Transcript
The historic occasion began in full celebratory mode, as hundreds of Bougainvilleans marched through the town of Buka to the largest of the polling stations.
The vote has been a long time coming for a people still traumatised by a brutal civil war that ended over 20 years ago.
Voters coming out of the polling booth spoke of the uniqueness of the event
The very first to vote was the president of the Autonomous Bougainville Government, John Momis.
Afterwards he referred to the high expectations placed by his people in the referendum, the result of which must be approved by PNG's national parliament in order to be implemented.
Most voters appear to know that the consultations will take time, although President Momis acknowledged there is a degree of uncertainty about just how long
PNG's Minister for Bougainville Affairs, Sir Puka Temu, was on hand to witness the start of voting, and said it was clear Bougainvilleans would vote for independence.
But he urged Bougainville to allow PNG time as a nation to process how the result should be implemented.
"We need to agree at our level that if eventually the consultation outcome is independence, then in on the mainland we have to agree and build the constitutional provisions for independence, provisions for no other part of the country to ask for independence, because we want a united PNG all along."
A watershed political and constitutional stage in PNG's history, the independence vote is also, according to Bougainville's Chief Referendum Officer, a win for world peace.
Mauricio Claudio says it's not often in conflict situations that people put down their weapons and seek ways to mend fences and establish peace.
"Today the people of Papua New Guinea and the people of Bougainville took a step forward in the consolidation, continuation of the peace in Bougainville since the signing of the Bougainville Peace Agreement in 2001. Today was a very good day for world peace."
Polling runs for two weeks across Bougainville, other provinces of PNG, and in Brisbane and Solomon Islands where sizeable populations of Bougainvilleans reside.
The result is to be declared mid-December.
