CHAPTER 3 ― ASSESMENT

This book is about marine incidents that occurred on or near Queensland waters and seaways from 1859 to Federation, regarding Queensland’s participation in the exploration, conversion, exploitation, possession, and governance of a group of people described as Papuan within the territory formerly known as British New Guinea.

Therefore, I will not be covering all the marine incidents that have occurred during the colonial period of contact with the colony of British New Guinea. The marine incidents portrayed in this narrative have an element of indigenous participation. The indigenous element is the native-born Melanesian peoples of Papua, New Guinea.

The question is how and in what way did indigenous elements cross or intersect the maritime jurisdiction and who were these indigenous elements and what was the manner and method (form) of this interaction as to time, place, or other circumstances attending the incident; what was the manner and evidence of the indigenous contact?

I now come to the most challenging and complex part of the project, and that is to offer an assessment of the contact between outsiders and the indigenous inhabitants of New Guinea. I suppose the simplest approach is to tell it how it was. The problem then is, by which yardstick do we tell the tale?

Here is a good example of the many challenging aspects associated with telling the tale. The Brisbane Courier of 10 December 1878 made the following comments about New Guinea:

A country with boundless capabilities of soil and climate for tropical products, peopled by a kindly, industrious, and most interesting race-not the ruthless savages pictured by fancy, but living in villages, engaging in rude arts and manufactures, observing good faith, and acknowledging the obligations of hospitality towards their white visitors.^[1]

A group of white people who were living and working in New Guinea in 1878 disputed this benign portrayal of the natives with their own version of events:

On Tuesday last, November 5, two aged and helpless women belonging to a bush tribe in the vicinity of Kerepunu entered the village adjoining our bêche-de-mer stations for the purpose of trading. For some reason they were seized and brutally murdered, and their bodies thrown into the water. This, as an instance of their savage spirit is nothing compared with the horrible act that took place some few days before. The Kara natives in battle with a bush tribe made four prisoners, whom they bound hand and foot and carried to their village. Here the prisoners were thrown, bound like sheep, on the ground, while their captors built a large fire. They then proceeded to cut them up alive, inch by inch, commencing at the joints of their fingers, then their toes, until nothing was left of the unfortunate creatures but their still living trunks; their heads were then cut off, and the skulls boiled. These are by no means rare instances, as Captain Webb, of the Pride of the Logan, was often obliged, during his stay on this part of the coast, to be a witness to similar scenes. They are also the most inveterate thieves, as Mr. Ingham can testify, and of very treacherous disposition, as they have several times attacked us without provocation while pretending to be friendly. This may open the eyes of many admirers of the New Guinea natives to their real merits and virtues. The tale we have quoted sufficiently establishes the hideous nature of the cannibal savage.^[2]

Mr. Musgrave, an Assistant Deputy Commissioner, after compiling a list of attacks, massacres, and outrages on foreigners by British New Guinea natives formed the view that the Papuan native was inclined to be treacherous, bloodthirsty, and greedy for plunder. He was, however, wonderfully cunning in disguising these feelings, and even amongst the most experienced white men succeeded in inspiring dangerously unguarded confidence.^[3]

The Hon. Dr. Macgregor, who represented the Crown colony of Fiji at the time, made a speech at the Federal Council, at Hobart in February 1886, which might be helpful in endeavouring to view and analyse first contact incidents with indigenous elements:

I can only express the strongest disapprobation of expeditions of that kind being sent to New Guinea. We are all very anxious and curious to know what is: the source of the rivers, the height of the mountains, and the natural products of New Guinea. But, in my opinion, such expeditions are liable to do a great deal more harm than all the good they can accomplish. Those engaged in them proceed to New Guinea without knowing where they are going or what they are going for. They go for anything and everything they can lay their hands on. They have no idea in whose country they are or on whose land they are going, and I know very well from experience that white men going to the country of black men are very apt to be impressed with the idea that anything they come across is everybody’s property. I also know very well, from experience, that in most islands in the Pacific it will be somewhat difficult to find a piece of land that has not got an owner. In many islands I doubt whether it was possible to find a fruit tree that has not got its owner. These private expeditions proceed into the country unannounced. The natives do not know where they come from and do not know by what authority they are there. They do not know what the strangers want, and it is only natural that under such circumstances conflict should ensue. Now, I maintain that all the good that can be done by such expeditions is not worth the risk connected with them and would be dearly purchased by the death of the meanest native of New Guinea. It is not of sufficient value to make it worthwhile creating hostility in the mind of a single tribe.^[4]

Now, of course, the above statement highlights the dichotomy between knowledge and ignorance created by Europeans, with their superior technology, in roaming the oceans and seas of the world looking for information, land, trade goods, and trade itself. Europeans called this activity exploration and discovery. However, contact between unknown parties often led to conflict. Mercantile Europeans argued that the International Law of the Doctrine of Discovery gave them the right to occupy, settle, and erect colonies on any newfound land. Whereas, Exeter Hall follower frowned on these activities and sought to discourage interference with indigenous people. Modern schools of thought have arisen within colonised, metis communities that argue the violent actions of their indigenous ancestors were not that of savages or barbarians against civilisation and advancement, but the exercise of lawful acts of military resistance to invasion.^[5]

Table 1 below provides a list of marine incidents suffered by Europeans during the period of contact from 1859 up to the end of 1887 involving indigenous elements.^[6] There were 48 incidents, 5 attacks on the Royal Navy, 8 attacks on missionaries, 22 attacks on fisheries, 7 attacks on traders and 6 attacks on explorers. Chart 1 represents the frequency of marine incidents for each group of foreigners as a percentage of the total number of marine incidents.

Chart 1

Arising out of the forty-eight marine incidents, one hundred and twenty-four deaths of non-Papuans occurred from physical violence by indigenous natives (Papuans), see Chart 2. These non-Papuan deaths are identified as follows:

Deaths per each European Group^[7]

Royal Navy	Missionary	Fishery	Trader	Explorer
nil	6	91	20	7

Chart 2

Chart 3

The data in Table 1 might be better understood, if the history of British New Guinea was viewed in the following manner:

1859 to 1877, terra incognito;

1878 to 1883, British supervision;

1884 to 1888, British protectorate;

1888 to Federation, British colony.

1859 to 1877 Terra Incognito.

In the southern coastal waters of New Guinea and adjacent islands, there was no recognised political system in control of the area. Therefore, the conduct of foreigners and or indigenous natives of whatever description was under no jurisdiction or control, and thus enjoyed immunity from the consequences of all outrages and offences they may have committed.

The data in Table 1 below indicate that in the decade commencing 1870 there were 10 incidents, 6 involved the LMS, 2-the Royal Navy, and 2-explorers. The data reflected the situation then existing on the ground. The LMS were the only people who were actively operating and establishing bases in New Guinea. They owned and operated the vessel Ellengowan, which made frequent trips along the south coast of New Guinea, servicing and supplying existing mission stations as well looking for future mission sites. This level of exposure to indigenous elements would increase the risk of attack from locals.

Captain J. Moresby after his cruise in Basilisk criticised the LMS. Moresby addressed a report to Mr. Murray, who was in charge of the LMS in New Guinea, on the state in which he had found the mission stations visited by Basilisk. He found that the Polynesian teachers placed on the Torres Strait Islands and New Guinea by the London Missionary Society, were left alone to fight a losing battle against famine, sickness, want of knowledge of the languages required, and the contempt and hostility of fierce Papuan heathens. Moresby added that he had been glad to make himself useful in taking such supplies to them as Mr. Murray could provide. The circumstances of the teachers at Redscar but for his visit, and the abundant supplies he gave them, seemed most probable that all would have perished. At Bampton Island the two native teachers and their wives, who had been posted there some months previously, and had not since been visited nor supplied, were murdered by the natives.^[8] 

Naturally, the LMS did not accept Moresby’s criticism, and lengthy correspondence was conducted on the matter between Moresby and the LMS:

With reference to Captain Moresby’s reiterated charges, and strong statements relative to the teachers not being supplied, as he thinks they ought to be, with foreign food, perhaps it is hardly necessary that I should say more than I have said in my replies to his letters. He speaks from a very imperfect acquaintance with the circumstances. His opportunities for making personal observation were of course very limited, and some at least of the sources from which he sought information were of the most unsatisfactory character. In the course of the visitation which I have just completed I have found nothing to bear out his strong statements, and from the teachers I have had no complaints.^[9]

The final incident involving the LMS was the attack on Captain Dudfield at South Cape on 28 December 1877. Mr. Goldie who came to the assistance of the gravely injured Dudfield, was greatly disturbed by the incident and in particular, Rev. J. Chalmers apparent reckless disregard for his own safety.^[10] Goldie wrote:

When I think on all the circumstances in connection with past and present arrangements of mission work down here, I feel indignant that a fraud of playing at mission work here should longer exist. I know for a fact that previous arrangements such as this had been made with the worthy missionary, the Rev. Mr. Lawes, and he can testify how little they have been attended to, I feel that I have a right to write on this matter, for I may be blamed for turning and leaving Mr. Chalmers to his fate when I would not have done so, even at the urgent entreaties of Captain Dudfield, though the explorer was certainly going to a deadly conflict, if I had not thought that the mission-steamer, which was at the time of our turning due at Port Moresby, would have been there. The Mayri was attacked on Saturday, 24 February 1877, we met her off Cape Rodney, on Tuesday, January 1, 1878. Andrew Goldie.^[11]

J. P. Sunderland, Agent of London Missionary Society, Sydney responded to Mr. Goldie’s letter with a letter to the Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald as follows:

He says, “When I think on all circumstances in connection with past and present arrangements of mission work done here, I feel indignant that a fraud of playing at mission work here should longer exist.” This charge of fraud comes with ill-grace from one who has been kindly treated by the missionaries and native teachers belonging to the Missionary Society. Mr. Goldie knows that had it not been for the determination of Captain Turpie to remove Mr. Goldie from Port Moresby when he was very ill with fever, he would have died there. Is it a fraud that the London Missionary Society have established several stations in Torres Strait that the Rev. W. G. Lawes laboured at Port Moresby for upwards of two years, and, even according to Mr. Goldie, established a reputation far and wide as a good man? Is it a fraud that the Rev. J. Chalmers, an experienced missionary, has left his comfortable station in Rarotonga, and gone up to New Guinea to do what he can for the people of that great land? Is it a fraud that Mr Chalmers and his noble wife faced the excited tribes at South Cape, soothing their anger and removing their callousness, that they may ultimately make them understand their benevolent designs? Is it a fraud that men in obedience to what they consider to be the command of Christ, go to these places, face danger, endure hardships that they may be the means of elevating men in the scale of being? No, it is no fraud.^[12]

 For the sake of clarity in this study, I reiterate that this study relates to marine incidents. It may be of interest to the reader that Mr. A. Musgrave made a study of the mortality of Polynesian teachers employed by the LMS in New Guinea. Musgrave found that out of a total number of 187 Polynesians of both sexes, introduced from the Savage Islands, Loyalty Islands, &c., ninety succumbed to disease or the hostility of the natives. Of the latter, twelve were massacred.^[13]

The next important group were the explorers and specimen collectors. By definition, these people are risk takers, and it would be difficult to make judgments about collisions with indigenous elements because of the presumption of trespass on the part of the explorer. However, indigenous or foreign elements are assumed to forego violence toward bona fide travellers and explorers. This brings me to the Royal Navy, where navigation, surveying and cartography were seen as part of the freedom of passage that all vessels have over the seas.  

1878 to 1883 British Supervision.

This apparent random selection of 1878 as a start date for the next group of marine incidents was dictated by the commencement of the Western Pacific Orders in Council of 1877. The Western Pacific Orders in Council were of limited power, only giving the High Commissioner jurisdiction over British subjects. The Royal Navy was used as a de facto police force to keep the peace and good order generally. In practical terms of law enforced, he had limited manpower and assets. From 1878 to 1883, there were 18 marine incidents. In 1878, 6 marine incidents resulted in 27 deaths, in 1879, 5 marine incidents with 8 deaths, and in 1880, 5 marine incidents with 37 deaths.

On 3 June 1878, J. Mullens, Foreign Secretary of the London Missionary Society, London, wrote to the Colonial Office as follows: 

l. On various occasions the London Missionary Society have represented to Lord Carnarvon the perils to which the natives of New Guinea have recently been exposed by the schemes of adventurers; and they had the satisfaction of being assured by Lord Carnarvon that the Pacific Islanders Protection Act was for the protection of the natives from wrong.

3. The Directors, therefore, invite your kindest attention to the danger which has arisen; and they request that everything may be done both to secure protection to native rights and native life, and help to our people in the sickness and privation to which they are exposing themselves.^[14]

On 28 June 1878, the Colonial Office wrote to the Admiralty requesting the stationing of a man-of-war at Port Moresby to keep the peace of the gold rush and to determine whether the rush was sustainable.^[15] The Admiralty replied on 5 July 1878 that HMS Sappho had been sent to New Guinea as requested, and Commander Digby had been furnished with the necessary authority from Sir Arthur Gordon to act as a deputy commissioner at Port Moresby.^[16]

HMS Sappho during her patrol of the southern coastal waters of New Guinea during June to August 1878 investigated 3 marine incidents of 1878 and 1 marine incident from 1877. The 1877 incident involved the attack and serve wounding of Captain Dudfield of the Mayri at South Cape. Commander Digby visited the South Cape natives and found that peace had been restored and took no action against the natives other than to warn them of the consequences of killing white men.

HMS Sappho visited Brooker Island, the scene of the Redlich/McCort massacre, but did not land any officers or crew; nor take any steps to recover the property left there, believing that Captain Redlich’s partner, McCort and his party, were the aggressors and that the natives had the best claim upon the plunder. The particulars of the visit of the Sappho were not made public, but great annoyance was felt by Captain Redlich’s friends that no effort was made to save the valuable lot of fish (bêche-de-mer) still on the island. Captain Redlich was at Port Moresby and did not see the Captain of the Sappho, but at Thursday Island, Mr. Goldie interviewed him on Captain Redlich’s behalf; he declined, however, to take any further action.^[17] Commander Digby of the Sappho drew the ire of the Australian Town and Country Journal of 25 January 1879:

There ought to be no hesitation on the part of the naval authorities in promptly punishing these miserable wretches. Whatever may have been the first cause of their hostility to the whites, the subjects of Her Majesty must be protected; and if repeated massacres are allowed to remain unpunished, even for a few months, no trader will be safe from the treachery of the more debased tribes. The whole of this melancholy story illustrates very strikingly the necessity, which we have often urged, of more effective representation of the Imperial Government among these islanders. The people of Northern Queensland, who admired Mr. Ingham for his courage and many good qualities, are now crying out for the Spitfire, an old pilot boat at Cooktown, to be equipped, and despatched to execute justice.^[18]

The next incident that brought the presence of the Royal Navy was the massacre of the Voura’s captain, W.B. Ingham and crew at Brooker Island. The visit of HMS Cormorant to Brooker Island was said to have been quite useless. The natives sent an insulting message to the captain by the interpreter threatening that they would kill every European who landed on the island. A few shells and rockets were fired, but no effort was made to land or to punish Mr. Ingham’s murderers.^[19]

The Brisbane Courier made the following comments in its editorial of 7 June 1879:

The position and responsibilities of the commanders of H.M.’s cruisers, commissioned to suppress irregularities or inflict punishment among the natives of these islands, has consequently been invested with peculiar difficulty. Urged on the one hand by excited cries for vengeance from relatives or survivors of Europeans massacred by treachery, yet on the other hand restrained by the knowledge that every instance of retributive justice will raise the shrieking exaggerations of Exeter Hall.^[20] If Captain Blakesley’s statement published by us yesterday, respecting the visit of HMS Cormorant to Brooker Island, is in accordance with facts, it is to be feared that Captain Bruce has very much erred on the side of leniency and has secured the contempt of the natives for our power to chastise their misdeeds. The representative of her Majesty’s navy warned off the shore by four determined savages, armed with the rifles they had stolen, is a humiliating one, and the shelling of a few grass huts, called a village, by way of punishing a most treacherous massacre and asserting the might of Great Britain in these waters, from a safe distance, seems a pitiful exhibition of impotent anger well calculated to produce in the native mind precisely the results described by Captain Blakesley.^[21]

The Chief Judicial Commissioner to the Western Pacific High Commission wrote as follows:

In 1879, your Excellency may remember, we resolved to give these islanders a ″severe lesson.” They had killed Mr. Ingham and the crew of his small steamer; and, when the Commodore arrived here in your absence to consult upon Western Pacific matters, I cordially agreed with him that they should be punished. He went up in the Wolverine, surrounded the island by night with his boats in very rough weather, and did all that possibly could be done to ensure success. But one canoe only was taken, and two of the natives shot; the bulk of them escaped; and the houses and many cocoanut trees burned.^[22]

The next outrage of significance was the murder of Irons and Willis, two white men who had ventured to New Guinea as cedar getters. These men were killed in circumstances of coldblooded brutality. It was argued that they had ignored sound advice about the dangers of their enterprise, but had, nevertheless, gone ahead with the foolhardy expedition. HMS Beagle was tasked with investigating the interference by natives with the LMS vessel Ellengowan at South Cape before proceeding to Cloudy Bay to investigate the murder of Irons and Willis. After that incident, the Beagle returned to Cloudy Bay in November 1879 to investigate the attack on the schooner Pride of the Logan when 7 persons were killed.

In July 1880, seven Chinese crew of the junk Sin O Ney were murdered at Paramana Point. On 2 October, HMS Conflict made a visit to New Guinea to investigate the capture of the Chinese junk and the murder of seven of the crew. It was reported that Conflict was forbidden to use force on the New Guinea natives who killed the crew of the Chinese junk; it being considered that they had provoked their fate by their conduct to the natives.^[23]

Following on from this incident, was the Annie Brooks which was attacked at Mewstone Island and her crew of seven Europeans and seven Chinese murdered. It was further learned that a group of French naturalists collecting in the vicinity of Moresby Island had been massacred.

On 25 November 1880, at Cooktown a public meeting was held to consider the news lately received from New Guinea in regard to the murders perpetrated by the natives. The hall was draped in black, and there was a very large attendance, the mayor presiding. Resolutions were passed expressing indignation and horror at the recent atrocities in New Guinea, and urging the Government to take immediate steps to punish the murderers, and thus prevent future outrages; that it was necessary for the protection of life and property that a permanent naval force should be stationed on the coast of New Guinea with more discretionary power vested in naval commanders. It was emphasised that thirty Europeans, besides a number of Chinese and Kanakas, had been murdered during the last three years from Cooktown alone, and that property to the value of about£12,000 had been destroyed by the Papuans during the same period. A resolution was also passed to the effect that the French Consul at Sydney be informed of the murder of M. Naudan and his party, all of whom were residents of Cooktown. The inaction of the British war schooner was strongly condemned, though this was attributed to outside influences.^[24]

The French in response to the murder of Naudan and his colleagues sent the Croiseur d’Estree to New Guinea, which landed an armed contingent, and destroyed 118 houses and all the plantations they could find, as well as shooting a number of natives.

The straw that broke the camel’s back came in October 1880, when the schooner Prosperity returning from five months fishing, with a large cargo of bêche-de-mer, was plundered and afterwards burnt. Sir Arthur Kennedy, Governor of Queensland, wrote to the Commodore of the Australian station, respecting the reported massacres at New Guinea, only to receive from Commodore J. C. Wilson in late January 1881, the following:

I have to inform your Excellency that it is impossible to detail a ship at this time specially for this case. The Emerald, however, which is at present engaged in the islands, is under orders to inquire into, and deal with, any cases that may come under her notice.^[25]

In fact, in December 1880, Commodore J. C. Wilson had already issued sailing orders to Captain W. H. Maxwell of the Emerald to proceed to the scene of the murder of Lt. Bower and five crew of Sandfly and inflict serve punishment on the murderers and then to inquire into the Ripple, Esperanza and Borealis and severely punish the offenders. Maxwell was also directed to investigate the Annie Brooks matter and any cases he should hear of and deal with them as “you think fit and just.”^[26]

On 31 January 1881, Captain Maxwell of HMS Emerald at Sydney reported to Commodore Wilson regarding his cruise to investigate and punish the various outrages he had been tasked to take action against. Maxwell followed up on the Annie Brooks incident by speaking with relevant witnesses to the incident. He visited Brooker Island and Mewstone Island and the surrounding area and carried out a systematic scorched earth policy of burning villages, destroying canoes and cutting downs fruit trees. However, he was unable to catch and punish any natives. Maxwell appeared to have received news of the Prosperity incident but did not act on it.

The Brisbane Courier published a lengthy report on the cruise of HMS Emerald to the Solomon Islands to investigate the attacks on HMS Sandfly, Ripple, Esperanza and Borealis. In the same edition of the paper, a rather scathing editorial was also published denouncing the lack of action by the Australian station in suppressing massacres in the South Seas:

In reply to a letter from his Excellency Sir Arthur Kennedy, calling attention to the massacre of the crew of the schooner Prosperity, Commodore Wilson regrets that he cannot detail a ship specially for this case, but anticipates that the Emerald will do all that is necessary. It looks as though the Commodore thought that the cruise of one of Her Majesty’s ships among the islands would entirely satisfy everybody.

The proceedings of HMS Emerald read almost like a clever satire on the method of inflicting official vengeance. If the author of Pinafore could only get hold of the details of this cruise, he might, by putting Sir Joseph Porter in command of the Emerald, make another hit as happy as his former naval romance. The Emerald appears to have passed from group to group impotently demonstrating, doing a little shell practice occasionally at distant villages, sometimes, as is proudly chronicled in the log, making an excellent shot, the shell bursting in an empty village. The bluejackets constantly land, and when they can get anyone to show them through the bush, make their way to some inland village and burn the grass gunyahs. When they are unable to get a pathfinder, they cut down a few cocoanut trees and burn any canoes that may be lying about and pass on to the scene of some other bygone massacre to repeat these tactics. The natives, who have been watching the whole thing securely from their scrub refuge, then probably emerge from their hiding places and celebrate the termination of the excitement with a war dance, and the next day’s labour suffices to repair the damage done by the terrible visitor.

The proceedings of the Emerald have been published opportunely, inasmuch as they strongly confirm what has been stated by the inter-colonial delegates in their memorial. Perhaps, therefore, although barren of present tangible results, the cruise will lead to reforms in Pacific administration which will render the property and lives of British subjects in the South Seas more secure.^[27]

The Inter-colonial Conference of 1881 commenced on 13 January. On 19 January, Mr. A. Palmer, of Queensland, moved, “That in the opinion of this Conference it is desirable that a representation be made to Her Majesty the Queen, calling her attention to the lamentable state of affairs existing between the natives of many of the islands in the Pacific and the subjects of Her Majesty trading in those seas, more particularly since the appointment of a High Commissioner for the Pacific, and praying that Her Majesty will cause such action to be taken as will prevent the recurrence of such outrages against life and property as have lately prevailed.”^[28]

The Inter-colonial Conference agreed to the following resolutions among others:

2. That more effectual means should be devised for the punishment of natives of the said islands for any crimes or offences committed by them against British subjects.

4. That the more frequent visits of her Majesty’s ships among the islands should tend to lessen in a great degree the crimes now so prevalent.

It is worth noting that the Hon. A. Palmer, Premier of Queensland, received the following telegram while attending the Inter-colonial Conference in Sydney.

Crew of schooner Prosperity, owned by myself, murdered and vessel and cargo burnt at Leocadie Island near South Cape, New Guinea, October or November last; Captain alone supposed has escaped; value property destroyed, thirteen hundred; eight men murdered, making during last six months thirty-one men murdered from Cooktown alone, and five thousand property destroyed; no action appears contemplated by Imperial Government, protect the trade; our men dare not effect reprisals or attack beforehand which is often the only way of preventing massacres. What can be done? As Mr. Palmer is in Sydney, please get him use influence to have murderers of Annie Brooks and Prosperity’s crew properly punished; no provocation this time alleged for either massacre. William J. Hartley.^[29]

Sir A. Gordon, High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, rejected these aspersions against the Western Pacific administration and launched into a lengthy defence of his administration as follows:

The charge preferred against the High Commissioner is twofold. It is alleged that he has, on the one hand, shown undue leniency towards the misdeeds of natives, and, on the other, has shown equally undue harshness in the punishment of British subjects when charged before him with offences against natives. The jurisdiction of the High Commissioner extends over all British subjects in the Western Pacific, but over British subjects exclusively. He has no authority whatever to deal, whether judicially or in his executive capacity, with the offences of natives of islands not under the dominion of the Crown. The High Commissioner has on more than one occasion pointed out to the Imperial Government that, unless a jurisdiction were created competent to take cognisance of offences committed against British subjects in the Pacific beyond Her Majesty’s possessions, the infliction of punishment on British subjects for outrages against natives was sure to excite on their part a sense of being treated with injustice. The reply returned to such representations has invariably been that in the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown insuperable obstacles exist to any assumption of jurisdiction by Her Majesty, over others than British subjects, beyond the limits of Her Majesty’s dominions. Therefore, the High Commissioner is absolutely powerless to take judicial cognisance of any offence committed by a Polynesian native not also a subject of Her Majesty.

I cannot conclude this memorandum without expressing my regret that the Conference did not avail itself of my offer. Conference should not have allowed itself to be made a medium for the dissemination of slanders on men holding high and responsible situations, who had received no intimation of the intentions of the Conference to investigate the nature of the functions committed to them by the Crown.^[30]

In 1882, a wreck, possibly the Savioni, was found at the mouth of the Fly. There were no survivors and inquiries with the local natives revealed that the crew had been killed and their heads taken.

1884 to 1888 ― British Protectorate.

 The next event of significance in the advancement of New Guinea was the establishment of the British Protectorate. The advent of the Protectorate merely defined the jurisdiction of British influence, provided for the establishment of an administration consisting of a commissioner and staff and complete control and regulation of British subjects within the jurisdiction. Foreign nationals and indigenous natives were outside the jurisdiction. However, the Royal Navy continued to be employed as a de facto law enforcement agency. This occurred on 6 November 1884 together with the appointment of a special commissioner for the Protectorate, Major General Scratchley, who served from 22 November 1884 to 2 December 1885, dying in office.

During Scratchley’s tenure, the following cases were investigated:

The charge of robbery with violence upon Dan Rowan, committed by the natives at Aroma. The killing of Captain Miller, at Normanby Island; the killing of Reid, at Slade Island; the killing of Captain Frier, at Moresby Island; the killing of Bob Lumse at Hayter Island; the killing of Captain Webb at Millport Bay in 1884; the attack on the schooner Wild Duck, in Cloudy Bay, in June, 1884.^[31]

On 2 October 1885, P. H. Scratchley, Special Commissioner for the protected territory of New Guinea published the following notice in the Queensland government gazette:

Portions of coast unsafe to Traders and others.

Traders and others are cautioned against visiting the following portions of the coast and islands in the Protectorate: From Kerepunu to South Cape (including Moresby Island), D’Entrecasteaux Group, Engineer Group, Woodlark Group, Jurien and Jouvency islands; also, from East Cape to the German boundary on the northeast coast.^[32]

In the period 1886 to 1887, during the tenure of John Douglas, special commissioner for the Protectorate, 8 marine incidents occurred with 14 deaths as follows. In 1886, 3 whites and 5 Malays were killed at Joannet Island by local natives. In 1886, 6 Chinese crew were killed at Moresby Island, and 2 whites were killed at Orangerie Bay.

During the period of British Protectorate, the Royal Navy continued became very active in reinforcing Pax Britannica. On 2 April 1886, Rear Admiral Tryon wrote to the Admiralty, regarding cases in the islands of Western Pacific, dealt with by Her Majesty’s Ships in 1885. He said Sir Peter Scratchley wrote to him to say how indebted he felt for the assistance rendered him by Captain Clayton, (HMS Diamond) and expressed his high opinion of Clayton’s judgment. Scratchley also wrote, under date 13 November 1885, on the subject of those who were sent “to collect bêche-de-mer, &c., in vessel unsuitable for the work, insufficiently manned, and worked in a manner that could end only one way, i.e., the killing, sooner or later, of the wretched masters and crews.” He considered that “licenses for such trade should only be given to properly manned and found vessels.” Tryon went to say, the difficulty in dealing with outrage cases was not a little increased by the fact that tribes were very numerous in the islands, and by the absence of recognised chiefs. It was in the tribal or family capacity that action was taken by them, and it was this that made it most difficult to apply a system which was in accord with modern civilisation and law, so as to have the same deterrent effect on Papuan races as it had on those who belong to civilised nations, and for whose benefit those laws, the outcome of centuries, exist; but a few years of patience and firmness, with moderation, will doubtless do much, and will soon stop the action of these savage races whose customs and traditions embrace the killing of a man for the sake of his head, or for other wanton reasons. Set out below are the cases dealt with by the Royal Navy:

Murder of Captain Webb, his Wife, one Malay, and two Australians (Natives), and destruction of Cutter Marion,” by Natives, at Millport Harbour, New Guinea, in January 1885. HMS Diamond, at Port Moresby, 1 November 1885. In continuation of my report of 25 October, I beg to inform you that every effort was made to communicate with the natives, but without effect; I therefore threw a few shells into the villages on the hill and destroyed five canoes and some nets.

Death at the hands of Natives of William Reed, at Tupi Tupi or Slade Island, one of the Engineer Group, in January 1885. It would seem that the unfortunate man was very much to blame. I propose, if possible, visiting the island again, when I may be able to see the chief, also Alloopatoo and Makisoka; but it does not appear to me to be a case for severe punishment.

Death, at the hands of Natives, of Frank Gerret, a Trader, and Master of the ketch P.T.M. at Deboyne Island, Louisiade Archipelago, New Guinea, on 31 January 1885. I therefore did not punish any one, and beg to refer the case for your consideration. I recovered the skull of the deceased man, which will be buried at sea.

Death at the hand of Natives of Bob Lumse, a Malay, a Trader at Magaikarona, Hayter Island, China Straits, New Guinea, in February 1885. On his return his Excellency (Scratchley) informed me that the murder has doubtless been committed, and that trade disputes had caused it; but he did not see how any further steps could be taken, the murderers being absent, and the chief and other villagers having had nothing to do with the matter.

Murder of Captain Fryer, Master and Owner, John Watkins, Carpenter, and two Natives (one South Sea Islander, and one Queensland Boy), belonging to the schooner Lalla Rookh, by Natives at Hoop-Iron Bay, Moresby Island, New Guinea, about 25-29 July 1885. Diamond, at Sea, 16 December 1885. I destroyed the village, which contained some of the best houses I have seen in New Guinea. Doubtless this destruction will be a severe punishment, but not too severe for the treacherous and unprovoked murder of the master and carpenter of the Lalla Rookh.

Murder of Captain Miller, a Trader, of the cutter Daisy on 3 October 1885, on Ventenat Island, off S.E. Point of Normanby Island, D’Entrecasteaux Group, New Guinea. After firing three shells to clear the bush, I landed four boats’ crews from Diamond, two from Raven, and destroyed three villages, bringing off three canoes and a number of fishing nets which were too wet to burn. No trees or growing crops were injured.^[33]

As to the Craig case, Joannet Island, John Douglas reported the matter to Admiral Tryon. Mr. Forbes, the Resident Officer, Samarai, reported to Captain Clayton, of HMS Diamond. On 20 November, Captain Clayton, in the Diamond, visited the scene of the massacre, but could do nothing, for the offending natives had taken to the impenetrable bush.

After consultation by John Douglas with Captain Clayton, and with his approval, Douglas arranged for Forbes to re-visit Jonnnet to recover the arms and ammunition taken from the Emily. Forbes was, on the whole, successful in recovering some of the firearms and ammunition. However, press reports suggested that Nicholas Minister employed by Douglas to assist Forbes in his return visit had shot a number of natives and cut off their heads, which were displayed as trophies. The matter became the subject of a question in the Victorian Legislative Assembly of 20 July 1887.^[34]

In the case of the Chinese crew at Moresby Island, John Douglas reported on 31 December 1887as follows:

Early in the year the Pride of the Logan schooner, from Cooktown, got on shore in Mudge Bay on Moresby Island, not far from Samarai. Her crew, consisting of six Chinamen, were killed by the natives, and the vessel was cut to pieces. This caused very strained relations with the inhabitants of Moresby Island and led to some reprisals being made by Captain Musgrave in HMS Rapid. He visited them more than once. They admitted their fault, sued for peace, and they have lately been on friendly terms with us, occasionally visiting Samarai.^[35]

1888 to Federation, British Colony.

The final period in the study is from 4 September 1888 to Federation, when the Crown colony of British New Guinea was erected. The colony and everything in it, including the indigenous population, became a subject of the Queen. The Queen, in turn appointed an Administrator to govern the colony with full executive and legislative powers, subject to Her disallowance. The natives became British subjects and were therefore subject to the control and regulation of the Administrator.

Turning now to marine incidents occurring within the jurisdiction of the colony of British New Guinea, the first relevant marine incident occurred in October 1888 when the Star of Peace was attacked by native at Chads Bay. Captain Edward Ansell of the Star of Peace was killed by the natives and his vessel ransacked of its goods and trade and then burnt.

Pursuant to the laws of British New Guinea, on 18 January 1889, eleven persons were put on trial at the Central Court sittings at Samarai, for the murder of Ansell and stealing in a ship. Of these, four were convicted of the murder of Ansell and sentenced to capital punishment, five were convicted of stealing and sentenced to imprisonment for twelve months, likewise, one to imprisonment for eighteen months, and one was acquitted. The four natives sentenced to death were executed by hanging. One prisoner (Wobba-wobbina) was executed at Samurai, 28 January 1889; one (Hannu-wannu) at Abioma, in Milne Bay, on 29 January 1889; and two (Igwarri-gohoi, Tutina-wai) at Chads Bay on 30 January 1889.

In 1898, the chief judicial officer of British New Guinea published a report showing for the last ten years, that 128 natives had been convicted of murder by the Central Court, but only eleven had been executed. Of these, nine were convicted of murdering Europeans, one of murdering a Chinese and one of murdering a native constable.^[36]

The sentence imposed on the native convict at Dobu, 23 December 1891, was for the murder of an honest, industrious, inoffensive Chinese settler, who had been resident in the country for many years. He lived like a European, and was regarded by the natives as being a white man. As nothing could be found to mitigate the gravity of the offence, the sentence was carried into effect in the district of the prisoner, where the murder was committed.^[37]

The reason why so few natives were executed was that the motive for the killing justified the murder from a native point of view. The Administration acknowledged this dimension of the crime and, therefore, considered it perfectly equitable to regard it as a sufficient palliation to warrant a commutation of the sentence.

The following conclusions might be drawn from the above policy. In cases of black-on-black violence, where the black offender was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, his sentence was commuted to penal servitude. Where the black offender was convicted of murder of a European and sentenced to death, he was executed as a deterrent to killing white men.^[38]

Chart 4^[39]

Table 1 reveals that the group with the highest number of marine incidents, as well as the highest fatalities while operating in and around New Guinea coastal waters and adjacent islands, was the Fishery group or bêche-de-mer fishers.

Chart 5

Of course, the substantive task is to determine whether any qualitative conclusions can be drawn from the data. Turning now to the narrative of each marine incident, one has only the white man’s side of the story, and when the circumstances of each case are inquired into it appears that on occasion the natives were provoked, and that sometimes life was taken to pay for the life of a native who had died on the Queensland plantations or elsewhere; but at other times no reason can be discovered, beyond a bloodlust or a desire for plunder. There is of course, the study made by the Hon. A. Musgrave, then Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Return of Outrages and Massacres and published in the Annual Report of 1886.^[40] I quote Musgrave as follows:

Our aborigines are savages in the first stages of barbarism, swayed by intense and degrading superstitions which involve them in ceaseless inter-tribal feuds and bloodshed, and the first protection that the natives require in British New Guinea is from each other. From one end of our territory to the other a chronic state of inter-tribal hostility prevails, and I much doubt if a day passes in the year without a murder or massacre (often of women and children) taking place in some district. No real tribal discipline or organisation exists, and to ″govern by the natives″ is a sheer impossibility.^[41]

The following is taken from a report by the Rev. W. Lawes to Special Commissioner Scratchley on the natives of New Guinea:

and as ready to resent interference with their women as civilised men. Remembering all this, I know of no case in which it can be said with certainty that the natives were the first aggressors. Instead of being described ″savage,” ″hostile,” and ″treacherous,” they should, in justice, be spoken of as kindly disposed and friendly on their first intercourse with white men, but generally suspicious and watchful. If we are to believe the boasts of men from New Guinea over their cups in Cooktown and Thursday Island, then there was nothing exceptional in the voyage of the Hopeful and its atrocities. The cupidity of the people has sometimes been excited by the quantity of goods possessed by the white man; but here their own customs must be remembered. No man can accumulate much more than his fellows, and they must give when asked.^[42]

In Musgrave’s Return of Outrages and Massacres, he lists out eighty incidents or collisions by British New Guinea indigenous natives on European vessels and onshore assets, commencing 11 May 1845 to 30 June 1886. For the period of this study 1859 to 1887, he identified 67 incidents or collisions. Of those incidents Musgrave considered 6 to have been provoked by non-Papuans. All the remaining incidents were the result of unprovoked violence and murder on the part of the indigenous natives. Furthermore, I give great weight to Musgrave’s study and conclusions not only because it was compiled on-the-spot by a creditable official with sufficient authority to access relevant documents and records, but Musgrave had the document vetted by Andrew Goldie, an equally creditable figure because of his longstanding association with British New Guinea. The 6 incidents or collisions alleged to have involved provocation by outsiders or Europeans were: Item 44, July 1878, Annie and Pride of the Logan at Keppel Point; item 45, 1878, McCourt at Brooker Island; item 55, 1880, murder of Chinese at Aroma; item 56, 1880, Mulholland at Cloudy Bay; item 65, 22 December 1884, Reed at Slade Island; and item 71, 29 July 1889, Frier at Moresby Island.

All the victims in the above six incidents were bêche-de-mer fishers. In Chart 5, the first returns for fish caught, commenced in 1878. On 21 January 1879, the Rev. W. Lawes wrote to Sir A. Gordon, High Commissioner for the Western Pacific as follows:

The discovery of quantities of bêche-de-mer along the coast has already led to several vessels going from Australian ports.  The men on board these vessels are of the worst character, and as they have their vessels to escape in there is but little self-interest to induce them to respect native rights. It is from these vessels that difficulties have already arisen with the natives, as reported in the colonial papers. I was resident for three years at Port Moresby and found the natives friendly and amenable to kindly treatment. I visited a great many villages, in most of which no white man had been before. I went along the coast as far as China Straits in our little mission steamer, calling at many places en route. In none of these journeys or voyages was I molested.^[43]

Sir Peter Scratchley, Special Commissioner for the protectorate of British New Guinea noted in his diary as follows:

Wednesday, October 7, 1885. I am satisfied that these traders are often reckless, unscrupulous, brutal, and piratical. They cheat the natives and are apt to appeal to their revolvers. I cannot feel any sympathy for such men. They go where they have no business to. They are a thorn in my side, and I do not think the life of any white man should be risked in avenging their deaths.^[44]

The Rev. W. Lawes, Port Moresby, on 17 September 1885 wrote to the Sydney Morning Herald as follows:

Papers just to hand bring us news of the killing of Captain Frier, at Hoop Iron Bay, Moresby Island. The press as a whole seems to take it for granted that the natives are entirely in the wrong, and that righteousness and justice are entirely on our side, “Murder,” “Massacres,” and “Outrages,” are the chosen headings for calling public attention to events into which no inquiry has been made, and no opportunity for explanation given.

There are some states of society in which lynch law is justifiable. The same plea holds good for club law. There is no other known among the natives of New Guinea. White men who come to New Guinea must be prepared to run some risk in pursuit of the object they have in view. The climate of New Guinea is unhealthy, its people barbarous, and its government club law.

I don’t think there is one case which may not be attributed either to reckless disregard of warning or violation of native rights. Captains Webb and Frier I know personally. The whole course of their lives and treatment of the natives was such that I am not the least surprised at the ending.

I could mention other cases where the intruder had caused things with a high hand, until his career has been suddenly stopped. The public is horrified by another massacre, but know nothing of the line of conduct which has led up to it, and to which a violent death is the natural sequel. The man Read, who was killed at Slade Island, is said to have provoked and irritated the natives by persistently following the women, &c. The ostensible reason for his death was his ill treatment of the boy who ran away and hid himself in the bush, and was believed by his friends to be dead.

I see there have been indignation meetings and a great cry for punishment. By all means; but let it fall upon the guilty men those who for love of greed violated the first principles of civilisation and inhumanity.^[45]

The Rev. Lawes was answered by the well-known New Guinea explorer and writer T. F. Bevan^[46] by a letter to the editor which appeared in the Brisbane Courier as follows:

Rev. W. Lawes, of Port Moresby, apologises on behalf of the native murderers of William Reid, Captain Webb, wife and party, Bob Lumse, Frank Gerret, Captain Frier, and Watkins, and of Captain Fred Miller.

Now audi alteram partem—from one of yourselves. The abovementioned massacres have all taken place, as Mr. Lawes well knows, not within “recent years,” but within this “present” year; not before but all the time after the Mission were entrusted with interpreting and expounding to the natives of New Guinea that “club law” was once and for ever superseded by “British law;” not when the country was destitute of war vessels, but while in some cases ships of war were passing to and fro near to the very spots, and while those who have since been murdered were not—a plague on such insinuations—interfering with native women or violating native rights, but were trembling in their shoes, having heard their own death knell. What time the unnoticed murder of William Reid took place at the Engineer Group in December last—say a month after the protectorate ceremony—and Mr. Chalmers, in HMS Raven, passed by near at hand a few days thereafter, and heard of, but heeded not, the first murder of the new series, and under the British protectorate, namely, murders for plunder, which the natives concluded could be enjoyed with impunity!

So much for Mr. Chalmers as an interpreter, and hater of white settlers! “Disregard of warning” and “violation of native rights” forsooth, and justification of “club law” on the extraordinary grounds that “there is no other law;” extraordinary because his Excellency is now holding his court in New Guinea.

But assuming that Mr. Lawes is correct, and that “club law” is “lord paramount,” what, I would ask, would be done to the white man that exercised it, even in self-defence? Who made Messrs. Lawes and Chalmers judges over those murdered men? When do they reside in or what do they know of the east end of New Guinea, with their snug quarters, solely in Port Moresby, save what they are told by men of colour, who say what they are wanted to say?

And—mark the amazing anomaly—nothing has angered the Mission more than because some have said that the natives have never been made to understand the true character of the protectorate, and nevertheless, a year nearly after the mission were entrusted with interpreting the proclamation of “British law,” Mr. Lawes, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, says, on 6 October last in effect of New Guinea: “Its Government is “club law,” and it has no other law.” If such a statement does not involve gross disrespect to our indefatigable and popular, but sadly hampered Governor, his Excellency Sir Peter H. Scratchley, and disloyalty to Queen and country, I am at a loss to know what would! At all events, its tone will give some idea to the British public generally with what deep felt detestation the Mission is regarded by settlers in New Guinea.^[47]

Chart 5 indicates that in the period 1885-1886, twenty deaths of bêche-de-mer fishers were recorded at the hands of Papuans. This level of fatalities generated a good deal of notoriety and criticism of the protectorate’s administration in their failure to protect white men and their crews who were fishing and trading along the coast of New Guinea. J. Douglas, Special Commissioner for New Guinea, on the progress of the territory during the year 1886 reported that the valuable pearlshell and bêche-de-mer fisheries were now abandoned on account of the numerous murders of those engaged in them, and it was no longer safe for a white man to show his face on the coast.^[48]

The qualitative analysis suggests that the LMS and Scratchley believed the cause of the collisions between Europeans and the Papuans was as a result of the Europeans and their non-white servants provoking the Papuans by breaching their customs, manners and etiquette. The major breaches appeared to be sexual abuse of Papuan women, deceptive trade practices,^[49] and disrespect for cultural sensitivities.

DISRESPECT FOR CULTURAL SENSITIVITIES.

Chart 6 sets out the locations where Europeans were killed by Papuans. The geographical area having the largest number of fatalities was the south east of British New Guinea. During 1884, Queensland labour vessels recruited labourers from this area. In fact, from some of the localities identified in Chart 6 i.e., Mewstone Island and Moresby Island. After a Royal Commission inquiry, it was found that the natives taken from this area had been duped and had never consented to be employed on the cane fields of Queensland as labourers. As a consequence, the Queensland government returned them to their home islands. It seems that through bureaucratic bungling not all labourers were returned, but more importantly, of the deceased labourers, not all family members were compensated with blood money (wergild). These families and their relatives went unrecompensed, and naturally bore a grudge against white man.

In the native mind, all white men belonged to one tribe and, therefore, were jointly and severally liable for the actions of other white men. However, white men did not need to offer a head as compensation but could pay a fine instead of the wergild (a head). Mr. Romilly, Deputy Commissioner, put it this way:

it becomes a matter between natives and white men, it is not held to be absolutely necessary that a white man’s head must be procured before the unquiet spirit can be laid. Heavy payment in trade goods will answer the same purpose. During the last two years two of the murders committed in the south-east, were probably by this omission. As there was no prospect of obtaining compensation, the natives had to take the first white heads they could procure.^[50]

The catch-all phrase “disrespect for cultural sensitivities” might be better understood when viewed from the reality of a white man confronted by an aggressive band of tribesmen brandishing weapons and threatening violence, when Mr. Romilly with characteristic clarity of view, says:

 unless large allowances are made for them by white men trading in their midst, that friendly relations are not likely to continue for long unimpaired. Many a white man has offended their prejudices and done so unconsciously but with serious results to himself. No allowance is made for him by the natives on the score of ignorance. They assume that he is as conversant with their customs and superstitions as they themselves are. Their reasoning faculties are not sufficiently acute to perceive that it is impossible he should be so till he has spent some years of his life amongst them, nor do they possess any abstract idea of justice as we understand the word. The lex talionis they understand, but even in enforcing this law they would prefer two eyes for an eye and two teeth for a tooth.^[51]

Chart 6

SEXUAL ABUSE OF PAPUAN WOMEN BY EUROPEANS.

Again Mr. Romilly will do the honours and clear the air with some straight talking and clear thinking on the matter:

6. It is impossible, while on the subject of the causes which promote quarrels and bloodshed between the two races, to omit the mention of one fruitful cause of disorder and murder. I allude to the intercourse between white men and native women. The question has frequently been discussed before, but I think the tendency in such discussions has generally been to place the white man on too low a pedestal and the native woman on too high a one. To explain my meaning clearly, it will be necessary to say a few words about the position women hold in their tribe, and the estimation in which they are held.

We are apt to fall into the same mistake in our estimate of them as the natives do in their estimate of us. The intimacy of married life, as we understand it, among them does not exist at all. A woman after marriage is as much her husband’s property as his spear or canoe is; she is his slave and must bear his ill-tempers and castigations without complaint. She bears him one child every three or four years, and her services are entirely at his disposal, whether he requires them for himself, or whether he requires them from a feeling of hospitality or profit, for another. She would have no voice in the matter. Virtue with her is generally compulsory, as any deviation from its path would bring her husband’s anger upon her.

In intercourse with white men, it is a matter of daily occurrence that husbands prostitute their wives for their own gain; nor, if the price previously arranged be paid, would any feeling of dishonour or dissatisfaction remain behind. Before marriage the woman is her own mistress. The immorality of her life begins when she is a little child playing about the native villages with other children. When she is grown up, she would not of her own accord solicit white men, as she would be aware that her father or brother would deprive her of any profits which might accrue from such a proceeding. It is also probable that she prefers her own people. But she is frequently ordered by her relations to accept the solicitations of white men, and her future value, matrimonially, is not damaged. It is when white men desire to attain their ends without the intervention of the relations, that claims for compensation are made. If they are refused the quarrel not infrequently ends by the murder of the offending white man.^[52]

In summation, the settlement of British New Guinea was nothing more than colonisation, whether it was with the best intentions or the worst, I suppose is a matter of opinion. But before the reader responds, perhaps a little taste of Adam Smith might sweeten the pot:

The discovery of America, and that of a passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope, are the two greatest and most important events recorded in the history of mankind. Their consequences have already been great… By uniting in some measure, the most distant parts of the world, by enabling them to relieve one another’s wants, to increase one another’s enjoyments, and to encourage one another’s industry, their general tendency would seem to be beneficial. To the natives, however, both of the East and West Indies, all the commercial benefits which can have resulted from those events have been sunk and lost in the dreadful misfortunes which they have occasioned. These misfortunes, however, seem to have arisen rather from accident than from any thing in the nature of those events themselves. At the particular time when these discoveries were made, the superiority of force happened to be so great on the side of the Europeans, that they were enabled to commit with impunity every sort of injustice in those remote countries. But nothing seems more likely to establish this equality of force, than that mutual communication of knowledge, and of all sorts of improvements, which an extensive commerce from all countries to all countries naturally, or rather necessarily, carries along with it.

Each of the five groups of Europeans went to New Guinea for a purpose. The Royal Navy ruled the waves and spent its time policing Oceania. The London Missionary Society went to spread the gospel and save souls. Explorers and collectors went to discover and collect rare specimens and the traders and fishermen went to create wealth. From the above narrative, contact between the foreigners and the indigenous natives resulted in collisions. These collisions involved not only loss and damage to property, but also loss of life. Within the narrative above, there is a collection of probable causes for these collisions. Taken as a whole, do they amount to a hypothesis? Or is it a series of random results arising out of the innumerable collisions?

Speaking broadly, for a group of indigenous people who collectively practised headhunting and cannibalism, where the prey was another human being, perhaps, colonisation and the propagation of the Christian gospel may have been a worthy cause, even though the Papuan got roughed up.

CHAPTER 4 ― COMPARE AND CONTRAST

In the introduction to this book, I referred to my book Bêche-de-mer and the Binghis^[53] and said that the original plan was to have included Aboriginals from the mainland of the colony, Pacific Islanders, Torres Strait Islanders, and the indigenous natives of British New Guinea in a study of marine incidents in Queensland waters and adjacent islands. However, the work became far too extensive to try and reduce to a book of even 500 pages.

Bêche-de-mer and the Binghis dealt with Queensland coastal and reef waters where “it was found that two types of activity emerged from the data, Bêche-de-mer fishers and Other. The category Other consisted of a broad range of activities. However, irrespective of the activity, when a vessel within this group, for whatever reason, found themselves shipwrecked, windbound or with shore parties on the Queensland foreshore or coastal islands, they were attacked by Aboriginals domiciled at the place of anchor or landing.”^[54]

In category Other, for the period 1859 to 1901, there were 20 marine incidents involving Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. From the 20 incidents, (Australian) indigenous natives killed 50 white men and one Aboriginal, as they intercepted shipwrecked mariners or shore parties.[55]

Turning now to the Bêche-de-mer industry, within the relevant period, 75 marine incidents occurred in which 124 persons were killed, murdered or missing at sea by the actions of myall blacks, binghi crews or others.^[56]

Number of Deaths by Cause

Race	Myall	Binghis	Others[57]	Total Killed
European/White	9	32	1	42
Asian	5	10	nil	15
Kanakas	4	5	5	14
Binghis	1	6	46	53

Graph 2 ― Bêche-de-mer Industry (Queensland)

Graph 3 ― Bêche-de-mer Industry (Queensland)

New Guinea Waters

Arising out of the forty-eight marine incidents, one hundred and twenty-four deaths of non-Papuans occurred from physical violence by indigenous natives (Papuans). These non-Papuan deaths are identified as follows:

Deaths per each European Group^[58]

Royal Navy	Missionary	Fishery	Trader	Explorer
nil	6	91	20	7

Chart 1

The statistics suggest from both studies that bêche-de-mer fishers were the most vulnerable group of Europeans who operated vessels in Queensland waters and along the south-eastern coastline of New Guinea and adjacent island waters. The simple reason appears to be because they had the most frequent and intimate contact with each of the indigenous groups.

The reader needs to be aware that there was a significant difference in the way the fishery was conducted in New Guinea waters. The fisher would visit each village and either buy the dried bêche-de-mer from the villager (indigenous native) direct or enter into an exclusive contract with the villager to supply the fisher to the exclusion of all other fishers. Whereas in Queensland, the fisher was forced to employ the Aboriginals as labourers to gather and process the fish, a far greater risk to the fisher.^[59]

CHAPTER 5 ― POSTSCRIPT

This book cannot be completed without mentioning the following incidents, which are outside the scope of the book. However, they need to be included because they belong within the general narrative of white Anglo-Australian colonial rule in New Guinea and its adjacent islands. The two incidents are the massacre of the Rev. James Chalmers and party at Goaribari Island, Western District, and the Nakanai massacre on the north coast of New Britain 120 miles from Rabaul. Chalmers and party were killed in 1901 and the Nakanai incident in 1926.

The Nakanai incident was the subject of an article by Patricia O’Brien which was published in the journal, Australian Historical Studies in 2012.^[60] The article makes no reference to the murder of Rev. Chalmers and party of 1901. She adopted the modern approach to writing Australian colonial history as outlined and prosecuted by Henry Reynolds and others. O’Brien says:

Over recent decades, Australian historiography has focused squarely upon colonial violence, particularly in the form of collective punishment on Australia’s pastoral frontiers. A number of Australia’s most respected historians have convincingly demonstrated how endemic collective punishment was on Australia’s frontiers and how frontier violence was a critical historical measure of Australia’s political, social and cultural constitution. Yet these studies of violence and collective punishment have largely been confined within Australia’s national borders. Pacific historians have also analysed violence in Australia’s colonial contact with Pacific peoples providing either a basis for Australia’s colonial history in the Pacific generally, or New Guinea in particular. Through investigations of corporeal and capital punishments, labour indenturing and its multiplicity of abuses, sexualised violence and discriminatory juridical practices, these historians have variously shown the centrality of these forms of violence to Australia’s colonial history with the Pacific Islands and its inhabitants. However, their analysis has not extended to punitive expeditions. Also, both groups of historians have largely operated in isolation from one another.^[61]

The Rev. James Chalmers and party incident was the subject of an article by Dario Di Rosa which was published in the Journal of Colonialism & Colonial History in spring 2017.^[62] Di Rosa quoted from the O’Brien’s article above. Di Rosa concluded:

In 1904, when the Possession was still a British colony but the transition to an Australian administration was being debated, the (Australian) administrator failed to maintain control of his troops and used dishonourable practices to seize at least one of the “culprits” accused of the original killings, thus undermining the authority and integrity of the colonial state. In an era when Australia was becoming a colonial power in the Pacific, unrestrained violence came to be considered a serious threat to the honour of the state and its duties toward its colonial subjects, marking in Australian public discourses a difference from the supposed “British character” of earlier colonialism.^[63]

Both incidents were covered by Chris Ballard and Bronwen Douglas in their article “Rough Justice:” Punitive expeditions in Oceania.^[64] Their article was an attempt to focus on what they saw as frontier violence in Oceania and then to portray the violence in a way that suggested the colonial power was the aggressor while the indigenous native was the victim of a thoroughly gratuitous military action of suppression and reprisal. The definition of a punitive expedition per Stowell (1921) is:

When the territorial sovereign is too weak or is unwilling to enforce respect for international law, a state which is wronged may find it necessary to invade the territory and to chastise the individuals who violate its rights and threaten its security”.^[65]

The Chalmers incident and the Nakanai incident were within the jurisdiction of the municipal criminal law of British New Guinea and the Territory of New Guinea, respectively. Each incident was a police action to arrest and bring before the courts indigenous natives within the jurisdiction of the police alleged to have murdered other citizens, in particular, white men. Ballard and Douglas describe the incidents as follows:

However, a punitive expedition might have been sanctioned at the outset, official and public approval was often retrospective. “Civilized outrage” in response to the contronym of a “Native outrage” could just as swiftly be turned upon the agents of punishment. The public response to the punitive expedition to the Nakanai in 1926, which had been relabelled an “affray,” precisely and possibly consciously echoed events two decades earlier in British New Guinea: Di Rosa draws a sharp distinction between the reception of the two reprisals for the Chalmers massacre against the Kerewo of Goaribari Island. Whereas the first was understood to be a punitive expedition, conducted on behalf of the state according to established norms, the second, which engaged in deception deemed to be dishonourable (thus directly undermining the moral basis for intervention), was dismissed as an “affray.” This distinction had dire consequences for Christopher Robinson, leader of the second expedition, who committed suicide in anguish over the public indignation at his actions.^[66]

THE MASSACRE OF REV. CHALMERS AND PARTY.

Thursday Island, 22 April 1901. The LMS schooner Niue while anchored off the creek near Risk Point on Goaribari Island, near the mouth of the Omita River, in the eastern part of the western district of BNG, on the 8^th instant, a party consisting of the Rev. Oliver Tomkins, of the London Missionary Society, in charge of the society’s mission in Torres Straits, and James Walker, a half-caste native of Torres Strait, together with the Rev. James Chalmers and nine mission students (natives of this district) and the chief of Akewai village, landed at a small creek, saying they would return in half an hour for breakfast. The Niue remained for the whole of the day, and that night, and as the party had not returned, and the vessel had in the meantime been surrounded by a large number of canoes full of natives, who boarded and stripped her of everything in the shape of tanks, clothes, and trade, the vessel got up sail and cruised round the island, but could see or hear nothing of the party. The captain therefore determined to return to Daru and report what appeared to be a terrible massacre.^[67]

It was described by Kemeri: the signal for a general massacre was given by knocking simultaneously, from behind, both Messrs. Chalmers and Tomkins on the head with stone clubs. This was performed, in the case of the former, by Iake of Turotere; in that of the latter by Arau-u of Turotere. Kaiture, of Dopima, then stabbed Mr. Chalmers in the right side with a cassowary dagger; then Mururoa cut off his head; and Ema cut off Mr. Tomkins’ head. They both fell senseless at the first blow of the clubs. All the heads were immediately cut off. We, however, lost one man, Gahibai, of Dopima. He was running to knock a big man [note this must be Naragi, chief of Ipisia) on the head, when the latter snatched a stone club from a man standing near, and killed Gahibai. He (Naragi) was, however, immediately overpowered. The other boys were too small to make any resistance. In the meantime, the people in canoes left at the Niue returned to shore, after looting her of all the tomahawks, &c. This party was led by Kautiri, of Dopima. Finding the party on shore dead, it was determined to go back to the Niue and kill those on board. However, the Niue got underweigh and left. Then Pakara, of Aimaha, called out to all the people to come and break up the boat, which had been taken right inside the creek, it being high water. This was done; and the pieces were divided amongst people from the various villages. Directly the heads had been cut off the bodies, some men cut the latter up and handed the pieces over to the women to cook, which they did, mixing the flesh with sago. They were eaten the same day. Gebai has got Mr. Chalmers’ head at Dopima, and Mahikaha has got Mr. Tomkins’ head at Turotere. The rest of the heads are divided amongst various individuals. 

The Administrator, Sir George Le Hunte, immediately organised an expedition consisting of several Europeans and 40-armed constabulary, which arrived at Goaribari Island on 2 May 1901 in the Government yacht Merrie England, accompanied by the Ruby, a launch, and the s.s. Parua, a vessel sent by the Queensland Government with a small party of soldiers, to assist. Lieutenant Brown and 10 men of the local Artillery Battery. When the boats reached land at the villages of Dopima and Turotere the natives fired arrows at them; the signal to attack was therefore immediately given, and the boats’ crews instantly opened fire with their rifles. The natives fled, and the punitive party occupied the villages. It was estimated that thirty-four of the natives were killed during these operations. After burning a number of dubus,^[68] destroying 120 of the fighting canoes, and holding a funeral service in memory of the missionaries, the punitive expedition left Goaribari on 6 May 1901 with one prisoner, Kemeri.

 The Administrator, Sir George Le Hunte, returned a second time to Goaribari Island from 1 to 6 March 1902. Prisoner Kemeri vanished. To gain the natives’ confidence, on landing, Le Hunte promised he would take on action against them. He asked for the ringleaders to be handed over and the skulls of Chalmers and Tomkins returned. Only Chalmers’ skull was returned. The ringleaders were about the place but Le Hunte would not take them, as the natives would see it as an act of treachery since he had given his word no harm would come to them.

The Acting-Administrator, Judge C. S. Robinson, Chief Judicial officer, visited Goaribari Island in the Merrie England, Captain R. H. Harvey, with Mr. E. Rothwell as Chief Officer, arriving there on 5 March 1904. Robinson was accompanied by the Resident Magistrate for the Division, with his party of native policemen, seven in number; and by the Commandant of the Armed Native Constabulary with thirty-two native policemen, half of whom were raw recruits. On 6 March, while the ship was lying at anchor between the mainland and Goaribari Island, numerous natives, variously estimated as high as 600, came out to the vessel in their canoes. They seemed to have more confidence than the day before. Some of them came on board to trade with the crew, native weapons being bartered for tobacco, knives, etc. Iake was induced to come on board; Ema had been near the ship in his canoe, but went back to shore. Shortly after the natives came on board, Iake and others were seized. At the same time, the native police fired on the natives, in their canoes, firing arrows at the ship; the firing was joined in by the Acting-Administrator and by a few of the officers and crew. Several natives were killed or wounded and retreated at once. In a few minutes, the firing ceased. 

The report of the Royal Commission (Judge Murray) appointed to inquire into the circumstances attending the affray at Goaribari Island British New Guinea, on March 6, 1904 was tabled in the House of Representatives on 13 September 1904. The findings of the Commission were, inter alia:

Unequivocal treatment of savages necessary to retain their confidence, quite as much as the scrupulous execution of threats.

Whole course of action condemned.

The fault lies with the Judge (Mr. Robinson); but it is one of over-zeal and want of judgment. 

Firing by the Judge at retreating natives was inexcusable, unless, in charity, it be ascribed to temporary loss of self-control due to excitement.^[69] 

The Rev. E. Baxter Riley, writing to Mr. Thomas Pratt, representative of the London Missionary Society in Sydney, said that the Merrie England had been to Goaribari Island, and returned two natives, named respectively Iaki and Kauko, who had been arrested by order of Judge Robinson, the late Administrator, for being concerned in the murders. The natives had been in gaol at Port Moresby, and were liberated on February 18, 1905. Five other men were detained at Daru, on account of the island being quarantined through the existence of whooping cough. Before leaving for home, they were requested to hand over to the Government the skull of the late Mr. Tomkins. This request was complied with, and it was in the possession of Mr. Riley, at Daru. A native at Dopima, a village on the island where the massacre took place, assured the Government officer that the skull was the genuine one, and the authorities were satisfied that this was the case. It was found, upon examination of the skull, that the Rev. Mr. Tomkins was not clubbed, as was at first supposed. There was no fracture, and the skull was perfectly sound. After Mr. Chalmers was clubbed, Tomkins, with a few of the Kiwai (Fly River) boys, made for the whaleboat at top speed, and, whilst running, was shot with arrows in the back, and, as he apparently turned, in the chest, after which he was overpowered.^[70]

My analysis of the Chalmers incident is as follows:

In 1901, Chalmers, with reckless disregard for his own safety and the safety of his party, accepted an invitation from an unknown tribe and went to their island where they were murdered, and subsequently eaten by the offending tribe. The tribe then attacked Chalmers’s ship and looted the ship but allowed it to leave the island.

The Administrator of the colony, together with his police force, visited the island to investigate the matter and was attacked by the offending tribe. The police were ordered to fire on the tribe and a number were killed. The authorities then withdrew.

The following year, 1902, the Administrator, together with police, revisited the offending tribe. A truce was called for the purposes of advising the tribe that the heads of the two white men (Chalmers and Tomkins) had to be returned and the principal offenders had to surrender to police. One skull was returned, nothing else. The tribe (Dopima and Turotere) was then informed that “we have not made friends or done with them yet.”

In 1904, Robinson the current Administrator together with police returned to the island to arrest the offending tribesmen. On arrest, the tribesmen resisted and they were aided and abetted by other tribesmen firing arrows at the police who returned fire killing a number of tribesmen. The arrestees were transported to Port Moresby for trial.

On 20 June 1904, Christopher Robinson, acting Administrator, killed himself by a gunshot wound to the head at Government House, British New Guinea.

A Royal Commission inquired into the matter. The commissioner did not discuss or examine whether the actions of Robinson and the police were within laws of the colony, but found the method or policy of Robinson was immoral in having lured the offending tribesmen onboard his ship for trade purposes and then arresting them. Police duplicity or treachery was not permissible in dealing with rude and uncivilised indigenous natives. If Robinson had given evidence before the Royal Commission, he may have been able to demonstrate that he was within the law in arresting a fugitive from the law and that police were allowed or given wide latitude in bringing fugitives to justice.     

THE NAKANAI MASSACRE.

Rabaul, 17 November 1926. The Nakanai massacre occurred in the district near Talasea on the north coast of New Britain, 120 miles from Rabaul. The District Officer and two assistants with about 30 police proceeded to the scene only to find that of a party of six prospectors, Messrs. N. T. Collins, B. I. Marlay, L. A. Fischer and D. Page were killed; while Britten and Nickols escaped. The District Officer returned to Rabaul and reported the murders and recommended that a large force was necessary to cope with the hostile natives of that district.

Intense excitement was aroused in Rabaul over this affair and the repeated attacks on Europeans in this district. A Citizens indignation meeting was held which passed a resolution and sent a deputation urging the Administrator to allow citizen volunteers to accompany the official expedition, to ensure adequate forces to subdue the district. Permission for this was granted and a force was organised at once under the command of Colonel Walstab, together with the District Officer, two assistants and about sixty police. There were about fourteen-armed citizen volunteers in the party. They were subjected to a night attack under cover of a rainstorm but the attackers were driven off. Three were shot dead and numbers wounded. The report stated that there was evidence in numerous villages of complicity in the massacre. All such villages were burnt and their gardens destroyed.

A Government patrol party was left behind in occupation of the district. The majority of the party returned to Rabaul on the evening of the 17^th. The bodies of the four murdered men (Messrs Collins, Marlay, Fischer, and Page) were recovered and brought to Rabaul. They were accorded a public funeral with military honours.^[71]

The party under Lieut. Col. Walstab with a machine gun section, joined D.D.O Taylor, A.D.O. Ellis, and Dr. Cilento at Tairobi, and arrangements were at once made to enter the hostile area, which was reported to be held by 500 to 700 natives in strong entrenched positions.

On November 7, 1926, the force moved from Tairobi in column, the order being as follows: —1. Guides with D.D.O. Taylor and No. 1 platoon: 2. Machine gun section, under Col Woodman; 3. Advanced dressing station and medical carriers, under Dr. Cilento: 4. No. 2 platoon, under A.D.O. Ellis: 5. Carriers and details; 6. No. 3 platoon. G.O.C. Lieut. Col. Walstab. After two hours march the force was found to be progressing too slowly, and two units were maintained, one a striking force of sections 1, 2, and 3, which moved on rapidly to reach Sinanga,^[72] and to establish a camp, and secondly, a guarded transport force which include the remainder of the party.

The mobile column reached a position in contact with Sinanga a little after noon. They entered Sinanga village finding it deserted. The bodies of Marlay, Collins, and Fischer were lying where they fell, at the village boundary, in the nearest fringe of undergrowth, and a search was at once made for Page. His body was found 43 yards down the slope from the village itself (which is set on a small hill) in a tangle of secondary jungle.

On returning to base camp, it was found that Col. Walstab had arrived and had already established excellent camping grounds. The party, after allotment to alarm posts etc., spent the night at this base preparing to move on the following morning towards Umu. Early on the morning of the 8^th the force moved in two columns towards Umu, meeting a severe obstacle in the shape of a cliff some three miles from Sinanga which had been rendered almost inaccessible by the natives, felling trees across and down the “chimney” that led up its steep sides.

A scouting party was sent forward under Taylor and Ellis to spy out the land. They found Umu full of warriors, but were seen by two native sentries. These gave the alarm and were fired on by the police. An immediate uproar came from Umu. The garamuts were beaten furiously and war cries and cries of defiance and derision hurled across the plain. Neighbouring villages at once took up the signals and from every height and spur garamuts and “sing-sings” were heard. These continued at intervals all the evening and all night until dawn, the interpreters stating that every new burst heralded the entrance of a new party of warriors into Umu entrenchments.

As the form of the enemy was unknown, but thought to be high, it was decided to make an attempt to entice the warriors out from their defences by a display of feeble force, and, failing that, to rush the positions under the protection of a machine-gun barrage directed at keeping the summit clear. A party of ten men or so, with Ellis, showed themselves accordingly, and were at once received with screams, hoots, and wild beating of tom-toms, the natives crying out again and again: ″Come up here, come up here, if you want us. We have killed four of your skin; come up here and die likewise!”

After some time, a short-range burst of machine-gun fire was directed at the hill-top, and falling among the bushes well this side. This aroused only louder hoots and insults. A second burst had a similar effect. The range was therefore lifted to the feet of the natives, and one appeared to fall; the whole of them immediately fled. The Government party at once rushed the heights without resistance, and found the village deserted, only bullet-scarred ground and a few drops of blood marking the site of the congregation of natives half an hour before. It was decided to camp on this spot, and for purposes of defence and visibility, it was necessary to cut back the undergrowth on all sides and to destroy most of the houses. This was accordingly done, and guards set.

The following day at mid-day, during a heavy downpour of rain that drove all shivering to their tents, a sudden warning cry was given, “Kanki i kum.” And a crowd of approximately 120 naked native warriors, who had got to the edge of the clearing mentioned above without being observed, rushed the camp. There was a brisk volleying for some five minutes, with many desultory shots, and the party, which, to the bewildered senses of many of the whites, had never seemed even to come into view, had dashed back in retreat into the undergrowth, and threw themselves down one of their favourite ″funk holes” (an eighty-foot cliff face), and disappeared in the dense bush at foot. Taylor and Ellis with a party at once pursued, but not being natives (or birds), were stopped by the cliff returned, bringing in three dead natives. From the cries that came faintly up the slope, it is supposed several others were killed or wounded also.

On the 14^th the work was complete and ready to be entrusted to the officers of the district and the Government police. On the evening of the 15^th the entire party, without a casualty, had again reached Tairobi, where the s.s. Nusa was awaiting to convey it to Rabaul.^[73]

Arising out of the incident 14 natives were arrested and tried. They were found guilty and sentenced to death. However, their sentences were commuted to 15 years imprisonment.^[74]

---

[1] Brisbane Courier 10 December 1878 p 2.

[2] Brisbane Courier 14 December 1878 p 5.

[3] British New Guinea, Report of 1886 by Special Commissioner, Queensland 1887, Appendix D.

[4] Brisbane Courier 6 August 1888 p 6.

[5] In Australia this school of thought is known as the Black Armband Brigade.

[6] For the purposes of this exercise, the participants are identified as British subjects and Papuan natives and the geographical location is broadly speaking the coastal zone of the south coast of New Guinea and adjacent islands.

[7] Note European in this context may include non-whites acting as servants or agents of whites.

[8] Discoveries & Surveys, Moresby, 1876 p 166. Wagga Wagga Advertiser and Riverine Reporter 10 April 1872 p 3.

[9] A.W. Murray, Cape York, March 11, 1873 https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2726815745/view

[10] Rev Chalmers was murder by natives in 1901 at Goaribari Island, Western District in circumstance of reckless disregard for own safety and that of others.

[11] Queanbeyan Age 9 March 1878 p 3.

[12] Sydney Morning Herald 7 March 1878 p 5.

[13] British New Guinea, Report for 1888, Queensland 1889, Appendix E, p 18. FIFE, WAYNE. “THE BAMPTON ISLAND MURDERS: EXPLORING THE HUMAN FACE OF COLONIALISM IN EARLY PAPUA.” The Journal of the Polynesian Society, vol. 107, no. 3, 1998, pp. 263–86. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20706811. Accessed 14 Dec. 2022.

[14] C. 3617 P 29

[15] C. 3617 P 33

[16] C. 3617 P 34 & 38.

[17] Morning Bulletin 18 Jul 1878 p 4.

[18] Australian Town and Country Journal 25 January 1879 p 16.

[19] Brisbane Courier 13 May 1879 p 2.

[20] The phrase “Exeter Hall” became a metonym for the abolitionist lobby, native sympathiser.

[21] Brisbane Courier 7 June 1879 p 4, abridged.

[22] PMB_1214-15.pdf.

[23] Queenslander 13 November 1880 p 613.

[24] Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser 27 November 1880 p 2. Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser 11 December 1880 p 1120. Brisbane Courier 25 November 1880 p 3.

[25] Albury Banner and Wodonga Express 25 February 1881 p 15.

[26] PMB 1214 Vol 17 p 1.

[27] Brisbane Courier 15 February 1881 p 2

[28] Argus 29 January 1881 p 9, abridged.

[29] Minutes of proceedings of the Intercolonial Conference held at Sydney, January, 1881..

[30] PMB 1214 Vol 9 p 36, abridged.

[31] Fort, G. Seymour & Scratchley, Peter. (1886). British New Guinea: report on British New Guinea, from data and notes by the late Sir Peter Scratchley, Her Majesty’s Special Commissioner, Melbourne p 6 & 12.

[32] GG VOL. XXXVII.] 2 October 1885. [No. 59 p 1163.

[33] Papers relative to Armed Reprisals inflicted upon Natives of various Islands in the Western Pacific by HMS Diamond, GB PP, 1886, 51-Sess. 2.

[34] British New Guinea: report for the year 1887, Victoria, 1888 Appendix J p 41. Griffith, Samuel & Forbes, Henry O & Douglas, John & Gillies, Duncan. (1887). Massacres in British New Guinea: (correspondence respecting, and report of special commissioner upon) Retrieved November 28, 2022, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3105134958

[35] British New Guinea: report for the year 1887, Victoria, 1888 p 9

[36] British New Guinea, Report for 1 July 1897 to 30 June 1898, Queensland 1898, Appendix J p 70.

[37] British New Guinea, Report for 1 July 1891 to 30 June 1892, Queensland 1893, p XIV.

[38] Papua: or, British New Guinea by Murray, John Hubert Plunkett, T. Fisher Unwin, London 1912 p 212, 234.

[39] British New Guinea, Report for 1888, Queensland 1889, Appendix F p 33.

[40] British New Guinea, Annual Report 1886, Queensland 1887, Appendix D p 17.

[41] Ibid., p 25.

[42] Ibid., p 25.

[43] A & P C. 3617, Enclosure in No. 32, p 100.

[44] Australian Defences and New Guinea compiled from papers of Peter Scratchley, by Kinloch-Cooke, Clement, London, Macmillan, 1887 p 337.

[45] Sydney Morning Herald 6 October 1885 p 4, abridged.

[46] H. J. Gibbney, ‘Bevan, Theodore Francis (1860–1907)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bevan-theodore-francis-2991/text4371, published first in hardcopy 1969, accessed online 21 November 2022.

[47] Brisbane Courier 19 January 1886 p 6, abridged.

[48] British New Guinea, Report for 1886, Special Commissioner, Queensland 1887 p 8.

[49] Under paying, not paying, over charging, failing keep a bargain made, defective goods, etc.

[50] British New Guinea, Report for 1887, Special Commissioner, Melbourne 1888 p 35.

[51] Ibid., p 36.

[52] Ibid., p 36.

[53] BÊCHE-DE-MER and the BINGHIS by Paul Dillon, ISBN: 978-0-9946381-4-4, 2022 p 7.

[54] Ibid., p 56.

[55] Ibid., p 57.

[56] Ibid., p 58. Myall blacks and binghi crews are Australian indigenous natives.

[57] Others is a mixed-race category and it cannot be assumed that as a class they were exclusively white men.

[58] Note European in this context may include non-whites acting as servants or agents of whites.

[59] Toil, Travel, and Discovery in British New Guinea by Bevan, Theodore Francis, 1890, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner p 147.

[60] Patricia O’Brien (2012): Reactions to Australian Colonial Violence in New Guinea: The 1926 Nakanai Massacre in a Global Context, Australian Historical Studies, 43:2, 191-209.

[61] Ibid., p 191. This is classic Black Armband Brigade rhetoric, in other words, humbug.

[62] Rosa, D.D. (2017). A Lesson in Violence: The moral dimensions of two punitive expeditions in the Gulf of Papua, 1901 and 1904. Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History 18(1), doi:10.1353/cch.2017.0001.

[63] Ibid., p 9.

[64] Ballard, C., & Douglas, B. (2017). “Rough Justice:” Punitive expeditions in Oceania. Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History 18(1), doi:10.1353/cch.2017.0018.

[65] Stowell, Ellery Cory (1921). Intervention in International Law. Washington, D. C.: J. Bryne & Co pp. 41–42.

[66] Ballard & Douglas, (2017) p 6.

[67] Telegraph 22 April 1901 p 2.

[68] The longhouses of fighting men made of sago-palm. 

[69] Australia. Parliament issuing body, author. (1904). Report of the Royal Commission on the affray at Goaribari Island, British New Guinea on the 6th of March 1904: together with the proceedings, minutes of evidence, and appendices Retrieved November 27, 2022, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2772887973

[70] Daily Telegraph 21 March 1905 p 4.

[71] Papuan Courier 19 November 1926 p 5.

[72] Sometimes spelt Silanga.

[73] Cairns Post 16 December 1926 p 5.

[74] Herald 12 July 1927 p 5. Daily Telegraph 25 November 1927 p 2, Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate 25 November 1927 p 5.