Fight to save historic Samoa court house

Transcript

A Samoan architect in New Zealand is raising support to save one of Samoa's most historically valued buildings.

The German designed Courthouse in Apia is over a century old and remains mostly vacant.

Lama Tone told Indira Moala that locals in Apia are trying to raise funds to restore the building.

LAMA TONE: I did get told by a colleague of mine that basically they were told by the Prime Minister that you either come up with the funds to restore it or there's a possibility that that building could come down and be replaced with some commercial building that the town of Apia seems to be embracing quite rapidly as it is throughout the whole Pacific Islands. So the superpowers are already in there. The Chinese are very comfortable in the Pacific at the moment as we can see by the architecture that they've sort of brought forth so it's a very, very critical time - I'm talking from an architectural point of view. Because a lot of our identity on these architecture are somewhat very very different and it doesn't, I think or truly believe, that it doesn't really represent us as Pacific Islanders or in a modern context.

INDIRA MOALA: Can you tell me exactly what value the Old German Courthouse holds for the people of Samoa and their history?

LT: You know that's a funny question because, when we went there I kind of told my students that you know, theoretically speaking, we can remove the courthouse and put a museum there that would commemorate the event of the Mau. But after talking to a few of the locals, they were very very passionate about saving that structure because it actually identifies the moment of history with Samoa, especially with New Zealand and obviously German - under those occupations. And that was a building where New Zealand raised its first flag there. Not only that but more importantly, it was where the nine that fell, including the high chief at the time, Tamasese, who was shot there in the corner steps there. So it's very, very significant in terms of history. It's a beautiful building and I've been told also that it's possibly the longest German timber structure in the world. So it's got some very, very high value and significance.

IM: Does it surprise you that, considering how rich in history the old German Courthouse is, the government hasn't had an interest in preserving and restoring it?

LT: Yeah, it does surprise me. It does greatly surprise me, because I would think that buildings like the old German Courthouse could really be ring-fenced, so to speak, to try and save it because it really represented that critical moment in Samoa's struggle for freedom. I know for sure that there is efforts with the local business people and most of the people in Samoa to try and save this.

IM: And it's interesting that considering it's been a hundred years since the German administration, the German embassy has responded to having an invested interest in restoring that building as well.

LT: Yeah, absolutely. I think it's just been too much talk. There's no action. And I guess the action does come down to money at the end of the day.