The Motu are native inhabitants of Papua New Guinea , living along the southern coastal area of the country. Their indigenous language is also known as Motu , and like several other languages of the region is an Austronesian language. They and the Koitabu people are the original inhabitants and owners of the land on which Port Moresby — the national capital city — stands. The largest Motu village is Hanuabada , northwest of Port Moresby.
6-689: The Motu Koita Assembly is the landowner representative body of the Motu and Koitabu people , established as an Assembly by an act of the Parliament of Papua New Guinea . It is the only Assembly of its kind in Papua New Guinea. The current Chair of the Motu Koita Assembly is Dadi Toka Jr . The Chair of the Motu Koita Assembly also holds the office of Deputy Governor of National Capital District . The capital city of Port Moresby
12-526: The hiri . American painter Caroline Mytinger visited Motu villages during her voyage along Melanesia in the 1920s, painting native portraits along the way, including the scene of a Motu girl in dancing costume with a local sorceress in Hanuabada village. Despite increased Westernization , the Motu still engage in some traditional practices. These include the value of traditional music and dance, observing
18-592: The customary land and natural resources of the Motu Koitabu people. Motu people Friedrich Ratzel in The History of Mankind in 1896 reported the tattooing in Melanesia . Among the relatively light-skinned Motu he found tattooing in patterns similar to those of Micronesia . He also reported, among the old women, blackening the body with a kind of earth which gives a lustre like black lead. This
24-680: Was established on the traditional lands of the Motu and Koitabu people in the late 1800s. In recognition of this, the Motu Koitabu Interim Assembly was established under the National Capital District Government Act 1982 . It was given powers and rights to legislate in the ten recognised Motu and Koitabu villages and exercise authority over their customary land, which lies within the Port Moresby boundaries. The Motu Koita Assembly
30-505: Was said to be a sign of mourning. Charles Gabriel Seligman came into contact with the Motu, in 1904. He noted that, unlike many of their neighbors in the region, the Motu did not practice exogamy . However, there was significant intermarriage between the coastal Motu and the more inland Koitabu. Every year, they practiced the hiri , when community members made trading voyages through the Gulf of Papua . Women made pottery for sale through
36-739: Was subsequently established under the Motu Koita Assembly Act 2007 . The objectives of the Act are: to protect and strengthen the identity of the Motu Koitabu people as the original landowners of the National Capital District; to promote equal opportunity and popular participation in government by the Motu Koitabu people; to provide for the Motu Koitabu people especially the basic human needs for water, health, education, transportation, communication, accommodation and social order through economic self-reliance; and to protect
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