Caroline Bay, Vanuatu may be a long way from Canowindra, but if you’ve had the good fortune to enjoy the hospitality of Sam and Simone Statham, you may have met Sael and Florence, who work at the vineyard and hail from the small bay, on the southern tip of the island of Malekula.
The pair work in the vineyard, pruning, harvesting and making many of Rosnay’s products for twenty years, a driving force behind a well loved local winery. Far beyond harvests and markets, the connection between Canowindra vineyard and Caroline Bay is stronger than any fine wine.
Speaking at Canowindra’s Christmas markets in 2024, Sam Statham of Rosnay Organic Wines said he considered himself fortunate to have the time and ability to visit Caroline Bay, meeting the families and friends of the couple.
“We were lucky to visit this place, because Florence and her husband Sale have been working at Rosnay for so long, we asked if we could go see where they came from, and we were very fortunate to be able to see it," he said.
From September to October last year, Sam and Simone, with kids Molly, Georgie and Floyd, travelled with Sael and Florence to visit their home village.
Latest Stories
The village is isolated by beautiful, but dense, terrain, with most materials brought in by boat. This makes transporting any goods, particularly bulky building parts and equipment much more difficult, and far more expensive.
The small network of connected boats, ferries and sea planes has been hard at work across the nation of many islands, following twin cyclones in 2023, and another devastating earthquake in December of 2024. The response garnered a mammoth effort from international aid and defence organisations to provide immediate care, assistance and rebuilding, but months on, the long road to recovery goes ever on.
In Caroline Bay, the school and library have made some headway in their construction, but are not yet completed. School principal, Sanny Malai, hoped that with a little support from those near and far, residents at Caroline Bay could complete the school’s construction.
“They have very little funding for this sort of thing, and they started building a library ten years ago - It still hasn’t got windows, doors or a roof,” Mr Statham explained.
As more seasonal workers come to Australia, working on farms and in agriculture under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, the opportunities to send money home has expanded, including for Sael and Florence. The opportunity to provide a dedicated space for students to learn, study and read together in the remote village is one many across our community can relate to.
Florence and Sael now call Australia home, but maintain strong ties to home on Malekula Island. Mr Statham said he hopes to see the project come to life soon, with opportunities to strengthen the connection between Caroline Bay and Canowindra.
“Right now it’s operating as a primary school, with high school kids going to another village and they basically board, they have to stay there,” Mr Statham said, “I’d like to think one day they can have their own high school as well as a primary school.”
At time of writing, the GoFundMe campaign started by the Stathams and Sanny to complete the school, was at $3,495 of its $13,000 goal, to support bringing in non local materials, with the mostly self sufficient population of 300 at Caroline Bay able to supply local materials and labour.
The fundraiser remains live online at www.gofundme.com/f/caroline-bay-school-library-vanuatu , with the Malai's and the Stathams promising to provide many more updates in the years to come.
