Roland Kaehr - the odyssey of a Swiss gentleman in Rurutu

 

Back in November we visited a small waterfall and pool, behind the taro fields in Moerai, purportedly the Queen's bathing spot (though after heavy rain, I wouldn't be the first to leap in). It's the first time I'd been there, despite living here for over eight years now. Viriamu told me he used to use the stream as a shortcut with his friends, when he was coming or going to football matches in Moerai as a little boy.

We were visiting the spot with an elderly Swiss museum curator, Roland Kaehr, the editor of a book of memoirs by Eugène Hanni, who visited Rurutu at the end of the nineteenth century. Roland was trying to locate sites from his book. The memoirs tell the exploits of the young Suisse entrepreneur who came to French Polynesia, hoping to make his fortune, he made some money eventually from postcards of pictures he'd taken, he was one of the first to trade vanilla. His impressions and accounts of daily life give an interesting snapshot of life in Rurutu, a while ago, and in particular there are several pencil sketches of everyday life at the "King's court" (where he was staying, as an honoured guest) and scenes from Rurutu that you can still recognise today. The editor was in French Polynesia for the launch of the book at the annual "Salon du livre" (Book Festival).
 

 

We enjoyed the visit and the book - published in French by a great local publishing house Haere Po, who have also published an eclectic assortment of other books focused on Polynesia, including a book from a Rurutu authoress. Taaria Walker, is a remarkable old lady and local character, who was born here in Rurutu in 1930, she earned a scholarship to go to school in Tahiti and became the first Rurutu qualified nurse. The book is a funny mishmash of stories, legends and anecdotes, but I love her autobiographical writing about her childhood, and particularly her boat trips to and from school - it was really another world, back then.