 The new Goa ma Bwarhat Cultural Centre, dedicated to Kanak heritage (above); the village of Hienghène in the Hienghène River Valley (right) |
 I was on the trail of one Pierre Alquier, whose grand hotel in the lush Hienghène River Valley of New Caledonia was razed to the ground in 1984, in a revenge attack following a series of bizarre political murders. The village of Tiendanique, in the same valley, was the locale of these events. Tiendanique is the birthplace and home village of Jean-Marie Tjibaou, architect of Kanak independence. Tjibaou’s name has now, following his assassination in 1989, assumed Mandela-like proportions.
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