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Damien Dameng
Born	1930 Irang Village, Kieta District, Territory of New Guinea, Australia
Died	2013 (aged 82–83) Arawa Rural LLG, Central Bougainville District, Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea
Occupations	Secessionist leader of the Fifty Toea Movement
Organization(s)	Fifty Toea Movement Bougainville Revolutionary Army (until 1998) Me'ekamui Defence Force (until 2002)

Damien Dameng^[a] (1930–2013) was a secessionist leader on Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea (PNG). PNG became independent from Australia in 1975, and Bougainville aims to achieve independence from PNG in 2027.

In the 1960s, Dameng founded a movement named Me'ekamui Pontoku Onoring in his village, Irang. It was based on the preservation of kastom (Tok Pisin for "traditional culture") on Bougainville through the rejection of Western education, Western health, and Western religion. It recognized neither the provincial nor the national government's legitimacy and was often called a cult. Locals called it the 50 Toea Govman (50 Toea Government) because of the 50 toea (AUD$0.50 in 1975) each member was taxed. By 1991, the Fifty Toea Government was reported to have 4,000 members in the Crown Prince Range [de] of Central Bougainville.

In 1989, the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) started a war with PNG. The Fifty Toea Government granted the BRA's rebels refuge in the mountains for a few months and they soon unified with them. The BRA had initially been established to shut down the Panguna copper mine. The mine was supported by PNG, but was resented by many Bougainvilleans for harming the environment and not giving enough compensation to local landowners. Dameng was one of the leaders who influenced the BRA's leader, Francis Ona, into making secession from PNG his main goal.

In 1997, most of the BRA laid down their arms and made peace with PNG, eventually leading to the creation of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. A small part of the BRA refused to take part in the peace process. They were led by Francis Ona, and including Damien Dameng. This faction rebranded themselves the Me'ekamui Defense Force (MDF), after Me'ekamui, Dameng's traditional name for Bougainville, and stayed in the mountains around the Panguna mine, where they established a "no-go zone". Dameng was expelled from the zone in 2002 for alleged sorcery. A well-known local figure around Kieta and Arawa, Dameng died in 2013.

Damien Dameng was born in 1930 in Dongtae, a hamlet in the Irang–Panka Valley.^[2]

He was from Irang Village in Ioro Area.^[b] Irang is in the foothills of the Crown Prince Range [de],^[4] a mountain range which spans the interior of the southern half of Bougainville Island.^[5] It is on the western edge of the area of Bougainville where the Naasioi language is spoken.^[6] Ioro, which was located in the erstwhile Kieta District and is entirely within the Crown Prince Range,^[7] is now divided into three wards in Arawa Rural LLG, Central Bougainville District.^[8]

When Dameng was born, Bougainville was a part of the Territory of New Guinea, an Australian external territory. In 1949, Australia formally combined New Guinea with the Territory of Papua to form the Territory of Papua and New Guinea.^[9] It was later renamed Papua New Guinea and became independent from Australia in 1975.^[10]

According to Dameng, his surname means "stand-up" in his traditional language, and he was inspired to "stand up" for his people at an early age.^[11] He was educated on various Catholic missions.^[2]

Dameng attended primary at Sovele Catholic Mission in Bana District^[2] (now Bana Rural LLG, South Bougainville District).^[12] The Japanese began occupying Bougainville in 1942. After the Bougainville campaign, Australia reestablished civil governance in 1946.^[13] Having witnessed the haste with which most Australians evacuated Bougainville, many Bougainvilleans felt abandoned and developed cynical views towards Australia.^[14] The abrupt takeover—and subsequent defeat—of the Japanese led them to realize that no colonial regime was permanent. The Japanese's policy of fraternization also suggested the Bougainvilleans' dark skin was not necessarily a marker of racial inferiority.^[15]

After the war, Dameng attended Orami Tokples School and later transferred to a school in Panguna. He also studied at at Tunuru Catholic Mission, Puruata in Torokina, and Mamarego Catholic Mission in Bana District. He later did his Standards 9 and 10 at Rigu.^[2]

In the 1960s, Dameng had come to believe that the Christian missions were destroying Bougainville. He left the Catholic Church and returned to Irang Village, where he formed an anti-mission movement with several village leaders. His inspiration included stories of the Reformation and the rise of the Hahalis Welfare Society and other Bougainvillean grassroots movements.

The movement was originally named the Bauring Society.^[16][c] Later on, the movement was formally known as Me'ekamui Onoring Pontoku.^[1][d]

Francis Ona's Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) began sabotage attacks on the Panguna mine in 1988, starting the Bougainville conflict. Hunted by the police and the military, the BRA disappeared into the bush and sought refuge with Damen in the Kongara region.^[19] They united with the Fifty Toea Movement, with which it shared a majority-Naasioi membership. The Kongara region remained the BRA's base until March 1990.^[20]

The degree to which Damen influenced Ona was cause for much speculation. Pepetua Serero, who was Ona's first cousin, was quoted on her deathbed in 1989: "There is no more communication with Francis Ona and we do not know what Damien Damen has done to him."^[21] Writing in 1991, Oliver stated that Damen reportedly exerted a strong influence on Ona.^[19] Many presumed that Damen played a role in transforming the BRA from saboteurs into all-out secessionists.^[19][22]

Bohane, the journalist, interviewed Ona in his native village of Guava in 1994. He found that Guava, the BRA's headquarters, had also become the main base of much of Damen's movement. However, Bohane reported that Ona had introduced Damen "with a half-smile that suggested I shouldn't take him too seriously," and portrayed himself as more moderate than Damen. Damen rejected all Western influence, telling Bohane that Christianity was a religion "for kids, not grown-ups with grown-up minds". However, Ona emphasized that he was a practicing Christian; Bohane wrote that Ona appeared to keep Damen around simply to fulfill the traditional role of a sanguma (witch doctor).^[22]

In 1997,

In 1998, BRA factions led by Ishmael Toroama joined the peace process, largely ending the Bougainville conflict. BRA holdouts led by Ona rebranded themselves as the Me'ekamui Defense Force (MDF) and retreated into a "no-go zone" around the Panguna mine, before fracturing again after Ona died in 2005. The influence of the Fifty Toea Movement can be seen in Ona's use of the Naasioi word Me'ekamui to refer to Bougainville. The Fifty Toea Movement no longer exists. However, parts of Damen and Ona's ideologies are still held by the Me'ekamui factions and some Naasioi and Koromira people.

Fifty Toea Government

50 Toea Govman (Tok Pisin) Me'ekamui Pontoku Onoring (Naasioi)
Merged into	Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA)
Formation	Mid-20th century
Founder	Damien Dameng
Founded at	Irang Village, Arawa Rural LLG, Central Bougainville District, Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea
Dissolved	1990s
Type	Secessionist government BRA faction alleged cargo cult
Members	4,000 (1991)
Leader	Damien Dameng
Formerly called	Bauring Society

Me'ekamui Pontoku Onoring (originally the Bauring Society), popularly known as the Fifty Toea Government (Tok Pisin: 50 Toea Govman), was a secessionist movement on Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Beginning in the mid-20th century, it accumulated a few thousand members in several Naasioi villages in the Crown Prince Range [de] of Central Bougainville, namely Irang, Pankaa, Mosinau, and Poaru. It appears to have unified with the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) in the 1990s.

Disaffected with the Christian missions where he was raised, Damien Dameng founded the Fifty Toea Government in his native village, Irang, and led the movement throughout its existence. Dameng's three tenets—the rejection of Western education, Western health, and Western religion—were meant to preserve kastom on Bougainville being eroded by foreign influence. The Fifty Toea Government rejected the authority of any other government, and it was often alleged to be a cargo cult. It gained its name after the 50 toea (AUD$0.50 in 1975) that it taxed each member.

The BRA was formed in 1989 to launch sabotage attacks on the Panguna mine, starting a war with PNG. Taking to the mountains, the predominantly Naasioi rebels were granted refuge by the Fifty Toea Movement for a few months. The Fifty Toea Movement eventually integrated with the BRA. Dameng and other pro-secessionist leaders influenced Francis Ona, the BRA's leader, into declaring Bougainville independent from PNG in 1990.

Disobeying Ona, most BRA commanders joined the peace process with PNG in 1997. In response, Ona split from the BRA to form the Me'ekamui Defense Force (MDF)—using Dameng's Naasioi name, Me'ekamui ("holy island"), for Bougainville—and established a "no-go zone" in the mountains. Dameng remained loyal to Ona, but the MDF expelled him from the no-go zone in 2002, accusing him of sorcery. Dameng died in 2013.

Me'ekamui Pontoku Onoring was established by a Bougainvillean man, Damien Dameng, in the 1960s.^[e] Dameng grew up and went to school on Bougainville's Christian missions. In the 1950s, Dameng was punished for a suspected liaison with a village woman, leading him to attack a nun. He was consequently transferred out of Tunuru Catholic Mission. Later on, Dameng was a student at Saint Joseph High School^[2] in Rigu,^[24] where he came up with the concept of Me'ekamui.^[2] Dameng used the word, translated from Naasioi as "holy island" or "holy land", as a name for Bougainville that was of native origin,^[2] rather than the surname of a French explorer who never set foot on the island.^[25] Dameng also came to resent the Catholic Church, believing that the missions were destroying Bougainville.^[2]

After finishing his studies around 1963, Dameng was supposed to go to Tsiroge on Buka Island to learn a craft. Instead he returned home to his village of Irang.^[23] This village was located on the foothills of the Crown Prince Range [de],^[18] on the western edge of the Naasioi-speaking area of Bougainville.^[18] When he arrived, Dameng shut down a Catholic mission station.^[23]

Taking inspiration from the new Bougainvillean grassroots movements, including Buka's Hahalis Welfare Society, Dameng gathered several leaders from around the Kieta District (now Arawa Rural LLG) and founded the Forty Toea Movement,^[2][23] originally known as the Bauring Society.^[16] (According to the anthropologist Douglas L. Oliver, the word bauring means "the/his child" in Naasioi.)^[16] Oliver briefly mentioned the Bauring Society in a report to Conzinc Rio Tinto of Australia (CRA), a mining company, on Bougainville, where CRA was planning a copper mine, in 1968.^[26]

The movement became formally known as Me'ekamui Pontoku Onoring.^[2] Pontoku, according to the local writer Leonard Fong Roka, are sacred sites significant to a clan's history or mythology.^[2] Roku translates Onoring variously as "we are alive"^[27] or "I am secure".^[23] Anthony J. Regan, a constitutional lawyer who has written extensively on Bougainville, gives the rough translation: "government of the guardians of the sacred land".^[1][f] James Tanis adds that the name Me'ekamui Pontoku Onoring was followed by Daita Karakeni, with Daita being "Kieta District" and Karakeni meaning a "Parliament ... of clans".^[18]

CRA began mineral exploration on Bougainville in mid-1964, but most Naasioi landowners opposed the company. Dameng won early support for the Bauring Society by condemning CRA. His movement gained followers across Panguna Valley, where CRA was concentrating its efforts. Dameng traveled around the Kieta District to denounce mining and promote his music. In Kieta he presented his ideas to visiting UN officials along with six live pigs.

In 1968, Oliver reported that the Bauring Society "contain[ed] elements of Cargo-ism". In 1991, he wrote that

Noah Musingku (born 1964) is a Bougainvillean conman and micronationalist.

, also known as King David Peii II, is a Bougainvillean conman and micronationalist.

Musingku

• Bohane, Ben (October 31, 1997). "Cults of War". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved May 20, 2026.
• Bohane, Ben (2007). Blackfella armies - kastom and conflict in contemporary Melanesia 1994 - 2007 (MA thesis). University of Wollongong. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
• Brown, Jason (2024). "Adjective Order and Adnominal Modification in Naasioi". Linguistic Inquiry. 55 (2): 423–435. doi:10.1162/ling_a_00464. ISSN 0024-3892.
• Denoon, Donald (2000). The Bougainville Copper Agreement and the Creation of the Panguna Mine. Melbourne University Press. ISBN 052284877X.
• Hermkens, Anna-Karina (2007). "Religion in War and Peace". Culture and Religion. 8 (3): 271–289. doi:10.1080/14755610701652111. ISSN 1475-5610.
• Ogan, Eugene (1972). Business and Cargo: Socio-economic Change among the Nasioi of Bougainville. ANU Press.
• Oliver, Douglas L. (1991). Black Islanders: A Personal Perspective of Bougainville, 1937–1991. University of Hawaiʻi Press. ISBN 9780824814342.
• Regan, Anthony J. (2002). "Bougainville: Beyond Survival". Cultural Survival Quarterly. 26 (3): 20–24.
• Roka, Leonard Fong (February 15, 2012). "Shining a light on Bougainville's Meekamui". PNG Attitude. Archived from the original on September 12, 2025.
• Roka, Leonard Fong (2014). "The legacy of Damien Dameng, the father of Meekamui". The Crocodile Prize Anthology 2014. Pukpuk Publishing. pp. 393–396. ISBN 978-1500366445.
  • Roka, Leonard Fong (February 7, 2012). "Bougainville Politics: Father of Meekamui (A)". lfongroka.blogspot.com. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
  • Roka, Leonard Fong (February 11, 2012). "Bougainville Politics: Father of Meekamui (B)". lfongroka.blogspot.com. Retrieved May 22, 2026.
• Tanis, James (2015). "NAGOVISI VILLAGES AS A WINDOW ON BOUGAINVILLE IN 1988". In Regan, Anthony J.; Griffin, Helga M. (eds.). Bougainville before the conflict (Griffin ed.). ANU Press. pp. 447–472. ISBN 978-1-921934-23-0.
• National Statistical Office (2014). "2011 National Housing & Population Census: Ward Population Profile: Islands Region". National Statistical Office of Papua New Guinea. Retrieved May 23, 2026.