Meralda Elva Junior Warren (born 28 June 1959) is an artist and poet of the

Pitcairn Island Pitcairn Island is the only inhabited island of the Pitcairn Islands, of which many inhabitants are descendants of mutineers of HMS ''Bounty''. Geography The island is of volcanic origin, with a rugged cliff coastline. Unlike many other ...

s, a remote

British Overseas Territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remna ...

in the South Pacific. She works in both English and

Pitkern Pitkern, also known as Pitcairn-Norfolk or Pitcairnese, is a language spoken on Pitcairn and Norfolk islands. It is a mixture of English and Tahitian, and has been given many classifications by scholars, including cant, patois, and Atlantic Cre ...

, the island's distinctive

creole language A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable natural language that develops from the simplifying and mixing of different languages into a new one within a fairly brief period of time: often, a pidgin evolved into a full-fledged language. ...

. Her book, ''Mi Bas Side Orn Pitcairn'', written with the island's six children, is the first to be written and published in both English and Pitkern. As an artist, she works with

tapa cloth Tapa cloth (or simply ''tapa'') is a barkcloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, primarily in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, but as far afield as Niue, Cook Islands, Futuna, Solomon Islands, Java, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea an ...

, a Polynesian tradition. She has also published a cookbook featuring Pitcairn Island cuisine. Warren has also served as the island's nurse, its only police officer, a

ham radio operator An amateur radio operator is someone who uses equipment at an amateur radio station to engage in two-way personal communications with other amateur operators on radio frequencies assigned to the amateur radio service. Amateur radio operators ha ...

, and as a member of the territory's governing council, among many other roles.

Biography

Warren was born on Pitcairn Island on 28 June 1959, the second child of Jacob Ralph "Chippie" Warren (1920–2007) and Mavis Mary Brown (born 1936).Pacific Union College Pitcairn Islands Study Center
WARREN, Jayden Jacob Norfolk --> WOTHERSPOON, Alan
''Who Are the Pitcairners?'' Retrieved 17 November 2013. Warren is the sister of

Jay Warren Jay Calvin Warren (born 29 July 1956) is a political figure from the Pacific territory of the Pitcairn Islands. Political roles Jay Warren was elected mayor of the last remaining British dependency in Oceania in the general election held on ...

(born 1950) who served as the third mayor of the Pitcairn Islands (2004–2007), and previously as the colony's 29th magistrate (1991–1997). She is a first cousin of Mike Warren (born 1964), the colony's fourth mayor (2007–2014). She is the descendant of mutineers from the famed Mutiny on the ''Bounty'' (1789) and of the Tahitian men and women who journeyed with the mutineers in settling the island in 1790.Warren, Merald
"About Me and about my mum Mavis"
on Maimiti Haven Artworld (personal website). Retrieved 27 November 2013.Marks, Kathy. ''Lost Paradise: From Mutiny on the Bounty to a Modern-Day Legacy of Sexual Mayhem, the Dark Secrets of Pitcairn Island Revealed''. New York: Simon and Schuster, (2009).

Artist, poet, author and many other jobs

Warren is a poet, and the author of two books, including ''Mi Base side orn Pitcairn'' ("My Favourite Place on Pitcairn"), written with children on Pitcairn Island. It is the first book written and published in

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

.Bounty-Pitcairn Conference 2012
Special Meralda Warren Tapa Exhibit at BPC 2012
. Retrieved 17 November 2013. Her works include a cookbook, ''Taste of Pitcairn'' featuring the cuisine of the Pitcairn Islands, and poetry in both Pitkern and English. In 2007, Warren revived Pitcairn's tradition of art created on

, a woven bark cloth common in

Polynesian culture Polynesian culture is the culture of the indigenous peoples of Polynesia who share common traits in language, customs and society. The development of Polynesian culture is typically divided into four different historical eras: *Exploration and se ...

. Her works have been displayed in museums and galleries in

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with ...

, and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. In 2011, she was one of seven artists awarded a Commonwealth Connections International Arts Residency, which provided a grant of £8,000 that allowed her to work with other artists in New Zealand. She is the first recipient from the Pitcairn Islands. Pitcairn has a small population. The island's 48 residents often serve in several capacities or jobs. Warren describes her many roles on her personal website:

Travelling with patients to New Zealand and Tahiti and taking up Nursing, Radio Operator for the shore to ship skeds from ZBP station and twice daily contact with Auckland international Radio telephone link, Working in our Co-op store, Council member for many years as well as being the Governors appointee member to council a few times, Becoming the first female Police & Immigration Officer for a few years. Lands Commission president, Lands court member, Bee keeper since 1978. ASL operator for siesmic Vault, Installing wireless networking throughout Adamstown, Duncan cleaner, Contract Lawnmowing jobs, and many misc jobs inc Tourism and Entertainment. PHEWWwww. it became apprent to me that what I enjoy most is my art. (T)his is getting pushed aside whilst I am working these time consuming no pay or low paid positions which was making me very tired and yes. ... Bitchy

Beginning in 1996, Warren served as the island's only police officer. However, since no one had been arrested on the island since the 1950s, her duties involved issuing driving licences and stamping visitors' passports. Warren had no qualifications or formal training to be a police officer, and was given the job because everyone on the island had a "job". The island's jail was described as "the size of a garden shed and riddled with termites", and its cells had been used to store building materials and lifejackets. When the island came into the international spotlight due to a sexual abuse scandal, a law enforcement professional sent to the island criticized their practices, stating "It was glaringly obvious ... that their standard of policing was not really adequate." Warren was elected on 15 December 2004 to the Island Council. As a radio operator, she broadcasts under the call sign VP6MW.

Pitcairn's sexual abuse trial

Warren was an outspoken critic of accusations that the island's girls had been sexually abused when young, and the prosecution of a selected number of Pitcairn's male residents. She claimed that young girls on Pitcairn customarily became sexually active after age 12, a practice of underage sex that had been accepted as a Polynesian tradition since the settlement of the island in 1790. One resident, Olive Christian, said of her girlhood, "We all thought sex was like food on the table." Many Pitcairn Island men blamed the British police for persuading the women involved to press charges. Some of the women agreed, and advocated a

conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

that the trial was, in Warren's words, "a British plot to jail the ommunity'sable-bodied men and 'close' the island", and that the British officials "picked on all the viable young men, the ones who are the backbone of this place".Marks, Kath
"Growing up on Pitcairn: 'We all thought sex was like food on table'"
''The Independent'' (London), 29 September 2004. (link dead 27 November 2013). A majority of the island's residents denied or excused the allegations. During the trial, Warren circulated a poem titled "Is Seven a Lucky Number?" that criticized the British government and lawyers' attempts to impose British law against their island's traditions.

"There's never an age consent set in our Laws Oh 16 is in the British clause What book they choose What next law will they ruse Why must these Seven men be used"

As the case wore on, Warren reflected that "the bottom had fallen out of our world ... We lost our trust for each other." Her brother, Jay Warren, who was accused of "indecent assault", was the only defendant among the seven accused to be acquitted on 24 October 2004. Warren was convicted of assault during a drunken disagreement with another resident when the two were angered by tensions over the sexual abuse matter. The case was prosecuted by a Crown prosecutor and tried by a New Zealand magistrate. Warren was fined NZ$60. The case cost the British government NZ$40,000 to prosecute.

Works

* 1986: ''A Taste of Pitcairn: The First Pitcairn Island Cookbook'' * 2008: ''Mi Base side orn Pitcairn'' ("My Favourite Place on Pitcairn") (compiler) * 2010: ''A Taste of Pitcairn: The First Pitcairn Island Cookbook'' (updated edition)

References

External links