Misima’s history did not begin with a mine. In his historical study Black, White & Gold, Hank Nelson describes an island of worked hillside gardens and regular canoe travel linking neighbouring communities.
His account records garden produce being exchanged with islanders whose land was less fertile, and pottery arriving through relationships with Brooker and Panaeati. Misima was part of a connected maritime economy.
A changing shore
Nelson’s chapter follows the late-1880s gold rush, when prospectors moved from Sudest to Misima. By March 1889, he records a growing mining presence; rich finds that month brought a brief surge of arrivals.
Reading the record today
The chapter draws on colonial reports and uses historical descriptions that reflect their authors’ attitudes. We read it as evidence to examine alongside island knowledge, rather than the final word on Misiman life.
Read Hank Nelson’s Misima chapter — ANU Press
The cover is a photograph from the supplied island collection, not an image of the nineteenth-century events.