An Australian family visits remote Iruupi village, Western Province

Papua New Guinea today remains one of the most culturally-diverse and unexplored nations on the planet.

Scattered inland are many small villages, each group practicing their own native tongue and traditions, eking out a living from the surrounding land.

Travel to the remote village of Iruupi, Western Province, and you will have to be prepared to do lots of walking.

For Australian visitors Catherine and Peter Cavouras and their three children, a visit to Catherine’s mother’s village meant confronting many new and exciting experiences.

Picture shows Peter and Catherine Cavouras, their two sons, and a relative at Iruupi village, Western Province. Daughter Giwe is missing from this picture.

Catherine, born in Papua New Guinea, had last visited in 1985, some 20 years ago, so village life was a distant memory.

Having flown to Daru from Port Moresby on Wednesday, July 6, the family was met at the airstrip, walked a kilometre or so to the house of the principal of Daru High School, and then prepared to make a crossing back to the mainland on a 21-foot fiberglass dinghy.

Despite the short crossing, with a heavily-laden boat it can be quite treacherous during July when winds make for heavy seas.

Once across the strait, the dinghy sets a course adjacent to the mainland shore along the beach and an extensive coastal coconut grove comes into view, the subject of a fierce land dispute between Badu-suki tribe and others for centuries.

The dinghy gives the mouth of the Fly River a wide berth, paying respect to its strong currents before again trekking close to the shore, and to the mouth of the Kura River about 30 minutes later.

From here the 5 to 8km journey along the Kura is much slower, low tides necessitating care is exercised in negotiating fallen trees, sand banks, the occasional goanna and keeping an ever-present watch for a disgruntled crocodile.

Finally, it reached the landing point Lani, the mangroves and palms along the muddy riverbanks giving way to grassland and a few of the ubiquitous gardens that would later become evident.

A welcoming party was there to assist with all the luggage; bags, water bottles, provisions and the like, some 250kg worth all transported, you guessed it, by foot on the narrow marsh road to Iruupi village.

A short walk by village standards, some 5-6km, weaved through overgrown grasses, bamboo forests, swamps, marshes, and surprisingly, many eucalypts.

For the people of the village, every tree, every scratch in the dirt and ever tract of water is inextricably linked to some significant story or event.

Traversing a waist-deep small swamp revealed the first sighting of traditional Papua New Guinea houses – bamboo constructions on the outskirts of the village, supported by poles with an under storey platform where inhabitants can gather away from the heat of the day, each distinctively different in those erected in other provinces through Papua New Guinea.

Upstairs were verandahs, bedrooms and a traditional kitchen – the timber strutted floors covered with woven mats to maximise comfort (in Daru, many of the more ‘westernised’ pre-fabricated houses still have a traditional bamboo kitchen erected at the rear).

The visitors’ accommodation – a little removed from the village – overlooked an extensive lagoon that all but disappeared in the dry season.

Open and unshielded by large trees, it provided a cooler oasis-like setting, unlike the main village where the air was still.

In the main village, houses were erected around the periphery, enabling the central areas to be used as common meeting, play and performance areas.

It was hard to adapt to village life where family did all the hunting, cooking, washing and other chores, leaving the visitors idle to simply enjoy the surroundings.

Where villages tended to their gardens each day, rich with taro, bananas, greens, melons, pineapple and other fruits planted for harvesting in the dry season, the Cavouras family generally roamed the landscape.

Skilled hunters meant there was a ready supply of deer, wild pig and wallaby, cassowaries proving elusive during the visit.

These would be brought back to the village strung over bamboo poles, while hunting implements were carried in a free hand.

Exotic foods, such as scones or damper at breakfast and deer or wallaby soup with kaukau (sweet potato) or taro, made for a diverse and nutritious menu.

Fresh water was another issue, the local brew resembling oil or tea, so the Cavouras family had to persist with bottled spring water.

Another short walk – about an hour and a half – to Kupilute provided a source of cleaner water that could be drunk with some degree of confidence.

Kupilute is a large lagoon, believed to be sourced by a well of unknown depth in the middle, and linked to creation stories of the Bewani people.

It is believed the well forms the basis of a tunnel that goes all the way to the Australian mainland.

When diving for fish, prawns or lobster in the lagoon, locals skirted the edges, fearful of an encounter with Sapi-dade, a dreaming spirit.

Paying homage to the spirits in the appropriate way ensured there was a plentiful supply of seafood.

In an early visit as an 11-year-old, Peter Cavouras’ brother-in-law Samia, had a subsequent dream in which he envisioned having five “red skin” or albino children in the mould of the original Bewani.

He has since had two and expects three more, knowing full well their kin will in turn be ‘black’.

Yet another walk to a place called Imbade revealed a broad and pristine river that must be crossed in a dugout canoe or outrigger to reach the village of Masingara, home of warring tribes and family of the Badu-suki tribe of Iruupi village, some 2-3 hours away.

Most nights are filled with exotic and traditional dance in preparation for an upcoming event, and to mark the presence of family from distant shores – visitors adorned with handmade grass skirts, cassowary feathers and armed with bamboo clapsticks or bows, depending on the dance.

Back at the house, pointing the torch to the lagoon beyond the washhouse revealed the red eyes of a crocodile, each night keeping watch over the visitors.

For the people of the village, a simple taro or coconut is treated as a prize, yet readily shared among others, to ensure no one goes without.

Each and every person is proud of and well-schooled in their culture and identity, benefiting from an almost unspoiled existence with limited contact with the white people, in contrast to some of the major centres where the negative effects of colonization and decolonization, subsequent to Independence, can be observed.

In leaving the village for the long walk to Lani, through a procession of well-wishers and tearful souls, Iruupi shed its tears, the heavens opening up.

At Lani, it was last goodbyes, the sun poking through and the promise of a return in the future to renew special bonds, as the dinghy headed for the open sea, the family having been privy to a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Minji, Mamne, Ato!

Cecil Abel

The late Cecil Abel (later to become Sir) was one of the many unsung heroes of the infamous Bully Beef Club, Pangu Pati and Independence in 1975.

Sir Cecil (KBE, OBE, DipAnth), who died on June 26, 1994, aged 91, was a son of the famous pioneering London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary Charles Abel of Kwato Island, Milne Bay Province, and was one of those who “stimulated” the minds of members of the Bully Beef Club and Pangu Pati – paving the way for Independence.

He was born on February 1, 1903, on Kwato Island.

Cecil Abel did his primary schooling on Kwato; high school at North Shore Grammar School in Sydney, Australia; and university at Cambridge in England.

He returned to Kwato and was asked by Administrator Sir Hubert Murray to teach political science at the Administrative College in Port Moresby.

Little did Sir Hubert know that the idea of home rule – independence – would be contemplated right under his nose by Cecil Abel and the Bully Beef Club.

He was a member of the second House of Assembly from 1968 to 1972.

In November 1968, Cecil Abel outlined Pangu’s economic policy: “The Pangu Pati believes that we must find the true economic basis for a multiracial society. We must aim for a reasonable equality of wealth between black and white, or rather, between haves and have nots. We are concerned at doubling the national income and we are equally concerned that all groups share in this growth.”

He went on to state that a viable economy depended on five points:

• Increasing overseas capital investment;
• Raising exports in both primary and secondary sector;
• Reducing imports and encouraging import replacement;
• Greatly increased secondary industry; and
• Movement to subsistence to cash economy.

In 1966, a young man named Michael Somare came to the Administrative College in Port Moresby for studies, met many like-minded men and together they began to plan the future of the country.

Albert Maori Kiki was in his second year at the college, while Joseph Nombri, Sinaka Goava, Gavera Rea, Jack Karakuru, Cromwell Burau, Bill Warren and Lukas Waka were among the students.

Ebia Olewale was president of the Students’ Representative Council at Port Moresby Teachers’ College.

“We talked politics all the time,” recalled Somare (now Sir Michael) in his autobiography Sana.

“Our teachers encouraged us to take a lively interest in current affairs and to freely discuss the political and economic future of our country.

“We had some outstanding teachers to whom all of us owe a great deal.

“David Chenoweth was the principal.

“Tos Barnett, who is now my chief legal advisor in the office of chief minister, Cecil Abel and Ted Wolfers were among those who stimulated our minds.

“I was delighted when Albert Maori Kiki was elected president of the Students’ Representative Council.

“He provided the strong leadership that was needed.”

At night, the group would meet at Kiki’s house in Hohola, and thus was formed the Bully Beef Club.

On June 13, 1967, the Pangu Pati was founded with the support of nine members of the House of Assembly: Paul Lapun, Pita Lus, Nicholas Brokham, Wegra Kenu, Paliau Moloat, Barry Holloway, Tony Voutas, Siwi Kurondo and James Meangarum.

The founding members, in addition to the nine members of the House of Assembly, were: Cecil Abel, Albert Maori Kiki, Joseph Karl Nombri, Elliot Elijah, Sinaka Goava, Ilimo Batton, Reuben Taureka, Kamona Walo, Cromwell Burau, Oala Oala-Rarua, Gerai Asiba, Ebia Olewale, Pen Anakapu, Epel Tito, Basil Koe, Gavera Rea, Vin Tobaining, Thomas Tobunbun and Michael Somare.

A little later two more members of the House of Assembly – John Guise and Edric Eupu – joined the parliamentary wing of Pangu.

“The moment the party was formed,” reflected Somare, “I knew that I would have to give up my career as a civil servant.

“The next years of my life, for better of worse, would be devoted to politics and the struggle for independence.”

Cecil Abel was one of those who laid the groundwork for the Bully Beef Club, the Pangu Pati, and lived to see Papua New Guinea gain independence from Australia on September 16, 1975.

He was awarded an OBE for services to politics and Papua New Guinea at the age of 72 and at aged 79 was awarded his Knighthood.

Sir Tei Abal

The late Sir Tei Abal, Leader of the Opposition at Independence in 1975, carried the Highlands traditions of fight and moga into the 20th century political arena without any difficulties.

During the colonial administration when he was a Ministerial Member, he tried to delay early Independence because he felt his Highlands compatriots were not ready.

Sir Tei virtually became a Highlands hero.

Essentially a traditional leader, he found his destiny when he saw the similarities at home and the political system introduced by Australia.

When he first arrived in Port Moresby as a member of the Legislative Assembly in 1964, he was out of his depth, having no formal education.

Matter of factly, he used to describe how his first real knowledge of the job of a politician came from a week’s training in parliamentary procedures.

But by the time he was visiting African countries in 1968, he had a pretty firm idea of what was expected of a politician.

Sir Tei fought for the Westminster system of government to be introduced in Papua New Guinea because it had so many similarities to traditional PNG life.

“The moga talks are much the same as meetings of Parliament,” he once said.

“One man wants to kill his pig now, and another wants to kill his pig a week from now.

“It could be that the coastal men want to have their pigs now, while the Highlanders claim they are not yet ready.”

Sir Tei was the face of the Enga people until the time of his death.

At the same time, he was a man with a mandate rather than a mission.

A good Christian, nonetheless Sir Tei began his political career by being nominated in his absence.

He was a well-known medical assistant in the Wabag area, on patrol with his boss, when he was nominated and his nomination fee paid before nominations closed for the 1964 elections.

Sir Tei had heard the kiap talk about the elections and several people had urged him to stand, but he had nothing about it as he was not really sure what it was all about.

He won his seat unopposed, replacing Kibungi, who had represented Enga in the previous Legislative Council.

Since then, Sir Tei was returned to Parliament virtually unopposed in every election.

He was leader of the United Party until young guns such as Iambakey Okuk (Chimbu) and Raphael Doa (Western Highlands) started leading a campaign against him and his star started to wane.

Intra-party squabbling in the Opposition United Party started soon after Sir Tei gained the leadership when Mathias Toliman died in 1973.

An interpreter who later became an aid-post orderly, he never had any formal education.

On record, he made it clear that he felt “a more capable man” should lead the party.

However, what seemed to hold him back was the fear that once he was gone, the United Party could become the staging point for disunity and instability – which have proven to be prophetic words.

The Abal legacy continues in the current Parliament with Sir Tei’s son Sam Abal being the current Wabag MP.

Thomas Shacklady - Composer of Papua New Guinea's National Anthem

As Papua New Guinea celebrated 30 years of Independence on September 16, 2005, and as we all joined hands to “sing of our joy to be free”, there was not much thought for the man who composed our National Anthem.

His name is Thomas Shacklady (pictured above, left), who died of a stroke early Wednesday January 25, 2006, in his home in Sydney, Australia at the age of 88.

He is remembered by many Papua New Guineans as the legendary bandmaster of the great Royal Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary Band from 1964 to 1982.

Picture at right, above, shows Superintendant Thomas Shacklady (left) with an American Admiral inspecting a Royal PNG Constabulary Guard of Honour circa 1975

"His name is embedded in Papua New Guinea's history, " said Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare.

"He will be remembered with pride for a very long time - as long as every school child stands in the morning assembly to sing the national song, or as long as our national sporting heroes stand tall at a podium."

The RPNGC Band gained international acclaim under Shacklady’s leadership and toured many countries including Australia, New Zealand, the United States, South East Asia, other Pacific Islands, and in 1970, the Edinburgh Tattoo in Scotland.

But it is through the words of the Papua New Guinea National Anthem that Shacklady has been immortalised.

Shacklady was a World War 11 hero who fought with distinction for the British Royal Marines.

For his war service he received the 1939-45 Star, Italy Star, Africa Star, Defence Medal and War Service Medal.

Like thousands of others being discharged from the forces, Shacklady found that work was not easy to find and had several jobs over the next three years; night-watchman, butler, and working as a freelance musician.

He ran and worked with several private dance bands, while playing bass trombone with the BBC's Scottish Orchestra.

It was a couple of years after this while in London that Shacklady saw an ad in a newspaper calling for volunteers for the Australian Defence Forces and on September 21, 1951, he enlisted in the Australian Army.

The family took passage aboard the RMS Asturius sailing from Southampton on December 1 for Melbourne, Victoria.

On arrival at Melbourne they spent four or five days being processed before being sent by train to Adelaide in South Australia where Shacklady joined the Kensington Central Command Band based at the Inverbrakie Camp, Woodside.

Over the next six years Shacklady trained three bands a year from the National Service intakes.

In 1953 he was promoted Corporal and added the EIIR Coronation Medal to his awards.

In early 1955 he was raised to the rank of Sergeant, and was awarded the British Empire Medal for his service to the formation of NS bands.

In 1957, Shacklady was transferred to the Papua New Guinea Army band based at Port Moresby and was promoted to Warrant rank.

He returned to Australia in 1959 and for the next five years was Bandmaster of the Enogerra Base, Army band, in Brisbane.

He also took on the unenviable task of managing the base's swimming pool.

He was discharged from the Australian Army on March 6, 1964, and on the 14th, commissioned into the Papua New Guinea Constabulary as Bandmaster with the rank of Inspector.

One of Shacklady’s fondest memories occurred at the Mount Hagen Show in 1965, an annual event involving the gathering of tens of thousands of New Guinea's tribesmen in the highland township.

The event was officially opened by the Earl Mountbatten of Burma who was reported in the press as being highly surprised and delighted that the Band of the Papua New Guinea Police, in one of the most primitive and remote locations on Earth, was playing the Earl's personal march, the Preobrajenski.

The official procedures were halted whilst the Earl walked over to the Band to congratulate Shacklady and comment that he had correctly assumed that the Bandmaster must be an ex Royal Marine.

The RPNGC Band gained considerable recognition under Shacklady’s direction, touring many countries from 1967 to 1975 including Australia on several occasions, New Zealand, the United States, South East Asia, other Pacific Islands and in 1970, the Edinburgh Tattoo in Scotland.

In April 1970, he was transferred to general police duties at Rabaul on East New Britain for a year and then returned to Kila where he remained as Bandmaster until 1975.

This was the year that PNG was granted independence from Australian administration and was to be the highlight of Shacklady’s career.

With Independence, Shacklady was promoted to Chief Inspector and Bandmaster and as such was responsible for transferring the Band to a new training establishment at Bomana, while the new independent nation of Papua New Guinea adopted “Arise All Ye Sons of the Land”, composed by Shacklady, as its National Anthem.

The national song calling the sons (and daughters) of Papua New Guinea to arise and to “sing of our joy to be free” was adopted by the Constituent Assembly to be sung on Independence Day.

Unlike the National Flag and Emblem which were adopted four years earlier, the National Anthem was not decided until just a week before Independence Day.

It was even mooted that there would be no national song until after Independence, even though this song and others had been submitted in a nationwide competition well ahead of Independence Day.

The National Executive Council decided only on September 10, 1975, to adopt the song whose words and music were composed by Chief Inspector Thomas Shacklady, the then bandmaster of the ever-popular Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary Band.

The words are:

O arise all you sons of this land
Let us sing of our joy to be free
Praising God and rejoicing to bee
Papua New Guinea

Shout our name from the mountains to sea
Papua New Guinea
Let us raise our voices and proclaim
Papua New Guinea

Now give thanks to the good Lord above
For His kindness, His wisdom and love
For this land of our fathers so free
Papua New Guinea

Shout again for the whole world to hear
Papua New Guinea
We’re Independent and we’re free
Papua New Guinea


On June 11, 1977, for his services to PNG he was invested a Member of the British Empire (MBE), and received the PNG Police Service Medal and PNG Independence Medal to add to his other decorations.

1978 saw him promoted to Superintendent and Director of Music RPNGC.

In 1979, Shacklady purchased some $A5.00 tickets in an Art Union (raffle) run by the Mater hospital in Brisbane, the grand prize being a fully furnished luxury home.

The winner of the 1979 home in the brand new suburb of Springwood was one Superintendent Thomas Shacklady BEM MBE!

1980 saw Shacklady promoted to Chief Superintendent, Director of Music RPNGC, the position he held until 1982 when he retired from the police, returned to Brisbane and settled in his prize home at Springwood with his family.

Three years later they sold the home at Springwood and moved to an ocean side home at Redland Bay.

Sadly, in September 1985, Danae, his wife for 48 years, quietly passed away at their bayside home.

With both his sons married and fled the nest, Tom sold the family home in 1991 and purchased the small but comfortable unit in the Forest Place retirement village at Durack, a southern suburb of Brisbane, where he now lives.

A long time member of the RMA Queensland, Tom could no longer attend meetings and take part in the social life of the association but was kept informed of its activities by their monthly journal and visits by another old member, Roy Leaney, who lived close by.

He received regular visits from his son Paul, with his three children Zoe, Katie and Suzie, when he visitsed Brisbane, and from Noel and his two children, David and Justine, who also live in Brisbane.

Port Moresby’s Garden of Eden

Port Moresby - Papua New Guinea's capital city – is fast becoming a rapidly growing urban jungle.

Many children who grow up in the city do not know, or perhaps never will know, of that flora and fauna that is so prolific all over our beautiful country.

But there is a temporary reprieve.

The National Capital Botanical Gardens can rightly be called Port Moresby’s “Garden of Eden”.

The gardens, since being taken over by the National Capital District Commission in 1993, have become one of the prime tourist attractions in the city.

Moreover, for caged-in city residents, they offer an oasis of peace and beauty amidst all the pressures.

The gardens also play a very important role in nature and conservation education as well as distribution of trees and flowers in the capital city.

Situated within the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) campus in Port Moresby, the gardens were established in 1971 by renowned gardener Andre Millar.

They were initially established as a teaching garden for the UPNG Biology Department and also as a nursery to supply plants for the university grounds.

When Mrs Millar left in the late 1970s, the gardens experienced problems with management and funding and eventually declined from a beautiful garden to a desolate piece of bush land.

When the NCDC took over the assets of the gardens in 1993 through the new curator Justin Tkatchenko, it established a major redevelopment programme.

Another expatriate Wolfgang Bandisch ran the gardens until his departure from the country last year.

The gardens today - under current acting general manager Judith Raka - have a huge collection of plants from all over PNG as well as other parts of the world.

These include palm species, bamboos, heliconias, cordyline, pandanus, native trees and shrubs.

The gardens are well known for their extensive collection of PNG orchid species housed in large greenhouses.

They have large orchid houses for orchid hybrids producing cut flowers for the flower shop.

There are a number of animals on display, like tree climbing kangaroos, gouria pigeons, birds of paradise, cockatoos, lorikeets, parrots and many other birds.

One of the new tenants is a strange looking tree kangaroo, hailing from the Sepik, which has a very long tail.

An orchid research centre was established some years ago.

It includes a small herbarium and a fully equipped ochid tissue culture laboratory where thousands of orchid plants are produced annually from seed and tissue cuIture.

Thee gardens' collection of flora and fauna is the only place in the city that offers educational attractions and an -depth view and appreciation of what PNG has to offer.

They provide valuable scientific and environmental education for school children.

Tours are offered to school children and cover a variety of subjects

A typical guided tour begins with the snake house, the palm collection, birds and animal collection, the mini rainforest, the timber tree collection, the vanilla collection, the orchid nursery and its collection and finally to the insect collection.

The tours help instill in children a responsible attitude towards the environment and help them learn and appreciate the remarkable natural beauty of PNG.

"It's good for parents to bring their children here, especially those who don't go back to their villages," says scientific and education officer Linda Pohai.

"The school children can really learn a lot."

One of the exciting projects the garden has embarked on with the Forest Industry Association, Rotary Club and the Department of Environment and Conservation is a school nursery project.

“It’s about a national school nursery project,” Ms Pohai explains.

“It’s mainly about planting trees.

“What we do is we have a nursery here funded by all these organisations.

“We facilitate workshops for teachers on how to grow trees and build a nursery.

“Once they build a nursery, they can come and pick up trees.

“We’ve done it for the whole year last year, with a lot of schools from NCD attending.

“There are two schools that have already collected their trees - that’s Ward Strip and St Therese Primary School at Badili.

“The trees that we grow are mainly useful trees like medicinal trees, fruit trees and trees that can provide shade or firewood to the community.

“We also try to get the community involved, such as teaching a group of boys from Koki how to grow trees, build nurseries and then giving them free trees.”

Apart from flora and fauna, there are recreational areas where barbeques, weddings and other functions can be held.

Missionaries, Cannibals and Colonial Officers

James Chalmers was the so-called “Livingstone of New Guinea”.

He was a star in the London Missionary Society’s firmament.

For 34 years from the 1860s onwards he preached the Gospel in the South Seas.

He also loved whisky, enjoyed exploring the unknown territory and had a genuine rapport with the Papuan people.

But not even this charisma and courage could save him when late in his career he and his party were lured into an ambush on Goaribari Island.

They were beheaded and eaten by the natives.

It is the Goaribari incident that lies at the heart of Peter Maiden’s extraordinary history of what was then British New Guinea.

This is a history that proves that fact is indeed stranger than fiction.

Sorcery, magic, head-hunting and cannibalism were rife.

To possess a skull collection was to enhance one’s standing in the spirit world.

In 1901, on Goaribari Island alone, a missionary, Harry Dauncey, found about 10,000 skulls in the island’s Long Houses.

The second half of Maiden’s history focuses on the career and tragic end of the very first Australian-born governor of British New Guinea, the Brisbane solicitor Christopher Robinson.

He arrived in BNG in May 1903 and soon afterwards witnessed a savage conflict between the native constabulary and Papuan warriors.

In March 1904, Governor Robinson committed a catastrophic error in the Goaribari Affray.

June 9th, 1903, was a proud day for Queenslanders in general, but most particularly for the people of Brisbane, for that day the Australian Prime Minister, Edmund Barton, had appointed a local man, 30-year-old Christopher Robinson, as acting-governor of British New Guinea (BNG).

Robinson spent practically all his life in Brisbane, settling here as a five-year-old boy, after his father became rector of All Saints, Brisbane in 1878.

Christopher was educated in Brisbane, and then articled to T. W. Daly, a Brisbane solicitor.

A clever student, Robinson graduated top of his year and was admitted as a solicitor in 1895.

He practiced law briefly on the Etheridge and Croydon goldfields, before returning to Brisbane where he took up a private practice in 1898.

He was a handsome and highly presentable bachelor and the first Australian born governor of BNG.

However, it was a difficult assignment and despite his legal skills Robinson was quite inexperienced.

For this shortcoming he was to pay a terrible price.

In 1903, Britain was in the process of passing control of BNG to the Australian government and the colony’s administrators, operating on a shoestring budget, faced fearful difficulties.

Sorcery, cannibalism and headhunting were endemic in Papuan society.

Sorcery was a criminal offence but still it flourished.

Its practitioners “spoke” directly to the Spirit World and could simply frighten a Papuan to death.

A sorcerer had only to tap his victim on the shoulder, tell him he would soon die and within a week the unfortunate native would be in his grave.

And these magicians seemed omnipotent.

In 1903, for instance, a disgruntled sorcerer in eastern New Guinea announced that within three days he was turning every man in the village into a woman, and every woman into a man.

The men were panic stricken, New Guinea being such a male dominated society, but, as the investigating white magistrate observed, “the women viewed the threat with supreme complacency”.

Headhunting was another obsession.

To possess a skull collection was to enhance one’s standing in the spirit world.

In 1901, on Goaribari Island in the Gulf of Papua, a missionary, Harry Dauncey, found 10,000 skulls in the island’s Long Houses.

Even as late as 1957, Australian government officials on one occasion confiscated 78 skulls on Papua’s Casuarina Coast.

Fortunately, cannibalism was not quite as widely practiced.

As one writer, Wilfred Beaver, pointed out, “the population would eventually be reduced to small proportions”, if everybody was a cannibal.

The weakest tribes were most vulnerable.

West of Port Moresby the Mohohai tribe, according to Beaver, was regarded as “a kind of larder” for the predatory Ukiaravi warriors.

Elsewhere, the Scottish missionary, James Chalmers, newly arrived at Suau in 1878, was pleased to be invited to his first tribal feast – before learning that a terrified young boy was on the menu.

Chalmers, the so-called “Livingstone of New Guinea” was a star in the London Missionary Society’s firmament.

For 34 years he served in the South Seas islands as a near-perfect example of “muscular Christianity”.

Chalmers was a physically impressive man with a commanding presence and he possessed a cool head in a dangerous situation.

He liked whisky, loved exploring the magnificent countryside and had a genuine, albeit paternal affection for the Papuan people.

But for a white man, life in New Guinea was anything but a sinecure.

‘If a man escaped dying of fever in the first three weeks he was eaten by cannibals within the fourth week’, wrote Wilfred Beaver.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, even the humble toothache could be a major problem.

With dental help thousands of kilometres away, treatment could be crude: “A red-hot wire jammed into the gum, or a crystal of crude carbolic inserted into the raging stump.”

Murder and massacres were commonplace.

In 1900 a single government patrol led by the ex-Queensland policeman, turned magistrate, William Armit, killed at least 54 natives on the Upper Kumusi River.

In 1901 Alexander Elliot’s constables killed 42

On another patrol, magistrate Allan Walsh’s men disposed of 32 more Papuans in 1902, and in 1903, Whitmore ‘Old Shoot and Loot’ Monckton, a highly regarded magistrate, allowed his constables to kill 18 Paiwa natives.

Of course, the Papuan warriors, too, were aggressive.

Numerous lonely miners and missionaries met with a grisly end, most notably in 1901 when the Reverend Chalmers’ party of 12 was lured into an ambush on Goaribari Island.

There they were beheaded and eaten by natives.

This atrocity demanded revenge and more than 20 Goaribaris were killed in a government reprisal raid.

Soon after arriving in BNG, Christopher Robinson joined a government patrol along the Yodda River and saw at first hand the savage conflict between the native constabulary and Papuan warriors.

This patrol appears to have soured Robinson’s attitude towards the Papuans.

Afterwards, Robinson seemed to show little sympathy to the indigenous population.

He once declared that he had “an intense loathing” for these “inhuman creatures”.

He had no friends among the colourful Port Moresby expatriates and he was overwhelmed by a monumental backlog of work.

Robinson was capable and one local identity described him as ‘one of the most promising officers New Guinea ever possessed’.

Others, though, believed he was arrogant, and even frightened by the very people he was supposed to be protecting.

In March 1904 Robinson led a strongly armed commando to Goaribari, intent on arresting those responsible for the Chalmers’ missionary massacre.

Unfortunately his serious mismanagement of a confrontation with the Goaribaris became the subject of a sensational Royal Commission in Sydney in July.

While the native bowmen fired only a handful of arrows in anger, Robinson’s men replied with a murderous fusillade of 250 rounds.

At least eight natives were shot dead and two European witnesses testified that the governor had shot at least three of the Papuans.

Robinson’s career prospects were in tatters.

The lonely young governor, now afflicted with a severe bout of malaria lost heart and fell into a mood of deep depression that worsened as the date of the Royal commission approached.

Finally, on June 20th, 1904, Robinson took his own life under the flagpole at government house, Port Moresby.

This is a history that makes the clash of the proselytising white colonials with the Papuan warriors come vividly alive.

It is a story of dedication and courage, but also a story of tragic failure. A riveting read.


Missionaries, Cannibals and Colonial Officers
British New Guinea and the Goaribari Affair 1860s-1907
Written by Peter Maiden
Central Queensland University Press RRP $25.95

Downstream processing of peanuts in Papua New Guinea

Peanuts have proved an ideal crop in Papua New Guinea, being easily grown in almost all areas of the country, most famously the great Markham Valley of Morobe Province.

They are excellent nutritionally, being concentrated sources of both protein and fat, which of which tend to be low in the diets of many Papua New Guineans.

The protein content of peanuts, in fact – is higher than that of eggs, dairy products, meat and fish.

They are well liked by children and adults.

Downstream processing of peanuts was the entire buzz in Papua New Guinea in the 1970s and 1980s.

Peanuts were exported out of Lae to many countries in the South Pacific.

In the Markham Valley of Morobe Province, peanut butter was mass-produced by the Atzera Rural Cooperative factory for both the domestic and international market.

Sadly, those exports have ceased and the peanut butter factory has long closed its doors, and the humble but mighty peanut has now taken a backseat.

However, they proved that downstream processing of peanuts was possible in Papua New Guinea, and do to this day.

The challenge is upon us to make that a reality.

Exports

Sum Sum, taken in its Morobe Province original meaning, is sunshine.

Sum Sum, referring to peanuts, meant some of the best grown, processed and exported from Papua New Guinea.

From an unimposing factory in Lae, the home of Nunga Tea and Coffee Company, came a fine variety of top-class peanuts, both salted and roasted, for the domestic and export market.

Growers in the Markham Valley sold to the company either at the factory door or at the roadside.

The factory boasted the biggest roaster machines in the country and the automatic packing machines made for an efficient and effective operation.

The peanuts used in the salted variety were often hulled near where they were grown, and sorted at the factory, roasted, salted and automatically packed.

About 40 workers were employed by the factory at its peak, with exports to many countries in the South Pacific region.

Peanut butter

In September 1976, a year after Papua New Guinea’s independence, the Atzera Rural Cooperative at Kaiapit, in the Morobe Province, embarked on its most ambitious programme yet – the manufacture of peanut butter.

The cooperative built a factory at a cost of K40, 000 and started peanut butter production in September 1976.

It was a unique operation in Papua New Guinea, as all peanut butter until then had been imported.

Atzera Rural Cooperative’s packaged nuts, Markham Peanuts, were sold in Kieta, Rabaul, Lae, Popondetta and throughout the Highlands.

The 2000-odd members of the cooperative came from a wide area – from the Leron River to the Kassam Pass, in the Eastern Highlands.

The factory grew, producing for both the local and export market, however, closed its doors in the early 1980s because of a variety of reasons.

It, however, has made its mark in the history of downstream processing in Papua New Guinea.

The future

A recent study by the National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI) ranked peanuts as the No. 1 reliable income earner for many families.

It was ranked among the country’s top five income generating crops, the others being kaukau (sweet potatoes), taro, banana, and Singapore taro.

Peanuts, like betelnut, are a major income-earner for the people of the vast Markham Valley.

The major customers are people from the Highlanders, who buy peanuts in bulk and in turn sell them at markets when they return home.

This has been an ongoing trend for many years.

Recently, peanut-growing has found new life.

The community is becoming aware that under-nutrition continues to exist widely, and that peanuts are one of the best foods to overcome this.

The major concern with peanuts is the risk of aflotoxin contamination, which is caused by a fungus when peanuts are not properly dried or when they become moist during storage.

Almost all provinces have active programmes to improve nutrition, with peanuts having an important part in these programmes.

The larger-scale Markham industry has also found new life.

Remote Karimui in the Chimbu Province is known to produce arguably the highest quality peanuts in the country – better than the Markham – but the main problem has been transporting it to market as Karimui is only accessible by air.

Lae-based NARI is trialing different varieties for the farmers of PNG.

Trukai Industries is growing large tracts of peanuts in the Markham Valley.

Ramu Sugar is going big time into peanut growing with a view to downstream processing in the not-too-distant future.

The challenge now facing the industry is to generate improvements internally – to grow peanuts more productively, at less cost, and with greater production.

This is clearly the case for the Markham Valley industry which, if it can keep costs down, can tap an enormous export market.

This is also the case for the more important subsistence gardening of peanuts.

People will grow more peanuts only if they get high production for the effort they put into the crop.

To attain an increase in productivity will not be easy, particularly for subsistence growing, but it can be the only basis for a permanent improvement in the industry.