Sweet Caroline

 

Growing corn in the city

By MALUM NALU
It’s that time of the year again!
Port Moresby, which has an arid year-round climate, turns green as the rains come tumbling down.
The dry, barren hillsides around the nation’s capital are transformed into lush vegetable gardens.
Presto!
Ordinary men, women and children are suddenly transformed into backyard gardeners.
All forms of gardening are rewarding and satisfying.
But vegetable gardening - largely because the gardener can be in charge of the whole operation from seed collection to consumption - is possibly the most-rewarding.
In addition, well-grown home-produced vegetables cannot be matched for flavour and nutritional value.
And with care, considerable savings – especially in an expensive city like Port Moresby – in the family’s food budget are possible.
Vegetable gardening is also one of the easiest ways to get into small business, especially for the much talked about ‘informal sector’.
During this  brief respite during the December to March period, when the rain comes down in buckets, vegetables – especially corn – abound all over the capital city.
The exceptional downpour so far this year has been a boon for corn growers.
The surplus means that the smell of freshly-barbequed corn wafts through the air at just about every street corner in the national capital.
Depending on your tastes, you can also opt for the boiled or mumu-ed variety.
The demand for corn seeds create queues at many gardening shops in Port Moresby, such as major agricultural supplier, Brian Bell.
As early as 7am, a long line of people gather in front of the Brian Bell Plaza at Boroko and the Home Centre at Gordons to buy their supplies of corn seeds.
During this period, corn gardens can be seen all over the city, including precarious hillsides.
The early birds bought their corn seeds from Brian Bell late last year – before the big rain – and immediately started sowing them at their homes.
In a little over two months, you find it amazing when seeds a quarter the size of your thumbnail grow to over six feet.
And when you see the silks and the cobs, you wait in eager anticipation for scrumptious corn on your dinner plate.
You’ve never tasted corn until you’ve tasted home-grown corn!
The cobs from the market, or worse the frozen and canned corn from the supermarket, truly pales in comparison to fresh home-grown corn on the cob.

Historic pictures of Bulolo, Morobe province, Papua New Guinea

Captions: 1. Bulolo No.1 gold dredge as she looked the first night 2. A portion of superstruction being erected 3. Aeroplane loaded to an aeroplane 4. Bulolo approximately 1958 5. Bulolo construction camp 6. Bulolo construction camp from a distance 7. Bulolo Gold Dredging 8. Hobby Centre 9. Junkers VH UOU 10. Logging a tree 11. Main views of Bulolo camp 12. Mens hall,bake haus,single dongas,beverley 13. New airstrip 14. View of pipeline and power plant at Bulwa1 15. View of pipeline and power plant at Bulwa2

Arrows of Eldorado – how the Wau-Bulolo gold rush all began

By MALUM NALU

It’s an exciting time to be in the historic mining towns of Wau and Bulolo in the Morobe province right now.

With the Hidden Valley gold mine project to start production this year, exploration work at Wafi going ahead as scheduled, and PNG Forest Products continuing to supply its products to major projects around Papua New Guinea, things are certainly looking very good.

History is indeed being rewritten in this Eldorado of PNG, which laid the foundation for today’s modern economy.

Bulolo MP Sam Basil, arguably the most-dynamic and productive politican in the country right now, left for the USA on Tuesday this week to witness the inauguration of Barrack Obama as the US President on January 20.

It’s a huge vote-of-confidence in this young businessman-cum-politician who has single-handedly transformed is electorate since being elected in 2007.

I had dinner with Mr Basil before he left for the USA and we talked long and hard about developments in Wau and Bulolo, Morobe province, and PNG as a whole.

Towards the end of last year, I had the chance to travel to Wau and Bulolo two times, traveling as far as Hidden Valley.

In Bulolo, PNG Forest Products gave us a big three bedroom house for three days, during which time we were able to see their forests and products.

Acting general manager, Marinus Valks, gave me many old photographs of those iconic days when gold-fevered foreigners from all corners of the world swamped into Wau and Bulolo.

PNG Forest Products evolved from Bulolo Gold Dredging Limited that commenced operations in large-scale alluvial mining in the late 1920’s.

The Bulolo region was at the time one of the largest gold fields in the world.

A total of seven dredges scoured the valley floor, dredging thousands of tones of high grade gold-bearing ore.

In the early part of last century it was almost as if bowmen were guarding the gold that lay on the edge of their country more richly than anywhere else in the whole Pacific.

Fierce fighters lived along the Markham, the big river flowing into the Huon Gulf.

The Markham’s big tributary we call the Watut – and that was the river that led to the new gold, the new Eldorado.

The story is that Watut gold was discovered by a German prospector, Wilhelm Dammkohler, and that he was killed by the Kukukukus.

American prospector Arthur Darling, in 1910, apparently did go up the Watut and into its tributary, the Bulolo.

There he found gold, rich gold

However, Darling and his team of Orokaiva boys were attacked by the local tribemen and had to exit.

When he recovered he went across to the new Lakekamu goldfield to try to win enough gold to outfit himself again.

On the Lakekamu field Darling spent a lot of time talking and mapping and planning with William Park, who was called “Sharkeye”.

Darling was at Samarai preparing to go up the Waria, when he collapsed, and soon afterwards died.

He had left Sharkeye Park knowing enough.

Somewhere right up the Watut was the source of gold that coloured the sands of the lower Markham, and the way to reach it was not to go right around by the rivers but to cut in overland from the coast.

However, it was a foreign country, and although the Governor, Hahl, the best of the German administrators, did (about 1910) actually encourage Australian prospectors to come in and apply for permits to prospect, a man still needed more gold than Sharkeye had, to outfit himself for a months-long trip.

Before he had enough gold the war with Germany came.

It was a war that ended German rule in north-east New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago in six weeks, with little shooting.

When the military administration ended and the Australian Mandate started, in May 1921, Sharkeye Park was already going in and out of Morobe on the New Guinea side.

Now he headed up the Francisco River, looking for a way, through a mountain range that peaks up to nearly 10,000 feet, to the rivers that flowed on the other side.

He came back sick, broke, and not knowing what to do next time…

William Park was called “Sharkeye” because he had a twist or a squint in one eye.

Park was, apparently, an Australian who had been a miner most of his life, was hard-faced and in his fifties, could “work like a tiger”, was jungle-wise and native-wise, hated to owe a penny, had more bouts of fever that he could count, suffered from piles, had his last tooth removed by Jack Nettleton, drank anything, and although it is untrue to say that he never wore boots, he often worked without them. (He died, a very rich man, in Vancouver in 1940)

In 1922 he needed a partner for two good reasons: he was broke and he had lost his permit to employ native labour when he flung a whiskey bottle out of his tent and it struck a native on the head and killed him.

He was staying with Jack Nettleton, who had a trade store on the coast and was good to Park, and who had some money and a permit to work natives.

Park told Nettleton what he knew.

Nettleton, an English-born rover who had been everything from a salmon-fisher in Canada to a freight-clerk in New York, by way of jobs ion Seattle, in Portland (Oregon) and Idaho, had stayed on in New Guinea after being a warrant-officer in the Army during the war.

In August 1922 Park and Nettleton struck inland and crossed the heavily jungled rivers of the Kuper Range beyond which lay the Bulolo River, forking off the Watut, and more gold, fantastically more gold, than anywhere else in Papua-New Guinea,

They found it where Koranga Creek and Edie Creek come into Bulolo – gold that was to give them each a fortune; and when they had taken all they wanted, there was enough left for the six-million-dollar company, Bulolo Gold Dredging Ltd, to win, in the 30 years following, 56 tonnes of gold, then worth 28 million pounds.

This was October 1922 and according to new issue Australian mining ordinances no claims could be worked until April 1, 1923.

April came and soon the richest parts of the Bulolo River were locked up in leases granted to the first-comers, including Morobe District Officer Cecil J. Levien.

April 1923 came, and soon the richest parts of the Bulolo River were locked up in leases granted to the first-comers, including Levien.

Late arrivals had to look elsewhere.

This is what Bill (W.G.) Royal and Dick (R.M.) Glasson were doing in 1926, trying to find the source of the Bulolo’s gold, when they came into Edie Creek and decided to go to the head of it.

What showed in the dishes they panned in these streams was gold in unbelievable concentration – if it was gold.

At first glance – according to Bill Money, who was in partnership with Royal, Glasson, F. Chisholm and Joe Sloane – it looked too dark.

The Edie gold, alloyed with silver, was heavily stained with manganese but rubbed shiny and was the real stuff of Eldorado.

Joe Sloane said to his mate who was running his sluice box at 11.30am: “Y’d better clean up Bill. The bloody gold’s running outa the box.”

That day they got 272 ounces.

Where the Bulolo was rich big-scale dredging, this was incredibly smaller-scale sluicing.

About six million pounds worth of gold was won from the top of Edie Creek.

The Edie "Big Six" – Bill Money, Bill Royal, Dick Glasson, F. Chisholm, Joe Sloane and Albert Royal – all became rich men.

More and more white miners came and, again, the late-comers had to look elsewhere.

There was gold in the Watut as well as in the Bulolo.

Where was the source of the Watut’s gold?

Men who dreamed of finding another Edie Creek began to look for it.

They began to look for it on the other side of the Watut.

Two face charges over US$30m Taiwan deal

While the Taiwanese government and media have have implicated Nawaeb MP and Public Accounts Committee chairman Timothy Bonga and Dr Florian Gubon in the the US 30 million deal from, money that was supposed to come to PNG, no action has been taken against them. Taiwan, however, has gone ahead and arrested and charged several of its leaders. Papua New Guinea should follow Taiwan’s example for purposes of transparency. The story below appeared in The National newspaper, Papua New Guinea’s leading daily newspaper, today.

 

Taiwan’s watchdog agency, Control Yuan, says it will charge former national security council secretary-general Chiou I-jen and former foreign affairs minister Huang Chi-fang for an alleged secret diplomacy scandal with Papua New Guinea in 2006.

Media reports in Taipei quoted Yuan Control president Wang Chien-shien as saying that investigations had been completed, without revealing the contents of the report.

Control Yuan proposed to impeach both high ranking officials of former president Chen Shui-bian’s administration for “their irregularities or dereliction of duty in a US$30 million proposal to build secret diplomatic ties with PNG in 2006”.

A number of PNG politicians and officials flew to Taiwan and held talks with these two men, but denied the talks were over diplomatic switch from China to Taiwan in exchange for cash.

They also denied being paid money from the US$30 million, although a middleman who fled to USA had claimed in a media report to have paid “a huge chunk of the money to PNG officials”.

Mr Wang told reporters that as executive of the nation’s highest watchdog, he was in a position to raise an impeachment proposal if needed, because “the president of the Control Yuan can fully enjoy the rights and obligations of a member of the yuan”.

When taking office last Aug 1, Wang listed the US$30 million secret diplomacy scandal as one of the major, eye-catching scandals subject to thorough investigations, and claimed that he would play a role in investigating the case.

According to sources close to the Control Yuan, agency members would meet on Friday to discuss a possible impeachment against Chiou and Huang.

Although prosecutors and the Control Yuan did not find the US$30 million flowing into the accounts of Chiou and Huang, they cannot escape their administrative responsibilities.

Informed sources said the PNG scandal followed the termination of diplomatic ties with Chad, an African country, in August 2006.

Chiou, then secretary-general of the national security council, instructed Huang, then a foreign affairs minister, to negotiate with diplomatic brokers Chin Chi-chiu and Wu Shi-tsai over a proposal to build official ties with PNG to offset the August diplomatic setback.

Huang then asked his close aide, Johnson Chang, to accompany Chin and Wu to Singapore to open accounts there.

Later, the accounting department of the ministry of foreign affairs, remitted US$30 million into the accounts of Chin and Wu under the instruction of Huang.

But Chin fled after clearing his account in late December 2006.

In response to the possible impeachment, Chiou said he had been well prepared for the impeachment because it would come sooner or later after the eruption of the scandal.

“This is the greatest ache in my heart over my eight years of efforts in promoting secret diplomacy,” Chiou told reporters.

Chiou stressed that he did commit administrative shortcomings, not irregularities.

Meanwhile, Huang said he felt quite sorry and upset over the eruption of the scandal.

“As a new foreign affairs minister then, I was not in a good position to cast doubts about Chiou’s instruction on promoting diplomatic ties with PNG, yet only to have myself caught in the scandal.”

Control Yuan is one of five branches of the Taiwanese government and is a watchdog of the government.

PNG women killed over 'sorcery'

By Phil Mercer

BBC News, Sydney 

Police in Papua New Guinea say four women accused of using sorcery to cause a fatal road crash have been murdered.

It is believed the victims were tortured by fellow villagers in a remote highland region 400km (250 miles) north of capital Port Moresby.

Police believe they were forced to confess to witchcraft after they were stabbed with hot metal rods.

Human rights campaigners say it is not uncommon in Papua New Guinea for women suspected of witchcraft to be killed.

These four women had been accused by fellow villagers of using sorcery to cause a car crash in which three prison guards died.

A senior police officer said it appeared the killings took place last October and that a tip-off from tribal elders had eventually alerted the authorities.

The women's bodies were found hidden in an old pit.

It is not clear if any charges will be laid.

Tight-knit communities

Superstition has always been part of life in Papua New Guinea.

Death and mysterious illness are sometimes blamed on evil curses and suspected sorcerers are often blamed and then killed.

Researchers have found that the victims are usually elderly women with little influence in the village.

Prosecuting those who kill these so-called magic makers within tight-knit communities is problematic, with potential witnesses often refusing to speak to the police.

Christianity is a powerful force in Papua New Guinea, but many people still believe in sorcery.

Those suffering from HIV and Aids are often seen as the victims of witchcraft.

Papua New Guinea has the highest HIV rate in the South Pacific - aid agencies warn of an epidemic spiralling out of control - but many people do not understand how it is spread.

In the past, some Aids victims have been thrown off bridges or dumped into graves to die.

 

PNG tries to halt sorcery murders

The authorities in Papua New Guinea have announced plans to toughen laws against sorcery-related murders, after a surge of them during the past year, BBC reports.

The chairman of the Constitutional Review and Law Reform Commission said defendants were using accusations of witchcraft as an excuse to kill people.

Police say at least 50 people were killed last year across the country.

In the latest suspected incident, a young woman accused of being a witch was burnt at the stake last week.

Correspondents say deaths and mysterious illnesses are sometimes blamed on evil curses and suspected sorcerers are often blamed and then killed.

Prosecuting those who kill these so-called magic makers within tight-knit communities is problematic, they add, and rural courts often acquit those who are made to stand trial.

"It's the easy way out for someone to kill somebody else, and use sorcery as an excuse," the head of the law reform commission, Joe Mek Teine, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"And you would find that the victim is totally innocent."

Mr Mek Teine told local media that the new legislation would force rural courts to charge those accused of sorcery-related killings with premeditated murder.

"It is a problem that has been existing in the country before the arrival of Western influence, and it's deeply rooted," he told the Post-Courier newspaper last week.

"The churches have done a lot to improve it but it's getting worse every time," he added.

 

 

 

 

Call to Papua New Guinea actors and artists

I received an email this week from Lisa Le Feuvre, Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Maritime Museum, in Greenwich, London, asking for actors and actists in Papua New Guinea to take part in a project on the life of Polish-born anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski, who is famed for his work in the Trobriand Islands (pictured above) of Milne Bay province.

Artists and actors interested in this project should get in touch with her on her contact details provided below.

“I am emailing from that National Maritime Museum in London where I am Curator of Contemporary Art,” Le Feuvre said.

“We are a historical museum exploring the sea, ships, stars and time (see http://www.nmm.ac.uk/) and within this historical context I invite contemporary artists to develop new artworks that takes these ideas as a departure point (see www.nmm.ac.uk/newvisions) .

“The reason why I m getting in touch is that our next artist project we are developing has a very particular focus on Papua New Guinea, and I wanted to get in touch with someone who knows the subject much better than me!

“We have invited the British artist Jeremy Millar as our next exhibition: Jeremy is an artist of international influence whose artistic practice takes as its starting point important events in the history of ideas.

“For us he will be starting with a very specific incident of a journey to Papua New Guinea: ‘On the morning of 9 June 1914, the young Polish-born anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski caught a train at Fenchurch Street station bound for Folkestone, embarking on the first stage of a journey that would take him half-way around the world to attend the Congress of the British Association of the Advancement of Science in Adelaide that August. Accompanying him on this long voyage was his boyhood friend, the artist and writer Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz.

Le Feuvre said the pair planned to travel from Adelaide to New Guinea where Witkiewicz would act as Malinowski's photographer and draftsman.

“The voyage, however, was interrupted by the outbreak of World War 1 and Witkiewicz left to join the Tsarist army, leaving Malinowski to continue his venture alone,” she continued.

“On reaching the Trobriand Islands, Malinowski conducted fieldwork by experiencing the everyday life of his subjects along with them.

“This methodology would become the foundation for modern anthropology’."

“This historical context forms the basis of this project. Jeremy proposes to ask the very simple question: what if Witkiewicz would have continued on this venture?

“What photographs might he have taken in the Trobriands?

“Although Witkiewicz never reached Papua New Guinea, the region became the setting for his writing.

“His most celebrated play, Metaphysics of a Two-headed Calf: A Tropical-Australian Play, was set in Port Moresby.

Le Feuvre said Millar intended to retrace Malinowski and Witkiewicz's steps to Port Moresby in May 2009 with the very same camera Witkiewicz would have used to create a series of contemporary portraits has he continued his journey.

“He is also interested in working with a local theatre group to stage the play Metaphysics of a Two-headed Calf: A Tropical-Australian Play - rather than directing it himself, Jeremy would like to simply work with a video recording of the event, screened within the exhibition,” she said.

“I feel that this is a very important project that engages with many concepts and ideas that are not only at the heart of this national museum's activities, but also central to far wider debates and ideas.

“We are very keen to work with Jeremy on this project as we really see this project as making a significant impact on future art histories, and it will be a real honour to work with an artist of his standing.

“We will be starting to plan the trip in the next few weeks, and I really wanted to just get in touch with a few key people to see if there was any special advice they could give “about the trip, an also about finding contacts of any small theatre companies who might be interested in staging the play.”

“Thank you in advance for your help.

“This has become a somewhat long email, but it seems very important to give as much information as I can.

“There is of course so much more about the project I can say... so please do let me know if you need anything else.

“With many thanks in advance.”

Lisa Le Feuvre

Curator of Contemporary Art

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

London SE10 9NF

020 8312 6590

llefeuvre@nmm.ac.uk

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/