Wau

Wau

Place name.

Mining town in Morobe Province, established from 1922, named after ‘Wau Creek’ (now known as ‘Big Wau Creek’ or ‘Wara Muli’ after a now disused citrus factory established there).

Noun combination forms

Trees: Tree varieties
Wau beech Elmerrillia papuana as milled commercially in the Wau Valley.
Wau oak Castanopsis acuminatissima or Lithocarpus spp. as milled commercially in the Wau Valley.

Sport, games, pastimes: Wau kik A variant of soccer as played in Wau, originally among gold miners’ labourers; introduced by Charles Booth who brought a soccer ball to the gold field around 1924 or 1925. See Doris Booth Mountains, gold and cannibals, 1929, pp.175-176.
Frequently a quarrel would occur during the week, and on would tell the other, ‘Along Sunday me two feller kick cross!’ meaning that during the football ‘match’ he would seek out his enemy and kick him good and hard (Booth 1929:176).
® kik kros, kikbal, was kona