The battle of the major powers in terra incognita

Papua New Guinea’s early settlers still live remote lives in the Highlands, yet the country was centre stage during one of the fiercest campaigns of World War II. The country’s past and present are full of paradoxes.

New Guinea was one of the first land masses to be populated by modern humans who are thought to have arrived from Southeast Asia 50,000-70,000 years ago, via the Indonesian archipelago. Archaeological evidence suggests coastal settlements in Morobe 30,000 years ago and in the PNG Highlands, 20,000 years ago. The country’s present dual name is a result of its complex administrative history pre-independence. Papua is derived from pepuah, a Malay word meaning frizzy hair, and ‘New Guinea’ (Nueva Guinea) is found in the writings of Spanish explorer, Yñigo Ortiz de Retez, who in 1545 noted the people resembled those he saw along the coast of Guinea in West Africa.

Although the Portuguese sighted the territory in 1512, the Dutch East Indies Company first claimed sovereignty over Western New Guinea in 1793 and made a tentative claim on the island. The captains of British ships hoisted several flags but accepted the Netherlands’ claim on the western part of New Guinea. In 1884, the Germans laid claim to the northern part of New Guinea known as German New Guinea. In the Highlands, an arbitrary East/West line was subsequently drawn between German and British New Guinea. This meant the division of New Guinea into three parts:  a Dutch section protecting the eastern edge of the Dutch East Indies, a British quarter where the interest was in keeping the Germans away from Australia and a German section attracted by potential economic gains to be made in the territory. In 1906, British New Guinea became the Territory of Papua administered by a newly-independent Australia.

First contact

The British asked the Australians to occupy German New Guinea when World War I (1914-1918) broke out. At the 1920 League of Nations conference which carved up colonial territories among the victors of the war, Australia was given a mandate to occupy the former German New Guinea. In the 1930s, white men first made contact with people in the interior in their search for riches such as gold.  

One of the fiercest campaigns of World War II (1939-45) occurred in New Guinea where 200,000 Japanese, Australian and American soldiers died. War relics are still littered throughout the country, especially in PNG’s outer islands: from Japanese barge tunnels in Rabaul ,  East New Britain, to the shell of a Japanese plane perched on a cliff top in Bougainville. After World War II, the Territory of Papua and New Guinea combined.

PNG became an independent nation on 16th September 1975 with Michael Somare as the nation’s first Prime Minister. He was re-elected as PM in 2002 and 2007 for the National Alliance Party. The Parliament has 109 Members. The country is divided into 19 provinces, including the Autonomous Province of Bougainville, formed in 2001, and the National Capital District (Port Moresby). Each province is given grants by the National Government for undertakings such as infrastructure and its maintenance, health, education, agriculture, town planning, forestry and business development. PNG remains part of the British Commonwealth represented by a Governor General, currently Michael Ogio.

Provincial and clan identities are both strong (the country has over 800 languages although pidgin is widely understood) and in the past the difficulties of governing a country with such a diverse population was reflected in the frequent votes of  no confidence in governments elected using a first-past-the-post voting system. Electoral reforms brought in a Limited Preferential Vote system (LPV), which was first used in the 2007 parliamentary elections, offering more proportional representation and an improved degree of political stability.

Parliamentary elections are slated to take place in June 2012 and the new government will be faced with the big challenge of managing the revenue from companies the world over who are vying for the country’s minerals and other huge resources in the best interests of Papua New Guineans.

A land of many faces

Vast tracts of the country are wild and undeveloped. The Owen Stanley Range, a massive central spine in mainland PNG, has peaks towering over 4,000 metres. Rivers begin their journey to the sea from these mountains, among them the mighty Sepik River and Fly River waterways. On the mainland, there are also fertile coastal plains, flooded delta regions and mangrove swamps, sandy beaches, colourful sheltered bays and dense rainforest.

The country’s pristine rainforests are home to some 700 species of birds, including parrots, pigeons, hornbills (kokomos) and cassowaries (Papua New Guinea’s largest bird), but best known is the brilliantly coloured bird of paradise. Thirty-eight of the 43 known bird of paradise species can be found in PNG, including the rare Blue and the Raggiana varieties. The world’s largest butterfly – the Queen Alexandra Birdwing – is also native to Oro Province, with a wingspan that reaches up to 30 centimetres. Native mammals include bats and marsupials such as tree kangaroos, forest wallabies, Cus Cus and echidnas (spiny anteaters).  Papua New Guinea is also especially famous for its stunning orchids. Over two-thirds of the world’s known species are found here, and new varieties are still being discovered.

The Bismark Sea of the outer island provinces of West New Britain and East New Britain has some of the best diving in the world, says owner of a diving business, Alan Raabe, with previously undiscovered marine life forms continually being found on the reefs, and some of the world’s rarest shells.

Rabaul’s Tuvurvur volcano soars from the sea on East New Britain. It last erupted in 1994 covering the buildings in thick black ash and turning it into a ghost town. Kokopo is now the province’s new capital. With its swaying coconut trees and white sand atolls, the Autonomous Province of Bougainville has a sleepy feel. Both land and seascapes of PNG are as diverse as its people. 

Debra Percival & Malum Nalu