Not a Poor Man's Field: Papua New Guinea

Patrol wending its way along the creek in Snake River area, possibly in connection with Jensen’s railway survey.

Harry Downing with New Guinean police and villagers, Snake River, Buangs.

Buang villagers waiting to trade with Europeans.

Paramount Luluai Tol, Mapos 1956. Twenty years earlier, Cadet Patrol Officer Ian Downs described Tol in a Patrol Report in the following terms: “His appearance is unprepossessing. Small in stature, dirty, and furtive, he immediately creates a bad impression. He evades work wherever possible and pursues his passion for accumulating wealth with considerable success. He is the personification of the insular minded Buang; an individualist. Withal, his wits are quicker than the average, his courage considerable and his influence extends to every family in the Buang… No outstanding case of neglect of duty could be found. The faults in his work are mostly associated with his habit of not doing anything until he is told to, and then in a way which will cause him the least inconvenience. A polygamist, he is unpopular with every mission teacher in the area. A revivalist of old customs, he is disliked by finished-time boys who take pride in their sophistication… There is at present no outstanding personality in the Buangs apart from Tol.”

The miner Hellmuth Baum c. 1930, whose murder in April 1931 precipitated three patrols, several arrests and the decimation of three villages. See pages 135-138 of my book.

Kukukuku believed at the time to be Baum’s murderers, surrounded by native police after their arrest by District Officer Eric Feldt near Baum’s camp. They were taken back to Bulolo by plane, thence by pinnace to Salamaua where they were jailed. Of the six, one died in Salamaua and five escaped. Two were never recaptured, two were recaptured in Wau and one was caught by Buang villagers, who tortured him before handing him over to District staff. (The carriers killed along with Baum were Buang men.)

Bridge, possibly over Watut River.

Ready for singsing, Bulolo.

Each year, on Christmas Day, there was a sing-sing at Bulolo on the airstrip and another at Wau. These weren't just for the entertainment of Europeans. Groups from Madang, the Sepik, Salamaua, Lae, Finschhafen, Ramu and the Tolai from Rabaul would dance to kundu drums for hours. Those from the Sepik and Rabaul were the best...

The dancing would go on from early morning till well into the night, each group in a circle about 30 feet in diameter. By the end there was not a blade of grass. They were rewarded with a bag of rice and some cans of meat. While the big sing-sings were at Christmas, some groups would hold their own sing-sings spontaneously during the year. -- Tom Lega.

More information on the significance of singsings in New Guinea culture is provided in footnote 24 on page 251 of my book.