On this remote Solomon Island, tradition is etched as deeply as tribal tattoos, and ancient shell money holds more value than any paper or plastic.
At the Malaita markets, amid the low murmur of mammas, the pungent scent of freshly netted tuna, and plump coconuts plucked straight from the tree, shell necklaces are coiled like king cobras.
Hilda, who still trades in shell money, is determined to keep alive the tradition which can be traced back to this lagoon 16 to 17 generations ago, when the “shell money woman” was banished from neighbouring Papua New Guinea and paddled her canoe into Malaita. “The red, which is the eagle, is always in the middle of the shell money; black and white represents the sea snake; and the brown is the octopus.”
“Even today, I go to the shops to buy a bag of rice with it. Families store their shell money in a chest or safe box. To us, it is status to have lots of shell money in a safe box,” Hilda says. Back in Honiara’s Chinatown sits a small, baby-blue timber shack. Mary Sifoburi, 33, opened the Shaenkola Shell Money Shop with her three siblings in 2021 to preserve the tradition of her native Malaita.
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