Making History Module Essay by Alexandra Nicolaidis

The selected patrol report described in this essay is ‘Jimi River #4’, located in the Western Highlands, conducted by H.A Richardson along the Jimi River in Jiwaka Province, Papua New Guinea, from 11th February 1959 to 25th March 1959. The Papua New Guinea (PNG) Highlands, in which the report was conducted, is a densely populated area which contains “only 12 per cent of the total land area of the Territory of Papua New Guinea but contains about 40 per cent of the total population1.” By 1959, Australian officials had taken control of PNG, and since the establishment of the Australian and New Guinea Administration Unit (ANGAU) in 1942, governing by patrol- that is, sending government representatives to work with local leaders, was an arbitrarily chauvinistic way to assert their white dominance and power, alongside assisting PNG locals with infrastructure, agriculture, leadership, education and finding religion. For one to be eligible to be a patrol officer, “each candidate had to submit satisfactory evidence of his date of birth, good character, health and physical fitness for employment…the patrol officer had to be capable of sustained hard walking in the bush and have the capacity to meet emergencies, whether environmental [such as a flood]…or human [such as an attack by a local]2.” The main objective for each patrol officer was the exploration of the land, and to create a prosopography of the PNG tribes who (technically) owned the land. Patrol officers were sent out on the job with a small crew of police, native interpreters, medical assistance, and native carriers (those who carry camping supplies alongside food and water). Accompanying Richardson in this journey was 4 native police, 2 interpreters, and an unknown number of carriers. The main objectives of the report include census information, the building of a brand new airstrip and a rest-house to accompany the airstrip, monolith land investigations in order to build as many Christian Missions as possible, and the usual routine administration, which outlined topics such as native affairs, economic development, agriculture and livestock. What stands out as the main objective of the report seems to be the airstrip, as Richardson notes “economic development is particularly difficult to foresee”[1], and that there should be another officer present, alongside his persistence that it was “unwise to continue work at this stage unless there is constant supervision.”[2]

The patrol report contains a corpus of information about the workings of the ANGAU. If one is to read with the grain, it is evident from the report that the locals of PNG are considerably content with the white man patrolling their land, as Richardson states under the title ‘Native Affairs’; “the general…situation appears to be quite satisfactory, and the peoples’ co-operation towards the Administration continues to be good.”[3] This remark becomes quite repetitious throughout the report, as he continually states that “warm welcomes were extended everywhere.”[4] This is an example of colonial common sense, as “many patrol officers were dedicated men…they not only dealt with villagers struggling to cope with the force of change, but the extent of their operations was limited by official regulations”[5], accentuating the fact that the Administration believed that they were doing God’s work in whitewashing and altering the way the locals had lived for thousands of years. He continues to explain that he is concerned with economic development, and writes that the Jimi River has an “uncertain future, mainly due to inaccessibility.”[6] This indicates that the locals have not been able to yield crops or live on the land (which definitely is not the case), and that the Administration must step in to assist this ‘economic situation’. Moreover, it is more than clear that the ANGAU desired to take advantage of the land for cash cropping and materials to build Missions and rest-houses. Under the title ‘Magisterial’, Richardson notes that there has been no serious crime in the area, and that this was “a sign that the village officials and people are conscious of the fact that law and order are beneficial to all concerned”[7], a classic example of the power of colonialism. Lastly, the conducting of the census, Richardson notes, was carried out with little difficulty, however he does state that it “takes time for newly contacted people to understand the importance of a census check.”[8] The report states by assistive district officer G.P Hardy that Mr. Richardson “handled the situation with care and tact and I feel no further difficulty with those concerned on this occasion.”[9]The ‘difficulty’ experienced could relate to the interpolation of the census to the local people: there is no doubt the locals may have struggled to understand why their information, such as “births and deaths…needs for education and health provisions…and opportunities for labour recruitment”[10] were needed by the Administration. The ‘difficulty’ could also relate to the struggle of the officers trying their best to conduct a census on a tribe that does not speak the same language, nor do they understand the importance of a census, challenging the arduous patience of the patrol officers. Despite this, Richardson managed to create a census on a total of 7 103 peoples, in which he discovered no new trends among the locals, with the grand exception that infant mortality rates had lessened, as he believed “this should continue to improve as medical services are extended throughout the area.”13

In this instance, reading with the grain allows us to see Mr. Richardson’s point of view, as he travelled through the Western Highlands in early 1959. Reading against the grain, however, offers us a “fertile pathway for understandings the workings of knowledge and governance…including critical attention to it’s failures and inefficiencies.”14 It allows us to understand potential ways the PNG locals viewed the patrol situation. Mentioned earlier, the repetitive title ‘Native Affairs’, and the oscillated ‘satisfactory’ native position could very well reflect the fact that “villagers had to accept that the intruders were stronger and apparently ruthless and unpredictable”15, and that “such behaviour, coupled with their .303, kept the villagers in check.”16 There had been many cases of violence between the white men and the villagers, which often ended in locals being shot and killed. The PNG locals acknowledged that their spears and other homemade weapons were no match for the white man’s guns, and they would not dare cause a fuss to avoid being shot or harmed, potentially being the reason as to why the native situation remained constantly ‘satisfactory’ throughout the report. As for the new airstrip at KOL, an included dairy gives daily updates on the progress of the airstrip and the accompanying rest-house. Sadly, much of the information in the report is illegible, not only because it was type-written 62 years ago on carbon paper, but also because the report was most likely stored in an archive in PNG in tropical weather, wearing down the quality over the years. From what I can attain from the report, a lot is resting on the airstrip, as it would eliminate the strenuous labour of the carriers, who are expected to carry up to 35 kilograms of supplies. What is not stated, however, is how the airstrip will assist the officer if he and his crew are foot patrolling, as “there must be some communication with headquarters so that the drops can be planned, and to tell the pilot when and where to go, what to take.”[11] It would be difficult, especially in 1959, to organise scheduled drops to the patrol officers, who could be anywhere across the approximate 900 000 square kilometres that is Papua New Guinea[12][13], and it would of been incredible risky to travel without any carriers or supplies, in the fear they would run out and be stranded with no food or water. Lastly, in terms of missions, Richardson notes that mission influence is strong, with a total of 11 schools established, usually with a church built to accompany it. He also notes that the missions “claim much of this enthusiasm when the administration is not present”19: he is referring to the great success of the natives finding God, and implying that the missions are taking credit for this, even though he believes it was the administrations work that have converted the locals. Contrary to both their beliefs, “on all established mission fields most Papua New Guineans were converted by other Papua New Guineans”[14], proving both to be wrong. The art of reading against the grain allows us to see missing and important information that would have not been noted down in the patrol reports, possibly because Mr. Richardson made the conscious decision not to include essential information that may make the administration or himself look bad, or simply because “they are written by a person or a government to record or reflect particular events…written from a point of view, out of a particular context, through a distinct lens.”[15]

Cohn’s investigative modalities are essential when examining a multifarious corpus, such as a patrol report, as they provide “procedures by which appropriate knowledge is gathered, it’s ordering and classification, and then how it is transformed into usable forms.”[16] All six modalities can be referred to in this instance. The historiographic modality is most important, as the purpose of the report was to collect information on the people and the land, their customs and local histories, to document daily activities for the purpose of creating history. The observational/travel modality is used here as it refers to “the creation of a repertoire of images and typifications that determine what was significant to the…eye.”[17] Clearly, Richardson was indeed looking for significant things, as he travelled many miles across the Western Highlands, such as potential economic development through the establishment of roads, the airstrip, missions, and the like. The survey modality relates to a wide range of practices that range from land investigation to “the most minute measuring of a peasant’s fields.”[18] Similar to the previous modality, a significant part of the patrol reports “involved the exploration of new territory and [the] pacification of warring tribes.”[19] The enumerative modality creates a sense of categorisation and division, that facilitated the formulation of a power relationship. From the villagers perspective, the patrol officers “acted the roles of warriors and displayed qualities of resourcefulness, courage… and a certain firmness of purpose, even ruthlessness”[20], leading many villagers to believe the white men were some sort of God, inevitably creating that power relationship between them. The museological modality relates to the census, as it is the power to define the nature of the past- through comparing each years census for statistics- and to establish priorities in the creation of a record of civilisation. Finally, the surveillance modality is clear, as it was the patrol officers job to supervise everything: the people, the land, the livestock, special investigations towards the airstrip and building of infrastructure, minor disputes, and so on.

This was a report taken by H.A Richardson at Jimi River in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea, from 11th February 1959 to 25th March 1959. The objects of the patrol that are listed are census revision; supervision of the establishment of the airstrip at KOL; the establishment and development of infrastructure such as a rest-house to accompany the airstrip at KOL; land investigations for economic development; and routine administration. Other important topics covered are native affairs, the establishment of Christian Missions, magisterial, agriculture and livestock, and medical and health. Spanning across 32 pages, with maps and charts included, this patrol report is an amalgam of information concerning the milieux of pre-independent Papua New Guinea, alongside a view into the Australian and Papua New Guinea Administration Unit’s belief of their amelioration of the land and the local tribes. Mr. Richardson’s report is a multifarious insight not only about the interpolation of the white man’s traditions in Papua New Guinea, but a look into the life of a patrol officer during the 20th century.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • Anas, M., ‘The Highlands of Australian New Guinea’, Geographical Review, 50/4, 467-490, DOI 10.2307/212305.
  • Ballard, C., Brokers and boundaries: colonial exploration in indigenous territory (ANU Press, 2016)
  • Nelson, H., Taim bilong masta: the Australian involvement with Papua New Guinea (Australian Broadcasting Commission, 1982).
  • Rouque, R. & Wagner K.A., Engaging Colonial Knowledge: reading European archives in world history (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).
  • Sinclair, J.P., ‘Patrolling in the restricted areas of Papua and New Guinea’, Australian Journal of International Affairs, 8/3, 129-145, DOI: 10.1080/10357715408443912.
  • Turner, A., Historical Dictionary of Papua New Guinea (The Scarecrow Press, Inc, 2001).
  • Waiko, J.D., A Short History of Papua New Guinea (Oxford University Press, 2007).

[1] Patrol Reports. Western Highlands District, Jimi River, 1958-1959. national Archives of Papua New Guinea, Accession 496.

[2] Patrol Reports. Western Highlands District, Jimi River, 1958-1959. national Archives of Papua New Guinea, Accession 496.

[3] Patrol Reports. Western Highlands District, Jimi River, 1958-1959. national Archives of Papua New Guinea, Accession 496.

[4] Patrol Reports. Western Highlands District, Jimi River, 1958-1959. national Archives of Papua New Guinea, Accession 496.

[5] A.B. Kituai, My gun, my brother: the world of the Papua New Guinea colonial police (Honolulu: Hawai’i Press, 1998), page 41.

[6] Patrol Reports. Western Highlands District, Jimi River, 1958-1959. national Archives of Papua New Guinea, Accession 496.

[7] Patrol Reports. Western Highlands District, Jimi River, 1958-1959. national Archives of Papua New Guinea, Accession 496.

[8] Patrol Reports. Western Highlands District, Jimi River, 1958-1959. national Archives of Papua New Guinea, Accession 496.

[9] Patrol Reports. Western Highlands District, Jimi River, 1958-1959. national Archives of Papua New Guinea, Accession 496.

[10] P. Brown, Colonial New Guinea (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001), page 23.

[11] J.P. Sinclair, ‘Patrolling in the restricted areas of Papua and New Guinea’, Australian Journal of International Affairs, 8/3 (1954), page 132. DOI: 10.1080/10357715408443912

[12] C. Moore, New Guinea: Crossing Boundaries and History (Honolulu, University of Hawai’i Press, 2003), page 20.

[13] Patrol Reports. Western Highlands District, Jimi River, 1958-1959. national Archives of Papua New Guinea, Accession 496.

[14] H. Nelson, Taim bilong masta: the Australian involvement with Papua New Guinea (Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Commission, 1982), page 157.

[15] J. Batian, ‘Locating Archives within the Landscape: Records, Memory and Place’, Public History Review, vol. 21 (2014), page 48, DOI 10.5130/phrj.v21i0.3822

[16] B.S. Cohn, Colonialism and it’s forms of knowledge: the British in India (Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1996), page 5.

[17] B.S. Cohn, Colonialism and it’s forms of knowledge: the British in India (Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1996), page 6.

[18] B.S. Cohn, Colonialism and it’s forms of knowledge: the British in India (Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1996), page 7.

[19] A.B. Kituai, My gun, my brother: the world of the Papua New Guinea colonial police (Honolulu: Hawai’i Press, 1998), page 19.

[20] A.B. Kituai, My gun, my brother: the world of the Papua New Guinea colonial police (Honolulu: Hawai’i Press, 1998), page 35.

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