Humans Of The Islands - Ron Moala
Ron Moala
Tongan / Fijian, 21-years-old
Owner of 'Backyard Barbers' in Darwin, Australia.
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I'm Tongan/Fijian, living in Darwin - the Northern Territory of Australia. I moved here as a teenager - my parents are Pastors and planted a church up here. It was hard at first because in New Zealand you’re so used to being surrounded by other poly’s and I felt really homesick up here. But I had to push myself to go out and mix with other cultures which was good. I learnt so much and it opened me up to how diverse the world really is and helped me breakdown different stereotypes that I had in my mind about other cultures. Especially being around the aboriginal community up here - it’s been amazing and I’ve learnt so much.
When I came up here there were only a few Pacific families but they were all from different parts of the Pacific - a solomon Island family, Cook island family, Ni-Vanuatu family, Papua New Guineans - and because we're like the only islanders up here, we all just stick together. We do a lot of things together - family barbeques, birthdays etc. It’s really cool, we’re just like one big family up here because we only really have each other up here.
What’s the most interesting thing you’ve been able to show others about your Polynesian culture?
Well, it was funny because I had these stereotypes in my head of other people and their cultures and people here had their own stereotypes of what Pacific Islanders are like. A lot of the kids at school kind of thought all Maori’s and Pacific Islanders were like one ethnicity. They all thought we were ‘Kiwi’s - even the Pacific Islanders who were born in Australia - it’s like people assume they’re all Kiwi’s too. And up here in Darwin the programme ‘Police Ten 7’ was really popular when we first moved up but it made people think that all Pacific Islanders or ‘Kiwi’s’ were troublemakers. When I first went to school it was like other kids thought I was either going to be a rebel or I was going to be good at rugby (laughs).
How did you get in to the Barber trade?
Well it kind of goes back to my childhood - when I was in Intermediate, everyday after school I was always at this barbershop in West Auckland, West Coast Barbers, with my cousin - his older brother Joe was the owner. And we would just sweep the floors every day and just hang out there and watch him cut. I guess being around that atmosphere had a huge impact on me. When I came up to Darwin, I picked up a pair of clippers and started cutting my own hair and just remembered everything I’d seen in Joe’s shop, how they would trim with the comb and spray the water on their hair before cutting. I didn’t really expect that I’d enjoy it but I never stopped after that.
And how did you start your own business?
Well when I moved up here there were only a couple of Barbers - the rest were hairdressers who kind of switched over to the barber trade. So I was just cutting my own hair at home and lining myself up - most people in New Zealand know what that means but up here no one ever did that. So I’d go to school with my hair line straight, my sideburns pointy and it was like new up here. The boys would say to me “Hey man, who cut your hair?” and I’d always say “Oh, I did at home” and they’d just laugh and think I was joking. But eventually that led to them asking me if I could cut theirs. So one day after school, they came over and I gave them all a mohawk mullet - which was like a popular style years ago in New Zealand and we all rocked up to school the next day with a mohawk mullet and it was really funny. But from there they just kept coming over for a cut and then they started inviting other people over and then those people would invite other people and eventually my neighbours were coming around, people I’d meet in the mall. I started getting texts from people I’d never met offering to pay me for a haircut - miners, labourers and even random parents asking me if I could cut their kids' hair. And they were all different cultures - Palagi, Greek, Africans, Islanders. After I had finished school, I was cutting at home sometimes from morning till midnight. It’s how I got the name ‘Backyard Barber’ because I was literally cutting hair in my backyard. There would often be a line of people just sitting in my parents backyard waiting for a cut.
So by then, you were running a business. How old were you?
I was 18 years old when I registered my own business and got my own ABN (Australia Business and Tax number). I was so busy cutting at home, there were a lot of guys coming over and it was getting a bit too crowded at my parents’ house. I knew I needed to move, especially because I had my little sisters and their friends over a lot and it’s taboo in our culture for them to be hanging around in the same room/area as other men. So they could never really come outside because of all the men/boys outside. So last year I left the backyard and opened up a shop in Rapid Creek and my Fijian mate Rusi flew all the way from New Zealand and is cutting hair with me now in the shop which is awesome.
What does it feel like having your own shop?
It's surreal. Waking up every morning and walking into a barbershop and realising that it's MY shop. It's unreal. I got heaps of help from my family and friends who put in hours helping me paint and everything and especially my Dad who built my reception desk, framed my mirrors and did a whole lot of work helping me in my shop. Without God I wouldn’t even have this barbershop or be doing what I’m doing - because there was no one up here in the Northern Territory that I could learn from. I’d go on Youtube and try and learn stuff but it’s not always easy watching a screen. Every day I start with God and I open up my shop and I just invite him in every morning before I start cutting hair. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing if it wasn’t for Him.
What do you hope to do in the future?
One day I’d like to open up other Barbershops in other rural communities. Right now myself and another barber and a bunch of our friends are in a rural town called Katherine. I have quite a few customers down here so we'll be here the whole day today cutting customers and then we'll go back to Darwin tomorrow. Yesterday we went on a cruise down the Gorge, and then went shooting. There’s not a lot of Polynesians in the Northern Territory so it’s really cool for us to go on a road trip together and have a bit of an adventure and do things us Polynesians wouldn’t normally do.
