In this essay I will try to uncover an alternative reading to the colonial administration’s reading about Patrol Officer W.J. Brand’s report,[1]—that the carriers ‘lacked stamina’—and suggest four reasons why some carriers wanted to leave the patrol on the third day. Considerations include diet, malarial infection, entering diverse cultural areas and topography. I conclude that the colonial administration may not have understood the complex dynamic where culture, topography, diet, malaria, and ill-health entangle. Furthermore, the administration’s interest lay in controlling the Papua New Guineans for the purpose of commercial development. Patrol Officer Brand, however, seemed to convey a more sympathetic perspective of the Indigenous carriers on the outbound journey and the people in the villages he encountered.
Patrol officers were the means by which colonisers sought information about the land and people of Papua New Guinea, through their patrol reports. They were ‘agents of the administration’[2] who needed information to govern[3] and ‘bring the … people … under effective Administration influence and control.’[4] Thus, subordinating Indigenous peoples.[5] The patrols explored Papua New Guinea, mapping and surveying the terrain for commercial purposes and counting the people. Their reports form part of an ‘imperial archive … a fantasy of knowledge collected and united in the service of state and Empire.’[6] Patrol Officers wrote the reports from the perspective of government employees for their superiors. Readers gain an impression of the conditions the patrols endured, and where power resided. The reports silence the Papua New Guinean peoples’ voices, unless the reader explores the gaps to reveal alternative discourses.
Brand’s patrol covered two distinct journeys, the outbound from Erave to Kutubu (six days) and inbound to Erave from Kutubu (four days). This essay focuses on the outbound journey only. The outbound trek, via Sawmilli in the Samberigi Valley, ‘Keri and the Kokoma and Middle Mubi River Valleys,’ the Unevangelised Fields Mission, and Ipigi commenced 26 October 1954, arriving at Kutubu 1 November 1954. Accompanying Brand from Erave to Kutubu were the District Commissioner – Mr Robert R. Cole; Cadet Patrol Officer (CPO) – Mr G. D. Oakes; eight New Guinea Police Officers, 33 Indigenous carriers and Native Medical Orderly (NMO) Lister but no medical officer. The aim of the patrol was to determine if road construction was viable between Erave and Kutubu for vehicular access, escort District Commissioner Cole to Kutubu; relocate 2,400 pounds of stores, personal supplies, and Erave Indigenous people from Kutubu back to Erave.
A lack of road access limited transportation of supplies for European economic development.[7] In many areas of Papua New Guinea ‘air services had preceded roads.’[8] Hence the aim of Brand’s patrol to determine the viability of road construction. Over six days, the outbound patrol from Erave to Kutubu encountered rugged terrain with steep ascents, descents, numerous river and creek crossings, and limestone ranges. Heavy rain beleaguered the patrol on several days and a limited availability of food from the villagers necessitated supplementing with rice from their stores for five of the six days. The six days of trekking took 39.5 hours to walk 48.5 miles, an average of 1.2 miles per hour. The first three days were the slowest and most difficult, from Erave to Keleloma.
Day one, southwards from Erave to Sawmilli in the Samberigi Valley took six hours over seven miles in light rain. The patrol trekked over undulating land and a long descent to the Ami River. A ‘very rough sapling bridge’ enabled the river crossing but the track ‘was badly overgrown and had … not been used much.’ The Sawmilli people were friendly ‘as usual [but] the food purchased was inadequate and some rice was issued.’ Brand noted that several villagers had died of pneumonia, possibly due to poor living conditions but also the ‘villagers refuse to carry those seriously ill … to the Aid Post for treatment and the only Medical Orderly here cannot leave the station.’
Day two, after crossing the ‘northern shoulder of Mt. Ibure [the patrol] descended’ steeply, 700 feet from 3,500 feet to 2,800 feet. Some carriers were now ‘flagging,’ but several local men assisted. The patrol made camp below Keri in heavy rain after crossing the Wanto River and Yango Creek, and purchased sago, sugar cane and bananas from the locals for the evening meal, supplemented with rice. The patrol took 9.5 hours to walk 10 miles. A carrier was diagnosed with pleurisy—spitting blood. Tuberculosis, however, was becoming more prevalent in the 1950s as Europeans and Indigenous people from coastal areas moved into Highland areas.[9] Previously, the Highlands ‘seemed to have been free of TB until the 1950s,’[10] making misdiagnosis possible.
On day three, the carriers’ health deteriorated further as they trekked north-west to Keleloma bush camp, taking 7.5 hours to walk 6 miles. This was the slowest day of the patrol. Heavy rain continued to plague them, as did broken limestone, steep ascents and descents and waterways. On a steep descent, ‘one of the carriers broke down’ leaving Brand and CPO Oakes to carry a two-man box between them for a while. By now, several of the carriers had malaria, cut feet, one with pleurisy, and another with pneumonia. Brand became aware that some of the carriers planned to ‘take off,’ and one did. After this incident, they were guarded to prevent any more carriers leaving. Rice was issued for the evening meal. The carriers had not erected their tents, instead using ‘the rough bush shelters built by previous parties.’ These, however, did not protect them from the heavy downpour of rain, possibly exacerbating the illnesses of the sick carriers.
The following two days were uneventful as the patrol continued north-westerly to Sumburu and Ipigi, a total of 16.5 miles taking 12 hours, still encountering rugged terrain and few people. Some carriers ‘were in a bad way.’ From the Mubi River, the heavy load was canoed upstream, the remainder of the patrol walked to the Unevangelised Fields Mission, ‘a lesser known’ non-denominational Christian Mission, which ‘had a profound impact on the peoples of the … Southern Highlands’[11] since establishment in Papua New Guinea in 1931.[12] That afternoon, the police and carriers were sent ‘to make camp at Ipigi while Officers enjoyed the hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Donaldson’ at the mission. The patrol purchased food with salt and beads. This was the first day since leaving Erave (5 days previous) that the evening meal was not supplemented with rice. The officers, however, had an evening meal at the mission, reflecting the imbalance of power between the Europeans and the Indigenous members. The final day, after walking 4.5 hours over 9 miles, the patrol arrived at Kutubu. Brand noted that in the Kokoma River area ‘people are still uneasy in the presence of patrols, although an improvement in their attitude was noticed this time.’
The rugged terrain, lack of food, and scarce population for labour—especially between Erave and the Middle Mubi River—were all mentioned in Brand’s report, concluding that the construction of a road was challenging. For these reasons District Commissioner Cole agreed, stating it would be ‘a very costly and difficult proposition.’[13] The project was abandoned. Even today, there is no road that takes vehicles from Erave to Kutubu. The District Commissioner also noted that from Erave to Kutubu the carriers ‘had very little stamina.’ Brand, however, did not use such language. Instead, he reported that the carriers were ‘flagging’ or ‘in a bad way,’ suggesting he may have empathised with them as they would rest when the carriers were ‘flagging.’ The District Commissioner, seemed not to understand how illness could affect people’s capacity to endure five days of rugged trekking, carrying heavy loads over long distances in heavy rain.
I suggest four inter-related reasons why the carriers struggled and why some may have wanted to leave the patrol. First, from a European perspective, Brand’s descriptions of the Indigenous diet indicate insufficient protein intake, which is needed for cell repair and renewal.[14] Many studies in the 1950s onwards suggested this was the case.[15] Sweet potato and sago were the staple foods, supplemented with taro, bananas, yams, sugar cane, manihot, cucumbers, native cabbage, and others. Some of these foods contain small amounts of protein. Oi et.al., however, posit ‘that PNG highlanders have adapted to a low protein diet, by which they effectively utilize their ingested protein and energy’[16] from the small amounts in their plant foods. This suggests that limited protein may not be such a health issue. The terrain was strenuous and the added burden of carrying heavy loads compounded the strain for the carriers, especially those who were ill, for whom a diet mainly of rice may not have been suitable. Malaria, however, is a health issue possibly contributing to the carriers wanting to ‘take off’ from the patrol.
Europeans introduced malaria into the Highlands with the establishment of ‘tea and coffee plantations’[17] Malaria was prevalent in the valleys and ‘endemic up to 5000 feet.’[18] Erave and Kutubu elevations are 3,780 feet and 2,651 feet, respectively. Malaria ‘curtailed migrations [of people] to lower altitudes … [and that] the lower areas are avoided for fear of it.’[19] This could be the second reason carriers wanted to leave the patrol, they feared malaria. Plasmodium falciparum is the most prevalent mosquito in the lower elevations of Papua New Guinea,[20] producing the most serious illness since it could result in the development of life-threatening conditions—organ failure and breathing difficulties.[21] Generally, the symptoms of malaria are similar to flu with fever, headache, vomiting, muscle aches, diarrhoea and feeling very unwell.[22] This could also account for the inability of carriers to carry the loads expected of them if they felt so unwell.
Third, within the Southern Highlands, about 20 languages are spoken.[23] The patrol entered four diverse cultural regions, Erave, Samberigi, Fiwaga and Foi.[24] War among different Indigenous cultural groups was common.[25] Ten months earlier, Brand reported to the Assistant District Officer at Kutubu about fighting in the Tsimberigi (Samberigi) Valley.[26] The conflict resulted in the killing of 15 Indigenous people. A fear of physical conflict could account for carriers wanting to leave the patrol. Related to this fear is the fourth reason carriers may have wanted to leave the patrol—topography. Areas of the Southern Highlands are covered with tertiary limestone and the valleys are ‘covered with short [mixed non-indigenous] grasses [that] … migrated from the adjoining lowland grasslands of the Markham and Ramu Valleys.’[27] Such vegetation makes the land ‘useless for agriculture.’[28] These lower lying grassland areas were not only unsuitable for agriculture but also did not provide protection against attack from ‘warring neighbours’[29] that the hillsides provided.[30]
It is an understatement that the journey from Erave to Kutubu was hard for the entire patrol but worse for the carriers who were ill. Those carriers diagnosed with malaria, pneumonia, cut feet and pleurisy probably felt too unwell to continue. Perhaps, also, the carrier’s diet of mainly rice was unsuitable for them. These considerations, combined with a fear of malaria in the lower altitudes through which the patrol trekked and a fear of entering other cultural regions and the lower grassland valleys because they did not provide defence against attack from others, may have contributed to carriers wanting to leave the patrol. Within this context, the District Commissioner’s idea that carriers had no stamina implies an ignorance or unwillingness to consider the complex dynamic between illness, diet, fears of disease, culture, and topography.
Although the report implies Brand’s empathy with the carriers, by resting when they ‘flagged’, and apparent understanding when they ‘were in a bad way,’ and toward villagers, the report shows that power resided with the Europeans and is reflected in their control of the carriers not only when they were guarded to prevent them from leaving the patrol but also when they visited the Unevangelised Fields Mission. Here, the entire patrol other than the Europeans were excluded from the Donaldson’s hospitality. Brand’s report quietly reveals the colonial system’s view of the Indigenous peoples’ inferiority and subjugation in the interests of the colonial project.
Bibliography
Anas, M., ‘The Highlands of Australian New Guinea,’ Geographical Review, 50/4 (1960), 467-490.
Bastian, J.A., ‘Reading Colonial Records Through an Archival Lens: The Provenance of Place, Space and Creation’, Archival Science, 6(2006), 267-284, DOI 10.1007/s10502-006-9019-1
Betuela, I., et al., ‘Epidemiology of Malaria in the Papua New Guinean Highlands’, Tropical Medicine and International Health, 17/10 (2012), 1181-1191, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-3156.2012.03062.x
Brand, W.J., Erave Patrol no. 1 of 1954/55, 26 October-1 December 1954, National Archives and Public Records Services of Papua New Guinea, Patrol Reports, Southern Highlands, Erave Station, 1954-1956 Volume 2, https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb37219806 accessed 28 August 2021.
Brand, W. J., Tribal Fighting-Sambarigi Area, Series No. A518, BG841/1, 1953-1954, 276948, National Archives of Australia, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=276948, accessed 25 Sept. 2021.
Brookfield, H.C., ‘The Highland Peoples of New Guinea: A Study of Distribution and Localization’, Geographical Journal, 127/4 (Dec. 1961), 436-448, https://doi.org/10.2307/1792797
Cohn, B.S., Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India, (Princeton and New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1996).
Crittenden, R., ‘Sustenance, Seasonality and Social Cycles on the Nembi Plateau, Papua New Guinea’, PhD thesis, The Australian National University, Canberra, 1982, https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb29705380/_1.pdf accessed 1 Oct. 2021.
Feterl, M., et al., ‘The Epidemiology of Malaria in Kutubu, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea, Before and During a Private Sector Initiative for Malaria Control’, Tropical Medicine Infectious Diseases, 2/1 (2017), 1-18, https://www.mdpi.com/2414-6366/2/1/2/htm
Kituai, A.B.K., My Gun, My Brother: The World of the Papua New Guinea Colonial Police, 1920-1960, (University of Hawai’i Press, 1988), https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wr4nx.7
Ley, S.D., Riley, I. & Beck, H-P, ‘Tuberculosis in Papua New Guinea: From Yesterday Until Today,’ Microbes and Infection, 16 (2014), 607-614, http://www.ssu.ac.ir/cms/fileadmin/user_upload/Moavenatha/MBehdashti/Pishgiri_Bimariha/0000000tober4/71.pdf
Nelson, H., Taim Bilong Masta: The Australian Involvement with Papua New Guinea (Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Commission, 2001).
Oi, Y., et al., ‘Effects of Low Protein Intake on Protein Metabolism of Papua New Guinea Highlanders Studied with [15N]Glycine’, Journal of Nutritional Science Vitaminology (Tokyo), 34/4 (Aug. 1988), 353-362, https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jnsv1973/34/4/34_4_353/_pdf/-char/en accessed 26 Sept. 2021.
‘Protein in diet’, Medline Plus, (n.d.), https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002467.htm#:~:text=Every%20cell%20in%20the%20human,%2C%20teens%2C%20and%20pregnant%20women accessed 29 Sept. 2021.
SIL-PNG, ‘Languages in Southern Highlands Province’, Languages of Papua New Guinea, (n.d.), https://pnglanguages.sil.org/resources/provinces/province/Southern%20Highlands/map accessed 19 Sept. 2021.
‘Symptoms: Malaria’, NHS, (n.d.), https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/malaria/symptoms/ accessed 25 Sept. 2021.
Weymouth, R., ‘The Unevangelised Fields Mission in Papua, 1931-1981’, Journal of Pacific History, 23/2 (1988), 175-190, https://www.jstor.org/stable/25168957 accessed 15 Sept. 2021.
[1] W. J. Brand, Erave Patrol no. 1 of 1954/55, 26 October-1 December 1954, National Archives and Public Records Services of Papua New Guinea, Patrol Reports, Southern Highlands, Erave Station, 1954-1956 Volume 2, https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb37219806 accessed 28 Aug. 2021.
[2] A.B.K. Kituai, My Gun, My Brother: The World of the Papua New Guinea Colonial Police, 1920-1960, (University of Hawai’i Press, 1988), 19, https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wr4nx.7
[3] B.S. Cohn, Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India, (Princeton and New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1996), 3.
[4] D.M. Cleland, ‘Correspondence to The Secretary, Department of Territories, 23 July 1954’, in W.J. Brand, Tribal Fighting-Sambarigi Area, Series No. A518, BG841/1, 1953-1954, 276948, National Archives of Australia, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=276948, accessed 25 Sept. 2021.
[5] A.B.K. Kituai, My Gun, My Brother, 19.
[6] T. Richards, The Imperial Archive; Knowledge and the Fantasy of Empire (London: Verso, 1993), 11, cited in J. A. Bastian, ‘Reading Colonial Records Through an Archival Lens: The Provenance of Place, Space and Creation’, Archival Science, 6 (2006), 271, DOI 10.1007/s10502-006-9019-1
[7] M. Anas, ‘The Highlands of Australian New Guinea,’ Geographical Review, 50/4 (1960), 478-484.
[8] H. Nelson, Taim Bilong Masta: The Australian Involvement with Papua New Guinea (Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Commission, 2001), 63.
[9] S. D. Ley, I. Riley & H-P. Beck, ‘Tuberculosis in Papua New Guinea: From Yesterday Until Today,’ Microbes and Infection, 16 (2014), 609, http://www.ssu.ac.ir/cms/fileadmin/user_upload/Moavenatha/MBehdashti/Pishgiri_Bimariha/0000000tober4/71.pdf
[10] S. D. Ley, I. Riley & H-P. Beck, ‘Tuberculosis in Papua New Guinea’, 609.
[11] R. Weymouth, ‘The Unevangelised Fields Mission in Papua, 1931-1981’, Journal of Pacific History, 23/2 (1988), 175, https://www.jstor.org/stable/25168957 accessed 15 Sept. 2021.
[12] R. Weymouth, ‘The Unevangelised Fields Mission in Papua, 1931-1981’, 176.
[13] W. J. Brand, Erave Patrol no. 1 of 1954/55, 26 October-1 December 1954.
[14] ‘Protein in Diet’, Medline Plus, (n.d.), https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002467.htm#:~:text=Every%20cell%20in%20the%20human,%2C%20teens%2C%20and%20pregnant%20women accessed 29 Sept. 2021.
[15] R. Crittenden, ‘Sustenance, Seasonality and Social Cycles on the Nembi Plateau, Papua New Guinea’, PhD thesis, The Australian National University, Canberra, 1982, 48. Crittenden also states that this idea was changing from the 1970s. https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb29705380/_1.pdf accessed 1 October 2021.
[16] Y. Oi, et al., ‘Effects of Low Protein Intake on Protein Metabolism of Papua New Guinea Highlanders Studied with [15N]Glycine’, Journal of Nutritional Science Vitaminology (Tokyo), 34/4 (Aug. 1988), 354, https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jnsv1973/34/4/34_4_353/_pdf/-char/en accessed 26 September 2021.
[17] I. Betuela et al., ‘Epidemiology of Malaria in the Papua New Guinean Highlands’, Tropical Medicine and International Health, 17/10 (2012), 1181, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-3156.2012.03062.x
[18] M. Anas, ‘The Highlands of Australian New Guinea’, 477.
[19] H. C. Brookfield, ‘The Highland Peoples of New Guinea: A Study of Distribution and Localization’, Geographical Journal, 127/4 (Dec. 1961), 445, https://doi.org/10.2307/1792797
[20] M. Feterl et al., ‘The Epidemiology of Malaria in Kutubu, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea, Before and During a Private Sector Initiative for Malaria Control’, Tropical Medicine Infectious Diseases, 2/1 (2017), 1, https://www.mdpi.com/2414-6366/2/1/2/htm
[21] ‘Symptoms: Malaria’, NHS, (n.d.), https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/malaria/symptoms/ accessed 25 Sept. 2021.
[22] ‘Symptoms: Malaria’.
[23] SIL-PNG, ‘Languages in Southern Highlands Province’, Languages of Papua New Guinea, (n.d.), https://pnglanguages.sil.org/resources/provinces/province/Southern%20Highlands/map accessed 19 Sept. 2021.
[24] SIL-PNG, ‘Languages in Southern Highlands Province’.
[25] H. C. Brookfield, ‘The Highland Peoples of New Guinea a Study of Distribution and Localization’, Geographical Journal, 127/4 (Dec. 1961), 445, https://doi.org/10.2307/1792797
[26] W. J. Brand, Tribal Fighting-Sambarigi Area, Series No. A518, BG841/1, 1953-1954, 276948, National Archives of Australia, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=276948, accessed 25 Sept. 2021.
[27] M. Anas, ‘The Highlands of Australian New Guinea’, Geographical Review, 50/4 (1960), 474.
[28] M. Anas, ‘The Highlands of Australian New Guinea’, 474.
[29] H. C. Brookfield, ‘The Highland peoples of New Guinea a Study of Distribution and Localization’, Geographical Journal, 127/4 (Dec. 1961), 445, https://doi.org/10.2307/1792797
[30] H. C. Brookfield, ‘The Highland peoples of New Guinea a Study of Distribution and Localization’, 445.