By MALUM NALU
Exactly two years ago, in October 2008, I
travelled around Bulolo with local MP Sam Basil, checking out various projects
in his electorate.
 |
| Upper Watut warriors of Bulolo |
At Manianda in the Upper Watut local level
government, along the road to Menyamya, Wau-Bulolo mayor and long-time Sepik
settler, Jack Nawie, sent a blunt warning to criminal elements that there must
be “zero tolerance” of crime in these two towns.
 |
| Happier days…Wau-Bulolo mayor Jack Nawie (left) with Bulolo MP Sam Basil in Upper Watut… ‘zero tolerance’ of crime in Wau and Bulolo |
In retrospect, looking back at what Nawie said
that day, I can only say that he has must have had a crystal ball in hand.
I say this in light of the recent ethnic clashes
in Bulolo between the local people and Sepik settlers and, to a lesser extent,
that between the Watut and Biangai people last year.
Nawie said that fateful day that the two
historical gold mining towns were once again experiencing a boom and mining and
exploration activities and their “cowboy town” tags must be disposed of to
attract more investment.
 |
| Aerial shot of a gold dredge in Bulolo. The rivers and creeks around Bulolo and Wau abound with alluvial gold |
“As the manager of these towns, I will not
tolerate these criminal activities anymore,” he said.
“There will be ‘zero tolerance’ of criminal
activities.
“As manager of these towns, I want companies to
come and invest here.
“We don’t want the ‘cowboy town’ image of Wau
and Bulolo to come back and haunt us.
“We will work closely with all companies already
here and those who want to come in as they are bringing services and we want to
support them.
“I also want to raise the level of the two towns
from urban level 2 to Urban Level 1 because of the current boom in mining and
exploration.
“I will work closely with Bulolo MP Sam Basil
and other LLG presidents to push for development in these two towns.”
Nawie is originally from East Sepik but, like
many others, was born and raised in Bulolo and calls it “home”.
“This is my town and this is my place,” he said.
“My heart lies where I was born.”
Unfortunately, starting in April this year, fighting
in Bulolo started to escalate with more than 5,000 villagers taking part in the
raid on Sepik settlers.
Local villagers have been walking the length and
breadth of Bulolo armed with guns, knives and bows and arrows in open defiance
of police.
Surrounding Sepik settlements including Cement
Bridge, Maramba, White House, Biwat, Tambanum, Kapriman, Aitape and Sangriwa
have been razed.
The situation has affected the operations of all
major companies in Bulolo such as PNG Forest Products (PNGFP), Bank South Pacific,
post office, schools, health centre and University of Technology Bulolo campus
and retail outlets – forcing all to close.
More than 2,000 settlers have been using the
PNGFP camp site as a care centre, having lost everything except the clothes on
their backs, and have sought police protection as locals try to penetrate the
area.
Amidst all this gloom and doom, it must not be
forgotten that the Sepiks of Bulolo are no ordinary settlers.
Their great grandfathers, grandfathers and
fathers were pioneers of Bulolo, coming in with the first white men to Bulolo
Valley.
They were brought in by Bulolo Gold Dredging,
forerunner to the current PNGFP, according to Michael Waterhouse’s brand new
book on the Wau-Bulolo goldfields titled Not
A Poor Man’s Field.
“Nor did BGD neglect its indentured labourers,”
Waterhouse writes.
“Most came from villages in the Sepik district
and were recruited for two or three years, usually as general labourers for
which they were paid six shillings per month.
“They were used to unload planes, to clear
jungle ahead of the dredges and as assistants to the many different tradesmen
at Bulolo, telephone switchboard operators, messengers, waiters, labourers,
personal servants, cooks and houseboys.
“BGD realised at the outset that, allowing for
normal turnover, it would need many labourers, and that it would be more
successful in attracting them if they returned to their villages happy that BGD
had treated them well.
“The huts were located within compounds, which
had electricity, running water and showers and a septic tank sewerage system.
“Close by were gardens containing kaukau, taro,
corn, paw paws and bananas.
“There was also a trade store, where goods could
be purchased and which distributed food rations and clothing.
“BGD paid particular attention to the health of
its labourers.
“They invariably arrived from their villages in
a fairly-debilitated condition.
“Within a short time, however, good food and
exercise filled out their physique.
“They had access to a high standard of medical
services, Bulolo having the best-equipped hospital in the Territory.
“As a result, their mortality rate was
considerably less than elsewhere on the goldfields.
“It is hardly surprising that there was never a
shortage of villagers from the Sepik and elsewhere lining up to work at
Bulolo.”
Indigenous labour was pivotal to the success of
the goldfield, and this was provided by a highly-organised indentured labour
system.
“An indentured labour system had been developed
by the Germans, and this was maintained by Australian military and then civil
administration,” Waterhouse writes.
“Labourers were recruited from villages in areas
previously opened up to European influence and transported, often over long
distances, to where they were needed.
“They signed contracts, at first for one or two
years, but in the 1930s more commonly for three, during which they were
indentured to specific employers.
“Whereas villagers in New Britain and New
Ireland who otherwise lacked access to the cash economy tended to work on
plantations, those from the Markham Valley and elsewhere in the Morobe district
naturally gravitated towards the
goldfields.
“But as the growth of mining outstripped the
district’s capacity to provide the labour needed, many labourers were recruited
elsewhere, particularly in the Madang and Sepik districts
“In 1926, there were no Sepik labourers on the
Morobe goldfields, but by the late 1930s they accounted for 30% of the total.”
The reason was summed up by researcher Richard
Curtain: “The Sepik River and its numerous tributaries provided a unique
opportunity for labour recruiters by making possible deep penetration into an
unproductive but densely-populated interior.
“The main river is navigable for at least
1,000km for vessels up to 200 tonnes,
“The lack of alternatives cash-earning
opportunities meant a readily-available workforce once initial resistance had
been overcome and the relative attractiveness of work conditions on the Bulolo
goldfields known in the mid-1930s.”
Gotokwa Bengo was about 18 when he went to work
for BGD, leaving his village in the Keram River area in the Sepik when he heard
that young men were wanted to work on the goldfields, and was taught to operate
a pump, near Wau.
“In the morning, the bell would be rung at about
6am and we would get up and set off for work, in that very cold climate,” he
says in Not A Poor Man’s Field.
“When I touched the water, it was just like ice.
“At about 12 noon, the bell would go again and
we would come back to our quarters for lunch and then go back to work at 1pm.
“The work finished at 6pm and we returned to our
quarters to meet our friends.
“Every working day was the same.
“The weekends were the most-exciting times, when
we went down to see inter-tribal soccer games, or went down to Salamaua to do
our shopping.”
And that ladies and gentlemen, in a nutshell, is
how Sepiks settlers came about to Bulolo.
