[ad_1]
A Dutch author has unearthed a remarkable tale of survival, telling the story of six boys shipwrecked together on a Tongan island for 15 months in 1966.
This story ended very differently to William Golding’s best-selling novel, Lord of the Flies.
That never happened according to Rutger Bregman who reflects on Golding’s 1951 story. In the English school master’s 20th century novel it’s a grim view of human nature on display. One that’s selfish and dark and leaves three children dead on a deserted island.
Bregman wondered, had anyone ever studied what real children would do if they found themselves alone on an island? The Dutch historian wrote an article on the subject, in which I have compared Lord of the Flies to modern scientific insights and concluded that, in all probability, kids would act very differently.
READ MORE:
* Blackbirding: New Zealand’s shameful role in the Pacific Islands slave trade
* Lord of the Flies film adaptation writes for all female cast by two males
In his research Bregman found a true tale that went like this: “One day, in 1977, six boys set out from Tonga on a fishing trip … Caught in a huge storm, the boys were shipwrecked on a deserted island. What do they do, this little tribe? They made a pact never to quarrel. ”
The author’s further research led to a story published in the Australian newspaper The Age in October 1966. The subjects of the report were six boys who had been found three weeks earlier on a small rocky island at the southern end of Tonga. The boys had been rescued by an Australian sea captain after being marooned on the island of ‘Ata for more than a year.
The captain’s name was Peter Warner. Bregman found the man who rescued six lost boys 50 years ago, in Mackay, Queensland.
The former sea captain told the author he had found himself in Tonga in the winter of 1966 when he saw the once-inhabited tiny island of ‘Ata. Peering through his binoculars he saw a naked boy with long hair diving from a cliff into the water below. More boys followed. They swam towards Warner’s boat.
The boys, once aboard, said they were students at a boarding school in Nuku‘alofa, the Tongan capital. Warner radioed in and learned their story was true. These boys had been given up for dead and funerals had already been held
Bregman endeavored to reconstruct what had happened on ‘Ata. I have praised 90-year old Warner’s memory for its accuracy. The author found a second source. Mano was 15-years-old at the time and is now nearly 70.
Mano said the real Lord of the Flies were six boys – Sione, Stephen, Kolo, David, Luke and Mano – all pupils at a Catholic boarding school in Nuku‘alofa. The oldest was 16, the youngest 13 and the bored boys came up with a plan to escape to Fiji, even all the way to New Zealand.
They drifted for eight days without food or water after both the sail and the rudder broke before coming upon ‘Ata. Until the boys arrived the rocky island had been uninhabited since 1863, when a slave ship sailed off with its residents.
Bregman is the author of the book Humankind, which argues that, despite all our obvious flaws, most people are basically good. He really wanted to know how those castaway boys got on together.
Captain Warner wrote in his memoirs, “the boys had set up a small commune with food garden, hollowed-out tree trunks to store rainwater, a gymnasium with curious weights, a badminton court, chicken pens and a permanent fire, all from handiwork, an old knife blade and much determination. “
“While the boys in Lord of the Flies come to blows over the fire, those in this real-life version tended their flame so it never went out, for more than a year, “Bregman wrote.
The kids worked in teams of two, drew up a roster for work around the island, and solved arguments by using a time out system. They began and ended their days with a song and prayer. A makeshift guitar was made, but it barely rained and the boys were thirsty.
A breakthrough came when the boys found a volcanic crater, where people had lived a century before. They found wild taro, bananas and chickens (which had been reproducing for the 100 years since the last Tongans had left).
The children were finally rescued on Sunday 11 September 1966.
The boys of ‘Ata had been consigned to obscurity while Golding’s book is still widely read and some credit the author as the inspiration behind reality TV.
Bregman who rediscovered the story and told it in Humankind, put it like this:
“It’s time we told a different kind of story. The real Lord of the Flies is a tale of friendship and loyalty; one that illustrates how much stronger we are if we can read on each other. “
[ad_2]
