Kone, 19 April 2003. (24.) Interview with Joseph Goromido (mayor of Kone and originallyfrom Netchaot), Kone, 22 May 2003. (25.) The rive men elected were: Alphonse Ty Wabealo, BaptistePoigny Goroerewan, Auguste Oue Goroepata, Gilbert Gorohouna and PierreTein Parairouha (Trepied 2007: 162). (26.) Interview with Auguste Poadja, Poindah, 30 May 2003. (27.) Interview with Paul Rival, Noumea, 24 October 2002. (28.) In linguistic terms, strategies of evangelisation (mainly invernacular languages) and the 'Native School' system did notfavour a strong take-up of the French language during the colonialperiod (see Salaun 2005). (29.) Auguste Poadja's use of the term 'degourdi' isstriking. In the Nervats' novel (previously cited) the same word isgiven as a name to a Kanak station worker. In both instances, its usageis suggestive of the capacity of certain Kanak to follow orders, toaccommodate with the colonial order and to adapt to its paternalist orevolutionist racial vision. (30.) Interview with Auguste and Gerard Poadja, Poindah, 10 Nov.2002. (31.) Saussol (1979: 424) provides a map of the lands concerned. (32.) Interview with Auguste Poadja, Poindah, 30 May 2003. (33.) Interview with Daniel Devaud, Kone, 19 April 2003. (34.) NB. This exchange strongly resembles the transaction thatmade possible the official creation of the Poinda reserve forty yearsearlier, in 1929, shortly before the Devillers family acquired thePoinda station (see above). While both exchanges created newopportunities for Kanak at Poinda they were not disinterested on thepart of the settlers concerned. This provides evidence of an enduringalliance which, as shall be seen, was increasingly contested. (35.) See the history of the dispute as presented in Les NouvellesCaledoniennes, 15 April 1982. (36.) Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes, 2, 5 and 15 April 1982. (37.) See Guiart (2001: 123) and Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes, 15Nov. 1982. (38.) Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes, 28 April 1982. (39.) Cited in Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes, 7 Jan. 1983. (40.) Interview with Daniel Devaud, Kone, 19 April 2003. (41.) Ibid.

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