The Treasury of Teapu: Discovering the real gold in Bougainville, Grindley Ray

1969 was a turning point in Australian Accountant Ray Grindleys life. As a Christian volunteer working with the United Church in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, he meticulously recorded details about the life and culture of the people of Teapu in northern Bougainville. Now, 50 years later, he has combined the stories, along with his own experiences living there, into one record. Traditional oral stories, conversations with people in the community, experiences travelling the island of Bougainville, historical backgrounds, kinship systems, initiation ceremonies, archeological artefacts, spiritual beliefs, the growth of the church, missionaries and their ministry, aspects of practical life such as gardening and fishing, all supported by many photographs, make this an amazingly valuable anthropological insight into Melanesian village life at that time. What makes this such a valuable record is that much of this information was lost to the people during the civil war of the 1980s, when an estimated 20,000 people died in a protracted confrontation over the Panguna open cut copper-gold-silver mine. It is information Bougainvilleans are keen to rediscover and Rays modern day contacts, some who were children when he was there, are keen to propagate it. Rays diligence has in fact resulted in him being the repository of otherwise lost cultural data. Each chapter also takes the reader on a personal journey with Ray, who arrived in a state of despondency following the death of his girlfriend, and left a year later transformed having discovered what he calls the real gold in Bougainville - the love and acceptance of a people previously unknown to him. This makes it such a delightful read because the anthropological and cultural information, while scholarly in its own right, is presented in the continuing context of his own journey of self-discovery and healing with the people of Teop. This book will appeal to anyone with an interest in modern Christian missions and the rise of the indigenous church in Melanesia. As a fascinating accumulation of anthropological information written in laymans language, it will be an invaluable reference to life in Bougainville fifty years ago, before the civil war led to widespread destruction and loss within the society. As such it is an amazing contribution to the forgotten history of Bougainville. As a personal interest story, of how one man found love to be real and found his faith in people and his God reinvigorated, it is an inspirational read.