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– i

Living

Fixed Abodes

Spirits with



ii – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes

LivingSpirits



– iii

The Masterpieces Exhibition

Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery

Barry Craig, Mark Busse, Soroi Eoe

Editor

Barry Craig

Photography

David Becker, Anthony L. Crawford

Fixed Abodeswith

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI’I PRESS

HONOLULU



iv – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes

A CHP Production

Published in the United States of America by

University of Hawai’i Press

2840 Kolowalu, Honolulu, Hawai’i 96822-1888

www.uhpress.hawaii.edu

Published and designed in Australia by

Crawford House Publishing Australia Pty Ltd

14 Dryandra Drive

Belair SA 5052 Australia

www.crawfordhouse.com.au

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication data has been applied for.

ISBN 978-0-8248-3151-6

Copyright © 2010 Barry Craig, Mark Busse and Soroi Eoi

Design and layout by Jenny Crawford and Barry Craig

Cover design by Maureen MacKenzie, MSquared Design

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording

or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.

Printed in China by Great Wall Printing Company limited

13 12 11 10 4 3 2 1



– v

Contents

Foreword Sir Michael Somare vii

Preface Thierry Bernadac and Jacques-Olivier Manent viii

Acknowledgements Barry Craig ix

Maps x

Chapter 1 Introduction Barry Craig 1

Chapter 2 Short History of the Papua New Guinea National Museum Mark Busse 5

Chapter 3 The Work of the National Museum Mark Busse 15

Chapter 4 The Role of the National Museum in Contemporary Papua New Guinea

Society Soroi Marepo Eoe 19

Chapter 5 The Masterpieces Exhibition Barry Craig 25

Appendix 1 Functions of the National Museum and Art Gallery 253

Appendix 2 Ethnographic Collections of the National Museum Barry Craig 254

Bibliography 265

Sources of Illustrations 276

Sources of Masterpieces 277

Index of Masterpieces 278

General Index 280



vi – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes



– vii

Foreword

by the Prime Minister the Right Honourable Sir Michael T. Somare, GCMG CH KStJ

With my interest in, and long association

with, the National Museum and Art Gallery of

Papua New Guinea, it gives me great pleasure

to be involved once again in the promotion

of Melanesian art and culture by making a

few remarks in this outstanding publication,

Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes.

As the founding Prime Minister, and in the

course of Papua New Guinea’s thirty years of

nationhood, I have been concerned about

the conservation, preservation and docu-

mentation of our rich heritage and the evolu-

tion of our art and culture in today’s rapidly

changing world.

My concern in part is that our children

must be empowered with the knowledge

that we are a diverse nation of people and

can build a great future on the richness of

our cultures, art forms and traditions. Byknowing and understanding our past we can

set the course for where we want to be in the

future.

In the present age of increased commu-

nication and technological advancements,

the peoples of the world are discovering

the existence and uniqueness of one anoth-

er. Always there will be quests into human

history. People have always searched their

past to give meaning and add value to their

existence. It is thus important that we also

preserve information on our past so our chil-

dren can enrich their existence in the future.

Our people and our children must learn

that though we are all Melanesians, our ways

of life can differ greatly from village to vil-

lage. This fact is noticeably manifested in our

art and artefacts. Only through knowing our

differences can we live in harmony with one

another and understand why our neighbour-

ing ethnic groups make certain choices that

otherwise would appear to be beyond com-

prehension.

Tolerance comes about through under-

standing. It is important for our people and

their children to understand why some of

their ancestors built sacred houses and

adorned them with spirit masks. They must

be able to access information on why others

tattooed their bodies and what these tattoos

mean. They must know who their traditional

trading partners were and how these trading

relationships can be improved, strengthened

and adapted to suit their future environment

and needs.

My other concern is that we are driven

today by economics and providing the basic

essential services to our rapidly growing pop-

ulation. Though important, the preservation,

conservation and documentation of our his-

tory may continue to be regarded as second-

ary to the basic needs of our people. Thereinlies the contradiction. So many indigenous

societies are struggling to get on their feet

and feel a real sense of loss because their

past has been erased forever.

Papua New Guinea is fortunate in so

many ways. Our late colonisation has protect-

ed us from many atrocities that have been

committed against indigenous peoples all

over the world. Many of our cultures and tra-

ditions are still alive because contact with the

outside world was so recent. For these rea-

sons we must preserve our identity so that

our future generations do not experience

the sense of loss that many other indigenous

peoples feel. With the richness of our diverse

heritage we can stand tall among all other

existing cultures of the world.

Given the reality of our current financial

limitations, we must find innovative ways to

inspire our young people to preserve our

heritage and keep it alive and dynamic. It

would be sad in years to come to see our chil-

dren perform dances that are meaningless

because their parents have not passed onto

them the reason behind why a certain dance

is performed. A people are just people if they

do not know their story.

For this reason I acknowledge a debt of

gratitude for the contributions of Sir William

MacGregor, Sir Hubert Murray and other

colonial administrators who, for the purpose

of establishing a future museum in this coun-

try, collected artefacts that are no longer

being made today but have been replaced

through the introduction of a new technol-

ogy and a new way of life.

There is much work to be done in giving

these items, that have been collected and

kept for us, their proper place by ensuring

that they are identified, classified and pre-

served for posterity.

Formerly in our country everything waspassed down by word of mouth. Secrets and

rites were passed down through family lines

in the haus tambaran or through myths and

legends. We must preserve some of this infor-

mation by adapting to today’s modern tech-

niques.

I commend the initiative of the National

Museum and Art Gallery in conceiving this

project to publish information relating to

the cultural treasures represented by the

Masterpieces Exhibition; and I am deeply

grateful to the French Government for sup-

porting this project financially through its

Embassy in Papua New Guinea.

We are living in the age of information

and our oral history can now be preserved

in writing. I cannot stress enough the impor-

tance of documenting our history, be it mu-

sic, architecture or folklore. Generations to

come will find usefulness in this information.

They will be grateful that their forebears had

the insight to document their history.

Foreword



viii – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes

It is a great honour for France through its

Embassy in Port Moresby to be associated

with the publication of Living Spirits with

Fixed Abodes: The Masterpieces Exhibition

of the Papua New Guinea National Museum

and Art Gallery. We would like to thank Tony

Crawford of Crawford House Publishing

for the edition of this book, Barry Craig of

the South Australian Museum and former

curator of the Papua New Guinea National

Museum and Art Gallery for the writing of the

Introduction and Catalogue, Mark Busse of

the University of Auckland for his summary

of the history and functions of the Museum,

David Becker for the quality of the photos

and Soroi Eoe, Director of the Papua New

Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery,

for his chapter on the role of the National

Museum and, above all, for his collaborationthroughout the implementation of this

project.

Papua New Guinea is a country with over

800 spoken languages, often considered as a

real obstacle for its economic development

and its administration, but certainly not for

the richness of its cultural diversity. One who

travels through the highlands and the islands

of Papua New Guinea is always struck by the

cultural differences among the communities,

some showing great dexterity at wood

carving, others at painting, usually with the

use of bright colours, others still at music, and

so forth. Those differences are also expressed

through dancing, costumes and headgear,

masks, tattoos and all sorts of ceremonies

enjoyed by the tourists visiting Papua New

Guinea.

Many books have already been published

on the arts and traditions of Papua New

Guinea, especially by German scholars (for

the New Guinean part of the country) and

British, Australian and American researchers.

France was involved at an early stage

through some of the Catholic missions in

Papua New Guinea and, after the SecondWorld War, through the links established

between the Musée de l’Homme in Paris and

some communities in the Sepik and Morobe

provinces. However, this book is certainly the

first of its kind for the extensive coverage of

most provinces and the number of photos.

Although Papuan New Guinean artifacts

have a great aesthetic value through their

shapes and colours, they also have a spiritual

dimension deeply rooted in the ethos of their

community. The texts accompanying the

photos aim at rendering the specific ritual

meaning of artifacts and strongly contribute

to the interest of this book.

The publication of this work was made

possible through a grant from the French

Government within the framework of the

Treaty of Cooperation and Friendship signed

between the Governments of France and

Papua New Guinea in 1995. We would like

to acknowledge the role of the Secrétariat

Permanent pour le Pacifique in Paris,

especially its former Director from 1996

to 2002, Mr. Garrigue-Guyonnaud, and the

Agence Francaise de Développement for

their assistance in this most valuable project.

Thierry Bernadac

Ambassador of France in Papua New Guinea

(1999-2004)

Jacques-Olivier Manent

Ambassador of France in Papua New Guinea

(2005- )

Preface



– ixAcknowledgements

It would be unlikely that any one person

would have sufficient knowledge of the

large number of Papua New Guinea cultures

to write a catalogue of the Masterpieces

Exhibition without assistance from others.

This catalogue has benefited immensely

from the work of many researchers

from many countries, but of course their

information comes from the large number

of Papua New Guineans who have accepted

these researchers into their communities,

their houses and their lives, and shared their

knowledge. This catalogue is an opportunity

to give back to those Papua New Guineans

and their descendants at least something of

the heritage of their ancestors.

Inevitably there are uncertainties and

perhaps even mistakes in the information

provided. On behalf of the researchers whohave provided the information, and of the

authors of this book, I apologise for this.

We have done our best but should anyone

be able to contribute to a more accurate

account, the editor and authors of this book,

and the staff of the National Museum, will be

pleased to receive corrections and additions

to add to the database of the objects in the

Masterpieces Exhibition.

An expression of gratitude is first due to

the many authors who have been referred

to in the text; their names appear in the

bibliography. Without their published works,

precious little would be known outside the

communities of origin about many of the

pieces in the Exhibition.

Many other researchers responded to

email requests for information and gave

generously of their time in doing so. These

people include Albert G. van Beek, Ross

Bowden, Helen Dennett, Pat Edmiston, Ossie

Fountain, Steven Frost, Godfried Gerrits, Mike

Gunn, Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin, Bernard

Juillerat, Christian Kaufmann, Anthony Meyer,

Anthony Mulderink, Roger Neich, Philippe

Peltier, Eva Raabe, Paul Roscoe, Thomas

Schultze-Westrum, Meinhard Schuster,

Dirk Smidt, Glenn Summerhayes, Pamela

Swadling, Jürg Wassmann, Robert Welsch

and Dadi Wirz.

Library and archival research was

facilitated by Jill Evans of the South

Australian Museum Library; staff of the

Special Collections, Barr Smith Library of

the University of Adelaide; Steven Miller,

archivist of the Art Gallery of New South

Wales; and staff of the PNG National Museum,

especially Sebastian Haraha, John Dop

and Francis Bafmatuk. Reproductions ofarchival photographs were facilitated by Jan

Brazier (Australian Museum), Paul Dalgleish

(Australian Archives), Fran Jury (South

Australian Museum) and Virginia Lee-Webb

(Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Waltraud Schmidt patiently translated

many papers published in German and

without that the text would have been

considerably impoverished. I am most

grateful to have had her professional

assistance in this matter.

I was first asked to participate in this

project in April 2002 and I was able to spend

a week and a half at the National Museum

in June, at the end of a seven-week field

trip in Papua New Guinea financed by the

South Australian Museum. Crawford House

Publishing Australia paid for my fare to Papua

New Guinea in 2003 to do another three

weeks research at the National Museum;

the National Museum paid for meals and

accommodation for both periods totalling

nearly five weeks; and the South Australian

Museum allowed me to spend a considerable

proportion of my work time for well over a

year on this project.

Jim Specht read through the entire text

and gave innumerable valuable suggestions

to improve its accuracy and readability, but

any failings are the responsibility of the

authors and editor.

Most of the photographs of the exhibits

were provided by David Becker, facilitated

by the generous grant from the French

Government. Tony Crawford provided

additional photography at my request.

The Director of the PNG National Museum

permitted me to access and select images

from the photographic archives of theMuseum, especially those thousands of

photographs taken by me in 1981-83 while

I was Curator of Anthropology there, to give

context to the exhibits. Other people also

provided images and they are acknowledged

in the captions. Jenny Crawford stalwartly

dealt with the large number of changes to

text and layout leading up to the stage of

final printer’s proofs.

Finally I wish to thank my wife, Gillian

Perchard, for giving me leave of absence from

family reponsibilities during two periods

spent in Port Moresby researching the

objects in the Masterpieces Exhibition, and

for daily support during the long period of

researching, writing and editing; and to thank

our son, Sai, for picking up some extra duties

during my absence.

Barry Craig

Acknowledgements



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Introduction – 1

The Masterpieces Exhibition at the Papua

New Guinea National Museum and Art

Gallery is intended to show Papua New

Guineans, and overseas residents and visitors,

some of the finest examples of the traditional

cultural heritage of the country.

Although there are some societies in

Papua New Guinea where it is clear there were

‘master’ carvers or painters, sometimes with

apprentices (for example, see Beier and Aris

1975; Beran 1996), most sculptures, paintings,

war shields, masks and the like were made

by people only a little more distinguished in

their skills than their fellow villagers. Therefore

it seems more appropriate to think of the

exhibition not as one of ‘masterpieces’ but

of places where the spirits dwell. For Papua

New Guineans, this is the most important

characteristic of such works.

Inevitably there are gaps in the exhibition

because some cultures are poorly represented

in the collections of the Museum, all the

significant examples having been removed

from the country long before the Papua New

Guinea Public Museum and Art Gallery was

established by legislation in 1954. In some

cases, skilfully made objects from the 1960s

and 1970s have been included to provide

representation from such areas. There also appears to be an over-

representation of objects from the Sepik

River region, partly because over a quarter

of Papua New Guinea’s language groups

are located in that region, and remarkable

objects could still be found there even in

the 1980s and, indeed, at the present time.

Further, there are many cultural groups in

Papua New Guinea that do not produce

artistically notable objects; instead, their

creative energies are manifested in songs,

stories and ceremonies that cannot be

preserved as objects in a museum. One of

the National Museum’s sister institutions,

the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies, is

charged with recording and preserving such

works (see Niles and Webb 1987 and Kulele:

Occasional Papers on Pacific Music and Dance).

The Masterpieces Exhibition was first

set up during 1979-80 using 120 objects

displayed under multi-coloured lighting

as individual art works with no apparent

relationship to one another (TNMAG 1980:

12th and 13th pages). The designer of the

exhibition apparently did not invite any

assistance or advice from the anthropology

department. The exhibition had no

discernible structure and the information

provided for each object was minimal and

sometimes incorrect.

In November of 1980, earthquake

damage to the roof of the museum building

resulted in extensive and serious leakage

problems when the wet season commenced.

The exhibition area had to be cleared until

the roof could be repaired. The repairs

were accomplished over the following ten

months and during that time, as Curator of

Anthropology, I undertook to expand and

structure the exhibition, within the limits of

the modest funds that were made available.

The revised exhibition was opened byMichael Somare in September 1981.

There are now over 200 pieces on display

and most of the objects have been grouped

into several general categories of function

– watercraft, architecture, household items,

gardening and fertility figures, hunting and

warfare, musical instruments, masks, and

funerary objects.

Some individual objects do not sit

comfortably in any of these categories

and have been allocated according to

the principle of ‘best fit’. Also, the original

exhibition included a few objects from the

Chapter 1 Introduction

Barry Craig

western half of New Guinea (then known as

Irian Jaya, now confusingly named ‘Papua’

and therefore in this book referred to as

‘[West] Papua’). These objects were retained

to demonstrate the continuity of New Guinea

cultures across the international border.

The information on the labels for the

objects in the exhibition remains minimal.

The main purpose of this book is to provide

additional information in association with

images of the exhibits.

Melanesian cultural heritage as art

It was only about eighty years ago that

European scholars began to refer to

particular artifacts made by tribal peoples

as ‘art’ (Goldwater 1967: 7-9). Previously, all

such objects were treated like natural history

specimens in museums and prior to that

they were thought of as ‘curiosities’. Artists

such as Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh

recognised the aesthetic qualities of tribal

artifacts on display at the Paris Exposition

of 1889 and half a century later Robert

Goldwater published his ground-breaking

thesis, Primitivism in Modern Art . Goldwater

later became the Director of the Museum

of Primitive Art (Nelson A. Rockefeller

Collection) in New York, founded in 1954 (as

was the PNG Public Museum and Art Gallery)

and opened in 1957. This museum was later

incorporated into the Metropolitan Museum

of Art in New York.

But, just as there has been no agreement

in the Western world of what ‘art’ is, and what

relevance aesthetics has to the concept, so

there is confusion about what constitutes

art among tribal peoples, few of whom

have a word that suggests anything like the

various meanings of the word in European

languages.



2 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes

about the objects produced by them? And

what can be said in this book that will be

useful to all readers – Papua New Guineans

as well as those people of other cultures

and places? This book has the task of saying

something to both categories of readers.

Except perhaps for some among the

youngest generation who have grown up in

urban centres and been educated in overseas

schools, Papua New Guineans don’t have to

read about how they see the world and what

place traditional objects have in that world.

Information about the identity of objects,

such as where they have come from, who

made them, what they have been used for

and the names by which they are known,

would, however, most likely be of interest

to them. The kinds of spirits that inhabited

these works also are of interest to Papua

New Guineans. For others, it will be necessary

to say something here about what may be

considered art works in Papua New Guinea,

how such works relate to material culture

generally, and what is their significance in the

context of daily life.

Papua New Guineans, just like Europeans,

produce works of sculpture, painting,

architecture, music, song, dance and so forth.

Europeans agree among themselves thatonly some of these products are works of art

but differ widely on what criteria they use

to differentiate art from non-art. Papua New

Guineans do not engage in such debates.

What is important to them is the difference

between objects (or works in other media)

that are inhabited by spirits and those that

are not. A magnificent sculpture or awesome

building is merely a piece of wood or a shelter

until such time as the appropriate ritual has

induced the habitation of the work by a spirit

(Hauser-Schäublin 1976/77; for translation see

Hauser-Schäublin 1983). Whether the carving

is well done or not, a spirit can be called to

inhabit it; whether the building is newly-built

and sound, or falling to pieces, it can be the

dwelling place of a spirit.

Whereas Europeans practise their arts in

various media more-or-less as separate art

forms (sculpture, painting, poetry, music and

so forth), Papua New Guineans bring to bear

all their art forms in the great ceremonies

whose themes encompass healing, marriage,

fertility, harvests, initiation, hunting, warfare

and death.

Of course, many objects are created

outside the context of the great ceremonies

– household items, tools, weapons, canoes,

cooking pots, body ornaments, musical

instruments, and so forth – but ‘even those

carry numerous and constant allusions to

themes whose primary expression is found at

the ceremonies’ (Schwimmer 1990: 10).

A large component of these great

ceremonies is ritual activity. Erik Schwimmer

agrees (ibid.: 7) with Claude Lévi-Strauss’s

distinction (1962: 38-44)

between ritual (and myth) on the one

hand and art (and play) on the other. Ritual

claims to have as its end result a kind of

preordained equilibrium corresponding

to certain conditions of life that are fixedand unalterable. This fixity of outcomes is

absent from both art and play, where there

must exist a plurality of possibilities and

an unpredictable course of events.

Schwimmer (ibid.: 8-9) points out that ‘it

is only in a very l imited sense that [the] great

ceremonies can be said to have a fixed and

unalterable outcome’ and cites Alfred Gell’s

study of the Umeda ceremonies of the Border

Mountains in West Sepik Province. Although

the ida performances were intended to

promote the increase of sago, the participants

made statements and acted in ways that

Apparently not bothered by this lack of

clarity, scholars of tribal art continue to add

to the considerable library of works on the

subject. We have books on the art of Africa,

of pre-Columbian America and of Oceania.

In the latter field we have books on the art

of Easter Island, of the New Zealand Maori,

of Vanuatu, New Britain and New Ireland. For

New Guinea, scholars have identified the ‘art

styles’ of a number of areas, commencing at

the ‘Bird’s Head’ of western New Guinea and

working through the island in a more-or-

less clockwise manner (Bühler, Barrow and

Mountford 1962: 97-137).

Within certain ‘art-rich’ areas, several art

style provinces have been identified; for

example, Alfred Bühler’s six ‘art provinces’

of the Sepik region (Bühler 1960), Douglas

Newton’s thirteen ‘art styles’ of the Papuan

Gulf (Newton 1961), Simon Kooijman’s

four ‘style areas’ of southern New Guinea

(Kooijman 1956), and Dirk Smidt’s four

‘style regions’ of south-west New Guinea

(Smidt 1993). Other scholars have provided

a classification according to form and have

tried to link these styles to prehistorical

movements of peoples and their cultures,

such as in Felix Speiser’s six styles for

Melanesia (Speiser 1966).What is striking about these analyses is

that they favour sculpture, primarily wood

carvings, and only occasionally refer to

paintings or work in other materials. Part

of the explanation for this bias may be that

Westerners trace their cultural ancestry back

to ancient Greece and the ‘art works’ that have

most noticeably survived the millenia are the

sculptures. But all this is largely irrelevant to

Papua New Guineans.

If European ways of seeing the world are

inadequate for understanding how Papua

New Guineans see things, how do we talk



Introduction – 3

is ancillary; the manifestation or

production of unusual (or provocative)

images evidences uncanny power, and

power in the world is apprehended

through the presence of such

manifestations or appearances. The

images can be those of the celestial

bodies and their movements, as in the

archaic and little-remembered calendric

system; those of unusual natural objects

or events; or those of the coordinate

spectacle of a ‘singsing’ performance.

Meaning, and ultimately power, comes

from the successful penetration –

experiencing and exhausting – of images,

a process that … can be accomplished

only by confrontation and ‘seeing for

yourself’.

Shirley Campbell, in her detailed andexemplary analysis of the designs carved and

painted on the prows and splashboards of

Trobriand Islands (specifically Vakuta Island)

kula canoes, summarises (2002: 149-50):

The design units on the kula prow

and splashboards are fundamentally

about the representation of desired

characteristics seen in the natural world

to be ‘successful’. The ‘animals’ used for

representation on the boards are enlisted

for the success of a kula expedition. This is

marked by the board’s ability to woo kula

partners and bring home shell valuables.

With the multiplicity of representations

on the prow and splashboards, together

with special beauty magic and the magic

to protect the canoe from possible

dangers encountered at sea, the kula

expedition is guaranteed success in the

minds of Vakutans; that is, as long as the

magic is more powerful than anyone

else’s and is efficacious enough to distract

or deter the dreaded ‘women’ [witches].

Ann Chowning, in a paper on the painted

designs of the Lakalai of West New Britain,

reports that designs called tataro are painted

on the face and on masks, on shields and

on canoes (1983: 95), and are often inspired

by close observation of things and natural

processes around them. She says, ‘some

artists are exceptionally interested in nature’

(ibid.: 97) and provides an image (Fig. 15)

of one of the painters, Bagou, ‘watching an

insect new to him with intense interest’. She

goes on to state (ibid.: 101):

On the whole, what gives rise to new

designs is a new or unexpected sight – a

previously unnoticed marking on a bird,

fish or bu tterfly, or leaf, or a break in the

usual shape or appearance of things.

Another source of new designs is the

spirit world, ‘as when a dreamer finds himself

watching spirits dance or sees them wearing

masks of an unknown design’ (Chowning

1983: 93). The word tataro:

may come from … taro ‘to change shape’

which appears in the name of a spirit

called tarogolo (golo = ‘to deceive’) that

takes on the shape of particular human

beings, disguising itself as a friend or lover

(ibid.: 95).

There is therefore a clear relationship

between these Lakalai designs and the worldof the spirits. Indeed, when men with painted

faces, or wearing masks bearing the painted

designs, perform at the ceremonies, they

are not merely representing spirits, they are

spirits. This is a universal belief in Melanesia.

Ironically, the enthusiasm of fundamentalist

Christians for banning or destroying

traditional cults and ceremonies, and the

objects associated with them, testifies to

the power of this belief, held even by the

Christians themselves.

When Sir Michael Somare, the present

Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea,

indicated the performances ‘went altogether

beyond that theme … the dancing, masks,

and body paintings were not “translatable”

into the theme of sago increase’. Schwimmer

adds that this untranslatability makes it

possible for the ceremonies to ‘convey quite

a variety of meanings to different observers

… or they may convey many meanings

simultaneously’.

Thus this indefiniteness of outcomes or

plurality of possibilities is the aspect of the

activity that is ‘art’. The relationship of the

standard ritual performance (as recounted

by the actors) to the actual event is like

that between a European music score and

an actual performance. It is the degree of

freedom allowed to the performers that

makes art possible.

Schwimmer elaborates (ibid.:11):

no initiatory performance could be

wholly successful unless it was aided

by the audience’s ‘inferential walks’ and

constructs of ‘possible worlds’.

and

Papua New Guinea art often stands in a

mimetic relation to nature, not only when

it imitates movements, colors, and habits

perceived in nature, but also when it

seeks, by its constructed images, to reveal

hidden truths about nature.

And what this truth is, is knowledge of the

spirits. Schwimmer tells us that the Orokaiva

term for initiation is embahi kiari – ‘seeing the

spirits’.

In his analysis of the social and ritual life

of the Barok of New Ireland, Roy Wagner

(1986: 221) summarises ‘the esoteric world

of power and meaning that both vivifies and

mystifies the Barok’ in words concordant with

the gist of Schwimmer’s analysis:

It is a world of image, in which verbal

capability, however ultimately necessary,




development and cultural institutions in

Papua New Guinea, he wrote:

We now have a National Museum and Art

Gallery. These house our heritage. Some

of our most valuable pieces of artwork

are outside our country. I would ask you

all to cooperate with us in returning our

ancestral spirits and souls to their homes

in Papua New Guinea. We view our masks

and our art as living spirits with fixed

abodes. [Mead 1979: xv]

was Chief Minister (before Independence

was gained on 16 September 1975), he

sent a message to members of the Pacific

Arts Association, meeting at McMaster

University, Hamilton, Ontario. In the context

of a consideration of the role of cultural



Short History of the Papua New Guinea National Museum – 5

Chapter 2 Short History of the Papua New Guinea

National Museum

Mark Busse

The history of the Papua New Guinea

National Museum and Art Gallery is a

history of transformation from a colonial

institution based on European ideas to a

Papua New Guinean institution based on

Papua New Guinean concepts and values.

This transformation involved a change in

the museum’s goals and rationale. The first

museums in Papua and New Guinea were

established to preserve objects from cultures

that were believed to be disappearing. In

the lead-up to Independence, the museum

shifted its emphasis to documenting and

protecting Papua New Guinea’s cultural

heritage and encouraging contemporary

cultural expression. This shift occurred

because the nation’s leaders believed that

recognition and respect for indigenous

cultural expression in all its forms would

be an essential part of Papua New Guinea’s

national identity. These changes were

paralleled by changes in staff as Papua New

Guineans replaced expatriates and colonial

officers at all levels in the museum.

The British New Guinea Official

Collection1

The idea of a museum in what is now Papua

New Guinea dates to 12 October 1889 whenAnthony Musgrave, Government Secretary

for British New Guinea, wrote to the Chief

Secretary in Queensland (Australian Archives,

Series G31) proposing that a museum be

built in Port Moresby. He added that the

Lieutenant-Governor, Sir William MacGregor,

has on more than one occasion referred

to the importance of beginning the

formation of a local collection of

Ethnographic objects at Port Moresby. In

some districts articles that were at one

time of intrinsic interest and common

among the aborigines have already

disappeared, and it is daily becoming

more difficult and expensive to obtain

‘curiosities’ of value.

MacGregor did not support Musgrave’s

initiative, not because he opposed the idea of

a museum but because he thought that the

colony could not afford it. In August of that

year, he had already arrived at an agreement

with the Queensland Museum that the British

New Guinea ‘official collection’ would be

cared for and displayed in that institution.

MacGregor collected both cultural

objects and natural history specimens

during his many official travels between

1888 and 1898. In all, he collected and sent

to Brisbane around 10,800 objects from

178 different places in British New Guinea

during the decade that he was Lieutenant-

Governor. In 1897, around 2550 ‘duplicates’

were distributed to the Australian Museum,

the National Museum of Victoria and the

British Museum, leaving around 8250 items

in Brisbane (Quinnell 2000: 88, 91). Since

he collected many of these objects at the

time of first contact between Papua New

Guineans and Europeans, MacGregor’s

‘official collection’ is a unique sample of

Papua New Guinea’s material culture at

the very beginning of the colonial period(ibid.: 83-8).

MacGregor wanted to make a collection

that was representative of the full range of

objects and peoples of British New Guinea

and, reinforcing what Musgrave had written,

he stressed the importance of doing this

before these objects disappeared. In a lecture

in 1885 he had noted the salutary lessons

of Fiji and Hawai’i where colonial officials

neglected to collect material culture until,

as he put it, it was ‘too late’ (MacGregor

1897: 88). In 1889, after his first trip away

from Port Moresby, MacGregor noted that

it was already difficult to obtain stone axes

(Joyce 1971: 129).

He explained the purpose of his official

collection in a letter dated 12 October 1895

to the Governor of Queensland (Despatch

55/1895 QSA: GOV/A31):

The collection belonging to this colony

has been made with the object of its

possessing a full set of arms, utensils,

products of different kinds etc. as would

illustrate its past and present position in

the future.

Despite his stated goal of making a

representative collection, the largest part

of MacGregor’s collection came from what

today are Oro and Milne Bay provinces, with

comparatively fewer objects from Central,

Gulf and Western provinces. This imbalance

probably reflects the fact that people in the

coastal areas of Central, Gulf and Western

provinces already had considerable contact

with Europeans in the 1880s, and so it was

‘too late’ to collect the kinds of objects that

MacGregor wanted (Quinnell 2000: 88).

Although the colony could not yet afford

a permanent museum, MacGregor made it

clear to the Queensland authorities that the

objects in the official collection belonged

to the colonial government of British NewGuinea and that he expected that they would

eventually be returned to the colony when

a suitable place for their storage and display

had been built. He strongly objected to any

attempt by the Queensland Museum to give

away, sell or exchange any of the objects

in the collection, stating that he regarded

the Queensland Museum as the collection’s

custodian rather than its owner.

A Museum in Papua

In 1908, Hubert Murray, Acting Administrator

(later Lieutenant-Governor) of the Australian




Territory of Papua, revived the idea of

establishing a museum in Port Moresby,

with the objects collected by MacGregor

forming the core of the proposed

museum’s collections. In response to a

query concerning the state of MacGregor’s

collection at that time, the Director of the

Queensland Museum assured Murray:

Typical specimens have been reserved

for the Papuan authorities and are held

in trust by this Museum until such time

as they may be required by them for

Museum purposes. [Quinnell 2000: 93]

Murray and his field officers were

collecting objects during their patrols in

Papua2

because:

articles of native manufacture and use

are becoming, in the settled districts,

more and more rare every day; there are

things which we can get now without any

trouble, but which we might have some

difficulty in procuring later on. [Australian

Archives, Series A1, Item 1911/12991]

Murray had a small museum built in Port

Moresby in 1911 to house the colony’s second

official collection but it was inadequate even

for that purpose. In 1915 an agreement was

reached with the Australian Museum tohouse the collections being made by Murray

and his officers, on the condition that a small

representative proportion of the material

could be selected for the Australian Museum,

the rest to remain the property of the Papuan

colonial government. The collections were

therefore only temporarily stored in Port

Moresby until they could be sent on to the

Australian Museum in Sydney for safekeeping.

Between 1915 and 1930, twelve shipments

totalling about 3200 objects were sent to

Sydney (Craig 1996: 222-24).

Then the Australian Museum ran out of

storage space for its own collections and at

the same time the idea of a Federal museum

in Canberra was revived. The Director of the

Australian Institute of Anatomy in Canberra

offered to house the collection until such a

museum was established and Murray agreed

to the transfer from Sydney to Canberra in

1934. The Australian Museum asked for and

was given permission to retain its selection

of around 400 objects in recognition of its

services in looking after the collection for so

many years.

For the next fifty years the Institute of

Anatomy looked after the Murray collection

but when the Institute was closed in 1984,

the collection was turned over to the newly

established National Museum of Australia

where it continues to be housed. The

MacGregor collection remained in Brisbane

until negotiations on its repatriation to Papua

New Guinea saw the first shipment leave

Brisbane in 1980 (Quinnell 2000: 97).

A Museum in New Guinea

The Australian Military Expeditionary Force

took over German New Guinea in 1914 and,

in 1921, civil administration was established

by Australia in the Mandated Territory of New

Guinea. During the period of German colonial

administration, there was no attempt to set

up a museum. Large collections were made

and deposited in museums in Germany, and

collectors from other European countries

and the United States also took away huge

amounts of material ( for example, see

Buschmann 2000, Gardner 2000, Regius 1999,

Specht 1999, Vargyas 1992, Welsch 1998 and

2000). During the wartime occupation of

German New Guinea, military officers sent

collections to the Australian War Museum,

then in Melbourne. These collections (almost

500 objects) were transferred on loan to the

(then) National Museum of Victoria, where

they remain to this day (Craig 1996: 92-4).

The first mention of a museum for the

Territory of New Guinea was in a memo-

randum dated 21 December 1921, from the

Protector of Natives to the Australian Prime

Minister’s Department (Australian Archives,

Series A518, Item A846/1/92):

I would recommend the inauguration

of a museum for native curios in Rabaul

– curios having both an anthropological

and ethnological interest can only be

retained if the Administration is given

the power to purchase, if they deem it fit,

curios of scientific value.

By 1922, collections were being made

and there was an allocation of funds from the

budget of the Department of Agriculture. In

the 1923-1924 Annual Report for the Territory

of New Guinea there was a listing that

included over 2500 anthropology specimens

and over 750 natural history specimens

(Craig 1996: 229-30). However, the same

problem of lack of space was experienced

in Rabaul as in Port Moresby. Most of the

collection was packed in crates and the

budget for the museum dwindled to nothing.

In 1931-32, correspondence between the

Australian Institute of Anatomy and Rabaul

resulted in around 277 items being sent on loan

from the Rabaul Museum to Canberra in 1933.

From time to time, material was added to the

collection but it appears that most of it remained

in crates in Rabaul and presumably was

destroyed during the Japanese attack in 1942.

Cultural Property Legislation in

Papua and New Guinea

In 1913 Murray enacted legislation to

protect Papuan material culture. The Papuan

Antiquities Ordinance, modelled on the Maori

Antiquities Act of 1901 (amended in 1904




and consolidated in 1908), made it illegal

to remove ‘antiquities’ from Papua without

written permission from the Commissioner

for Native Affairs and Control and without

first offering them for sale at a reasonable

price to the colonial Administrator. The

Ordinance defined antiquities as objects

‘manufactured with Papuan tools and

according to Papuan methods’, a telling

definition given that the term antiquity

usually refers to ancient times or objects

of great age. The use of that term was in

keeping with the notion that the people who

made such objects were living in the past,

the ‘stone age’ of human history. Such ideas

were consistent with nineteenth and early

twentieth century European ideas about

social evolution which sought to explain

differences between Europeans and other

peoples in terms of an evolutionary hierarchy

(Busse 2000).

The collecting activities of MacGregor

and Murray, as well as proposals to establish

museums in Papua and in New Guinea,

were based on these ideas about social

evolution, and on the belief that non-

Western cultures would disappear and non-

Western peoples would die out as a result of

Western expansion. European writers, such

as the anthropologist W.H.R. Rivers (1922),

argued that, in addition to introducing guns,

alcohol, repressive labour practices, and new

and fatal diseases, European contact led to

social and cultural changes so severe that

Melanesians would lose interest in life and,

as a result, die out. Collecting and protecting

cultural objects thus became an urgent

project to preserve evidence of a dying

people.

The New Guinea Antiquities Ordinance

of 1922 was modelled on the Papuan

Antiquities Ordinance of 1913, using

the same words and expressions. One

significant difference (provided for by a

1923 amendment) was that the New Guinea

legislation allowed for the proclamation of

specific objects, rather than simply of types

of objects, as cultural property restricted

from sale and export. Thus on 19 June 1936,

a proclamation forbade the acquisition of

‘two wooden images of crocodiles, carved

with bone and stone tools, at present in the

village of Mansamei on the Karawari River

in the Sepik District’ (Craig 1992; Craig 1996:

137-54).

After the end of the Second World War in

1945, the administrations of the Territory of

Papua and the Territory of New Guinea were

amalgamated. Legislation was reviewed

and the two antiquities ordinances were

consolidated into the Territory of Papua

New Guinea Antiquities Ordinance of 1953.

At about the same time, the Department of

District Services and Native Affairs, which

administered the Ordinance, initiated an

active collecting program, the primary

motivation for which was the collecting of

artifacts before they were lost forever as a

result of social change (Mann 1960).

The need to house the objects being

collected by the Department of District

Services and Native Affairs led to the pas-

sage of the Papua New Guinea Public

Museum and Art Gallery Ordinance in

1954. This ordinance established a Board

of Trustees as a statutory body charged

with controlling and managing the

museum, specified that the policies of

the museum were to be ‘in the interest

of the community’, and appointed the

Government Anthropologist as Curator. Two

buildings were provided on the grounds of

Government House in which to store the

collections (Eoe 1991: 20; Smidt 1977: 227).

The Birth of a National Museum: The

Years of Sir Alan Mann (1959-70)

The museum expanded tremendously in the

1960s. New staff were recruited and trained,

collections grew, new storage facilities were

constructed, the number of visitors increased

dramatically and the museum was given

responsibility for administering the Territory’s

cultural heritage legislation. Throughout this

period, the President of the museum’s Board

of Trustees was Sir Alan Mann, and it is dif-

ficult to overstate the role that he played in

the museum’s development. Sir Alan arrived

in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea in

1958 as Chief Justice and became President

of the Trustees in January 1959, a position he

held until his death in 1970. J.S. Womersley,

who became Acting President of the Trustees

when Sir Alan died, described Sir Alan’s role in

the changes as follows (TPNGPMAG 1974a: 2):

When Sir Alan took office as President

the collections of the museum were

almost entirely ethnographic. Storage

was inadequate in two spare buildings at

Government House. There was virtually

no opportunity for public display and

certainly no facilities for the scientific

study of collections. Early in 1959 space

was provided in the building whichhad been vacated by the Port Moresby

General Hospital. The museum achieved

its first public display galleries although

the space available was inadequate even

then as the greater part of the building

was remodelled as the Council Chamber

for the then Legislative Council.

In recent years Sir Alan Mann was

instrumental in having additional storage

rooms built and the introduction of air-

conditioning to some rooms. This has

ensured that, although storage conditions

are deplorable, some curatorial protection

of the collections has been possible.




Sir Alan had a particular interest in

the natural history of Papua New Guinea

and personally collected objects for the

museum’s natural history collections.

The rationale for the museum during the

1960s remained the collection of natural

history specimens and the preservation of

objects from cultures that were thought

to be disappearing. The Museum’s Annual

Report for 1965, for example, suggested that

the museum’s purpose was ‘to preserve

materials relating to a vanishing culture

and to preserve natural material for intense

scientific study’ (TPNGPMAG 1966: 1).

The Annual Report for 1967 (TPNGPMAG

1968: 1) reiterated this purpose, stating:

The Trustees have during the year

continued to follow their established

policy of making the fullest possible

use of the resources available to them,

concentrating, as a matter of urgency,

upon the salvaging of as much material

representing the Territory’s disappearing

cultures as is possible.

The Report went on to state the Trustees’

concern about ‘the accelerated rate at which

material evidence of earlier cultures is

disappearing’, a situation which it attrib uted

both to ‘modernisation of the outlook ofthe native people themselves’ and to the

activities of overseas collectors. These factors

were making it difficult for the museum

to obtain ‘authentic objects which record

and illustrate facets of culture’ or ‘authentic

examples with specific meanings known to

the peop le concerned’.

The museum’s goal of salvaging cultural

objects from ‘disappearing cultures’ was

one reason that the Trustees were given

responsibility for administering and

enforcing the National Cultural Property

(Preservation) Act of 1965. This Act replaced

the Antiquities Ordinance of 1953 and, apart

from a minor amendment in 1967, is cur-

rently in force as Chapter 156 of the Laws of

the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.

The Annual Report for 1966 (TPNGPMAG

1967: 5-6) noted that the administration

of the new ordinance was both new to

the museum’s experience and beyond the

capacity of the museum’s staff. The Trustees

therefore temporarily delegated power to

grant export permits for cultural objects in

which the museum was not interested to

field officers in the Department of District

Administration.

DDA field officers were also asked to

continue to collect objects for the museum. A

circular requesting this assistance had been

issued first in 1953 and again in 1961. In 1965,

a brief catalogue of the museum’s collections

was published. This included a list of the

data required for specimens collected for the

museum. The introduction to the catalogue

explained:

Because of the accelerated change in

the life and culture of the peoples of

Papua and New Guinea, brought about

by the crash program of civilising the

people through economic, social, political,

educational, health, scientific and cultural

projects, many of the old arts, crafts and

cultures have been either greatly altered

or completely replaced altogether.

It is intended that as much material

evidence as possible of the past cultures

and traditions will be preserved in this

Museum as a permanent record … [Papua

and New Guinea Museum 1966: 1].

Field staff were asked to collect a wide

range of objects ‘illustrating any phase of

a people’s life’ (ibid.: 3). Partly as a result of

these initiatives, the Museum’s collections

expanded from approximately 4500 objects

in 1960 to more than 14,000 objects in 1970

(TPNGPMAG 1974a: 17). This enormous

increase over a relatively short period of time

highlighted the serious inadequacies of the

museum’s storage facilities, a challenge that

was partly met through the construction of

new storage at the old hospital building.

In addition to solving problems as they

arose, Sir Alan began a process of planning

for the future of the museum by seeking

advice from international experts, such as the

Director of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu

and the Director of the Australian Museum

in Sydney. They made suggestions about the

goals and organisation of the museum and

possible sources of non-government funding,

the last of which did not lead to anything.

To formalise the planning process, in 1963

the Trustees commissioned a report on the

museum from W.F. Ellis, Director of the Queen

Victoria Museum in Launceston, Tasmania.

Ellis visited Port Moresby for two weeks and

consulted with a wide range of expatriate

administration officials but apparently

very few Papua New Guineans – only

members of the Hanuabada Village Council

(TPNGPMAG 1965: 21). He avoided references

to ‘disappearing cultures’ and provided a

general description of the function of a

museum in the following terms (ibid.):

A museum establishes a record of the

various physical, biological or cultural

characteristics of any environment by

selecting representative samples from

it which, classified and ordered, form a

microcosm of the whole.

He established the importance of

collections as ‘the record’ and research on the

collections as necessary to ‘extract’ the data

‘abiding in them’. For this purpose, he wrote

(ibid.: 22):

collections … must be far in excess of

that required merely for display. Also the




preservation of specimens from deterio-

ration is of fundamental importance, …

for scientific knowledge is an accumula-

tion of experience requiring to be referred

back to its sources constantly.

He concluded by noting that ‘communica-

tion of the information secured is also essen-

tial’, through exhibitions and publications.

The Ellis Report addressed other issues as

well, such as management and infrastructure

(ibid.: 23-32), and led to the secondment

of a full-time secretary to the museum and

the recruitment of Roy Mackay, who joined

the museum as Preparator-in-Charge in

October 1964. Mackay, who had previously

worked as a preparator at the Australian

Museum, initiated a program to train Papua

New Guineans to carry out the work of the

museum as well as to encourage more Papua

New Guineans to visit. These programs,

together with increased numbers of tourists

visiting the Territory, contributed to the

dramatic increase in v isitors, expanding from

3600 in 1962 to 22,650 in 1970.

Ellis also recommended the establishment

of branch museums to serve the needs of

people who were unable to visit Port Moresby.

This suggestion by Ellis may have motivated

Peter Fox, the President of the Rotary Club inGoroka, to commence work in 1964 on the

establishment of a museum in that town.

This museum was named the J.K. McCarthy

Museum and opened to the public in 1968

as a branch of the Museum in Port Moresby

(M’Bagintao 1991).

Building on Ellis’s report, the Trustees

made it clear that they wanted the museum

to develop from an institution run by ‘a group

of interested amateurs’ (TPNGPMAG 1966: 7)

into a highly professional national institution:

The Museum is principally concerned

in collecting the ethnographic and

ethnological material of the native people

of the Territory. Emphasis is placed here

because so much of this material has

been taken away and so little is left to

preserve as a national heritage. [ibid.: 28]

In 1967, to maintain the momentum

of development begun following the Ellis

Report, Sir Alan Mann asked Dr W.D.L. Ride,

Chairman of the Council of Australian

Museum Directors and Director of the

Western Australian Museum, to prepare a

comprehensive report on the museum with

recommendations for its future development.

Ride drew on reports by the Trustees for the

years 1963 to 1966, a 1964 Report of the

Commission on Higher Education in Papua

New Guinea, a 1966 survey of published

information on archaeological sites in Papua

New Guinea prepared by Graeme Pretty of

the South Australian Museum (Pretty 1967a),

and a December 1967 report by Pretty3

on the

state of the archaeological and ethnological

collections in the PNG museum. These

documents, together with interviews with

about twenty people in the Territory who

had knowledge of the museum, allowed

Ride to provide both a broad assessment

of the museum’s situation and detailed

recommendations for its future direction.Ride’s report (1967) can be seen

as a natural progression from the

recommendations made by Ellis. Considered

together, the two reports laid much of the

groundwork for the National Museum as it

currently exists, especially in their discussion

of the place of the museum in Papua New

Guinea society and their emphasis on the

development of professional museum staff

and the training of Papua New Guineans to

carry out the work of the museum.

Ride identified five general functions

for the museum – documenting and

preserving significant collections, education,

contributing to the development of national

identity and national unity, tourism, and

administration of the National Cultural

Property (Preservation) Ordinance of 1965.

He emphasised the importance of

collecting and collections in the work of the

museum, arguing that systematic collections

could provide the basis for educational

programs for Papua New Guineans as well as

encourage tourists to purchase handicrafts,

to visit places of interest and to appreciate

the cultural achievements of the people

of the Territory. While he noted that there

was a ‘particular urgency and justification

for making museum collections’(1967: 13)

in the Territory because of the rapid social

change that was taking place, he did not

see collecting as simply a salvage activity

in which ‘authentic’ objects were collected

before it was ‘too late’. Instead, he argued

that the museum in Papua New Guinea

could function as a critical component in

the development of national identity and

national unity, ‘an important tool to allow

people to see their own small communities

(and their own familiar cultures) as part of a

national whole’ (Ride 1967: 11).

Ride noted that, at the time of his visit, the

museum was located in an inadequate space

in the basement of the House of Assembly,

a building that had previously been the

European hospital. The collections, which

at that time numbered about 8000 objects

were kept in a storeroom that was only 1200

square feet in area, although an additional

storeroom of 620 square feet was being built.

According to Ride (1967: 20):

The displays in the Museum are

characterised by magnificent material,

much of which is seriously in need of

proper conservative measures … [The




New Guinea which was located nearby.

Despite the benefits that might come from

such a relationship, Ride was emphatic

that the museum and university should

remain separate, arguing that university

departments should not be burdened with

collections and the museum should not

have to compete directly with teaching

departments for funds.

With regard to staff, Ride recommended

the initial appointment of a director and a

curator, one with expertise in anthropology

or archaeology and the other with expertise

in zoology, to be followed by a second

curator and a registrar within a year of

the initial appointments. The director and

the two curators were to be experienced

museum professionals and thus expatriates,

since ‘indigenous personnel at the required

level of training are not yet available’. Roy

Mackay, the Preparator-in-Charge, Ride

suggested, should be given responsibility for

training Papua New Guineans as museum

technicians in the areas of museum display

and materials conservation.

In the light of later developments,

perhaps his most remarkable suggestion

(1967: 19) was:

In the event of there being little support

from the indigenous population, informed

opinion in Australia might well hold that

a museum is something that Australia

should give to the developing nation,

and see established before there is a

transfer of political responsibil ity, because

without experience of the advantages to

be gained from a museum the new nation

might leave the development of one until

too late for it to record the nation’s own

vanishing culture.

In fact, that is what happened; a detailed

account of the negotiations and politics

involved has been provided by Craig (1996,

Chapters 7, 8).

Transition to Independence

A striking feature of Ride’s report on the state

of the museum in 1967 – eight years before

Independence – is that not one of the people

who he interviewed concerning the museum

and its future development was a Papua New

Guinean. The twenty or so people whom he

interviewed while he was in the Territory

were all expatriates. Such an approach would

have been unthinkable only a few years later.

Ride’s report was well received by

the museum Trustees but ‘was not

accepted in principle by the Minister for

Territories’ (TPNGPMAG 1974a: 3) because

allocation of funding for implementing

the recommendations was not, at that

time, considered realistic (Craig 1996: 252).

Therefore, few changes took place at the

museum until 1971 when it became a

statutory authority and Michael Somare

became President of the Board of Trustees.

He replaced J.S. Womersley who had been

the Acting President since Sir Alan Mann’s

death the previous year. Somare was then

a Member of the House of Assembly;

in 1972 he b ecame Chief Minister, andon Independence in 1975, the country’s

first Prime Minister. He moved quickly to

put Papua New Guineans in charge of

the museum and to implement some of

Ride’s more significant recommendations,

particularly those concerning museum staff

and the construction of a museum building.

In 1972, seven new trustees were

appointed, five of whom were Papua New

Guineans. Also, in February of that year,

Dirk Smidt became the first director of the

museum, replacing Roy Mackay who had

been in charge for more than seven years.

objects] are deteriorating as a result of

atmospheric action, exposure to natural

light, and through the destructive action

of cleaning which is made necessary by

inadequate display furniture, such as

show cases, in poorly glazed galleries.

Equally disturbing was the lack of

information about many of the objects in

the collections. This, Ride argued, was the

result of the absence of staff qualified for

curatorial duties. He noted that ‘The Trustees

employ no senior academically qualified

professional staff ’ (ibid.: 21). At that time, the

staff consisted of the Preparator-in-Charge,

Roy Mackay, and three Papua New Guineans,

only one of whom had any education. Ride’s

conclusion (ibid.) in this regard was clear:

The only way to ensure that data in a

museum collection are adequate to

meet professional requirements is for the

museum to have staff who themselves

are trained to employ such data and

whose professional reputations depend

upon their precision and reliability. It

is unreasonable for any government

or trustees to expect this awareness to

be possessed as a matter of intuition

by untrained staff. The situation in Port

Moresby can only be corrected by placing

persons in charge who are qualified.

Ride’s recommendations emphasised

the need for a new museum building and

the development of a professional museum

staff beginning with the appointment of

a director. A site in June Valley had already

been allocated as the location for a new

museum building (not the site where the

National Museum is at present located), and

Ride argued that this site would facilitate

a close working relationship between the

museum and relevant departments at the

recently established University of Papua




Not long after his appointment, Smidt took

two critical steps toward asserting Papua

New Guinea’s control over its cultural

heritage.

First, he asked the Council of Australian

Museum Directors for the repatriation

of collections from Australian museums,

especially those made by MacGregor and

Murray. After considerable discussion it was

agreed that

The Conference of Museum Directors

recommends to Boards of Trustees

that when the new Papua New Guinea

Museum building i s completed,

representative cultural material of

Papua New Guinean origin held in

their museums be returned to Papua

New Guinea. The Conference furtherrecommends that this material be

returned as a gift. [TPNGPMAG 1976a: 12]

Second, in June 1972, museum officers,

together with Customs and Police authorities,

raided cargo sheds, shops and houses in

Wewak and Madang and seized more than

a hundred culturally significant objects,

including objects which had been gazetted

as proclaimed cultural property under

provisions of the National Cultural Property

(Preservation) Ordinance of 1965. Many ofthese objects were already packed and ready

to be smuggled out of the country. They were

the subject of the first catalogue produced

by what is now the National Museum, a

catalogue titled The Seized Collections of the

Papua New Guinea museum (Smidt 1975).

In 1973, planning began for the

construction of the present museum building

at a new site in Waigani, next to where

Parliament House would later be built. The

initial plans, drawn up by the Commonwealth

Department of Works, were rejected by the

Trustees because the proposed building

Fig. 1. Cartoon by Bob Brown (reproduced from

TPNGPMAG 1976b: 39).




did not reflect traditional architecture

and because it was thought that Papua

New Guineans would not identify with it.

New plans were drawn up and eventually

approved by the Trustees in June 1974. The

building was to be funded by the National

Cultural Council from a cultural development

grant of $5 million made by the Australian

Government in 1973. Construction began in

1975 (Fig. 1) and was completed in 1977. The

National Museum and Art Gallery was opened

by Michael Somare, President of the museum’s

Board of Trustees and Prime Minister, on

Monday 27 June 1977 (NMAG 1980).

The building is a purpose-built museum

with air conditioning and humidity control.

In addition to large exhibition spaces, an

open-air theatre and a central courtyard for

live animals and birds, it has five storerooms,

office and laboratory space, workshops, a

library, and a small shop (Figs 2, 3). At the

opening ceremony (Fig. 4), Michael Somare

made it clear that the museum was more

than the building and its purpose went

beyond simply collecting and preserving

objects:

… it will not be sufficient just to preserve

the traditional past. Culture must be a live,

dynamic thing … What is important isthat we have a culture which is clearly of

Papua New Guinea and not a second-rate

imitation of another culture. What matters

is that we have a culture which reflects

our life, our aspirations, our feelings.

[Smidt 1977: 227]

By the time Papua New Guinea became

independent in 1975, the transition to a

museum run by Papua New Guineans was

under way. Geoffrey Mosuwadoga, an artist

and Lecturer in Painting at the National Arts

School, became the first Papua New Guinean

director of the museum in February 1975.

Fig. 2. PNG National Museum & Art Gallery, Waigani

(PNG National Museum Photo Archives #003402).

Fig. 3. PNG National Museum & Art Gallery, Waigani.Photo: B. Craig, 1979.

Michael Somare outlined further plans for

localising the museum (TPNGPMAG 1976b: ii):

We believe that the year ending 30/6/76

was a year of considerable achievement.

The Trustees of the Papua New Guinea

Public Museum and Art Gallery have

taken major steps in localising the

positions held by expatriate officers

in the Museum. In 1975 the Director’s

position was localised and by 1978 the

six remaining key positions will be filled

by national officers. The Museum will

be completely managed by Papua New

Guinean officers by 1979.

Thus, almost ninety years after a museum

was first proposed by Musgrave, Papua New

Guinea had a museum of which it could be

justifiably proud. And less than eight years




Fig. 4. The Rt Honourable Michael Somare, then

Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, beating a

slit-gong at the opening of the National Museum,

27 June 1977. Photo: A.L. Crawford.

after Ride reviewed the museum’s situation

and made recommendations for its future

without consulting a single Papua New

Guinean, the museum’s Trustees were, with

only two exceptions, all Papua New Guineans,

as was the director.

The National Museum after

Independence

Dirk Smidt, who became Assistant to the

Director when Geoffrey Mosuwadoga was

appointed director in 1975, described the

National Museum as it was at Independence

(Smidt 1977). There were more than 20,000

ethnographic objects in the museum but

many had little or no information associated

with them. Further, the collections were

uneven, with some parts of the country well

represented while other areas were hardly

represented at all. He wrote that, even in

the mid-1970s, the National Museum had

insufficient funds to purchase objects on the

international art market despite the fact that

the Papua New Guinea Government doubled

the museum’s budget at Independence. Also,

some parts of the museum’s collections were

small in comparison with collections outside

Papua New Guinea. Overseas museums, for

example, had thousands of malagan figures

from New Ireland while the National Museum

had only a dozen. These matters could only

be put right, Smidt argued, through the co-

operation of overseas museums that might

agree to transfer some of their holdings to

Papua New Guinea (ibid.: 231).

According to Smidt (ibid.: 228), several

Papua New Guineans, including the director,

had received overseas museum training and

held positions of considerable responsibility

in the museum. Each of the scientific

departments, for example, had a graduate

of the University of Papua New Guinea

employed as an Assistant Curator with the

intention that these people would soon take

over from the expatriate Curators.

Issues concerning staff and collections

raised by Smidt in 1977 have continued to be

prominent during the twenty-five years since

he wrote. The collections have continued to

grow through a combination of donations,

repatriation and field collecting by museum

officers and other researchers. Today, the

museum’s ethnographic collections consist

of more than 30,000 objects. Much of this

increase took place during the 1980s, while

the 1990s were a time of consolidation

during which new storage and retrieval

systems were developed and information

about the collections was computerised. As

in the 1970s, the collections remain uneven

in terms of geographical distribution, types

of objects and associated information.

Approximately 3300 of the total number

of objects added to the collections since

Independence were from MacGregor’s

‘official collection’. Between 1979 and 1992,

by mutual agreement between the Papua

New Guinea National Museum and the




Queensland Museum, almost 6000 objects

were divided up with 55 per cent going to

Papua New Guinea. Almost 2300 spears,

bows and arrows await selection to complete

the repatriation process (Quinnell 2000:

97). The value of the MacGregor collection

for the National Museum is immeasurable,

having immense significance historically

and ethnographically. Thus, after more than

seventy-five years, MacGregor’s intention that

the objects he collected should be returned

to New Guinea was honoured. Negotiations

for the Hubert Murray and Rabaul Museum

collections, now in the National Museum

of Australia in Canb erra, have not yet

commenced.

Since 1976 the National Museum’s Board

of Trustees has been completely localised

and Soroi Marepo Eoe, an anthropologist

with a BA from the University of Papua New

Guinea, succeeded Geoffrey Mosuwadoga

as director in 1988. Thus the management

of the museum, and responsibility for

the enforcement of the country’s cultural

heritage legislation, have been entirely in

the hands of Papua New Guineans since

Independence. On the other hand, the

ambitious program of localisation set out

by Michael Somare in 1976, in which the

museum was to be staffed completely by

Papua New Guineans by 1979, took longer

to be realised than Somare imagined. Three

senior scientific positions continued to be

occupied by expatriates until the late 1990s,

although there was a dramatic increase in

the mid-1990s in the number of Papua New

Guineans with university degrees (including

post-graduate qualifications) working in

the museum. This growing contingent of

professional Papua New Guinean officers

is well qualified to carry out the museum’s

responsibilities.

Conclusion

Anthropologists who have studied culture

contact have long noted that what issignificant about the adoption of foreign

objects, ideas or institutions is not the

fact that they are adopted, but how they

are culturally redefined and used. Not

surprisingly, during the decades since the

foundation of the museum in Port Moresby

in 1954, it has been transformed from a

colonial institution to one more in keeping

with Papua New Guinea ideas and values.

Prominent Papua New Guineans writing

at the time of Independence signalled a

shift in the purpose and rationale of the

National Museum away from being simply

a repository for traditional objects and a

place for scientific research to an institution

actively engaged in the process of nation

building based on shared history and

common cultural values. The then-director,

Geoffrey Mosuwadoga, described the aims

of the museum in the following terms

(TPNGPMAG 1976b: 14):

The Papua New Guinea Public Museum

and Art Gallery is the house of spirits,

surrounded by the decorative ornaments

made by our craftsmen as material gifts

to these unseen beings. The Museum

is not an institution for great external

admiration stored with the country ’s

valuable treasures, but a place of spiritual

values. It is a place not only for the past

but for the present and future traditional

arts.

The coexistence and even integration of

culturally significant objects from the past

with dynamic contemporary manifestations

of Papua New Guinea culture, including

music and performance, has been an

orientation of the National Museum since

Independence. The National Museum is

also the National Art Gallery and has a

collection of contemporary art. The outdoor

amphitheatre provides the opportunity

for performances by the National Theatre

Company, Raun Raun Theatre and other

performance groups. This is vitally important

since it is central to how at least some Papua

New Guineans think about national identity.

As Papua New Guinea historian Professor

John Waiko (1993: 217) has written, ‘In the

eyes of many Papua New Guineans, the

country found a national identity through

a blending of ancient and modern in the

expressive arts’. Bernard Narokobi, in a b ook

on the contemporary arts of Papua New

Guinea, argued (1990: 20-1):

The contemporary art depicted by the

artists represented in this book have

a unique place in Papua New Guinea

history. They are our national treasures,

the world’s treasures, for in a very real

sense they express what lies deep in our

hearts, a longing to be new, yet rooted in

our rich and ancient past.

This catalogue of the Masterpieces

Exhibition of the Papua New Guinea National

Museum documents something of this ‘rich

and ancient past’.

Notes

1. For a history of this collection, see Quinnell

1981, 2000.

2. For an account of the Papuan Official (‘Hubert

Murray’) Collection, see Craig 1995 and 1996:

222-28.

3. In this report (1967b: 90), Pretty acknowledges

input from Papua New Guinean visitors to the

museum.



The Work of the National Museum – 15

Chapter 3 The Work of the National Museum

Mark Busse

The Preamble to the Constitution of

Papua New Guinea recognises ‘the worthy

customs and traditional wisdoms of our

people – which have come down to us from

generation to generation’, and pledges ‘to

guard and pass on to those who come after

us our noble traditions’.

The National Museum and Art Gallery is

a cultural, scientific and educational institu-

tion devoted to protecting and understand-

ing the country’s cultural and natural herit-

age and preserving it for the people of Papua

New Guinea and their descendants. It does

this by assembling and preserving national

collections of cultural, historical and natural

history specimens, by carrying out research

on these collections, by educating the public

through exhibitions and publications, and by

enforcing cultural heritage and war surplus

legislation. These activities are the basic work

of the National Museum.

The National Museum and Art Gallery is

an independent statutory authority func-

tioning under the National Museum and

Art Gallery Act of 1992 and governed by a

Board of Trustees made up of prominent

Papua New Guinea citizens. The Museum

is located next to the National Parliament

on Independence Drive in Waigani. It is the

home of the national archaeological and eth-

nographic collections, the terrestrial verte-

brate portion of the national fauna collection,

the history collection, and the contemporary

art collection. Selected items from these col-

lections are displayed in the Museum’s gal-

leries, which are open to the public without

charge. The majority of the collections are

preserved for the future in environmentally

controlled storerooms where they are used

for research and changing exhibitions.

Section 4 of the National Museum and Art

Gallery Act lists twenty specific functions of

the National Museum, and these are repro-

duced as Appendix 1 to this book. In gen-

eral, however, the work of the Museum can

be summarised in terms of collections and

conservation, research, public education, and

enforcement of cultural heritage legislation,

to which I now turn.

Collections and conservation

The Museum’s collections are large, and a

crucial aspect of the work of the Museum is

their preservation. Of equal importance is the

collection and preservation of knowledge

about the objects in the collections. The eth-

nographic collections, for example, include

more than 30,000 objects from all parts of

the country, ranging in size from small itemsof body decoration to an entire ocean-going

canoe. The archaeological collections are

similarly large and contain critical evidence

about the 50,000 years of human history in

what is now Papua New Guinea.

The Museum’s natural history collections

reflect Papua New Guinea’s tremendous bio-

logical diversity and contain many ‘type spec-

imens’ for particular species.1

The National

Museum is seeking funds for a new building

to house the natural history exhibitions and

collections as part of the proposed develop-

ment of Constitution Park in Waigani.

In addition to these collections, the

Museum has a significant collection of

objects from Papua New Guinea’s colonial

and postcolonial history, including many

objects from World War II. These are kept at

the Museum’s Modern History Department in

Gordons. The National Museum is also seek-

ing funds for a new Modern History Museum

as part of its plans for Constitution Park.

Finally, the Museum has a small, but grow-ing, collection of contemporary Papua New

Guinea art including drawings, paintings and

sculptures. This significant collection docu-

ments the creativity of Papua New Guinea’s

artists and the innovative ways in which they

use new materials and media to combine tra-

ditional themes and styles of representation

with contemporary experience.

Ensuring that these large and varied col-

lections are stored and displayed safely is the

responsibility of the Museum’s Department

of Materials Conservation. This department is

responsible for the physical well-being of all

specimens in the Museum and monitors the

environment inside the buildings (tempera-

ture, humidity and other factors), takes steps

to ensure that pests cannot damage speci-

mens, ensures that procedures are in place

in case of fire or natural disaster, and treats

objects that arrive at the Museum in poor

condition.

Research

Archaeologists, anthropologists, biologists,

and historians employed by the National

Museum carry out research with the aim of

adding to our knowledge and understand-

ing of the prehistory, cultural diversity, natu-

ral history and recent history of Papua New

Guinea. Some of this research directly con-

cerns objects in the Museum’s collections.

For example, a museum artifact is of limited

value without information such as how and

where it was collected, who made it, how and

when it was made, the purpose for which it

was made, and what the cultural beliefs and

symbolism associated with it are. The storage

and organisation of information associated

with objects and specimens in the Museum’s

collections is a major part of the Museum’s

work, increasingly carried out with comput-ers. Also, because many of the artifacts in the



16 – Living Spirits and Fixed Abodes

Museum – particularly those from the late

19th and early 20th centuries – were col-

lected with little or no information, there is

an urgent need to examine archival sources

and to go into the field to find people who

can provide this information.

At the National Museum, scientific staff

undertake research that adds to our gen-

eral knowledge and understanding of Papua

New Guinea and of the cultural creativity

and diversity of its people. Applied research,

in the form of consultancies for companies

and government departments, is also car-

ried out. Archaeological surveys, for exam-

ple, are carried out during the planning

and construction phases of development

projects. Such surveys are required under

Papua New Guinea’s environmental legisla-

tion to ensure that development projects do

not damage or destroy evidence that con-

tributes to our understanding of the human

history of Papua New Guinea. Staff of the

Modern History Department co-operate with

researchers from Japan, the United States

and Australia to identify and investigate sites

thought to contain human remains from

World War II. Archaeologists, anthropologists

and biologists from the Museum have con-

tributed to a wide range of feasibility studies

related to conservation and development.

Public education

As a result of its large and varied collections

and its program of research, the National

Museum is a unique institution for pub-

lic education. The Museum works closely

with primary and secondary schools to pro-

vide curriculum materials and guided tours

of the Museum’s galleries for school groups.

Further, the results of research carried out by

museum staff are communicated through

publications, and exhibitions incorporating

objects from the Museum’s collections.

The Museum has large permanent exhibi-

tions devoted to Papua New Guinea’s natu-

ral history, artistic achievements and mate-

rial culture. It also has a regular program of

temporary exhibitions that may include over-

seas content. During the last decade, there

has been an exhibition of photographs of

archaeological sites in Israel, an exhibition

commemorating the anniversary of the intro-

duction of Papua New Guinea’s national cur-

rency, exhibitions of contemporary art, and

an exhibition about the mining and petro-

leum industry in Papua New Guinea. More

recently in 2002, there was an exhibition of

photographs documenting the impact of

the July 1998 tsunami that devastated sev-

eral villages along the north coast of the West

Sepik (Sandaun) Province. This exhibition

went on tour to several provinces to publicise

the need to plan and facilitate emergency

responses to natural disasters.

Enforcement of cultural heritage

legislation

In addition to assembling and caring for the

national collections, carrying out research

and engaging in public education, the

National Museum is responsible for enforc-

ing Papua New Guinea’s cultural heritage leg-

islation. The National Museum and Art Gallery

Act of 1992 requires the Museum to main-

tain a register of cultural and archaeologi-

cal sites which is consulted during the plan-

ning of development projects to make sure

that such sites are not damaged or destroyed.

The Museum also maintains a register of

objects that have been gazetted as pro-

claimed national cultural property under the

provisions of the National Cultural Property

(Preservation) Act of 1965. These objects,

which are of great importance to the cultural

heritage of the country, cannot be bought,

sold or even moved without written consent

from the Trustees of the National Museum.

Many of these objects are still located in

the villages where they were made, and

the National Museum has a legal and moral

responsibility to inspect them and report on

their condition at regular intervals. If such

objects are missing, investigations must be

made to find out where they are and how

they came to be moved. If necessary, legal

action may be taken to seek their recovery.

The National Cultural Property

(Preservation) Act of 1965 also regulates the

export of artifacts and prohibits the export

of items that the Museum considers impor-

tant to the cultural heritage of the country.

Common objects such as contemporary bas-

kets, woven arm bands, string bags, walk-

ing sticks, and model canoes and houses, are

exempted from the provisions of the Act and

do not require an export permit. Objects not

exempted from the provisions of the Act, and

also not listed as proclaimed national cultural

property, must be inspected by museum

officers, and a permit must be issued in

order for them to be legally exported. The

Museum works closely with Papua New

Guinea Customs and the Royal Papua New

Guinea Constabulary, as well as with Customs

bureaus in other countries, to prevent the

smuggling of Papua New Guinea’s cultural

heritage.

In addition to the National Cultural

Property (Preservation) Act of 1965, the

National Museum is also responsible for

administering the War Surplus Material

Act (Chapter 331, amended 2003). This Act

declares all objects in Papua New Guinea that

previously belonged to combatants in World



The Work of the National Museum – 17

War II to be the property of the Independent

State of Papua New Guinea. People wanting

to collect or export such objects must there-

fore obtain permission from the Trustees of

the National Museum acting on behalf of the

State. Day-to-day administration of the War

Surplus Material Act is the responsibility of the

Museum’s Department of Modern History.

Conclusion

The importance of safeguarding Papua

New Guinea’s cultural heritage is explicitly

acknowledged in the Constitution. The mate-

rial manifestations of Papua New Guinea’s

many cultures – the objects which Papua

New Guineans have made and used – along

with the ideas, beliefs and values associated

with those objects, not only demonstrate

Papua New Guinea’s great cultural diversity

but also link Papua New Guineans together.

Visitors to the Museum’s galleries are able

to distinguish differences between objects

from different parts of the country but also

may notice similarities in function, form and

designs.

The National Museum plays a cru-

cial role in protecting and preserving the

country’s cultural and natural heritage,and thus in developing a sense of national

unity and national identity. Many of the

Museum’s responsibilities are legal respon-

sibilities, given both by its own legislation

(the National Museum and Art Gallery Act of

1992), and by virtue of its responsibilities for

administering the National Cultural Property

(Preservation) Act of 1965 and the War Surplus

Materials Act of 2003.

Despite these large responsibilities and

their national significance, over the last dec-

ade the National Museum (along with many

other government agencies) has received

decreasing funding in real terms. This has

made it difficult for the Museum to add

important cultural objects to its collec-

tions, carry out research, mount exhibitions,

extend its educational programs beyond the

Museum itself, and to enforce cultural herit-

age legislation. Further, it has made it increas-

ingly difficult to employ well-qualified Papua

New Guinean staff. These people have many

responsibilities and occupy technical and

scientific positions that require university

degrees, as well as specialised museum train-

ing that is not available within the country.

Employment by private enterprise usually

provides salaries that are higher than those

offered by the museum so it is difficult to

recruit and retain professional staff.

These various obstacles may be over-

come, perhaps, through partnerships with

museums in Australia, Japan, the United

States and Europe. Such partnerships could

provide training, practical assistance with

computerisation of catalogues, collection

management, conservation, research and the

preparation of exhibitions and publications. A

vigorous program of activities at the Museum

would then attract and retain professional

staff who might otherwise seek employment

elsewhere.

Papua New Guinea faces significant eco-

nomic and technical challenges in meet-

ing the expectations and aspirations of its

people. In the case of the National Museum,

these challenges include professional devel-

opment as well as obtaining sufficient fund-

ing to carry out the work of the Museum.

Given decreasing funding in real terms from

the Papua New Guinea Government, the

National Museum will require support and

assistance from other sources, including over-

seas sources, if it is to carry out its vital cura-

torial, legislative and moral responsibilities.

Notes

1 A type specimen is a specimen that defines the fea-

tures for its species and with which other speci-

mens are compared, in order to determine whether

they belong to the same, or a different, species.



The Role of the National Museum in Contemporary Papua New Guinea Society – 19

Chapter 4 The Role of the National Museum in

Contemporary Papua New Guinea Society

Soroi Marepo Eoe

Introduction

Museums are often associated with dino-

saur skeletons, human skulls, stuffed animals

and dusty old artifacts. For many Pacific peo-

ples, dead should be buried; certain artifacts

should be destroyed after they have beenused in ceremonies. Museums in the Pacific

still are seen today as a foreign, unfamiliar

concept. The museum’s role as a scientific

research and educational institution in the

service of society has been little understood

by the people in general or by government in

particular. Government planners and finance

people view museums as warehouses of for-

gotten relics. Why should scarce resources

be used to maintain a museum when its

contributions to national welfare and Gross

Domestic Product are so difficult to identify

and measure?

But museums are not the institutions they

were once thought to be. They are becoming

more innovative in the face of a wide range

of competing entertainments and sources of

information such as the Internet. Museums

worldwide are taking centre stage in their

contributions to science, education and serv-

ice to society, even contributing to national

income by attracting tourists.

Historical Perspective

Museums in the Pacific, particularly in Papua

New Guinea, owe their origins to the 19th

century colonial experience. This period was

characterised by an extremely rapid growth

in scientific knowledge. Industrial and com-

mercial expansion went hand-in-hand with

rapidly changing geo-political and economic

boundaries. Museums, libraries and art galler-

ies provided the means by which European

colonists kept in touch with their home cul-

ture and maintained a sense of their commu-

nal identity.

As an adjunct to the scientific role of

museums in collecting, storing and studying

specimens of natural history, colonial gov-

ernments extended these activities to items

of indigenous material cultural heritage.

Collections were made, ‘before it has become

too late’ (Quinnell 2000), in the face of serious

threats to traditional cultures posed by the

activities of government, Christian missionar-

ies and overseas collectors of tribal arts. This

has contributed to the view among some

Pacific peoples that museums are foreign

in concept, and their collections are accu-

mulations of exotic curios from the almost-

forgotten past, having no contemporary rel-

evance (Eoe & Swadling 1991: 1).

Traditional Keeping PlacesBut museums are not a concept entirely for-

eign to Pacific peoples. In most societies, con-

scious efforts are made to safeguard objects

and places of historical and religious impor-

tance. In Papua New Guinea, our ancestors

stored objects of spiritual, ceremonial and

artistic significance in caves or in special

houses such as the eravo in the Papuan Gulf

or the haus tambaran (spirit house) of the

Sepik-Ramu region.

Although traditional keeping places and

museums differ in their roles, the objects

stored in them are the tangible manifesta-

tions of cultural heritage, carrying the col-

lective consciousness and memories of the

people who made and used them in their

domestic, political, religious and ceremo-

nial lives. These objects mediate the associa-

tion between man and the natural world and

between man and the spiritual world. These

associations change a lot more slowly than

the items of material culture they gave rise to,

so although many of the objects in museums

are from the past, most Pacific peoples are

aware of their significance. Bernard Narokobi

(1983: 107) suggested as much when he

wrote:

We must develop a sense of appreciation

for and, where appropriate, continuation

and development of our rich traditional

values. These values are not to be con-

fused with physical objects of cultural or

aesthetic or religious significance. While

physical objects may change in value with

change in social values, our abstract val-

ues – respect for the aged, sharing, …

community life, reconciliation, loyalty,

courage, sympathy, tolerance, obedience,

humour, popular participation, co-opera-

tion, acceptance of death, self-reliance, …

and countless others – remain useful and

relevant now as ever before.

Many people think that objects from the

ancestral past have no relevance in the con-

text of a world dominated by Western values

and traditions, that such objects belong with

history and that the study of history is merely

an intellectual pursuit. But history provides

the foundation, the connection, the legitimacy

to who we are. It establishes the identity of a

family, clan, or tribe and identifies the rights

and obligations of an individual within soci-

ety, including rights to land and magico-reli-

gious knowledge. A person who claims there

is no history is like an illegitimate child who

does not wish to know his past because he

does not have one. The role of the Papua New

Guinea National Museum is to draw atten-

tion to the foundation and historical depth

of some 50,000 years of cultural heritage and

to its richness and vitality. But to concentrate

only on the past would be to deny the evolv-

ing and dynamic nature of culture. Therefore

there must be a balance between material

objects and non-material values, between the

past and the present, for the sake of the future.




National Identity

The International Council of Museums (ICOM)

defines the museum as a:

non-profit making, permanent institu-

tion, in the service of society and its devel-

opment, and open to the public, which

acquires, conserves, researches, commu-

nicates and exhibits, for the purpose of

study, education and enjoyment, mate-

rial evidence of mankind and its develop-

ment. [Boylan 1992: 12]

Not mentioned, though implicit in this

definition, is the issue of identity. From the

viewpoint of developing countries, the role

of a national museum could be expanded

beyond safeguarding the nation’s material

cultural heritage and using it for scientific

enquiry and public education, to include the

promotion of national identity.

Peoples who are still under the control

of a colonial power, or who have recently

won their independence, see cultural herit-

age as central to the building of national con-

sciousness, freedom and identity. Museums

can function as the glue that holds people

and varying interests together for the com-

mon good. Given the extraordinary cultural,

linguistic and ethnic diversity of Papua New

Guinea, the primary role of the NationalMuseum must be to safeguard the national

consciousness, sovereignty and identity of

this nation.

Everything we have inherited from the

West – political, legal, educational and eco-

nomic systems – enables Papua New Guinea

to function in the modern world. There is

a danger, however, that these systems will

end up controlling us and determining our

priorities and identity. Our political independ-

ence and survival as a unique people rests on

the cultural heritage of this nation. The cul-

tural material held by the National Museum

and Art Gallery is part of the heritage that

binds the peop le of this nation together. The

National Museum therefore has a central role

in facilitating the opening commitment of

the Constitution of the Independent State of

Papua New Guinea:

We, the people of Papua New Guinea

our ancestors – the source of our

strength and origin of our combined

heritage

and traditional wisdoms of our peo-

ple – which have come down to us

from generation to generation

on to those who come after us our

noble traditions … [Narokobi 1993:

118]

Repatriation

The Papua and New Guinea Museum and

Art Gallery was established in 1954 and offi-

cially became the National Museum and Art

Gallery in 1979, although it was commonly

referred to as the National Museum after

Independence in 1975, and was sometimes

called that even as early as 1965. The National

Museum houses over 30,000 items of mate-

rial culture (excluding archaeological mate-

rial) from the nation’s 750 or so language

groups, although only about thirty of those

groups are well-represented and another

thirty fairly well represented. The idea of a

museum for Port Moresby goes back to Sir

William MacGregor, followed up by the dedi-

cation of Sir Hubert Murray and, post-World

War II, of Sir Donald Cleland (see Chapter

2). Their efforts resulted in the restriction of

export of certain items of material culture,

and the accumulation of representative col-

lections from areas visited by government

officers on patrol. These collections were sent

to Brisbane by MacGregor, and to Sydney,

then to Canberra, by Murray, until such time

as a suitable museum could be established

in Papua New Guinea. The MacGregor col-

lection has been undergoing a process of

repatriation but the Murray collection awaits

the commencement of negotiations. The

National Museum therefore has another

important role, apart from fostering national

unity and identity, and that is to recover

the material cultural heritage temporarily

removed from the country during the colo-

nial administration.

Complementary Role

The last century has seen phenomenal

growth and change globally. Mobility and

social interaction among peoples and

nations have increased at the same time

as the gap between rich and poor has wid-

ened and the environment has degraded as a

direct result of the activities of transnational

and multinational companies. Where they go,

they leave behind scars, footprints and shad-

ows in their quest to satisfy the requirement

for shareholder profit.

Over the last decade or so there have

been significant changes in the way muse-

ums across the world have responded to

these facts – museums are changing from

collections-oriented to service-oriented insti-

tutions, from being static storehouses for

artifacts to institutions providing a service.

This change in function has meant a radical

re-organisation of the whole culture of muse-

ums – staff structure, attitudes and work

ethics. Museums are beginning to use their

collections of objects to create bridges with

the communities that support them, stimu-

lating meaningful dialogue and lasting part-

nerships. The National Museum has taken the




initiative to respond to these challenges. The

most significant of these are in the areas of

Social Commentary, Advocacy and The Living

Museum.

Social Commentary

Museums have a role to play in leading their

communities to an appreciation of their cul-

tural heritage and ethnic identity. Museums

are distinguished from other educational

and social institutions by their collections.

The significance of these collections is com-

municated by means of exhibitions, publi-

cations,interactive and hands-on presenta-

tions, videos, demonstrations, workshops and

seminars. There is the danger, however, of the

communication becoming one-way traffic –

from the National Museum to the community

– providing little or no opportunity for dia-

logue. Ways of dealing with this problem are

in their infancy.

Museums should not only be concerned

about the collections but also be involved in

public discussion about issues beyond the

confines of the collections, issues that affect

the lives of ordinary people on a daily basis.

Such topics as the use and abuse of drugs,

HIV-Aids, violence against women, law and

order, discrimination, youth problems, envi-

ronmental degradation, poverty and so forth

can be addressed through exhibitions. By

engaging in such activities, museums would

be demonstrating their social relevance.

The National Museum has made several

important contributions in this regard over

the last decade. Several exhibitions were

organised through the collaborative efforts of

the Museum and the public. The first was an

exhibition on mining and petroleum explora-

tion in Papua New Guinea involving the com-

panies operating at Ok Tedi, Misima, Gobe,

Lake Kutubu, Porgera, Tolukuma, Lihir and

so on. The purpose of the exhibition was to

show what these organisations do from the

preliminary stages of searching and testing,

through consultation with the various inter-

ested parties, to the production stage. This

demonstrated the importance of planning,

dialogue and consultation between differ-

ent interest groups such as the developer, the

government and the landowners regarding

environmental, social and economic impacts.

This exhibition attracted many comments

from the public and demonstrated that mul-

tinational companies have learnt from previ-

ous experiences, such as the troubles at the

Panguna Copper Mine on Bougainville, that

there has to be fully transparent consultation

and dialogue.

Other exhibitions, organised jointly

between the National Museum and commu-

nity groups, addressed issues of concern to

women and young people. Assistance and

involvement was obtained from international

organisations such as the European Union,

the United Nation’s Development Program

and UNESCO. Issues of public engagement,

dialogue and participation will remain a high

priority in the National Museum’s public edu-

cation policy.

Advocacy

Museums can assist government and pri-

vate enterprise to plan development projects

in ways that take into consideration the

present and future needs of people and envi-

ronments likely to be affected by proposed

developments. Museums can play a proactive

advocacy role rather than a reactive adver-

sary role. Museum staff can provide factual

information on the socio-cultural, archaeo-

logical, biological and environmental impacts

of development plans. There are financial

implications:

Unless economic development is placed

in an appropriate cultural and social con-

text it will be forever damaging to culture

and society and therefore more expensive

in the long term both financially, in areas

such as civil order and health, and politi-

cally. [Eoe & Swadling 1991: 270]

The Mining and Petroleum exhibition,

cited above, summarised the process by

which different parties negotiate to arrive at

a settlement but it did not explore problems

associated with national legislation, govern-

mental policy or international conventions.

Sometimes there is an impasse because of

contesting issues. For example, governmen-

tal policy supporting development may be in

accordance with national legislation but con-

trary to international conventions to which

Papua New Guinea is a party; or pragmatic

financial considerations may over-ride both

national legislation and international conven-

tions. In such cases the National Museum can

highlight the socio-cultural, biological and

environmental costs and benefits of proceed-

ing with a particular development.

There are two ways the National Museum

can be, and has been, involved in research

of relevance to development projects. The

first is research for the sake of extending

knowledge, research not directed towards

any particular end but which will undoubt-

edly one day prove relevant to an issue of

importance for development projects. Such

research would normally relate to items in

the anthropology and natural science collec-

tions of the Museum. In particular, the collec-

tions provide a base line for the presence or

absence of certain cultural features or biolog-

ical species that may come under pressure

from a development project in a particular

area. Research may indicate the existence of

archaeologically valuable sites that ought to




be undisturbed by development, or rare ani-

mal species that require protection.

Governments in developing countries

often do not realise the value of scien-

tific research and provide little or no finan-

cial support. In Papua New Guinea in 1999,

budget allocations to research institutions

were cut, some to zero. Although research

may not yield immediate results, in the long

term, governments will benefit from this

investment in intellectual capital.

The second way the National Museum has

been involved is by conducting impact stud-

ies and salvage research. National Museum

curators have been engaged by develop-

ers or by the government to conduct impact

studies in the field of archaeology, anthro-

pology, contemporary history and biology

as a component of the government’s pol-

icy on environmental planning. The aim of

this research is to identify the likely impacts

of developmental projects on the environ-

ment, on the lives of the people in the area,

and on cultural, historical and archaeologi-

cal sites, and to make recommendations

for protection as required under existing

legislation. The National Museum has con-

ducted several independent salvage research

projects, or has done so in collaboration with

the PNG Department of Environment and

Conservation, the University of Papua New

Guinea, the Australian National University,

and overseas museums and research insti-

tutions. One such project resulted in a pub-

lication about the peoples and cultures of

the Lake Kutubu and Kikori areas likely to

be affected by the Kutubu Joint Venture oil

extraction and pipeline project (Busse et al.

1993).

The Living Museum

For too long, museums in developing coun-

tries have suffered from the perception that

they store and study dead things. But there

are alternative models being explored by

some. Right from the beginning, the new

National Museum building in Waigani was

planned to have a space to exhibit living

fish, birds and animals – that is, a small zoo. It

also incorporated an outdoor performance

and theatre area. In effect, it was based on

the notion of a cultural centre (see Crawford

1977), a place where people could come and

not only look at dead things, but see live ani-

mals and watch and participate in cultural

performances and workshops.

More recently, the Constitution Park and

National Heritage Centre Project has been

proposed. This would involve a precinct

where the present National Museum and Art

Gallery becomes an anthropology and pre-

history museum, and additional buildings

would house a natural history museum, a

contemporary arts museum, a modern his-

tory museum, a conference centre and live

animal exhibits. The latter would exhibit a

sample of the bird and animal life of Papua

New Guinea, including birds of paradise, cas-

sowaries and crocodiles, and include cap-

tive breeding of poisonous snakes and the

commercial production of venom for medi-

cal use.

In 1989, a Cultural Heritage Workshop

organised by the National Museum and Art

Gallery of Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby,

attended by directors, managers, curators

and cultural workers from all over Papua New

Guinea and the Pacific, reported that:

Considerable discussion focused on the

perceived differences between museums

and cultural centres. It was felt by many

that the differences should be based on

practical considerations only. Participants

could see no reason why museums could

not also function as cultural centres where

living aspects of culture are encouraged,

and cultural centres might also provide

some storage and exhibition facilities in

addition to their other functions. [Eoe &

Swadling 1991: 269]

Another National Museum and Art

Gallery initiative was the Artists in Residence

Program that had two components. The

first consisted of a group of performing art-

ists and the second of graduates from the

National Arts School who were located at

the Museum and carried out intensive edu-

cation programs involving schools and street

kids. This program was complemented by

small-scale cultural events organised by

people from various parts of the country.

This program added colour and vitality to

the Museum, and provided the opportunity

for artists to share their creativity and sup-

port their families financially. Lack of funding

forced the program to end in 1998.

Many places in the Pacific, such as

Vanuatu, the Cook Islands, Tonga and New

Caledonia, have built cultural centres rather

than museums, but the centre has been

adapted to include some of the functions of

a museum. Thus in addition to their primary

role in performing arts, story-telling and craft

development, they have added storage and

exhibition facilities. This approach discards

the stereotypic view of museums by focus-

ing on the performance component, more

appropriate for Pacific communities, as the

primary function of the institution.

Many provincial and local cultural centres

were established in Papua New Guinea in

the 1970s and 1980s but most failed due to

management problems and inadequate sup-

port from government. At Goroka, the J.K

McCarthy Museum is a branch of the National

Museum operating on national government




funding. It opened to the public in 1968 and

is more of a traditional museum than a cul-

tural centre.

Recently, the idea of a cultural centre has

been revived and expanded to include such

facilities as a museum, library, auditorium,

performance space, university centre, tour-

ism office, coffee shop/restaurant, Internet

cafe, souvenir shop, book shop, leased office

spaces, and so forth. The capital costs would

be met by Provincial or National govern-

ments or by a major national-level, or interna-

tional, donor; the running costs would be met

by funding generated by the centre.

Funding and Revenue Generation

For institutions in Papua New Guinea such

as the National Museum, opportunities for

non-government funding are limited. Private

donors are rare and foreign funding aid is

geared towards community infrastructure,

and social, health and economic programs. Tax

incentive programs are strictly limited to char-

itable organisations to minimise erosion of

the ‘national tax base’. Institutions such as the

National Museum are therefore almost entirely

dependent on the government for funding.

As successive governments struggle with

how to allocate insufficient funds to meet

their many responsibilities, cuts are made and

the National Museum suffers. But the contri-

bution of museums in society cannot be, and

should not be, measured solely in monetary

terms. For example, their role is not unlike

that of libraries and schools in providing

information and educating people. Because

there is only one National Museum (with a

branch in the highlands) and a large number

of schools, the Museum is overlooked as an

educational resource and not included in

education funding allocations. Therefore the

question arises, can the National Museum

generate revenue to supplement the govern-

ment’s basic allocation?

The National Museum must now imple-

ment programs not only because they are in

accord with the functions of the museum as

set out in Section 4 of the National Museum

and Art Gallery Act (No. 9 of 1992), but to

attract more funds. Therefore exhibitions will

be set up that not only provide information

for the visitor but that also attract private and

corporate funding, and maintain good rap-

port with government as the major source

of funding. The dilemma is then that the

agendas of the providers of funds become

the agenda of the Museum, which may not

always be in accord with its statutory func-

tions as set out in the Act. The National

Museum requires sources of funding that it

can generate itself.

Some government fiscal strategists

believe the Museum should charge an

entrance fee but this would almost certainly

deter Papua New Guineans from entering

the building, which would be a great shame

as the Museum is there primarily to serve the

people of Papua New Guinea. In any case,

the Museum has never attracted more than

40,000 visitors per annum (in the years fol-

lowing the opening of the new building in

1977) and figures for 2002 and 2003 sug-

gest some 20,000 annually, with some 3000

of these being expatriates and tourists. This

number could increase if there were other

reasons for people to come to the area in

which the Museum is located and a regular

bus service was available, but the Museum

is located at the end of the road and there

is no through-traffic. Such difficulties could

be overcome by introducing housing, busi-

nesses and commercial services into the area,

and connecting the road to other suburbs,

but even so, entrance fees would not solve

the Museum’s financial problems and would

only erode its visitor numbers as has been

shown to happen at museums in Australia

that have introduced entrance fees.

Two major projects are being planned

that are intended to help the Museum create

a source of income that will supplement gov-

ernment funding. These are the Constitution

Park and National Heritage Project near the

National Museum in Waigani, already men-

tioned, and the Old House of Assembly

Restoration Project located in Port Moresby. It

is intended that these projects would attract

visitors and tourists, carry out certain statu-

tory functions of the Museum, and generate

income through sales of goods and services

and leasing of office space.

In addition, the National Museum could

facilitate tours to some of the 2500 sites of

archaeological, historical and cultural impor-

tance in the country, such as the early agri-

culture site at Kuk in the Western Highlands

(7500 – 9500 years old) and the Bobonggara

archaeological, geological and geomorpho-

logical site on the Huon Peninsula which has

over 47,000 years of human history. Both sites

are currently being considered for world her-

itage listing.

Statistics provided by World Tour

Organizations show that museums gener-

ated nearly one-fifth of the world’s tourist

revenue of around US$621 billion in 2002,

forecast to rise to US$1.5 trillion by 2010.

East Asia and the Pacific regions are

expected to host some 229 million tourists by

2010.1

In 2003, almost 56,000 tourists came to

Papua New Guinea.2

This figure is small com-

pared to those for Australia, New Zealand

and some other Pacific countries such as

Fiji. But Papua New Guinea has the poten-

tial to attract far more tourists than it does.




This requires effort on the part of all relevant

government and non-government agencies.

The National Museum is ready to take on the

challenge of being involved in such an enter-

prise but it needs the support of the gov-

ernment through the Tourism Promotional

Authority for the realisation of its two major

projects.

Conclusion

The basic role of museums is to provide

a service to society through their collec-

tions, exhibitions and educational programs.

However, in Papua New Guinea, the role of

the National Museum goes beyond this. Most

important is fostering a sense of nation-

hood, of national consciousness and national

identity. Papua New Guinea has the world’s

greatest cultural, linguistic and ethnic diver-

sity and the National Museum is one of the

few institutions that, through its collections,

can contribute to socio-political stability and

national identity. It is a symbol of unity in

diversity for a country whose national con-

stitution is firmly anchored on preservation

and respect for cultural heritage. In addition,

the Museum has changed its image from that

of a storeroom of dusty old objects to that of

a living, innovative and progressive institu-

tion making meaningful contributions to the

national development process.

Notes

1. Information obtained from East New Britain

Province’s Five Year Corporate Tourism Develop-

ment Plan 1999-2003, page 5.

2 . Tourism Promotion Authority, Turism Niusleta,

Volume 1 January – February 2004.



The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 25

As noted in Chapter 1, the 209 exhibits have

been grouped as much as possible according

to function. However, this is partly a conven-

ience for the purpose of display and there are

many cases where objects could have been

placed as easily in one category as in another.

Most objects have several levels of signifi-

cance and therefore may be considered as

multi-functional. For example, a large

wooden post is a support for a structure but

may also be carved with the image of a

founding clan ancestor who is appealed to

for success in warfare and hunting.1

A sus-

pension hook keeps certain valuable items

out of reach of destructive pests but may

bear the image of an important female

ancestor who is appealed to for protection

against illness. A mask may be attached to a

costume and worn by a man who imperson-

ates a spirit in the context of a particular

Chapter 5 The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition

Barry Craig

Fig. 5. Plan of Masterpieces Exhibition Gallery

ceremony; but it may be kept on a shelf in

the men’s house and used as a shrine to

invoke that spirit’s powers to achieve success

in hunting or warfare, or to inflict illness and

death on an enemy.

The plan of the Gallery (Fig. 5) shows

where the groups of exhibits can be found.2

Discussion of these functional groupings

proceeds as follows:

Watercraft. Canoes have been significant




for travel, trade and communication through-

out the riverine, coastal and island regions of

PNG, from prehistoric times to the present.

Architecture . Apart from domestic hous-

ing, Papua New Guineans build special

houses for secret/sacred ritual purposes and

to store family and community foodstuffs,

heirlooms, weapons and ancestral relics.

These houses are often seen in symbolic

terms as human, bird or beast.

Household items. Even domestic items

feature the sculptural forms and graphic

designs found on objects that house the

spirits.

Gardening and fertility figures. Certain

spirits are called upon to assist in gardening,

to promote the fertility of plants, animals and

humans, and to protect crops from theft, the

figures functioning as shrines for communi-

cation with these spirits.

Hunting and warfare. Not only were war

shields carved and painted with designs to

promote success in battle, but carved human

and animal figures house spirits whose assist-

ance was sought in finding and killing

enemies, an activity in which head hunting

was often a feature. The spirits in these

figures also assist in the hunting of the larger

animals such as pigs, cassowaries and

wallabies.

Musical instruments. A wide range of

musical instruments is made. Those most

commonly featuring carved motifs include

slit-gongs, hand drums, water and mud-

beater drums, trumpets and long flutes.

Masks. Many different materials are used

to construct masks to represent the spirits

and conceal the men impersonating them.

The wood face-masks are the more durable

component and function also as shrines for

the spirits. Some other types of masks are

constructed of perishable materials over sev-

eral months, performed for less than an hour,

then destroyed.

Mortuary objects. When an important

person dies, their descendants may create

images to remind them to revenge the death;

or the mortuary ceremonies may provide the

context for honouring the dead, strengthen-

ing the relationships between groups, and

reaffirming rights to land (the figures then

acting as title deeds).

WATERCRAFT

It is widely believed that humans came

to Sahul, the combined continent of Aus-

tralia–New Guinea, at least 40,000 years ago

and from South-East Asia. ‘This fully mod-

ern human was probably coastally adapted

and equipped with highly functional water-

craft’ (Bowdler 1993: 66). Because of the lower

sea levels at that time, such craft enabled

people to spread from Sahul to New Britain,

New Ireland and the Solomon Islands. People

reached Buka around 30,000 years ago and

even reached the Admiralty Islands, over 200

kilometres off the north coast of New Guinea,

at least 20,000 years ago.

Although there is no evidence of the

types of crafts used, they may have been rafts

or log canoes. Both forms of water transport

continue in use to the present day, especially

on rivers and in estuaries (Figs 7, 8). There is

remarkable variety in the dugout log canoes

of New Guinea, in both form and decoration,

perhaps the most spectacular being those of

the Gogodala (Fig. 6 and Crawford 1981: 110-

17, 284-307) and the Purari Delta (Young and

Clark 2001: 69).

It appears that more sophisticated water-

craft were brought to New Guinea and

Melanesia by the speakers of Austronesian

languages from the islands of south-east

Asia. These vessels consisted of a dugout

canoe with planks lashed along the sides to

increase the depth of the hull, stabilised by

an outrigger (usually single – Fig. 9 – but

sometimes double as in the Torres Strait). The

smaller outriggers for reef fishing were pad-

dled but the larger ones for the open sea

were driven by rectangular, triangular or

‘crab-claw’ sails.

In some areas, such as the south-east

coast of Papua, the vessels were double- or

multi-hulled, for example, those used by the

Mailu (Fig. 10) and Motu (Fig. 11). In other

areas, such as the Solomons, the entire hull

was constructed of shaped planks lashed

together and sealed with Parinarium paste

(Fig. 12), but these were seldom equipped

with outriggers or sails. It is believed this type

of vessel was introduced from the Moluccas

in relatively recent times, along with the

areca palm (Haddon and Hornell 1975, III: 79)

from which the ‘betel nut’, chewed with lime

and the fruit of the betel vine, is harvested

(Beran 1988: 5).

The peoples speaking Austronesian lan-

guages, according to most scholars, came

from Taiwan, through the Philippines to New

Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago around

3500 years ago (Bellwood 1995; Spriggs 1995,

1997). They then spread to Vanuatu, New Cal-

edonia and Fiji around 3200 years ago,

colonising the islands of Tonga and Samoa

perhaps 3000 years ago. Around 2500 years

ago, they moved on to the more remote

islands of the eastern Pacific, helped by the

development of the double-hulled canoe

(Horridge 1995: 135).

Other scholars, such as Stephen Oppen-

heimer, suggest that there were two

movements of Austronesian-speakers from

South-East Asia into the Pacific and not nec-

essarily from Taiwan (Oppenheimer 1998:




Fig. 8. Raft on S epik River, arriving at Angoram from

the Yuat River. Photo: Peter Tree, October 1982.

Fig. 7. Canoes at Mahanei village, Abau speakers,

upper Sepik. Photo: B. Craig USEE 1969, M14:11A;

16 July 1969.

Fig. 6. Gogodala racing canoes, Aramia River,

Western Province. Photo: A.L. Crawford, 1974.




160-76 and Fig. 27). According to this theory,

the first movement of people was to New

Guinea, the Bismarcks and the Solomons

around 6000 years ago. They then mixed with

the previous populations speaking Papuan

languages, becoming the people generally

called ‘Melanesians’. The second movement of

Austronesian-speaking peoples passed

through the small islands north of the Bis-

marcks and the Solomons about 3500 years

ago, with minimal interaction with the previ-

ous Austronesian-speaking colonisers,

passing on to the Reef–Santa Cruz Islands,

Tonga and Samoa, and eventually out into

the rest of the Pacific to become the people

we call ‘Polynesians’. The first group (the

‘Melanesians’) adopted some of the cultural

characteristics of the second group and colo-

nised the rest of island Melanesia (Vanuatu,

New Caledonia, and probably Fiji). Some later

moved back westwards to settle the islands

off the south-east of New Guinea and pro-

gressed along the north and south coasts of

New Guinea, even penetrating inland up the

Markham Valley. Some ‘Polynesians’ also

moved back westwards and in particular

there was intense interaction between Tonga

and Fiji that so strongly affected the Fijians

(and vice versa) that they are often catego-rised with Polynesians rather than

Melanesians (Haddon and Hornell 1975: 342).

A great deal more archaeology (and work

in other disciplines) is needed before it will

become clear which of these competing the-

ories is closer to the truth. However, it is clear

that ‘Austronesian’ maritime technology (in

particular, planked dugout outrigger and

multi-hulled canoes) survived to the 20th

century in coastal and island regions around

New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago.

Sea-going outrigger and multi-hulled canoes

were the vehicles by which maritime trade

Fig. 9. Outrigger canoes, Lauan, Kara speakers,

northern New Ireland (Meyer and Parkinson 1900,

Plate 30).

Fig. 10. Mailu double-hulled trading canoe. Photo:

Frank Hurley, June 1921 (Specht and Fields

1984: 43).




MPNr 33. Canoe paddle, Nafri village, Yotefa Bay, Nafri speakers, [West] Papua, Indonesia. Wood. 197 cm

long. 76.32.9. Acquired by Robert Mitton from Ananias Merahabia and registered June 1976. Carved c.1928

from su timber (‘kwila’, Intsia species). The design on the paddle represents flying fish (ha’oi ) chasing small

phosphorescent sea lice (hiabo). Also represented are sea snakes (ware).

Fig. 11. Motu trading canoe. Lindt 1887 Plate VII, 1.

Fig. 12. Buka canoe (Meyer and Parkinson 19 00,

Plate 41).




Fig. 14. Slit-gong (bung’gi ) at Rauit, Gnau speakers,

near Anguganak, Torricelli Mountains, West Sepik

Province. Photo: B. Craig M5: 6A; 17 May 2002.

Fig. 13. Drawing of paddle blade, Sanji clan,

Humboldt Bay (after G alis 1955: 102, Nr 4).

a = chasò (a type of fish), b = chont ufechu (trepang),

c = taidj-rówárò (calm sea).

networks moved specialised goods over

large areas (Barton 1910; Brookfield and Hart

1971: 322-29 and Figs 13.2-13.5; Dark 1974,

1997; Haddon and Hornell 1975; Harding

1967; Hogbin 1935, 1947; Irwin 1985; Lewis

1972; Malinowski 1922; Malnic 1998; Mennis

1980; Tiesler 1969-70). Towards the close of

the 2nd millennium AD, only the maritime

trade networks on the north coast of theSepik provinces, around the Vitiaz Strait, and

in the Massim region of south-east New

Guinea had survived in more-or-less tradi-

tional form.

Central North Coast of New Guinea

From Humboldt Bay and Yotefa Bay in [West]

Papua, eastwards to Vanimo in West Sepik

Province, the men’s outrigger canoe, rigged

with a rectangular sail, is decorated with the

same kind of carved and painted designs.

Canoe paddles also are carved with the same

kind of designs (Galis 1955: 98-103, Plate 32;

Haddon and Hornell 1975, II: 310-14). This

similarity is not surprising; Hermione Fran-

kel (1978: 2-3) reports that people came from

Tobadi (Sande 1907, Fig. 87), at the northern

end of Yotefa Bay, and moved eastwards to

settle at Walomo, bringing their designs and

artistic skills with them. However, it would

appear they did not bring their language as

the people of Tobadi speak an Austronesian

language whereas the people of Walomo

speak a completely unrelated Sko Phylum

language.

The designs on canoe paddles appear to

be the property of particular clans. A Hum-

boldt Bay paddle from Sanji clan illustrated

by K.W. Galis (1955: 102, Nr 4, reproduced

here as Fig. 13) is quite similar to the one col-

lected by Robert Mitton (MPNr 33) from Nafri

at the southern end of Yotefa Bay, whose

inhabitants speak a language of the Trans-

New Guinea Phylum. Galis (1955: 100) shows

that the sails are decorated with tassels that

indicate clan identity, and Frankel (1978: 12-

15, 32-5, 42-4) provides drawings and

information for clan emblems carved at the

front of the strake of Walomo canoes. We may

reasonably assume that the people of Tobadi,

Nafri and Walomo share many cultural fea-

tures despite speaking such differentlanguages and, nowadays, living on either

side of an international boundary.

In this region, the motifs on the paddles

and canoes usually represent birds, fish,

sharks and dolphins. Frankel suggests that it

is the forms and habits of these creatures

that carry significance for the Walomo peo-

ple. For example, the box fish, Mukebi, is

thought of as ‘the wooden fish’ and is ‘an apt

description of the canoe’ (ibid.: 59). She adds

(ibid.: 57):

Symbolically, the combination of crea-

tures, of messenger bird, dolphins, sharks,

hammerhead shark and blue-banded

sprat, adds up to an image of forceful

speed … It is echoed in the Long Tom that

shoots along the front of the hull, and in

the flying fish with their phenomenal

flights that dance lightly along the hull.

The world of the Walomo is divided into

the mountains in the south, where the clan

spirits dwell, the forest of the coastal plain,

which is the realm primarily of the women,

the villages along the coast where both men

and women dwell, and then the beach, the

reef and the open sea which are the realmsprimarily of the men. When a canoe is drawn

up on the beach, it must be left with its prow

facing the sea.

It is up to the man, as he goes between

village and canoe, to maintain its [the

canoe’s] purity through his correct proce-

dure while preparing himself for fishing

… lest the fish … should become reti-

cent and make themselves hard to find.

[ibid.: 42]




Upper Sepik River

About 55 kilometres westwards from

Ambunti, on the Sepik River, is the village of

Kubkein, one of four villages of the Wogamus

people. These people have had diverse ori-

gins but are mainly from the east, that is, fromdownriver, so their culture is related to that

of the Nggala, the Kwoma and other groups

around Ambunti.

The designs on canoe prows and on the

handles of the paddles vary according to the

clan of the owner. Comparing the motifs on

the canoe prow MPNr 31, and paddle handle

MPNr 32 to the illustrations of canoe prows

and paddle ends provided by Douglas New-

ton (1971: 59), it is likely that the prow is of

the Wismi clan, whose members are

descended from Nggala ancestors (ibid. 52),

and the paddle is of the Munggwal clan.

Newton records that Wogamus canoe prow

designs came from the Nggala and that the

paddle ends usually represent totemic birds

(ibid.: 53). Specific clans also own designs on

war shields.

There appears to be a symbolic relation-

ship between canoes and slit-gongs, which

were believed to be personified female

water-spirits. Newton (ibid.: 52) reports:

The gongbeaters (mi ras or ga’hei ) were

also female; they symbolize paddles, so

that the gongs themselves are, by implica-

tion, symbolic canoes.

Newton’s illustrations 91 and 92 show slit-

gongs with prows carved quite like those of

canoes. In the Torricelli Mountains, the resem-

blance to canoes is striking (Fig. 14).

MPNr 32. Canoe paddle (and detail of handle),

Kubkein village, Upper Sepik, Wogamusin speakers,

East Sepik Province. Wood. 184 cm long. 77.43.21.

Acquired from Island Carvings in 1977.




Middle Sepik River

Yambi Yambi is one of three villages of Bisis

speakers whose territory extends south of

Chambri Lake to the north-west bank of the

lower Salumei River, a western tributary of

the Korosameri River. The influence of Iatmul

culture shows in the row of spirals incised

along the side of the canoe prow MPNr 29,

the hint of crocodile head, and in the form

of the long-beaked bird (a hornbill ?) at thefront of the prow. However, the face of the

male figure suggests links with the Karawari

cultures to the east.

It is not certain where the paddle MPNr

39 came from. It was bought along with sev-

eral other items from the ‘middle Sepik area’

in November 1966 from an unnamed person.

The face carved where the shaft of the pad-

dle meets the blade is consistent with Iatmul

designs (cf., Kelm 1966a, Plates 443, 447 from

Timbunke). However, the face at the top end

of the paddle shows the saw-toothed motif

around the top of the slanting eyes, and the

loop of tiny circles across the lower part of

the face, motifs that have their equivalents

on shields from the Mundugumor, lower Yuat

River (cf., Fuhrmann 1922: 109 right; Kelm

1968, Plate 420). This paddle may, therefore,

be from one of several villages near or on the

Lower Yuat.

MPNr 31. Canoe prow, Kubkein village, Upper Sepik,

Wogamusin speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.

205 x 37 cm. 81.26.104 [original registration number

lost].

MPNr 39. Canoe paddle and detail, Middle Sepik

area, East Sepik Province. Wood. 253 cm long.E.4557. Registered 20 November 1969. No further

information.




Lower Sepik-Ramu Rivers

Villagers at Murik Lakes and Watam, near

the mouth of the Sepik, have two types of

canoes: dugouts (Murik: gai’iin and bor ) for

use on the Sepik River and on the lakes (Fig.

15), and large sea-going outriggers (Murik:

sev gai’iin) for trading along the coast and tothe nearby islands (Lipset 1997: 279, Plate 7).

The men of the Schouten Islands and of the

islands off the coast north-west of Wewak

also construct and sail these large outriggers

(Fig. 16 and Hogbin 1935).3

Murik voyages reach out to the Schouten

Islands and westwards as far as Sissano

Lagoon. Watam voyages are more restricted;

they go to Murik to connect to the western

and offshore trading networks, inland to Bos-

mun on the Lower Ramu, and eastwards to

Hansa Bay and Potsdamhafen to connect to

the Manam Island and Madang trade net-

works (Tiesler 1969-70). Because of these

widespread trade links, the carved prows on

the outrigger canoes (Neuhauss 1911, I, Figs

253-55), and on the dugouts at Murik (Craig

1987, Plate 41), Watam, Bosmun (Christensen

1975: 49-51) and nearby villages, are similar in

style and motifs (MPNr 30).

The outrigger canoes require a large

steering paddle (MPNr 34). For the Murik,

Lipset reports (1997: 43) that the steersman’s

wife ‘is held to possess magical influence over

the outrigger canoe as it travels to and from

the islands’. She is subject to various taboos

such as not cutting grass or chopping fire-

wood, lest the canoe break up and sink; or to

engage in sexual dalliances lest the canoe be

swamped, sink into the sea and her husband

drowned.

The making and sailing of an outrigger

canoe is exclusively a male project and the

men working on the canoe must refrain from

sexual activity.

As the log is carved into a canoe hull, men

also view it as being metamorphosed

from a feminine entity into a powerful,

masculine vehicle by means of a process

of cultic initiation. [Lipset 1997: 42]

The shed where the canoe is constructed

is the symbolic equivalent of the women’s

birth hut and just as men are excluded from

the mystery of childbirth, so women are

excluded from the canoe-making process.

There appears to be some connection

between a certain type of men’s house and

canoes, as suggested by the finial decora-

tions of a men’s house in the village of ‘Big

Murik’ (Ruff and Ruff 1990, Fig. 15 and Fig. 25

this book).

MPNr 29. Canoe prow, Yambi Yambi village, lower

Salumei River, Bisis speakers, East Sepik Province.

Wood. 170 x 40 cm. E.367. Collected by Dadi Wirz in

1955 and registered 7 December 1956.

MPNr 30. Canoe prow, Watam village, Lower Sepik,

Watam speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 98 x 41

cm. 81.26.103 [original registration number lost].




MPNr 34. Steering paddle, showing detail of

handle and blade, Watam village, Lower Sepik,

Watam Speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 328 x

34 cm. E.16304. Purchased from Barry Hoare and

registered 4 March 1974.




MPNr 38. Canoe paddle (naap) and detail of handle , Bosmun village, Lower Ramu, Bosmun speakers, Madang

Province. Wood. 212 cm long. E.5681. Collected by Dr G. Gerrits from owner Bugai and registered 4 June 1970.

This Bosmun paddle is almost certainly for use with a river canoe. Unfortunately, nothing is known of the

significance of the figure carved on the blade or at the end of the handle.




Fig. 15. Murik paddle canoe, Darapap village, Murik

speakers, Murik Lakes. Photo: B. Craig, C33: 35; 23

November 1981.

Fig. 16 (bottom). Outrigger trading canoe from

Guap, Yuo Island, Kairiru speakers (Meyer and

Parkinson 1894, Plate 44).




Vitiaz Strait-Huon Gulf region

Outrigger canoes sailing from the Huon Gulf

and the Tami Islands, and across the Vitiaz

Strait from the Siassi Islands off the west-

ern end of New Britain, are similar in design

and in carved and painted decorative motifs. The people sailing these canoes all speak lan-

guages belonging to the same sub-family of

Austronesian languages. Their maritime trade

network reaches Madang in the west, as far

as the north-west and south-west coasts of

New Britain, and to Busama south of Lae in

the Huon Gulf. Food, animals, raw materials

and manufactured objects are traded among

communities specialising in certain products

(Brookfield and Hart 1971: 328-29, Fig.13.5;

Harding 1967; Hogbin 1947).

The larger sea-going vessels are usually

two-masted, with rectangular mat sails, a can-

tilevered platform and central hut, and no

obvious distinction between prow and stern

(Fig. 17).

There are two rows of strakes, covered

with carved and painted designs, along each

side of the canoe hull, closed at each end

with a splashboard. The prow and stern of the

hull are carved by the Tami with simple

incised designs and by the Siassi, for example,

MPNr 25,with human, bird and animal figures(Neuhauss 1911, I, Figs 260-65). Single-masted

outriggers are used for coastal voyages and

have only one row of strakes along the hull

(Bodrogi 1961: 31, 109-11).

The Yabim, around Finschhafen, regard

the portrayal of a human figure, head or face

as a representation of a balum spirit. The

word balum is ‘the name given to the soul of

the dead’, ‘the central spirit of the [men’s]

secret cult’,4

and the bullroarer used in the

cult (Bodrogi 1961: 40). They call the repre-

sentation of the head or face balum-kaui

(balum mask) and the whole figure goam,

MPNr 25 (top). Canoe prow, Aramot Island, Siassi Islands, Mutu speaker s, Morobe Province. Wood. 133 x 26

cm. E.13882. Collected, along with several other canoe parts, by Morris Young and registered 18 March 1974.

‘These canoe pieces were collected on Tami Island but were made in Aramot Island in the Siassi group’.

Eric Coote (pers. comm. October 2009) states that this prow is clearly Tami and not Aramot. He suggests that

while the canoe could have been built at Aramot, the iconography suggests the prow has been car ved by a

Tami islander.Fig 17 (bottom). Double-masted Tami trading

canoe at Bukaua, south coast of Huon Peninsula

(Neuhauss 1911, I, Fig. 257).

MPNr 27 (middle). Canoe bailer, Siassi Islands,

Mutu speakers, Morobe Province. Wood. 50 x 16 cm.

E.16119. Purchased from Barry Hoare and registered

11 February 1975.




after the figurative posts of the men’s houses

(Bodrogi 1961: 159). If we assume similar

beliefs for the Tami5

and Siassi, then the

crouching figure on the splashboard (MPNr

26) is a goam and the face on the larger bailer

(MPNr 27) is a balum-kaui , a motif often

found on wooden bowls (ibid., Figs 88, 89).

Both wear an oa-balan feather-plume head-

dress (ibid.: 157-59, Figs 211, 212). On the top

of the smaller bailer (MPNr 28), the double-

loop motif ( yabo) represents two fully-curved

pig tusks, a precious ornament made by

Siassi Islanders (Bodrogi 1961: 166-67 and

Figs 60, 211; Neuhauss 1911, I, Plates 66-7,

105-7). The eyes and nose carved in relief

below the yabo echo the form of the scoop

with its nose-like handle.

MPNr 26. Canoe splashboard, Tami Islands,

Tami speakers, Morobe Province. Wood. 134 x

51 cm. 81.73.19. Acquired from Village Arts and

registered 10 December 1981. Eric Coote (pers.

comm. October 2009) states that this splashboard

(damundam) was carved by the Tami canoe-builder

Daulo for a two-masted canoe (uang salu), personal

name Matabung, that he built on Umboi Island.




MPNr 28. Canoe bailer (top and bottom), Siassi

Islands, Mutu speakers, Morobe Province. Wood.

35 x 14 cm. 76.63.19. Acquired from Village Arts and

registered 21 December 1976.

Massim region of south-east New

Guinea

The kula maritime trading cycle of the Trobri-

and Islanders and their Massim neighbours

was made famous by Bronislaw Malinowski

in his 1922 book, Argonauts of the Western

Pacific . A summary of this trading cycle, with

diagrams showing the geographical network

and the movement of various trade goods,

has been provided by Brookfield and Hart

(1971: 324-27).

The kula circulates non-utilitarian valu-

ables in a formal way that brings renown to

the kula participant through temporary own-

ership of the armshells (mwali ) circulating

anti-clockwise and of the necklaces (soul-

ava or bagi) circulating clockwise. Associatedwith this series of formal transactions is the

movement of many raw materials and useful

commodities along sections of the network,

and into and out of the network at various

points. The vehicle for this trade is the out-

rigger canoe, itself a potential item of trade.

Brookfield and Hart (1971: 324) state:

But while the shells passed right around

the ring, no man did. The system operated

principally by means of voyages in each

direction outward from each point in the

ring, rarely going further than two legs

from the point of origin. Each voyage was

reciprocated, so that the network con-

sisted of an overlapping series of voyages,

alternating in time, linking an overlapping

series of contact fields.

Since Malinowski’s Argonauts …, a series

of books and films have documented this

activity in detail (for example, Balson and

Mitchell 1992, Campbell 2002, Ichioka 1971,

Malnic and Kasaipwalova 1998, Weiner 1988).

The outrigger canoes used in this trade

(generically termed waga) are the masawa

of the western sector of the kula region




MPNr 35. Canoe splashboard (lagim), Boagis,

Madau Island, Misima speakers, Milne Bay Province.

Wood. 106 x 85 cm. 81.26.105 [original registration

number lost but identified as E.3022, collected in

March 1969 by Dr G. Gerrits and registered 12 May

1969].

Fig. 18. Outrigger trading canoe (masawa) of

Kiriwina, Kilivila speakers, Trobriand Islands

(Malinowski 1922, Plate XXIII).

( Trobriands, Kitava, Iwa in the Marshall Ben-

nett Islands, Dobu, Amphletts) and the bigger

and better-crafted, but heavier and there-

fore slower,nagega of the eastern sector

(Boagis – a Misima-speaking settlement on

the southern tip of Madau Island, Gawa in

the Marshall Bennetts, Woodlark, and, out-

side the kula region, Misima and Panaeati)

(Malinowski 1922: 144-45). Malinowski com-

ments that the masawa probably originated

in Dobu and spread (during the 19th cen-

tury) to the north from there, supplanting

the manufacture and/or use of the nagega in

the Trobriands, Kitava and Iwa. Godfried Ger-

rits informed me (pers. comm. 7 June 2004)

that by the 1970s, both the masawa and the

nagega could be found on Gawa.

Both masawa (Fig. 18) and nagega (Fig.

19) are highly-decorated with carved and

painted boards and with egg cowrie (Ovula

ovum) shells. There is a great deal of ritual

and magic involved in the construction, dec-

oration and launching of a kula canoe. There

appears to be no clear distinction between

front and back of the canoe6

as that depends

entirely on the direction of travel and the

outrigger is always kept to windward.

The main decorative components are the

strakes or sideboards (from top to bottom:lowaila, sipa and budaka), two splashboards

(lagim), two water breakers (tabuya) and the

detachable prow ornament called sikusaku.

This ornament is tied to the top of the nagega

canoe’s tabuya (water breaker). It signals that a

kula trip has been successful, that the desired

kula valuables have been obtained; or, where a

wedding is being planned, that pigs have

successfully been obtained. If a nagega returns

without a sikusaku it signals lack of success in

these enterprises, or that a member of the

crew has died (Dr G. Gerrits, pers. comm.

8 September 2003).




MPNr 36. Canoe water breaker (tabuya), Boagis,

Madau Island, Misima speakers, Milne Bay Province.

Wood. 111 x 86 cm. E.7780. Collected in March 1969

by Dr G. Gerrits and registered 6 Apr il 1971.

MPNr 37. Canoe ornament (sikusaku), Gawa Island,

Marshall Bennett Islands, Muyuw speakers, Milne

Bay Province. Wood. 69 x 37 cm. E.7856. Collected by

Dr G. Gerrits and registered 7 May 1971.

Fig. 19. Outrigger trading canoe (nagega), at

Narian, Misima Island, 1932. H.K. Bartlett, SAM

archives, AA18, Acc. Nr 973.




The three canoe components in the Mas-

terpieces Exhibition are from nagega canoes.

Dr Gerrits has provided information about

what the various carved and painted motifs

represent. MPNr 35, a lagim or splashboard, is

from Boagis (Misima speakers). The two circu-

lar designs represent ubwara or utuyam

(‘star’); at the termination of the spiral, below

each ‘star’, there is the head of a protective

bird called weku. Right around the rim of the

two lobes of the splashboard are tiny repre-

sentations of sausawila, the sandpiper. There

are four mwata (‘snakes’) in the central panel.

The red pigment is kaimalaka and the black

pigment (burnt coconut husks) is koisalu.

MPNr 36, a tabuya or water breaker, is also

from Boagis (Misima speakers). Along the

bottom of the carved panel, two snakes

(mwata) each hold an eagle (tubulib-wala) in

its mouth, one facing to the front and one to

the rear. These eagles also appear at the top,

facing front and rear, each supporting the

beak of a frigate bird (kuludauta), each of

which in turn support a grasshopper

(nipawa). The long vertical spiral terminates

in the head of a boi (generic for seabird but

specifically a heron). Along the rim at the ver-

tical front and at the curving rear of the

tabuya are a series of tiny sandpipers (sau-

sawila). Scattered elsewhere among the

curving motifs are representations of boi (sea

bird/heron), nipawa (grasshopper), and weku

(protective type of bird). Boi and weku are

protective in that if a canoe sinks, these birds

circle above it and then fly off to the nearest

land. The sailors then know in which direction

to swim to shore.

MPNr 37, the sikusaku, is from Gawa

(Muyuw speakers). It is tied to the vertical

uncarved projection of the tabuya. In some

areas, the sikusaku is called maan, mana, or

mani . The two birds facing each other at the

the boi is always even, always balanced,

always clear.

In contrast to the boi , Campbell says of

buribwari the osprey (Gerrits’s tubulib-wala)

that it is ‘magic personified’, representing ‘wis-

dom that is not attainable’ by humans.

Vakutans say that ‘When Dobuans see the

buribwari [on the kula canoe prow] they

will want to throw their kula shell valua-

bles at the crew because his magic is so

strong. [Campbell 2002: 99]

As one informant pointed out:

The buribwari always catches its prey, it

does not simply strike here and there

hoping to take a fish. That is why the

buribwari [on the dogina prow board]

always lands first in kula because it will

never fail to get all the vaiguwa and mwari

[shell valuables].

Little is understood about the sandpiper

sawila (Gerrits’s sausawila); it is merely said to

be lucky. But mwata the snake is ‘associated

with power, particularly the power of shed-

ding old skin for new, attractive and “young”

skin’, a trick that enabled mythic heroes to

attract kula shell valuables (ibid.: 105).

These few examples demonstrate how

characteristics of the various creatures areselected and combined to create a system of

meaning relevant to the male enterprise of

securing kula shell valuables (ibid.: 109).

The prevalence of sea birds as carved

motifs on canoe components is not surpris-

ing given their usefulness as indicators of the

presence of schools of fish and their impor-

tance for navigation in times of emergencies.

Malinowski reports (1922: 225-26) that stars

are not so important for navigation but the

Trobriand Islanders (and presumably other

Massim sailors) can set course by the stars if

necessary.

top of this sikusaku are sawila; the sawila is

usually carved on top of the mast also. The

sawila protects seamen against mulukwausi ,

the flying witches whose manifestation at

night are meteors (Malinowski 1922: 320).

Before a trip, magic is spoken over the sawila

to ask their help in keeping away witches and

stormy winds (Gerrits, pers. comm. 8 Septem-

ber 2003). Supporting the two sawila is a

motif that could be understood as a canoe

with a bird’s head at each end. A frigate bird

(kuludauta) sits on top of the uncarved ‘handle’

of the sikusaku facing forwards; supported on

its back is a second frigate bird, upside down

and facing the rear and supported on the tip

of its beak is a third frigate bird. Opposite this

third contorted frigate bird is another bird in

spiral form, perhaps an eagle.

Shirley Campbell (2002: 91-109) provides

interpretations of the significance of the vari-

ous creatures represented on the carved canoe

components. Bearing in mind that the terms

Gerrits recorded are for languages different

from that of the Trobriand Islands, and that the

significance of the creatures represented also

may differ somewhat, Campbell’s interpreta-

tions are nevertheless indicative here.

For example, boi , which she identifies as

the egret (Egretta alba) suggests ‘wisdomthat is attainable by human actors’, especially

through performance of magic, which the

egret is believed to carry out to ensure suc-

cess in fishing (2002: 98). Ulli Beier (1974: 39)

reports the comments of Chief Narabutal

about this bird:

The ancestors began all their carving from

the boi . They said, ‘We have seen all the

birds but none has the same grace. The

crane [sic] is complete in rest or in motion.

Whether he bends forward or tilts his

head backwards, whether he is standing

or sitting, whether he is resting or flying,




ARCHITECTURE

For most of the time that people have inhab-

ited New Guinea and its nearby islands, they

have undoubtedly subsisted by hunting, fish-

ing and gathering. Such a lifestyle is unlikely

to have demanded more than the use of rock

shelters and the simplest of built structures

to protect from rain and, at higher altitudes,

from cold winds. Perhaps the type of shelter

they built would have been a simple lean-to

with a leaf roof, like that of the Borneo

nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes (Sellato 1994:

66) or the simple walled platform covered

with a slanting roof noted by van Baal (1966:

46-8) for the Marind-anim of south-east

[West] Papua. Hunting parties in the moun-

tains of central New Guinea still use

earth-floor, lean-to huts.

New Guinea horticulture no doubt devel-

oped gradually from harvesting wild crops of

vegetables, and tree fruits and nuts. Sago

would have been extracted from wild palms

before the advantages of propagation

became evident. In the highlands, New Guin-

eans were developing horticultural skills

around 9000 years ago, probably planting

taro and yams as staples. Experiments with

the propagation of banana, sugarcane, and

various fruit and nut trees may also have

been under way (Haberle 1993: 119-20;

Spriggs 1993a; Yen 1993: 90). Archaeologists

have noted the abandonment around this

time of certain rock shelters. Some have sug-

gested the possibility that ‘a shift to

agriculture meant less reliance on hunting

and gathering in the forest as well as a shift

to village settlement, hence abandonment of

rock shelters’, though the evidence is incon-

clusive (Spriggs 1993b: 189).

In due course people began to settle into

villages to exploit resources in a more con-

Fig. 20. Photo of Purari ravi by E.S. Usher, 1915, South

Australian Museum archives, AA835, D3.

centrated fashion and to unite into larger

settlement groups to protect themselves and

their resources. Over time, rituals and cere-

monies would have become more elaborate,

the paraphernalia associated with such activ-

ities more sophisticated, and special

buildings would have been constructed to

segregate the secret/sacred activities of the

initiated men from women and the uniniti-

ated. In the Papuan Gulf, especially amongst

the Namau and the Elema, and in the Sepik-

Ramu region, these structures rivalled in

magnificence and scale the vernacular archi-

tecture found elsewhere in the world.

Papuan Gulf

Papuan Gulf men’s houses were not embel-

lished with carved and painted structuralcomponents or with intricately painted

façades such as those of the Sepik region. But

they housed an impressive quantity and vari-

ety of portable objects such as shields, hand

drums, figures, masks and ancestral boards. It

is therefore appropriate to provide an over-

view of these houses and of the activities

they housed, as a context for appreciating

the Papuan Gulf Masterpieces exhibits dealt

with elsewhere in this book.

The Namau ravi and Elema eravo (Fig. 20)

are documented by the research and photo-

graphs of Albert Buell Lewis (Welsch 1998, I:

475, 477-80) and Francis Edgar Williams

(1924, 1940), and by the marvellous photo-

graphs of Ernest Sterne Usher (Pike and Craig

1999: 248-49) and Frank Hurley (Specht and

Fields 1984: 167, 171, 175, 183). Among the

Namau, these structures were up to 200

metres long and 20 metres high at the front

(somewhat smaller among the Elema),

decreasing in width and height to about 3

metres at the rear (ibid.: 174); they were basi-

cally a funnel-like vault supported by a

longitudinal row of pairs of posts, and in the

bigger houses there was a series of four posts

across the width (Fig. 20). The walls and roof

were fabricated as one surface from numer-

ous light curved vertical ribs fastened to a

series of horizontal longitudinal battens. On

top of this framework were affixed the

thatching ‘tiles’ prefabricated by folding nipa

palm leaves over a short length of palm leaf

stem. A floor of flattened palm bark was laid

on a platform supported above high tide

level by numerous short posts driven into the

mud. A row of cubicles or spaces ( larava) was

located down each side of the building; each

cubicle was used by the men of a descent

group as a sleeping area and for the display

and storage of sacred boards (Namau: kwoi ;

Elema: hohao), the skulls of wild pigs and

crocodiles, shields, weapons, masks, hand

drums, the occasional human skull, and other




ritual and personal property ( Young and

Clark 2001: 80).

This type of men’s house was found also

among the Era River people, although they

speak a language of a different sub-Phylum

to their Purari-speaking eastern neighbours.

The roofline sloped from a high front to a

low rear where a screened enclosure housed

the large wickerwork, gaped-mouth

kaiaimunu, in which the sacred bullroarers

were kept (Newton 1961, Illust. 27, and Fig.

21 this book).

West of Era River, the men’s houses were

of even height with a horizontal ridge, more

like a long tunnel than a funnel. Notably, on

Urama Island, racks of human skulls were part

of the display of sacred boards, there called

gope (Specht and Fields 1984: 159, 161). Still

farther west, on Goaribari Island, the Kerewa

agiba function as suspension hooks for clus-

ters of human skulls (Newton 1961: 56-7;

Specht and Fields 1984: 147). On the

bullroarer-shapedgope boards, the image of

a spindly humanoid body with large head

and concentric circle eyes suggests a foetus

in the womb.

At the rear of the Namau ravi was a parti-

tioned space in which were kept the sacred

bullroarers and the woven cane kaiaimunu

‘masks’ (ibid.: 181). Newton (1961: 22-3) writes:

They are huge four-legged beasts with gap-

ing jaws, constructed of wickerwork … up

to twelve feet long and seven feet high…

When new, the beasts are decked out with

red seed eyes, feathers and crotons. Gen-

erally speaking they are left quite alone …

Only the old men dare approach them.

The wickerwork beasts are not vaguely

possessed of imunu, … They are the

actual imunu… every larava (in theory at

least) has an individual kaiaimunu with

its own name. While the kaiaimunu live

in the ravi , their spirits may sometimes

leave the building to haunt the rivers with

which each (like its larava) is associated.

Each is also associated with a stated ani-

mal, [F.E. Williams reports fish o r crocodile

– Young and Clark 2001: 79] … which is its

‘canoe’. But above all, they are extraordi-

narily potent beings, expressing their will

through dreams and thunder, who should

be placated with offerings of food from

day to day.

… every male goes through Pairama,

initiation to the kaiaimunu. This begins

with the seclusion of the young boys in

the ravi , where the older men feed them

well and entertain them with songs. After

some months of this, the whole group

goes off to the bush to gather cane. Then

the old kaiaimunu are brought out of hid-

ing and placed in their respective larava.

A boy is lif ted onto each figure, the frail

wickerwork collapsing under his weight.

The boys help the men to build new kai-

aimunu [see Young and Clark 2001: 83],

thus revivifying and renewing the power

and energy of the patron b eings. After this

the boys are carried about the ravi in the

monsters’ mouths.

It is tempting to see this as a symbolic

devouring of the young initiate, which is

what Wirz concluded (1937: 408), and is con-sistent with the custom of shoving slain

enemies into the kaiaimunu. But ‘Williams

was at pains to point out that there was

never any suggestion that the child was

being “devoured” by the monster’ (Young and

Clark 2001: 83). Otherwise one could think of

these monsters as the equivalent of the

devouring crocodiles of the lower and mid-

dle Sepik cultures, as shown in Speiser’s 1930

photograph at Kambrambo (reproduced in

Kaufmann 1975, Plate 86) showing a croco-

dile monster mask ‘devouring’ an initiate.

Such a correlation is supported by the

remarkable formal similarity between the

kaiaimunu and the cult houses of Kambot on

the Keram River (Kaufmann 1975, Plate 148

compared to Plates 81, 82).

Hurley’s description of the wickerwork

figures as ‘masks’ (Specht and Fields 1984:

180), and the opening in their base that sup-

ports this interpretation, appears to be

inconsistent with Newton’s recounting of

their use.

On 29 April 1908, the Lieutenant-

Governor of Papua, Hubert Murray, took two

kaiaimunu from the ravi of Koivia and Karara

at the village of Ukiaravi in the Purari Delta.

He wrote in his Introduction to F.E. Williams’s

The Natives of the Purari Delta (1924: iv-v):

I think I was responsible for the first ofthese figures (and, so far as I know, the

only ones) that ever left the Delta … I

took them to Port Moresby but, when I

went on leave shortly af terwards, they fell

into unsympathetic hands and were so

roughly treated that one was quite ruined

and the other very much damaged.

He sent this latter one (Fig. 21), with other

material for the Papuan Official Collection, to

The Australian Museum in Sydney but the

collection was later transferred to the Aus-tralian Institute of Anatomy in Canberra. The

institute’s PNG ethnographic collections

subsequently were transferred to the

National Museum of Australia, where they

remain to this day (Craig 1991, 1993), await-

ing a revival of repatriation negotiations.

Thus the kaiaimunu might one day be

returned to PNG.

The high entrance of the men’s houses

facilitated the exit and entrance of the tall

oval masks (Namau: aiaimunu; Elema: hevehe)

which, when worn by a performer, reached

almost 7 metres in height (Specht and Fields




1984: 174-77, 182-85; Young and Clark 2001:

207-9, 215-18, and Fig. 22 this book). These

masks represented sea spirits, and another

much smaller, conical mask (kovave) repre-

sented spirits of the bush (Williams 1940,

Plate 16). The kovave were used in the initia-

tion of boys into the cult of the bush spirits

whereas the hevehe were part of a much

more elaborate cycle of ceremonies involving

the whole community. The hevehe ceremo-

nies were reported in detail by Williams (1940)

but summary versions may be found in New-

ton (1961) and Mamiya and Sumnik (1982).

The Elema eharo masks were performed

in association with the hevehe ceremonies,

but unlike the tall hevehe masks, the eharo

were not considered sacred. They portrayed

mythological characters, often in a comical

fashion, and in the 20th century became

merely figures for entertainment, sometimes

representing characteristics of contemporary

culture such as hurricane lamps (Specht

1988: 34) and European boats (Young and

Clark 2001: 201).

Under pressure from outside influences,

the great ceremonies were abandoned prior

to and during the period of World War II (see

F.E. Williams in Schwimmer 1976: 331-92; but

see also Kiki 1968: 48-52) and the last of thegreat houses burnt down, never to be

replaced (Kiki 1968: 45).

Sepik-Ramu region

On the northern side of New Guinea, the

Sepik haus tambaran (‘spirit house’ in Pidgin

English), both on the river and in the Prince

Alexander Mountains to the north, fared bet-

ter than those of the Papuan Gulf. Some are

still in existence today, though not quite as

magnificent as those of the early 20th cen-

tury. The Papuan Gulf men’s houses were

impressive as structures but all the carved

Fig. 21. Sacred woven rattan figure (kaiaimunu)

from Ukiaravi village, Namau speakers, Purari Delta

(Murray 1912, Plate facing p. 219).

Fig. 22. Hevehe masks coming out of the eravo,

Orokolo, eastern Papuan Gulf. Photo: F.E. Williams,

February 1932 (Williams 1940, Plate 54; original

negative in South Australian Museum archives,

AA335, negative Nr 166).




Fig. 25. Main post of taab cult house named

Wotinkarau, under construction at Wokomot hamlet

of Big Murik village, Murik speakers, Murik Lakes.

Photos: B. Craig, M4: 7-9; 25 September 1983.

Fig. 23. Newly-completed taab cult house named

Bungabwar, at Janainamot hamlet of Big Murik

village, Murik speakers, Murik Lakes. Photo: B. Craig,

C32: 16; 21 November 1981.

and painted works – flat oval boards, sculp-

tures, masks and the like – were portable

items. In the Sepik-Ramu region, on the other

hand, the posts, beams, ridge poles and gable

supports of the houses are often richly

carved as sculptures in their own right and

some houses have large painted façades, and

carved and painted lintels and other sculp-

tures, as integral components.

There is a rich variety of architecture in

the Sepik-Ramu region (Craig 1975, 1980,

1987; Hauser-Schäublin 1989a; Lutkehaus et

al. 1990, Chapters 43-5, 52; Newton 1971; Ruff

1984; Schuster 1969; Swadling et al. 1988) but

here only that represented by objects in the

Masterpieces Exhibition will be mentioned.

Murik Lakes

The type of cult house called taab (Figs 23,

24) at Murik Lakes was said to have origi-

nated on Muschu Island and is also found on

Manam Island, on the Keram River, and on the

lower Sepik upstream from Angoram. This is

rectangular with one floor level, and a hori-

zontal or only slightly saddle-backed ridge.

The ornamented projecting gables at each

end (sometimes only one end) overhang

a transverse roofed porch and almost face

the ground (Hauser-Schäublin 1989a, Plates

66, 75, 78, 80, 83, 84, 106-11; Ruff 1984: 12-

14, 22-9, 40-3; Ruff and Ruff 1990, Figs 5, 15;

Swadling et al. 1988, Plates 170, 172-73, 197,

198). The centre posts may be carved with

representations of ancestral beings, masks

and animal totems (Fig. 25 and Craig 1987,

Plate 36).

The interior used to be decorated with

painted panels and feather mosaics (Stöhr

1987, Plates 48-50). Lipset (1997: 179-80)

writes of this type of house at Murik Lakes:

The Iatmul and Abelam cult buildings are

classed as feminine ‘bodies’. The Murik

taab is no woman but a beautiful spirit-

man (brag). Intimations of womanhood

are nevertheless found upon and within

‘his’ body. The cult house has a ‘penis’, but

‘he’ also has ‘skirts’ (dag) … Upon entering

the hall, men climb up a ladder and brush

through the fringe ‘like children,’ they say,

‘crawling underneath the skirts of their

mother’ … Hidden deep beneath these

‘skirts’ live the ‘canoe-bodies’ of the cult’s

most sacred spirits [the karkar spears].

Further, in the context of male initiation,




Fig. 24. Cult house (taab) named Bungabwar, at

Janainamot hamlet of Big Murik village, Murik

speakers, Murik Lakes. Plan and side elevation by

Wallace Ruff (Ruff 1984).




MPNr 12. Carved post and detail, Mendam village,

Murik Lakes, Murik speakers, East Sepik Province.

Wood. 615 cm x 23 cm diameter. 81.26.177 [original

registration number lost but identified as E.16257,

purchased from Barry Hoare and registered 28

February 1975].

Lipset concedes that the taab is ‘the symbolic

“womb” of a pregnant woman as well as a

birth house’ (1997: 161).

Another version of the Murik cult house,

called kamasan (Figs 26, 27) , has a floor plan

that is a long rectangle with one or two

pointed ends. The horizontally-ridged gabled

roof follows the same shape as the floor plan

(Ruff 1984: 8-11, 17-21; 32-6; Ruff and Ruff

1990, Figs 14, 17). This type of house is also

found at Watam Lagoon, the lower and mid-

dle Ramu, and in the lower Sepik and

Porapora region downstream from Angoram

(Hauser-Schäublin 1989a, Plates 87, 89-100;

Höltker 1966; Swadling et al. 1988, Plates

176-82).

Only in the men’s cult houses (taab and

kamasan at Murik Lakes) are the posts carved

with images (Ruff 1984: 10, 11). On the lower

Sepik, two posts may be carved but at Murik

Lakes it is only the rear post, its ‘centre man’

(wabii nor ). At each end of the roof beam a

serpent’s head (wakun kombatok ) is carved

and painted red (Lipset 1997: 180).

The taab and kamasan cult houses are

given personal names, as are the masks, fig-

ures and many other objects related to the

men’s cult. One of the most popular names is

Sendam and in 1982 ‘no less than three culthouses in Murik villages bore his name’ (ibid.

194). In 1981, I recorded six brag masks

named Sendam at Murik villages, for exam-

ple, Fig. 28, and, in 1983, one at Marbuk on

the lower Sepik. At Watam there was, in 1983,

the life-sized figure Sendam (see Fig. 66 this

book), pair to Jore in the Masterpieces

Exhibition.

Sendam is a highly significant figure in

Murik legend. He is ‘the spirit-man some

credit with the invention of organized war-

fare, the moiety system and wife-lending in

the [men’s] cult’ (ibid.: 192). Sendam came to




Fig. 26. Cult house (kamasan) named Sendam at

Mendam village, Murik speakers, Murik Lakes. Photo:

B. Craig C33: 25; 22 November 1981.

Fig. 28 (bottom). Mask (brag) named Sendam,

Mendam village, Murik speakers, Murik Lakes.

Bought by Pai-is f rom Watam, early 19th century.

This is the oldest mask known in the Murik Lakes

region. Photo: B. Craig, M33: 15; 22 November 1981.

Murik from Samap, 10 kilometres along the

coast beyond the western end of Murik Lakes.

His mother was a wild pig and his father a

villager. Lipset (ibid.: 192-93) recounts Send-

am’s subsequent adventures:

… the men of the father’s village hunt [his

mother] down. In retaliation, Sendam

destroys everything and everyone in it

(save his sister and her children) and then

leaves for the Murik coast where he finds

men fighting each other without form or

even weapons. He introduces spears and

spearthrowers to them and teaches them

how to fight each other in opposed pairs,

a principle of dual organization some say

he also applied to the male cult moieties.

… After making his gifts of weapons

and dualism to Murik warriors, Sendam

went on towards the Sepik River, where

the village today called Kopar was under

attack by two sea-eagle spirits,7

who were

husband and wife. Climbing the tree in

which they nested for the n ight, Sendam

killed the couple just at the very moment

they were making love in their mosquito

basket … In return for rescuing them, the

village men wanted to celebrate and

honor Sendam with a great feast. But the

hero refused their offer. He only wanted

women. Each man brought his wife to the

cult house and the spirit-man had inter-course with them, one by one …

Lipset recounts further episodes that

involve Sendam manipulating circumstances

to gain access to other men’s wives. The pur-

pose of this was to institute the practice of

wife-lending in the context of the cult of the

karkar spears. The function of this custom

was to provide the opportunity for men (the

husbands) to rise above mere jealous posses-

siveness, to be released from emotional

dependence on women (the ‘mother-wife’),

and to become fearless warriors. Being able

to engage in a battle of life-or-death is not

natural for men – it has to be learned.

No information was recorded regarding

the post in the Masterpieces Exhibition

(MPNr 12). It probably was carved for sale as

it is not a functional house post, lacking the

cradle-shaped top end required for support-

ing the ridge pole (Ruff and Ruff 1990, Fig.

14). Both sides are carved in similar fashion.

The ‘faces’ certainly represent brag masks,

inhabited by male guardian war spirits. At

least two of the male figures may represent

named ancestors descendant one from the

other, although the long noses of the lower

two figures are those of brag spirits rather

than ancestors (Beier and Aris 1975: 21). The

masks and figures all seem to be different,

suggesting that particular named masks and

ancestors or spirits are being represented.

The birds carved between the figures and the

masks are most likely what Lipset calls

‘canoe-bodies’ in which the brag ‘travel about

in nature’ (1997: 137).

Lower Ramu River

The museum’s register states that MPNr 14

is a post from Bosmun, but the style of the




Fig. 27. Cult house (kamasan) named Sendam at

Mendam village, Murik speakers, Murik Lakes. Plan

and side elevation by Wallace Ruff (Ruff 1984).




carved head on each side at the base of

the post does not match Bosmun style (cf.,

Christensen 1975: 49; Höltker 1966). Dirk

Smidt has attributed it to Mikarew, 8 kilome-

tres east of the lower Ramu in the Ruboni

Range. He visited there in 1973, noting sev-

eral such posts and purchasing two for the

museum. He writes (pers. comm. 15 March

2004) that such posts are called dupena

kunim and are carved for the men’s cer-

emonial house, which is constructed in

association with initiation and end-of-mourn-

ing rituals. Each post has a personal name

that is also the name of the two faces on

the lower part of the post. It is not known

whether the name is of an ancestor or per-

haps a bush spirit. Sometimes the posts

have representations of various animals

carved onto them. The bulging shape at the

top of the post represents a clay cooking

pot (munem). Pots used to be made by the

Mikarew people before the Catholic mission

MPNr 14. Carved post, Mikarew area, Ruboni R ange,

Mikarew speakers, Madang Province. Wood. 340 cm

x 35 cm diameter. E.15287. Purchased from Rudi

Caesar and registered 17 September 1974.

Fig. 29. Simon Novep of Kambot village, Kambot

speakers, with figure named Dama and one of his

paintings. Photo: B. Craig M22: 35;17 October 198 2.

Fig. 30. Paintings by Simon Novep. Left to right:

Konyim, a tree spirit (Dennett and Dennett 1975:39); wife of Dawena; Dawena (Dennett and Dennett

1975: 77); Wain (Dennett and Dennett 1975: 33-4);

wife of Wain. Photo: B. Craig C30: 36; 18 November

1981.




MPNr 4. Cult house façade, Kambot village, Keram River, Kambot speakers, East S epik Province. Sago spathes,

wood, rattan. 2.74 m high x 1.7 m wide at base. 81.26.121 [original registration number lost but identified as

E.10269, collected by Dirk Smidt in 1971, registered 18 May 1972]. Published in Smidt 1981: 21-2 and Illu sts

11-14; TPNGPMAG 1974b: 36; TPNGPMAG 1976a, Plate p. 29 (left of centre).

was built on the place where the clay was

mined; since then they have had to trade

pots from Bosmun.

Below the two faces at the base of the

Mikarew post (MPNr 14), the human figure is

carved in low relief, male on one side and

female on the other. The name of this post

was not recorded by Rudi Caesar.

Keram River

The painted men’s cult house façade from

Kambot on the Keram River (MPNr 4) was

commissioned by Dirk Smidt for the museum

in June 1971. It was painted over four days

by Simon Novep (Fig. 29), who drew the out-

lines of the figures, leaving other men to fill

in the colours (Smidt 1976, 1981, and pers.

comm. 17 March 2004). Simon Novep was themost well-known and competent artist of the

1960s-1980s in the Keram River area (Fig. 30,

and compare MPNr 4 with Craig 1987, Plate

74 and Dennett and Dennett 1975: 25, 28, 32,

36-9).

This façade was used as the model for the

painted façade of the building at the

entrance to the National Museum (Fig. 31 and

TNMAG 1980, front cover).

The central figure in the Masterpieces

painting is Mopul or Mobul. Novep told Helen

Dennett that the central figure in the façade

painting is always Mopul, never his brother

Wain (Helen Dennett, pers. comm. 9 February

2004). This is further confirmed by the title of

Josefine Huppertz’s book (1981) and in her

text.

Smidt (pers. comm. 17 March 2004) states

that the bird-headed figure on Mopul’s left is

a warrior named Bew; he holds a fighting

club (saleng). The female figure on Mopul’s

right is Angong, Mopul’s sister. The birds

above Mopul’s shoulders are cassowaries

(bandema). Above the cassowaries, the




animal on Mobul’s right side is a wallaby

(kowe) and on his left side is a lizard (lan),

probably the Varanus lizard whose skin is

used for hand drums. Above Mopul’s head is

his dog (lunduma), which kills the lizard and

wallaby to provide food for Mopul. Above the

two cassowaries, stars (gunouma) give Mopul

light at night. Mopul’s headdress ( pombwan)

incorporates the tail feathers of a cockerel,

and fish bones at the centre (the remains of

his meal). Ornaments of crescent pearl shell

and oval melo shell (Cymbium? ) hang round

Mopul’s neck and on his chest; ornaments

incorporating dogs’ teeth, cowries and nassa

shells are worn on his forehead and at his

waist; he wears three types of armbands and

his loincloth is painted with a face design. On

his abdomen, the curvilinear design repre-

sents his intestines ( yanbe). The zigzags on

his shoulders and rows of small circles on his

thighs are the scarification marks of the fully

initiated man.

Huppertz8

has published a series of pho-

tographs of Kambot cult house façades:

Plate 10) is a reproduction of the one

taken in 1929 by K.P. Schmidt of the

Crane Expedition (see Shurcliff 1930,

Plate opp. p. 234; Webb 1995, Fig. 8); aphotograph of the interior of the cult

house also was published by Shurcliff

(1930, Plate opp. p. 236);

1950s photograph by Peter Beltjens,

demonstrating that the façade had been

replaced, at least once but probably

more than once, since the Crane Expedi-

tion;

photograph taken by Henry Lehner in

1965, showing a replacement façade just

before its erection;

Fig. 31. Façade of the entrance building at PNG

National Museum and Art Galler y, Waigani, showing

reproduction of Simon Novep painting. Photo:

B. Craig, September 1981.




Fig. 32. Drawing by Wallace Ruff of cult house

named Bonjo, and its façade, at Kambot village,

Kambot speakers, Keram River (Ruff and Ruff 1990,

Fig. 5).

Plate 14), taken by John Kovac in the

1970s, is of the façade on the cult house

Bonjo (Craig 1981: 147) that was painted

around 1970 and was still in place in

1981 (cf., Ruff and Ruff 1990, Fig. 5;

Swadling et al. 1988, Plate 197, image

left-right reversed) but was taken down

in 1982 or 1983 because it was too

damaged by rain. Huppertz suggests that

this painting (Fig. 32) was done by Simon

Novep (1991: 93). It was there when

Smidt commissioned the museum’s

painting from Novep in 1971 and

survived until 1982.

illustrates a façade painted for John

Kovac in 1974 by Zacharias Wepenang to

send to a museum in Europe.

Although the iconography of each of

these façades is similar, with a large male fig-

ure standing in the centre flanked by two

smaller persons, usually female, there are

some interesting differences in the motifs

that are analysed by Huppertz. The style of

each is also significantly different. Her series

of five photographs of paintings of a culthouse façade ranging over almost half a cen-

tury is unique in the record of New Guinea’s

cultural heritage.

Dennett and Dennett (1975: 33-4) have

published the story of Mopul and his older

brother Wain, as told by Simon Novep:9

The story of Mopul and Wain

Mopul and his elder brother Wain lived near

Angoram at a place called Mangrama where

they built a haus tambaran [men’s cult house].

Wain’s wife, angered because Mopul, who

was unmarried, ignored her constant efforts




to attract him, smeared some red sap on her

head and told her husband that she had

been injured during a struggle with Mopul

when he had tried to force his attentions on

her. In fear of reprisal, Mopul hid in the haus

tambaran.

Wain took a spear and went to the haus

tambaran, loudly demanding retribution

from his brother. Mopul’s friends, who had

hidden with him, advised him to lie low til l

Wain’s temper had cooled. But Wain’s rage

continued and he demanded that blood be

spilt to avenge the insult to his wife. Consid-

ering it the best solution, Mopul passively

presented himself to be speared in the leg.

Fearing that there would be further trou-

ble, Mopul told his mother, sister and friends

to return to their houses. He sensed that Wain

would set the haus tambaran on fire. Mopul

flung a bone knife at the main post and it

split. He squeezed through the crevice, went

down the hollow centre and left the building.

He collected some animal bones and placed

them at the spot he normally occupied in the

haus tambaran. Then he hid in a hole to await

developments.

Just as he had feared, Wain set fire to the

building and it burned to the ground. In the

ruins, Wain came across the supposedremains of his brother and was struck with

bitter remorse. Mopul waited for nightfall and

crept to his mother’s house. They collected

their possessions and got into a canoe. As it

pulled away, Mopul flung a coconut at Wain’s

house. Wain woke and, believing the noise to

be made by Mopul’s spirit, ran outside. He

saw no one.

Downstream they went to a place in the

Pora Pora area called Busima. Mopul built a

haus tambaran there and carved a garamut

drum for it.

The sound of the drum reached Wain and

he recognised the rhythms as those made by

his brother. He set out to find Mopul and on

reaching Busima was overjoyed to find him

still alive. Wain noticed a fine canoe there and

asked Mopul to make a similar one for him.

Mopul said that it had been laboriously

carved out by shell. This was a lie as he had

brought a stone axe with him when he fled

from Mangrama. He promised to make a

canoe if Wain would fetch a stone axe from

up river. Wain set, out leaving his wife behind.

All that night Mopul worked on a new

canoe, making it very thin in parts. Here and

there he made holes and caulked them over

with mud. Next morning Mopul left with his

mother and sister for a nearby island. Wain’s

wife wished to accompany them but Mopul

insisted that she stay there to await Wain’s

return.

Wain soon came back and was puzzled by

Mopul’s sudden departure. His wife showed

him the new canoe and he decided to go

back to Mangrama. They paddled off but

soon the canoe sank. Wain swam about look-

ing for his wife but could not find her.

Eventually he gave up the search and struck

out for the shore.

On the bank he saw two girls who were

fishing for eels. Their names were Sisili andYiripi. He swam ashore without being noticed

and hid inside a length of bamboo which he

caused to fall in front of the girls. Sisili

decided to take the bamboo to her father for

spearheads but Yiripi said it was too heavy.

Sisili carried it for a while but then cast it into

the undergrowth by the side of the track. It

rolled towards them of its own accord so Sis-

ili, recognising its magical properties,

struggled with it back to the village. She put

it on a platform above the fire. As they were

resting, Wain threw a betel nut at each girl.

Looking up in surprise, they saw a man sitting

where the bamboo had been. Sisili was

charmed by his appearance and claimed him

as her husband but Yiripi, as the elder sister,

claimed prior right.

At that point the girls’ parents came home

carrying white clay, which they used to boil

and eat. Wain threw the clay away in disgust

saying that he would get them something

more palatable. He ordered them to line up

their pots, baskets, canoes and any other

receptacles they could find. Uttering a spell

Wain drew prepared sago from the surround-

ing bush. It came as a long white snake and

filled the containers to overflowing. They

then ate to their hearts’ content.

In a few days, the store of sago had fin-

ished and the people asked Wain for more.

He told the girls to go into the bush and call

out. The sago snake would heed their calls

and come to the village. But they did not fol-

low his instructions and crept silently

through the bush. One of the girls saw what

she thought was a snake. She struck out at it

but too late recognised it as the ‘snake’ of

sago. It retreated into a tree and Wain, upon

hearing their account of what had happened,

lamented their foolishness. From then on,

sago [has] had to be prepared by the labori-

ous process used nowadays.Wain married the two girls and after a

time Yiripi gave birth to a son who was called

Tai. Meanwhile, Mopul had built a house on a

small island where he lived by himself. Mopul

disapproved of Wain’s having two wives and

as Tai grew older, appeared in dreams and

ordered Tai to tell his father to send Sisili

away. This Tai did but his constant requests so

angered Wain that he killed Tai. As they were

burying the boy, the people noticed two fig-

ures approaching the spot in a canoe. When

they came closer, the people saw that they

were Mopul and Tai. Mopul asked for a




Fig. 33. Drawing by Wallace Ruff of men’s cult house

Molgaivi, Tongwindjamb village, Kwoma speakers,

Washkuk Hills (Ruff and Ruff 1990, Fig. 7).

coconut. He drank the milk, made magic with

the shell, and rendered Tai and himself invisi-

ble. The villagers were struck with fear and

fled. They then established a new settlement

at Kambot and their descendants have lived

there to this day.

Washkuk Hills, Ambunti area

Roughly halfway up the Sepik River, the

Washkuk Hills relieve the monotony of the

lower and middle Sepik floodplain. The

government station of Ambunti has been

established there. The culture of the peo-

ple living in this area is significantly different

to that of the Sepik mainstream people,

with yam cultivation featuring prominently.

These people locate their ancestral origin in

the north, at the eastern end of the Torricelli

Mountains.

A roofline similar to that of the double-

pointed kamasan of Murik Lakes is a feature

of the Kwoma, Nukuma, Warasei and Yasyin

cult houses of the Washkuk Hills and of the

Sanchi and Namblo rivers near Ambunti

(Bowden 1983: 44-51, Plates 2-4; Hauser-

Schäublin 1989a, Plates 175-79; Newton 1971,

Illusts 131-40; Ruff and Ruff 1990, Fig. 7; Swa-

dling et al. 1988, Plates 225-26, 228-30). But

these buildings consist of a roof only, taper-

ing at both ends and lacking raised floors,

walls and gables. Also, all the major posts,

beams and finials are extravagantly carved

and painted with figures depicting clan spir-

its and episodes in clan myths (Figs 33-6). The

underside of the roof is often completely

lined with sago ‘spathes’10 painted with

designs in red, yellow and white on a black

ground, representing totemic species of

plants and animals. Ross Bowden writes

(1990: 482):

Totems (sabo) and spirits (sikilowas) , like

myths, are owned by particular clans,

and only members of the clans that own

them may carve or paint representations

of them.

The structural components of the Kwoma

cult house (korombo) are made of two types

of timber (Bowden 1990: 483-84; 1992: 80-3).

The horizontal ridge pole, finials and side

beams are made of mes and the vertical posts

are made of the hardwood nyembi . The mes

timber is associated with yam-planting as it is

from this timber that the yam-planting stick

is made. In a certain story the stick functions

as a penis and impregnates a female snake

that gives birth to a human male child. This

boy is subsequently ki lled and reincarnated

as a giant mes tree. When a woman steps over

its roots, she automatically becomes preg-

nant. Another myth gives the men’s house a

murderous, cannibalistic character that is

embodied as a spirit in the front post made

of nyembi timber. Bowden thus argues that,

through the significance of the types of tim-

ber used in the construction of the cult

house, and through the yam harvest rituals

conducted within it,

men represent themselves … both as cre-

ators of human beings and yams and as

killers. These two ideas are actually related

in Kwoma thought, since it is by kill ing

enemies in battle that men are believed

to acquire the capacity to plant and grow

yams.

It is in these cult houses that the sacred

slit-gongs are kept and where the yena, mija

and nowkwi figures are set up in conjunction

with the yam harvest rituals, analysed in

detail by Bowden (1983).

The motif on the two ridge poles in

MPNrs 208, 209 is the same as that on the

finials of the Wosera, Sawos and Iatmul cult

houses – a bird perched above a human face

or figure. The carved and painted faces

beneath this motif represent clan water spir-

its (sikilowas).

Middle Sepik River

Essentially the one type of cult house existed

in all the Iatmul villages along the middle




Fig. 35. Men’s cult house, Bangwis village, Kwoma

speakers, Washkuk Hills. Photo: B. Craig BM27: 24;

7 January 1973.

Fig. 34. Finial of men’s cult house, Bangwis village,

Kwoma speakers, Washkuk Hills. Photo: B. Craig

BM27: 27; 7 January 1973.




MPNr 208. Ridge pole, Washkuk hills, Ambunti area,

Kwoma speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 500 cm.

x 25 cm. diameter. E.7292. Registered 10 February

1971.

Fig. 36. Interior of Ambunti Court House, built in the

style of a men’s cult house. Photo: B. Craig C9: 35;

29 October 1981.

MPNr 209. Ridge pole, Washkuk hills, Ambunti area,

Kwoma speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 263 cm.

x 28 cm. diameter. E.7291. Registered 10 February

1971.




Sepik, the lower reaches of the Karawari

and Blackwater rivers, at Chambri Lake, and

to the north among the Sawos (Fig. 37; also

Hauser-Schäublin 1989a, Plates 121, 124-27,

133-34, 137-42, 137-49, 156-65 and Swa-

dling et al. 1988, Plates 206-14, 217-24, 227).

Many of these cult houses remain to this

day. They used to contain a large number of

carved and painted objects such as debating

stools, suspension hooks, human and ani-

mal totem representations, slit-gongs, sacred

flutes, water drums and mud-beaters, and

the upper floor levels once displayed painted

sago-’spathe’ skull racks (Kelm 1966a, Plate

237; Stöhr 1987, Plate 28). Of all these types

of objects, only the slit-gongs remain in any

number, most of the other objects having

been purchased by museums and art dealers.

The middle Sepik cult house (Iatmul:

ngego) may be seen as a variation of the

Murik Lakes taab cult house – rectangular

floor plan and peaked gables, but rising

vertically rather than near horizontal, and as a

consequence having a distinctly saddle-

backed ridge line. As is the case for the taab,

there is often, but not always, a transversely-

roofed porch at each end.

These houses are characterised by a post-

and-beam method of construction, which

employs a central row of tall posts

supporting the ridge beam, two rows of

shorter posts supporting the roof’s side

beams, and two rows of short posts

Fig. 37. Men’s cult house, Paiyembit (Paiambit),

Palimbei village, Iatmul speakers, middle Sepik

(cf., Ruff and Ruff 1990, Fig. 9). Photo: B. Craig C16: 3;

4 November 1981.




supporting the raised floor beams. Thus the

flooring is structurally independent of the

rest of the building. The tops of the posts are

notched to cradle the beams and elaborate

rattan bindings provide strong but flexible

fastening of the other components, impor-

tant in an area subject to earth tremors. The

main posts of the men’s houses are carved

with faces or figures representing certainancestors and their adventures, and bear

their proper names. Animal and geometric

motifs represent clan totems. Hauser-Schäub-

lin (1983: 46, footnote 14) reports that a myth

‘relates that the men’s house used to be sup-

ported not by wooden posts but by

ancestors that took their place and sup-

ported the house with their bodies’.

A gable support post is placed high up on

a crossbeam at each end of the house thus

creating the saddle-back roof form (Swadling

et al. 1988, Plate 216, but normally hidden

from view, as in the Tolembi men’s house in

Plate 209). Sometimes there are two of these

gable support posts at each end of the cult

house (Coiffier 1990, Fig. 3). The gable sup-

port post is carved from the buttress roots of

a tree, which form the legs and arms of a

spread-legged female figure.11

Among the

Sawos, this figure is called vavi . Schindlbeck

(1985) has provided detailed information on

Sawos gable support posts and their signifi-cance (see below).

At the top of the gable support post at

each end of the cult house is a finial carved as

an eagle clutching a woman in its talons (Fig.

38; also Craig 1987, Plate 30; Swadling et al.

1988, Plate 219). Wassmann (1991: 15) asserts

that, at the Iatmul village of Kandingei, ‘The

eagle is held to be a symbol of the aggres-

siveness and the warlike strength and

boldness (ko) of the village’.

The gables and walls are elaborately dec-

orated with leaf shingles trimmed and cut

into patterns in various shades of brown, and

Fig. 38. Finial of men’s cult house, Shotmeri-yogwi

at Shotmeri village, Iatmul speakers, middle Sepik.

Photo: B. Craig C14: 34; 3 November 1981.




Fig. 39 (opposite page top). Men’s cult house

Paimbit, Tolembi Nr 1, Sawos speakers, middle Sepik.

Photo: B. Craig C3: 25; 11 September 1982.

Fig. 40. Family house, Tambanum village, Iatmul

speakers, middle Sepik. Photo: B. Craig C20: 21;

10 November 1981.

large triangular flaps hang from the raised

floor (Fig. 39).

There is often a large gable mask made of

carved and painted wood (for example,

MPNrs 21, 22), painted basketry or other

materials, representing the named female

spirit of the house (Fig. 40).12

These masks

had a protective function (Craig 1987, Plates

16, 61; Stöhr 1987, Plate 19; Swadling et al.

1988, Plates 211, 217, 220, 222-24). Coiffier

(1990: 494) reports:

Sometimes the whole gable looks like a

human face, with the opening for the

door taking the place of the mouth. The

names of the decorative elements of the

gable confirm this anthropomorphism: pu

(breast), dama (nose), nimbi (teeth), kundi

(mouth), menii (eyes), dama-livit (decora-

tive nose).

Below the gable mask there may be a row

of small windows, each displaying nowadays

a carved and painted head, substitutes for

over-modelled and painted enemy skulls

(Webb 1995, Fig. 5).

The most famous of the Sepik River cult

houses is Wolimbit in the Iatmul village of

Kanganaman (Figs 41-4 and Craig 1987,

Plates 17-22). Perhaps the largest cult house

ever built in the Sepik, it has probably been inexistence for well over 100 years and one of

its centre posts (named ‘Sagasagu’) has a his-

tory stretching back before the foundation of

Kanganaman village itself. Wolimbit was pho-

tographed by Shurcliff in 1929 (Webb 1995,

Fig. 5) and by Speiser and Bateson in the

early 1930s (Bateson 1958, Plate VIIa; Hauser-

Schäublin 1989a, Plate 143; Swadling et al.

1988, Plate 215).

Around 1947-48, the house was rebuilt,

re-using a few of the old posts. By 1956, all

the façade, porch roofing, the walls, and the

large triangular flaps hanging from the raised




MPNr 21. Gable mask , middle Sepik, Iatmul

speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, raffia remnants

along nose. 83 x 46 cm. E.511. Registered 24

September 1958. Published in a photograph of

an exhibition in the PNG Museum around 1965

(TPNGMAG 1966, Plate opp. p. 24, left of centre) and

in TPNGMAG 1967, Plate 4.

MPNr 22. Gable mask , Yentchanmangua village,

middle Sepik, Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province.

Wood. 108 x 41 cm. E.346.1. One of seven large

masks collected by Dadi Wirz in 1955 and registered

7 December 1956. Published in a photograph of

an exhibition in the PNG Museum around 1965

(TPNGMAG 1966, Plate opp. p. 26, bottom left).




MPNr 18 (right). Cult house gable finial, attributed

to Kanganaman village, middle Sepik, Iatmul

speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 220 x 33

cm. 81.26.127 [original registration number lostbut identified as most likely E.1348, registered 9

February 1966 but noted as in museum before that

date].

floor, were gone (Kaufmann 1975, Plates 95,

96; see also Hauser-Schäublin 1989a, Plate

144; Swadling et al. 1988, Plate 216). A fin-

ial and gable support post, removed from

Wolimbit cult house at Kanganaman for

replacement, was brought to the attention

of the President of the Museum’s Board of

Trustees, Sir Alan Mann, in a letter written

at Ambunti by Douglas Newton on 19 June

1964 (National Museum archives). In a let-

ter from the Museum of Primitive Art, dated 6

October 1964, Newton responded to a letter

from Mann dated 26 June 1964 stating, ‘I was

…most happy to have been of any assistance

to the Museum in the matter of the carv-

ings at Kanganaman’. Presumably, the finial in

MPNr 18 was the one referred to in this cor-

respondence but as it has lost its registration

number, it can only be inferred that it is the

item registered E.1348 in 1966. There are no

other candidates in the register, up until the

end of 1969. It seems that its companion fin-

ial may be the one bought by Jean Guiart

from Kanganaman in 1965 for the Musée

National des arts d’Afrique et Océanie in Paris

(Meyer 1995, Plate 213). However, the caption

does not specify that it came from Wolimbit

cult house.

In 1961, Eike Haberland collected fourposts from a Kanganaman cult house on

behalf of the Frobenius Institut and Museum

für Völkerkunde, Frankfurt am Main (Haber-

land and Schuster 1964: 52-3). But these were

from Munsimbit cult house, not Wolimbit.13

On 30 November 1967, Wolimbit cult

house and all the artefacts in and underneath

it were declared and gazetted as National

Cultural Property. Perhaps around 1970, some

posts were replaced and in 1972 and 1974,

two old ones were acquired for the PNG

Museum (MPNrs 10, 11). Holden published

the first detailed architectural drawings in

1975. He measured the house at 34 metres

long, 8 metres wide and 17 metres high to

the peak of the finials. In 1980 an earthquake

caused severe damage. Wallace Ruff exam-

ined the building in 1981 and produced a

comprehensive report of the damage and

options for repairing the house (Ruff 1981).

The National Museum provided some fund-

ing to assist with the carving of replacement

posts (Craig 1987, Plate 21). The two gable

finials were acquired for the museum in 1981

and are presently in storage. Wolimbit has

since been rebuilt.

The largest Kanganaman post (MPNr 10),

named Masagumban, was purchased by the

museum in January 1974 and transported on

a raft of river canoes to Angoram on 17 Jan-

uary 1974. In due course it arrived in Port

Moresby but because of its size was put into

storage pending construction of the new

museum building at Waigani. It would appear

that it was never registered, a situation that

was remedied in 1981. This, like the other

post (MPNr 11), formed part of the structure

of Wolimbit. It was positioned in one of the

rows of posts along the sides of the building

and supported one end of a roof side beam.

Clan ancestors and other mythical beings

are represented on the post, including Masa-gumban, the full figure carving on one side

of the post, who was the founder of the clan

that owned the post. The little frog-like fig-

ure on the side opposite the representation

of Masagumban is identical to the little figure

carved at the base of the Kanganaman finial

(MPNr 18). In museum correspondence, the

post was noted as approximately 28 feet (8.6

metres) long; approximately 1.45 metres of

the base is buried into the floor of the exhi-

bition space.

The smaller of the two Kanganaman posts

is the oldest. It supported one of the




MPNr 10. House post (and details), personal name

Masagumban; Kanganaman village, middle S epik,

Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. c. 7.15

m x 60 cm diameter. 81.26.123 [purchased by the

museum in January 1974 but apparently never

registered].




MPNr 11. House post (and details), personal name

Masam; Kanganaman village, middle Sepik, Iatmul

speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. c. 4.8 m x 43

cm diameter. E.10192. Collected by Dirk Smidt and

registered 5 May 1972.




horizontal transverse beams of the upper

floor and was located right beside one of the

major corner posts of the building support-

ing the roof side beams. Its name is Masam,

the name of one of the two clans that owned

the post. Masam is a mythical clan founder

whose image is carved onto the post.

Because of its deterioration, around 1971 it

was replaced by a new post and bought the

following year for the National Museum. In

the museum register it is noted as 20 feet 7

inches (6.27 metres) long; approximately 1.47

metres of the base is buried into the floor of

the exhibition space.

The post from Marap Nr 2 (MPNr 15), a

Sawos village about 12 kilometres north of

the Sepik village of Yentschan, probably sup-

ported the side beam of the roof of the cult

house. It is only half the height of its Kangan-

aman counterpart, but Sawos cult houses

tend to be much lower to the ground than

the riverside Iatmul houses, which have to be

built up high because of annual flooding. The

figure on the Marap post no doubt depicts a

clan’s founding ancestor but the name was

not recorded by its collector, Barry Hoare.

The finial MPNr 18 is attributed to Kanga-

naman village because the eagle has its

wings at its sides, not outstretched, and that

design is copyright to Kanganaman. The frog-

like figure incised beneath the feet of the

woman may refer to the frog as a totem. In

Kandingei, the frog belongs to Wango clan

(Wassmann 1991: 219); this may also be the

case in Kanganaman, where I recorded a clan

named Wanigo. The sawfish incised on one

side also may be a clan totem; the sawfish is

the totem of Yambune clan at Kandingei but

it might be the totem for some other clan at

Kanganaman.

There are many versions of the story of

the woman held by the eagle, as portrayed

Fig. 41. Southern entrance to men’s cult house

Wolimbit at Kanganaman vi llage, Iatmul speakers,

middle Sepik. Photo: B. Craig C9: 20; 28 October

1981.




on the finials of Iatmul cult houses. An

abridgement of the lengthy story recorded at

Kandingei by Wassmann (1991: 192-95) is as

follows:

There were once two sisters, Kanda and

Kula. They went off in their canoe to go fish-

ing. After a while, Kula wanted to go and

relieve herself and she asked Kanda to take

her to a nearby floating grass island. While

Kula was relieving herself, Kanda took off,

abandoning Kula on the island. Kula became

frightened and wept.

After a while, a little fish came swimming

along and Kula said: ‘Oh good fish, swim

down and tell your father, the water spirit and

crocodile Tandemi, to come up and set me

free.’ The fish swam down and told his father

that there was a very pretty young woman

on a grass island who had asked for help. The

crocodile father was angry. ‘You liar!’ he

shouted, and struck the fish, who lay there

and wept bitterly.

Another fish came by and again Kula

asked it to take a message to its father, the

crocodile. He did so and again the father

yelled ‘You liar!’ and struck the fish so that it

wept. This happened over and over again,

with other fish, a crayfish and an eel, until at

last the eldest child, a crocodile, decided toinvestigate. He adorned himself and swam up

to see this woman. When he surfaced, Kula

was frightened and asked him if he was the

father crocodile. He said ‘No’, and Kula asked

him to go down and ask his father to come

and fetch her.

The eldest swam down and reported,

‘Father, my little brothers were not lying; they

were telling the truth. There really is a very

pretty woman up there. She wants you to go

and fetch her.’ The father dropped what he

was doing at once, put on his adornments,

took his crocodile frame of rattan and slipped

Fig. 42. Two gable support posts, southern end of

Wolimbit, Kanganaman village, Iatmul speakers,

middle Sepik. Photo: B. Craig C14: 3; 1 November

1981.




Fig. 43. Eaves post (right) and floor support post

(left), south-east corner of Wolimbit, Kanganaman

village, Iatmul speakers, middle Sepik. Photo:

B. Craig C10: 28; 30 October 1981.

into it. Now he was a big crocodile, a mighty

thing; he swam to the surface and splashed

around a little. Kula became afraid and

called out, ‘Are you going to eat me up?’ Tan-

demi opened his jaws and said, ‘You called

for me and now I have come. I am not a croc-

odile; I am a human being, Tandemi

[Samangwak clan]. I have come to take you

down to my place.’ He then revealed himself

as a man by briefly removing his rattan croc-

odile frame.

He told her to sit on his shoulders but she

protested that she would drown. ‘No, the

water is only on top. Below there is no more

water; there’s a village there. That’s where we

two will go.’ They sank into the water and

reached the village. Its name is Wanandi or

Meimbanandi. She became his wife.

After a while, Kula became pregnant; then

she gave birth to two eggs. Tandemi told her

to put them in a clay pot. After a while, the

eggs broke open and two little birds came

out. The elder, Mingre [Wango clan] pushed

the lid aside and perched on the rim of the

pot; the younger, Ndambali [Wango clan] also

perched on the rim. The two cried ‘ Aaaa, iiii,

aaaaa, iiii, klaklaklakla, aaaaa, iiii !’ Then Kula

and Tandemi came running and spoke their

names. The two eagles then rose and flewaround the village. Then Kula called the name

of the wani tree [Samangwak clan]. At that,

the two young eagles flew up through the

water and found a large wani tree where they

built a platform. There they lurked and very

soon there was not a man, woman or child

left in the area; they had pecked the heads

off all of them and eaten them. They brought

their victims up to their platform and ate

them there. This went on for some time.

They then decided to fetch their mother

and flew back down to the underwater vil-

lage. The elder brother, Mingre, seized her by




the head and the younger, Ndambali, seized

her by the feet, and the mother cried out in

fear. The two flew up through the water, up to

the wani tree and laid her on the platform.

Then they killed her, tore her to pieces, ate

her arms, her legs, her belly and her head;

they ate everything except her skull. Her skull

fell down near the wani tree.

There is much more to the story, how two

brothers (one of whom is named as Mangi-

saun – see MPNr 123) tricked the eagles and

were able to kill them, but the brothers were

in turn killed by their own children.

Another version of this story, associated

with a carving kept at Kararau (Fig. 45 and

Craig 1987, Plate 31), has the woman, Gun-

namak (Mbagat-ngowi, Kwala-nambu),

mating with the crocodile and giving birth to

a snake (kinjin) and an eel (ang-guri ). The

story goes on to tell how Gun’namak carved

out the course of the Sepik, which flowed

from the large inland lake called Mebenbit. It

is possible that this mythical lake is a

Fig. 44. Middle centre post of Wolimbit,

Kanganaman village, Iatmul speakers, middle Sepik

and orator’s stool Kiganmeri. Photo: B. Craig C9: 12;

28 October 1981.

Fig. 45. Figure of Gun-namak (Mbagat-ngowi, Kwala-

nambu) at Kararau village, Iatmul speakers, middle

Sepik. Photo: B. Craig C16: 30; 5 November 1981.

reference to the large saltwater embayment

that existed in that area several thousand

years ago (Swadling et al. 1988: 14-15; Swa-

dling et al 1991).

The gable support post MPNr 19 is from

Tolembi, a village towards the western side of

Sawos territory. The Iatmul and Sawos regard

their men’s houses as female. Schindlbeck

(1985) informs us that the Sawos men’s house

‘Mindjembit’, which existed in primeval times,

is referred to as ‘mother’ and that the men’s

houses in other Sawos and Iatmul villages are

regarded as her ‘daughters’. In the myth of the

building of this first men’s house by the

woman Solambundivi (ibid.: 370-71), it was

her younger brother Mondiawan who carved

the first gable support post (vavi ) with the

likeness of a woman with spread legs, arms

stretched out to her knees, at its base

(Fig. 46).

The Sawos gable finial (tapmui-vavi ) por-

trays an eagle on top of a male figure. Sawos

and most western Iatmul portray a male




Fig. 46. Gable support post named Am biawoli, north

end of men’s cult house Sombi, Nangusap village,

Sawos speakers, middle Sepik. Photo: B. Craig M9: 19;

15 September 1982.

MPNr 19. Cult house gable support post, female

figure, Tolembi vi llage, middle Sepik, Sawos

speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 342 x 131

x 108 cm. E.16046. Purchased from Barry Hoare

and registered 10 February 1975. Published by

Schindlbeck (1985: 381, 390).

figure on the finial whereas central Iatmul

portray a female figure. In all cases, the base

of the finial is carved as the lower half of a

hand drum and its hollowed-out section sits

over the top of the gable support post. This

finial is said by the Sawos to be the ‘brother’

of the female figure that forms the base of

the gable support post (vavi-ambu).

The word vavi can refer to the woman at

the base of the gable support post, to the

bird of the gable finial or to the sacred flutes.

Some say that flutes were, in primordial

times, played by women in a flute house (sai )

in the forest; but men came along and k illed

the women and took away their flutes. Others

say that the sound of the flute is the voice of

the dead soul of a mythical woman. Related

to this is the statement that the sound of the

flutes in the men’s house is the voice of vavi

and it is she who makes the circular cuts




around the nipples of the boys at their

initiation.

Women were the original beings and

therefore had the social primacy normally

due to the older brother. Olimandji of

Gaikarobi said:

A woman is the o lder brother. She speaks

with certainty. She opens her vulva when

we want to have intercourse. She gives

birth to us, she raises us and she swallows

us again. She is the head of us all and she

decides when we have to die. [Schindl-

beck 1985: 369]

The Sawos think of death as ‘going to the

vulva-pit’. The spread-legged female figure

above each entrance of the men’s house is

portrayed with an open vulva, thus remind-

ing the men of where they have come from

and where they will be going. A vavi is also

named in many of the songs about warfare

and headhunting. The Sawos say that the

enemy was brought back to the village and

the body cut up. Blood was smeared on the

posts of the men’s house, the sitting plat-

forms, the stools, the slit-gongs and over

everyone inside the house. They say that vavi

drank the blood of the enemy (ibid.: 377).

‘Without blood, nothing is there.’ Only when

the blood of an enemy is ‘honoured’ in this

way is the spirit of that person recruited for

the benefit of the community.

MPNr 158, said to be from the Iatmul vil-

lage of Korogo, is a lintel-like carving of a

spread-legged female figure flanked by fish.

The significance of this iconography is not

known but perhaps the woman represents

Kula and the fish are two of the ‘sons’ of the

crocodile Tandemi. A similar carving, with a

central female figure flanked on each side by

four smaller, headless female figures and a

crocodile head at each end, appears under-

neath the gable mask of the Man-gembit

men’s house at Tolembi (Fig. 47; also Craig

1987, Plate 61 and Swadling et al. 1988, Plate

211). It is possible that the central female fig-

ure represents the same woman, vavi , that is

at the base of the gable support post, and the

fish and crocodiles are totems of particular

clans.

These gable carvings are obviously

related in form to the larger and more elabo-

rate lintels of the cult houses of the Prince

Alexander Mountains to the north (Craig

1987, Plates 54-6; Koch 1968, Plates 23-8).

MPNr 15. House post, Marap Nr 2 vi llage, middle

Sepik, Sawos speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.

3.57 m x 38 cm. E.10449. Donated by Barry Hoare

and registered 19 October 1972. Published in

TPNGPMAG 1976a, Plate p. iv (with incorrect

registration number) and Plate p. 29 (centre).




Fig. 47. Gable masks and ‘lintel’ on men’s cult house

Man-gembit, Tolembi village, Sawos speakers,

middle Sepik. Photo: B. Craig C2: 37; 11 September

1982.

MPNr 158. Female figure flanked by fish, Korogo

village, middle Sepik, Iatmul speakers, East Sepik

Province. Wood. 177 x 16 cm. E.8053. Purchased from

Wayne Heathcote and registered 8 June 1971.




Fig. 48. Men’s cult house, Wingei village, Abelam

speakers, Prince Alexander Mountains. Photo:

B. Craig C10: 19; 16 June 1981.

Prince Alexander Mountains

The type of cult house to be found north of

the Sawos – among the Kwanga, Arapesh,

Abelam and Boiken (Swadling et al. 1988,

Plates 183-96) – is radically different to the

Middle Sepik type, though Hauser-Schäublin

(1989a: 615ff.) makes a case for its evolution

from that type. It has an earth floor, a trape-

zoid or triangular plan, a ridge pole sloping

dramatically from the richly decorated front

gable to the ground at the rear, forming a

three-sided pyramid on a triangular base.

The external face of the gable is covered with

paintings on sago ‘spathe’, with red the dom-

inant colour. The Masterpieces Exhibition has

achitectural items representing the Abelam,

Kwanga and Boiken.

Abelam

The Abelam façade and lintel in MPNrs 1 and

2, collected by Roy Mackay, most likely came

from the same cult house at Kalabu Nr 2. The

Abelam call their cult house korombo. The

external face of the gable is covered with

paintings on sago ‘spathe’, with red the dom-

inant colour (Fig. 48 and Losche 1982: 50-1).

The design usually depicts rows of faces or

figures representing nggwalndu. These super-

natural beings are not, according to some

researchers, ancestors but spirits normally

residing outside clan territory, each having

an interest in the welfare of a particular clan

(Hauser-Schäublin 1989a: 612). Their powers

can be invoked through yam cult ritual and

male initiation to benefit human endeavours,

especially the competitive growing of long

yams by men. A carved and painted lintel

depicting a row of faces or figures (for exam-

ple, MPNrs 6, 7) is secured at the base of the

painted façade (Craig 1987, Plates 54-6; Forge

1973a, Plate 2; Hauser-Schäublin 1989b: 20,

132; Koch 1968, Plates 4, 26-31). Carved and

painted images of snakes, hornbills and other

animals may be displayed on and/or near

the lintel.

In cubicles inside the korombo are the

carvings of the nggwalndu (see MPNrs 17,

185, 186), which are kept secret from the

women and uninitiated boys. The interior

walls and ceilings of the cubicles, in which

the carved and painted ritual objects are dis-

played, are lined with painted palm ‘spathes’

(Hauser-Schäublin 1989b: 160; Losche 1982:

52-3). A large corpus of carved, painted and

ephemeral works is produced for various

stages of male initiation (Hauser-Schäublin

1989b: 79, 148).

Hauser-Schäublin (1989a: 612) explains

that the cult house is regarded as the tempo-

rary dwelling for the nggwalndu. The secret

carvings do not so much represent the

nggwalndu as provide a physical abode for

them after they have been enticed from their

normal habitat outside village territory by

the screams of pigs being singed to death

(ibid.: 610-11). Forge (1973a: 189) analyses the

imagery in a different way and argues that

what the nggwalndu faces are expressing

is the primacy of female creativity, which

in Abelam terms is natural, over male cre-

ativity which is cultural in that male access

to supernatural power is through ritual.

Ritual from which the rival female power,

mainly sexuality and maternity, must be

excluded.14

He says that the representation is not ‘of

anything in the natural or spirit world, rather




MPNrs 1 & 2. Cult house façade and lintel, Kalabu

Nr 2 vi llage, Maprik, Abelam speakers, East Sepik

Province. Sago ‘spathes’, wood, rattan. c. 5.5 x 3.8 m.

E.4696-8. Collected by R.D. Mackay and registered

14 January (lintel) and 15 January (façade) 1970.




MPNr 6. Lintel (tikit ) and details, Maprik area,

Abelam speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 426 x

55 cm. E.16031. Purchased f rom Wayne Heathcote

and registered 10 February 1975.

MPNr 7. Lintel (tikit ) and details, Maprik area,

Abelam speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 465 x

43 cm. 81.26.175 [original registration numb er lost].

This lintel has been cut short, accounting for three

heads on one side and five on the other.




it is about the relationship between things’

(ibid.). This, as a general principle, is arguably

true of much (if not all) Sepik art.

Hauser-Schäublin (1989a: 613) believes

that the korombo represents the mythical

cassowary woman, the culture heroine who

built the first cult house. In another interpre-

tation, the roof can be seen as the wings of a

bird (Fig. 49), as in the narrative of Kwatbil

(Losche 1999: 219).

In this story, women were unable to give

birth in the normal way so when it was evi-

dent that a woman had a baby in her belly,

the men killed her, cut her open, took out the

child and ate the woman. One day a pregnant

woman was sitting on the plaza in front of

the korombo. Suddenly she was covered up

by the bird Kwatbil who gave her a magic

spell to assist in giving birth to her child.

Kwatbil disappeared and the woman found

that she was sitting inside the korombo. She

then gave birth to her baby in the normal

fashion. Now women recite the spell when

they are in labour to aid them in giving birth.

‘Today the korombo is Kwatbil. The sides of

the korombo are his folded wings.’ Presuma-

bly Kwatbil is the personal name of this

mythical male bird, which may be a hornbill

( paal ) according to Hauser-Schäublin (pers.comm. 12 March 2004).

There is no necessary contradiction in the

cult house being thought of as a female cas-

sowary and a male mythical bird called

Kwatbil (possibly a hornbill). Hauser-Schäub-

lin reports that, in other contexts, the cult

house alludes to ‘a primeval sacred boar, or to

the bowerbird and the beautifully decorated

house he builds in order to impress the

females’.

The hornbill finial (for example, MPNr 169)

seems to occur only among the southern

Abelam. A finial similar to the one in the

Fig. 49. Roof in the form of bird wings, Maprik

Council House, Abelam speakers, Prince Alexander

Mountains. Photo: B. Craig C1: 26; 21 October 1981.




MPNr 169. Hornbill as cult house finial or façade

decoration, Wosera, Maprik area, Abelam speakers,

East Sepik Province. Wood. 117 x 14 cm. E.9044.

Bought from South Pacific Artefacts, Port Moresby,

and registered 24 February 1972.

Masterpieces Exhibition, but consisting of

two birds side-by-side, is shown on a Wosera

cult house photographed by Rene Gardi in

1956 (Hauser-Schäublin 1989a, Plate 201) and

there appears to be a bird as finial on the

Wosera cult house at Tjamangai photo-

graphed by Richard Thurwald in 1913 (ibid.,

Plate 189). It is possible that the finial carved

as a hornbill bird refers to the myth of

Kwatbil.

Kwanga

The twelve painted ‘spathes’ that constitute

MPNr 5 are part of a collection of 232 paint-

ings and carvings comprising the entire

contents of a cult house purchased on behalf

of the National Museum by Dirk Smidt, with

the advice and assistance of Dr G. Gerrits, at

Sunuhu Nr 2 village and registered E.15296

to E.15527 from 17 September 1974 to 4

October 1974. The external façade of the

cult house was not purchased. Some of the

collection was photographed at Sunuhu

(TPNGPMAG 1976a, Plates pp. 44, 46). The

twelve paintings on display have been ran-

domly chosen and assembled without regard

for their original location in the cult house.

Sunuhu Nr 2 is about 17 kilometres south-

west of Maprik. The people speak Kwanga, a

language more closely related to that of the

Kwoma than to that of the Abelam, but their

culture is more recognisably Abelam than

Kwoma. The men’s cult houses look more-or-

less like those of the Abelam, with the

painted façade, carved and painted lintel, and

Fig. 50. Initiates wearing waken headdresses outside

the men’s cult house, Sunuhu Nr 2 village, Kwanga

speakers, Prince Alexander Mountains. Photo:

Dr G. Gerrits, Transparency Nr 6967, May 1973.




Fig. 51. Sketch by Dr G. Gerrits of side elevation

and floor plan of men’s cult house at SunuhuNr 2 vil lage, Kwanga speakers, Prince Alexander

Mountains, 5 May 1976.

MPNr 5. Twelve sago ‘spathe’ paintings, Sunuhu

Nr 2 village, Kwanga speakers, East Sepik Province.

Display 4.2 m long x 2.4 m high. For collection and

registration information, see text.




interior spaces lined with painted ‘spathes’

and large painted wood figures.

Dr G. Gerrits provided information on the

Sunuhu cult house (Fig. 50) in a letter to Dirk

Smidt dated 5 May 1976. Figure 51 is a sketch

plan of the cult house, indicating its size and

the layout of the interior rooms. The cult

house is called korombo; the painted façade

is called bai ; the initiation set-up inside,

including the carved figures, is kware; the

painted ‘spathes’ inside (Fig. 52) are maubin-

gaye. Inside was a tomb-like feature

consisting of a reclining figure made of

painted palm ‘spathes’, not unlike an ancient

Egyptian mummy’s coffin (Fig. 53). This figure

was made to ‘speak’ to the initiates. A few

senior men, concealed in a secret room, made

sounds with bamboo voice-modifying tubes

Fig. 52. Inside the men’s cult house, Wall A,

Room 1, Sunuhu Nr 2 vi llage, Kwanga speakers,

Prince Alexander Mountains. Photo: Dr G. Gerrits,

Transparency Nr 7014, June 1973.

that projected into the figure. This figure rep-

resented Umahapa Febomanki , a ‘masalai’

(nature spirit) from nearby Worombu Creek.

Dr G. Gerrits (pers. comm. 25 March 2004)

has provided the following information

about the paintings on display:

Top row, left to right:

E.15410, painted by Topo of Ugutagwa;

from left wall of Room 1.

E.15359, painted by Simboueni who

followed an Ugutagwa design; from mid-

right of Wall A, Room 1.

E.15343, painted by Wapinglar who

followed an Ugutagwa design; from left wall

of Room 1.

The face-like designs on these three

paintings represent namtawapi , the centi-

pede. The cross-hatched panels surrounding

the faces, and the bordering triangles in alter-

nating colours, represent string bag designs

(wanikowe). White circles with central black

dots are the valuable shell rings (mau). These

three paintings are all typical of Ugutagwa, a

village about 7 kilometres south-west of

Sunuhu.

Middle row, left to right:

E.15368, painted by Simboini; from left

wall of Room 1.

E.15386, painted by Sipayeni; from right

side of tunnel.

E.15401; from left side of tunnel.

E.15328, painted by Simboini; from left

side of tunnel.

E.15332; from right side of tunnel.

E.15404; from right wall of Room 1.

Gerrits obtained information for three of




these six paintings (which would be applica-

ble also to two of the others). All five are

typical for Sunuhu. The central design con-

sists of a head, apparently wearing an

initiate’s waken headdress (see Fig. 50), with

tiny body wearing shell, dogs’ teeth and pigtusk ornaments on the chest. E.15368 was

said by Simboini to be a self-portrait. The

small figures at the bottom of E.15386 and at

the top of E.15328 are children of the central

figures. Around the head of the central figure

are alternating rings of colour, black repre-

senting hair, red representing red beads, a

white zigzag line representing spiderweb,

short white strokes representing dogs’ teeth,

solid white representing feathers. In Fig. 50,

these features may be seen on the initiates

and echoed in the details of the painted

image on their headdresses. Images of initi-

ates wearing waken headdresses are the

main motif on the painted façade of the

men’s ceremonial house.

Bottom row, left to right:

E.15396, painted by Sipayeni; from rear

left corner of Room 1.

E.15391; from left wall of Room 1.

E.15436, painted by Amilowen; from rear

wall of Room 1.

Gerrits obtained information for two of

these paintings. E.15396 (and by inference

E.15391) represents a row of the large shell

rings (wiwa) used as chest ornaments or tied

to the wrist. String net bags are suggested

along each edge and the parallel multicol-

oured lines at the right end represent

cordyline leaves that often are attached to

armlets or cover the buttocks as a dance dec-

oration. E.15436 represents a row of the

Fig. 53. The ‘tomb’ inside the men’s cult house,

projecting from bottom right of Wall B, Room

5, Sunuhu Nr 2 village, Kwanga speakers, Prince

Alexander Mountains. Photo: Dr G. Gerrits,

Transparency Nr 7034, June 1973.

circular ornaments (mambukula) attached on

each side of the waken headdress at its base,

enclosed by a lozenge shape called ugwalape

(butterfly wings). The parallel white lines fill-

ing the rest of the space again refers to string

net bags.

Thus the non-anthropomorphic elements

of the designs link images of the wealth of

the community (shell rings, string net bags,

dogs’ teeth, pigs’ tusks, and so on) with male

initiation (the anthropomorphic images) and

revelation of the power of the nature spirits

represented by the carved figures called

kware.

Boiken

Boiken cult houses are similar to those of

the Kwanga, Arapesh and Abelam. Roscoe

(1995a: 3) believes that the Boiken ka




MPNr 8. Lintel (pau) and details, Yangoru area, Boiken speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 4.47 m x 31 cm.

81.26.122 [original registration number lost]. Twenty human figures, variously male and female, holding

hands, with a bird between some pairs of figures. A large sideways head and upper torso at the left end and a

hornbill at the right end. Purchased from Wayne Heathcote some time during 1974 or 1975 (conjecture based

on a photograph from Heathcote in files at the National Museum) but could not be positively identified in

the register.




nimbia ‘clearly was derived from the Abe-

lam korombo… it has the same tetrahedral

shape, the same thatched dorsal flanks and

intricately painted, cantilevered façade’. It

also has a carved horizontal lintel ( pau) at the

base of the painted façade, featuring a row

of carved and painted heads, like the Abelam

lintels, or a row of linked figures interspersed

with totemic birds (MPNrs 8, 9). At the peak

of the gable is a carved totemic bird (Hauser-

Schäublin 1989a, Plates 234-35). The humanheads or figures carved on the lintel are said

to represent enemies who have fallen to the

spears of the tuahring (clan or sub-clan) that

built the cult house (Roscoe 1995a: 11).

The carved and painted components of

the outside of the building endure for some

time. But at the celebration of the newly-

completed building, there is an ephemeral

display inside consisting of ‘numerous large

wamayuwa and kilayuwa shell rings laid out

on beds of white menja leaves, sometimes

around a dramatic effigy of a wala spirit’

(ibid.: 5). This is similar to the puti initiation

display of the Abelam (Hauser-Schäublin

1989b, Plate 167).

Roscoe writes (1995b: 73):

… wala spirits are considered potent

beings … causing thunder, lightning, and

violent winds to sweep across the night

… the term wala is metaphorically

extended to any bush agency believed to

be hazardous to humans … To call artistic

creations such as initiation displays wala,

then, is to recognize that they incarnate

power and menace.

A totem is a representation of a particular

male wala spirit residing in a tuahring’s terri-

tory. When someone dies, their spirit goes to

the feature in the landscape in which their

totemic wala dwells and ‘becomes’ that wala.

Thus the totemic wala is the union of all the

tuahring’s ancestral spirits. (Perhaps there is a

similar belief among the Abelam; hence the

confusion over whether the nggwalndu are

ancestral or bush spirits.)The cult house,

when completed, becomes this wala spirit

and at the same time represents the tuahring

that constructed it, both its ancestral compo-

nent and its living embodiment.

The various parts of the cult house and its

forward-leaning façade suggest a protective

and yet menacing bird-of-prey but there are

other associations as well. The building is

thought of as the ‘soul’ of the headman

(hwapomia) who organised its construction.

Thus the structure represents the hwapomia’s

head – the thatched roof is his hair, the

façade his face, the gable his nose, the lintelhis teeth, the entrance his mouth and the rat-

tan chain dangling from the peak of the

gable is his necklace bag. Another interpreta-

tion visualises the cult house as his whole

body – the gable is his head, the ridge pole

his spine, the purlins his ribs, the façade his

thorax, and the roof and base his back and

legs (Roscoe 1995a: 14-16). A successful cult

house elicits feelings of pride and triumph in

its builders, fear in children, and humiliation

and envy among members of rival clans.

Fig. 54a (opposite page). Men’s cult house ( telefolip)

at Telefolip village, Telefol speakers , Telefomin,

central New Guinea. Photo: B. Craig BC23: 29; July

1964.

MPNr 9. Lintel ( pau) and detail, Yangoru area, Boiken speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 3.15 m x 32 cm.

E.10447. Purchased from Bruce Lawes and registered 19 October 1972. Twelve human figures, variously m ale

and female, holding hands, with eleven birds alternately perched between them; human heads alternate

with the figures at leg level. A large sideways face with two b irds’ heads at the left end and a face with one

bird head at the right end.




Central New Guinea

The Telefolmin and related Mountain-Ok

groups of central New Guinea have a hier-

archy of houses in their villages, and in the

region as a whole. Each settlement consists

of one or more family houses (‘woman-

house’ – unang-am) and at least one men’s

house ( yolam). For a large village of around

a dozen unangam or more, there are usu-

ally three men’s houses – the ‘hornbill-house’

(kabel-am) where any male may sleep, the

‘little-house’ (katip-am) where only the few

old men sleep, and the cult house (‘house-

mother’ – am-ogen) that contains animal and

human relics, sacred artefacts such as oldshields, stone-headed clubs and adzes, and

where certain rituals are performed (Craig

1988: 24-30; 1990).

In the village of Telefolip, a few kilometres

south of the government administration cen-

tre of Telefomin, there was a special cult

house that was considered to be the

supreme cult house for the whole Mountain-

Ok area, as it was believed to have been built

originally by Afek, the Old Woman, the found-

ing ancestress of all the -min tribes

(Brumbaugh 1990; Jorgensen 1990). This

house (Fig. 54), called the telefolip (or am-

dolol because of the particular method of

making the external wall cladding – Craig

1984, 14th and 17th unnumbered plates and

Craig 1988, Fig. 15), was reputed to contain

the skulls of Afek and her brother Umoim.

Men from surrounding Telefol villages, and

even from other -min groups, attended some

of the more important rituals performed

there.

Despite the fact that the telefolip and its

contents were declared and gazetted as

National Cultural Property on 30 July 1982,

the collapsing structure was burnt by Chris-

tian fundamentalists in late 2001, destroying

Fig. 54b. Inside men’s cult house (telefolip) at

Telefolip village, Telefol speakers, Telefomin, central

New Guinea. Photo: B. Craig BC17: 11; 27 August

1963.




Fig. 55. Top: Burnt out and overgrown site of the

telefolip at Telefolip village. Telefol speakers, central

New Guinea. Photo: B. Craig C15: 7; 3 June 2002.

Below: Skull fallen from burnt out telefolip. Photo:

B. Craig C15: 10; 3 June 2002.

the sacred contents (Fig. 55). This criminal act

of desecration15

appears to have raised little

or no concern at official local or provincial

levels and the museum does not have the

resources to investigate the matter.

The destruction of traditional cultural

material is not confined to Telefomin. As

Steven Frost informed me (pers. comm. 28

June 2002):

In Telefomin I was told the group of out-

siders responsible for the destruction is

Joshua Oppression [Operation?], a cultwhich is being directed by two white guys

in Hagen … [They] also convinced the res-

idents of Imigabip to take all their old

things and put them into the haus tam-

baran and torch it. They are working on

trying to destroy what is left elsewhere

now.

Ossie Fountain (pers. comm. 8 August

2002), a missionary of more temperate

nature, commented on the above:

As I understand it, Operation Joshua,

rather than being a cult is a network of

pentecostal/charismatic Christians who

MPNr 3. Houseboard (amitung), Telefolip village,

Telefomin, Telefol speakers, West Sepik Province.

Wood. 306 x 65 cm. 79.1.95. Registered 24 April

1979. Collected by Barry Craig 28 June 1972 on

behalf of the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board,

Canberra, and subsequently gifted to the PNG

Museum by the Australian government.




Fig. 56. Bisanip’s house at Telefolip village, Telefol

speakers, Telefomin, central New Guinea. Photo:

B. Craig M17: 16; 30 January 1967 (see also Craig

1988, Fig.12).

believe that the problems of PNG are

related to a battle in the spiritual realmbetween good and evil forces … they

have ambitions of active involvement in

many parts of the country but they saw

Telefomin as one of the key points of

attack.

This behaviour exposes some expressions

of Christianity as a vehicle for the exercise of

power by some human beings over others

rather than, as claimed, for the demonstration

of the power of God’s love. It is fortunate that

there is a national museum to preserve at

least something of the material cultural herit-

age that otherwise would have been

destroyed under pressure from such fanatical

expatriates and their local collaborators.Another house in the village of Telefolip

also was special; this was the unangam built

on the site of what was believed to be the

first house (a family house) built by Afek at

Telefolip (Fig. 56). One of the hearth posts in

this house was believed to be at the entrance

of the road to the underworld for those who

have died. Umoim, Afek’s brother, had trav-

elled along this road when he died. The

amitung or house board MPNr 3 is the one

from that house. It was carved by Unmoiyim

and others c.1870 (six generations ago) with

stone tools at Inantikin in the Elip Valley

during the Telefolmin push against the I li-

kimin. At the time this board was purchased,

the house was owned by a woman named

Bisanip.

This house was burnt down, along with

the sacred relics kept in it, at the same time as

the telefolip and its relics were destroyed, in

late 2001.




MPNr16. House pole (‘Masil’) with detailed v iew,

Aromot Island, Siassi Islands, Siassi speakers, Morobe

Province. Wood. 765 x 22 cm. 81.26.125 [original

registration number lost but identified as E.16258,

purchased from Barry Hoare, and registered 28

February 1975].

Siassi Islands

The Siassi Islands were at the hub of the mar-

itime trading system that operated in the

Huon Gulf, to and from the Tami Islands,

along the coast of the Huon Peninsula and

across the Vitiaz Strait to Umboi and West

New Britain (Brookfield and Hart 1971, Fig.

13.5). All the peoples involved are speak-

ers of Austronesian languages and it is not

surprising that there are many cultural simi-

larities. Sometimes it is difficult to determine

whether a particular object is from the Siassi

Islands or from the Tami Islands.

There is some evidence that this pole,

MPNr 16, reported to be from Aromot Island

in the Siassi group, was purchased from Mor-

ris Young of Lae rather than from Barry Hoare

of Madang.

Fr Anthony Mulderink (pers. comm. 13

April 2004) of the Catholic Church in Lae, has

been kind enough to provide information

about this pole based on photographs sent

to him and his knowledge of Siassi Islands

culture. He has suggested that the name

Masil may be an incorrect transcription of

‘Mesel’, a male Kilenge name sometimes used

on Aromot Island. It is also possible that the

name ‘Masil’ has been transcribed into the

register incorrectly and should read nasil ,

which is the Siassi term for the central, carved

post of the ceremonial house (bar ) erected by

a village kin group (rumai ) for circumcision

rites.

This pole is too high for the now-extinct

traditional ceremonial house. It may have

been carved for use as a nasil for a contem-

porary public structure such as a church, or it

may have been carved as a likeness of the

carved ceremonial pole (gungun dige) that

stood beside the ceremonial house.

At the top of this pole is the face of Aikos,




the father of the nakamutmut spirits. Aikos is

a Kilenge word used also on Aromot and

Mandok islands. Aikos enters the village car-

rying a wooden club, to frighten or punish

disobedient people or to whip the young ini-

tiates. He wears a conical helmet mask

topped with a wooden ball (saruwa) and a

central feather plume (sar ) surrounded by

cassowary feathers (muimui ). This mask is

equivalent to the Kilenge mask recorded by

Dark (1974: 42 and Illust. 121) as the nagiltung

type in the category nataptavo, and another

mask he photographed at Umboi (ibid.: Illust.

73).

Beneath Aikos are three rounded shapes

probably representing baskets (arei ) carried

on the head of the male figure beneath them.

This figure wears a bark cloth mal or apron.

Next below this male figure is the four-sided

face of a mariam, an ancestral ghost not

recently deceased. Mariam ghosts make peo-ple uneasy as they can cause trouble.

Circumcision of the boys is said to have been

performed by a particular mariam ghost

called naboyou.

Beneath the four-faced mariam ghost is

another male figure (like the one above), and

beneath that figure is a female figure wear-

ing a fibre skirt and carrying baskets on her

head. The baskets may indicate the exchange

of food in a competition for prestige. Person

A challenges B to dance with A’s nakamutmut

mask. B accepts and for a year or two, when-

ever there is a festive occasion, B and his clan

relatives will dance A’s nakamutmut mask.

While the dancing takes place, A has to feed B

and his relatives, and provide tobacco and

betel nut. When A decides to send his mask

away, there will be a final performance at the

end of which B receives from A many baskets

of food for his family and his clan. Some time

later, B challenges A to dance his mask and

after the final dance performance, he

attempts to give A more baskets of food than

he received from A in the previous round of

dance ceremonies. This type of competitive

food presentation is often an important

aspect of ceremonies in PNG (see Smidt and

Eoe 1999: 133-34 for an example in the lower

Ramu River area).

The bottom figure on the pole is a woman

wearing a fibre skirt and carrying baskets on

her head. She holds a snake (mot ) in front of

her. The snake is a veiled reference to the

penis but is rare in Siassi Island carving, thelizard being more commonly represented.

Beneath this woman is a cylindrical object;

around it are two rows of oval shapes called

pon atulu (turtle eggs).

At the bottom of the pole is a mariam

(ancestor) face wearing the equivalent of the

Yabim (Finschhafen) oa-balan headdress

(Bodrogi 1961: 157-59). This face, which is a

common motif on wooden bowls, canoe bail-

ers, hand drums and other wooden objects,

has a protruding tongue, indicating ‘ready for

sex’. During a dance festival a mother might

tell her daughter to take care and stay away

MPNr 20. Yam house plank (tataba) made by

Musulikoli of Liluta village, Trobriand Islands, Kilivila

speakers, Milne Bay Province. Wood. 173 x 27 cm.

E.7798. Collected by Dr G. Gerrits in September 1968

and registered 15 April 1971.

from the men. ‘Look at the protruding

tongue’, she warns.

Trobriand Islands

In the Trobriand Islands, only the chief’s

house (ligisa – Fig. 57; also Lawton 1999,

Figs 3, 9; Young 1998, Plates 16, 17) and the

yam storage hut (bwaima – Fig. 58; also Law-

ton 1999, Fig. 4; Weiner 1988, Photo 25) are

decorated with carved and painted boards.

Lawton (1999: 106) provides a glossary of

the terms for the various decorations of

these houses. He informs us that the curv-

ing side gable boards are called kaivalapula,

the board at the base of the gable triangle is

called kaibilabeta, and below this is a board

with similar designs called the tataba (MPNr

20). Below the tataba are suspended several

rows of ‘egg-cowries’ (Ovulum ovum shells);

the number of rows indicates the owner’s

social rank. Lawton says (ibid.):

When a chief dies, the tataba complete

with buna shells will decorate his grave for

some years. The chief may give his sup-

port to some public event by loaning his

tataba, which would be hung on public

display.

In the Trobriand Islands, the yams grown

in special gardens by a man are not kept and

eaten by him but presented to his sister and

they are stored in his sister’s husband’s yam

house. But even his sister and her husband

avoid eating these yams. Weiner explains




Fig. 57. House of Paramount Chief Vanoi in

Omarakana village, Kiriwina Island, Kilivila speakers,

Trobriand Islands. Photo: Dr G. Gerrits TC 31-6-20a,

August 1971; in photographic collection of, and

with permission from, the Queensland Museum,

Brisbane.

(1988: 86) that ‘A yam house … is like a bank

account; when full, a man is wealthy and

powerful. Yams can be stored for four or five

months,’ she says, and

During that time, yams not necessary for

food are used to purchase arm shells; red

Chama-shell necklaces and ear-rings;

betel nuts; pigs; chickens; and other locally

produced goods such as wooden bowls,

combs, armbands, floor mats, and lime

pots. Even some kinds of magic spells may

be bought from others by payment in

yams.

Yams are also essential for distribution at

funeral ceremonies and marriages. Food for

daily consumption is provided by taro and

other crops from ordinary gardens. Yams are

a prestige crop, a sign of wealth and a form of

currency. They are usually eaten only after

having been received at a ceremony or as

payment for something.




Fig 58 (opposite p age). Yam house of Chief Maluwa

of Olivilevi, Kiriwina Island, Kilivila speakers,

Trobriand Islands. Photo: Dr G. Gerrits TC 16-3-13,

August 1970; in photographic collection of, and

with permission from , the Queensland Museum,

Brisbane.

New Ireland

In northern New Ireland and the nearby

Tabar Islands, the funerary ceremonies and

the associated masks, carved figures and

other paraphernalia are called malagan

(malangan/ malanggan). Sometimes, special

malagan buildings inside the men’s sacred

enclosure (rongar ) are decorated with carved

and painted vertical panels (Kaufmann 1975,

Plates 30-2; Lincoln 1987: 94-5). But it is not

clear whether these are part of a permanent

structure or, like other malagan carvings set

up in display huts, used only for the duration

of the ceremonies.

As an entrance to the Tabar Islands rongar

enclosure around the men’s house (amir ), a

tree-fork (called matanangas or ‘eye of the

demon’) shaped like the letter V or Y, is

embedded in the coral ‘stone’ wall (about a

metre thick and a metre or so high) sur-

rounding the sacred enclosure (Stöhr 1987,

Plate 164). This space is used for feasts associ-

ated with malagan mortuary rites and for

burial of the clan dead (for this arrangement

among the Barok of central New Ireland, see

Wagner 1986: 148-59; 1987: 58-9 and certain

unnumbered photographs between pp. 40

and 41). The two arms of the tree-fork may be

carved as anthropomorphic images (Fig. 59;

Wagner 1986: 149). The tree is an important

image in New Ireland culture; the fruit and

branches suggest nurture, and the roots are

associated with the burial of clan ancestors

(Wagner 1987, Fig. 24).

Matanangas may be carved with images

of fish, sharks, snakes, crocodiles or human

beings. They are believed to prevent evil spir-

its from entering the men’s house or its

courtyard. Women are not permitted to enter.

Live captives from raids were slaughtered on

the matanangas, their flesh eaten and their

MPNr 23. Gate post carving (matalakalaka/

matanangas), Tabar Island, Tabar speakers, New

Ireland Province. Wood. 135 x 30 cm diameter.

Acquired from M. Benoir and Langules. E.10294.

Registered 25 May 1972. Published in TPNGPMAG

1974a, Plate opp. p. v.

MPNr 24. Gate post carving (matalakalaka/

matanangas), Tabar Island, Tabar speakers, New

Ireland Province. Wood. 120 x 20 cm diameter.

Acquired from M. Benoir and Langules. E.10293.

Registered 25 May 1972. Published in TPNGPMAG

1974a, Plate opp. p. v.




Fig. 59. Drawing of gate posts by Elisabeth Kramer-

Bannow in Stöhr 1987, Plate 164.

bones burnt and scattered on the path lead-

ing up to the matanangas.

The two posts in the Masterpieces Exhibi-

tion (MPNrs 23, 24), along with four stone

carvings, were confiscated from Jean Benoir

and Pierre Langules, along with other mate-

rial they attempted to export without a

permit (Craig 1996: 167-74).




MPNr 63. Suspension hook as female figure,

Tolembi village, Sawos speakers, East Sepik Province.

Wood, sago fibre ski rt. 90 x 54 cm. E.16423. Seized in

1972, donated by Customs in 1974 and registered

24 March 1975. Published in TPNGPMAG 1976a,

Plate p. 32 and Smidt 1975 : 73.

HOUSEHOLD ITEMS

Household items in the Masterpieces Exhibi-

tion include suspension hooks, clay pots,

wooden bowls and headrests. A much more

representative exhibition of domestic items

is to be found in the Independence Gallery.

SUSPENSION HOOKS

In the middle Sepik area, suspension hooks

(MPNrs 63-7) are carved for domestic use (to

hang string bags, and bundles of food and

possessions out of the reach of rats, dogs and

children) and for magical purposes. Some

suspension hooks are quite large, virtually

life-size. They represent important clan ances-

tors, have personal names, assist in hunting

and warfare, and in warding off illness. Thespirit in the hook is offered food, areca nuts

and/or tobacco and asked by its guardian

to advise on the results of intended hunting

expeditions or raids. On returning, offerings

again are made to the spirit. It is believed

that the spirit accompanies the hunters or

warriors.

Without information from the original

owners, it is impossible to know the identity

and function of the spirit inhabiting a partic-

ular suspension hook. The inclusion of some

in this category of domestic items and others

in the hunting and warfare category is arbi-

trary, reflecting the ‘poor fit’ between

English-language categories and those of the

local people.




MPNr 64. Suspension hook , Chambri Lake, Chambri

speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 157 x 23 cm.

E.510. Registered 24 September 1958.

MPNr 65. Suspension hook , Kanganaman vil lage,

Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 68 x

16 cm. E.8085. Collected by Robert Mitton and

registered 11 June 1971.




MPNr 66. Suspension hook , Kanganaman vi llage,

Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 73 x 20

cm. E.16218. Purchased from Wayne Heathcote and

registered 13 February 1975.

MPNr 67. Suspension hook , personal name

Samban, Kanganaman village, Iatmul speakers,


Purchased from Wayne Heathcote and registered

17 February 1975. Gazetted National Cultural

Property 10 February 1972.




MPNr 73. Cooking pot, Boitalu v illage, Kiriwina Island, Trobriand Islands, Kilivila speakers, Milne Bay Province.

Clay. 44 cm high x 62 cm diameter. E.7877. Donated by collector Dr G. Gerrits and registered 17 May 1971.

Almost certainly made at Nabwageta in the Amphlett Islands (cf., May and Tuckson 2000, Fig. 4.13) where this

type of cooking pot, large enough to prepare food for feasts, is called nokuno.




CLAY POTS AND BOWLS

Pottery-making traditions have a limited dis-

tribution in PNG and the Solomon Islands.

Pottery is made along the coast and coastal

ranges of northern New Guinea, the Sepik,

Ramu and Markham valleys, the north and

south coasts of south-eastern New Guinea,

the islands off the south-east end of New

Guinea, the Admiralty Islands and the north-

ern Solomons. There is only one site in the

highlands (May and Tuckson 2000, Map 4).

This distribution suggests to some archae-

ologists that pottery-making was associated

with colonisation by Austronesian-speak-

ing peoples. It may have been out of their

pottery making traditions that Lapita pot-

tery developed in the Bismarck Archipelago

around 3300 or so years ago (Spriggs 1995:

115-16; 1997: 67-73; Summerhayes 2000:

233-34).

In PNG, clay vessels are used for cooking,

storing and serving food. There are basically

two methods of making clay pots – by coiling

and by paddle-and-anvil. In the coiling tech-

nique, the walls of the vessel are built up with

long rolls of clay. In the paddle-and-anvil

technique, a ball of clay is forced into a rough

shape then further shaped and thinned by

beating from the outside with a piece of flat

wood against a hard object such as a smooth

stone held on the inside. There are various

ways of starting and finishing pots and some-

times techniques are combined.16

Pots may be burnished by polishing with

a smooth pebble, shell or seed or may be

decorated while still damp or leather-hard,

before firing, by applied techniques, or by

pressing or cutting designs into the surface.

Pots are left to dry out then fired in an open

bonfire reaching temperatures of around 650

to 900°C. Ceremonial pots and bowls may be

painted after firing, as in the middle Sepik

and Prince Alexander Mountains to the north.

The coiling technique is mainly used by

potters who are male, located inland and are

non-Austronesian speakers, though there are

exceptions to this generalisation. The paddle-

and-anvil technique is used exclusively in

coastal and small island communities bywomen, mainly Austronesian speakers. The

pots made by women using the paddle-and-

anvil technique are ‘round-based, full-bellied

and typically “female” in form. Most are light

and thin-walled’; the coiled vessels ‘tend to

be thick-walled, heavy … and often …

crudely made’ (May and Tuckson 2000: 6-7).

May and Tuckson suggest that on the basis of

language and geographical distribution, the

coastal ‘female’ traditions are more recent

than those of the inland, mostly male, potters.

These correlations are set out in their Map 3

(ibid.: 15). It is possible, even likely, that Lapita

pottery was made by women as there is evi-

dence that Lapita potters used paddle-and-

anvil and slab-building techniques (Glen

Summerhayes, pers. comm. via Pamela Swa-

dling, 12 February 2004). In other words, one

could speculate that the ‘male’ coiling tradi-

tion may already have existed on the New

Guinea mainland when Austronesian female

potters arrived in the Bismarck Archipelago.

Pots were, and in some places still are,

important items of maritime trade. Perhaps

the most famous was the hiri trading system

(now extinct) that moved pots and shell valu-

ables from the southern central coast of

Papua in exchange for sago and canoe hulls

from the Papuan Gulf (Seligman 1910: 96-

115). Mailu pots similarly were traded inland

and along the southern coast of Papua (Irwin

1985: 15-18).

In the Massim area – the coast and islands

at the eastern end of New Guinea – the kula

MPNr 72. Cooking pot (gur aniang), Zumin village, Markham valley, Adzera speakers, Morobe Province.

Clay. 17 cm. high x 31 cm. diameter. E.16818. Collected by and purchased from Ms Gabrielle Johnston and

registered 30 June 1975. 23 x 15 cm. This type of pot, with modelled figures or heads acting as handles, is

used for cooking meat (May and Tuckson 2000: 138, Fig. 6.17).




and its extensions move pots especially from

the Amphlett Islands (MPNr 73) to the Trobri-

and and Woodlark islands in the north and to

Milne Bay in the south.

In the Markham Valley, among the

Austronesian-speaking Adzera, pots are

made by the men using the coiling technique

but finished with the paddle-and-anvil. They

then decorate the pots with special tools

(May and Tuckson 2000, Figs 6.7-6.10), and

one type by modelling (ibid., Figs 6.16, 6.17,

6.20; MPNr 72). The animals modelled on

opposite sides of the rim of the pot serve as

handles. This type of vessel is named gur ani-

ang (= pot [for] meat). Adzera pots were a

valuable item of trade among surrounding

villages and were used for bride price pay-

ments. Nowadays they are popular in the

tourist market. The Adzera are known also for

their ceramic hand drums (simpup gur ), made

by joining two plain pots with a cylindrical

shaft of clay (ibid.: 138-39 and Figs 6.18, 6.19).

Pots made by Austronesian-speaking

women at Sio, on the north-east coast of the

Huon Peninsula, are traded by Siassi Island

sailors north across the Vitiaz Strait to Umboi

Island and West New Britain, westwards along

the New Guinea coast towards Madang, and

southwards along the coast of the Huon

Peninsula as far as the Tami Islands (Harding

1967; May and Tuckson 2000: 151). The sailors

of Bilbil and Yabob islands, immediately

south of Madang, trade their women’s pad-

dle-and-anvil pots north along the coast as

far as Manam Island and east as far as Sio.

Inland of Madang, along the Gogol River and

in the hills to the north and south, men make

coiled pots. Bau cooking pots (MPNr 70) are

used in bride-price transactions along with

wooden bowls, and are traded almost as far

north as the Ramu, but do not compete with

the coastal pots of Bilbil and Yabob.

MPNr 70. Cooking pot (avar ), Guman hamlet, Bauk

village, Gogol River, Bau speakers, Madang Province.

Clay. 40 cm high x 28 cm diameter. E.11026.

Collected by and purchased from Ms Gabrielle

Johnston, Auckland University, and registered

4 April 1973.




MPNr 68 (top). Serving bowl (khomongu),

Toanumbu village, Boiken speakers, East Sepik

Province. Clay. 12 cm high x 31 cm diameter.

E.11308. Bought from collector Margaret Tuckson

and registered 19 July 1973.

MPNr 71 (below). Pot ( papi ), painted, Sunuhu vi llage, Maprik area, Kwanga speakers, East Sepik Province. Clay.

20 cm high x 18 cm diameter. E.11491. Bought from collector Dr G. Gerritts and registered 30 August 1973.

Although this pot was collected at Sunuhu, it is not of the Kwanga type and may have been imported from

the Wosera area to the east, where these pots are called kwam. The Kwanga papi are used by men as serving

bowls in the cult house.




As in the Madang region, pots made by

paddle-and-anvil are part of maritime trade

along the north coast of the Sepik provinces

and coiled pots are traded to the coast from

inland villages in the Prince Alexander and

Torricelli mountains. The men of the Boiken

(MPNr 68), Abelam, and Kwanga (MPNr 71),

especially, make large and small serving

bowls for ceremonial occasions, incised, chip-

carved and painted with curvilinear designs.

For some groups, the designs represent bush

spirits associated with the potters’ clan terri-

tories; for others, they are said merely to

represent particular features of plants and

animals.

The lower Sepik area is provided with

pots from villages along the Keram, called the

Töpferfluss (Pottery River) by the Germans.

Dimiri, Marawat and Yaul near the Yuat River

is also an important pottery-making centre

for the area upstream of Angoram. On the

north side of the Sepik, serving bowls, chip-

carved and painted with all-over curvilinear

designs, are produced at Koiwat (MPNr 69),

an eastern Sawos village about 12 kilometres

north of Timbunke. These pots are traded

north to the Boiken and south to villages

along the Sepik.

Aibom at Chambri Lake is a major sup-plier of pots to middle Sepik villages. The

large hearths (gugumbe), feast pots (kombio),

food bowls (ntshangguigo) and the sago stor-

age pots (au) with sculpted and painted

human and animal faces (MPNr 74), are espe-

cially prized. In one story reported by May

and Tuckson (2000: 239), the culture heroine

Yuman made pots that became her children

‘created by her own hands without a father’.

Subsequently she suffered indignities and

rape, and disappeared. The ancestors tried to

make a mask to represent her face but failed,

so they over-modelled an enemy skull. This

head, representing Yuman, is the human face

depicted on the Aibom sago storage pots.

Another name for Yuman is Kolimangge, and

Meintu is reckoned variously as the son,

brother or creator of Kolimangge. Meintu ‘is

identified as a cannibal eagle and a pig and

appears on the pottery as a bush spirit, a pigand an eagle’ (ibid.). One type of pot that fea-

tures the eagle is the cult house gable

decoration (May and Tuckson 2000, Fig. 9.45),

which substitutes for the Iatmul carved

wooden finial (MPNr 18).

MPNr 69 Serving bowl (kamana), Koiwat vil lages,

Sawos speakers, East Sepik Province. Clay, 10 cm

high x 32 cm diameter. E.11277. Bought from

collector Margaret Tuckson and registered 12 July

1973.




MPNr 74. Sago storage pot (au), Aibom vil lage,

Chambri Lake, Chambri speakers, East Sepik

Province. Clay. 67 cm high x 53 cm diameter. E.7914.

Donated by Island Car vings, Lae, and registered

27 April 1971.




WOOD BOWLS

Wood bowls are rare or non-existent in high-

land cultures where the basic staple – taro

or sweet potato – is baked in the ashes of

a fire, although some groups (such as theMountain-Ok) have shallow wood platters

for preparing a taro mash topped with red

pandanus sauce. Wood bowls are more likely

to be found where cooked sago or yam is

served with a garnish of vegetables, meat,

fish or the like, as among riverine, coastal or

island cultures.

Bowls may be circular or oval-shaped,

shallow or deep, and are usually decorated

with sculpted forms or incised and painted

designs. These designs may incorporate

images significant in the ritual life of the peo-

ple, particularly where the more elaborately

MPNr 78 (top). Food bowl, red ochred, Bosmun

village, Lower Ramu River, Bosmun speakers,

Madang Province. Wood. 65 x 18 cm. E.98.2. One of

three wooden bowls registered 17 March 1954. The

heads at each end of this bowl perhaps represent

water spirits in the form of a crocodile, although

one has a recurved snout.

MPNr 79 (below). Food bowl (nambiel), Wangam

(Wongan) village, Kopar speakers, East Sepik

Province. Wood. 56 x 21 cm. E.5539. Collected by Dr

G. Gerrits from owner Kum and registered 7 May

1970.

decorated bowls are used to serve food at

important ceremonies. Wood bowls, masks,

canoes, slit-gongs and the spearman’s shield

in the lower Sepik-Ramu area, are all

scooped-out forms and it is not surprising

that certain significant designs are shared bythese objects (MPNrs 78, 79).

Tami and Siassi bowls (MPNrs 76, 77) form

a significant part of bride-price exchanges

and are used on ceremonial occasions to

serve a mash of taro mixed with coconut

milk. They are also an important maritime

trade item. According to Bodrogi (1961: 99),

the wood bowls of north-east New Guinea

are made only by the Tami Islanders. How-

ever, Dark (1974: 46) states:

The Tami islanders used to have a monop-

oly on bowl carving which gradually was

taken over by the Siassi islanders in the

twenties. Tami, or now Siassi, bowls were

traded west into Astrolabe Bay and east as

far as the Vitu Islands.

The wood from which the bowls are

carved is called kwila in Pidgin English and is

an ironwood tree ( Afzalea or Intsia bijuga). The design at each end of the Siassi bowl,

MPNr 77, represents a human head wearing

the tri-partite oa-balan headdress (Bodrogi

1961: 157-59). The figure at the centre of each

side of the bowl represents a fish – a species

of skate, according to Biro’s notes (Bodrogi

1961: 102) – with the yabo spiral pig-tusk

motif 17

at the tip of each fin and beneath the

oval dentated form at the centre.

A human figure, represented in a squat-

ting position without torso, is carved at each

end of the Tami bowl, MPNr 76, to serve as

handles. A snake is represented along each




MPNr 77. Food bowl (and detail), Siassi Islands,

Siassi speakers, Morobe Province. Wood. 102 x 45

cm. E.15628. Purchased from Morris Young and

registered 12 November 1974. Eric Coote (pers.

comm. October 2009) believes this bowl, considering

the iconography, is more likely Tami than Siassi, even

if it was collected in the Siassi Islands.




side of the bowl. This may be a reference to

the selam snake that lives in the sea but

emerges to wander about the land changing

its appearance. It seduces young men by

assuming the form of a girl and seduces the

girls by assuming the form of a young man;

its victims waste away and die (Bodrogi 1961:

69). The figures may be goam or nguam (the

ancestral balum spirit), or may represent the

two brothers of the widespread story known

on Tami as that of Gidging and Gimoling, and

in Madang as that of Kilibob and Manub

(Bodrogi 1953: 119-27; Mennis 1979; Pompo-

nio 1994).

Admiralty Islands wood bowls are of three

types (Ohnemus 1998: 201-11). There are the

bowls that range from circular to oval in

shape, with or without some sort of stubby

legs, with or without carved motifs around

the rim, but with no handles. Then there are

bowls carved in the form of an animal, such

as a crocodile, turtle, dog, pig or bird. Finally

there are the bowls with ‘handles’, of which

the great feast bowls over a metre in diame-

ter and displaying two delicately carved

spiral ‘handles’ like prows of a canoe, are the

most magnificent (Kaufmann et al. 2002: 134-

35; Wardwell 1994: 112-13). Much speculation

on the significance of these spiral motifs

range from correlations with the South-East

Asian ‘ship of the dead’ to spiral tails of pos-

sums, thought to be a totem animal. It is

possible too that they are clan insignia and

differences in the detail of the ‘handles’ repre-

sent different clans.

The National Museum has no example of

these great feast bowls with the openwork

spiral ‘handles’. The inclusion of a recently-

carved model of such a bowl (MPNr 75),

presented to Sir Michael Somare during an

official occasion, amounts to a plea for an

overseas museum to present one to the

National Museum in the spirit of responding

to Sir Michael Somare’s plea for the return ofimportant items of PNG’s cultural heritage.

MPNr 76 (top). Food bowl, Tamigitu v illage,

mainland Tami speakers, Morobe Province. Wood.

45 x 29 cm. 81.73.15. Said to have been made

by Awel, c.1890. Donated by Village Arts and

registered 1 December 1981.

MPNr 75 (below). Model of food bowl, Manus

Island, Manus Province. Wood. 39 x 14 cm. 79.38.19.

Gift to Sir Michael Somare. Registered 16 October

1979.




HEADRESTS

Apart from the normal convenience of hav-

ing a pillow when sleeping on one’s side,

many people, particularly men, have elabo-

rate hairstyles, and the headrest is a practical

device for preventing damage to them.

18

Thesimplest pillow or headrest is a short length

of large-diameter bamboo or sago leaf mid-

rib. More elaborate is the carved wooden

horizontal component supported by two

pieces of thick rattan bent and bound at

each end to form two pairs of legs, or whole

headrests are carved from a single piece of

wood, such as those found in East Sepik Prov-

ince (for example, Kelm 1966a, Plates 474-88,

1966b, Plates 76-80 and 1968, Plates 263-67,

269-71; Mead 1970, Fig. 45). Some people,

such as those around Collingwood Bay in Oro

Province, carve a short headrest from a sin-

gle block of wood. Others (such as the Adzera

of the Markham Valley and the peoples of the

Papuan Gulf) find a suitably shaped branch

or root and carve three-legged headrests.

Sometimes the same forms are used as stools

(in Newton 1961, compare stool, Illust. 142,

and neck rest, Illust. 216). Headrests often

incorporate carved figural elements, usually

human or animal heads representing ances-

tral or mythical heroes, various spirits, oranimal totems.

The head near each end of the Bosmun

headrest (MPNr 81) almost certainly repre-

sents a male brag spirit, possibly from the

bush, depending on the identification of the

animal head at each end (which could be

that of a snake, given the undulating form

underneath the horizontal part of the head-

rest). Smidt and Eoe (1999: 118) inform us:

… spirits associated with the bush usually

play an important role in the context of

hunting. These spirits may show the prey

to the hunters of their own group while

MPNr 81 (top). Headrest, Bosmun? village, lower

Ramu River, Bosmun speakers, Madang Province.

Wood. 53 x 12 cm. E.16268. Purchased from Barr y

Hoare and registered 28 February 1975.

MPNr 82 (below). Headrest, Kaimari village, Purari

Delta, Purari speakers, Gulf Province. Wood. 75 x 38

cm. E.16403. Seized in 1972, donated by Customs

in 1974 and registered 24 March 1975. Published in

Smidt 1975: 19, 20; Nr 14.




making it invisible to outsiders, and they

make sure that the prey does not run

away and will be surely hit.

It is possible that the use of these motifs

on headrests provides the sleeping hunter

with dreams that indicate the best time andplace to seek his prey.

The Adzera are Austronesian speakers liv-

ing in the middle to upper Markham Valley,

and are best known for their pottery (May

and Tuckson 2000: 130-40). They also make a

headrest characterised by a figure, often

without genitalia, leaning forward on two

arms but with only one leg. The head is usu-

ally turned upwards (MPNr 83) although

sometimes looks downwards or sideways.

Gunn (1985) discusses an example in the

Northern Territory Museum, comparing it to

ten other published examples. Schmitz (1959)

reports that these objects are both headrests

and stools. Gunn summarises (1985: 139-40):

During the night prior to a headhunting

raid the warriors would sleep prone with

the nape of the neck resting on the back

of the artefact, in effect using it as a head-

rest. Upon return from a fruitful raid, the

successful warrior would sit upon the

three-legged object … apart from his

companions, and would eat pig-meatwhile his fellows ate the flesh of the

human victim.

Schmitz (1959) relates the face on the

headrest/stool to that of the carved figure in

the men’s house representing Mugus, a male,

cannibalistic sky-god. Elsewhere he reports

(1963: 64):

In the dreamtime, the life of the gods was

constantly threatened by a giant who

devoured everything he could get hold of.

Sometimes he appeared in hu man form,

sometimes as a monstrous boar whose

tusks curved round … So terribly did he

MPNr 83. Headrest, Kaiapit village, Markham Valley,

Adzera speakers, Morobe Province. Wood. 38 x 21

cm. 78.1.2. Donated by J. Perkings and registered

13 February 1978.

rage among the gods, that whole districts

were depopulated. In the end the survi-

vors decided to leave the country … [But

there was] an old woman they could not

take with them … Thus she remained

behind alone, and hid herself as well as

she could in a cave, that the giant might

not find her …

The old woman … cut her finger one

day with a taro leaf. She let the blood run

out into two hollows in the earth, and

covered them over with leaves. The nextday already two boys had formed from

the blood, a pair of twins. One, they say,

was right-handed and the other left-

handed … In a marvellously short time

the children grew up to be strong men.

The mother taught them to fight, and

requested them to kill the man-eating

giant … After an atrocious fight the giant

was killed, cut up and eaten. The gods

who had fled returned and took part in

the meal of victory, the first cannibalistic

communal meal in this world, and from

now on the world of men could develop

undisturbed. The twins married, and their

children were the first people … The can-

nibalism of men … is no other than the

symbolical re-enactment in the cult of this

creative event in primordial times.19

Schmitz suggests that ‘in the cannibal cult

of human times, the victim who is eaten plays

the part of that primordial giant, and the

actual killers take the part of the twins’ (ibid.:

149). He notes that the protruding tongue (a

common feature of the head carved on the

headrest) is a characteristic of carvings repre-senting this primordial man-eater who is

himself killed and eaten.

Headrests of the Papuan Gulf (MPNr 82)

are generally from the area between Goarib-

ari Island in the west to the Purari Delta in the

east. They, like the Adzera headrests, are often

three-legged with a head jutting upwards

above the front two legs (or arms) (cf., Meyer

2004: 24). These forms are related to the simi-

lar imunu carvings – strange, active figures

carved from twisted branches or roots of

trees, suggesting habitation by nature spirits

(Newton 1961: 62-3).




GARDENING AND FERTILITY FIGURES

Success in gardening, the protection of crops

from thieves, the general fertility of plants,

trees and women, are concerns that many

New Guinea societies address through com-

munal rituals, often involving the use of

carved objects, sometimes displayed publicly

and sometimes restricted to the men’s cult

house. Often such rituals were considered

also to be effective in healing illnesses.

Washkuk Hills, Ambunti area

In the hills and swamps west and north-west

of Ambunti, several groups of peoples share

a culture that is different to that of the main-

stream Sepik. The Kwoma in the Washkuk

Hills are the better known, with the closely

related Nukuma in the swamps around the

Namblo River to the north of them. The

Yasyin are in the hills on the south side of the

Sepik and their swamp-dwelling cousins, the

Warasei, live around the Sanchi to the north-

west (Newton 1971, map); both groups speak

the Mayo language and were antagonistic

to the Kwoma and Nukuma. All these groups

say they migrated from the hills farther to

the north – perhaps from the Bongos-Nuku

region of the Torricelli Mountains where peo-ple speak related languages. Bowden (1997)

outlines oral traditions recounting the move-

ments of these peoples over the past few

centuries.

Like their northern and north-eastern

neighbours, the Kwoma, Nukuma, Yasyin and

Warasei are primarily yam cultivators and

their ceremonials are carried out in connec-

tion with male initiation and stages of yam

cultivation and harvesting (Bowden 1983;

Kaufmann 1968; Newton 1971: 82-109). Only

the Kwoma have been intensively studied

but the cultures of the other groups are

believed to be similar to that of the Kwoma.

Yena, minja and nowkwi carvings of the

Kwoma have personal names and are used at

three different ceremonies celebrating the

growth and harvest of yams. Yena ( yina) is a

large wood head carved with a neck-like

stake (MPNrs 171-73). Several yena are dis-

played during the yena ceremony, highly

ornamented with shells and feathers, sur-

rounding a ‘basket’ of yams (Bowden 1983,

Plates 16, 17, 20, 21; Kaufmann 1968, Plate 39;

Newton 1971, Illust. 153). The yena ceremony

takes place immediately after first harvest

and the singing and dancing is accompanied

by the sounds of slit-gongs and flutes. This

continues all day and night, during which the

women are kept well clear of the cult house.

Minja (mindja, mija) is a long canoe-

shaped board with a yena-like head at the

top end and usually with a series of loops,

representing a snake, issuing from or below

the mouth and reaching the base of the fig-

ure. Minja (MPNrs 174-77) embody male

water spirits that are believed to promote the

growth of yams. They are displayed in pairs,

highly ornamented like the yena, against a bi-

conical heap of newly-harvested yams,

immediately following the yena ceremony

(Bowden 1983, Plate 24; Kaufmann 1968,Plate 40; Newton 1971, Illust. 176). There is a

day and night of singing and dancing accom-

panied by slit-gongs, bullroarers, and

bamboo trumpets. For some of the time, the

women are permitted to join in the dancing

in front of the cult house.

Nowkwi (nogwi ) are female figures,

around life-size (MPNrs 178-83). They are

used in the most secret of all the yam harvest

ceremonies, though strictly speaking not to

do with yams so much as with ‘man killing’.

This ceremony takes place a few weeks after

the yena and minja ceremonies and tradition-

ally is restricted to men who are homicides

and the fathers of many children. Only such

men are permitted to carry the large wooden

shields instead of the animal-hide shields car-

ried by the younger men (Newton 1971: 88).

One or two nowkwi are displayed, decorated

with shell ornaments, in front, or on top, of a

‘basket’ of yams. The display includes large

net bags of food and betel (areca) nuts, which

are later distributed to the women to ensure

their success in fishing. The dancing and sing-

ing of the initiates is accompanied by the

sounds of slit-gongs, flutes, and trumpets of

conch shell and wood. But the most impor-

tant instrument is the water drum, an

upturned canoe suspended from a platform

over a trench of water with its rim touching

the surface. This is beaten with a long pole,

held and guided by several men, to simulate

the sound of the footsteps of the two danc-

ing nowkwi female figures. Aggressive

mayhem and minor destruction of house-

hold effects occurs during the nowkwi

ceremony and this is attributed to Nankwi,

the spirit represented by the nowkwi

carvings.

Bowden (1983: 88) reports that when

Kwoma men are asked ‘What are yena?’ they

assert three things: ‘that they are “spirits”(sikilowas), that they have great “power” (ow ),

and that they are responsible for the continu-

ing fertility of the yam gardens.’ The same

applies to the minja figures. However, nowkwi

is not considered by the Kwoma to be a yam

ceremony but to be concerned with ‘man kill-

ing’ and was restricted to homicides. Nowkwi

figures represent powerful female spirits

owned by the clan (or clans) sponsoring the

ceremony; they are also seen as sisters of the

men of the clan, ‘the women, that is, who

have been “given away” in marriage to men in

other groups’ (ibid.: 77).




MPNr 171. Yam cult figure ( yena), Sanchi River,

Kwoma speakers (Nukuma dialect), East Sepik

Province. Wood. 112 x 24 cm. E.16369. Seized in


24 March 1975.

MPNr 172. Yam cult figure ( yena), Namblo River,

Mayo speakers (Warasai dialect), East Sepik



24 March 1975.

MPNr 173. Yam cult figure ( yena), Asawurr v illage,

Namblo River, Mayo speakers (Warasai dialect), East

Sepik Province. Wood. 129 x 25 cm. E.16373. Seized

in 1972, donated by Customs in 1974 and registered

24 March 1975.




MPNr 174 (left). Yam cult figure (minja), personal name Yamonau (male); Tongwindjamb village, Kwoma

speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 200 x 37 cm. 79.1.541. Carved by Nouksu c.1900, and passed down

from ‘son’ to ‘son’20

through Faiambai, then Eigwasi, Walaman, Uyeiwongku (Mangkahua), Abunendzungu,

and finally to Gutok. Bought by Barry Craig from Gutok, 27 April 1973, on behalf of the Commonwealth Art

Advisory Board, Canberra; subsequently gifted to the PNG Museum by the Australian government, and

registered 24 October 1979.

Fig. 60. Gutok of Tongwindjamb village, Kwoma

speakers, Washkuk Hills, and his minja figure at

Ambunti. Photo: B. Craig, BM24: 26; 31 December

1972.

The figures are completely naked with

bright red vulvas and thick pubic hair (a mark

of female beauty), and carry women’s net

bags full of food. ‘Taken as a whole the dis-

play presents a striking and unambiguous

image of fecundity and abundance in both

the natural and social worlds’ (ibid).

Bowden (1983: 115-16) notes that the

yena and minja sculptures are painted pre-

dominantly black and provided with the

decorations appropriate to homicides –

those ‘who, through killing, have acquired the

power to plant and grow yams’. Thus in the

series of yena, minja and nowkwi ceremonies,

the twin themes of nurture and hostility, pro-

creation and killing are given expression,

with the men taking both roles in the realm

of culture, nevertheless tacitly acknowledg-

ing but competing with the role of women as

procreators and nurturers in the realm of

nature.

The minja, MPNr 174, was purchased from

Gutok of Tongwindjamb village (Fig. 60). Its

personal name is Yamonau and it is male. It

was carved with stone tools, before the Ger-

mans came to the Sepik, by Nouksu, then

inherited by Faiambai, then by Eigwasi, then

by Walaman, then by Uyeiwongku, then by

Abunendzungu, then by Gutok. The ‘hooks’along either side of the figure are its ‘spears’;

the spiral forms along the centre (abasambal-

uka) represent the curled abdomen of the

butterfly that congregates on the pith of

sago that has been cut from the trunk of the

palm. The figure is normally painted in sev-

eral colours and coloured flowers and plants

decorate the hooks. Black cassowary feathers,

and the white feathers of the hen, cockatoo

and egret, are attached to the figure’s head. It

is kept hidden from women and the

uninitiated, and among other functions,

assists in hunting and formerly in warfare.




Fig. 61. Left to right: minja, nowkwi and yena for

sale at Ambunti, 12 January 1973. Minja figure

from Nagri village, Nukuma speakers, at left. Photo:

B. Craig BK13: 3; 12 January 1973.

MPNr 177. Yam cult figure (minja), Nagri village, Kwoma speakers (Nukuma dialect), East Sepik Province.

Wood. 125 x 40 cm. 79.1.619. Carved by Abungambo, father of Wendabe of Nagri vil lage, and subsequently

sold by Wendabe to Bi of Brugenauwi. Bought by Barry Craig from Bi, 12 January 1973, on behalf of the

Commonwealth Art Advisor y Board, Canberra; subsequently gifted to the PNG Museum by the Australian

government, and registered 23 October 1979.




MPNr 179 (below right). Yam cult figure, female

(nowkwi ), Urambanj village, Kwoma speakers, East

Sepik Province. Wood. 99 x 22 cm. E.16239. Probably

the same carver as for Masterpieces Nr 178.

Purchased from Wayne Heathcote and registered 17

February 1975.

MPNr 178 (below left). Yam cult figure, female

(nowkwi ), Urambanj village, Kwoma speakers, East

Sepik Province. Wood, cowries. 111 x 23 cm. E.16238.

Purchased from Wayne Heathcote and registered

17 February 1975.

Fig. 62 (opposite page, right). Gutok of

Tongwindjamb village, Kwoma speakers, Washkuk

Hills, and his nowkwi figure at Ambu nti. Photo:

B. Craig, BM24: 2; 30 December 1972.

MPNr 180 (opp osite page, left). Yam cult figure,

female (nowkwi ), personal name Hambawali,

Tongwindjamb village, Kwoma speakers, East Sepik

Province. Wood, human hair. 163 x 34 cm. 79.1.590.

Carved by Kweiamboi before 1914 and passed

down through four generations to Gutok. Used in

nowkwi ceremony called Neliapalen. Bought by

Barry Craig from Gutok, 27 April 1973, on behalf ofthe Commonwealth Art Advisory Board, Canberra;

subsequently gifted to the PNG Museum by the

Australian government and registered 24 October

1979.




MPNr 182. Yam cult figure, female (nowkwi ),

Muruwa or Yaung’get village, Namblo River, Mayo

speakers (Warasai dialect), East Sepik Province.

Wood. 106 x 22 cm. E.16382. Seized in 1972, donated

by Customs in 1974 and registered 24 March 1975.

MPNr 183 (right). Yam cult figure female (nowkwi), Sanchi River, Kwoma speakers (Nukuma dialect), East

Sepik Province. Wood. 152 x 24 cm. 81.26.118 [original registration number lost]. Probably purchased from

Wayne Heathcote c. 1975 and said to be from ‘Kwaka, Nukumu-Abletak area’.

MPNr 181. Yam cult figure, female (nowkwi ), Yasyin

village, Mayo speakers (Yasyin dialect), East Sepik



24 March 1975. Published in TPNGPMAG 1974a,

Plate opp. p. 12.




MPNr 80. Pot modelled as head, ‘Washkuk’, Kwoma?

speakers, East Sepik Province. Clay. 35 cm x 14 cm

diameter. E.16182. Purchased from Barry Hoare and


In addition to the carved wood figures,

the Kwoma and Nukuma make head-like pots

that are sculpted and painted, and used in

the yena ceremony ‘to decorate subsidiary

piles of yams’ (Newton 1971: 85, Illust. 177).

Some of these pots-as-heads have a hole in

the bottom to allow them to be supported

on a stick. These representations of spirits

(sikilawas), via the medium of modelled, chip-

carved and painted pottery, are made only by

men who have been through the third stage

of initiation, at about thirty-five years of age

(Kaufmann 1972: 215; May and Tuckson 2000:

219). MPNr 80 is most likely a Nukuma pot,

judging from the style of the face (cf., May

and Tuckson 2000, Figs 9.16-17), but much of

what is known about the Kwoma is most

likely true also for their northern neighbours,

the Nukuma.

Kaufmann reports that informants give

several different stories of the significance of

these clay heads for the Kwoma but summa-

rises with the formula, pot=head=yam=the

spirits of ages past (Kaufmann 1972: 182).

Bowden (1983: 106) further elaborates on the

significance of the head in Kwoma imagery by

stating that ‘the head derives its significance,

visually and ritually, from the fact that it simul-

taneously symbolises masculine sexuality and

fertility on the one hand, and homicidal

aggression on the other’. He recounts the

incredible story of the adventures of Yowjasu’s

severed head to establish these connections

(ibid.: 106-10). It is therefore possible that,

apart from other meanings, the pottery yena is

a reference to Yowjasu’s head – or the equiva-

lent in Nukuma mythology. An episode of this

story, where Yowjasu’s head attaches itself to

the wattles (‘breasts’) of a female cassowary,

was carved at one end of a horizontal beam of

the Council House (modelled on a cult house)

at Ambunti (Fig. 63).




Fig. 63. Carved representation of Yowjasu’s head

attached to the wattles of a female cassowary.

Council House, Ambunti. Photo: B. Craig BK13: 11;

21 January 1973.

Prince Alexander Mountains

Abelam

According to Forge (1966), among the

Abelam of the coastal range to the north of

the middle Sepik, myth is virtually irrelevantto their art, unlike the situation among the

Kwoma and Nukuma who recount several

mythical episodes that are relevant to their

carvings. The major figure sculpture of the

Abelam are the carvings of nggwalndu, clan

spirits that are not ancestors but spirits

normally residing outside village territory,

having an interest in the welfare of a

particular clan (Hauser-Schäublin 1989a: 612).

Like the ancestors of other Sepik peoples,

they are responsible for the health and size

of pigs and for human welfare and fertility,

in addition to their special role in promoting

There are several stages of male initiation

and, at the fourth, the nggwalndu and other

figures and paintings are prepared and dis-

played to initiates who submit to a variety of

ordeals. Both initiators and initiates are

painted and decorated so that they resemblethe carvings and they then emerge into the

cleared space in front of the cult house and

present themselves to the women. Initiation

is the opportunity for men to gain magical

power that will help them to become suc-

cessful growers of long yams (Losche 1982).

Forge has said (1973a: 189), ‘Woman as prime

creator and man as nourisher come clearly

out of … Abelam art’. These themes are

remarkably like those of Kwoma and Nukuma

art, with which other links also may be found.

the success of long-yam growing.

The nggwalndu (MPNrs 17, 185, 186) are

male figures up to 5 metres long, the carving

style characterised by minimal differentiation

of the parts of the body (Hauser-Schäublin

1989b). The face is usually rendered with ahorizontal brow line and small eyes set close

to the long, slightly swelling ridge of the nose.

The figures are generally painted all over with

red (the most powerfully charged pigment)

and the other colours, rather than carving, are

used to indicate ornamental details.

Forge (1973a: 174) says that painting is

… a sacred activity [which] under ritual

conditions becomes the means by which

the benefits of [a] ceremony are trans-

ferred to the initiates, to the village as a

whole, and to the villages of those who

have assisted and attend the ceremony.




MPNr 17 (left). Male figure (nggwalndu), Maprik

area, Abelam speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.

376 x 35 cm. E.7284. Registered 10 February 1971.

MPNr 186 (right). Male figure (nggwalndu), Maprik

area, Abelam speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.

314 x 29 cm. 81.26.176 [original registration number

lost but identified almost certainly as E.4669,

personal name Biangarum, Malba Nr 2 vil lage.

Purchased by Roy Mackay on behalf of the museum

from Gabrasepa Mungalgul, and registered

14 January 1970].

MPNr 185 (below). Male figure (nggwalndu),

Maprik area, Abelam speakers, East Sepik Province.

Wood. 116 x 17 cm. E.8845. Purchased from Barr y

Hoare, Sepik Primitive Arts, Madang and registered

29 December 1971.




Boiken

The Boiken speak several dialects and are

scattered from the Sepik plains northwards

across the mountains and down to the coast

and offshore islands in the vicinity of Wewak.

They share many cultural characteristics with

their Abelam and Arapesh neighbours to the

west.

MPNr 187 is significantly different from

the other Boiken figures in the exhibition

(MPNrs 188-92). However, it is quite like a fig-

ure in the Masco collection (Wardwell 1994:

40-1), having the same style of painting on

the face, cockatoo-like beaks where the

shoulders should be, and a similar torso. The

Masco piece is provenanced to Southern

Abelam or Boiken. A figure with a facepainted in a similar way (Myers 1975, Nr 110)

is said to come from Kumun (just west of Yan-

goru), which is a Boiken village (although the

caption wrongly states ‘Arapesh’). It is there-

fore likely that all three pieces are West

Yangoru Boiken and have been influenced by

the eastern Abelam. The other Boiken figures

in the Masterpieces Exhibition must come

from elsewhere.

Most of the Boiken figures in the Master-

pieces Exhibition appear to be female but a

survey of other such figures supports

Roscoe’s information (1990: 412, endnotes 5,

9) that they were carved as pairs, male and

female. Of twenty-one offered for auction at

Sotheby’s in Sydney (1993, Lots 245-50), and

at a gallery in New York (Myers 1975, Lots 109,

111-18, 120, 122-24, 130, 131), ten were

clearly female, six were male and the gender

of five could not be determined from the

photographs. The female figure Lot 112

(Myers 1975) looks like a pair to the male?

figure MPNr 192 and appears to have been

carved by the same man. Inspection of all

these figures suggests that there are several

styles of carving, each characteristic of a par-

ticular group of Boiken and/or of particular

carvers, but unfortunately the exact place

where each of these figures was made is not

known.Little information has been recorded

about the cult figures from the Yangoru

Boiken, as the ceremonies in which they were

used were last held in the 1940s (Roscoe

1990: 402). Paul Roscoe notes they were

called malingatcha and had individual names.

He outlines three grades of initiation –

sumbwi , kwuli and suwero. It was during the

second grade (kwuli ) that the male initiates

(in their late twenties or so), after the incision

of their penes to remove ‘bad blood’,

… were shown the malingatcha carvings,

which, newly painted and decorated, were

displayed in the hut next to the stilt house

or, if the weather was fine, against one of

its outer walls. Each initiate in turn was

instructed to stand before the array,

where the ritual guardians of the carvings

informed him of their identity – wangi-

wandauwa, the kwuli wala or tambaran

– and listed a series of taboos that must

be observed for several months hence on

pain of serious risk to health. [Roscoe

1990: 406]

The function of these carved figures may

be considered to be the effect they had on

the initiates. Roscoe (1995: 58) states:

Male initiation was believed to confer

motivation and ability in battle, oratory,

the pursuit and manipulation of shell

wealth and pigs, and those aspects of

food production, such as hunting, garden-

ing, and sago processing, that were ‘men’s

work’. Female initiation motivated women

to bear and rear children, and conferred

on them the full-bodied figure esteemed

as the prerequisite for bearing and suck-

ling many offspring. It furnished

motivation and ability for long, arduous

work in the fields and prodigious culinary

production, and it inspi red them to ‘settle

down’ in marriage with the best interests

of their husbands and husbands’ kin

groups at heart.

Thus it seems appropriate that there

should be both male and female malingatcha

figures, thereby emphasising the comple-

mentary roles of men and women in

maintaining the prosperity of the community

as a whole.




MPNr 187. Figure with lizard-like body, Yangoru

area, Boiken speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.

103 x 19 cm. E.1373. Acquired from Bruce Lawes and

registered 15 March 1966.

MPNr 189. Female figure, Yangoru area, Boiken


E.16213. Purchased from Wayne Heathcote and













MPNr 191. Female figure, Mount Turu, Yangoru

area, Boiken speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.

68 x 13 cm. E.14182. Donated by Bruce Lawes and

registered 25 April 1974.

MPNr 192. Male? figure, Yangoru area, Boiken


81.26.117 [original registration number lost].




MPNr 184. Guardian figure for garden (kuku),

Iyobo sub-clan insignia, Isago village, Aramia River,

Gogodala speakers, Western Province. Wood. 136

x 23 cm. 76.47.1. Collected by A.L. Crawford and

J.A. Baldwin and registered in 1976. Published in

Crawford 1981: 141 and catalogue Nr 227.

Fig. 64. Kuku in situ, Isago village, Aramia River,

Gogodala speakers, Western Province. Photo:

A.L. Crawford, 1975.

The Aramia-Fly River Gogodala

The Gogodala live on the floodplain of the

Aramia River that flows eastwards into the

Bamu River, and on the north bank of the

Fly River estuary, at the western end of the

Papuan Gulf. Canoes were essential fortransport in the watery environment of the

Gogodala, and a man’s canoe was identi-

fied with his sub-clan totem. The spirits of

these totems (limo) were portrayed by par-

ticular painted designs called gawa tao. Such

a design was far more than a symbol of the

sub-clan or ‘canoe’ to which a man belonged

– it embodied the spiritual force or ugu of his

canoe, and

… was instrumental in controlling most

happenings. The ugu, through themedium of an effigy known as a kuku, had

essential tasks to perform: to dispel an evi l

spirit or sickness from the village; to

ensure healthy coconut palms; and to

prohibit the unlawful harvesting of gar-

den produce, especially that of a dead

man. A kuku usually took the form of a

simple limbless figure carved from hard-

wood with the gawa tao painted on the

torso. They were positioned upright in

gardens normally at the top of a slope

looking out across the tranquil waters of

the lagoon, or in close proximity to the

village amongst the coconut palms. One

usually stood at the foot of the steps lead-

ing up to the komo [central hall] entrance

of the longhouse to guard against evil

spirits. [Crawford 1981: 50 and Figs 9 1, 106,

189]

The figure in the Masterpieces Exhibition

(MPNr 184) was the last kuku of Isago village.

Most were destroyed in a Mission-inspired

bonfire in the late 1930s. This figure was

made by Beya in the 1950s and erected at the

summit of a sloping garden where it served

as a guardian (Fig. 64). It was believed it

would cause illness or even death to anyone

who stole coconuts or other crops from the

garden.




The Highlands Enga and Huli

Yupin or iubini are human figures between

0.5 and 1 metre high, usually male, con-

structed of rattan and/or vines by men using

basketry techniques. They have been col-

lected from the area bounded approximately

by Porgera, Laiagam and Kandep, in Enga

Province but also from the vicinity of Marga-

rima in the north of the Southern Highlands

Province. The people of these locations speak

Ipili, Enga and Huli languages. Roger Neich

(1975) published a thorough survey of them,

including in his account extensive quotations

from Reverend H.M. Reah who was living at

Laiagam, Patrol Officer W.R. Paterson who

was based at Margarima, and E.R. Lockyer

who was Forestry Officer at Mendi, about 40

kilometres south-east of Margarima. Both fig-

ures in the Masterpieces Exhibition (MPNrs

193 and 194) are included in Neich’s survey

and a third figure (E.15582, in the National

Museum’s storage) is mentioned. Since then

another three or four have been added to the

collections. One of these (E.16442) was pub-

lished as part of the ‘Seized Collections’ of

1972 (Smidt 1975: 42) and is remarkably like

the Wambli and Laiagam figures published

by Neich (1975, Figs 1 and 6 respectively).

These figures are regarded as highly

sacred and kept secret from women and chil-

dren. Reah reported (Neich 1975: 34-6) that

each clan has a spirit house where sacred

‘female’ stones and prehistoric stone mortars

are kept. The basketry figures are hidden in

various locations but brought to the spirit

house for rituals, one of which involves the

male figure ‘copulating’ with the female

stones.

All believed that the spirits of their

departed dead resided in [these] figure[s]

… If the spirits were not appeased by

MPNr 193. Human figure (iubini ), Imipiaka village, Waka Enga, Enga speakers, Enga Province. Rattan. 90 x

57 cm. E.2171. Collected by Patrol Officer W.R. Patterson of Mendi; donated and registered 19 July 1967.

Published in Neich 1975: 45, 49-50, Fig. 11.




offerings of pork etc., then these spirits

would come forth and harm the clan as a

whole by spoiling the food supply and

would be detrimental to the health of the

community … Pig grease or blood was

often rubbed on the Yupin [which] would

be referred to in a drought, or when the

children were sick, etc. … Yupins were sup-

posed to punish people for misdeeds and

for ignoring good tribal habits … The

keepers [of the yupin] received all kinds of

rewards or pay f rom people, such as pigs,

axes, mother of pearl shells etc.

Usually, the yupin are not made locally but

bought from other locations. Reah stated:

If the man making the Yupin had occult

powers then he could ask and get a high

price for it. His pay could be as follows; tenfull grown pigs, a large quantity of shell

necklaces of ver y high value, salt, axes, pig

grease, sugar cane, taro, sweet potato and

many other items.

One of the figures in the Masterpieces

Exhibition (MPNr 193) comes from the Waka

(south-western) Enga of the Waga River val-

ley, at the headwaters of the Kikori River; the

other (MPNr 194) comes from the eastern

Huli near Margarima, farther down the Waga

Valley, south of the Waka Enga.

According to informants, the Waka Enga

figure collected by W.R. Paterson (MPNr 193)

was made in the 1940s or 1950s by Borone of

Imipiaka.

The figure was then purchased from Bor-

one by the Wirimbi group in a big pig and

kina (pearl shell) transaction … The figure

was kept in a cave and brought out only

when required.

Paterson bought the figure from the

Wirimbi. He was told (Neich 1975: 49):

The figure is known as ‘Iubini ’ and is said

to have a spirit within named ‘Aimene’.

MPNr 194. Human figure, male ( yupin/taama), Yaruna village, Magarima area, Huli speakers, Southern

Highlands Province. Vine, rattan, gourd and human hair. Face painted red and yellow.

68 cm high x 82 cm circumference at the head and 79 cm at the chest. E.16497. Purchased by E.R. Lockyer

from Margarima Local Government Council, donated to the National Museum of New Zealand, subsequently

repatriated to the PNG National Museum on 20 August 1974; registered 25 June 1975. Published in

TPNGPMAG 1976b: 11, top left and in Neich 1975: 50-2, Figs 12, 13.




Aimene is representative of the great

spirit known as ‘Tatagali-Wabe’ … [who]

was responsible for seeing to the general

well-being of the people, ie. it fell within

his capabilities to ensure that the kau-kau

(sweet potato) produced, that the pigs

became plenty in number and that the

women bore children… A major festival

to Tatagali-Wabe would be held at inter-

vals of approximately six to seven years or

whenever the seasons were going badly

… On the feasting occasions people with

pigs would bring them to the festival site,

those without pigs would bring kina

[pearl shells] with which to buy pigs.

When pig was kil led and cooked, pieces of

pig would be passed by the mouth of the

Iubini, this being symbolic to the spirit

Tatagali-Wabe eating a share of the pig…

[On other occasions] pigs would be killed

and portions offered to Tatagali-Wabe on

behalf of some person from within the

group who was sick …

Neich (1975: 50-2), reports information

from Lockyer about the Huli figure (E.16497)

that came to the Margarima Council House

from nearby Yaruna:

Ordinarily, the figure is called Taama, but

when used in the pig-killing ceremony its

name changes to Amena. Two or threemen made the figure from bush vines and

cane strips gathered from the virgin for-

est. Taama is normally kept in a specially

built, medium-sized bush materials ‘haus

tambaran’ in the village. The night before

a pig-kill no-one sleeps and the men carry

the figure around the village all night.

When the sun comes up he is put into his

house. Then the pigs are killed and the

‘singsing’ begins.

Women cannot touch or even look at the

figure. The Taama figure is also used during

the four-day initiation seclusion of boys. For

initiation, usually three boys are put through

at one time. A multi-level house is built in the

village and the boys sit in it for four days and

cannot talk to anyone. On the first day, the

pigs are prepared; on the second day, vegeta-

bles are prepared; on the third day, the pigs

are killed; on the fourth day, the boys come

out of the house after eating pork. During

this time the figure remains in the cult house

separate from the initiation house, except for

the night before the pig kill when it is carried

around the village as described above. The

boys still cannot talk to anyone, until the

fourth night is over. They then return to the

communal sleeping house. Taama build up

so much power that the men become afraid

of them. They then put them out in the bush

to rot as they become too powerful to use.

Neich has traced the variations in the

names, function and significance of these

basketry figures throughout the area of their

occurrence and concludes (ibid.: 53):

… the figures and their originally associ-

ated beliefs need not be diffu sed together

as an integral unit. The Waka possibly

adopted the idea and techniques of mak-

ing the figures from the Enga or Ipili to

the north, and applied the widespread

Enga name to them, but … associated

them with modified Huli beliefs.




HUNTING AND WARFARE

In the Masterpieces Exhibition there are two

types of object that have to do with hunting

and warfare. First there are the carved figures

and plaques that serve as habitations for spir-

its whose assistance may be enlisted for

success in hunting and warfare. The second

type of object has to do specifically with the

technique of warfare, and this is the war

shield. War shields were used almost every-

where in New Guinea and New Britain,

displaying a variety of materials, shapes, sizes,

handle-types, and carved and painted

designs. There is available a comprehensive

survey of war shields in Melanesia (Beran and

Craig 2005).

HUNTING AND WARFARE FIGURES

The Masterpieces Exhibition includes many

examples of this type of carving, most being

from the Sepik-Ramu region with just a few

from villages of the Papuan Gulf. To acti-

vate the power of these figures, a ritual is

performed that might involve offerings of

tobacco, betel nut and various foods, even

blood. Upon successful completion of the

hunt, or attack on an enemy settlement, aportion of the quarry may be prepared and

presented to the spirit of the carving as

thanks and to encourage future assistance.

Although it is known that rituals have

been performed to transfer to replacement

carvings the spirits inhabiting some of these

objects, such as Mangisaun (MPNr 123), in

many instances these rituals may not have

been performed. Respect for these objects as

museum exhibits therefore is not simply

based on regard for the carvers’ skills but for

the continuing presence of spirits within

them.

Fig. 65. Murik ‘spider’ design (mabranarogo) (after

Beier and Aris 1975: 20).

Lower Sepik River

At Murik Lakes, carving skills are believed

to have originated with two culture heroes,

Andena and Dibadiba who came down the

Sepik River in a canoe. They taught the peo-

ple to make sago and how to carve masks

and canoes (Beier and Aris 1975: 17):

All the important art forms – brag [masks],

kandimbong [figures], namon [canoe

masthead figures] and canoe heads –

were derived from them. Only the ritual

karkar spears are supposed to have a dif-

ferent origin.

The men who learned the art of carving

from Andena and Dibadiba became the

first moanabinarogo [carvers]. The craft is

passed on only in their families … From

his teacher [father or uncle] the young

carver will absorb a style, which is referred

to as darin or ‘hand’ … A carver is free,

once he has learned what he can from his

immediate relative, to apprentice himselfto another carver from the same village

and to learn some variants of the style he

has acquired.

Morakau, a Murik master carver, told Ulli

Beier that power (maneng) is invested into a

carving by incantations (timit ) and the use of

magic leaves. The former are learnt during

initiation and supplemented with special

ones learnt from the master carver; the magic

leaves are particular to individuals, everyone

having his own formula. The incantations are

recited continuously while the carver works.

‘When carving a brag, the artist leaves the

eyes and the mouth until last. The moment

when he carves these openings is the

moment when he bestows life on the image’

(Beier and Aris 1975: 22). Masks are always

painted after carving, usually with red ochre,

and are decorated with shells and leaves for

use in ceremonies. When the masks are

danced, there may be a quite large and elab-

orate superstructure of feathers and other

materials that almost obscure the woodenmask itself (cf., Berg 1992, esp. Plates 14, 31;

Smidt and Eoe 1999, Figs 13.8-13.12).

Traditionally, Murik design elements are

used in quite specific ways for specific

objects. Beier and Aris (1975: 17), for example,

inform us:

All important masks have the spider

design occurring on them somewhere.

The spider is the perfect designer. The fine,

precise lines of its web and the intricacy

of the design it produces symbolize the

kind of perfection the carver himself is

aiming at. [Fig. 65]

Carved anthropomorphic figures are of

two types: those having relatively naturalistic

human noses and those with long, beak-like

noses. The nimbero kandimbong, half to full

life-size, are carved with human, naturalistic

noses and represent male clan ancestors. Two

such figures, MPNrs 111 and 112, have been

published by Beier and Aris (1975, Figs 10, 11).

The young male initiates are shown these

figures, even sleep with them (Barlow

1995: 97), so that they may absorb the




inhabiting spirits’ virility and gain magical

knowledge about seduction. Beier and Aris

(1975: 24) state that the kandimbong ‘ depicts

a clan ancestor and culture hero’ and has

oracular powers:

When the carving is finished, its potencyhas to be established with a kind of ritual

experiment. A spear is placed next to the

kandimbong , and a young boy is asked to

walk close to the figure. If the kandimbong

has meneng, or magic power, the spear

will suddenly tilt towards the boy. The boy

will then fall into a trance and the kandim-

bong will speak through the boy.

The kandimbongretains the power of

speaking through various p eople, and

when it appears to the owner in dreams it

sings and speaks to him.

The female equivalent of kandimbong fig-

ures (Specht 1988: 40, Plate 1) are presented

to girls at initiation and, as is the case during

the initiation of the young men, they sleep

with these female figures to absorb ‘seduc-

tion and beautification magic’ (Barlow

1995: 106).

MPNr 111 has a scarification design

(taganap sigia) on the upper torso, said to

represent a crab. In 1983, I was told that this

kandimbong’s name is Marara and informants

confirmed that it was carved at Darapap.

MPNr 112 has the same scarification design

but also a wig of human hair, a string of shell

rings around its neck and several shell rings

are attached to its arms and legs by woven

rattan bands. A bark cloth belt holds a bark

loincloth in place. In 1983 I was told that this

figure’s name is Gila, is from Mendam, and

was carved by Kanaba of Jangimot, a mem-

ber of the current generation of old men.

Both these figures appear to have been

carved by the same man, that is, Kanaba.

Other types of Murik figures also feature

MPNr 111. Male figure (kandimbong), personal

name Marara, Darapap village, Murik Lakes, Murik

speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, rattan. 94 x 17

cm. E.16186. Seized in 1972, donated by Customs in

1974 and registered 12 February 1975. Published

in Beier and Aris 1975: 24 and Fig. 11; Smidt 1975:

54-55; TPNGPMAG 1974a, Plate opp. p. 23.

MPNr 112. Male figure (kandimbong), personal

name Gila, Darapap village, Murik Lakes, Murik

speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, rattan, shell

and human hair. 99 x 19 cm. E.16187. Purchased

from Barry Hoare and registered 12 February 1975.

Published in Beier and Aris 1975: 23-4 and Fig. 10.




the human, rather than bird-like, nose (for

example, Kelm 1968, Plates 28, 84). Murik

paddle-canoe prows combine animal and

human elements (Craig 1987, Plate 41). At

Kopar and Watam, east of Murik, small figures

are kept in baskets as village guardians (ibid.,

Plate 46).

Sendam, the pair to Jore (MPNr 114), was

still kept in Watam in 1983 (Fig. 66 and Craig

1987, Plate 79), though much deteriorated.

Both Jore and Sendam were carved so long

ago (even before Watam village was

founded) that the name of the carver has

been forgotten. The spirits in these figures

were asked for assistance in warfare and

were presented with enemy heads after suc-

cessful raids.

Long, beak-like noses are to be found on

the brag (spirit masks) and namon (mast-

head figures), figures and heads carved on

the sacred karkar spears, finials of slit-gongs

and canoe paddles, war shields, wooden food

and betel-nut pestles, handles of hand drums,

supporting figures of betel-nut mortars,

stools and headrests (Beier and Aris 1975,

Figs 1-9, 12-15; Beier and Somare 1973; Craig

1987, Plates 38-40, 42, 44, 45; Kaufmann 1980,

Plate 54; Kelm 1968, Plate 278; Specht 1988:

42-3). Beier and Aris (1975: 21) report:

Spirit noses resemble the beaks of birds;

for example, the nose of the tarego mask

is always modelled on the beak of an

eagle, while others are said to represent

the beak of the kauren bird or the

kekekaur bird. The kauren nose may also

be described as sakenemp (prawn’s tail).

Other noses are described as daur

gogongo (long nose) and waunor daur

(spirit nose).

Lipset considers these noses have an

additional significance. Of the male war spirit

(brag), he states (1997: 135):

Fig. 66. Male figure named Sendam, Watam village,

Watam speakers, Watam Lagoon. Photo: B. Craig,

C5: 27; 27 September 1983.

MPNr 114. Male figure, personal name Jore; Watam

village, Watam speakers, Watam Lagoon, East Sepik

Province. Wood. 166 x 26 cm. E.16417. Purchased

by Wayne Heathcote from Babo Saun of Watam

but seized as an illegal export in 1972 and donated

by Customs in 1974; registered 24 March 1975.

Published in Smidt 1975: 55.




He is not just a spirit but a spirit-man …

Far from repressed, the glamour of his

face (brag sebug) depicted in wooden

masks … is animated by blatant images of

genital desire and aggression. His visage is

dominated by a great phallic, beak nose.

In wooden figurines (kandimbong), the

top of the spirit-man’s head often turns

into the face and head of a serpent

(wakun kombitok ) whose nose reaches

down to his genitals … [B]eautifully orna-

mented … his decorations are intended

to seduce women …

Murik carvers are aesthetically sophisti-

cated; ‘Symmetry and proportion are of the

utmost importance’ and ‘An inventive carver

may be praised for his nonon, or imagination’

(Beier and Aris 1975: 22). However, the aes-

thetic qualities of a carving are irrelevant for

its function. Morakau explained to Ulli Beier

(ibid.):

‘You can give power to a carving as long

as you have the right incantations and as

long as you make it the way you want it.

Whether other people like it or not does

not matter.’

The power of the namon outrigger canoe

mast figure (ibid.: 24, Fig. 12) ensures the

owner of the canoe is given many pigs by his

trading partners. Miniature squatting figures

with the namon’s exaggerated beak-like nose

are placed in a wooden bowl during a ritual

for the inauguration of a new outrigger

canoe.

Ramu and Keram Rivers

The Ramu and Keram rivers are separate river

systems (the Keram being a southern tribu-

tary of the Sepik) but the upper Keram

meanders just 3 kilometres west of the mid-

dle Ramu. At high water there is no difficulty

in passing by canoe from one river system to

the other. It is not surprising then that some

language groups (Banaro and Rao) have set-

tlements on both rivers and others straddle

the middle Ramu and its eastern tributary the

Guam (Romkun, Kominimung, Breri and

Igana).

Richard Thurnwald (1916) did research

among the Banaro as long ago as 1913-14,

Father Aloys Kasprús published a general

ethnographic survey in 1973 based on his

time in the area (1936-43), and Father John

Z’graggen published a survey of the lan-

guages of the whole of the Madang Province

in 1975. Otherwise very little was known

about the area until Dirk Smidt (1990b: 15)

undertook to survey the area and to work

intensively among the Kominimung as a field

officer of the PNG National Museum between

1976 and 1980. Artefact collectors had been

operating in the area some time before but

their scant documentation was unreliable

and it was this that motivated Smidt to go to

the area (Smidt 1975: 87). Since then, he has

published several papers on the Kominimung

(1983, 1990a, 1990b, 1990c) in which he dis-

cusses the production and uses of their war

shields, masks and anthropomorphic figures

and the significance of the graphic designs

carved and painted on them. However, it isnot clear whether, or how much of, this infor-

mation is applicable to the Romkun and Breri,

nearest neighbours of the Kominimung, or to

the Banaro and Rao, who are farther away

and more distant culturally and linguistically.

Lower Keram River

The provenance of MPNr 152 is uncertain and

nothing is recorded about its significance.

The style of the carved face is consistent with

lower Keram carving (Kambot speakers). The

form of the piece overall is quite like a smaller

carving in the Museum für Völkerkunde in

MPNr 152. Male? figure, much deteriorated, Keram

River area, Kambot? speakers, East Sepik Province.

Wood. 151 x 20 cm. E.14188. Purchased from Bruce

Lawes and registered 25 April 1974.

Almost identical figures are illustrated in Friede

2005, Cat. Nr 121 and Kjellgren 2007, Cat. Nr 54.

Both are said to have been collected in the Keram

River area.




Berlin (Kelm 1968, Plate 52), collected by the

New Guinea Company in 1900 ‘in the area

of the mouth of the Sepik’. The function of

that figure was not recorded. Similar figures

are found through the Angoram-lower Sepik

area (Kelm 1968: Plates 32-50). In the Ango-

ram area, they are called atei , are said to be

ancestor figures, and are invoked before war

and hunting expeditions ( Wardwell 1994: 42-

3). It is possible that MPNr 152 is the remnant

of a figure with similar functions, perhaps

from the lower or middle Keram.

Upper Keram and Middle Ramu Rivers

MPNr 115 has a suspension hole at the top

and stands on the head of an unidentified

animal (perhaps a flying fox), a totem of the

clan to which this figure belongs. The figure’s

long beak-like nose (similar to the brag

spirit man’s nose of the Murik Lakes) joins

the body just above the penis. It is interest-

ing that Smidt reports (1990b: 29) a type of

woven string loin covering worn by Komin-

imung men engaged in initiation rituals, that

hangs from a belt to cover the penis and

loops back upwards so that the narrow end is

held in the mouth (ibid., Fig. 3.34), analogous

to the carved beak-like nose of many male

wood figures. This type of nose image is com-

mon throughout the lower Sepik region, for

example at Kopar, Tsingarin and Karadjundo

(Kelm 1968, Plates 67-9, 70, 76, 90) though

none of those in the Berlin museum’s cata-

logue are as finely carved as this one from

the Banaro. A strikingly similar but somewhat

smaller figure in the Museum der Kulturen,

Basel, collected by Speiser at Tambanum on

the middle Sepik in 1930 (Kaufmann 1980,

Kat. Nr 57), is attributed to the lower Sepik.

Virtually nothing is known about the signifi-

cance of these figures but it is likely that they

represent male clan spirits (not necessarily

MPNr 115. Male figure, Wokam village, middle

Ramu, Banaro speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.

56 x 10 cm. E.10438. Donated by Rudi Caesar and

registered 11 October, 1972. Published in TPNGMAG

1974b: 20.

MPNr 116 (right). Male figure, upper Keram River,

Banaro? speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, bark

loincloth. 69 x 9 cm. E.16055. Purchased from Barry





ancestral) and have important roles at times

of male initiation.

Dirk Smidt (pers. comm. 19 May 2004)

showed a photograph of a figure, similar to

MPNr 116, to Akasi of the Banaro village of

Ninias (=Minias?). Akasi claimed to recognise

that figure so it is l ikely that MPNr 116 comes

from the Banaro. It has traces of red paint on

the face and belly, and wears a beaten bark

loincloth21

and a woven rattan band on one

leg. It is possible that this figure is equivalent

to the kandimbongof the Murik Lakes (as it

has a naturalistic nose) and represents a male

clan ancestor. Thurnwald mentions such fig-

ures in connection with the initiation of

Banaro boys. Over several months, various

ceremonies are performed to introduce the

initiates to the sacred bamboo flutes,

bullroarers, the ritual cleansing by penis-

bleeding, and to sexual intercourse and

marriage. Thurnwald writes (1916: 265-66):

After three months of confinement the

initiates are ‘shown’ the phenomena of the

world that surrounds them – animals,

plants, high water, thunder and lightning

– which are presented as spirits in the

shape of wooden idols. They are also

introduced to the goblins of this world

and the spirits of their ancestors … Thefathers in the meantime have carved

small human figures (bukámorom, on the

lower Sepik called kandímboan)as a gift

of mutual friendship between the inter-

marrying gentes [people living in hamlets

each associated with a particular m en’s

house]. With these figures a particular

charm is perfor med. The father goes with

the boy into the forest to search for a

water liana … This liana is cut and the

water allowed to flow over the figure,

betel nut and betel pepper are laid upon

it, and it is then wrapped up in bark. The

figure is used as a love charm. If the boy

MPNr 153. One-legged figure, Romkun village,

Guam River, middle Ramu area, Romkun speakers,

Madang Province. Wood. 147 x 27 cm. 78.36.1 .

Collected by Dirk Smidt 18 September 1972 and

registered 1 September 1978.

MPNr 154. Male figure, right leg missing, Romkun

village, Guam River, middle Ramu area, Romkun

speakers, Madang Province. Wood. 59 x 14 cm.

E.10440. Donated by Rudi Caesar and registered 11

October 1972.




MPNr 155. Male figure, Romkun village, Guam River,

middle Ramu area, Romkun speakers (but probably

Breri), Madang Province. Wood, rattan. 107 x 14 cm.

E.16419. Seized in 1972 and donated by Customs;

registered 24 March 1975. Published in Smidt 19 75:

93, Nr 104.

MPNr 156. Female figure, attributed to Romkun

village, Guam River, middle Ramu area, Romkun


E.14304. Purchased by Fr Z’graggen at Catholic

Mission Kuanga from Breri speakers; later bought

by Dr Christian Kaufmann for the Museum für

Völkerkunde, Basel, but restricted from export.

Registered 24 May 1974.

should go into the bush with this, he

would expect to meet a woman. When the

women hear that such a charm has been

executed, one of them … complies with

the wish expressed in the charm. This is

the boy’s initiation into sexual life.

Guam River

It is not unreasonable to assume that the

information published by Dirk Smidt (1990b:

28-9) for the one-legged figures of the

Kominimung is more-or-less applicable to

MPNr 153, a one-legged figure of the Rom-

kun, since the two groups are closely related

in language and culture. However, the Komin-

imung one-legged figure is represented with

a torso and tiny arms whereas the Romkun

‘one-leg’ has a face only, which is symmetri-

cal around both the horizontal and vertical

axes. The three triangular projections imme-

diately below the face at the top of the ‘leg’

suggest the three poisonous barbs of the cat-

fish, a clan totem. Dirk Smidt (pers. comm.

15 March 2004) informs me that this inter-

pretation is supported by the projection at

the top of the head, which was said to repre-

sent the tail of a fish, most likely the catfish.

He also notes that the hook-like projections

above and below the face were referred to as

birds’ beaks, probably the hornbill; at the top

of the single ‘leg’ of the figure, the male spir-

it’s penis has been carved; and the diamond

shapes below that are ‘the traces of a water

insect’. The name of the carving was said to

be Kwanga.

The Kominimung believe in ancestral spir-

its called bwongogo; it is likely that the

Romkun have a similar belief. There are male

and female spirits and each one is associated

with a particular clan. These spirits are

believed to be helpful for human activities

such as gardening, hunting, fishing, warfare




and initiation – or they may obstruct success

if certain rules are broken.

At ceremonial occasions the [bwon-

gogo], who belong to the spirit world, are

brought into the realm of human beings

by means of theatrical performances

which are prepared in the men’s house.

The [bwongogo] are made tangible and

visible through the wood carvings and

additional paraphernalia worn or manipu-

lated by initiated male performers. [Smidt

1990b: 28]

Each type of bwongogo is represented by

a specific kind of carving and by specific

musical instruments and songs. The one-leg-

ged figures are considered to represent the

most powerful of all the spirits, as it is only

after young men have been through an initi-

ation featuring these figures that they are

permitted to marry. The one-legged figures

are used to prod or thump the chest or back

of the initiate (ibid., Fig. 3.35), after which the

figures are placed in a special room in the

men’s house. The boys are circumcised and

the glans of the penis is scratched to make it

bleed, ‘to remove the female blood with

which they are still contaminated’ (ibid.: 30).

Some years later the initiates go through

another ritual involving the one-legged fig-

ures, they are informed of the choices they

have for a marriage partner, and they are

then permitted to marry.

After these ceremonies, some of the fig-

ures are kept in the men’s house. Others are

taken to family houses where they are kept

on a screened platform hidden from the

women and uninitiated, who must not see

them or they would fall ill. The figures protect

the house and its inhabitants. ‘They also

ensure successful hunts, particularly of pigs,

and they seem to ensure a sufficient supply

of food in general’ (Smidt 1990b: 30).

MPNr 157. Male figure (and detail), attributed to

Romkun village, Guam River, middle Ramu area,

Romkun speakers (but probably Breri), Madang



MPNr 154 is rather different to MPNrs

155-57 (even though all are noted to be from

Romkun in the museum’s register) in not hav-

ing multiple hooks above and below the face,

in having upraised arms and a differently

shaped abdomen. Its Romkun provenance

has been confirmed by the trader Jeff Liver-

sidge and his assistant William Siep (Dirk

Smidt, pers. comm. 19 May 2004).

Of the other three (MPNrs 155-57), two

are male and one is female. Attributions

made by Liversidge and Siep favour a Breri

provenance (Dirk Smidt, pers. comm. 19 May

2004) as does Smidt. A fourth, female figure

(E.16421, not on display), similar to MPNr 156,

has been published by Smidt (1975: 92, Nr

103), although with an incorrect village prov-

enance provided by Rudi Caesar. A Breri

provenance is supported also by a figure

from Misingi (Misinki) , a Breri village, pub-

lished by Miller (n.d.: 39, Item 244).

The Breri live on both sides of the Ramu

south of the Romkun (Z’graggen 1975: 35)

but Kasprús seems to place them both under

the name Breri (1973, Map 2), as did Smidt

(1975: 89, map and 93, caption for Nr 104)




before he went to the Ramu and discovered

otherwise. Nor does Kasprús distinguish the

Kominimung. Kasprús reports the name of

the Breri water spirit associated with male

initiation as brobo, a term that could be cog-

nate to the Kominimung’s bwongogo.

It is significant, perhaps, that both male

figures have a handle-like projection at the

top of the head whereas the two female fig-

ures lack this. It is possible therefore that the

male figures were used like the Kominimung

bwongogo ‘one-legs’ (and like the Romkun

‘one-leg’, Nr 153) to prod the backs of the ini-

tiates, the figure’s ‘handle’ being held in the

raised right hand. The female figures may

represent spirits associated with fishing or

gardening, as amongst the Kominimung,

eastern neighbours of the Breri.

Yuat River

Under registration number E.361 are three

carvings, from Dauneng (Ndauenang, Dow-

aning), Arani (Araning, Araining), and

Antefuga (Antéfugoa, Andafugan), all villages

on or near the old course of the lower Yuat

River (see map, Laumann 1952: 899). None of

these figures is securely identified by regis-

tration number. MPNr 122 has at present the

registration number E.1347 and MPNr 128

has the registration number E.361.1. How-

ever, MPNr 128 is a Sawos figure collected by

Oscar Meyer and Bruce Lawes (Meyer 1995:

257) and by using a photograph I identi-

fied it to be from the village of Yamok (Craig

1982: 27, 29); therefore it cannot be one of

the three figures under E.361. MPNr 122 is

from Dauneng as Dadi Wirz (pers. comm. 16

February 2004) has confirmed that he col-

lected it there in late 1955, and has supplied

a field photograph to prove it (Fig. 67; see

also Meyer 1995, Plate 227). Both figures were

sent to the AGNSW for exhibition in 1966 so

MPNr 122. Male figure, Dauneng village, Yuat River, Biwat speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 157 x 30 cm.

E.1347 [incorrect number; identified as E.361.1 , collected by Dadi Wirz in 1955 and registered 7 December

1956.] Exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW, 20 April - 22 May 1966 (AGNSW 1966, Item 50 – illustrated as Plate

17) and published in Meyer 1995: 217.

Fig. 67. Male figure, Dauneng village, Biwat speakers,

lower Yuat. Field photo by Dadi Wirz, late 1955,

courtesy of Dadi Wirz.

it has to be assumed that the registrationnumbers were written on tags and somehow

they were mixed up while preparing the

figures for shipment to Sydney.

The Dauneng figure is most likely one of

the type from the lower Yuat villages referred

to by Karl Laumann (1951: 810; 1952) as Jagd-

gottheiten (‘hunting gods’), but he notes that

in Antefúgoa there was a ‘hunting god’

named Blíssoa (Vlísso) that was also a ‘war

god’. Food offerings were made to these fig-

ures before embarking on such activities, to

ensure their assistance.

MPNr 110 also was sent to the AGNSW for




MPNr 110 (left). Male figure, Arani [Araining], lower Yuat River area, Mekmek speakers, East Sepik Province.

Wood. 186 x 27 cm. 81.26.114 [original registration number lost but identified as E.361.2, recorded as

collected by Dadi Wirz in 195 5 and registered 7 D ecember 1956 along with two other figures, each from

the nearby villages of Dauneng and Antefuga]. Exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW, 20 April – 22 May 1966

(AGNSW 1966, Item 51).

Fig. 68 (above). Male figure named Tamasua, at

Maramba village, Angoram speakers, lower Yuat.

After Laumann 1951.

exhibition in 1966. In the catalogue of that

exhibition it has the registration number

E.361.2 and is provenanced to Arani. It is

identifiable by its catalogue description and,

although it is not illustrated in that catalogue,

AGNSW archival photos of the exhibition

confirm that it was part of the exhibition. Its

registration tag must have been lost after it

was returned to Port Moresby from Sydney. It

was registered in 1956 at the same time as

the figure from Dauneng but Dadi Wirz said

that he did not collect it (pers. comm. 16 Feb-

ruary 2004). In the PNG National Archives is a

list of the Dadi Wirz collection. The list




MPNr 113 (opp osite page, middle). Male figure, personal name Tamasua; carved at Tambigenum but

collected at Maramba village, Yuat River, Angoram speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, shell eyes, human hair.

210 x 39 cm. 81.26.115 [original registration number lost or never registered]. Published in Laumann 1951,

TPNGPMAG 1967 Plate 1, and TPNGPMAG 1976b: 11, top right.

includes a 2.4-metre figure from Arani and a

3.8-metre carved crocodile from Arani, but

not a 1.86-metre figure. The 2.4-metre figure

from Arani (‘Muliákeban’ – see Laumann

1954, Tafel 3: 5a-c) was one of those identified

for retention from the Dadi Wirz collection by

the PNG administration. This raises the ques-

tion as to whether ‘Muliákeban’ was later

substituted by another figure (the one cur-

rently identified as E.361.2). It also casts

doubt on this latter figure’s provenance,

which may have been collected by Alfred

Bühler during his 1955/56 Sepik Expedition

and perhaps from a village other than Arani.

There is a figure identical to this piece,

though less weathered-looking and a little

taller at 205 cm, in the Museum für

Völkerkunde in Frankfurt am Main (Haber-

land and Schuster 1964: 30, right). It was

collected by Meinhard Schuster from

Yuaroma in 1961 during the First Sepik Expe-

dition of the Frobenius-Institut (Eva Raabe,

pers. comm. 13 February 2004). Schuster

(pers. comm. 12 May 2004) recorded only that

it was an ancestor figure and was unaware of

MPNr 110. Yuaroma is about 16 kilometres

northwards from Arani. Perhaps the Frankfurt

piece was carved to replace MPNr 110 (which

was collected around 1955/56), or the twowere carved as a pair and one was better pre-

served than the other. The answer to this

question may be somewhere in Bühler’s field-

notes.

A further problem involving the Dadi Wirz

material retained by the Administration is

that the only carving in the National Museum

recorded to be from Antefuga obviously does

not come from the lower Yuat, but from the

vicinity of Maprik. This figure matches a brief

description of a piece in a list (also in the PNG

National Archives) of a collection from that

area made by Paul Wirz not long before he

unexpectedly died in the field. The Antefuga

piece in the Dadi Wirz collection was ‘Vlisso’,

published by Laumann (1952) and now in the

Museum der Kulturen in Basel (Bühler 1963,

Tafel 2). It is possible that Bühler arranged for

the substitution on the grounds of the fragil-

ity of ‘Vlisso’ and the lack of conservation

facilities in Port Moresby, and that this substi-

tution was not noted when the registration

of the items took place.

MPNr 113 also has lost its registration

number or was never registered. However, it

is identifiable as a hunting spirit called Tama-

sua by reference to a paper written by Karl

Laumann (1951). He came across the figure in

Maramba village, on the old course of the

Yuat River (10 kilometres west of the present

river course). According to what he was told,

the figure originates from an old village

named Tambigenum, a few kilometres south

of Maramba. Tambigenum was destroyed in a

raid by Maramba warriors and the victors

took Tamasua back to Maramba (Fig. 68),

where it became the property of Tungémali.

It was subsequently inherited by his son,

Málünga; then by Málünga’s son, Assam; then

by Assam’s son, Johannes Málünga, who was

about twenty-seven years old when Lau-

mann obtained the information. The peopleof Maramba did not know the name of the

carver of this figure but they knew the fig-

ure’s personal name and that it was a

benevolent hunting spirit. It was not kept in a

cult house but in the owner’s family house. To

enlist Tamasua’s co-operation, the figure was

rubbed with a mixture of ochre, lime and

coconut oil (a large figure from the Yuat area

– Bühler 1963, Tafel 2 – collected by Dadi Wirz

in late 1955, appears to have been given this

treatment). A meal of yam boiled in coconut

‘milk’ was placed at the foot of the figure. In

the evening, after Tamasua was thought to

have had his share, the people in the house-

hold finished off the food. If the hunt was

successful, the livers of the animals were fried,

put on cooked sago and given to Tamasua.

After he had ‘eaten’, the cooked livers were

then threaded onto a cord and hung around

the figure’s neck; the family ate the rest of the

food. A stool was always placed among them

for his spirit to sit on. The figure was not

secret-sacred; anyone in the family could see

and touch it.

Tamasua’s conical headpiece probably

represents a hair binder (cf., Kaufmann 1975,

Plate 73) but the odd angle of the head could

not be explained. The breast piece was said

by informants to represent a sea shell orna-

ment, perhaps similar to the series of

crescent-shaped mother-of-pearl shells in the

image of Mobul from Kambot (MPNr 4). The

figure used to have a loin covering of sago

palm leaves but it has been lost. According to

Laumann, the big penis was lopped off with a

machete in 1943. The large hole in the chest

was not carved but is a knothole from which

the knot has fallen out after the figure was

completed. The shawl-like garment could not

be explained other than as ‘ornament’.

This piece is similar in iconography,

though different in style, to a piece in the

Wielgus Collection (Pelrine 1996: 124-25)

which is stated to have been collected by

Captain H. Voogdt 1908-9 and later acquired

by A.B. Lewis at Singarin during his 1909-13

expedition for the Field Museum, Chicago.

However, this information is incorrect. Robert

Welsch (pers. comm. 4 December 2003)

states: ‘Wielgus got it all wrong … The piece

was never obtained by Lewis at all. It was col-

lected by Voogdt, almost certainly during his

1908 trip up the Sepik with Dorsey [Field

Museum’s Anthropology curator]. The piece

[along with other objects] was sent to




Hamburg I believe and later Dorsey arranged

to buy half of the collection directly from

Voogdt. The other half was bought from

Umlauf to whom Voogdt had sold it in 1909

or 1910’. This Wielgus piece does not conform

to Singarin style and it is possible the prove-

nance may be in error. It may have been

collected by Voogdt from farther up the river,

perhaps at Magim (Magem, Magendo), the

highest point represented by his collection

(Welsch 2000, Table 7.1), just upstream from

where the Keram joins the Sepik and there-

fore much closer to the Yuat than is Singarin.

Indeed, I photographed a similar piece,

named Ambakapa at Magendo in 1981 (Craig

1981: 135-36, Photos FT038: 19-24). I was

informed that the figure was used as an

augery for the success of raiding parties.

Another piece remarkably similar in ico-

nography is the damaged figure, said to be

from the lower Yuat, in the Haus Völker und

Kulturen, St Augustin (Inv. 83.4) published by

Menter (2003: 191, Item 49). The main differ-

ence from the Wielgus piece is the flange-like

headpiece rather than the conical hair cap.

The shawl-like feature is identical and the

long, narrow breast ornament is similar.

In 1981, I photographed Yan of

Asang’gumban (Asangamut) on the middleYuat displaying what he described as a head-

hunting bag (Fig. 69 and Craig 1981: 138). This

bag was heavily adorned with feathers cut

into rows of small triangles and down the

centre was a line of pairs of boars’ tusks, one

pair for each head taken. It is possible to see

in this headhunting bag and its vertical row

of boars’ tusks the inspiration for the shawl-

like feature and long narrow breast ornament

of Tamasua and the other figures noted

above.

It is uncertain how Tamasua came into the

National Museum’s collections. Perhaps

Alfred Bühler collected it during his 1955/56

Sepik Expedition, on advice from Laumann,

but it was prevented from being exported.

MPNr 124 also has lost its registration

number but like MPNr 110, it was in the AGNSW

exhibition and although not illustrated in the

exhibition catalogue, has been identified by the

catalogue description and an exhibition archi-

val photograph. A PNG Museum index card

states that the figure is from Maramba, lower

Yuat River, and that it ‘embodies a spirit child

named Andi; one of a group of three figures

together forming a family’. Although registered

with other objects I discovered were collected

by Dadi Wirz in 1955, he does not recognise it

(pers. comm. 16 February 2004).

In his paper on spirit figures of the middle

Yuat River area, Karl Laumann (1954) provides

information about Andi and two other fig-

ures representing a man and his ‘wife’

(Fig. 70). The adult male figure was named

Mündábalä and the female figure Pandi. The

figures were recorded by Laumann (1954:

37-42) at Maramba in the lower Yuat area, the

same village in which Tamasua was located.

Laumann was told that Mündábalä and his

‘family’ were Maramba spirits, whereas Tama-

sua was looted in warfare from Tambigenum.

Mündábalä was represented by a male

figure carved from wood, 199 cm. high; Pandi

was a female figure 107 cm. high but lacked a

head, having instead a peg-like neck onto

which an overmodelled skull had been

placed for a mortuary ceremony (as among

the Iatmul of the middle Sepik). Whereas

Mündábalä and Pandi are consistent in style,

Andi is significantly different and much

smaller at only 54 cm high. Mündábalä is a

spirit who assists in hunting and warfare. He

takes care that there is plenty of wildlife in

the bush and fish in the river. As a reward for

his help, he got the livers of hunted animals

Fig. 69. Yan of Asang’gumban village, Miyak

speakers, middle Yuat, displaying headhunting bag,

sword-club and bow and arrows. Photo: B. Craig,

C25: 5; 15 November 1981.




hung on him. When the men went off to fight,

they called his name to get his protection. In

particular, spears thrown at a person

protected by Mündábalä broke apart on

impact.

All three figures were kept together in the

family house of the owner, not in a men’s

house. The story told to Laumann about

Mündábalä and his ‘family’ is as follows (1954:

37-8, translated by Waltraud Schmidt):

A long time ago a man named Agroábar

lived in Maramba. One evening, he killed

a wild boar in his sago patch. He carried

the dead pig to his village but returned

immediately to the sago patch because

he wanted to catch some marsupial rats

as well. But the Yambárengar came and

took him prisoner.

The Yambárengar are bush spirits who

live in tall forest trees. They were very angry

and said to the man: ‘You have just killed a

pig. Why are you coming back to kill some

marsupial rats?’ They bent his legs at the

knees, and his arms at the elbows, and

pierced his joints with the thin wing bones

of flying foxes. This way the man was ren-

dered completely helpless.

After that the Yambárengar took their

helpless prisoner to the spirit house. They

handed him over to one of their womenand told her, ‘We first want to prepare

some sago and then we will kill the pris-

oner and have him with the sago. Until

then, watch him well.’ But the woman felt

pity for the impr isoned Agroábar. She

removed the bone needles from his joints.

That way the man could flee and made it

back to Maramba.

At home, he thought about what had

happened. ‘I will m ake a spirit figure that

looks exactly like those Yambárengar. This

spirit figure should provide me all the

time with good hunting.’ He then

explained to a carver in Maramba exactly

Fig. 70. Male figure named Mündábalä, female

figure named Pandi and child figure named Andi,

Maramba village, Angoram speakers, lower Yuat.

After Laumann 1954, Tafel 2. A similar figure is

illustrated in Friede 2005, Cat. Nr 136 and is said to

MPNr 124 (left). Female figure holding bird,

Maramba village, Yuat River, Angoram speakers,

East Sepik Province. Wood. 54 x 11 cm. 81.26.116

[original registration number lost but identified

as E.371.1, registered 7 December 1 956. Published

in Laumann 1954, Tafel 2, 3d-e; TPNGMAG 1966,

Plate opp. p. 24 (bottom centre), and TPNGPMAG

1974b: 18. Exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW,

20 April – 22 May 1966 (AGNSW 1966, Item 78 – notillustrated).

what the figure had to look like. The

carver, whose name is not known, pro-

duced the wooden figure according to

the instructions and Agroábar called it

Mündábalä. The child figure Andi was

made as well, according to Agroábar ’s

instructions.

At that time, the people of Andoar

(which today is a well-known village on

the Yuat River) lived together with the

Maramba people in the village of

Maramba. The Andoar were living in their

own half of the village and they did not

mix with the Maramba people. Quite

often there were quarrels between the

two groups and, one day, the Andoar

killed, for unknown reasons, a Maramba

woman named Pandi. Pandi was the wife

of a Maramba man named Woalám. After

the murder, the Andoar people were afraid

of blood revenge by the clan of the mur-

dered woman and they fled towards the

have come from the middle Yuat (Biwat or Mekmek

speakers). Another similar figure (E.46302) in the

Australian Museum, Sydney, was collected at

Kraimbit (Kapriman speakers) 50 kilometres west

of Maramba.




Yuat River. Later on they settled on the

banks of the Yuat where they founded the

village of Andoar.

Woalám carved a female figure of wood

in the likeness of his murdered wife and

called the figure Pandi. He put his wife’s

head on the figure. That’s why this figure

hasn’t got a head but only a wooden peg,

on which the woman’s head was placed.

Several months later, the Maramba peo-

ple performed the usual mortuary

ceremony with a great singsing. After-

wards, the woman’s head was buried with

the rest of her body. Since then, the head-

less female figure was thought to be the

wife of the war and hunting god

Mündábalä and was called Pandi.

Although Andi was wearing a female skirt

when Laumann saw it, he states that it is a

male child (1954: 42); however, the figure def-

initely appears to be female. He was told the

figure is portrayed about to eat the bird it

holds in its hands. Although it is thought of

as a spirit child, the ‘child’ of Mündábalä, it

does not appear to have any other signifi-

cance for the Maramba people.22

MPNr 125 is from Kambrindo, a little up

the Sepik from the mouth of the Yuat. It was

collected by Dadi Wirz in late 1955 and

although it was registered, it may have lost

that registration number and was given

another number (E.7296) in 1971. While at

first glance this figure appears to be carved in

the Iatmul style, it is quite slender and its pos-

ture recalls that of Mündábalä photographed

in Maramba by Laumann. The two figures

also share the same two concentric circle

breast motifs. The Kambrindo figure stands

on a post on which a crocodile has been

carved, similar to the way MPNr 110 and

Frankfurt Museum’s Yuaroma (Lower Yuat)

piece are carved standing on a post but with

a human head and arms instead of the

crocodile. This figure may represent a clan

founder who, through his migration to a new

site, following his path-making crocodile,

established a new village or village section

(see Wassmann 1991:179).

Karawari (Korewori) River

On the Karawari River, the linguistic situation

is complex (Laycock 1973, 1975):

swamps to the east, there are the Kara-

wari speakers, and south of them on the

Arafundi, that joins the middle Karawari

from the east, there are the Yimas speak-

ers; both languages belong with the

Pondo Family of Lower Sepik languages;

speakers whose language belongs to the

Arafundi Family of Ramu languages;

Wogupmeri, that joins the upper Kara-

wari from the west, there are Alamblak

and Sumariup of the Sepik Hill Family of

Middle Sepik languages;

The language of Inyai is named Bisorio

by Laycock (1973: 51 or Iniai by Wurm and

Hattori (1981, Map 6), a language of theEnga

sub-family spoken by the Gadio of the upper

Wogupmeri. However, the Inyai speak Ewa

or Sumariup, the same language as spoken

at Latoma. This confusion arose because of

extensive and changing bilinguilism in the

region (Haberland and Seyfarth 1974: 402-4:

Kaufmann 2003: 69-70).

Karawari and Yimas

It appears that MPNr 205, a 6-metre long

wooden crocodile, was collected by Assist-

ant District Officer P. Donaldson. Sir Alan Mann,

President of the Board of Trustees of the PNG

Museum, had seen it in a carpenter’s shed near

the Sub-District Office at Angoram. Mann sent

MPNr 125. Male figure and crocodile, Kambrindo,

lower Sepik, Angoram speakers, East Sepik Province.

Wood, human hair. 221 x 21 cm. E.363, registered 7

December 1956. Collected by Dadi Wirz, 1955. Re-

registered E.7296 on 10 February 1971.




MPNr 205. Cult crocodile and details, Kundima

village, middle Karawari River, Karawari speakers,

East Sepik Province. Wood. 6.31 x 32 cm. 81.26.178

[original registration number lost but identified as

E.937, registered 7 June 1963].




a letter about it to the District Commissioner

(DC) in Wewak and after some correspond-

ence, Donaldson informed the DC (letter dated

17 August 1961):

The carved crocodile at Angoram was

presented to me during a patrol of the

Karawari in 1959, on the understanding

that it would never leave Angoram. I

promised the Kundima people that their

wish would be carried out. According to

the Kundimas, they had buried this croco-

dile for some years as they were afraid

that Mission influence would result in its

destruction. At the time of presentation, it

was expressed by the Kundima people

that it would be better to have the croco-

dile kept on show at Angoram rather than

keep it buried. No payment was asked for

the crocodile …

A photograph taken by Franz Panzenbock

in the early 1960s (Craig 1996, Fig. 4.2) shows

this crocodile outside the Angoram Sub-

District Office, so there is no doubt that it is

the one on display in the Masterpieces

Exhibition.

In due course, despite the agreement

made between Donaldson and the Kundima

men, the crocodile was flown to Port

Moresby. For an account of the collecting of

the carved crocodiles of the Karawari, see

Craig 1992: 80-98 and 1996: 137-53.

The Karawari and Yimas are well known

for these magnificent carved wooden croco-

diles, ranging between 2 and 8 metres long

(Bühler 1961; Bühler et al. 1962, Plate p.75;

Haberland 1975). These crocodile images

belong to a category of powerful bush spirits

called saki and are believed to have come to

the Karawari with the founding ancestors as

spirit crocodiles (mambo). They are regarded

as male, generous and protective, and have

personal names. They are usually carved in

pairs, owned by the village’s two founding

clans, kept in the men’s cult house and play

a part in the rites of initiation of the young

men. Borut Telban reports (1998: 194):

The novices who are brought into the

men’s house are frightened by the men

who hold the crocodiles and push the

boys around. Also, the carvings on their

[the crocodiles’] backs depict all the food

prohibited during and after the initiatory

seclusion: bananas, little birds from the

grassland, different kinds of Malay apple

fruits, breadfruit seeds, all kinds of frog, a

large hornbill. The tail has a small car ved

crocodile which represents one of the last

foods to be eaten once the initiation cere-

mony is completed. Where the tail joins

the body [and sometimes where the body

joins the neck] there is a carved figure.

Having only arms but no legs it symbol-

izes Panggamari, the fighting spirit. This

saki , which is said to live in creeks, repre-

sents a dangerous spirit which drives

people to fight, making them fearless and

strong. The designs on both sides of the

crocodile represents the belly, intestines,

and lungs … At the tip of its snout and on

the carved belt of shells around the neck

of every crocodile, the carvers inscribed a

face of a wunduma (female [ancestral]

spirit). Through the middle of the head

runs a snake, also prohibited in the nov-

ices’ diet.

The women are told that their sons’

cicatrisations are the teeth-marks of the

primeval crocodile that devoured the boys

during the ritual and spat them out as young

men. This idea is widespread in the Sepik

River region.

Prior to headhunting raids, the figures,

with poles placed through holes in their

sides, were danced by several men and asked

to indicate where a raid should be directed

and how many heads would be taken. Food

and areca nut offerings were made and

trophy heads placed in the crocodiles’

mouths.

Alamblak

The Alamblak are well known for the large

kamanggabi (also called yipwon, Fig. 71) from

1 to over 3 metres high (Craig 1987, Plate 67;

Forge 1960, Illusts 2, 6-9), which have func-

tions similar to the wooden crocodiles of the

Karawari and also are kept secret from the

uninitiated in the cult house.

Meat and liver from successfully hunted

animals are given to the figures to ensure the

fertility of crops and success in hunting and

warfare. Forge (1960: 7) writes:

Small offerings of food were made to the

figures to ensure their benevolence and

the prosperity of the group and whole

village. They were especially consulted

about any projected raid on the tradi-

tional enemies, the decision to attack or

not being given by a shaman, who was

believed to be possessed by the spirit of

the Kamanggabi.

The small yi’pon (= yipwon) are similar in

form to the kamanggabi but only around 15

cm high. They are carried about by the men

in netted string bags as personal hunting

charms (Forge 1960, Illusts 3, 4).23

Both large

and small figures have personal names.

MPNrs 159 and 160 were gazetted as

National Cultural Property in 1972 but were

purchased by the National Museum from

Wayne Heathcote three years later to prevent

them from being exported. MPNr 159, per-

sonal name Nakunan, was carved at a hamlet

named Makobit that later joined with other

hamlets of Kambratauwi and Bariger to form

the village of Amongabi. MPNr 160, personal

name Taumauwi, was carved at the now




Fig. 72. Several carved figures (aripa and yipwon)

for sale at Gamnanenbak (or Sikaiyum) village,

Alamblak speakers, Wogupmeri River. Photo: B. Craig,

C9: 10; 21 September 1982.

Fig. 71. Large yipwon named Togonagon at Chimbut

village, Alamblak speakers, upper Karawari. Carved

by Tambi, father of owner Toni, with steel tools

c. 1940. Photo: B. Craig, C10: 23; 22 September 1982.




MPNr 159. Cult hook figure (yipwon), personal

name Nakunan, Amongabi village, upper Karawari

River, Alamblak speakers, East Sepik Province.

Wood. 110 x 12 cm. E.16219. Purchased from

Wayne Heathcote and registered 13 February 1 975.

Gazetted National Cultural Property 10 February

1972.

MPNr 160 (right). Cult hook figure ( yipwon),

personal name Taumauwi, Amongabi village, upper

Karawari River, Alamblak speakers, East Sepik


from Wayne Heathcote and registered 17 February

1975. Gazetted National Cultural Property

10 February 1972.

extinct village of Kambratauwi.

At Gamnanenbak (or Sikaiyum) on the

Wogupmeri, and Chimbut on the Karawari,

both Alamblak-speaking villages, in 1982 I

saw large and small yipwon, and other hook

figures that are indistinguishable from the

aripa of the Inyai (see below) (Fig. 72).

This demonstrates that the present distri-

bution of these different types of figures is

not entirely coincident with language bound-

aries. Pat Edmiston of the Summer Institute of

Linguistics informed me (pers. comm. March

1983) that one yipwon-like carving he photo-

graphed at Inyai ‘was given by the Alamblak

to establish peace between the two groups’.

Kaufmann reports (2003: 40) he was told that

a large yipwon at Inyai was evidence of dis-

may that the aripa had not protected them

from imported diseases whereas yipwon

seemed to them to have been effective in

protecting their Alamblak neighbours.

Eike Haberland includes the Alamblak

under the name Yimar (‘human being’). He

recorded a lengthy Yimar story of the adven-

tures of Sun, whose mother was Moon

(Haberland 1964: 57-61; 1968: xii-xviii). This

story includes an account of the origin of the

yipwon.

Running from the evil spirit of a dead

woman named Menginda, Moon and Sun-

boy were rescued by a man named Danimag,

who killed the evil spirit. Yirkaba, older sister

of Moon, found them and took them home.

Yirkaba miraculously healed the weak Sun-

boy and he instantly became a healthy,

strong grown man. Sun then proceeded to

carve the first slit-gong, using a log that was

Yirkaba’s body transformed into a tree. The

splinters left over from the carving process

became yipwon, the demoniac beings who

call for hunt and war. They were the ‘children’

of Sun, living with him in the men’s house,




from which they never departed.

One day a relative of Sun came to visit but

Sun was away hunting. The yipwon killed this

man, danced around his body drinking his

blood, and cut him to pieces. Moon was

watching, and when the yipwon noticed that

she had seen what they had done, they

became stiff with fright, then rushed back to

the men’s house, stood against the wall, and

extended in size. Sun returned to find his rel-

ative dead in a pool of blood. He rushed into

the men’s house but everything was silent

and still. The metamorphosed demons were

standing against the wall, responding no

more. Sun was enraged and decided to leave

this world. He climbed up a huge ladder into

the sky and as he climbed he called out to

the people below, ‘This is what I wish to give

you: a bamboo splinter for drawing blood

from the penis, excrements from the wild pig,

cassowary and kangaroo, and the yipwon fig-

ures for bringing a magic spell to the hunt.’

With that he disappeared into the heavens.

Sumariup or Ewa

The Sumariup (or Ewa) carve medium-sized,

one-legged figures, called aripa (aleba).

Kaufmann (2003 – see also Kaufmann 1974)

calls the aripa ‘hunting helper figures’. MPNrs161-65 and 167 are such figures.

The largest collection of these figures is in

the Museum der Kulturen, Basel. In 1971, the

then Museum für Völkerkunde in Basel pur-

chased 85 of 105 pieces offered for sale by

D’Arcy Galleries in New York (see catalogue,

Haberland 1968). These had been collected

originally by Madsen, a trader and timber

miller living at Angoram, who sold them to

Maurice Bonnefoy of D’Arcy Galleries around

1966.24

There is no evidence that an export

permit was issued for this collection. Madsen

and his wife were killed in an aircraft crash

MPNr 161. Cult hook figure (aripa), male, Inyai

caves, upper Karawari River, Sumariup speakers, East

Sepik Province. Wood. 52 x 6 cm. E.4081. Presented

by Assistant District Officer and registered 15

August 1969.

MPNr 162 (right). Cult hook figure (aripa), male?,

Inyai caves, upper Karawari River, Sumariup


E.4078. Presented by Assistant District Officer and

registered 15 August 1969.







by Assistant District Officer and registered

15 August 1969.




by Assistant District Officer and registered

15 August 1969.



Sepik Province. Wood. 102 x 10 cm. E.16429. Seized

in 1972 and donated by Customs in 1974; registered

25 March 1975. Published in Smidt 1975: 76, Nr 72.




not long after the transaction. In 1968, the

collection was exhibited by D’Arcy Galleries

and twenty pieces were sold before the Basel

museum was able to raise the money to buy

the rest. George Kennedy of Los Angeles, Cali-

fornia, collected at least eighteen such

figures in the mid-1960s (Kennedy 1967);

eleven from unknown sources were pub-

lished in a catalogue of an exhibition in

London (Goldman 1971); and two from Inyai

and four from Latoma were published in

another New York catalogue (Myers 1975,

Items 46-51). There are, no doubt, many oth-

ers in museums and private collections

around the world.

These figures are believed inhabited by

spirits associated with hunting and warfare.

They are usually kept in men’s houses but

many are stored in caves or rock shelters,

after their owners die, as memorials and thus

are preserved from weathering. Many of

these figures can be distinguished as male

(for example, Haberland 1968, Plates 1, 17, 25,

26) but others are less obviously so (ibid.,

Plates 2, 5, 7, 9 etc.); these were carved to be

seen in profile (from the side). Other figures

are clearly female (ibid., Plates 6, 8, 13, 18, 22

etc.), are relatively flat and were carved to be

seen from the front. These are usually repre-

sentations of mythical female ancestors. It is

not known what function these figures have.

A third category is of figures of indetermi-

nate gender that have a sort of cradle or

hollowed-out area where one might imagine

the belly to be (Haberland 1968, Plates 80-2),

which according to information given to me

in 1982, serves as a receptacle for the bone of

a game-animal (Fig. 73). These figures are said

to be the ‘mothers’ of particular kinds of

game animals such as the pig, cassowary, tree

kangaroo or cuscus.

A fourth category consists of a carved

MPNr 166. Cult hook figure, female, Inyai caves,

upper Karawari River, Sumariup speakers, East Sepik

Province. Wood. 91 x 9 cm. E.16430. Seized in 1972

and donated by Customs in 1974; registered 25

March 1975. Published in Smidt 1975: 76, Nr 73.

MPNr 167 (right). Cult hook figure (aripa), male,

Inyai caves, upper Karawari River, Sumariup


E.4080. Presented by Assistant District Officer and





head on a stick, reminiscent of the Kwoma

and Nukuma yena (Haberland 1968, Plates 14,

27, 28, 34, 43, 47 etc.). Kaufmann (2003: 62-3)

has identified such heads as representing

koanggingge, ‘the mother of the men’s house’

and ‘mother of all aripa figures’. At the

inauguration of a men’s house, the carved

head is attached to a mannequin made of

certain symbolically important plant materi-

als. This mannequin is decorated with both

male and female attire and ornaments. A rit-

ual is then performed at the fireplace to

make the men’s house and the mother-figure

‘hot’, to induce the soul (tite) of the ‘mother’

to take up residence in the figure and the

house. Heads such as these may also have

been attached to other types of figure con-

structions, such as the magnificent woven

rattan bird illustrated by Haberland (1968,

Plate 37) that perhaps represents a clan

ancestral totem.

There are other types of carved figures,

such as two-legged male or female figures

carved fully in the round. Information about

these figures is sketchy but it is thought that

the female figures in this category have ‘spe-

cific clan affiliations’ (Kaufmann 2003: 94-5).

MPNr 166 is such a figure.

Kaufmann (2003: 53-6) provides interpre-tations of some of the motifs of these

carvings. In particular, the chest, internal

organs (such as heart-lung, liver and intes-

tines), ribs and genitals were named.

According to Kaufmann (2003), the

mother of the men’s house (koanggingge) is

also ‘the mother of all aripa figures’. The tite

(soul) of koanggingge empowers or activates

the tite of the aripa (the hunting helper fig-

ures) that are kept in the men’s house, but

that is not enough. The owner of an individ-

ual aripa smears it with a mixture of particles

of previously hunted game or their

droppings, ginger root and blood drawn out

of his penis with a sliver of bamboo. This

enlists the help of his aripa in seeking out

and killing the souls of game animals (or

enemy in the case of warfare). The ‘mothers’

of the game animals also have a role to play

in that they must lure the souls of the individ-

ual animals out into the open so that the

aripa can find them and kill their souls. It is

not clear whether other rituals are necessary

to enrol their assistance. In the case of raids

on an enemy group, the ‘mother of the men’s

house’ performs this function. The hunter or

warrior then is able to kill the physical animal

or enemy with his bow and arrows.

Middle Sepik River

Carved figures in this area are usually named

representations of clan ancestors or of per-

sonages in legends and myths. Some are of

masalai – nature spirits of the water, rocks,

trees or other features in the environment. The

figures may be free-standing or incorporated

into other types of artefact such as architec-

tural components, slit-gongs, flute-stoppers,

debating stools, suspension hooks (for exam-

ple, MPNrs 121, 126, 127) and the like.

Because people believe in the ability of

people and spirits to shape-shift (changeform), these images may incorporate animal

forms; or the animals, birds, fish and so on

may be clan totems, that is they are meta-

phors for the primal beings who are the clan

ancestors. Often there are several animals

and plants that are in effect alternate forms

of the one totem; they allude to various epi-

sodes in the song cycle of the clan’s primal

being. Wassmann (1991: 169) states of the

Iatmul culture of the middle Sepik:

The animals and plants publicly named in

the song cycle and possessing names of

their own [and represented by various

Fig. 73. ‘Mother’ of the cassowaries, named

Fogiambut, owned by Wonjimbai of Chimbut

village, Alamblak speakers, upper Karawari. Photo:

B. Craig, C10: 36; 22 September 1982.




MPNr 127. Male figure as suspension hook ,

middle Sepik, Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province.

Wood, cowrie shells. 94 x 24 cm. 81.48.1. Purchased

from Patricia Withofs on 13 March 1981, registered

8 July 1981.

MPNr 121. Female figure as suspension hook , Tolembi vi llage, middle Sepik, Sawos speakers, East Sepik

Province. Wood, shells, sago fibre. 91 x 52 cm. E.16424. Seized in 1972, donated by Customs in 1974, and

registered 24 March 1975. Published in Smidt 1975: 72 and TPNGPMAG 1974a, Plate opp. p. 34. The figure’s

right leg has broken off at the knee and the point of the right hook is damaged.




constructed or carved forms] have as a

rule no separate existence: they are

merely the changing outer form of the

primal human beings who act independ-

ently. The relationship between primal

human beings and animals or plants

proves to be one of great complexity.

The named animals and plants are the

‘masks’ of the primal beings … [who] are

basically ‘human’ but also possess abilities

which the people of today ‘have lost’;

prominent among these is the power to

‘transform’ themselves, thereby altering

not only their outer form but also suitably

changing their behaviour, and also the

power to move freely between this world

and the land of the dead after death.

Wassmann notes a difference between

the plants and the animals that have per-

sonal names. The plants are used only as

metaphors, whereas ‘the mobile animals are

in the true sense masks which human beings

can slip into’. However, the primal crocodile

and the primal dog, both of which have per-

sonal names and which preceded the

creation of human beings, are not masks but

‘real’ animals. There is a further distinction

between these two primal animals that have

personal names and are ‘real’, and animals

that are real but do not have personal names– they are the animals of the everyday experi-

ential world. Many carvings representing

human beings and animals have been col-

lected without their personal names being

recorded. It is therefore impossible to truly

know the significance of these carvings.

Carving styles range from fully-modelled

naturalistic forms to flat-faced, tubular-limbed,

rather stiff representations that Schefold sug-

gests (1966) are the characteristics of the

earliest carving style, the more naturalistic

style developing later. It is possible that the

practice of over-modelling human skulls with

MPNr 126. Female figure as suspension hook ,

Tolembi village, middle Sepik, Sawos speakers,

East Sepik Province. Wood, sago fibre. 108 x 32 cm.

E.16425. Seized in 1972, donated by Customs in

1974, and registered 25 March 1975. 93 x 29 cm.

Published in Smidt 1975: 74-5.




MPNr 123. Male figure (and canoe paddle), personal name Mangisaun; Nyaurengai vil lage, middle Sepik,

Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 187 x 29 cm. (paddle 248 x 16 cm.). E.16230. Purchased from

Wayne Heathcote and registered 13 February 1975. Published in TPNGPMAG 1974b: 23 and front cover and

TPNGPMAG 1976a, Plate p. iii. Gazetted National Cultural Property on 23 December 1971.




clay to produce portraits of dead persons may

have had something to do with this develop-

ment of a naturalistic style.

MPNr 123 (Mangisaun) was gazetted as

National Cultural Property on 23 December

1971, just days after Wayne Heathcote

purchased it and the accompanying paddle

from its Nyaurengai owner. I was informed

that a replacement carving I saw and photo-

graphed on 24 October 1981 (Fig. 74) had

been carved around 1970-71, presumably to

transfer the spirit of Mangisaun from the old

carving to enable Heathcote to buy it.

The old carving remained in Heathcote’s

possession until, in December 1972, he

claimed it had been stolen from his house at

Ambunti. A leaflet announcing the alleged

theft, showing images of Mangisaun, was

prepared by the National Museum and dis-

tributed widely in PNG and overseas.

Unannounced, the figure arrived at the

museum 10 February 1973 after having been

flown to Port Moresby from Wewak. The pad-

dle was delivered to the museum on 5 June

1973. Heathcote was subsequently paid sev-

eral thousand dollars for Mangisaun.

Mangisaun is a significant person in

Nyaura (West Iatmul) culture. He is a type of

primal being of the same generation, but dis-

tinguished from, the clan founder and it was

he (along with his brother) who killed the

two eagles born of the mating of the woman

Kula and the crocodile Tandemi, and who

subsequently introduced sexual intercourse

among human beings (see Wassmann 1991:

182, 195-96).25

MPNr 128 (Tulalamun) bears an incorrect

registration number, E.361.1. The museum’s

register records three figures under E.361,

from Arani, Antefuga and Dauneng, all vil-

lages on the old course of the lower Yuat

River. This is clearly not a Yuat figure and in

1982 I used a photograph of it to identify it as

a figure with the personal name Tulalamun,

from the Letbit cult house at Yamok, a Sawos

village about 3 kilometres inland northwards

from Korogo. According to Anthony Meyer

(1995: 257), his father Oscar, and Bruce Lawes,

collected it in 1956 along with several other

similar figures (Fig. 75).

Tulalamun was sent to the AGNSW for

exhibition in 1966 (AGNSW 1966, Nr 74)

along with other items, including MPNr 122,

which was published in the gallery’s cata-

logue with the registration number E.1347.

MPNr 122 has been identified by Dadi Wirz as

collected by him from Dauneng on the Lower

Yuat (Anthony Meyer, pers. comm. 18 Novem-

ber 2003 and Dadi Wirz, pers. comm. 16

February 2004) and therefore should be one

of the three figures registered E.361. Thus the

registration numbers for MPNrs 128 and 122

must have been on tags that were inadvert-

ently interchanged, perhaps during the time

leading up to the exhibition in NSW.

There are several such figures from

Yamok, for example, Mian’gandu (Meyer 1995:

256-57; Wardwell 1994: 58-9), Malabi (Meyer

1995: 256), and Kundang’gowi and Kurubu in

the Basel museum (Bühler 1960, Tafel 2, left

and right respectively). A sixth example, Min-

jemtimi, is in the Metropolitan Museum of

Art, New York (Newton 1978: 107).

In 1982, I obtained information about

these figures that was subsequently incorpo-

rated into a thesis by Marianne Pfeiffer (1983).

All the figures except Minjemtimi and

Kundang’gowi were said to have been carved

to make the swampy ground firm so a village

could be established (Craig 1982: 27). They

killed enemy warriors and made magic to

empower the carvings. The men appeal to

the spirits in the figures, offering areca nuts

and tobacco, for help in hunting, warfare and

Fig. 74. Replacement carving for Mangisaun

at Nyaurengai village, Iatmul speakers, middle

Sepik River, carved c. 1970. Photo: B. Craig, C5: 11;

24 October 1981.




his spear and somersaulted backwards off the

bench through the open side of the men’s

house to challenge them. They thought they

would kill him quickly but he fought

ferociously and drove them out of the house.

Then Kundang’gowi transformed from

wood to flesh and called out to Simai to wait

for him – he just needed to fasten his loin-

cloth and he would come to his assistance.

However, Simai did not hear and fought on.

Kundang’gowi backed him up, catching

enemy spears in his hands and throwing

them back. Villagers rushed on the scene and

saw the two routing the enemy. The attackers

ran, calling out that they had had enough

from Simai and his big warrior friend.

Simai was puzzled by the reference to a

companion. When he had had enough of

chasing the enemy, he returned to the village

and the people told him that Kundang’gowi

was seen backing him up. Kundang’gowi did

not return that night and Simai began to fear

that he had been captured by the enemy.

Meantime, Kundang’gowi had been chas-

ing one particular man and after he speared

him, he stood on his body and went into a

the curing and causing of illness. It appears

that the spirit is not necessarily loyal to the

creators of the carved figure it inhabits. As

was the case with Minjemtimi, if the figure is

captured in an attack on a village and the

right offerings are made, the spirit will work

for the benefit of its new owners.

Kundang’gowi, which was collected

around 1955 from the Wolembi hamlet of

Yamok, was carved to represent a very tall

man of that name who visited Yamok from

Kaminimbit, which is 27 kilometres south-

east from Yamok. Everyone was so impressed

by this man that they decided to have a

carver create his image in wood and place it

in the Yamok men’s house named Kokombi.

Years later (and some three or four gener-

ations prior to the current generation of

greybeards), a man named Simai Kwong’gu

was asleep in Kokombi men’s house when a

war party from Kalau (Kararau?)and Kamin-

imbit crept into the house. Simai became

aware of them but pretended to be asleep.

The enemy tried to awaken him so they could

kill him but he pretended to be deep in sleep.

But then, at the right moment, he grabbed

Fig. 75. Bruce Lawes loading thr ee large Sawos

figures at the Sepik River, 1956. Photo by Oscar

Meyer; © Oscar Meyer Archives, Galerie Meyer –

Oceanic Art, Paris; by permission of Anthony Meyer.

MPNr 128. Male figure, personal name Tulalamun,

Yamok village, Sawos speakers, East Sepik Province.

Wood. 234 x 51 cm. E.361.1 [but probably E.1347,

registered 9 February 1966]. Published in AGNSW

1966, Nr 74 and Meyer 1995: 257.




Fig. 76. Cult hooks (alakei and komkii ) for sale at

Maliba (Bekapeki) v illage, Sanio speakers, middle

April River. Photo: B. Craig, BK12: 17; 26 December

1972.

trance. Two or three nights later, Simai had a

dream and Kundang’gowi told him where he

was and complained that his leg was going

numb from standing on the dead man’s body.

The next day, Simai and the villagers went

out and found Kundang’gowi, but he had

changed back into a wooden sculpture so

they carried him back to the village and

stood him against the centre post of

Kokombi men’s house.

April River and Hunstein Range

Stylistic connections exist between the one-

legged hook figures of the Karawari and the

hook figures (garra) of the Bahinemo of the

April River and Hunstein Range (Newton

1971; Schuster and Schuster 1973). Added

to this, comparison of the Bahinemo hook

‘masks’ with the flute masks and skull holders

of the middle Ramu (Goldman 1971, Plate 29;

Haberland 1964: 65-6, Tafel IV, 3; Kelm 1968,Plates 238, 239) makes a convincing case for

stylistic continuity across the southern edge

of the Sepik-Ramu floodplains. The Sanio

speakers of Bekapeki on the middle April

River, whose territory stretches west to the

middle Wogamush River and beyond, carve a

profile hook figure called alakei and a mask-

like figure with hooks they call komkii (Fig.

76). They represent fish-like spirits that live in

deep pools in the April (Niksep) River. Young

men are shown these figures as part of their

initiation into the marriageable age-set (Craig

1972-73: 164).

The garra forms of the Bahinemo range

from a non-figural, profile series of opposed

hooks (MPNr 168; Goldman 1971, Plate 26), to

hook figures that include a pair of eyes (Gold-man 1971, Plate 15), others that include a

mouth and/or nose and more obviously rep-

resent a face (MPNr 170; Goldman 1971,

Plates 2, 7, 9, 21, 27), and others appearing

more convincingly as face masks because of

the eye holes (Goldman 1971, Plates 4, 5, 20,

22, 25), though it appears that they were

probably never used as masks. Newton (1971,

Illusts 23-47) also shows the full range of

these objects and for two of these carvings

he recorded personal names, suggesting

habitation by particular named spirits.

Newton notes the significance of the hornbill




beak motif (of which the plain curved hooks

may be an abstraction) in that the hornbill is

said to nest in places belonging to bush spir-

its (ibid.: 20).

Not a lot is known about the hook figures

and ‘masks’ of the Bahinemo and their neigh-

bours. Goldman (1971, 5th page) quotes a

personal communication from Wayne Dye, a

linguist who worked among the Bahinemo:

The Bahinemo keep their carvings hang-

ing in men’s cult houses, where the older

pieces are believed to have magical pow-

ers to protect the villagers. They are said

to be angered by failure to follow the

men’s cult, and then to withdraw their

protection. Their powers can be obtained

for hunting and fighting by means of cer-

tain rituals.

Meinhard and Gisela Schuster (1973: 633)

note the importance of hunted game for all

Bahinemo festivities and emphasise that the

carvings are connected with the hunting of

animals. They report (ibid.: 634) that these

hook figures are called grababufa, abbrevi-

ated to gra (equivalent to Newton’s garra; I

heard it at Gahom as guah). They have per-

sonal names, are individually owned and can

be inherited (even by women, although they

are not allowed to see them). They are sus-

pended from the roof purlins at the side of

the cult house, in which the small and large

slit-gongs also are kept (Schuster and Schus-

ter 1973, Plate 19). If a cult house is being

built for a new settlement, the smaller hook

figures are taken to caves, rock shelters, hol-

low trees or put in water pools until the new

cult house is ready. This suggests that these

carvings are closely associated with, perhaps

even representations of, bush and water spir-

its. Their function is to heal sickness and to

aid in hunting and warfare.

If a man falls ill it means that his

MPNr 168. Cult hook figure (garra), April River area,

Bahinemo speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.

111 x 28 cm. E.2997. Donated by Wayne Heathcote

and registered 5 May 1969.

MPNr 170. Cult hook ‘mask’ (garra), Gahom vil lage,

Setifa River, Bahinemo speakers, East S epik Province.

Wood. 93 x 50 cm. E.10373. Purchased from Richard

Leahy and registered 30 June 1972.

grababufa is being malicious (Schuster and

Schuster 1973: 635). It is taken down and

leaned against a side wall of the cult house

with its hooks pointing towards the interior

space. The owner of the grababufa sings a

song that belongs specifically to that object

and rubs the skin of the sick man with special

leaves to heal him. The night before a hunt, the hunter asks

his grababufa for support in finding game. If

the hunter accidentally touches or bumps

the carving before going out, he might be

bitten or killed by the animal he is hunting. If

the hunt is successful, the spirit is thanked

but it is not offered any portions of the ki lled

animals. Before raiding an enemy, the warrior

sticks betel nuts on the hooks and ginger

leaves through a hole in the middle of the

figure to enlist the grababufa’s assistance.

After a successful raid, enemy heads are

brought back and placed on the slit-gongs.




A young man cannot properly play the

slit-gongs or flutes until he has been shown

the cult objects at initiation (ibid.: 636). His

sponsor is an older patrilineal relative. While

in seclusion he is taught how to play these

instruments. He lives on sago and pork and is

permitted to chew betel nut but is forbidden

to eat birds and fish, and must not smoke

tobacco. Food is prepared by the wife of the

initiate’s mother’s brother and taken to the

cult house by the mother’s brother.

Newton describes the use of garra in the

context of the initiation of three boys at

Wagu (Newton 1971: 20-1); the women are

excluded while the garra are being used out-

side the confines of the cult house.

It is clear that although some garra look

like masks, they are not used as such. Instead,

woven rattan objects ( panarawa),bedecked

with feathers and reminiscent of Abelam yam

masks, are worn as masks by the men in a cer-

emony in which other men (the initiates’

mothers’ brothers according to the Schusters)

dance with the hook figures and hook ‘masks’

held between their legs (Newton 1971, Illusts

54-9). This suggests some form of phallic

symbolism, as do the finials of slit-gongs pro-

truding from the palm frond screen at the

front of the cult house (ibid., Illust.14). How-ever, unlike the Nggala and Wogumas to the

west, who also had slit-gongs with phallic

finials, and the Alamblak to the east, the Bahi-

nemo did not incise or bleed the penes of the

initiates.

The Bahinemo told the Schusters (1973:

636-37, translated by Waltraud Schmidt) a

short account of the origin of the hook fig-

ures:

In ancient times, Wimegu lived with his

wife Igusua at the head of the April River.

Wimegu, assisted by his wife, made all the

items of material culture – bows and

MPNr 151. Male figure, Minj?, Wahgi? speakers,

Western Highlands Province. Various plant materials,

wood, shells feathers, seeds. 85 x 30 cm. 81.17.1.

Collected by Mrs Penny Klap at Goroka Show 1980

from a Banz ‘medicine man’. Bought by museum and

registered 17 June 1981.

arrows, plaited bands, hand drums, slit-

gongs, flutes and so on. He created the

first hook figures and gave each one a

name. He gave the slit-gongs names too.

He blocked the river with a tree trunk and

placed all the artefacts behind the dam.

The water rose and rose and eventually

the tree broke and the artefacts washed

down the river. The people at each place

got the proper things that way. Wimegu

changed into a rock and is in the middle

of the river at Koko, where a great whirl-

pool swirls around him. You can’t go down

to see him because you would drown. He

and his wife can be called upon to heal

the sick. The healer chews betel nut, sings

a song and rubs the chewed betel onto

the skin of the sick person. All the songs

sung at the great annual feasts (kiamege)

were given by Wimegu. If you don’t know

the story of Wimegu you can’t make

things properly; everything would turn

out crooked and rubbishy.

Highlands

It is not clear whether MPNr 151 is a tradi-

tional object or whether it has been invented

for the tourist market. It is constructed of

plant and other materials in a similar way to

the so-called Mendi payback dolls and a male

figure of uncertain origin (Smidt 1975: 43-5),

except that this piece has no legs; instead it

is mounted on a sharpened stick, suggest-

ing it may have been stuck into the ground.

Such figures made by binding plant materials

around a framework of sticks can be found

in many places in the Pacific, for example the

Papuan Gulf (Newton 1961: 86, Illust. 223),

New Ireland (Heintze 1987: 43, Fig. 11) and

Easter Island (Barrow 1972, Plates 245-46).




Papuan Gulf

The carving styles of the Papuan Gulf are

quite different to those of the middle Sepik.

Most, but not all, of the carved figures of the

Papuan Gulf are flat, two-dimensional boards

with narrow relief bands, painted black, out-

lining the motifs painted in red and white

pigments. In the extreme west of the Gulf,

from the Bamu River to Goaribari Island, flat

boards called agiba are shaped like the upper

half of a human being and function as skull-

holders (Kaufmann 1975, Plate 157; Newton

1961, Illusts 17, 18, 84-6, 108-13). At Goaribari

Island, and adjacent inland, the long oval

form of the gope board is found. This type of

object is found eastwards as far as the Elema

of the eastern Gulf, where they are called

hohao. At Wapo Creek and Era River, at the

centre of the Gulf, the flat board-like figures

(called agiba or bioma) are reminiscent of the

agiba skull-holders of the western Gulf, but

have legs and arms, sometimes multiple sets

of limbs (Kaufmann 1975, Plate 156; Newton

1961, Illusts 155-65, 168).

It is perhaps no coincidence that the

ancestral boards from the Era River eastwards

to Orokolo (in the Purari delta, called kwoi –

Fig. 79) are predominantly white in colour. The high front of the men’s house allows a

flood of light to penetrate down along the

narrowing interior and the boards, set up fac-

ing the entrance, catch the light in a startl ing

fashion (Craig 1999, Figs 9-11; Newton 1961,

Illusts 31-3, 208; Specht and Fields 1984: 177,

179; Young and Clark 2001: 80-1).

Tall, spindly figures with legs but some-

times no arms are found in the Bamu River

area and the Turama delta (Newton 1961,

Illusts 80, 81, 101, 102). In the Wapo-Era dis-

trict, and amongst the Namau and Elema of

the eastern Gulf, more substantial figures,

MPNr 119. Skull holder (agiba), Goro village

[Goaribari Island?], Kerewo speakers, Gulf Province.

Wood, sago fibre. 87 x 36 cm. E.840. [One of two

agiba with this number]. Donated by R.J. Hedlund, 2

November 1961. Compare with Haddon 1918, Figs

2, 3 and Plate M.




Fig. 77. Agiba shrine at Dubumba vi llage, Kerewo

speakers, western Papuan G ulf. Photo: Thomas

Schultze-Westrum, 1966 (by permission).




to the skull holder, or agibe (agiba) (MPNr

119). He was informed that each agibe had

a clan name and that in each community

‘there was an old man called the agibe abera

(i.e., “father of the agibe”), whose duty it was

to repaint the slab of wood before a head

dance was held.’ A carving is innocuous ‘until

it has received its black, white and red paints

… Once painted, it becomes impregnated

with a “dangerous” sacredness’. The repaint-

ing therefore renews this sacred power (like

recharging a battery). Austen (ibid.: 349)

described the rituals and dances follow-

ing the attachment of the fresh skull to the

repainted agibe, and transcribed words from

one of the songs that underlines the signifi-

cance of the colour red:

Sway wondrous sacred scarlet flower ariia

Sway long house as an ariia in the breeze

Ariia the flower from the land of the dead

Wondrous scarlet flower from Dudi

Whose flowers are so like a hand dipped

in blood.

Dudi is the mythical village of the land of

the dead, and is said to be a location south-

west of the Fly River estuary. In the legend of

Hido, recorded by Austen (1932), Hido travels

for days and days westwards from his home

at Nepau, on the western shore of an inlet

opposite Goaribari Island, ‘until he came to a

great village which he found was Dudi, the

home of the dead. This village was so great

that he could not tell where it ended.’

Austen (1934: 5) distinguishes two types

of carved and painted boards (apart from the

agiba and the obsolete daimowa ebiha) in

the Kerewa area: the gope or titi-ebiha (MPNr

134), which has a hole at the top end and is

carved in ‘heavier relief’, and the kaiamunu

(MPNr 133), which has no hole and is more

lightly carved. By comparing the two catego-

ries of object in Newton 1961 (compare

Illusts 114-22 to Illusts 123-31), it can be

observed that the titi-ebiha are carved, like

the agiba, in a fairly regular way, whereas the

kaiamunu are less regular or as Newton puts

it (ibid.: 60), carved in a style ‘striking for its

spontaneity and freedom’. This may have

something to do with the observation by

Austen (1934: 5) that whereas boards of both

categories have personal names, ‘the gope is

the property of the clan as well as the indi-

vidual, the kaiamunu of the individual alone’.

The names of titi-ebiha are of mythical ances-

tors or place names whereas those of

kaiamunu ‘have names which do not belong

to the clan’. There may be, therefore, fewer

restrictions on how the images are depicted

on the kaiamunu boards.

Austen (1934: 6) writes: ‘From the roof of

the main house, and inside the huomoto shel-

ter at the salt-water end, are hung the smaller

gope or titi-ebihari ’; this is possible because of

the hole at the top end of each board. Pre-

sumably the kaiamunu are stood on the floor,

as they cannot be suspended.

Austen notes that the gope guards the

village from sickness, but its main use was in

preparation for warfare. He does not distin-

guish a difference in function, if any, between

the two types of boards in his graphic

account of the use of gope in the context of

the gibumanu dance in preparation for a

headhunting raid. Space does not permit

extensive quotations from Austen’s detailed

account, but the significance of the gope for

warfare warrants recounting the last day of

the gibumanu gama (ibid.: 8):

… when the day breaks, the dancers

descend to the ground carrying drums or

gope. As they fall into line, the headman

will call out and ask where they will go

and fight. As various v illages are named,

the gope are turned to face in the direc-

tion of that village. Should the gope move,

while facing a certain direction, it is

decided to raid a village in that direction

… when a decision is reached, the drums

are struck quickly, several times, and the

gope placed face downward on the

ground. There they are left all day, and

after dark are taken to the long house, and

put back in their everyday position along

the walls of the cubicles at the side

entranceways … The day following this

final ceremony, all the fighting men set off

in their great war canoes to raid the

village selected by the gope, who have

already gone ahead in spirit form to over-

come the enemy’s spirits, and make them

weak and unable to withstand the

onslaught of the raiders.

This is strongly reminiscent of the way the aripa of the upper Karawari function.

Gope-Wapo Creek-Urama Island-Era River

area

The North-eastern Kiwai speakers make

tall oval keweke masks, long-snouted hel-

met masks (kanipu, but called avoko in the

west) and long-necked small-headed masks

(kanipu? ). The figures carved and painted

onto the gope of Wapo Creek and Era River

are relatively loosely-drawn and unclut-

tered, with the same feel as the bioma figures,

whereas the designs on the Urama Island

gope are more rigid and dense (compare

Newton 1961, Illusts 148-51, 178-81 with

Illusts 187-92).

Newton (1961: 19) describes the arrange-

ment of skulls and sacred boards of the

Gope-Wapo Creek-Urama Island area as

rather different to that in the west. Here the

men’s house (daimo) was divided into a

series of clan cubicles either side of a central

aisle. On the upper part of each partition was

a latticework series of niches in each of




MPNr 117. Male figure (bioma), Wapo Creek, North-

eastern Kiwai speakers, Gulf Province. Wood.

98 x 34 cm. E.1673.9 – one of nine boards under

this number collected by Dr T.G. and S. Schultze-

Westrum and registered 4 August 1966.

which a skull was placed (ibid., Illusts 24, 25).

Small flat wooden figures (agiba) hung near

the skulls. Against the lower section of the

bark-walled partition stood the gope boards

and on the floor in front of the gope were the

skulls of pigs and crocodiles. Flat anthropo-

morphic figures (bioma) straddled these

skulls (ibid., Illust. 159; MPNr 117). The

kakame, carved from branches or roots, were

stood with their legs in the eye sockets. Usu-

ally, each daimo had a pair of large wooden

figures representing the mythical hero, Iri-

vake, who originated headhunting. The name

kaiaimunu in this area was applied to the

sacred bullroarers.

Although described in the museum’s reg-

ister as an iroa headrest, MPNr 118 certainly

did not function as such. It is clearly a kakame

figure, such as that on the right in Paul Wirz’s

1930 photograph reproduced by Kaufmann

(1975, Plate 155) and Newton (1961: 19, Illust.

25). Thomas Schultze-Westrum (pers. comm.

23 November 2003) informed me:

I did not find it myself on location in one

of the villages. It was brought to us while

staying at Aird Hill. It is certainly from the

Gope area of the central Gulf [about 40

kilometres to the east]. The name cor-

rectly, for this kind of figure (usually a pair)is kakame … Kakame figures are placed in

the skull shrine (awae) in front of the

skulls and gope boards, together with

bioma and other sacred objects.

Schultze-Westrum added later (pers.

comm. 3 February 2004) that the 1930 Wirz

photograph was taken in Ubuo village, Gope

area, and the kakame figure on the right

… was burnt by accident b efore we came

there. However, we were able to collect

another very old and large one at the

same village. And we collected all the




MPNr 129. Ancestral board (gope), Era River, North-

eastern Kiwai speakers, Gulf Province. Wood. 116 x

39 cm. E.4590. Registered 24 November 1969.

MPNr 118. Female figure (kakame), Gope area,

North-eastern Kiwai speakers, Gulf Province. Wood,

pearl shell, string. 179 x 48 cm. E.1676. Collected

by Dr T.G. and S. Schultze-Westrum and registered

4 August 1966.

items shown in [another] photograph

[Newton 1961, Illust. 153] of the same

men’s house at Ubuo.

According to Schultze-Westrum, he sold

these items to John Friede of New York but

he understands that most if not all have sincebeen dispersed to other collectors.

MPNr 129 has an unusual feature at the

bottom – a suggestion of legs and arms. One

or two boards with similar features may be

seen in photographs, taken by A.B. Lewis, of

the interior of men’s houses in the western

Purari area (Welsch 1998, I, Figs 7.30. 7.37)

and by F.E. Williams at Ukiravi (Young and

Clark 2001: 81). There is another in a photo-

graph taken by Frank Hurley at Kaimari

(Specht and Fields 1984: 179). Specht notes

that this latter board ‘is similar to canoe prow

boards such as those mentioned by Hurley

on canoes at Adulu, Fly River delta’.

MPNr 130 is identical, in size and motifs, to

one in the collection of Serge Brignoni, illus-

trated by Newton (1961, Illust. 181). It is

tempting to believe that it has been copied

from Newton’s illustration.

Pie River-Purari Delta area

Nothing is known of the particular signifi-cance of the unique figure (MPNr 120) that is

dressed and equipped like a male warrior. In

the Kerewa area to the west, Haddon (1918:

182, Fig. 6) collected three small carvings of

human figures: one that was ‘supposed to

make a canoe invisible when the crew go on

a head-hunting expedition’, and the other

two ‘were made by a man to represent the

dead parents of the youth to whom they

were given’. It is unclear whether such fig-

ures were carved as far to the east as the Pie

River and therefore whether this little figure

in the Masterpieces Exhibition was one of




Fig. 78. Gope board and pig skulls in family house at

Meagoma (Karalti) village, Gope area, North-eastern

Kiwai speakers, central Papuan Gulf. Photo: Thomas

Schultze-Westrum, 1966 (by permission).

MPNr 130. Ancestral board (gope), Gibao? Vil lage,

Era River, North-eastern Kiwai speakers, Gulf

Province. Wood. 147 x 48 cm. E.7357. Obtained from

[Mr?] Nochinson and registered 1 March 1971.




MPNr 120 (left). Male figure with bark belt, shell pubic cover and cassowar y bone knife; Vaiamu (Vaimuru,

Baimuru) village, Pie River, Purari (Koriki/Namau) sp eakers, Gulf Province. Wood, bark, rattan, sago fibre, shell

and cassowary bone. 55 x 11 cm. E.16385. Seized in 1972, donated by PNG Customs in 1974 and registered

24 March 1975. Published in Smidt 1975: 14, 15, 18; Nr. 9.

these. Another figure that wears a shell pubic

covering (Schmitz 1969, Colorplate 28), prov-

enanced to Gibu on the Turama River west

of Kerewa, is called a kaiamuru (kaiamunu?).

However, it is much taller at 132 cm and the

carving style is significantly different to that

of MPNr 120.

Orokolo-Vailala River area

MPNrs 131 and 132 are superb ancestral

boards (hohao) from the Elema of the

Orokolo-Vailala River area. Ulli Beier and

Albert Maori Kiki (1970: 12) were told that

hohao ‘were first carved to contain and

control the dangerous spirits of certain

powerful ancestors who would otherwise

harass the living’, and are named after them.

Each lineage (aualari ) in Orokolo used to

have one or more hohao, which they kept in

the eravo (men’s house) (Fig. 79).

The help of the spirit of the hohao was

enlisted for assistance in warfare.

Before any military expedition the Hii

Haela of the aualari group had to place all

the arms in front of the Hohao. The warri-

ors assembled in the dark Eravo and sat in

complete silence while the Hii Haela

burned sacred leaves in front of the

Hohao and invoked his help with magic

formulas. When the ritual was over a shell

horn was blown and the clan leader gave

his military orders. The Hii Haela was the

first to step out of the Eravo. He would

then spit the sacred bark he had been

chewing on the ground and say: ‘Owner of

the ground, move aside, let my warriors

pass.’ The mythical hero embodied in the

Hohao was then believed to walk in front

of the warriors and lead them into battle.

[Beier and Kiki 1970: 12, 15]

The hohao could be asked also for assist-

ance in hunting. ‘It was considered that the

Hohao had the power to make the pig weak,

so that he fell an easy prey to the hunter’

(ibid.: 15).

MPNr 131 named Eoe, and MPNr 132

named Hilake, are a pair belonging to the

Vailala clan and were kept one on each side

of the eravo. They were almost certainly

carved by the same man. They differ only in

that the image on Eoe is represented with

legs and male genitals. The circle with the dot

inside represents the navel, which is a meta-

phor for a clan’s place of origin. The dentate

pattern around the navel is called merove ari

(rattan thorns). The dentates framing the

head are a representation of iupu, the warri-

or’s headband made of pig bristles. The

pattern of chevrons framing the top and near

the bottom of the boards represents clouds.

In the Purari Delta, clouds are a portent of

thunder, and thunder is the voice of the kai-

aimunu.

There is a myth associated with Eoe – that

of Hilake’s mother, Lamara (Beier and Kiki

1970: 59-60). Kurua Mila Maipala was a giant

who lived alone in the forest. One day he saw

a beautiful woman, Lamara, who lived with

her husband Hilaka. One day as they were

returning from the garden, Kurua changed

his appearance to a beautiful young girl in a

grass skirt, and went up to greet Hilaka.

Hilaka liked the girl and decided to marry her.

As she looked small and fragile, Hilaka

ordered Lamara to carry her. Now Hilaka was

walking in front with his bow and arrows and

did not realise that Kurua was making love to

Lamara as he was riding on her back. A few

months later Hilaka noticed with surprise

that Lamara was pregnant. He had not slept

with her for several months, because as a

hunter and a warrior he believed that i t was

wrong to spend too much time with his wife.

To find out who her lover was, he pretended

to go hunting, then crept back towards his




hut and discovered Kurua and Lamara

embracing each other. He said nothing, but

next day he asked them both to come fishing.

Kurua was unsuspecting, and while he was

busy looking for fish in the water, Hilaka ran

him through with his bamboo spear. Hilaka

carried the dead body of Kurua home,

cooked it and forced his wife to eat him.

Lamara had to eat the body, but she would

not eat the penis. She put it aside secretly

and threw it into the bush. There it grew and

became the first wild banana. Shortly after

this she gave birth to a boy whom she called

Huli. When Huli was four or five years old, his

mother made him a swing of cane and hung

it from the branch of a big tree. One day, as

Huli was playing on his swing, he sang a song

he had heard his mother sing at home:

Maipala’s penis is a banana;

Wild banana in the forest.

Is that what your penis is like?

This is how the news of Lamara and

Maipala spread in the forest and all the trees,

birds and lizards began to laugh at the

woman. Then she felt very ashamed and she

cried and her tears began to form the begin-

ning of the Vailala River. The river rushed

along towards the sea and Lamara sat on a

log travelling to the ocean. And all the sandand the trees which the Vailala River carried

with it gathered on the sea and became

islands.

The myth associated with Hilake was

recorded by Beier and Kiki (1970: 56, 59). This

appears to be a different episode in the life of

Lamara, but with motifs similar to those in

the story associated with Eoe.

Lamara gave birth to Hilake, a pig called

Ilaluvu, and a fish called Halevera. Lamara

told her son Hilake that the pig and the fish

were his brothers and he should not kill

them. But Hilake was a wild boy, a great

Fig. 79. Interior of ravi showing several kwoi boards

and two shields; Iari, Namau speakers, Purari delta;

photographed by F.E. Williams. Published in Young

and Clark 2001: 80. Reproduced by permission of

The National Archives of Australia, Canberra. A6003,

Item 53, Prime Minister’s Department, Territories

Branch.

hunter who killed many pigs and birds. One

day he killed his pig-brother Ilaluvu by mis-

take. Then he took him to his mother and

asked her to cook him. But Lamara recog-

nised her son and she wept. In the night she

picked up the dead body of her son and left

the house. She floated down the river and

finally came to Ahea Hiyu, a distant island in

the sea. There the people made her their

chief. Lamara revived the dead body of the

pig Ilaluvu. Hilake looked for his mother

everywhere. In the end he too drifted down

Vailala River and he came to Ahea Hiyu island.

Then he saw his mother and he also saw the

pig. His mother said to him: ‘I told you not to

kill him; but you killed him. This is him again.’

Hilake was sad. He wanted to stay on Ahea

Hiyu with his mother, but she said to him: ‘Go

back to your land. These people are not

yours.’ So Hilake returned to his home and he

became the ancestor of the Vailala clan.




MPNr 145 (opp osite page). War shield ( parrku), Lumi area, Torricelli Mountains, probably Olo speakers, West

Sepik Province. Wood, bast, rattan. 105 x 72 x 7 cm. 81.26.5 [original registration num ber lost but identified

probably as E.13862, purchased from Morris Young and registered 14 March 1974 ].

MPNr 141 (left). War shield (iben), probably Idam

valley, upper Sepik, Abau speakers, West Sepik

Province. Wood, bast. 139 x 59 x 2 cm. 79.29.25.

Ex-collection Wayne Heathcote. Registered in 1979

among a group of 300 unidentified objects but

believed to be in the museum several years before

that.

MPNr 135 (above). War shield (teiya), Lower April

River, Bitara speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.

158 x 48 x 3 cm. E.3000. Purchased from Wayne

Heathcote and registered 5 May 1969.




carried on the shoulder by a bast strap

attached to the rattan sheath covering the

lower half of the shield, and used with spears.

The face design at the top centre represents

Bwongogo ‘which perhaps could be inter-

preted as the face of a mythical ancestor’

(Smidt 1983: 155). The pair of motifs either

side of the face is the emblem of the flying

fox (urukmo) clan. Although rather worn, the

dominant colour of the design appears to be

yellow; the shield is therefore of the ‘black-

eye’ moiety (rather than red indicating the

‘red-eye’ moiety), which is consistent with

Smidt’s assertion (1990c, caption to Plate 19)

that the flying fox clan is of the ‘black-eye’

moiety. ‘When a shield was used in fighting,

these clan emblems and accompanying col-

ours served to show the enemy to which clan

the bearer of the shield belonged.’ During a

fight, members of a particular clan would

avoid engaging with enemy members of that

clan (ibid.: 157).

MPNr 146. War shield, Kominimung, middle Ramu

area, Kominimung speakers, Madang Province.

Wood, bast, rattan. 129 x 47 x 1 cm. E.16283.

Purchased from Barry Hoare and registered 28

February 1975.




Fig. 81. Use of war shield being demonstrated at

Telefomin, Telefol speakers. Photo: B. Craig, C25: 1;

August 1964.

Highlands

The shields of central New Guinea were car-

ried by unarmed shield-bearers protecting

bowmen behind them (Fig. 81). They were

held by gripping the vertical, intertwined rat-tan straps at the rear but the warrior could

stand the shield on the ground and brace

it with his foot. The shield from Magalsim-

bip (Figs 82, 83; MPNr 139) was named Gilinip

because ‘they worked hard looking for a suit-

able tree from which to make it’. It has been

used against the Kamfegolmin of Wang-

bin, several kilometres to the north-west of

Magalsimbip and there are arrow holes in it

(Craig 1972-73: 31).

The shield from Komdavip (Figs 84, 85;

MPNr 140) was used in the same way as the

Magalsimbip shield. It has been used in sev-

eral battles against the Mianmin to the north,

in which two Mianmin men and two Mian-

min women were killed. There are many

arrow marks in it (Craig 1972-73: 54).

The shield from the Simbai Valley (MPNr136) was carved with stone tools from the

buttress root of a forest tree. It was sold to

Lyle Scholz by Moojmooj of Gajool (Salemp

area), but it is from the Wumod area.

Kalam shields were hung from the shoul-

der for use with bows and arrows. The raised

patterns of little square knobs, characteristic

of Kalam shields, ‘are sometimes interpreted

as [sweet potato] garden plots’ (Smidt 1975:

37).

The Huli shield from Wabia (MPNr 142),

called humbi , was carved with stone tools.

The two small holes at the top centre were

for attaching feather decorations. The design,

vaguely anthropomorphic, is marked by

incised lines and in-filled with paint. The

humbi (Fig. 86) was hung on the shoulder for

use with bow and arrows when clansopposed each other in open lines of battle.

The eláyaborr (Fig. 87) hung from the

shoulder under the arm and was used in the

more common skirmishing and guerrilla raid-

ing (Ryan 1958: 244). The Mendi shield from

Bela (MPNr 143) was carved with stone tools.

The designs, marked by incised lines and in-

filled with paint, are most often geometric

but occasionally, as in this shield, a human

figure is represented. Sillitoe reports (1980:

496) that for the neighbouring Wola, if the

human figure is red it indicates that the fight

has been successful and they have killed an




Fig. 83. Meaning of design elements on

Magalsimbip war shield (after Craig 1969: 137 and

1972-73: 31)

Fig. 82. War shield (MPNr 139) named Gi linip, held

by Manmanim of Magalsimbip, Tifal speakers, West

Sepik Province. Photo: B. Craig, BK1: 31; 7 June 1972.

tail ‘wire’ of King Birdof Paradise (Cicinnurusregius)

tracks of snake (mafom)

mouth of crocodile(matup-bon)

heart (aget )

snake (mafom)

man’s belt of rattanhoops (oltil )

MPNr 139. War shield (askom), personal name Gilinip; Magalsimbip village, Wopkeimin, Tifal speakers,

Western Province. Wood, rattan. 147 x 69 x 3 cm. 79.1.15. Registered 26 Apri l 1979. Carved by Amumiap

c.1907 with a stone adze (febi). Bought by Barry Craig from Manmanim, 8 June 1972, on behalf of the

Commonwealth Art Advisor y Board, Canberra, and subsequently gifted to the PNG Museum by the Australian

government.




Fig. 84. War shield (MPNr 140) held by Afupnok of

Komdavip v illage, Telefol speakers, Eliptaman, West

Sepik Province. Photo: B. Craig, BK2: 23; 20 June 1972.

snake (duliam); dorsal

plates of crocodile

beak of cockatoo; jaw-

bone of man

jawbone of crocodile

beak of cassowary

tracks of snake (mafom)

abdomen of spider

(don); man’s heart or

liver; woman’s vagina

man’s elbow

crocodile’s leg

MPNr 140. War shield (atkom), Komdavip vil lage, Eliptaman Telefolmin, Telefol speakers, West Sepik Province.

Wood, rattan. 164 x 56 x 3 cm. 79.1.56. Registered 30 April 1979. Carved by Damnisep (father of vendor

Afupnok) and Blangsep (father of vendor Mamsamsep) at Komdavip before 1914 with a stone adze (mok )

from ful t imber. Bought by Barry Craig, 20 June 1972, on behalf of the Commonwealth Ar t Advisory Board,

Canberra, and subsequently gifted to the PNG Museum by the Australian government.

Fig. 85. Meaning of design elements on Komdavip

war shield similar to MPNr 140 (after Craig 1969: 127

and 1972-73: 54)




MPNr 136. War shield, Simbai valley, Kalam

speakers, Madang Province. Wood, rattan. 99 x 44 x 2

cm. E.10717. Purchased from Lyle Scholz, Summer

Institute of Linguistics, and registered 13 February

1973.

enemy; if it is white, the colour of mourning,

they have lost a warrior and there is a death

to avenge.

The kumba reipe of the Mount Hagen area

was hung on the shoulder from bast slings

attached near the centre and steadied by

gripping a vertical rattan strip near the lead-

ing edge. It was used for fighting with spears

although bowmen were often involved in the

set-piece battles (Connolly and Anderson

1987: 264; Vicedom and Tischner 1943-8: 218-

20). The top edge usually was decorated with

bundles of feathers.

MPNr 142 (opposite page left). War shield (humbi ),

Wabia village, Huli speakers, Southern Highlands

Province. Wood, rattan. 118 x 36 cm. E.4207.

Collected by G.L. Pretty and A.L. Crawford and

registered 12 November 1969.

MPNr 143 (opposite page right). War shield

(eláyaborr), Bela village, Mendi speakers, Southern

Highlands Province. Wood, rattan. 86 x 31 cm.E.3808. Collected by G.L. Pretty and A.L. Crawford,

and registered 23 June 1969.




Fig. 87 (opposite page bottom). Warrior from Bela

village, Mendi speakers, demonstrates how an

eláyaborr would be used during battle. Photo:A.L. Crawford 1969.

MPNr 144. War shield (kumba reipe), Wurup village,

Mount Hagen, Melpa speakers, Enga Province.

Wood, bast, rattan. 140 x 68 cm. E.4231. Registered

29 September 1969. Collector not known.

Fig. 86 (opposite page top). Warrior f rom Wabia

village, Huli speakers, demonstrates how the humbi

would be used during battle. Photo: A.L. Crawford

1969.




Southern New Guinea

MPNr 137 could be from Otsjanep village,

Ewta River (compare with Gerbrands 1967:

146, 150). It is held by a vertical handle carved

at the rear and is used with, and for protec-

tion against, spears. The projection at the

top of the shield is the tsjemen (penis); the

wing-like double-spiral design (ainor ) is ‘a

mysterious powerful design’ that, combined

as two motifs above and below a central

small circle, may represent a human figure’s

legs, arms and navel, therefore a subtle ref-

erence to an ancestor. Asmat shields were

named after a dead relative of the owner and

were used in headhunting raids to avenge

the death of the relative for whom the shield

was named.

The design on MPNr 138 is related to that

on MPNr 137 from the coastal Asmat but it is

clearly not a coastal Asmat shield. Its design is

similar also to the design on a Kombai shield

of the Dairam Hitam River (Schneebaum

1990: 36, right) and another unspecifically

noted as Tjitak (ibid.: 35, left). However, the

shield’s relatively small size suggests that it

might be from the Kombai’s southern Auwyu

neighbours on the upper Mappi (see map in

Smidt 1993: 16-17) where the shields are

smaller.

This shield was held by the vertical handle

at the rear but it is not clear whether it was

used like the coastal Asmat shield with a

spear, or with bow and arrows. The semi-

nomadic Tjitak appear to have been armed

with bows and arrows (see photographs in

Mitton 1983: 149-53). The large shield of the

Tjitak may have been carried by an unarmed

shield-bearer who sheltered a group of bow-

men behind him, as was the case in central

New Guinea.

Through the southern lowlands of New

MPNr 137. War shield ( jamasj ), Casuarina Coast

Asmat, Asmat speakers, [ West] Papua, Indonesia.

Wood, sago fibre. 186 x 44 cm. E.755.1. One of

two shields acquired from Mr C. Groeneveldt and


MPNr 138. War shield, atttributed to north-eastern

Asmat (Tjitak), Asmat speakers or upper Mappi

River; Auwyu speakers, [ West] Papua, Indonesia.

Wood. 140 x 31 cm. 81.48.3. Purchased from Patricia

Withofs 13 March 1981 and registered 8 July 1981.

Old registration number 2877/11 written on the

back of the shield.




MPNr 148. War shield (naua), Orokolo, eastern Papuan Gulf, Orokolo speakers, Gulf Province. Wood, bast. 78

x 29 cm. 80.66.4. Collected by Sir William MacGregor on 1 August 1894 at Maipu[a], a coastal Namau village,

but its design suggests it was m ade by the Elema, neighbours of the Namau to the east. Repatriated from

Queensland Museum (Mac4652) and registered 24 October 1980.

Guinea east of the border with [West] Papua,

apart from bark shields with a vertical stick

handle found among the Kamula of Western

Province and on the upper Era River of cen-

tral Gulf Province (Beran and Craig 2005),

wood shields are not found until the Purari

Delta and then the Elema of Orokolo and the

lower Vailala River. These shields are under-

arm shields with a notch at the top for the

arm, obviously related to the under-arm

shields of the Southern Highlands Province.

They are used with bows and arrows. Among

the Purari and Elema groups, the carved and

painted designs are related to those found

on the kwoi and hohao boards.

The Orokolo shield (MPNr 148) is just one

of almost 8300 specimens that constituted

the MacGregor Collection held on loan at

the Queensland Museum since the 1890s. So

far, almost 3300 items have been returned to

PNG and almost 2700 retained in Brisbane,

with a further 2300 items requiring allocation

(Quinnell 2000).

The shields of Central Province were

mainly of ‘figure-8’ shape (MPNr 150) with a

finely-woven sheath decorated with feathers.

They have been photographed (for example

by J.W. Lindt, see Quanchi 1999, Fig.20.1) and

collected in coastal and inland settlements(Beran and Craig 2005: 181).

A photograph by Reverend George Brown

(1908, facing p. 478) illustrates how the ‘fig-

ure-8’ shields were held. They were used with

spears and clubs, apparently as parrying

shields as they were relatively light, though

made of hardwood, and held by a single

piece of bent rattan secured near the middle

at the rear.

In Milne Bay Province, Trobriand Islands

shields (MPNr 149) were used with spears in

inter-village warfare. A particular type of tim-

ber (vayola) was used for making the shield




MPNr 150. War shield (gei ), Kerepuna village, Keapara-Aroma speakers, Central Province. Wood, rattan,

feathers. 87 x 46 cm. 77.57.4. Collected c.1883. One of seventeen i tems repatriated by The Australian Museum,

Sydney, 27 June 1977, to mark the occasion of the official opening of the new National Museum building (see

also MPNrs 47, 60).

– it has a cross-grain making it hard to split.

It has been said that the smaller the shield,

the more skilful the warrior. These shields, like

the ‘figure-8’ shields of Central Province, also

appear to have been used as parrying shields.

Much has been written about the signifi-

cance of the painted design on these shields

(see summary in Beran and Craig 2005: 203).

Edmund Leach has claimed it represents a

flying witch, greatly feared by Trobriand

Islanders. Ronald Berndt suggested it repre-

sents sexual intercourse, thus showing

contempt for the enemy as such references

are used in verbal abuse. P. Glass suggests

two additional interpretations: that it repre-

sents Topileta, the ruler of the world of the

dead, and that it is a symbolic map of the Tro-

briand world. Trobrianders themselves give

only names for elements of the design, with

reference to animals, birds, fish and other

aspects of the natural world; these may be

only labels for patterns and not meanings.




MPNr 149. War shield (vayola), Trobriand Islands, Kilivila speakers, Milne Bay Province. Wood, rattan. 83 x

39 cm. 80.66.44. Collected by Sir William MacGregor c.1890 at ‘Kilivila’ [not a recognised place name – used

today as the name of the language]. Repatriated from the Queensland Museum (Mac4770) and registered 14

October 1980.




New Britain

The so-called Arawe or Kandrian shields ( Fig.

88; MPNr 147) consist of two narrow planks

bound either side of a wider plank. The cen-

tral, wider plank has a recessed grip carved

out at the back. They were not only used withspears in warfare, but also in formal dance

ceremonies (Todd 1934: 199). Although this

type of shield is commonly believed to have

come from Arawe or Kandrian, in fact they

were made in the interior and traded down

to, and east and west along, the coast (Gos-

den and Knowles 2001: 182). The Sengseng,

neighbours of the Kaulong, make the same

MPNr 147. War shield (ilo), attributed to Kandrian

area, Pasismanua speakers (Kaulong dialect),

West New Britain Province. Wood, rattan. 141 x 31

cm. E.14640. Purchased from Morris Young and

registered 24 July 1974.

Fig. 88. Two spearmen pose with war shields at

Ablingi Harbour, Pasismanua speakers (Sokhok

dialect), West New Britain Province, 1916. Photo

E.62, Usher Photographic Collection (AA835), South

Australian Museum archives, by permission.

type of shield and call them hiliyo, obviously

cognate to ilo.

No definite meaning for the finely carved

and painted spiral designs on the front of

these shields has been reported. On the rearare painted designs altogether different from

the designs on the front. These designs are

related to those painted on lengths of tapa

cloth worn by men around their waists (com-

pare Heermann 2001, Plate 96 rear, to Plates

93, 98, 99). The individual design elements

may be given names but so far as is known,

these do not provide an overall ‘meaning’.




MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Certain types of musical instruments have

limited distributions, occurring in some areas

and not in others. Even the almost universal

hand drum is not to be found in the high-

lands of [ West] Papua nor among the Anga

(formerly Kukukuku) at the eastern end of the

highlands of PNG. Well known for their lack of

visual artistic expression, the Anga do have

other types of musical instruments, one of

which – the tall, bamboo aeolian flutes set up

around the village for the wind to make the

sounds – may be unique to them.

The slit-gong is almost entirely confined

to the north coast, coastal ranges and Sepik-

Ramu-Markham valleys of mainland PNG, and

the Bismarck Archipelago. The bullroarer, usu-

ally said to be the voice of ancestors or spirits

in the context of initiation ceremonies, is to

be found throughout the Bismarck Archipel-

ago, the north coast, coastal ranges and

Sepik-Ramu-Markham valleys of northern

PNG, in a broad belt from the Huon Peninsula

to the Papuan Gulf, and in south-east [West]

Papua. Certain other instruments are unique

to a particular area, such as the friction or

rubbing blocks of northern New Ireland(Messner 1983), and the water drums and

mud-beaters of the middle Sepik.

The earliest detailed survey of musical

instruments for Oceania was published by

Hans Fischer (1958, translated 1983, revised

1986). Vida Chenoweth (1976) provides a tab-

ulated survey of the musical instruments of

PNG. Ken Gourlay (1974) has published a

comprehensive bibliography of literature of

the music, dances and instruments used in

PNG and the Torres Strait islands. He followed

this up (1975) with an analysis of the distribu-

tion of bullroarers, sacred flutes and

slit-gongs, their use in initiation and other

ceremonies, and their role in male-female

relations.

Mervyn McLean (1994) draws on these

sources to survey the occurrence of all the

most significant instruments used in New

Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago. He

relates them to one another and explains

their distribution in terms of borrowing and

population migrations as suggested by lan-

guage distributions. He theorises that the

first instruments in the Australia-New Guinearegion would have included the bullroarer,

introduced into Australia around 10,000 years

ago but coming into New Guinea, via the

Papuan Gulf, not until about 3000 years ago.

Shell trumpets came from the west with the

first groups of Austronesian speakers around

6000 years ago, closely followed by the slit-

gong. The jew’s harp, mouth bow, hourglass

hand drum and wooden trumpet came to

New Guinea between five and ten thousand

years ago but the latter two instruments did

not reach Morobe Province and the Bismarck

Archipelago until less than 3000 years ago.

No more than 3000 years ago, he suggests,

sacred flutes were invented in the highlands

and later expanded into bullroarer areas

(mainly northwards, most notably into the

Sepik-Ramu-Madang region).

All of the musical instruments in the Mas-

terpieces Exhibition are carved of wood (or

have sculptural components of wood, for

example, the pair of long flutes). Most are

from the Sepik region and most are hand

drums. Many types of instruments are not

Fig. 89a (top). Slit-gong named Wobnerluk at

St Benedictine Teachers College, Wewak, from

Washkuk village, Wogamusin speakers, upper

Sepik River. Gazetted National Cultural Property,

14 January 1977. Published in Newton 1971: 56

(Illust. 91). Photo: B. Craig, C1: 7; 20 October 1981.

Fig. 89b. Slit-gong named Wobnerluk at St

Benedictine Teachers College, Wewak, showing

deterioration over twenty years. Photo: B. Craig,

M4: 19; 15 May 2002.




included at all and many regions are unrepre-

sented. However, the displays in the

Independence Gallery attempt to make up

for this.

Slit-gongs

Slit-gongs (also called ‘slit-drums’, and

garamuts in Melanesian Pidgin) are an Aus-

tronesian instrument as is demonstrated by

their distribution in the south-west Pacific

(Niles 1983; Swadling et al. 1988, Fig. 244).

There are many shapes, and the hollows are

carved out to different degrees and con-

figurations. Designs carved and/or painted

on them vary widely and there are different

ways of beating them.

Slit-gongs are used for musical purposes

during ceremonial songs and dances but

they are also used to send messages as far as

20 kilometres distant. As some Sepik men

have said, they are their wailis (Melanesian

Pidgin for wireless, i.e., radio). Not a lot is

known about this latter use, apart from the

relative simplicity of what is communicated,

but Thomas Aitken (1990: 546-47) has

emphasised the previously overlooked role

of pitch (versus rhythm) and advanced the

remarkable hypothesis for the Sawos of the

middle Sepik area, that

the principal aim of each tapet [an adult’s

individual signal] i s to imitate the call,

shriek, or some peculiarity of the bird,

insect, animal, etc., that ‘belongs’ to the

family of the person involved, the call hav-

ing been slowed down so much for ease

of performance that it has become unrec-

ognizable as such to the

unknowledgeable listener.

Newton (1971: 70) had already observed

that among the Manambu (on the Sepik

mainstream in the vicinity of Ambunti), ‘As in

other places, the rhythms [of the slit-gongs]

were onomatopoeic of the sounds made by

fish, birds, wind, rattling leaves, and so on’.

In the middle Sepik area, new slit-gongs

were consecrated by human sacrifice and

were provided with personal names. Stories

of individual slit-gongs indicate that they are

regarded as the habitations of particular spir-

its that may have originated as human beings

but have transformed into nature spirits, par-

ticularly those that inhabit waterways,

whirlpools and eddies. The carved images on

slit-gongs may refer to such spirits, to

Fig. 90. Slit-gong named Olmang’an, Watam village,

Watam speakers, Watam Lagoon. Carver u nknown

but made before the German administration. Photo:

B. Craig, C6: 21; 27 September 1983.

ancestors, to episodes in myths, to particular

totemic animals, or to such animals as flying

foxes and lizards as metaphors for the carry-ing-power of the slit-gong’s sound.

There are only two slit-gongs in the Mas-

terpieces Exhibition and both of these are

from the Sepik River region. The horizontal

log slit-gongs of the Sepik region are basi-

cally of three types:

slit towards the rear and a long, tapering

(and usually carved) finial (Fig. 89). There

is often a hole at the finial with which to

secure a rope for pulling the instrument

when it needs to be moved. This type is

to be found in the upper Sepik region,

upstream from Ambunti (Fischer 1986,

Plate IV, Nrs 46, 47; Newton 1971, Illusts

11-18, 20, 70-4, 91-3, 186-87).

slit and a projecting lug at each end, a

large one carved in human and/or ani-

mal form (often a crocodile’s head) in a

manner similar to a canoe prow, and a

smaller one usually plain or as a subsidi-

ary human or animal form. The body of

the drum also may be carved in low relief




and/or painted. Amongst the western

Iatmul and Sawos, the ‘prow’ consists of a

short carved section tapering from the

main body of the drum. It may be seen,

therefore, as a much-shortened version

of the upper Sepik type (Craig 1987,

Plates 24, 63-4; Fischer 1986, Plate IV, Nr

48; Newton 1971, Illusts 123-24). Among

the eastern Iatmul and the Iatmul-

influenced groups to the south, the

‘prow’ juts out at the top of the body of

the drum (Craig 1987, Plates 72, 75-7;

Fischer 1986, Plate III, Nr 39; Kelm 1966a,

Plate 165). Both slit-gongs in the Master-pieces Exhibition are of this sub-type.

slit and relatively short projecting lug at

each end carved identically as a mask, or

as a short spirit figure (with long nose)

supported by a lizard-like creature

(Fig. 90). The body of the drum is incised

with symmetrical designs. The drum is

usually then coated in red ochre and the

incised line designs picked out in white.

This type is to be found in the lower

Sepik region below Angoram, along the

lower Ramu, and along the north coast

and offshore islands (Craig 1987, Plates

38-40; Fischer 1986, Plate III, Nrs 31, 32;

Kelm 1968, Plates 374-83; Neuhauss 1911,

I, Fig. 216; Swadling et al. 1988, Fig. 246).

MPNr 206 is from the middle Karawari

River. According to Borut Telban (1998: 189),

Karawari slit-gongs ( yimbung) have personal

names and are water spirits, a category of

‘bush’ spirit. The Karawari people believe

these male ‘bush’ spirits (saki ) live in under-

water villages complete with men’s houses in

which rituals of initiation are performed. The

slit is the drum’s ‘mouth’ and the hollow

inside is its ‘belly’; the large lump of wood left

halfway along the slit is its ‘fruit’, which is

important for the quality of the sound.

The face at the prow of this drum is that

of the water spirit Kolmanki, depicted as a

composite of human and crocodilian

features. The projecting lug at the stern

appears to have been carved as a wild pig’s

head, most likely the Pig clan totem. A similar

slit-gong was located at Danyig on the

Wogupmeri River (Craig 1982: 65) and the

collar-like projection under the prow was

said to represent the crescent-shaped kina

MPNr 206. Slit-gong ( yimbung) and detail, personal name Kolmanki, Manjamai village, middle Karawari River,

Karawari speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 3.75 m lo ng x 94 cm high x 55 cm wide. E.16040. Purchased

by Wayne Heathcote about August 1971 fro m the owner Yaplas. Gazetted National Cultural Property on

16 March 1972. Purchased from Wayne Heathcote by the National Museum and registered 10 February 1975.




MPNr 207. Slit-gong (and details), personal name Mbauwi; Aibom village, Chambri Lake, Iatmul speakers, East

Sepik Province. Wood. 2.97 m long x 68 cm high x 56 cm wide. 81.26.174 [original registration number lost

but identified as E.10190, purchased by Dirk S midt for the National Museum in 1971 from five men (Bauwi,

Kindjinmaki Gauwi, Aitmun Unda, Kovai and Kumbu of Aibom) and registered 3 May 1972].




(pearl shell) ornament traded from the Sepik

up into the highlands. Telban (1998: 189) was

told at Ambonwari that this feature is the

spirit’s ‘fish basket’, where he keeps his food.

Telban continues his general description:

On either side of the drum the pattern

depicts its intestines and lungs, in appear-

ance resembling a line of crescent moons

or kina shells. Between the head and the

main body is a ‘belt’ of carved shells with

the face of a wunduma [female ancestral

spirit] in the m iddle. On top of the head

the two ‘breadfruit seeds’ indicate the

spirit’s eyes. The other carved patterns

depict shells, frogs, and bi rds: [represent-

ing] the spirit’s wealth and those foods

which new initiates are not permitted to

eat. All the main drums have incisions on

their bodies denoting the number of peo-

ple killed by members of the owning clan.

The drums are used to beat the rhythm of

songs associated with the major ceremonies,

to call someone back to the village, or to

announce important events. Telban informs

us (1998: 190-91):

Every totemic clan has its own signal …

Like the Kwoma but unlike the Sawos …

Ambonwari drummers, when calling

someone, first beat the signal of the per-

son’s own clan followed by the signal ofhis mother’s clan … The drummer (kapuk

yarar ) beats the slit-drum using rhythm

and pitch to mimic the sound, the walk,

the appearance or the behaviour of a

totemic animal of a particular clan.

Other sequences can urge the identified

person to hurry up, or can inform a hunter

that his dogs have already returned to the

village from the hunt, and so on. ‘As people

are familiar with constantly unfolding events

in the village, these signals in many ways con-

firm their expectations, hopes and fears’

(ibid.: 190).

MPNr 207 is from Chambri Lake. Accord-

ing to Smidt’s information, this slit-gong was

kept in the men’s house Nangukunbit

(Nagrimbit) and called ‘Mbauwi’ after the clan

to which it belonged. It was roughed-out by

two brothers, Tonop and Kam, at Aimsui,

about a kilometre from Aibom. Tambui and

Kindsjen did the final carving. The teeth of

the crocodile’s head on the prow are nimbie

and the catfish on the brow of the crocodile

head is called kamiwentsjo. The eye is called

menie’pauwi , the nose is dama and the chev-

rons at the side of the nose are dama’pauwi ;

circles represent the soft part of the cheeks

(kopmoiwimbui ). The small face is that of a

woman, Yambugawge. A small figure or bird

has broken off at the tip of the crocodile’s

snout. The person represented at the stern is

Nyap, the chevrons in the ribbon of design at

the stern are maranget, the initiatory scarifi-

cations representing the teeth-marks of the

cult crocodile that swallows the initiates.

Hand drums

Hand drums are used almost everywhere in

New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago to

set the rhythm for singing and dancing. They

are generally hourglass-shaped, with lizard

skin tympanum (Craig 1987, Plate 33), but dis-

play a variety of forms, even within a

particular village (Fischer 1986, Plate X, Nrs

162-65; Plate XI, Nrs 174-76). The major dis-

tinction is between those with carved

handles and those without. Fischer claims

that this is not a useful distinction because

‘drums of the same type appear in almost all

areas with or without handles’ (1986: 56).

However, his study was based on European

museum collections and published sources

so that some areas were inadequately repre-

sented. Further, it is likely that in areas where

hand drums usually have handles, sometimes

MPNr 89. Hand drum, April or Leonhard Schultze

Rivers, Sepik Hill speakers, East Sepik Province.

Wood, rattan. 109 x 13 cm. diam. E.7906. Bought

from Sepik Primitive Arts, Madang, 19 April 1971

and registered 23 April 1971. Tympanum missing.




MPNr 100. Hand drum, Lumi area, Torricelli

Mountains, Olo speakers, West Sepik Province.

Wood, lizard skin. 46 x 13 cm diameter. E.8781.

Purchased from Lakatoi Artefacts and registered

23 November 1971.

the handle breaks or cracks during the carv-

ing and rather than discard the part-finished

drum, the carver proceeds regardless. There is

no doubt that in certain areas the traditional

hourglass drum never had a carved handle.

Those without handles are generally from

the upper Sepik and Border Mountains

region, the Sepik Hills, from central New

Guinea to as far south as the middle Digul

and Fly rivers, and through the Strickland-

Nomad area to the central Papuan Gulf. They

are relatively long and slender, and generally

feature simple geometric designs in a narrow

band at the open end executed with black

lines in relief against a background of red or

yellow ochres and white. In the upper Sepik

area, these designs are consistent with the

designs painted on sago ‘spathes’, and carved

and painted on wooden trumpets and

shields (see Kelm 1966b, Plates 197-238; 1968,

Plates 521-22).

Drums with handles are generally shorter

and display a great variety of carved and

painted designs. Middle Sepik hand drums

incorporate animal and human motifs as

handles, often with curvilinear designs

carved and painted on the hourglass body

(Kelm 1966a, Plates 155-64; 1968, Plates 485-

86; 520). In the area on the Sepik aroundAmbunti, the handles consist of rattan tied

between small loops carved about where a

wooden handle would be located.

In the lower Sepik and nearby coastal

areas, the handles usually have symmetri-

cally-disposed animal or human heads at

either end, and the body of the drum is sym-

metrically carved with an intricate, incised

design in-filled with white pigment (Craig

1987, Plates 33, 42; Kelm 1968, Plates 385-86;

Swadling et al. 1988, Plate 245), consistent

with the structure and motifs of the designs

on slit-gongs (Kelm 1968, Plates 374, 379). The

MPNr 84. Hand drum, attributed to Malu village,

Ambunti area, Manambu speakers (but more likely

Yangoru area, Boiken speakers), East Sepik Province.

Wood. 86 x 23 cm diameter. 81.26.130 [original

registration number lost]. Tympanum missing.

incised designs are usually confined to a pair

of triangular panels on each half of the drum.

This way of decorating hand drums is found

all along the Sepik and Madang coastline and

coastal ranges, into the Huon Gulf, Huon

Peninsula and West New Britain areas

(Bodrogi 1961, Figs 39-46b; Christensen

1975: 12-13 [Siassi], 25 [Karkar], 114-15




MPNr 86. Hand drum (wek ), Kubkein village, upper Sepik, Wogamusin speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood,

rattan, cloth. 71 x 17 cm diameter. 79.1.534. Registered 23 October 1979. Carved by Nasimbwei, father of

vendor, soon after 1945. Purchased by Barry Craig, 14 January 1973, from Nasideyeiep of Kubkein on behalf

of the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board, Canberra, and subsequently gifted to the PNG Museum by the

Australian government.

[between Bogia and Madang]; Dark 1974,

Illusts 99-110; Swadling et al. 1988, Plate 245).

To complement the hand drums on dis-

play in the Masterpieces Exhibition, a much

wider variety can be found in the Independ-

ence Gallery.

Northern New Guinea

In the Border Mountains of West Sepik Prov-

ince, in central New Guinea, and among

speakers of Sepik Hill languages south of

the upper Sepik and east of May River, the

hand drums have a short carved and painted

design at the bottom end and are relatively

long and narrow, with no handle (they can

be gripped around the narrow ‘waist’ of the

hour-glass shape). MPNr 89 is an example

of such a drum, from the upper LeonhardSchultze or April rivers.

It is probably this type of hand drum that

was, among other sacred objects, said by the

Bahinemo to have been created by a man,

Wimogu, and a woman, Igoshua (Newton

1971: 18). Newton was told that these two

still live at a place called Maifa at the head

of the April River. The couple made a whole

range of sacred objects, weapons and other

goods and tied them onto a log that they

floated down the river. As it floated down-

stream, it shed its load thus distributing

objects to various places, ‘exept to the Buka

[Setiyali] of the upper April River, who only

obtained spears and hand-drums’.

In the Torricelli Mountains north of the

upper Sepik, the hand drums (see MPNr 100)

are short with a wooden handle and usu-

ally have a pair of triangular panels in each

half of the drum filled in with carved designs,

like those of the lower and coastal Sepik,

and offshore islands. Nothing is known of

the symbolic significance of the hand drums

or the designs carved on them. However,

the drums are used in co-ordination with

the slit-gongs to set the rhythm for dances

associated with the tall masks used in mas-

querades to cure illness and obtain other

benefits (such as success in hunting) from the

fish spirits represented by the masks (Briggs

1928: 270; McGregor 1982).

MPNr 84 has been attributed to Malu

village on the upper Sepik; however, it is more

likely to be from the Boiken of the Yangoru

area of the Prince Alexander Mountains. A

similar drum, with two wooden loops to

which to secure a rattan or fibre strap, and

with similar dentate-edged oval motifs at the

lower end, was advertised for sale by Michael

Hamson (www.michaelhamson.com/drums_

oct_03_Dscn2646.htm). Hamson states that

this type of drum is carried by shoulder strap

and beaten at the same time as the player

holds a bamboo flute to his mouth.

That MPNr 84 is from the Yangoru area

is strengthened by similarity of the design

to those on pots from that area (May and

Tuckson 2000, Figs 9.110 and 9.112). May

and Tuckson report (2000: 271): ‘The most

commonly repeated motif of concentric

circles is said to represent the face of a

“masalai” . ‘

At Kubkein, on the Sepik between theLeonhard Schultze and April rivers, apart

from ordinary hand drums used to sound

the rhythm of dances at initiation and other

ceremonies, there was always just one magi-

cal, oracular hand drum called wök , with the

personal name Sabortau, belonging to the

Nandi’iyan clan (Newton 1971, Illust. 105).

Newton (1971: 53) reports:

Before a raid, Sabortau was beaten all

night, while the raiding party chewed a

mixture of ginger, betel and blood from

the penis. At dawn the raiders entered the

war-canoes, which rocked on the water.




Sabortau was questioned whether the

raiders should proceed: if the canoes

stopped rocking, they could; if the move-

ment went on they called the expedition

off. If the party went out, they took Sabor-

tau with them. The spirit of Sabortau then

went ahead and appeared to the enemy

as a single woman in a canoe, thus both

enticing them to attack and disguising

the presence of the Kubka raiders until

they had closed in … On the way home,

signals were blown on wooden trumpets

for the benefit of the v illage women. On

arrival, trumpets and hand drums were

played. The homicide himself was deco-

rated with upstanding sprays of croton

leaves at his shoulders.

Fifty kilometres east of the Wogamusin

speakers, along the Sepik upstream and

downstream from Ambunti, are the villages

of the Manambu. Their territory adjoins the

western boundary of the Iatmul with whom

they share linguistic and cultural affinities.

Hand drums, along with bullroarers and

flutes, are said to have been first made by the

Manambu culture heroes, Nggutabwi and his

brother Miyangganau (Newton 1971: 66).

The Manambu hand drum in the Master-

pieces Exhibition (MPNr 104) does not have a

wooden handle but a single wooden loop towhich a rattan strap may have been fastened,

or by which the drum could have been held

with a finger or thumb. A hand drum from

Avatip (Kelm 1968, Plate 520) has three loops

for securing a rattan strap. The spiral motif

on MPNr 104 is related to Iatmul and Sawos

designs to the east (cf., designs on malu

boards of the Sawos in Kelm 1966a, Plates 28,

31 and Newton 1963, and on Iatmul shields in

Kelm 1966a, Plates 196, 197, 199).

Newton (1971: 70) comments on how the

Manambu used their hand drums after a suc-

cessful headhunting raid following the

initiation of the young men:

Successful headhunting was celebrated

by a large number of songs, to the

accompaniment of hand drums and danc-

ing in a circle, of which the leader danced

backward. The texts of the songs were

largely lists of names, including those of

totemic eagles, patches of grassland, bush

and water spirits, winds and the like. The

performances were brought to an end by

a series of hooting calls on a short bam-

boo trumpet hung with seed rattles.

Among the Iatmul of the middle Sepik,

songs (sagi ) are sung on such occasions as

the dedication of new houses, at initiation,

marriage, death and so on. These songs

recount episodes in the migration of the clan

ancestors to the present village sites from

their place of origin, Mivimbit, a location near

the present-day Sawos village of Gaikarobi

(Spearritt and Wassmann 1996: 61). The sing-

ing is accompanied by various musical

instruments, including hand drums. The hand

drum provides the basic rhythm for the other

instruments, notably the flutes. For the

Chambri of Aibom, Spearritt reports

(1990: 536):

The hour-glass drum player is not far from

any of the flute players, because it is

essential that they be able to hear h is beat

very clearly … this is a very responsible

role and calls for a dependable drummer

with a very good rhythmic sense. Fre-

quently one of the oldest, most

experienced men in the village is called

on to perform this function.

Only such a man has the secret knowl-

edge relating to the performance, the

experience of having played all the flutes in

the ensemble, and knows how the flutes

must fit in with the drum rhythm.

There is great variation in the form of the

hand drums of the Iatmul of the middle

MPNr 104. Hand drum, Malu village, Ambunti area,

Manambu speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 63

x 17 cm diameter. E.7981. Obtained from Wayne

Heathcote and registered 31 May 19 71. Tympanum

missing.




MPNr 106. Hand drum (kwangu), middle Sepik,

Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, shells,

lizard skin, fibre remnants. 73 x 19 cm diameter.

E.16176. Purchased from Barry Hoare and registered

12 February 1975.

MPNr 107. Hand drum (kwangu), middle Sepik,

Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, lizard

skin, bast, rubber. 77 x 15 cm diameter. E.16057.

Purchased from Barry Hoare and registered

11 February 1975.

Sepik. Some have wooden handles carved as

animals, birds or anthropomorphic masks,

such as the two in the Masterpieces

Exhibition (MPNrs 106, 107; see also Kelm

1966a, Plates 158, 159, 161, 163). Others have

rattan handles tied to loops or holes carved

into the drum (ibid., Plates 157, 160, 162).

Based on information I obtained at Kangana-

man (Craig 1981: 82), hand drums, like many

carved objects among the Iatmul, may have a

personal name referring to the spirit that has

been induced to take up habitation in the

object. It is unfortunate that most collectors

failed to record these names.

Lower Sepik hand drums (such as MPNr

105), like those of the north coast and off-

shore islands, have a pair of triangular panels

at each end, infilled with designs that are

related to those on slit gongs and war shields

of the region. There is a carved handle, usu-

ally with symmetrically-disposed heads of

animals or anthropomorphic spirit beings

(see Haberland and Schuster 1964: 31 far left,

and 71; Kelm 1968, Plates 385, 386).

Towards the eastern end of northern New

Guinea are the Siassi Islands across the Vitiaz

Strait near Umboi (Rooke) Island, and the

Tami Islands off the southern end of the

Huon Peninsula. These two island groups

were once part of a maritime trade network

that linked the Huon Gulf peoples with the

western end of New Britain.

Tibor Bodrogi (1961: 78-83) has published

some information about hand drums of the

Huon Gulf area, in particular, hand drums of

the Tami, Yabim and Kate peoples. He notes

that, unlike the carving of wood bowls, the

carving of hand drums is not restricted to any

particular villages. Therefore, because of the

long association between the Tami Islands

and the Siassi Islands, it is probably safe to

apply to the Siassi hand drums, for example,




MPNr 105. Hand drum, Blupblup Island, Bam

speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, lizard sk in.

54 x 15 cm diameter. E.14622. Collected by and

purchased from Morr is Young, and registered

23 July 1974.

MPNr 103. Hand drum, Siassi Islands, Siassi

speakers, Morobe Province. Wood, lizard skin. 77 x

18 cm diameter. 76.36.197. Purchased from Island

Carvings (Morris Young) September 1975 and


glue. The little tuning lumps on the tympa-

num are made of the wax from stingless

Trigona bees.

To make the drum, a section of log is

stood up and secured on the stump of a tree

and the hole is cut out with an adze (formerly

of stone or Tridacna shell but now steel) at

the same time as the outside is shaped to

achieve an hourglass form. Bodrogi does not

mention burning through the log with fire,

the method used by many other peoples of

New Guinea, such as the Kiwai (Landtman

1933: 69). When the shape is satisfactory, the

detailed carving is done, including the han-

dle and often a vertical ridge on the opposite

side. The handle may be plain or carved with

animal heads (Bodrogi 1961, Fig.46b).

Around the body of the drum, intricate

motifs are incised and in-filled with white lime.

The area of the surface of the drum that is

carved has the same shape as certain

armbands, with two or four triangular areas at

each end (ibid., Figs 39-46, 230-31; for Kilenge,

Siassi and Tami drums, see Dark 1974, Illusts

99-110). This design is called yo-bela, after the

plaited bracelets, decorated with small nassa

shells, that are made in south-west New Britain.

There are usually several motifs carved

onto the surface of the drum. The wide wavy

band on MPNr 103 is probably a representa-

tion of the centipede (Yabim: kalikali ) or

snake (Yabim: moa); the series of circles are

most likely Conus shell rings (Yabim:kematen)

that are made by Tami women or imported

from the Siassi Islands and used as jewellery.

The ridge of wood opposite the handle

appears to be carved as two pairs of linked

squatting figures with bird heads at each end.

Oval, eye-like shapes hint at faces and the

saw-teeth pattern is said to be i-lun (fish

teeth) or akwa-lun (shark teeth).

Men used hand drums both for

MPNr 103, the information he gives for those

of the Tami and their neighbours.

Bodrogi notes that the timber used for

making hand drums comes from Cordia, Calo-

phyllum and Afzelia species, the skin

(tympanum) of the drum is usually from the

Varanus indicus lizard. The skin is softened in

water and stretched over the top edge of the

drum, which has been smeared with tree sap




ceremonial and less formal occasions, to

accompany songs and to provide the rhythm

for dances (see Dark 1974, Illusts 171-73, 175,

177).

Southern New Guinea

The Asmat of the southern coast of [West]

Papua make hand drums by burning and

scraping out the log with a shell; the carv-

ing is done with an iron-nail chisel. The bird

beaks on the handle of the Asmat drum

MPNr 90 are of the hornbill, a headhunting

symbol. On the body of the drum, the double

spiral motif is the warrior’s bipane shell nose-

piece and the motif at the centre of each half

is a spirit’s elbow with its hands on either side

(see Gerbrands 1967: 219).

The hand drum has considerable signifi-

cance for the Asmat. ‘The creator Fumeripitsjs

built a yeu [communal men’s house], made

several wood carvings, and animated them

by beating a drum. Drums are still beaten to

act out this story at the inauguration of a yeu,

and at other ceremonial occasions. The grips

are usually decorated with headhunting sym-

bols’ (Smidt 1993: 105).

In the Western Province of Papua New

Guinea, to the north-west of Mount Bosavi,are a number of related groups including the

Bedamuni (also called Bedamini or Beami).

Albert G. van Beek published the results

of his fieldwork among the Bedamuni in 1987

but there is l ittle information there about

hand drums. However, he has kindly supplied

the following information (pers. comm. 24

December 2003):

I collected two drums for the PNG

National Museum from Gofabi village

(near Mougulu), Bedamuni. Drums, locally

called iribu, are played by men when per-

forming the kafoi ceremony, traditionally

MPNr 90. Hand drum (em), Buepis village, Fajit River,

Casuarina Coast Asmat, Asmat speakers, [ West]

Papua, Indonesia. Wood. 133 x 29 cm at widest

point. E.8945. Made by vendor Ofas. Collected by

Robert Mitton and registered 4 February 1972.

the most important ceremony on the

Bedamuni calendar. The kafoi is per-

formed as the final festive stage of the

boy’s initiation ceremony (goy lèègi ) or at

other dramatic occasions that need

confirmation of local cultural integrity or

identity (such as when the first Australian

[government] patrols visited the area).

The longer, slender drum [MPNr 88] was

the common one at the time of collecting

(1978/79) and later (1988). The shorter,

more cubic-formed one [MPNr 87], how-

ever, was the traditional Bedamuni drum

until the late 1960s. It was abandoned

when kafoi performances, following a

series of earthquakes and landslides, did

not have the desired effect. The new type

was acquired through exchange from the

Samo people [western neighbours of the

Bedamuni, near Nomad], together with

spells and knowledge of how to make and

use them. Since then, the longer drum has

been used throughout the area. The

‘mouth’ of both types of drum represents

the jaws of a crocodile.

The older shorter drum is one of only

two in existence that I know of; the other

one (also collected by me) being in the

collection of the National Museum for

Ethnology in Leiden. I came across the old

type by accident, simply because my

museum collecting activities stimulated

the people to ‘clean out the attic’ so to

speak. They were lying abandoned in two

longhouses but were not destroyed, as

drums are perhaps the only objects that

are carefully kept, apart from things made

of stone. Because of their rarity, I commis-

sioned a number of ‘old type’ drums to be

made by local craftsmen to ensure that

the remembrance of this type would not

be lost (they should still be in Gofabi

village).

The tympanum is made of lizard skin

( paigu). The four little lumps on the skin




MPNr 87 (left). Hand drum (iribu), Gofabi village,

Nomad River, Bedamuni (Biami) people, Beami

speakers, Western Province. Wood, lizard skin.

84 x 19 cm diamryrt. 81.67.1 [incorrect number;

identified as 79.84.357, collected by Albert G. van

Beek 1978-79 and registered 16 November 1 979].

MPNr 88 (right). Hand drum (iribu), Gofabi vil lage,

Nomad River, Bedamuni (Biami) people, Beami

speakers, Western Province. Wood, lizard skin, rattan.

117 x 13 cm diameter. 81.67.2 [incorrect number;

identified as 79.84.356, collected by Albert G. van

Beek 1978-79 and registered 16 November 1 979].

are made from beeswax (lebèèri ) and

serve to tune the drum. Although the

designs on the drums have symbolic

interpretations, these meanings are

regarded as trivial compared with the

meaning of the sound. Tuning a drum is a

time-consuming affair that starts hours

before a nightly performance and remains

a preoccupation in the breaks during the

performance. Properly tuned, the drum

has to sound two-toned, somewhat like

‘ba-u’ (from low to high) otherwise the

performance is not right. This sound is

said to be the voice of Awamuni, the cul-

ture hero that gave the Bedamuni their

cultural identity. It is said therefore that

you can hear him calling ‘a-ta’ (also low-

high) which means ‘father-son’. An

intriguing detail is that drum rhythm and

the bodily movement of the performer

should not be in phase. In fact, when a

ceremony has a number of performers

(sometimes three or four) they too will

not drum in phase. This, together with

bursts of singing from groups of young

girls in the men’s sleeping area, makes the

whole performance completely

cacophonic to the untrained ear and eye,

yet strangely impressive.

The kafoi dancer is dressed much like

the Kaluli gisaro dancer [van Beek 1980 for

Bedamuni; Briggs 1980 for Kaluli]. In fact,

like the Kaluli know drum performances,

the Bedamuni know song performances,

but the cultural importance is inverted.

For a detailed description and analysis of

the significance and use of the hand drum

among the Kaluli, who are closely related to

the Bedamuni culturally and linguistically, see

Feld (1983) and Schieffelin (1976: 149, 225).

A couple of hundred kilometres to the

south-east of Bosavi are the riverine deltas,

mangrove swamps and sandbanks of the

Papuan Gulf, inhabited by peoples linked in




the past more by trade and warfare than by

shared languages and cultures.

The open ‘jaws’ of the Papuan Gulf drums

may be regarded as analogous to the jaws of

the crocodile in the western Gulf, and/or of

the wicker imunu that are kept at the far end

of the men’s house in the eastern Gulf.

The drum from Goaribari Island (MPNr 94)

is similar in form to the long drums from the

Bosavi region (cf., MPNr 88). Newton states

(1961: 47) that this type of drum was made at

Dibiri, at the mouth of the Bamu River, and

was traded south-west to Kiwai Island and

north-east to Goaribari Island (or that the

Goaribari copied the Dibiri drums). He sug-

gests a relationship between the spiral

designs on these drums and the tao (clan

insignia) of the Gogodala of the Aramia River,

a western tributary of the Bamu.

The hand drum of the central Gulf (MPNr

96) is also without a carved handle but quite

short. The carved and painted design at the

‘mouth’ of the drum is clearly related to the

designs found on the gope boards (see New-

ton 1961, Illusts 187, 188). One might

conjecture that the hand drum gives expres-

sion to the voice of the gope. On the other

hand, throughout the Papuan Gulf, the hand

drum is linked to the culture hero called Sidoon Kiwai Island, Hido in the western Gulf, and

Iko in the Purari Delta and further east (New-

ton 1961: 12).

The Namau hand drum (MPNr 95) has a

wooden handle, a characteristic of hand

drums of the eastern Gulf, and detailed

carved designs around the ‘mouth’ that are

closely related to those found on bark belts,

bullroarers and magic marupai , and ulti-

mately, though less obviously, to the designs

on the tall masks called aiaimunu by the

Namau (the equivalent of the hevehe of the

western Elema). For the Elema, and this

MPNr 94. Hand drum, Goaribari Island, western

Papuan Gulf, Kerewo speakers, Gulf Province. Wood.

Tympanum missing. 108 cm x 15 cm diameter.

E.16393. Seized in 1972, donated by Customs in

1974 and registered 24 March 1975. Published in

Smidt 1975: 19, 20, 22, and Nr 20, but with incorrect

provenance.

MPNr 96. Hand drum, attributed to Urama Island,

central Papuan Gulf, Urama-Gope speakers,

Gulf Province. Wood, lizard skin, rattan. 47 x 12

cm diameter. 77.10.18. Collected by Knezevic

and Gueroult, subsequently handed over to the

museum by the Honorary French Consul, N.F.

Maloney, and registered 19 January 1977.




MPNr 95. Hand drum, attributed to Namau people,

Purari Delta, Purari speakers, Gulf Province. Wood.

Tympanum missing. 80 x 25 cm maximum diameter.

81.26.131 [original registration number lost].

MPNr 93. Hand drum, Kikori, western Papuan Gulf,

Kerewo speakers [but more likely from one of the

Elema groups of the eastern Papuan Gulf], Gulf

Province. Wood. Tympanum missing. 59 x 16 cm

diameter. E.16269. Purchased from Barry Hoare and


would be almost certainly the case for the

Namau as well, the hand drum was essential

to the public performance of the hevehe

masks. Mamiya and Sumnik state (1982: 28),

the full term for the hevehe mask was

apa-hevehe, or drum-hevehe, since each

masquerader carried a drum whenever he

appeared in public. Because ma-hevehe

were spirits, one way in which their pres-

ence was made manifest was through

sound . . . the masks began their symbolic

‘lives’ only after delivery of the drums.

In Namau legend, the hand drum is asso-

ciated with the culture hero, Iko. According to

one account of his birth (Williams 1924: 248),

his foster mother gave birth first to a drum,

and then to him. Other legends indicate that

Iko came from the west, ‘carrying his drum

with him … first to Urama, and then to the

villages of the Purari’ (ibid.: 250). Williams con-

tinues (ibid.: 251):

As he travelled he carried his drum always,

and beat it in the new villages. And the

people were astonished at the way it

seemed to speak, saying sometimes: ‘ Aiari,

Aiari; Pivai, Pivai ,’ from which the drum

came to be known to some by the name

‘ Aiari ’.

… And night after night he beat his

drum and sang in the men’s house of

Urama. And while he slept there in the

daytime, men would come and gaze at

him and say, ‘Who is this giant of a man?’

And it was by his drum-beating that he

got a wife in Urama. For sometimes the

drum seemed to call: ‘Iua, Iua, Bapia, Bapia,’

so that at last the people gave him a cer-

tain woman, Iua, to wife, thinking that he

was calling for her.

The legend recounts how Iko played a

role in the establishment of the Vaimuru

people, their social system and their material

culture (ibid.: 252):




Iko, who had brought his drum with him

here also, showed the people how to beat

it and how to sing. And he hung up his

drum in the ravi and always saw well to

the condition of it. But many other things

he gave to Vaimuru also, to wit, coconuts,

sago, talo [taro], and bananas, and even

fire itself; and above all he taught the peo-

ple their ceremonies and showed them

first the Aiaimunu, then the Gopi-ravi (or

Kaiemunu), then the Upura, and lastly the

Ke’upura.

It may be doubted whether MPNr 93 is

from Kikori. Unlike hand drums of the west-

ern Gulf (for example, MPNr 94), it has a

handle. Furthermore, the repeated design at

both ends of the handle, and at the edge of

the ‘mouth’ of the drum, is also found on

Elema arrows (Haddon 1894, Figs 47, 48). It is

possible that the drum was traded westwards

to Kikori from the Elema, or that the collec-

tion data is incorrect.

Away to the east, off the ‘tail’ of New Guinea,

are the numerous island groups of Milne Bay

Province. The shape of the drums from the

Trobriand Islands is significantly different to

that of the drums elsewhere in Papua New

Guinea, in being curved (see MPNr 85 and

Beran 1980, Plates 104, 105). Trobriand drums are carved from heavy

kwila wood (meku) because of its durability.

They are used for dances (ilowosi ) and some-

times just to beat out a rhythm (ligai ). They

are played with other drums, including the

tiny finger-drum (katuneniya). Although the

men own the drums, they are usually kept in

the family houses.

Malinowski reports (1929: 38-9) that mil-

amala, ‘the annual season of dancing and

feasting held after the harvest’, is inaugurated

by a ceremony to break the taboo on playing

the hand drum.

MPNr 85. Hand drum (kesosau), Losuia village,

Trobriand Islands, Kilivila speakers, Milne Bay

Province. Wood. 68 x 13 cm diameter. Tympanum

missing. UCL 220 (United Church Collection, on loan

to PNG National Museum).

In this initial feast there is a distribution of

food, and the men, adorned in full danc-

ing attire, range themselves for the

performance, the drummers and singers

in the centre of the ring formed by the

decorated dancers. As in a normal dance,

standing in the central place, the singers

intone a chant, the dancers begin to move

slowly and the drummers to beat time.

But they are not allowed to proceed:

almost at the first throb of the drums,

there breaks forth from inside the huts

the wailing of those women who are still

in mourning; from behind the inner row

of houses, a crowd of shrieking, agitated

female figures rush out and attack the

dancers, beat them with sticks, and throw

coconuts, stones and pieces of wood at

them. The men are not bound by custom

to show too considerable courage and in

a trice the drummers, who had so sol-

emnly initiated the perfor mance, have

entirely disappeared; and the village lies

empty, for the women pursue the fugi-

tives. But the taboo is broken and, on the

afternoon of the same day, the first undis-

turbed dance of the festivities is held.




Trumpets

Trumpets may be end-blown or side-blown,

made of bamboo, gourd, conch shell or wood,

and were used primarily for signalling, but

sometimes for musical purposes. They have a

scattered distribution in the Bismarck Archi-

pelago and New Guinea, with a concentration

in northern New Guinea (McLean 1994: 24-7,

35-7, 45-7). In the Border Mountains of West

Sepik Province, several end-blown wooden

trumpets of different sizes are used together

in an ensemble, each trumpet sounding a dif-

ferent tone, so that together a melody can be

played. On the upper Sepik (Kelm 1966b,

Plates 141, 230-31; Swadling et al. 1988,

Plate 242), and on the middle Sepik main-

stream (Craig 1987, Plates 32, 34; Kelm 1966a,

Plates 175-87) and southern tributaries,

wooden trumpets were used for signalling

success in an enterprise such as hunting, but

especially in warfare. On the middle Sepik,

the side-blown trumpets sometimes were

notched to indicate how many enemies had

been killed on each raid (for example, Craig

1987, Plate 34, right; Kelm 1966a, Plates 180,

185).

No details are known about MPNr 98. It

can be observed, however, that there is a sin-

gle notch below the mouth hole, suggesting

it has been used to celebrate the killing of at

least one enemy person.

The unusually large side-blown trumpet,

Kasapange (MPNr 99), also has one tally notch.

Kasapange (also recorded with the name

Miwan) had a companion piece, named Wisp-

ange ( Fig. 91), at Indabu village. Wispange was

gazetted as National Cultural Property on 23

December 1971 and was photographed at

Palimbei village during a routine check of

National Cultural Property in 1982 (Craig 1987,

Plate 32). Some time afterwards, it appears to

MPNr 98. Trumpet (kwi ), middle Sepik, Iatmul

speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, shell. 60 x 10

cm diameter. E.4561. Registered 20 November 1 969.

have been purchased and illegally exported,

as it was not in Palimbei village during a rou-

tine museum check in the 1990s.

Who carved these two trumpets is not

known. I was told in 1981:

… they date back to the beginning of

things when the Sepik basin was a huge,

swampy lagoon called Mevenbit. But one

day the Sepik broke through at Kopar and

the lagoon drained away into the sea.

Back in those early times, the area was

inhabited by two groups of people – Nauwa

(big brother) and Masam (little brother).

These two groups are said to have founded

the first settlements on the Sepik at Shotmeri

and Kararau.




Fig. 91. Wood trumpet named Wispange, at Palimbei

village, Iatmul speakers, middle Sepik. Gazetted

as National Cultural Property 23 December 1971.

Photo: B. Craig, M8: 30; 14 September 1982.

MPNr 99. Trumpet (kul or yambalam?), personal

name Kasapange; Wombun village, middle S epik,

Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, 126 x 1 8

cm. E.10510. Purchased by Dirk Smidt on behalf of

the National Museum and registered 16 November

1972.




Water drums, mud-beater drums and

sacred flutes

Water drums and mud-beater drums are

technically stamping drums and are found

only in the middle Sepik area, most nota-

bly among the Iatmul. They are usually made

and used in pairs, like the sacred flutes. Also

like the flutes (and bullroarers), they are kept

secret from women and children and the

sound is regarded as the voice of a spirit.

The water drum is the size and shape of

an hourglass hand drum, left open at both

ends, but with one or two handles. MPNr 97 is

rather unusual in that its handles are shaped

like that of a hand drum. Usually they have

one or two thin uprights terminated by

human or animal heads, to act as handles, as

for MPNrs 91-2 (Craig 1987, Plate 25; Kelm

1966a, Plates 153-54). The handle is held and

the instrument is stamped onto a pool of

water. This is done inside an enclosure that

has been erected around the men’s house.

The mud-beater drum is like an upturned

wooden bowl tied to the end of a long, thick

rattan or bamboo handle and stamped into

the muddy bottom of a hole about a metre

deep, producing ‘a very low pitched sudden

bang … This is done inside a screen fence

which the novices must break through to

gain their way to the secret’ (Bateson 1932:

453 – caption to Plate X). This type of drum is

called kami or ‘fish’. There are usually carved

representations of the fish on top of the

drum, as in the examples here (MPNrs 101,

102 and Fig. 92). Newton (1971: 67 and Illust.

109) reports that among the Manambu, up

the Sepik west of the Iatmul, these are identi-

fied as catfish and that the pit into which the

instruments are plunged is filled with water

(rather than mud).

MPNr 97. Water drum, middle Sepik, Iatmul

speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 155 x 30 cm

diameter. E.349. Collected by Dadi Wirz in 1955

and registered 7 December 1956. Published in a

photograph of an exhibition in the PNG Museum

around 1965 ( TPNGMAG 1966, Plate opp. p.26,

extreme right).

The mud-beater drum is like an upturned

wooden bowl tied to the end of a long, thick

rattan or bamboo handle and stamped into

the muddy bottom of a hole about a metre

deep, producing ‘a very low pitched sudden

bang … This is done inside a screen fence

which the novices must break through to

gain their way to the secret’ (Bateson 1932:

453 – caption to Plate X). This type of drum is

called kami or ‘fish’. There are usually carved

representations of the fish on top of the

drum, as in the examples here (MPNrs 101,

102 and Fig. 92). Newton (1971: 67 and Illust.

109) reports that among the Manambu, up

the Sepik west of the Iatmul, these are identi-

fied as catfish and that the pit into which the

instruments are plunged is filled with water

(rather than mud).




MPNr 92 (left). Water drum – paired with Nr 91.

Chambri Lake, middle Sepik, Chambri speakers, East

Sepik Province. Wood, cassowary feathers, shell. 80

x 19 cm diameter. E.8847. Purchased from Sepik

Primitive Arts, Madang and registered 30 December

1971. Published in TPNGPMAG 19 76a, Plate p. 50

(incorrect height).

MPNr 91 (right). Water drum, Chambri Lake, middle

Sepik, Chambri speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood,

cassowary feathers, shell. 99 x 21 cm diameter.

E.8848. Purchased from Sepik Primitive Arts,

Madang and registered 30 December 1971.




Fig. 92 (bottom). Pair of mud-beater drums, named

Aramambun and Tomtei, at Palimbei v illage, Iatmul

speakers, middle Sepik. Photo: B. Craig, M16: 16;

4 November 1981.

MPNr 102 (middle). Mud-beater drum (kami), pair

to Nr 101, attributed to Palimbei village, middle

Sepik, Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.

54 x 25 cm. E. 7300. Registered 11 February 1971.

MPNr 101 (top). Mud-beater drum (kami ), pair to

Nr 102, attributed to Palimbei village, middle Sepik,

Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 46 x 23

cm. E.7301. Registered 11 February 1971.

MPNrs 101 and 102 were registered in 1971

without information about collector or vil-

lage of origin. In 1981 (Craig 1981: 98) I

photographed two almost identical mud-

beater drums (Fig. 92) that were carved

around 1970-71 by Marisuva and Yamankan

of Palimbei. They are copies of two that were

sold to Barry Hoare of Madang. The two

drums, original and copies, were named Ara-

mambun and Tomtei. It is possible that the

two in the Masterpieces exhibition are the

two original drums from Palimbei, as it was

around 1970-71 that the museum began to

purchase items from Barry Hoare.

Sacred flutes are clan property, kept in the

men’s cult house. They are invariably made of

bamboo and are side-blown (Craig 1987,

Plate 27; Kelm 1966a, Plates 188-90), each

with a different but complementary note.

They are played in pairs (Fig. 93), sometimes

several pairs, with the players facing each

other, the rhythm supplied by a hand drum. If

several pairs of flutes are played, a continu-

ous melody can be constructed (Spearritt

1990). The sounds are believed to be the

voices of certain spirits ( Yamada 1997) whose

names are given to the flutes. The flutes have

wood stoppers at the proximal end, carved in

the form of animals, birds or humans repre-senting clan totems or ancestors.




MPNrs108, 109. Pair of sacred flutes (and detail of their stoppers), middle Sepik, Iatmul speakers, East Sepik

Province. Bamboo, wood, rattan, shells, human hair. 240 and 260 cm long, respectively. E.1088.2, E.1088.3. Two

of six flutes collected by Charles Julius (Government Anthropologist) and registered 2 June 1964. The figures

at the end of the flutes appear to have been carved by the same man.




Fig. 93. Pair of old flutes named Man-galan being

demonstrated at Yentschan village, Iatmul speakers,

middle Sepik. Photo: B. Craig, C11: 23; 30 October

1981.

Fig. 94 (opposite page). Sulka hemlaut mask named

Bethlehem (now in PNG Museum), at Guma village,

Sulka speakers, Wide Bay, East New Britain Province.

Photo: B. Craig, C5: 32; 6 January 1982.




MASKS

As stated in the Introduction to this book,

men wearing masks and performing at cere-

monies are not merely representing spirits,

they are spirits. The attempt to ensure

women do not view the manufacturing of

masks and that they do not ‘find out’ that the

masks are worn by their own men is a matter

that has been misunderstood by many writ-

ers. Of course, the women know that their

men make the masks, and of course they

often recognise their own men wearing

them. But that is not the point. They believe,

as do the men themselves, that the mask is

the material form the spirit inhabits for its

appearance among humans at the ceremony

it has been summoned to attend. The

attempt at secrecy is to preserve an element

of mystification and therefore respect for the

spirits, ‘to deflect the audience from everyday

perception’ (Schwimmer 1990: 12).

The spirits inhabiting the masks may be

ancestral, or nature spirits that normally

inhabit particular features in the environ-

ment. Some of the more complex masks, such

as the hemlaut masks of the Sulka of East

New Britain Province (Fig. 94), incorporate

motifs that depict episodes in legends, indig-

enous and European (Craig 1995: 47-8); and

as well as traditional themes, the eharo of

Orokolo alluded to features of colonial Euro-

pean culture (Specht 1988: 34, Plate 1; Young

and Clark 2001: 201).

The materials from which masks are made

vary widely. They include wood, rattan, leaves,

bark cloth and other plant materials; feathers,

fur and animal skin; shells, teeth and tusks; and

human skulls and hair. After contact with Euro-

peans, glass beads, wire, metal, cloth and, more

recently, plastics have been incorporated.

The carved wood face is rarely the whole

mask. There is usually a framework of some

sort to which the wooden face is attached.

The framework may serve to hide the wearer

of the mask and tower above the audience.

This is remarkably so for the Awar, Gamei, and

Kire (Giri) of the lower Ramu River (Lewis

1922, Smidt and Eoe 1999, and van den Berg

1992 respectively), the Abelam of the Sepik

coastal ranges (Forge 1973b: 73), the Wantoat

of the Finisterre Range (Schmitz 1963, Illusts

13, 24-8, 35), the Baining of the Gazelle

Peninsula (Hesse and Aerts 1982, Plates 18, 19

top), and the Sulka of Wide Bay (Fig. 94), East

New Britain, and for the Elema of the eastern

Papuan Gulf (Williams 1940). Some masks

Fig. 95. Ariaso masks in shelter, Wurabai village,

Kwomtari speakers, upper Sepik basin. Photo:

M.J. Lewis, January 1963; South Australian Museum

archives, AA180.




MPNr 56. Mask (ariaso), Kwomtari vil lage,

Amanab area, Kwomtari speakers, West Sepik

Province. Bark cloth, rattan, feathers. 280 x 90 cm.

E.14173. Obtained from B. Juillerat and registered

24 April 1974.

may even be carried by several men, such as

some on the lower and middle Sepik River

(Kaufmann 1975, Plate 86; Stöhr 1987, Plate

33). As Schwimmer (1990: 11) points out,

… spirits are often referred to in Papua

New Guinea as larger than m en, [and]

masks are likewise often larger. One might

say that masked figures are as large as

actors can conveniently handle, but the

spirits represented may be conceptual-

ized as larger still.

Upper Sepik region

Amanab is an administrative centre in the

Border Mountains, looking east over Kwom-

tari territory in the upper Sepik basin. The

mask from the Kwomtari people (MPNr 56),

called ariaso, was used in sickness curing cer-

emonies (also called ariaso). An animal killed

by the sick person, always either a snake

or something associated with water, such

as a crocodile, eel or fish, was seen as the

cause of the illness and its image was repre-

sented at the centre of the mask. However,

it was a dead ancestor or a non-human for-

est spirit, who had become the guardian of

the particular animal killed by the sick per-

son while hunting or fishing, who was the

ultimate source of the malevolence. The cer-

emony sought to exorcise that malevolence

from the sick person. Sicknesses associated

with the spirits of other animals required dif-

ferent types of masks and ceremonies. Similar

beliefs, along with associated masking tradi-

tions, are widespread throughout the upper

Sepik basin and the Torricelli Mountains (Craig

1980, Huber 1990, Juillerat 1986, Kelm and

Kelm 1980, McGregor 1982, Mitchell 1975) and

even farther to the north-west in the Yafi area

of [West] Papua (Hoogerbrugge 1995).

The ariaso mask in the Masterpieces Exhi-

bition has no animal drawn in the central




white oval and was therefore not assigned to

cure a particular illness. There were usually

four masks danced together at each ariaso

ceremony. Bernard Juillerat collected four at

Ianbi village (Kwomtari speakers) – two for

the PNG National Museum and two for the

Musée de l’Homme (now Musée du quai

Branly) in Paris. The documentation for the

masks in Paris states that even if there were

MPNr 52 (opposi te page, left).Mask (mai ), middle

Sepik, Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood,

rattan, shells. 58 x 9 cm. E.516 (one of thirteen

masks registered under this number on 24

September 1958). Published in TPNGMAG 1966,

Plate opp. p.24, below left-of-centre.

Fig. 96. Mai mask named Woliang-ginjan mounted

on a conical mask frame, Korogo village, Iatmul

speakers, middle Sepik. Photo: B. Craig, C6: 29;

25 October 1981.

only three illnesses scheduled for treatment,

there had to be a fourth mask. A photograph

(Fig. 95) by M.J. Lewis of four? masks in an

open-sided shelter at Wurabai,26 seems to

confirm this.

Lewis was told that more than one man

was needed to make a mask, which was con-

structed within a special shelter so as not to

be observed by women. Juillerat was told

that the masks remained unpainted, however,

until the eve of the ceremony. During this

period of several months, the sick persons

and those intended to dance the masks

observed certain food taboos and refrained

from sex; songs were sung almost every

night. The women participated in the singing,

and were spectators at the ceremonies in

which the masks were danced while the men

beat the hand drums, going around and

around a sacred enclosure in which the sick

people were located. Lewis was told that

poor garden crops also were reasons for

dancing the masks. After the ceremonies, the

masks were left in the shelter to rot.

Middle Sepik River

The Iatmul mai mask, according to some

sources, gets its name from the little nassa

shells (mai ) with which it is usually decorated

(MPNr 52 does not have its shell decora-

tion). These masks are attached to a profusely

adorned conical mask frame (Fig. 96 and

Meyer 1995, Plate 234) worn during certain

ceremonies by young men representing and

bearing the names of pairs of clan ancestral

brothers and sisters.

They also may bear the names of what

Wassmann calls ‘primal beings’ (such as Wolin-dambwi) who rank above the clan ancestors

(Hauser-Schäublin 1983: 41; Wassmann 1991:

161). Hauser-Schäublin (ibid.) discusses a pos-

sible link between the mai mask and Moiem,

the creator of sago (nau), but concludes that

the significance of mai masks remains elusive. I

was told by Asumbwi of Korogo (Craig 1981:

67) that mai masks are performed

… to celebrate yam and taro harvests …

The mask is worn by the owners’ sisters’

children. The owners kill a pig and give it

to their cousins [nephews and nieces?].

Red and green cordyline leaves [and




feathers and other plant materials] are

used to dress the mask. Sometimes both

male and female masks are [performed].

The masks may carry a long stick to hit the

women on the backside. The ceremony is

to ensure garden fertility.

The Iatmul say that the mai tradition orig-

inated from somewhere to the north, in the

Prince Alexander Mountains, that is, from the

region presently inhabited by the Abelam

and Boiken.

MPNr 51. Mask (mai ), Korogo village, middle Sepik,

Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, rattan,

shells, pig tusks, human hair. 50 x 9 cm. 81.47.1.

Donated by Allyn Mi ller, 7 July 1981.




MPNr 51, with its long and narrow facial

plane, is typical of western Iatmul villages,

although its concave surface with projecting

cylindrical eyes is rather unusual, perhaps

more typical of representations of the waken

spirits.

MPNr 52 is probably western Iatmul, pos-

sibly from ‘Sapandai’ (Japandai) as the face is

almost identical in style to the head of an

orator’s stool from that village (Haberland

and Schuster 1964: 67, right). The bird at the

end of the long nose is a clan totem.

The large woven rattan mask MPNr 57 has

a representation of a bird on top, possibly

saragwa, the megapode or bush fowl (cf.,

Bateson 1932: 452 and Plate VII, right). This

bird is a totemic ancestor of Mwailambu clan

in Mindimbit (in Kandingei, the megapode is

the principal totem of the Yambune/Ngama

clan – Wassmann 1991: 219). In songs that are

sung at death ceremonies for ordinary men

and women, the most important totem, usu-

ally a bird, is featured. It is ‘lured’ by its

particular slit-gong rhythm and the songs are

then commenced. They tell the story of the

bird being born at Mivimbit, the origin of the

Iatmul clans in Sawos territory. It is

at first astonished and bewildered, lights

the first fire, cleans up the future place of

settlement and builds the first house,

adorns and decorates itself like a head-

hunter who commands respect and puts

a war shield in its canoe, loads it with

chattels and thus leaves the first place of

settlement’ (ibid.: 57).

This part of the series of songs is much

the same for all the clans. The totem bird then

leaves Mivimbit along a particular route, dif-

ferent for the various clans, and ‘builds a nest

on a grass island, lays several eggs and

watches its young hatch out’. This is followed

by shorter songs that introduce the other

MPNr 57. Mask (awan), Mindimbit, middle Sepik,

Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Rattan, shells,

clay, human hair, fibre. 219 x 61 cm (including

skirt). 81.26.128 [original registration number lost

but identified as E .16207; purchased from Wayne

Heathcote and registered 12 February 1975].




important animal totems of the clan. The

story as recounted by the songs may be

interpreted as a metaphor ‘for the well-being

and multiplication desired for the members

of the clan’, a concern that would require

reassurance when someone dies.

Not a great deal has been published

about the significance of awan masks. Forge

states (1973a: 172) that awan masks are

‘clearly associated with the clan as a provider

of other people’s mothers and the function of

male clan members as mother’s brothers to

non-clan members’. Thus the awan mask is

worn by the nephews (sister’s sons) of the

male members of the clan to which the mask

belongs (Bateson 1932: 452). They are not

secret-sacred and may be seen by any mem-

bers of the household when not in use.

Yuat River

MPNr 46 is definitely a Yuat style mask (cf.,

Kelm 1968, Plates 206-10; Stöhr 1987, Plate

59; Wardwell 1994: 56-7). It was most likely

traded down the Sepik to the place from

where it was collected. According to Smidt

(1975: 56), such masks represent ancestral

spirits associated with particular clans and

were attached to special mask costumes for

ceremonies. He notes a similar mask attached

to a large crocodile figure constructed of

rattan and palm ‘spathes’ at Kambrambo

(Kambaramba), located between the Yuat

and Keram rivers (Schuster 1968, Plate 82;

see also Kaufmann 1975, Plate 86; both pho-

tographs taken by Speiser in 1930). At an

initiation ceremony, these crocodile fig-

ures were each carried by several men, and

initiates were pushed into their jaws to be

‘devoured’ and reborn. It is not known for

what purpose this particular mask was used

at Watam village.

MPNr 46. Mask , collected at Watam village but

attributed to the Mundugumor people, Yuat River,

Biwat speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, rattan

and nassa shells. 36 x 18 cm. E.16406. Seized in 1972.

Donated by Customs 1974. Registered 24 March

1975. Published in Smidt 1975: 56 and TPNGPMAG

1974a, Plate opp. p. vii.




Lower Sepik region

All three masks from the lower Sepik (MPNrs

45, 48, 41) are brag masks representing ances-

tors or mythical beings and have personal

names. Each mask is usually fastened to a

small frame of sticks (Fig. 97) and then stored

on a shelf in the ceiling of the men’s house.

The spirits of these masks are evoked during

important occasions such as the building of

a cult house or canoe, or at the initiation of

young men. Lipset (1997: 135-39, 161) char-

acterises the brag spirit as male and warlike,

seducing women and devouring young ini-

tiates before spitting them back to their

mothers as adult men.

I was told (Craig 1981: 157) that the brag

masks were consulted before headhuntingraids and given food and blood. After a suc-

cessful raid, the severed head of the victim

was rubbed on the masks so they could ‘drink

the blood’; the young men likewise ‘drank the

blood’ of the severed head to make them

strong and fearless in battle. For such ritual

acts, the mask was not attached to a dance

costume but to a small frame in the cult

house where it was stored as noted above.

The description of such an event, by the

Catholic priest Father Joseph Schmidt

(quoted by Lipset 1997: 197), is startlingly

vivid:

… the men of Janain [Jangimut] were

opening a new spirit house named Bung-

abwar.27

They went out and got a man

from Ariapan and brought back his head.

Brag masks came down from the

houses. They were richly decorated and

shook as they surrounded the head. The

spirit [mask] slurped at the blood about

the head and then shoved it to the next

mask. Blood dripped from the mouths of

the masks.

On 22 November [1918], in the evening,

MPNr 48. Mask , attributed to Murik Lakes-LowerSepik area, East Sepik Province. Wood. 30 x 16 cm.

81.26.106. [Original registration number lost].

MPNr 45. Mask , Watam village, lower Sepik, Watam


E.16059. Purchased from Barry Hoare. Registered

11 February 1975.




Fig. 97. Four brag masks in men’s cult house (taab) named Keison, Karau village, Murik speakers, Murik Lakes. Photo: B. Craig, C3: 32; 25 September 1983.

the men entered the taab in procession

with torches and noise; the procession

was even frolicsome. [Inside], men danced

before the masks and the head, and

stained the snake head motifs carved at

the ends of the ridgeposts with blood. All

night in the taab, men sang the spells of

the brag spirit. The next day, they heated

up a big pot of water at the beach and

boiled loose the flesh o f the head. The

wajak [of the man who threw the first

spear] cleaned the flesh from the skull and

set it out in the sun to dry. Afterwards, the

skull was hung in the cult house. [Schmidt

1923-24: 700]

Brag masks were also used to determine

the cause of a person’s illness. A mixture of

coconut and sago is fried and offered to the

mask. The oldest clansman is a shaman. He is

possessed by the spirit of the mask and asks

about the illness to determine who caused it.

The mask MPNr 45 from Watam village

has the beak-like nose of the male war spirit

(Lipset 1997: 135) as does MPNr 41, and isrichly carved with swirling incised lines,

dentates and zigzags that emphasize its

aggressive qualities.

No details are known about MPNr 48

except that it was in the museum’s collec-

tions before Dirk Smidt began working there

in 1970 (pers. comm. 19 May 2004).

According to information I obtained at

Mendam village, Murik Lakes (Craig 1981:

168), Gweim (MPNr 41) was carved by Wiki at

the village of Gapun, several kilometres south

of Watam Lagoon. This was well before the

Germans came to the Sepik, perhaps early to

Left to right (information from Craig 1981: 172):

Gelamamun, carved by Ikun of K arau with steel tools prior to World War I.

Mambura, bought by Bei-ibo from Watam village with dogs’ teeth and baskets, c.1870s; jaglep (a lizard) totem on forehead.

Damei, bought by Yakeni from Watam v illage, c. 1870s;munimunik (a small black water bird) totem on forehead.

Wangar, carved by Emang of Karau pr ior to World War I, as a copy of an older mask (named Wangar Tarego) bought from Watam, and located at Wokumot hamlet of

Big Murik in 1981; munimunik (a small black water bird) totem on forehead.

mid 19th century. Gweim is an evil mask and

killed many men and women, so the people

of Gapun got rid of it by passing it on to

Arero of Karau at Murik Lakes, who lived

seven generations ago.

28

This is how Arero acquired Gweim. Arero

was from Karau but living at Mendam

(presumably he married a Mendam woman).

His son died and he believed that Mendam

people had ‘poisoned’ him (by sorcery). Arero

left Mendam and went on a journey looking

for a means of revenge. He came to Gapun

and there the people were performing a

sing-sing (ceremony) that involved a stone

‘spear’ that accompanied the mask Gweim.

Arero gave them a dog’s head that he had

placed in an ‘adze-basket’ (Fig. 99). In return,

they gave him Gweim, the stone ‘spear’ and




MPNr 41. Mask (brag), personal name Gweim;

Gapun village, lower Sepik, Gapun speakers, East

Sepik Province. Wood, rattan, shell. 104 x 28 cm.

E.16415, plus small mask 80.7.1 attached at the top.

Bought by Wayne Heathcote at Mendam village,

Murik Lakes. Seized in 1972, donated by Customs

in 1974 and registered 24 March 1975. Gazetted as

National Cultural Property on 23 December 1971.Published in Beier and Aris 1975: 22 and Figs 1a-1d;

Smidt 1975: 52-3 and TPNGP MAG 1974a, Plate

opp. p. iv.

Fig. 98. The small mask (registered 80.7.1) attached

to the original Gweim mask. Photo: James Spiers,

1981.




three black palm spears and, after the cere-

mony was complete, they returned the

‘adze-basket’. Arero used the three spears to

kill some men of the Mindamot clan who he

believed were responsible for his son’s death.

Arero was of Mangaren clan and even today,

whenever Mangaren have a dispute with

Mindamot clan, they perform a ritual to acti-

vate Gweim against them.

The small mask attached to the top of

Gweim was in place when Gweim was photo-

graphed prior to being gazetted as National

Cultural Property on 23 December 1971

(Smidt 1975: 52-3). It must have been

removed prior to 10 June 1972 when Gweim,

along with many other objects, was seized in

Madang to prevent it from being removedillegally from the country (ibid.: 3). The small

mask was sent illegally to the United States of

America but in due course was handed over

to Douglas Newton of the Museum of Primi-

tive Art in New York by an anonymous

person, and passed on to the PNG authorities

in January 1980. It was registered 11 July

1980.

In 1972, when Wayne Heathcote was

negotiating for the purchase of the original

Gweim, a replacement mask (Fig. 100) was

carved by Gweim’s custodian, Mantarei of

Yamda clan in Mendam.

Fig. 99. The ‘adze basket’ named Eimora, associated

with the brag mask Gweim, Mendam vi llage, Murik

speakers, Murik Lakes. Photo: B. Craig, M33: 10;

22 November 1981.

Fig. 100. Mask carved in 1972 by Mantarei of

Mendam village, Murik speakers, Murik Lakes,

as a replacement for the original mask Gweim

(MPNr 41). The small stone ‘spear’ that accompanied

the original Gweim is to the right of the mask.

Photo: B. Craig, M32: 36; 22 November 1981.

The replacement Gweim has two small

carvings tied at the top of its head, one

carved as a miniature brag mask and the

other as a mask with a long bird-like beak.

The small mask registered 80.7.1 (Fig. 98),

identified and returned by Douglas Newton,

is the original of the miniature long-beaked

mask. Presumably there was an original of

the miniature brag mask too.

In 1981, Mantarei was the custodian of

the replacement mask as well as of the stone

‘spear’ given to Arero. Sanimba of Mendam

was custodian of one of the palm wood

spears (called Ataper) and of the adze and

‘adze-basket’ named Eimora. The other two

spears were held at Darapap and one of the

hamlets of ‘Big Murik’.According to Beier and Aris (1975: 22),

Mantare (sic) was the owner of the original

Gweim but they were told it was carved at

Wongan, ‘a Murik village that is not situated

on a sandbank like Mendam but slightly

inland in the bush’. However, this is inaccurate

as Wongan is not a Murik village but is on the

southern shore of Watam Lagoon, east of the

Sepik mouth. However, it is significant that

the walking trail leading south to Gapun

commences at Wongan.

Beier and Aris were informed that the

sharp nose of Gweim represents the beak of

the kekekaur bird. At Darapap (Craig 1981:

153) I recorded kekeko as the name of the

‘kookaburra’; this might be the Rufous-bellied

Giant Kingfisher (Dacelo gaudichaud ) (Gould

1970: 126-27). Beier and Aris were told (1975:

22) that the row of spikes at the top of the

nose represents the crest of the cockatoo

(irekirek ); Smidt recorded (1975: 52) that thesespikes are called jaboag, ‘the same term used

for the barbs of the sacred spears’. The four-

pointed design around the mouth is birin

(star). The fish on the brow is akok (a shark),

the ‘vehicle’ and totem of the spirit of the

mask. The pair of curved forms either side of

the shark’s head and the mask’s nose repre-

sent the pig tusk nose ornament (mangeb)

worn by warriors. All these characteristics add

up to an impression of loud aggression, con-

sistent with the mask’s fearsome reputation.




Wogeo Island

Wogeo (Wokeo, Vokeo) Island is at the west-

ern end of the Schouten Islands archipelago.

These islands, roughly 50 kilometres off the

north coast of New Guinea stretching from

opposite Wewak to opposite the mouth of

the Ramu River, were part of the extensive

north coast trade network documented by

Tiesler (1969-70). It is not surprising then that

Wogeo Island shares many cultural features

with the coastal Sepik-Ramu region.

The principal ethnographic fieldwork on

Wogeo was carried out by Ian Hogbin in

1934. His book on the religion of Wogeo

(1970) provides some information about the

social context of masking. Hogbin states that

the masks ‘are of similar general design

except that the shape and length of the nose

differs’ (1970: 62). He illustrates two such

masks (ibid.: 60), one of which has a long

beak-like nose and the other has a relatively

short, naturalistic nose, but he does not

explain the significance of the difference.

MPNrs 42 and 43 are examples of these two

types.

Wogeo Islanders believe in several types

of supernatural beings, one of which Hogbin

calls ‘spirit monsters’ (1970: 58). There are two

categories – the lewa (also the word for

‘mask’) and the nibek (meaning ‘flute’). The

lewa spirits are associated with ‘the lesser

food distributions (walage) held for the resi-

dents of a single district’ and the nibek spirits

are associated with ‘the elaborate festivals

(warabwa) in which the guests come from

different parts of the island’. These two

categories each consist of bush spirits and

village spirits. Bush lewa impose a ban on the

collection of certain bush crops and bush

nibek ban harvesting of plantation crops such

as bananas and areca nuts. Village lewa ban

MPNr 42 (left). Mask , Wogeo Island, Wogeo speakers,


Donated by J.K. McCarthy. Registered 18 February 1975.

MPNr 43 (right). Mask , Wogeo Island, Wogeospeakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, rattan. 34 x 16

cm. E.16241. Donated by J.K. McCarthy. Registered

18 February 1975.




the harvesting of coconuts and village nibek

ban the killing of domestic pigs. Impersona-

tion of three of the four types of spirit

monsters is by imitation of their voices – bull-

roarers for the bush lewa, leaf whistles and

bamboo trumpets for the bush nibek , and

bamboo flutes for the village nibek . The vil-

lage lewa are represented by masked dancers

(tangbwal ).

The village headman has the right to

arrange for the appearance of the spirit mon-

sters and he it is who owns a couple of

wooden masks, usually inherited, that are

attached to the village lewa spirits’ costumes

(Fig. 101). These spirits ensure that there are

sufficient resources available for celebration

of such occasions as the headman’s daugh-

ter’s first menstruation or the intra-district

and inter-district food distributions that will

bring prestige to the headman.

The first appearance of a village lewa does

not require the use of a wooden mask. This is

the mother lewa, represented by a young

man wearing a conical ‘spathe’ over his head

and pads on his body, swathed in women’s

skirts to give the appearance of a heavily

pregnant woman. Later in the proceedings,

she ‘gives birth’ to twins and her offspring are

the male spirits wearing the wooden masks.

Each twin wears voluminous skirts and the

mask attached to a large wicker cone topped

with human hair and adorned with shells,

dogs’ teeth, boars’ tusks, strips of possum fur,

bird-of-paradise skins and other feathers. The

two masks dance to the rhythm of hand

drums and slit-gongs, facing each other, hold-

ing a seed rattle in one hand and a spear in

the other (see illustration in Hogbin 1970: 64).

The dancing is vigorous and tiring so the

masks pause regularly to allow other men to

take over the role. Everyone joins in the

dancing and feasting.

MPNr 50. Mask , Keram River, Kambot speakers? East Sepik Province. Wood. 24 x 15 cm. E.16080. Purchased


Fig. 101 (opposite page, bottom). Wogeo masked

dancer, c. 1934-35. Australian Museum Archives:

series 339, H.I. Hogbin P hotographs; Vokeo Album,

A. 3.80.




The first public performance of the masks

signals the beginning of the ban on the col-

lection of ripe coconuts and they continue to

perform, at least all day once a week, for three

or four months until there are sufficient ripe

coconuts available for the big food distribu-

tion. The departure of the lewa spirits is then

orchestrated and the food distribution takes

place. The event reaffirms kinship ties and

obligations and brings the headman much

prestige. As one Wogeo man explained to

Hogbin (1970: 71): ‘You Europeans look on

provisions as something just to stuff your-

selves with, but to us in Wogeo they are for

display and admiration as well. They are twice

as important to us as to you’.

Keram and Lower Ramu Rivers

MPNr 50 is from the Keram River, according

to Barry Hoare. It is difficult to be confident

about this information but it is certainly

from within the Lower Sepik or Lower Ramu

region. The flat ovals around the eyes and the

projections on the cheeks are characteristics

sometimes found on masks of this region.The

relatively naturalistic nose shape suggests

a representation of an ancestor spirit rather

than of a male war spirit (brag) which is usu-

ally characterised by a long, beak-like nose.

Barry Hoare claimed that MPNr 44 also

was from the Keram River whereas Rudi

Caesar stated in 1978 that the mask was from

Dinam in the Ruboni Range, some 15 kilome-

tres east of the Ramu River. The style of this

mask is different to those from the Keram

River (cf., mask from Keram River illustrated in

Stöhr 1987: 54). Dirk Smidt (pers. comm. 19

May 2004) reports that in May 1977 he saw

similar masks at Abegini (Abegani), about a

kilometre from Dinam. He was informed that

the spirit in such masks ‘fosters the supply of

MPNr 44. Mask , attributed to Dinam village, Ruboni

Range, Mikarew speakers, Madang Province. Wood,

rattan. 52 x 21 cm. E.16070. Purchased from Barry





food’. The masks have personal names but the

name for MPNr 44 was not recorded.

Middle Ramu – Guam River area

MPNrs 49 and 53 were both said to have

come from Romkun village but that informa-

tion is unreliable. The pieces may have been

collected at Romkun but taken there for sale

from neighbouring locations.

MPNr 49 might not be a mask, or only a

mask, but a skull holder (cf., Kelm 1968, Plates

238-39). According to Dirk Smidt (per. comm.

19 May 2004), it is most likely from Igana

village, upstream neighbours of the

Kominimung on the Guam River. Smidt has

seen similar masks at Igana, and Igana was

given as the likely origin by the trader Jeff

Liversidge and by his assistant William Siep.

The mask MPNr 53 is almost identical to

the Kominimung masks described by Smidt

(1990a). The difference is mainly in the carv-

ing of the eyes, which are small and slanted

on this mask rather than large and vertical as

on the Kominimung masks published by

Smidt. Also there is a projecting vertical hook

at the top of the mask, perhaps a clan symbol,

whereas Kominimung clan symbols are usu-

ally carved in shallow relief. Smidt favours the

Kominimung provenance; Liversidge and

Siep thought either Kominimung or Igana

(Dirk Smidt, per. comm. 19 May 2004).

The information Smidt obtained about

Kominimung masks may therefore be

applied to this one. Smidt states (1990a: 516)

that the Kominimung masks represent bwon-

gogo, a type of mythical ancestor spirit. ‘Every

man and woman is associated with several

bwongogo and through these individual

associations, each bwongogo is linked to a

certain clan.’

The masks are individually named and

may be male or female. The functions of male

MPNr 49. Mask , also described as a skull holder;

attributed to Igana village, Guam River, Igana


E.10439. Donated by Rudi Caesar and registered

11 October 1972.




MPNr 53. Mask , attributed to Kominimung village,

Guam River, Kominimung speakers, Madang

Province. Wood, rattan, fibre. 83 x 20 cm (ignoring

rattan cap). E.16414. Seized Collection 1972,

donated by Customs in 1974 and registered

24 March 1975. Published in Smidt 1975: 92, 94

– Nr 102 and TPNGPMAG 1974a, front cover.

and female masks are different. The female

masks are associated with gardening, in par-

ticular with the growing and harvesting of

yams, and in that context are called ‘mothers

of the yams’. Smidt (1990a: 516-17) describes

their use:

Performances with them take place at the

time of the yam harvest at the end of the

dry season. On such an occasion a

number of masks … may be used in the

same performance. Masked dancers leave

the men’s house one after another and,

after dancing within the fence con-

structed around the men’s house, parade

through the village in strict order … Each

category of bwongogo has its own type of

music. The dancers masked as ‘mothers of

the yams’ hold pairs of clapsticks in their

hands; in contrast to those representing

other bwongogo, they do not hold hand

drums. Inside the men’s house, the sacred

flutes are blown and the slit-gongs are …

beaten … The ‘mothers of the yams’ hand

out the first yams to [the women and chil-

dren] saying … ‘We have harvested the

yams. You must eat these now’ …

While the female masks are associated

with gardening, the male masks are asso-

ciated with hunting, especially the

hunting of pigs … In former times the

bwongogo also played a role with regard

to warfare, stirring up the men to fight

their enemies and helping them to be

successful warriors … Some informants

indicated that certain male masks play a

role in initiation ceremonies in connection

with the one-legged figures used to beat

the initiates. [see MPNr 153]




North-east New Guinea and Bismarck

Archipelago

Several groups in the Huon Gulf-Huon Penin-

sula area, including the Tami, Umboi and

Siassi Islanders, and the Kilenge of West New

Britain, had a secret cult involving circumci-

sion of boys at initiation. This cult required

a wooden mask (MPNr 54) representing the

spirit named kani by Tami Islanders, balum in

the Huon Gulf, nausung by the Kilenge (Dark

1974: 18, Illusts 76-7) and naboyo in the Siassi

Islands (Bodrogi 1961: 70). On Tami Islands,

the mask was worn by a man hidden under

a bark cloth hood, with tapa cloth wound

round his limbs to make him look fat. The

kani spirit was said to swallow the boys and

spit them out again as men.

In northern New Ireland, malagan is the

name for the mortuary ceremonies and for

the objects associated with them. There is a

range of mask forms associated with mala-

gan. The two New Ireland masks dealt with

here could have been included with the

other malagan objects discussed in the next

section but are discussed here to conform

to the physical layout of the Masterpieces

Exhibition.

The taxonomy of New Ireland masks is

complex and undoubtedly varies from place

to place, with the names of masks changing

as well as their form and function. Noah

Lurang (1999) has set out a preliminary

account of masks for the Tabar Islands and

Helfrich (1973) has attempted a typology. But

there are still big gaps in the available infor-

mation.

According to Bühler’s notes attached to

correspondence found in the anthropology

archives of the National Museum, MPNr 40 is

a mask called marubát , incorporating in each

MPNr 54. Mask (naboyo), Siassi Islands, Siassi

speakers, Morobe Province. Wood, fibre, turtle shell,

cassowary feathers. 72 x 22 cm. 81.26.107 [original

registration number lost].




MPNr 47. Mask (tatanua), north New Ireland, New

Ireland Province. Wood, rattan, fibre, lime plaster,

shells. 45 x 28 cm. 77.57.17. One of seventeen items

repatriated by The Australian Museum, Sydney,

27 June 1977 to mark the occasion of the official

opening of the new National Museum building (see

also Masterpieces Nrs 60, 150).

Fig. 102. Noah Lurang dancing vanis mask from

Tatau Island, northern New Ireland, for the Fifth

Pacific Arts Symposium at the South Australian

Museum in Adelaide, 12 April 1993. Photo: B. Craig,

PAA2: 3.

MPNr 40. Mask (marubát ) (opposite page), Madina,

Nalik speakers, north New Ireland, New Ireland

Province. Wood, fibre, shells. 88 x 56 cm. E.864.2.

Collected in 1931 by Al fred Bühler. One of three

items repatriated in 1961 from the then Museum

für Völkerkunde (now, Museum der Kulturen),

Basel, Switzerland (registered there as Vb 105 46).Registered 19 February 1962. Published in

TPNGMAG 1970, Plate 5.




of the two earpieces the image of a mythical

being called Ranganof. He appears to be

being consumed by a flying fish (eililif ) but

this image is more likely a representation of

the relationship between the clan ancestors

and the social entity, the clan, as represented

by the totem animal. The notes state that the

mask was produced to honour this mythical

being but information about the context for

its performance was not provided.

A similar type of mask documented by

Phillip Lewis (1969: 114-16), called nit kuleg-

ula, was used in malagan ceremonies but

more specifically to escort initiated boys out

of the men’s enclosure to return them to their

families. It then performed a slow dance,

holding a shell rattle in one hand and a pad-

dle in the other. When it ceased dancing,

everyone – men, women and children –

crowded into the enclosure. Thus it

temporarily removed the taboo on the men’s

enclosure.

Such masks with the large earpieces are

called vanis on Tabar Islands (Lurang 1999,

Fig. 15.9). On the occasion of the Pacific Arts

Association’s Fifth International Symposium

in Adelaide in 1993, a slow dance with rattle

and dance-paddle, similar to that described

by Lewis, was performed on the lawns of the

South Australian Museum by Noah Lurang

(Fig. 102). He was wearing a Tabar Islands

mask called vanis si mi chur bang bang; bang

bang is most likely a reference to the image

of the hornbill bird, no doubt a clan totem,

perched on top of the mask’s head.

There are several sub-types of vanis (with

the large earpieces) depending upon their

particular form and function. Michael Gunn

(2002: 100, 171-72) names two (matalala and

vanariu) and discusses them generally under

the heading ‘Walking Masks’; they are used to

remove major taboo restrictions. At Madina

in 1980, Dieter Heintze (1987, Figs 19-21)

recorded two such masks ( pitalot and

waneskande) under the general term marua

(probably the same as Helfrich’s merue –

1973: 27) and a third type (vaneriu) at

Fatmilak (Heintze 1987, Fig. 22), ‘carved to

commemorate the owner’s mother and

[additionally] one of his babies who had died

a few years earlier’. The rights to this third

type were acquired from the Tabar Islands,

thus vaneriu is the same term as Gunn’s

vanariu. It appears therefore that the type of

mask with the large earpieces may be used to

commemorate particular individuals who

have died, as well as to remove major taboos

Fig. 103. A line of tatanua dancers, Langenia vi llage,

Notsi speakers, northern New Ireland. Photo:

B. Craig, C2: 12; 13 August 1982.




during malagan ceremonies.

MPNr 47 is a tatanua (tantanua) mask.

These masks are usually danced in pairs;

therefore a ‘line of tatanua’ will consist of sev-

eral pairs of these masks (Fig. 103). Each side

of the hair-do on a mask is different, so that,

seen from the side, the masks change appear-

ance as the dancers turn their heads towards

and away from their partners. These masks

dance during the closing session of the major

mortuary ceremony honouring clan mem-

bers deceased during the several years since

the last major ceremony. They are not

destroyed after the performance but stored

for future use (Clay 1987: 67). In northern

Mandak, the organisers of a large mortuary

ceremony will send out invitations for those

related through marriage or male descent to

send tatanua dancers or a malagan display

(ibid.: 65); on Tabar, groups are invited to

compete in attempting to spear a hanging

coconut to earn the right to send a group of

tatanua masks (Lurang 1999: 151).

Preparation for the tatanua dance is rigor-

ous, with taboos on contact with women,

with food cooked by women, and fish

(because it attracts the spirits of those who

have died by violence) (Clay 1987: 65-6).

‘These precautions are designed to prepare

the dancers to perform successfully within

the power-filled tatanua masks.’ Failure to

maintain purity exposes the dancer to the

negative magic of those who conspire to ruin

the festivities (and thus damage the reputa-

tion and prestige of those sponsoring the

ceremonies).

The tatanua performance thus tests the

dancers before a large assembly of guests

from other villages. If the dance is com-

pleted without misfortune, the men have

proven their capabilities as men in inter-

action with power. [ibid.: 66]

The peoples of New Ireland are, with a

sole exception, speakers of Austronesian

languages. On New Britain, all but four

languages are Austronesian; one of the non-

Austronesian language groups is the Baining,

living in the mountains of the Gazelle

Peninsula of East New Britain. Their masking

traditions continue to the present day and

are comparable in variety, scale and materi-

als to those of the Wantoat of the Finisterre

Range (Schmitz 1963), the Bundi of the Bis-

marck Range (Fitz-Patrick and Kimbuna

1983), the Asaro of the eastern Highlands

(Miller 1983, Plate 220) and of course the

Elema of the eastern Papuan Gulf (Newton

1961).

MPNr 55 is most likely a night dance mask

of the Kairak Baining who live in the north-

east corner of the Gazelle Peninsula. There

are many forms of the kavat mask that depict

‘various flora, birds, mammals, insects, reptiles,

natural phenomena, and human processes

and products’ (Corbin 1979: 175). This partic-

ular mask is almost certainly a leaf spirit. The

leaf spirit was said to represent large leaves

used in wrapping food for cooking and for

covering houses and shelters. The leaf kavat

was called rengit by the Kairak (Corbin 1984:

47 and Fig. 9).

Kavat masks, made by the younger men,

consist of white bark cloth, stretched over a

light wood and rattan frame, painted with red

and black pigments. Corbin (1984: 46-7) sum-

marises the colour symbolism:

The red pigment is seen as masculine and

is associated symbolically with the flames

kicked up in the air during ceremonial

dances; the flowing of human and animal

blood in warfare and hunting; ritual self-

sacrifice in various ceremonies; the

Fig. 104. Baining ‘night’ mask being danced at Guma

village (Sulka speakers), Wide Bay, East New Britain

Province. Photo: B. Craig, C6: 23; 6 January 1982.




MPNr 55. Mask (kavat), Gazelle Peninsula, Baining

speakers, East New Britain. Bark cloth, rattan, fibres.

133 x 68 cm. 81.12.2 [incorrect number; identified as

81.12.11]. Donated at the conclusion of the S outh

Pacific Festival of Arts in July 1980 and registered

January 1981

blood-red saliva produced when chewing

betel nut; and pricked tongue blood spat

on masks and headdresses to activate

their spirits before ceremonial use. The

black pigment is seen as feminine and is

associated with ashes and soot from

cooking fires; the earth and mud and their

fecundity; dark wet places where power-

ful mythological spirits live; and

efflorescent secretions on plants and

trees. The white colour [of the unpainted

bark cloth] is associated with the spirit

world … White foam observed on

streams, ponds, and the beach is associ-

ated with afterbirth and primordial slime.

White bones and skulls are considered

important objects to be preserved for use

in garden magic and curative magic. The

white secretions produced by plants and

trees are likened, symbolically to seminal

fluids. The white lime and clay used to

paint patterns on the body before rituals

or entering taboo places is believed to

have magical protecting and curative

properties …

Kavat masks (and other types of masks –

Fig. 104) are danced during the night

accompanied by an all-male percussion

orchestra. Dancers often pass through the fire

that burns in the centre of the dance ground.

The dance appears to represent confron-

tation between the spirits of the dead (who

live in the bush but interfere in human

affairs) and the men of the village. At day-

break, the orchestra prevails and chases the

spirits back into the bush (ibid.: 47). ‘By repre-

senting these spirits in masks, man obtains

power over them, and by submitting himself

to their awe-inspiring presence he might

obtain indulgence and mercy’ (Hess and

Aerts 1982: 77).




Papuan Gulf

The masks MPNrs 58, 62, 59 and 61 are exam-

ples of the 1970s revival of traditional mask

forms. MPNr 58 has a mastic overlay on the

top half of its conical helmet shape, inset

with shells and seeds, with red mucuna seeds

for eyes, and trimmed cassowary feathers

representing hair and beard. This type of dec-

oration is characteristic of the trophy skulls of

the Bamu River people (Newton 1961: 48-9),

who are historically closely related to the

Kerewa of Goaribari Island.

Only one other Goaribari mask of this

type has been published (Miller n.d.: 3 and

front cover illustration). Allyn Miller reports

that it is called avoko and is used to celebrate

marriage. ‘After the husband has brought the

wife to his house, a clan elder dons this mask

and dances in front of the house to bring fer-

tility and good fortune to it’.

The Kerewa avoko mask illustrated by

Newton (1961, Illust. 106), is virtually identical

to the Era River kanipu masks (ibid.: Illust. 173)

and quite different in form to the ‘marriage’

mask reported above. MPNr 62 is a kanipu

mask from Urama Island just to the west of

the Era River estuary. Newton assumes the

plaited cane Kerewa (Goaribari) and Era River

masks he illustrates were used during initia-

tion ceremonies and admits ‘their functions

are not altogether clear’ (ibid.: 17), but could

be related to the kaiaimunu animals (ibid.:

Illusts 174-77) and the Namau Pairama cere-

mony (ibid.: 73).

MPNr 59 was obtained without documen-

tation but is of the type photographed by

Frank Hurley in 1924 on Uramu Island (New-

ton 1961: Illust. 186; Specht and Fields 1984:

163). Newton (ibid.: 19) reports that this type

of mask was used ‘to enforce the taboo on

coconuts destined for use in ceremonies’.

MPNr 58. Mask (avoko), Dopima village, Goaribari

Island, Kerewo speakers, Gulf Province. Rattan,

shells, red mucuna seeds, fibre, cassowary feathers.

147 x 65 cm (including skirt). 81.26.129 [original

registration number lost].




MPNr 62. Mask (kanipu), Mirimairau v illage,

Uramu Island, North-eastern Kiwai speakers, Gulf

Province. Rattan, wood, fibre, feathers. 111 x 73 cm

(including skirt). 76.30.166. Donated by Rudi Caesar

30 October 1975.




MPNr 59. Mask (kanipu? ), attributed to Uramu

Island, North-eastern Kiwai speakers, Gulf Province.

Rattan, bark cloth, fibre. 161 x 48 cm (including

skirt). E.16465. Seized in 1972, donated by Customs

in 1974 and registered 4 April 1975. Published in

Smidt 1975: 29, 30, 32; Nr. 35 and TPNGPMAG 1976a,

Plate p. 14.




MPNr 61. Mask (keweke), Kivaumai Nr 2 village,

Uramu Island, North-eastern Kiwai sp eakers, Gulf

Province. Rattan, bark cloth, fibre, feathers. 148 x

47 cm (including skirt). 76.30.168. Donated by Rudi

Caesar 30 October 1975.




Hurley’s notes (Specht and Fields 1984: 162)

support this:

The men inside the mask[s] rush about

the village scaring the women and

children … The mask is believed by them

to contain a spirit who will make them

violently ill if they should eat of the for-

bidden fruits. As there are but a few

coconuts struggling around the vi llages,

and the younger generation are very

prone to pull the fruit before maturity, this

means of placing upon the trees the

taboo is efficacious and even when the

fruit fall of their own accord they are not

even eaten – no matter how hungry they

might be until the Taboo is lifted.

MPNr 61 is an example of the keweke

masks of Urama Island. Newton (1961: 20, 77

and Illusts 182-85) does not tell us what their

functions were but they were probably used

in a similar way to the semese of the Namau

and the hevehe of the Elema. Perhaps the first

examples of this type of tall, oval mask to be

collected were obtained by Theodore Bevan

in 1887 on his journey by boat through the

Purari Delta (Bevan 1890: 144-45, 199). How-

ever, they had almost all disappeared by the

time the PNG Museum was established in the

1950s.

29

Even in overseas museums, thereare not many of these magnificent tall

masks.30

F.E. Williams published a detailed

description of the ceremonies in which

hevehe masks were performed (Figs 22, 105)

in his book Drama of Orokolo (1940).

MPNr 60 is an eharo mask that would

have been used in the hevehe ceremonies.

These masks were made and performed by

visitors from another village at the request of

the group organising the ceremonies.

Individual eharo masks were often made for

young men by their maternal uncles, and

were given along with valuable feathers and

Fig. 105. A hevehe mask in a ring of dancing women,

Orokolo, eastern Papuan Gulf. Photo: F.E. Williams,

March 1932 (Williams 1940, Plate 57; original

negative in SAM archives, AA335, negative Nr 175).

shell ornaments. The young man receiving

the mask would keep the valuables but had

to pay his maternal uncle a pig (Mamiya and

Sumnik 1982: 20). Eharo masks were not

sacred; any man could make and wear these

masks. Generally they represented some

character or event in a comical episode and

were performed for entertainment. In partic-

ular they served to attract a crowd to the

front of the eravo for the dramatic appear-

ance of the ‘yellow bark cloth boys’ and, later

in the cycle, for the formal emergence of the

hevehe masks (ibid.: 23-4; Williams 1940, Plate

37). The hevehe ceremonies became extinct

during World War II.




MPNr 60. Mask (eharo), Orokolo village, Elema

people, Orokolo speakers, Gulf Province. Rattan,

bark cloth, fibre. 162 x 65 cm (including skir t).

77.57.6. One of seventeen items repatriated by The

Australian Museum, Sydney, 27 June 1977 to mark

the occasion of the official opening of the new

National Museum building (see also Masterpieces

Nrs 47 and 150). This eharo was collected about1884.

Fig. 106 (opposite page). Bisj poles set up on the

bank of the river at Otsjanep, Casuarina Coast, 1961.

Photo (1035-19) by Michael C. Rockefeller courtesy

of the Rockefeller family.




MORTUARY OBJECTS

For many groups in New Guinea and Mela-

nesia, mortuary rites provide the occasion for

relatives to grieve, to identify the cause of

death (natural, accidental, sorcery, etc.), to

honour the dead, and to provide the oppor-

tunity for individuals and groups to sponsor

festivities that achieve recognition of their

rights to leadership, land and ritual knowl-

edge (for example, Smidt and Eoe 1999).

Usually, the more important the dead person

is, the more elaborate the ceremony.

Among the middle Sepik Iatmul, there is a

distinction between minor and major death

ceremonies – respectively, kitagamat and

minjango – the latter only for the most

important men and in rare cases for a woman

held in especially high esteem (Wassmann

1991:56-9 and Chapter 3 for a detailed

account of the major death ceremony). The

malagan funerary ceremonies of northern

New Ireland and Tabar Islands also are more

elaborate according to the importance of the

person who died and the prestige and influ-

ence of the sponsors (Lincoln 1987b: 33-4).

In some other areas, the rites are more

concerned with ‘a life for a life’. Among the

Asmat of [ West] Papua, memorial poles called

bisj (mbis) are carved with the images of peo-

ple killed by enemy headhunters, as a

reminder to avenge their deaths by taking

enemy heads. Even the egalitarian Asmat,

though, tend to commemorate the more

important people, ‘the deceased notables of

the village [who] carry a lot of life force and

have many relatives and followers to help

them meet their revenge obligation’ (van der

Zee 1996: 20).

There is a wide variety of beliefs about

death, and of mortuary rituals performed for

the dead, in Oceania (Oliver 1989: 748-85).

MPNr 13 (and details opposi te page). Ceremonial

pole (bisj/mbis) attributed to Casuarina Coast

Asmat, Asmat speakers, [ West] Papua, Indonesia.

Wood, fibre. 6 m high, figure diameter 29 cm. E.7294.

Registered 10 February 1971.

The objects in the Masterpieces Exhibition

that are particularly relevant to this topic are

the bisj pole from the Asmat and the masks,

figures and other objects associated with the

malagan rites of New Ireland.

South-west New Guinea

The bisj ceremonies of the Central and Casua-

rina Coast Asmat of south-west New Guinea

in [ West] Papua provide the occasion for the

retelling of the story of Fumeripits, the myth-

ical hero who created the men’s houses ( yeu),

carved many figures of men and women,

and enlivened them by tireless beating of

the hand drum (em) (Schneebaum 1990: 26,

65-6; van der Zee 1996: 16-17). Other stories

tell of the origin of death, of headhuntingand of the necessity to revenge the dead

(Schneebaum 1990: 52-3, 70, 77-8). There is

even a myth that establishes the origin of

the carving of bisj poles and the ceremoni-

als accompanying them (van der Zee 1996:

18-19).

Pauline van der Zee (1996) has gathered

information from a number of sources to

explain the significance of the bisj . She

explains (ibid.: 19):

When due to certain circumstances the

community’s life force has diminished,

people consider the time right to organize

a bisj feast. In that way they wish to re-

open contact with the ancestors in safan

[the after-world] to assure new physical

and spiritual forces.

Usually, several deaths are commemorated at

the same time (as for the malagan rites of

New Ireland – see below) but exactly who

will be named and depicted on the bisj poles

is determined by complex negotiation as this

identifies who will be required to avenge the

deaths. ‘A headhunting raid is held only when




the family feels strong enough to attack the

enemy successfully’ and ‘There must also be

enough relatives to contribute towards the

expenses of the bisj pole’ (ibid.: 20).

After cautioning that there is a good deal

of variation in the bisj ceremonials from vil-

lage to village, van der Zee outlines the usual

scenario (ibid.: 20-3). A war leader summons

all the men to the front of the yeu and orders

them to adorn themselves and repaint their

canoes. After doing this they paddle off in

search of suitable trees (a wild nutmeg, not

mangrove as often reported) for the bisj

poles, and sago palms are felled to stimulate

the activities of sago grubs in anticipation of

gathering them for the coming feast in about

six weeks time. The nutmeg trees are felled

according to a ritual that has the warriors –

one-by-one and led by the war leader

– attacking the first tree as though it is an

enemy, each reciting his heroic deeds and

chopping at the base of the tree until it is

felled. The top is trimmed of branches

(‘decapitated’) and one buttress root is left

intact; the bottom of the tree will become the

top of the carved bisj pole. The blood-red sap

of the tree is symbolic of the blood of the

ancestors who were killed and of the enemy

who will be killed, and the trees ‘are draggedto the village along streams and brooks, the

same way men return from a headhunting

raid’.

On their return to the village, the men are

attacked by the women in a mock battle, ‘as

they fear the harmful influences of tree spirits

upon uninitiated children and women’ (for a

photograph of a similar mock battle, see Kon-

rad, Konrad and Schneebaum 1981: 25). After

the skirmish, the tree trunks are dragged into

the yeu to a specially partitioned space for

the carving process. The war leader chips out

a rough outline of the figures to be depicted




on the poles ‘while enumerating the names

of the enemies he has slain’, then turns them

over to the wow-ipits (skilled carvers) to com-

plete. The carvers are kept well fed by the

relatives of the deceased and they complete

their work in around six weeks. Sacred songs

are sung to protect the carvers from tree spir-

its and ancestral spirits prowling about the

village.

The wow-ipits first carve the openwork

projection called tsjemen (penis) from the

buttress root left intact on the post. ‘The

Asmat believe that protruding parts (of the

human body) contain a high concentration of

life force.’ The pole is then given a name, that

of the most important deceased ancestor

who is to be commemorated and depicted

on the pole. This is followed by a sumptuous

meal. Then the figures are carved next, male

and/or female, the carver singing songs

about the persons he is representing, finish-

ing with a song stating, ‘Now I am carving

your mouth; now I am opening your ears’. This

enlivens the carved pole with the spirits of

the ancestors.

The war leader then summons the warri-

ors to prepare for a headhunting raid. When

the raid is successful, they return with the

heads and smear the blood of the enemieson the eyes, mouths and genitals of the

carved figures. ‘From this time on until the

closing of the feast, there will be drumming

and dancing every night’.

The final phase is the carving of the canoe

(tsji ) and tapering point (bino) at the base of the

pole. Some sources connect this canoe, and

therefore the whole bisj pole, to the war canoe

used for headhunting and to the uramun, or

soul-ship, which takes the dead to safan, the

world of the ancestors. Although uramun are

carved only by the North-west Asmat, they are

used in a way similar to the bisj poles of the

Central and Casuarina Coast Asmat.

The carved pole is then painted entirely

with white pigment, details are carefully

painted in red and black, and ornaments and

fibre tassels are fastened. Food is now gath-

ered, the poles are erected on the bank of the

river facing the yeu and everyone joins in a

lament for the dead. Then follows eating,

singing and dancing to drums, culminating in

a sexual orgy.

There is a regional difference in the way

the bisj poles are set up. As Dirk Smidt

informed me (pers. comm. 14 May 2004):

In Central Asmat , bisj are displayed

upright, ‘their pointed ends stuck in the

ground’; in the Casuarina Coast [or South

Asmat] … they are mounted in a slanting

position. In my book [Smidt 1993] you can

see the difference on pp.102-3. The pole in

the middle has the pointed end and is

from Central Asmat; the other two have

canoe-shaped ends and are from the Cas-

uarina Coast [South Asmat].

Michael Rockefeller’s journal suggests

that Otsjanep village is in a transition zone

between the two areas of Central and South

Asmat. At Otsjanep, ‘Two of the seventeen

poles had a canoe at the base, a very remark-

able feature’ (Gerbrands 1967: 141). There the

poles were exhibited at a slant on a scaffold

(ibid.: 138, 140-44). Just a little north at Oma-

dasep, the poles have ‘figure-eight’ forms

near the bottom of the pole, a point at the

base, and are displayed upright (ibid.: 115-18).

At Awok, farther north and inland, the poles

are displayed upright inside the yeu (ibid.: 89-

105). Presumably they are carved with

pointed ends.

Konrad, Konrad and Schneebaum (1981:

62-71) illustrate a number of bisj poles and

those at the northern end of the Casuarina

Coast (for example, at Japtambor and Buepis)




have both pointed bottom ends and carved

bottom ends. In any case, MPNr 13 has the

base carved in the form of a canoe and there-

fore must have come from the Casuarina

Coast, and therefore was displayed in a slant-

ing position (Fig. 106).

When the feast is over, the bisj poles are

carried into the sago swamps and left to

decay there, imparting fertility to the young

palms through the life force of the ancestors.

In fact there are two types of bisj pole.

Apart from the taller bisj poles described

above (6 or more metres high), there are

those about 4 metres high that are located at

the left front corner of each hearth in the yeu.

These posts are permanent fixtures in the yeu

and the figures carved on the posts function

as advisers. ‘They help people with their daily

problems and guard the members of the

hearth group. This way, people can call upon

these ancestral spirits before a hunting

[expedition] or battle’ (van der Zee 1996: 23).

It is this type of bisj that Rockefeller photo-

graphed at Awok.

Where a bisj pole has two or more figures

standing one on another, they represent the

preceding generations of the person after

whom the pole is named and who is to be

avenged. ‘These generations will support theheadhunting raid with their supernatural

powers’ (ibid.: 24).

On all carved objects of the Asmat, the

many curvilinear design motifs refer to ances-

tors and headhunting. Because spherical

fruits are equated with the human head, any

dark-coloured fruit-eating animal or bird may

be considered as a symbol of headhunting,

for example the fatsjep or cuscus (Phalanger ),

the ufirmbi or Black Palm Cockatoo (Probos-

ciger aterrimus), and the fofoyir or Papuan

Hornbill ( Aceros plicatus).31

The bisj pole MPNr 13 features a male

figure holding the openwork tsjemen

between his legs, standing on the head of a

female figure, which in turn stands on the

prow of a vertically aligned war canoe. The

lower part of the tsjemen incorporates a side

view of an ancestor figure in a squatting pos-

ture, commonly associated with the wenet or

praying mantis (Mantis religiosa). The mantis

is an appropriate headhunting symbol, as it is

known that the female bites off the head of

the male after mating. The tsjemen design

also includes S-motifs representing the

human body (Gerbrands 1967: 218, drums A,

B), and three V-shaped spirals variously inter-

preted as ama wow (carved arms/wings

– Gerbrands 1967: 190, shield A), tar (flying

foxes – ibid.: 191, shield D), or less specifically

as ainor (a ‘mysterious, powerful design’ –

Schneebaum 1990: 38). The tip of the tsjemen

is carved as the curled tail of the cuscus and

two of these motifs are found also at the base

of the tsjemen. Between these main motifs on

the tsjemen are a tiny human head, black

Palm Cockatoo beaks and hornbill heads. The

prow and stern of the canoe at the base of

the pole is carved with the C-shaped cuscus

tail and a hornbill’s beak, and ‘ghost’s hands’

at the end of zigzag motifs. According to Ger-

brands (1967: 292, C), the zigzag probablyrepresents the blood of people slain by head-

hunting. The sides of the canoe are also

carved with several headhunting motifs, as

are the limbs of the two ancestor figures.




Malagan of New Ireland

Malagan (malangan, malanggan) is the name

used for both the ceremonies and the objects

associated with mortuary rites in northern

New Ireland and the Tabar Islands. Bodrogi

(1987: 18) has drawn attention to W.C.

Groves’s comment (1933: 340) that in order to

give a full description of the mortuary rites of

Fisoa on the north-east coast of New Ireland,

the entire culture would have to be sketched.

Groves wrote, ‘every other item is in one way

or another bound with, dependent upon,

preparation for, or outcome of this one domi-

nating cultural influence of malagan’.

Similarly, Hortense Powdermaker reports

(1933: 319, quoted in Lincoln 1987b: 33) that

she asked the old men of Lesu what sheshould tell her own people about the mala-

gan carvings she was taking away with her.

Their reply was that she should tell the peo-

ple who would look at the malagan that they

were not just carved, painted pieces of wood,

but that she must

make them understand all the work and

wealth that had gone into the making of

them – the large taro crops, the many

pigs, all the shell money, the cooking for

the feast, and other essentials of the rites.

The old men of Lesu said that these are

the important things to remember about

malagan.

Michael Gunn reports (1987: 74-5) that

‘Tabar is often mentioned as the place of ori-

gin of the malagan’, and that for Tabar in the

early 1980s,

malagan has as its essential premise the

tenet that a person must honour the dead

of his or her spouse’s kin group by display-

ing malagan sculpture or using malagan

masks in ceremonial context.

MPNr 203. Circular woven funerary object

(vavara), Panapai village, north-east coast, northern

New Ireland, Tigak speakers, New Ireland Province.

Rattan, lime plaster. 71 cm diameter. E.4586.

Registered 24 November 1969. Possibly donated by

Lady Rachel Cleland.




MPNr 204. Circular woven funerary object

(vavara), Panapai village, north-east coast, northern

New Ireland, Tigak speakers, New Ireland Province.

Rattan, lime plaster. 72 cm diameter. E.4585.

Registered 24 November 1969. Possibly donated by

Lady Rachel Cleland.

Malagan activity includes:

-

uals of the spouse’s clan;

ceremonies for a plurality of dead mem-

bers of the spouse’s clan;

-

bitions;

new sub-clan;

truce to end fighting or arguments

between clans;

rights to one’s malagan inheritance.

Gunn states (ibid.: 75-6) that the benefits

of malagan ownership come at considerable

cost. ‘It is one of the main roads to prestige

and power’ but ‘the fuel is very expensive:

malagan runs on pigs’. People make commit-

ments of pigs to endorse contracts with one

another; thus ‘the pig is the living manifesta-

tion of a social bond’. The laying out of

strangled, singed pigs and their butchering

and distribution to guests is therefore a cen-

tral feature of malagan, for the pigs are not

simply food, or generous expressions of hos-

pitality, but declarations of agreements

people have made with one another.

Use-rights to malagan images can be

transferred during a malagan ceremony but

there is a copyright fee and the rights are not

lost to the original owner. Breech of copy-

right is taken extremely seriously. This,

according to Gunn (1987: 80), is where free-

dom in the expression of malagan finds its

greatest restriction:

New malagans can be dreamt up, dis-

played, and incorporated within a

tradition belonging to the dreamer’s clan.

However, before they are completely




subsumed within the tradition, carvings

must receive the approval of all senior

men of that tradition, particularly those in

other kin groups … Generally, new ideas

are considered risky, for no one is entirely

sure what the tradition as a whole con-

tains; it takes a brave man to risk the

accusation of breach of another clan’s

copyright … New malagans are invented

so rarely today that few people on Tabar

recognize that innovation is acceptable

within the tradition.

Visitors to ethnographic museums outside

PNG are familiar with the carved wood fig-

ures and masks that were made for malagan

ceremonies; less familiar are the woven mala-

gans, called vavara (wawara, wowora). They

were neglected by Bodrogi in his 1987 over-

view of malagan sculpture despite being well

documented by Lewis (1969: 99-110).

Gunn (1987, Figs 38, 44) provides illus-

trations that show how central this type of

malagan can be for the displays associated

with the ceremonies. These disc or ‘sun’mala-

gan (MPNrs 203, 204) are usually made by

weaving a spiral of braided fibre onto a radial

arrangement of splints of rattan. Usually there

is a hole at the centre but sometimes there is

a small, carved wooden piece, or a form mod-

elled from plant materials. Occasionally avavara is oval rather than round and, rarely,

has arching petal-like forms rising from the

centre and reaching to the edges of the disc

(Lewis 1969: 107; Stöhr 1987, Plate 159). The

whole disc is heavily plastered with white

lime and the colours painted on, usually red

and yellow, sometimes a little black. The red

and yellow are usually plant pigments, which

lose their brilliance rather quickly.

The vavara malagan is set up in display huts

along with other forms of malagan (Fig.

107), sometimes with a kapkap32

fixed to its

centre; sometimes the skull of the deceased

was placed there. The huts are of various

shapes, depending on the types of mala-

gan to be displayed. Traditionally, after the

ceremonies the vavara is burnt, along with

various personal effects of the deceased. There is a myth of origin for vavara, r elat-

ing its form to a spider’s web. The following

story was told to me by Noah Lurang, at Tatau

village on Tatau Island, in December 1992:

There was a woman whose son had no

father. He used to go to malagan feasts in

other villages but was beaten up and

rejected by the children of those villages (it

is not acceptable to take part in malagan

feasts unless your father has a significant

role in the proceedings). One day his

mother, who was worrying about this, was

defecating in the bush and she noticed a

spider’s web in front of her – how it was

being spun, and its colours. She realised

that this was to be her son’s malagan. So

she made one for him. She also composed

the slit-gong beat for that malagan; there

was to be one player only, as her son had

no brothers to assist him to play it.

A similar story was told to Phillip Lewis

(1969: 103) by Pakua, a Notsi speaker of Libba

village on the north coast of New Ireland:

Kuli was an unmarried woman who had

no genitals. However, she had two chil-

dren, and she tried to have them initiated

in the enclosure. They were chased away

because they had no father. Kuli went to

fetch some water and there, saw a spider.

An idea came to her. She tells the children,

tomorrow you and I will go get the white

fibre called raramgo and put it in the

water. The children do this.

The men said, these children have no

father and no malanggans. Where will

they get one? The woman talks, says that

tomorrow they will sit in the enclosure.




Fig. 107. Malagan display, incorporating three

vavara, for the death of Pitsia of Tatau village, Tabar

speakers, Tabar Islands, New Ireland. Photo: B. Craig,

C4: 24A; 2 May 2002.

She braids the vine, fastens it to the wood,

then beats it flat. She then makes the

Wowora, and asks them all to erect a coco-

nut leaf enclosure.

Once there were only wooden malang-

gans.Wowora malanggans originated with

this woman. Wowora are not from long ago.

The slit-gong cries out, and all the men

chide her. The woman has houses made.

All the men come. The day for erecting the

malanggans comes. They all come to look.

The sight of the Wowora closes their

mouths. From then on, everyone has used

Wowora, paying the original owners.

Another version of the story, with a less

happy ending, was recounted to Krämer at

the bush village of Bue, closer to its pre-

sumed place of origin. Lewis (1969: 107)

translated the German text as follows:

A woman went into the bush looking for

her pigs and had to remain overnight in a

cave. There she heard the raindrops beat-ing on the pandanus leaves, vatata, vatata,

like a stick pounding on a slit-gong. Then

her spirit went away in a dream and she

saw a house in which goblins were at

work plaiting a sun. She saw how it was

made, and when they finished she

returned back to her home, and then

showed her knowledge to the men of her

village. When they had learned exactly

how to make a sun, they hanged the

woman, to punish her for dealing with

sacred matters. Today the oara is sacred

and women must not see i t. Even a

glimpse of it meant death for a woman.




The Panamecho malagan

During 1982 and 1983, Susanne Küchler, a

research student from the London School of

Economics and Political Sciences, was based

at Panamecho. She was requested by the

National Museum to document the carvings

in the museum that had come from a cave in

the escarpment behind Panamecho. The

results of Küchler’s enquiries were published

in the journal Oral History (Kuechler 1983). As

this journal is not easily available, the follow-

ing text is an abridgement of her paper and

all information and quotations are from that

paper except where acknowledged to other

sources.

There are eight carvings in the Master-

pieces Exhibition that came from Nombowai

cave in the limestone escarpment behind a

point about midway between Panamecho

and Panachais on the south-west coast of

northern New Ireland. One other piece held

by the museum is not on display (E.2147,

Kuechler 1983, Plate 12), and one mask (Fig.

108; Kuechler 1983, Plate 7; Wilson 1973,

Fig. 1) apparently was destroyed while on

display in the Panamecho Primary School.

The first three carvings from the cave

(E.2145-7) came to light when Roy Mackay,then preparator of the PNG Public Museum

and Art Gallery, purchased them from

Simeon Warenu (elsewhere spelt Vaneriu) in

1967. According to Rowena Hill (1980), the

cave had been ‘discovered’ by a man and a

young lad out hunting, when their dog tem-

porarily disappeared in the vicinity of the

cave and they went looking for the animal. It

must have been subsequent to this that the

first carvings were taken out and sold to Roy

Mackay.

According to Lindsay Wilson (1973), early

in 1973 Benson Bambai (Benson Tomelekau

according to Hill), head teacher at the Pana-

mecho Primary School, entered Nombowai

cave from the top of the cliff, assisted by vil-

lagers. They found two malagan figures

upright against the rear wall and facing out

to sea. Four masks and a bird figure were

nearby among a scatter of bleached bones,

including a skull. Lengths of bamboo tubing

held the cremated remains of several individ-

uals. The seven carvings were removed to a

temporary display house near the school.

They were considered to belong to two

brothers, Judas Titilip and Esau Mambingit,

upon whose property the cave is located. In

due course the Parents and Citizens Associa-

tion of the school bought the carvings from

them for two pigs and some money to estab-

lish clear ownership.

In 1973, the District Commissioner heard

about the carvings and informed Brian Egloff,

a curator at the PNG National Museum, who

corresponded with Benson and subsequently

visited Panamecho to check the condition of

the carvings. He also visited the cave and

took photographs but not inside it. The peo-

ple did not want to sell the carvings to the

museum so on-site conservation was carried

out and the two figures, the four masks and

the bird were gazetted as National Cultural

Property on 20 December 1973. In the gazet-

tal notice, the original location was given as

Balilang Cave, Panamecho. Küchler recorded

the name of the extinct village just above the

Nombowai Cave as Benelilieng.

By 1980, one mask had been destroyed, as

noted above, and the other pieces had suf-

fered some damage. Therefore these carvings

were purchased from the Parents and Citi-

zen’s Association by the National Museum to

protect them from further destruction. The

money from the sale was used to purchase a

truck, to be used by the villagers to transport

copra and other products to Kavieng. The

truck was named ‘Malangan’. As Küchler

notes, ‘Far from having disappeared from the

life of the people, the malangan of Nom-

bowai have transmuted and function as they

have in the past – as material objects which

focus the productive energies of the people’.

Another function of the malagan of Nom-

bowai, according to Küchler, was to act as a

kind of document affirming the rights of par-

ticular groups to certain tracts of land:

Oral tradition relevant to the malangan of

Nombowai refers to the movements of

clans and their settlement history and to

traditional ways of attaining rights to land

and to images of malangan. The memory

of these themes in oral tradition is stored

in, and recalled by, the images …

Yet another function is to enable people,

when they die, to become recognised ances-

tors of the clan:

Every deceased has to become identified

with a named image of malangan in order

to attain the status of ancestor. The names

of malangan images refer back to mythi-

cal events during which the images were

invented in dreams and carved for the

context of death. The [ancestor] spirits of a

clan identified during these mythical

events with the named images of malan-

gan constitute the core of [the clan].

The strongest clan is the one that pos-

sesses the most names of malagan. In the

region of Nombowai, it is the clan Moromaf

and its sub-clan Morokomaf that attained

this status, as a wune (the source) of the

malagan images of Nombowai.

The first carver of malagan images in that

area was Legis, a man of Morokomaf sub-clan

of Moromaf clan who l ived seven generations




Fig. 108. Mask (a kangalabo) from Balilang

(Nombowai) Cave, Panamecho area, northern New

Ireland, destroyed between 1973 and 1980. Photo:

Brian Egloff, PNG National Museum photo archives

Nr 105.

ago. He married a woman, Pasaradak, of

Morokomade clan, went to live with her at

Lugagon on the north-east coast, then both

migrated to live at Panarabut, a hamlet of the

village of Lomadali, in the hills about a kilo-

metre east of Nombowai.

During his lifetime … he carved numer-

ous images of malangan. The memory of

these images was handed down to the

present generation, the carvings of Nom-

bowai being examples of this process.

There are seven clans in the present-day

villages of Panamecho and Panachais, which

formed from the population living at Loma-

dali and Beneliliang in the hills in the vicinity

of Nombowai. Only the clan Moromaf (and its

sub-clan Morokomaf) could truly claim the

images of the malagan of Nombowai as its

own. The other clans had to acquire the rights

to the images from Moromaf by giving

women in marriage to Moromaf clan, by a

rarum (a gift of shell valuables and pigs), or

by a human sacrifice.

Nombowai is ‘the place where a wai [a

snake] lives’ and where the friction idiophone

(‘friction drum’) called lounet was played. This

instrument is unique in Oceania and its

sound is believed to be the voice of malagan

imitating the cry of birds – some sources say,

the owl. The cry of lounet announces a

funeral, and the climax of malagan. It is signif-

icant that the carved figures of Nombowai

show the appearance of death in the

exposed ribs and the slightly open mouth

with exposed teeth.

Information given to Küchler suggests

that the Panamecho figures and masks were

carved in the early years of European contact,

late in the 19th century. The carvings do not

show any sign of the use of metal tools.

Rather, they were carved using stone tools to

cut out the general shape, then red-hot coral

branches were used to burn through the

wood to make the intricate openwork detail.

More coral branches were used like a file to

achieve the final shapes, and a rough leaf

(suve) served as sandpaper to finish the sur-

face in preparation for painting. According to

Krämer (1925: 79-80), the carver receives a

singed pig and shell money for each of the

eighteen stages of the carving of a malagan

figure.

In 1980, Rowena Hill identified the wood

from which the objects were carved as sabaf ,

the milky pine or white cheesewood ( Alstonia

scholaris). The tufted fruits of Pandanus

(aroha) and seeds of Triumfetta pilosa

( yankara) were fixed to the masks and figures

in a matrix of beeswax (masiam) to represent

head hair and beards. The operculum of the

shell Turbo petholatus (aburon) was used for

the eyes of the human and bird figures. White

pigment (akoko) was slaked lime made from

coral; red (rai ) was ochre from the ground;

and black (agisong) was made from charcoal.

The commissioner of a malagan carving

has ‘carefully-guarded knowledge of special

plants which, when given to the carver in a

potion will provoke an appropriate dream

image of the figure to be carved.’ The carveris told what the basic structure of the figure

is to be, ‘the essential motifs and where they

are to occur on the figure’. The image is cho-

sen from ‘several possibilities owned by the

commissioner in his/her clan (eg. to state his

group’s claim to a disputed patch of land)’.

Küchler establishes a strong connection

between the activity of carving, and garden-

ing through the use of fire to make ‘holes’ or

clearings in the forest. Further, the timing of

malagan preparations parallels the growth of

taro in the gardens, which takes about six

months. During the second half of the period,

the images of malagan are carved.

Malagan is thought of as the yield of the

land. A saying claims ‘without malagan one

cannot eat taro, fish or pig.’ To make malagan

therefore, means to bring about the fertility

of the land.




The figures

The four figure carvings of the malagan of

Nombowai share several characteristics. First

there is the reflection of the division of New

Ireland society into moieties, ‘a bird motif

on top of the figure’s head and sometimesalso at its feet, in contrast to other birds on

the body of the figure’. The bird on top of the

head

is identified with the moiety manuengak ,

the sea eagle (Haliaetus leucogaster ) or

‘big bird’. Birds on the body of the figure

are those identified with the moiety of

regaum, a species of hawk, or ‘small bird’.

‘Big bird’ is male and ‘small bird’ is female.

The actual birds represented are not nec-

essarily the sea eagle or hawk, but the totem

birds of particular clans or sub-clans within

the moieties. For example, the figure of MPNr

202 stands on manuengak , the sea eagle and

totem of the ‘big bird’ moiety; the subsidiary

birds are bengbenga or hornbills ( Aceros plica-

tus), the ‘small bird’ totem of the clan

Morokomade within the moiety regaum. In

the case of MPNr 201, the ‘big bird’ is the

cockerel and the ‘small bird’ is the rulowlow or

New Ireland drongo (Dicrurus megarhynchus),

totem of the sub-clan Morokomaf.

The most prominent motif common to all

four figures is probably the exposed rib-

bones (lengof ). Such images fall into two

categories: Tsuwarima (identified as male and

‘big bird’) and Tangla (identified as female

and ‘small bird’).

All images of malangan are understood as

projections out o f Tsuwarima and Tangla;

because the images of one moiety’s

malangan are exchanged for the other

moiety’s women and vice versa …

There are two metaphors that are used to

explain the relationships among images of

malagan: that of the tree and that of water. In

the tree metaphor, Tsuwarima and Tangla are

the source or foundation (a wune), and

images projected out of Tsuwarima and

Tangla are called iaiaran or branches. If an

image is projected out of iaiaran, it is called

bai (leaf ). In the water metaphor, it is said that

malangan is like water; ‘a stream of water is

always the same, yet its actual appearance is

different in every instance’. As Küchler con-

cludes: ‘it is the continuity of the existence of

malangan as a model of society that is being

stressed’.

The name of the figure MPNr 199 is forgot-

ten as it was carved before living memory.

It was therefore at least ninety years old in

the early 1980s. There is a dolphin at its base,

devouring the figure’s internal organs, prob-

ably the liver. The dolphin recalls a mythical

event when some men, pursued by enemies,

ran into the sea and turned into dolphins.

The dolphin devouring the liver ‘recalls the

practices of warfare and cannibalism in Kara

history’. In stories, the dolphin also was used

as a ‘vehicle’ for warriors to get to a village for

an attack.

The figure wears a rekap, a fretwork of tor-

toiseshell fastened to a white disc of Tridacna (clam) shell, and is probably therefore male.

This ornament, commonly called kapkap, is

worn by the maimai or speaker of the village.

Each village appoints one maimai , usually

coming from the dominant clan … He

summons the decisions of the belewiwira

or ‘big men’ of the village and directs

activities during the ceremonies of malan-

gan by the power of his speech.

The hornbill on top of the figure’s head is

the ‘big bird’ totem of the clan Morokomade

and the drongo bird at the front of the fig-

ure is the ‘small bird’ totem of the sub-clan

Morokomaf. ‘ The positions of the birds on

this carving demonstrate the history of the

exchange of women and malangan between

the [sub-]clan Morokomaf and [the clan]

Morokomade.’

The figure MPNr 200, its name forgotten,

is carved standing with its right foot in a

clamshell. It is believed that when the

shadow of a human being is caught in a

clamshell, that person will die. Thus the clam-

shell is the source of death. This figure also is

depicted wearing a rekap, the insignia of the

power of speech demonstrated by the

maimai .

The presence of the two motifs together –

clamshell and kapkap – visualises a

fundamental feature of Kara society:

power, or the right to do or own some-

thing, is acquired only in the context of

death. Only by organising a malangan for

his deceased father can a man acquire his

father’s rights … The two images could

also be read, so that the kapkap evokes

the idea of the big man wielding the

power of malangan, whereas the clam-

shell suggests that the big man is merely

the vehicle of the power of malangan.

Like MPNr 199, the dolphin and rib bones

are present, the ‘small bird’ totem of the sub-

clan Morokomaf is represented by the

drongo bird on each side of the head, and

raus, the Barn Owl (Tyto alba), is on top of the

figure’s head.

The call of raus is associated with death,

announcing an approaching funeral and

the last phase of malangan ceremonies.

The position of the two birds, rulowlow

and raus, … recalls the dominant position

of the sub-clan Morokomaf in the

exchanges of malangan.




MPNr 199 (right). Male? figure (malagan), wood,

Panamecho village, south-west coast, northern New

Ireland, Kara speakers, New Ireland Province. Wood,

shell. 143 x 27 cm. E.2146. Purchased from Simeon

Warenu by Roy Mackay on behalf of the [National]

Museum and registered 1 June 1967.

MPNr 200 (extreme right). Male figure (malagan),

wood, Panamecho village, south-west coast,

northern New Ireland, Kara speakers, New Ireland

Province. Wood, shells. 161 x 22 cm. E.2145.

Purchased from Simeon Warenu by Roy Mackay on

behalf of the [National] Museum and registered 1

June 1967.




MPNr 201 (opp osite page, left). Female? figure

(malagan), wood, Panamecho village, south-west

coast, northern New Ireland, Kara speakers, New

Ireland Province. Wood, adhesive, seed pods, shells.

155 x 32 cm. 81.46.2. Purchased by the National

Museum in December 1980 and registered July

1981. Gazetted as National Cultural Property 20

December 1973.

MPNr 202 (oppo site page, right).Male figure (malagan), personal name Melerawuk/Gumalokawuk; wood,

Panamecho village, south-west coast, northern New Ireland, Kara speakers, New Ireland Province. Wood, shells.

192 x 33 cm. (77 cm, including extended arm). 81.46.1. Purchased by the National Museum in D ecember 1980

and registered July 1981. Gazetted as National Cultural Property 20 D ecember 1973.

Although Küchler was unable to obtain

a name for the figure MPNr 201, I was told in

August 1982 at Panamecho that its name is

Fiviwok and that the finger-in-mouth motif

suggests contemplation. Küchler notes that

‘the presence of the rib-bones (lengof ) and

the lack of a rekap on its chest identify the

carving as being of the category of images

called Tangla (and therefore female)’. Like

MPNr 200, it is carved standing with its right

foot in a clamshell. At either side and at the

front are drongo birds, the ‘small bird’ totem

of sub-clan Morokomaf. On top of the head

sits a cockerel, holding in its beak a small

male figure that is one of the manifestations

of the clan ancestor spirits (rulrul).

The name of the figure (MPNr 202) with

an outstretched right arm was recorded by

Küchler as Melerawuk, but by Rowena Hill

(1980) as Gumalokawuk. These may be

alternative names. The male figure wears a

large kapkap and stands on the ‘big bird’

totem, manuengak , the sea eagle, and the

same bird is sitting on its head with a snake

in its beak. The snake, a manifestation of

rulrul , the clan ancestors, was entwined over

the outstretched arm but has broken off. ‘The

other arm is missing, but it is said to have car-

ried the skull of a man named Kasaumat.’

Perched on the penis of the figure is a horn-

bill (bengbenga), ‘small bird’ totem of

Morokomade clan, devouring the figure’s

internal organs. On each side, a hornbill

perches on a leg of the figure and holds one

of the ribs in its beak; a small hornbill sits on

the hand of the outstretched arm.

The masks

All of the masks brought out of the Nom-

bowai cave are called a menebei . The one that

was destroyed, and MPNrs 196 and 197, were

worn at malagan ceremonies; MPNr 195,

rombol , has a different context.

During Kara malagan ceremonies, masks

walk through the village to terminate taboos

(a vinebi ). This is called a waswasbingel , ‘the

finishing off of the work of the deceased’. No

masks of this type were recovered from the

Nombowai cave, but they would have looked

something like MPNr 40, called nit or vanis,

with various names for the sub-types.

Regarding the funerary taboos, Küchler says:

Three places are subject to a vinebi after a

person’s death – the house in which the

death occurred, called a gom; the place

where the corpse is kept until cremation

or burial, called a wen a bit; and the land

which the deceased had been cultivating

… Until the taboos are terminated, houses

in the village may not be altered or dis-

mantled and the resources of land and

sea may not be exploited. [Kuechler

1983: 81-2]

The walking mask ‘follows the steps of the

deceased’ accompanied by a group of men

and women who are clan members of the

deceased or from the clan of the dead per-

son’s father, singing songs in the old

language of the original mountain settle-

ment of Baum.

The man wearing the mask holds an axe

in his hand and cuts down trees planted

by the deceased and destroys his house.

Singers and observers break into tears,

shaken by the memory of all those who

have gone and who took part on such

occasions in the past.

After this, the mask is bought by the clan

of the deceased or of the children of the

deceased. ‘Pigs, shell valuables and money

are given to those owning the image carved

for this occasion.’

MPNr 196 is called kangalabo according

to Küchler. According to Brian Egloff, it has

the personal name Ragalabu, though he may

have misheard the term kangalabo. Küchler

states that the masks called kangalabo are

part of a group of images called kepong (cf.,

Helfrich 1973: 30-2, Plates 92-105). She says:

The kepong never dances. Its movement

through the village progresses slowly

from house to house, where its basket is

filled with food and shell money. Finally

kepong reaches the feasting ground at a

time when the final food distribution of

the malangan is about to star t. Here the

kepong imitates activities of women and

their behaviour. Again it demands to be

given portions of food.

This seems to be similar (though not

exactly the same) in function to the Tabar

Islands vanis masks (sub-category ngeis)

called Susur-vono, Mat-N’na-N’nach and Chire-

Chirep (Lurang 1999: 147 and Figs 15.4-15.6).

These ngeis masks are quite different in

appearance to the kepong.

The characteristics of the kepong mask

called kangalabo (‘big-ear’) are mortice-and-

tenon ear attachments, a nose attachment,

the slanted and sometimes protruding eyes

of what elsewhere are called ges or ngeis, and

distorted facial features. The destroyed maskfrom Nombowai had lost its ear attachments

but still had its nose attachment – carved as

the head of a pig – when brought out of the

cave (Fig. 108 and Kuechler 1983, Plate 7). It

was most likely similar in appearance to the

mask illustrated in Lincoln (1987a: 107), or

that from Tabar Islands illustrated in Helfrich

(1973, Plate 103), having the same pointed,

upturned tongue-like protrusion from the

mouth. MPNr 196 has lost both ear and nose

attachments and the spiky protrusions from

the mouth were broken off while it was on

display at the Panamecho school. It was




MPNr 196. Mask (kangalabo), Panamecho village, south-west coast, northern New Ireland, Kara speakers,

New Ireland Province. Wood. 35 x 18 cm. 81.46.6. Purchased by the National Museum in December 198 0 and

registered July 1981. Gazetted as National Cultural Property 20 December 1973 .

probably similar in appearance to the Tabar

Islands kepong mask illustrated in Helfrich

(1973, Plate 100), which also has the spiky

protrusions from the mouth.

MPNr 197 is called pitalolot according to

Küchler. According to Brian Egloff, it has the

personal name Piscaut, though he may have

misheard the term pitalolot . Each ear-attach-

ment features a snake, a manifestation of the

rulrul clan ancestors. A contemporary version

of this mask, carved by Hosea Linge of Libba

village (Notsi speakers), was collected by

Peter Hallinan and exhibited in 1990-91 (Hal-

linan 1990: 10, Nr 3).

This mask is quite different to kangalabo.

It has the ear-attachments, identifying it as

nit kalerala according to Küchler, and there-

fore in at least that respect it is related to the

nit kulegula of Lewis (1969: 114-16). The name

also possibly relates it to the mask called pita-

lot in Helfrich (1973: 26) and Heintze (1987:

51-2), though there is little similarity in

appearance. It is rather more like the series of

masks, most of which are called merue, illus-

trated by Helfrich (1973, Plates 77-85), being

characterised by a face over-modelled in

blackened bees wax with hair and beard rep-

resented by plant materials. Küchler says, ‘The

impression of an over-modelled skull is

emphasised by the prominent brows, sunken

eyes and half-open mouth’.

Küchler draws a vivid contrast between

kangalabo and pitalolot .

The eyes of pitalolot are sunken in, the

eyes of kangalabo are sticking out; the

teeth of pitalolot are not visible but they

are prominent features of kangalabo; the

appearance of pitalolot is realistic, the

appearance of kangalabo is grotesque.

The contrast in the form given to kangal-

abo and pitalolot is met in the difference

of the activity of the two masks. The mask




kangalabo appears compact and heavy;

if worn at all by a dancer, its movements

have to be slow and guided by another

man (there are no holes for the dancer to

look through). The mask pitalolot is light

and fragile; the masked dancer can move

quickly and independently.

The mask MPNr 195 called rombol

(recorded as rambol by Brian Egloff ), appears

at the first opening of the sacred enclosure

and is worn by a failai . The person designated

a failai is the guardian of clan wealth and is

kept in seclusion until death. In Kara society,

he/she was not allowed to marry, to eat food

prepared outside the sacred enclosure, to

leave the enclosure on his or her own

account, or to be near anyone not specially

designated to come close. A mask had to be

worn by a failai when he or she left the enclo-

sure. After the death of a failai , the first

woman of his or her sub-clan that becomes

pregnant has to enter the enclosure. Her

child is born there, remains hidden, and is

‘raised with food given by the dead’. When a

failai reaches maturity, he/she makes the first

appearance, wearing the rombol mask. While

in seclusion, a failai learns about magic and

the images of malagan owned by the ances-

tors of his/her sub-clan.

This knowledge provided a failai the right

to acquire shell money, land and images

of malangan in exchange for the inherited

images of malangan. This is clan wealth

not personal wealth and a failai acts as

the guardian of that wealth.

Küchler continues:

The a failai cannot make decisions about

public affairs such as the organisation of a

malangan, or speak in public. The only

purpose of his/her being is to show off

the influence and wealth of h is/her clan.

Socially, he/she is dead (as signified in his/

her prohibition to marry or to take food

from other people). Being dead among

the living, the a failai is the manifestation

of the immortality of his/her clan; he/she

is a clan spirit. This striving for immortality,

manifested in the status of the a failai , is

the theme of the images of the mask a

menebei . The opposition of the form of

kangalabo and that of pitalolot is resolved

in the form given to rombol (an image

embodying both death-like and life-like

appearances, as do the images of

malangan).

MPNr 197. Mask ( pitalolot ), Panamecho v illage,

south-west coast, northern New Ireland, Kara

speakers, New Ireland Province. Wood, adhesive,

seed pods. 72 x 16 cm. 81.46.3. Purchased by the

National Museum in December 1980 and registered

July 1981. Gazetted as National Cultural Property

20 December 1973.




The bird figures

Two carvings incorporating a bird as the

main figure have come from the Nombowai

cave, only one of which is on display in the

Masterpieces Exhibition. The one on display

(MPNr 198) is essentially a side view of the

Barn Owl with what appear to be its wings

extended to the rear. However, what look like

feathers are a representation of a mass of

mazemaze worms (Palolo virides). The owl’s

beak holds the remnant of what was proba-

bly a snake, one of the manifestations of the

clan ancestor spirits, rulrul .

The other bird figure (E.2147, see Kuechler

1983, Plate 12), not on display, is a frontal

image with the owl at the centre holding a

female figure in its beak and its ‘wings’extended on either side (though almost all of

the bird’s right ‘wing’ has been broken off) .

Küchler was able to obtain information

about how these figures were used:

One piece has a socket; the other has a

loop-like handle car ved at the rear. Both

are to enable the dancer to carry the carv-

ing. The dancer himself is dressed up as a

hornbill bird (‘big bird’). Dancing the lang-

manu or ‘rising bird’ dance motif, he

approaches the malangan platform

erected inside the malangan enclosure a

sebero. His movements imitate the move-

ments of a bird. During the final stage of

the dance the dancer, holding the carving

raus, mounts the platform and may per-

form, for example, a vivid imitation of a

bird settling down in its nest. After the

dance the dancer is paid and the carving

bought by the clans involved in the

exchange of malangan and women.

As has been noted above, the owl raus is

associated with death and the time for mala-

gan. In the carving on display, there appears

to be a remnant of what was probably a

snake held in its beak and in the one not on

display, the owl holds a female figure in its

beak. Both are manifestations of the clan

ancestor spirits, rulrul , also represented on

two of the full-figure malagans from Nom-

bowai and on the ‘ear attachments’ of the

mask, pitalolot .

The two Nombowai raus may be com-

pared, respectively, with the similar carvings

illustrated in Lincoln (1987a: 143 and 140-41).

In the caption to the former, Lincoln repeats a

common interpretation of the bird and snake

motif as ‘the New Ireland theme of birds and

snakes in struggle’. This is inconsistent with

the information provided to Küchler at Pana-

mecho and may be a Eurocentric

interpretation. Similarly, certain motifs of fish

or birds ‘devouring’ humans may have noth-

ing at all to do with devouring but rather is a

way of indicating the fundamental relation-

ship between human ancestors and the clan

as a continuously-existing social entity as

represented by its totem animal. Thus the

bird holding the snake is the same as the bird

holding a human or a fish holding a human

(for example, Lincoln 1987a: 88).

What is often thought of simply as feath-

ers or wings of the bird may in fact besomething else. In the case of the Nombowai

raus figures, Küchler was told that

instead of feathers the ‘wings’ consist of

representations of the worm Palolo virides

(mazemaze). The painting of the carving

once displayed the numerous colours of

mazemaze: yellow, brown, green and red.

She goes on to explain the significance of

the Palolo worm:

The Palolo worm mazemaze plays an

important role in the Kara conception of

time; mazemaze can be found on only one




MPNr 195. Mask (rombol), Panamecho village, south-west coast, northern New Ireland, Kara speakers, New

Ireland Province. Wood, adhesive, seed pods. 28 x 22 cm. 81.46.5. Purchased by the National Museum in

December 1980 and registered July 1981. Gazetted as National Cultural Property 20 December 1973.




day of the year. It appears on exposed

reefs beneath stones and lumps of coral

during the night after the disappearance

of the moon – in October on the east

coast and in November on the west coast

… During the very early morning hours

after the mazemaze are collected in bas-

kets and carried to the village, children aretaken to the water to wash. The water in

which mazemaze was found is thought to

support the growth of children …

The appearance of mazemaze marks a

veles, the ‘centre’ of the year. The time of

the dry season is finished and the rainy

season starts … Matbung (the beginning

of the rains) is associated with the fertility

of the land – it is called upon in magic

performed at the time of the planting of

taro gardens for a future malangan. The

time of malangan itself lies in the dry sea-

son or a wenemat .

The year is thus divided into a time for

making gardens and a time for making

malangan. The power of mazemaze thus

achieves the unity of land and malangan.

Mazemaze symbolises the continuity of

time: it marks the end of the old year and

the beginning of the new year. Its image,

being integrated into the malangan raus

(representing death), makes a statementabout the continuity of social time and

‘immortality’ of social groups established

in and through the practice of malangan.

Throughout Papua New Guinea, the primacy

and ‘immortality’ of the community is a fun-

damental assumption of social life. It is the

community that owns land, and individuals

merely own rights to the use of land (Samana

1988: 12-13). Traditionally, whereas arrange-

ments can be made to transfer rights to the

use of land, it is not conceivable that owner-

ship can be permanently transferred, except

perhaps by force of conquest. This is a basic

difference between Papua New Guinea soci-

ety and Western society that regards land as

a commodity that can be bought and sold by

individuals.

Already, Papua New Guineans are experi-

encing the Western forms of land ownership

in the urban centres where land was alien-

ated from traditional community ownership

by the colonial powers and is now bought

and sold like any other commodity. It remains

to be seen how much longer the ways of the

ancestors, ‘ pasin bilong ol tumbuna’, as dem-

onstrated in the Masterpieces Exhibition of

the Papua New Guinea National Museum and

Art Gallery, can survive in the 21st century, as

Papua New Guinea becomes more and more

drawn into global politics and the global

economy.

MPNr 198. Bird (raus), wood; Panamecho village, south-west coast, northern New Ireland, Kara speakers, New

Ireland Province. Wood, adhesive, seed pods, shells. 62 x 32 cm. 81.46.4. Purchased by the National Museum

1980 and registered July 1981. Gazetted as National Cultural Property 20 December 1973.




Notes

1 For the sake of ease of reading and to be con-

sistent with the present tense often used by

ethnographers whose works are quoted, this

text has been written in the present tense

except where it is perfectly clear that a particu-

lar building or type of building, settlement

location or cultural practice no longer exists. Itshould not be thought that this convention

implies that New Guinea societies are un-

changing. In fact, many traditional beliefs and

practices do continue in the present day, and

although traditional warfare, and obviously

headhunting and cannibalism, do not, tradi-

tional conflicts and tensions are worked out on

the football field and in other ways. Also note

that, again for consistency, the italicisation of

vernacular and Melanesian Pidgin terms has

been applied within quotations, regardless of

whether or not the authors italicised such

words or phrases. Where alternative spellings

for vernacular terms, villages, rivers and so on

occur in the literature, they will be indicated atfirst mention but only one spelling used in the

text thereafter, although authors’ spellings will

be retained in quotations, as will authors’

spellings of English words (for example, Anglo-

English: colour; American English: color).

2 Each object in the exhibition has an exhibit

number [MPNr], apart from its registration

number, that was given to it when the exhibi-

tion was restructured in 19 81, but the structure

of this catalogue does not strictly follow these

numbers from 1 to 209.

3 Nowadays these canoes are propelled by out-

board motors rather than by sail (Lipset 1997,

Plate 8).

4 Bodrogi (1961: 42) draws attention to

Schlesier’s opinion that the balum is ‘the em-

bodiment of all ancestors’.

5 Bodrogi reports (1961: 70): ‘The balum spirit of

Huon Gulf appears under the name of kani in

the Tami Islands’.

6 Except that close attention will show that a

splashboard is bigger on one side than on the

other, and those that are bigger on the right

side are thought of as prow splashboards and

those bigger on the left side as stern splash-

boards (Narubutal 1975: 1).

7 The motif of two sea-eagles attacking villagers

is found in stories that explain the imagery of

the Iatmul men’s cult house finial figures (see

pp. 68-9 this book).

8 Josefine Huppertz published the German

edition of her book in 1981 and an English

translation in 1992. The illustrations for each of

these editions are different. Only the German

edition illustrates the whole series of five

façades.

9 Huppertz (1992: 66-74) also has published a

version of the story of Mobul as recounted by

Simon Nyowep (Novep) and tape-recorded inMelanesian Pidgin by John Kovac. In that ver-

sion, published in Melanesian Pidgin and in

English, Huppertz states that Mobul (= Mopul)

is the older brother and Goyan (= Wain) is the

younger brother and that the older brother

was angry with the younger because the

younger brother had seduced his (the older

brother’s) wife. None of this is a necessary

reading of the Melanesian Pidgin text. In

Dennett’s version, Mopul is the younger broth-

er who is wrongly accused of seducing the

older brother’s ( Wain’s) wife. In the course of

Huppertz’s version, the ‘older brother’ marries

the two daughters of Goyan, Vigil and Sisil, but

as the story progresses, the husband of thesetwo women is named as G oyan, so there ap-

pears to have been a mistranslation

somewhere. There are other difficulties in

Huppertz’s version too, whereas the version

reported by Dennett is consistent and more

complete. The story of the two brothers

Andena and Arena, recounted to Lipset (1997:

73-4) at Darapap, Murik Lakes, is remarkably

similar to the story of Wain and Mopul.

10 Although ‘spathe’ is the term commonly used,

the flat sheets are actually made from the base

of the sago palm leaf or frond.

11 I photographed a deteriorating gable support

post, in the form of a spread-legged female

figure with a crocodile carved at the rear, in a

men’s house at Korogopa on the middle Keram

River, 18 November 1981 (Photos 198 1 C30:

26-31). Considered along with a similar gable

support post from Kambot (Meyer 1995: Plate

214), this reinforces the identification of links

between lower and middle Sepik archi tecture.

12 Wassmann (1991: 15) asserts that these gable

masks, even on the men’s houses, represent

female ancestors. Métraux (1991: 527) men-

tions only that the dwelling house, ‘its façade

the face of a woman wearing long earings, was

symbolically a woman’.

13 Eva Raabe, pers. comm. 13 February 2004. See

also Haberland 1966.

14 This interpretation is of course questionable. It

is perhaps even more likely (depending on

what is meant by ‘primacy’) that the nggwal-

ndu faces are expressing the primacy of male

cultural creativity over female natural creativity.

15 The National Cultural Property (Preservation)

Act (Chapter No. 156 of the Laws of Papua New

Guinea), Section 9, stipulates a fine ‘not exceed-

ing K.500’ or imprisonment for a term ‘not

exceeding six months’. The monetary fine hasnot been upgraded since a 1967 amendment

to the original Act of 1965.

16 The most comprehensive survey of pottery in

PNG is the book by May and Tuckson (2000).

Most of the following information has been

obtained from that source.

17 For a photograph showing a man wearing the

pig tusk ornament on his chest, see Bodrogi

1961, Fig. 211.

18 For a survey of Oceanic headrests see Meyer

2004.

19 A remarkably similar story was told by a

Binandere at Ewore village on the Gira River,

Oro Province, in which the monster is named

Dodoima (Johnston 199 5: 1-4). Another ver-sion, with the monster appearing as the huge

snake-man, Wvawvasikai, was recorded by

Burridge (1969: 312-15) among the Tangu,

about 15 kilometres south of Bogia, Madang

Province. A portion of the story, involving the

birth of two boys from the blood of cut fingers,

is part of the Yangoru Boiken myth that at-

tributes the origins of male initiation to

women (Roscoe 1990: 404). Ewore and Tangu

are around 270 kilometres in opposite direc-

tions from the Adzera; the Yangoru Boiken are

200 kilometres farther west from Tangu.

20 It was not clear if these ‘sons’ were actual sons

or classificatory sons.

21 Incorrectly tied, according to Dirk Smidt, who

believes it should be hanging at the front and

not pulled up between the legs (pers. comm.

19 May 2004).

22 A figure (E.46303) quite similar to Andi, is part

of the E.J. Wauchope collection of 1938 in the

Australian Museum. According to Wauchope’s

notes, he collected this piece, along with sever-

al others, at Kraimbit, a village on the

Blackwater River some 50 kilometres south-

west of Maramba. On the basis of style, it may

be conjectured that this figure was brought to

Kraimbit from Maramba.

23 Whereas Forge distinguishes the large

kamanggabi from the small yi’pon, I was in-

formed that the large hook figures at Chimbut

(an Alamblak village on the Karawari) were




called yipwon, and Kaufmann appears to have

been told the same (2003: 40).

24 This information is contained in a copy of a

letter from Christian Kaufmann to Ralph

Bulmer, dated 14 July 1971, held in the PNG

National Museum’s archives.

25 On 23 September 1983, I recorded an interest-

ing variation of the story of the woman, thecrocodile and their eagle progeny (Craig 1983:

134-38). Cletus Smank of Tambanum, an east-

ern Iatmul village, told the story as relevant to

the gable finial he sold to the National

Museum (registered 83.123.75), representing

what appears to be a male figure with an eagle

on top. The story follows the narrative recorded

by Wassmann from Kandingei, with some

minor variations, but when the eagles start to

attack and kill villagers, only one of them is

killed. (Neither eagle carries its mother into the

tree as in the Kandingei version.) The other flies

off and encounters a man and woman who

both appear to be pregnant but they say they

have distended bellies because they can’tdefecate. The eagle cuts op en their rectums

and they are relieved of their constipation. This

part of the story seems to be a transformation

of the introduction of sexual intercourse by

Mangisaun, who cut open the woman’s vagina

to make intercourse possible. The carved finial

sold by Cletus therefore appears to represent

one of the eagles carrying off a male victim,

rather than its mother as in the Kandingeiversion of the story.

26 Wurabai is a Kwomtari-speaking village in the

southern foothills of the Bewani Mountains on

the Wuro, an eastern tributary of the North

River. Wurabai is about 50 kilometres north-

east of Kwomtari village.

27 As a consequence of this event in 1918, the

District Officer burned down the new cult

house Bungabwar, destroying the karkar spears

and other contents, and it wasn’t until 1981

that it was eventually rebuilt (Lipset 19 95: 198

and Plate 25).

28 Dirk Smidt’s account (1975: 53) agrees in some

details with the story told to me but differs in

naming Onesi rather than Arero as the recipi-ent of the mask. It is possible that Onesi is an

alternative name for Arero, or Onesi may have

been a descendant of Arero.

29 In 1966, Thomas Schultze-Westrum (1968: 299,

Bild 4) photographed a few deteriorating

keweke and gope in a hut at Wowobo village,

inland from the complex waterways between

the Kikori and Era rivers.

30 The South Australian Museum has one largeone (A.8554) and several small ones from

Bevan; others from Bevan are in the collections

of the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin

(Newton 1961, Illusts 227, 230), and there is a

small one in the Macleay Museum in Sydney.

31 Van der Zee incorrectly provides the name

Aceros u. undulatus, which is a South-east Asian

species not present in New Guinea (Beehler et

al. 1986: 145, Plate 25; Iredale 1956: 213, Plate

VII, 2; Mayr 1941: 94; Rand and Gilliard 19 67:

302-3, Plate 43).

32 Kapkap is the Pidgin English word for a fret-

work of tortoiseshell fastened to a white disc of

Tridacna (clam) shell (Edmundson and Boylan

1999: Plates 37, 48, 50, 61; Stöhr 1987, Plate158).



Appendices – 253

Section 4 of the National Museum and Art

Gallery Act of 1992 states:

The functions of the Museums [National

Museum, Branch Museums and designated

Cultural Centres] are to –

(i) protect and conserve the cultural

and natural heritage of Papua

New Guinea as required by the

Environmental Planning Act (Chapter

370 [of the Laws of Papua New

Guinea]), National Cultural Property

(Preservation) Act (Chapter 156) and the

Conservation Areas Act (Chapter 362);

and

(ii) collect, document, photograph,

conserve and manage examples of

prehistoric artifacts, traditional arts and

material culture, and contemporary

history and art; and

(iii) administer the National Cultural

Property (Preservation) Act (Chapter 156)

and War Surplus Material Act (Chapter

331) and any other Act that applies to

the functions of the Museum; and

(iv) research and document the

prehistory of Papua New Guinea

by archaeological surveys and

excavations, and manage the national

archaeological collections; and

(v) monitor archaeological research

in Papua New Guinea and issue

archaeological permits for the short-

term loan of archaeological material for

study overseas: and

(vi) maintain the national register of

traditional and archaeological sites,

locate and record prehistoric sites

and monuments, and carry out the

salvage of archaeological excavations

as required by the National Cultural


and the Environmental Planning Act

(Chapter 370); and

(vii) identify, document and monitor

the conditions of objects of national

cultural significance, recommend

their proclamation as national cultural

property, and keep a register of

national cultural property; and

(viii) monitor the collection and export

of artifacts, issuing permits and perform

other duties as required by the National

Cultural Property (Preservation) Act

(Chapter 156); and

(ix) manage and preserve prehistoric

sites, traditional structures and movable

objects of cultural significance as

required by the National Cultural


and the Conservation Areas Act (Chapter

362); and

(x) conserve objects, sites and

structures using traditional and

modern techniques; and

(xi) maintain a national collection of

natural history specimens and carry

out research on the flora and fauna of

Papua New Guinea; and

(xii) undertake field research on the

collections, and publish the results of

such research in the Museum records

and other appropriate publications; and

(xiii) monitor and affiliate researchers

from other institutions carrying out

research in the areas of the Museum’s

functions; and

(xiv) maintain a reference library that

serves the Museum’s functions; and

(xv) mount permanent, temporary and

travelling exhibitions for the education

and enjoyment of the public; and

(xvi) assist and provide training

programmes for personnel from

provincial and regional cultural centres;

and

(xvii) recommend to the Minister the

implementation of international

conventions relating to the cultural

and natural heritage of mankind where

Papua New Guinea is a party to such

conventions; and

(xviii) recommend to the Minister the

seeking of the return from overseas

countries of objects and collections of

national and cultural significance; and

(xix) establish Friends of the Museum

under a special Trust Fund; and

(xx) assist and encourage contemporary

arts at the national, provincial, local and

individual levels.

Appendix 1

Functions of the National Museum and Art Gallery




Introduction

Most readers of this Masterpieces Exhibition

catalogue may not have realised that there is

an enormously valuable treasure of material

cultural heritage preserved in the storerooms

of the National Museum. The Masterpieces

Exhibition is merely the best selection of

the most significant items that could be

made in 1979 and 1981, given imperfect

overall knowledge of the collections by the

selectors, myself included. The exhibition in

the Independence Gallery provides a broader

selection of items of more general and

everyday use and shows a lot more of what

can be found in the storerooms. Even so, the

items on exhibit are just a small proportion of

the total collections.

Despite the fact that the National

Museum almost certainly has the largest

collection of Papua New Guinea material

culture in the world (Table 1), there are many

distinctive cultures that are poorly, or not

at all represented (Table 5). There are many

reasons for this. The relatively short history of

the museum and limited funding, combined

with the enormity of the task of representing

the variety of cultures created by people

speaking over 750 languages, are sufficientexplanation.

It is rare that a museum can set about

deliberately collecting or acquiring major

individual items and collections of material

according to a predetermined plan. Most

museum collections come together largely

by circumstance and chance rather than

purposefully. Because this is so, curators in

museums world-wide should think of their

collections of Papua New Guinea material

culture as ‘dispersed collections’. Sometimes

a particular collection (made by one person

from a certain area) has been divided and

sent to two or more museums. Sometimes

different collectors make collections in a

particular area at different times, and the

material is sent to a number of different

museums. Often collections come from

different collectors from adjacent areas and

are therefore complementary in that sense.

The material cultural heritage of a

particular cultural group may be scattered

in several museums throughout the world

but, if they are fortunate, that group might

find a good collection from their area in the

National Museum. For scholars who want to

research the material cultural heritage of a

particular area or region, the objects they

would like to study are seldom conveniently

located in one museum. Then comes the

task of finding out where the relevant

material is located. But even with progressive

computerisation of registers, it is difficult to

discover what is held by the various museums

throughout the world.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, five

surveys of Pacific collections were carried out

and published, in Switzerland (Kaufmann et al.

1979), the United Kingdom and Irish Republic

(Gathercole and Clarke 1979), Australia

(Bolton 1980), New Zealand (Neich 1982), and

the United States of America and Canada(Kaeppler and Stillman 1985). Some museums

with major collections were not included in

these surveys for various reasons; for example,

the Museum of Cultural History (now Fowler

Museum) at the University of California in

Los Angeles had some 20,000 items from the

Pacific in 1981 (Ellis 1981:17), probably the

majority coming from Papua New Guinea, but

is not listed in the North American survey.

It may be assumed that there are at least

as many objects in museums in the rest

of Europe as were recorded by the above

five surveys, and collections in museums in

Japan (especially at the National Museum of

Ethnology at Osaka) also must be recognised.

This suggests that there could be half a

million artefacts from Papua New Guinea

in museums around the world but the

information at hand is preliminary at best.

A survey of French institutions is under

way (Boulay 1992) and there is an increasing

number of references to the Pacific collections

of particular museums, for example Anson

(1995) for the Otago Museum, Dunedin; Auld

(1982) for the Carnegie Museum of Natural

History in Pittsburgh; Coote et al. (1999)

for the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford; Craig

(1993) for the National Museum of Australia

in Canberra; Davidson (1991) for the National

Museum of New Zealand; Ewins (1997) for

the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in

Hobart; Fernstrom (1997) for the Baltimore

Museum of Art; Gathercole (1995) for the

Cambridge University Museum; Gunn (1993)

for the Northern Territory Museum in Darwin;

Holmes and Frlan (1989) for museums in

Yugoslavia; Hunt (1996) for the university

museum at Aberdeen; Idiens (1990a, b) for

museums in Scotland; Jones (1993) for the

South Australian Museum in Adelaide; Kaehr

(1992) for a Swiss museum at Neuchâtel;

Lavondes (1991) for a French museumat Grenoble; Lovelace (1992) and MacKie

(1993) for museums in Scotland; Pole (1996)

for the Saffron Walden Museum in Essex;

Raberts (1993) for the Museum of Victoria

in Melbourne; Regius (1999) for museums

in Sweden; Fetchko (1989) and Scarangello

(1996) for the Peabody Essex Museum at

Salem; Stanton (1995) for the museum at

the University of Western Australia in Perth;

Thomsett (1993) for the Australian Museum

in Sydney; Vargyas (1992) for the museum

at Budapest in Hungary; Watson et al.

(1996) for the Peabody Museum at Harvard;

Appendix 2

Ethnographic Collections of the National Museum

Barry Craig



Appendices – 255

Zwernemann and Wilpert (1990) for the

museum in Hamburg, Germany. Mostly,

these accounts focus on the biography, and

historical and socio-political background, of

the collectors and collections rather than on

lists of ethnographic material.

The purpose of this Appendix is to give

an overview of the collections of the NationalMuseum and to provide an outline of who

were responsible for making the collections,

from where and when.

A short history of the registration

procedures used since the establishment

of the museum will explain the different

registration numbers encountered in the

catalogue and why research is necessary

to establish the identity of so many items.

Although there is a computerised register of

the ethnographic collections in the National

Museum, this requires a lot more work before

it can be considered reliable enough to be

made available to the public and to scholars.

Further, the Museum does not yet have the

facilities to make such a register available

on-line.

The following summary is only a

preliminary guide to what can be found in

the museum and how it got there, based on

limited examination of the Register Books.

The first two decades

After the end of World War Two, joint civil

administration was established for the

formerly separate Territories of Papua and

New Guinea. In 1954 the Legislative Council

of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea

passed an Ordinance which provided for the

establishment of a Papua and New Guinea

Public Museum and Art Galler y. Following

the precedent set by William MacGregor,

J.H.P. Murray, and the civil administration

in the Mandated Territory of New Guinea,

the intention to establish a museum in Port

Moresby was first expressed by accumulating

specimens.1

The Museum’s Annual Report for

1965 provided a graph illustrating the rate

of acquisition of ethnographic specimens

from 1952 until 1965 and commented that

(TPNGPMAG 1966: 2):

The two very high peaks which occur

during 1954 and 1963 followed the

distribution through the Department of

District Administration of a circular giving

details of information required in relation

to articles collected for the Museum.

This circular, prepared by the late Charles

Julius [Government Anthropologist] . . .

was first issued in 1953 and brought a

remarkable response.

There were no permanent employees

of the Museum until a Native Clerk was

employed to catalogue the specimens and

Table 1 Some Major Papua New Guinea and Torres Strait Islands Collections ranked by order of size

(from Kaufmann et al . 1979, Bolton 1980, Gathercole and Clarke 1979, Kaeppler and Stillman 1985, Neich 1982, rounded to nearest 10)

Museum PNG and

Torres Strait

Islands

Museum PNG and

Torres Strait

Islands

Bern, SwitzerlandEdinburgh, UK Neuchatel, SwitzerlandOttawa, Canada

Zurich, SwitzerlandOntario, CanadaMetropolitan Museum, NY, USAManchester, UK Canterbury, New Zealand

Horniman, UK Glasgow, UK Geneva, SwitzerlandAustralian National Gallery, CanberraLos Angeles County, California, USA

Liverpool, UK Uni of Newcastle-on-Tyne, UK Uni of Southern Illinois, USA

Tasmanian, Hobart, AustraliaBishop , Honolulu, Hawai’i

Smithsonian, Washington DCWellington, New Zealand

c. 800840

c. 850860

c. 900950950

10401050

11301170

c. 130013501370

150016201640

20702420

26502940

Otago, New ZealandPeabody, Salem, Massachusetts, USAUni. of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, USAQueensland Uni, Brisbane, Australia

Lowie, Berkeley, California, USAPeabody, Harvard, USANational, Canberra, AustraliaPitt Rivers, Oxford UK Auckland, New Zealand

Victoria, Melbourne, AustraliaSouth Australian, Adelaide, AustraliaCambridge Uni, UK Museum of Mankind, London, UK American Museum of Nat. History, NY

Queensland Museum, BrisbaneBasel, SwitzerlandField, Chicago, USA

Australian, Sydney, Australia TOTAL

PNG National (as at 1989)

2980349036903700

39704850521072708140

847090709150

1150012440

15180c. 20000

21650

27390c. 207540

c. 33000




care for the collections under the supervision

of the Government Anthropologist, Charles

Julius. Prior to that, the museum was run by

volunteers. It is not clear what year the Clerk

began his work but it wasn’t until 1959 that

the Museum was given the basement of the

old European Hospital at Port Moresby and

opened to the public on 15 October 1960.

At first, objects were registered according

to the District (now called Province) they

came from. There was a separate book for

each District that recorded ethnographic

and other details that were supplied with the

objects. A card index also was made. Most of

these exercise books and the card index are

preserved at the National Museum.

As a result of the Ellis Report of 1963, Roy

Mackay was appointed Preparator-in-Charge

of the Museum and arrived in Port Moresby

in October 1964. His first task was to assess

the situation at the Museum and develop

a plan of action for the immediate future

(TPNGPMAG 1966: 25):

The first half of this year [1965] was spent

in appraising the present state of the

Museum and its collections and from

this to develop a programme of work to

improve the preservation and cataloguing

of the collection, storage facilities, gallery

space and exhibits, provide a workroom

with basic tool equipment, increase the

floor space by at least one extension,

promote public relations and increase staff.

The second half of the year was devoted to

putting these activities into effect.

Revealingly, Mackay goes on to report

(ibid.: 27):

Very little existed in the way of storage

facilities in 1964. Specimens were heaped

on the floor and in consequence many

labels, numbers and accompanying data

became separated from the specimens.

The first task was to clear out each room,

build shelving and, as far as space would

allow, classify the material according to

type. As the space is so limited, classifying

according to District, language group or

culture group could not be considered. This

task was accomplished and a complete re-

registration of the collection begun.

Also in 1965, the National Cultural

Property Ordinance came into force and

the power to grant permits for the export

of cultural material not of special interest to

the Museum was delegated to the Director

of District Administration and to District

Commissioners (ibid: 9). As a guide to the

District Commissioners, and in an effort to

acquire more ethnographic specimens, a

catalogue showing a summary of the types

of material housed in the Museum was

published. This catalogue (Papua and New

Guinea Museum 1966) indicated the number

of objects in the collections for each District

as at October 1965 (Table 2).

When the collection was re-registered, the

specimens assigned numbers within each

District category were given new numbers

commencing at E.1. Up to October 1965,

these new numbers did not reach E.1300.

The discrepancy between the less-than

1300 entries in the register and the total

number of objects being 3017 as at October

1965 is explained by there being in many

cases more than one object registered

under each ‘E’ number. For example, E.1249,

37 tapa cloths; E.1251, 4 fighting picks;

E.1252, 3 adzes; E.1253, 2 spears; and so

on. Another potentially confusing factor is

that up until 1967 the ‘Date of Acquisition’

(by the Museum) was recorded, not the

date of registration, presumably because a

large number of items were acquired many

years before they were formally registered

under the ‘E’ system. After re-registration

was completed, the ‘Date of Registration’ of

newly arriving specimens replaced ‘Date of

Acquisition’.

Thus the material that came earliest

to the Museum includes many valuable

old objects that subsequently lost their

original registration numbers and other

documentation; and because more than

one object may have shared a registration

number, there were other confusions as

well. Further, objects were not routinely

measured as part of the registration process

until around August 1970 when E.5843 was

reached. These are the reasons why so many

objects in the Masterpieces Exhibition have

required considerable research to establish

their identity, and why a handful remain

unidentified.

Among the most important of the col-

lections gathered in these early years, and

which emerged from research on the objects

DISTRICT OBJECTS %

Sepik

MadangMorobeNorthern

Milne Bay

Central

Gulf Western

Manus

New IrelandNew Britain

Bougainville

Eastern Highlands

Western HighlandsSouthern Highlands

683

422204

87

139

122

91210

110

2891

120

174

361175

23

1473

5

4

37

4

13

4

6

126

TOTAL 3017 102

(NB. Total of percentages exceeds 100 because of

rounding errors.)

Table 2 Number of objects in PNG

Museum as at October 1965



Appendices – 257

in the Masterpieces Exhibition, is that from

Dadi Wirz (the son of Swiss ethnographer

Paul Wirz) assembled during his trip through

the Sepik region in 1955 (following upon his

father’s untimely death, and burial at Wewak).

These include the 63 objects registered E.346

to 350 and E.352 to 378. Archival sources

indicate that these items were withheld from

export by the Administration. The larger

part of the collection was given an export

permit and most of it is now in the Museum

der Kulturen, Basel, and the Musée national

des arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie, Paris (now

relocated and renamed the Musée du quai

Branly).

No doubt other early collections will be

found to originate from particular collectors,

probably administration officers. For example,

E.1 to 14 received in 1952 and representing

almost 110 objects from the Lake Murray/Fly

River area; E.15 to 23 received in 1953 and

representing 60 objects from the Orokaiva

around Popondetta ; and E.79 to 154 received

in 1954 and representing 410 objects from

the Lower Ramu-Bogia area. Then there are

the two 1967 collections of about 125 items

from Wonenara, sent by ‘Discom, Eastern

Highlands’ (E.2021 to 2068) and nearly

20 items sent by ‘ADC, Imonda’ (E.2159 to

2167). Considerable archival research will

be necessary to find out more about these

and many other apparently anonymous

collections, but it can be done.

The Trustees published the first of their

Annual Reports of the Museum in February

1965, which covered the calendar years 1963

and 1964 and included a financial report for

the year July 1963-June 1964. Each Annual

Report thereafter referred to activities in the

calendar year but financial reports were for

the financial year. The first published Report

included a section on ‘New Acquisitions’ but

the information is insufficient to identify

the objects referred to. From 1965 onwards,

for each significant collection, usually the

number of items, where they were from and

the name of the collector was provided.

Table 2 shows the lack of material from

certain Districts, particularly Gulf, New Britain,

New Ireland and Northern (Oro) Districts

as compared with the Madang, Sepik and

Western Highlands Districts.

During 1966, Mackay made several field

trips

to collect, at relatively small direct cost, a

large number of valuable and significant

items. It is in planned collecting trips such

as these that we are likely to find the best

means of filling the many obvious gaps

in our collec tions, whilst maintaining

the essential high quality of the items

collected. [TPNGPMAG 1967: 3]

These trips resulted in almost 45 items

from the Eastern Highlands, over 230 items

from the Nomad River area of the Western

District, and six items from the Maprik area of

the Sepik District.

But prior to Mackay’s appointment and

his deliberate collection of ethnographic

material from particular areas, Bryan

Cranstone from the British Museum set

a precedent in 1964 by being the first

ethnographer to systematically allocate to

the PNG Museum a representative portion of

a collection made for an overseas institution.

Of his collection of around 800 objects

from the Telefolmin, Ulapmin and Tifalmin

peoples of central New Guinea, some 300

were allocated to the PNG Museum, although

intermittent registration of the collection

between 1964 and 1970 account for less than

200 of these items. Through the second half

of the 1960s and into the 1970s, the best-

documented collections came from such

arrangements where one part of the whole

collection went overseas and a matching

collection stayed in Port Moresby.

Many anthropologists, archaeologists,

museum curators and others doing long-

term research in particular areas made

collections of material culture which they

presented to the PNG Museum. Many of

these collectors provided material over a

number of years, not necessarily all at one

time, and include:

upper Sepik, 310 items;

Papuan Gulf, 330 items; Mt Bosavi,

Western District, 105 items;

District, 255 items;


Highlands (now Southern Highlands),

Eastern Highlands and Chimbu districts,

140 items;

districts, 50 items; Gogodala, Western


Mendi and Tari, Southern Highlands


Bay District, 70 items;

Northern, Madang and Sepik districts,

735 items and as agent for Dirk Smidt

of the PNG Museum, from Sunuhu in

East Sepik District, 255 items;

West Sepik District, 680 items;





Madang District, 100 items;


Southern Highlands District, 40 items;

items;


District, 85 items;

West Sepik District, 95 items;

District, 25 items;

Highlands District, 50 items;

Madang and Milne Bay districts, 130

items;

Sepik/Western districts, 90 items;

Karawari, East Sepik District, 140 items;

items;

items;

Sepik District, 255 items

District, 95 items.

items;

District, 130 items.

These collections are an irreplaceable

contribution to the cultural heritage of the

nation.

The names of well-known government

officers are to be found in the Register. For

example, there is material from around the

country collected by Chief Justice Sir Alan

Mann, President of the Board of Trustees

of the Museum from 1959 until his death

in 1970. There is also material from all over

the country donated over a period of more

than twenty years by J.K. McCarthy, for

many years Director of the Department of

Native Affairs (renamed the Department of

District Administration in 1964), and a long-

time Trustee of the Museum. Much of his

collection was sent to the Branch Museum at

Goroka named after him. There were regular

accessions of small numbers of objects from

the Government Anthropologist, Charles

Julius, and a large collection made up of

many donations from all over the country,

from the Administrator Sir Donald Cleland

and Lady Cleland. Highlands material came

from James Sinclair; Roy Mackay continued

collecting during his employment with the

Museum and when Dirk Smidt joined the

staff, he too made many and large collect ions.

Brian Egloff contributed ethnographic

objects as well as archaeological material

during his time on the staff of the Museum

and Robert Mitton brought with him to the

Museum most of the [West] Papuan material

(some 175 pieces) that is in the Museum,

going on to add collections from places in

Papua New Guinea, for example, Southern

Highlands (225 items), Manus (150 items)

and East Sepik (40 items), before his untimely

death in 1977.

Other government officers who collected

material now in the National Museum

include:

65 items;

items;


Highlands District, 40 items; Long

Island, Madang District, 15 items;


islands, Milne Bay District, 75 items.

Despite the dismissive and destructive

attitude of many of their colleagues, several

missionaries with a positive interest in

material culture also added to the collections:

Islands, Milne Bay District, 30 items;

District, 30 items;

Sepik District, 85 items;

Highlands District, 30 items;

District, 10 items;

District, 60 items.

Commercial dealers and collectors of

ethnographic objects and ‘tribal art’ also

contributed to the Museum’s collections,

sometimes as donations, sometimes through

confiscation, and often by sale to the

Museum. Unfortunately, this material tends to

be poorly documented:

districts, 35 items;


items;


and West New Britain districts, 720 items;



Appendices – 259

Southern Highlands districts, 240 items;

Gulf districts, 60 items;

and Morobe districts, 130 items;

Papua New Guinea, 140 items;

items.

There are many other collectors, some of

whom provided excellent documentation,

but without further research it is not clear

to which of the above categories they

belong. There were also large archaeological

collections made by various researchers,

perhaps the most visible in the Register

being Jim Specht, J. Peter White, Ron

Vanderwal, Brian Egloff, Ian Hudson and

James Rhoads. Many of these archaeologists

also added to the ethnographic collections.

Repatriations from overseas museums

during this period include two New Ireland

malagan masks and a malagan figure from

the Museum für Völkerkunde (now Museum

der Kulturen), Basel, in 1961; a Tolai iniet

figure from the Queen Victoria Museum and

Art Gallery, Launceston, Tasmania, in 1966;

and ten items from the Southern Highlands

District (a yupin figure and stone objects)

from the National Museum of New Zealand,

Wellington, in 1974. One of the malagan

masks and the yupin figure are in the

Masterpieces Exhibition (MPNrs 40 and 194

respectively).

The last published Annual Report of the

Trustees was for the financial year July 1975–

June 1976 (TPNGPMAG 1976b). The growth

of the Museum’s ethnographic collections

during the period 1963-1976 covered by the

published Annual Reports of the Trustees is

summarised by Table 3 which shows, on an

annual basis, the number of artifacts received

and the amount spent on the purchase of

artifacts.

These figures show marked growth in

the museum’s ethnographic collections in

1966 following the Ellis Report of 1963 and

the appointment of Roy Mackay in 1964.

The next marked increase was in 1973 and

1974 as a result of the major grant of $5

million for cultural development from the

Australian government. Expenditure onartifacts dropped significantly in 1975-76

as the Museum budget was oriented to the

construction, furnishing and staffing of the

new museum building at Waigani.

The next twenty-five years

The registration numbering system was

changed in 1975, perhaps to reflect the birth

of Papua New Guinea as an independent

nation. The ‘E’ numbering continued until 30

September 1975 and E.17274 was reached.

Thereafter, the numbering commenced

according to the system: Year–Collection

number–Item number. The first collection

recorded under this system was 75.1.1

to 100 (a collection of 100 pots from five

provinces acquired from Lynne Hosking and

Margaret Tuckson). A Register recorded a

summary of each collection as it came into

the Museum but more detailed information

for each object was recorded on an Artifact

Registration Form. These forms were filed

under the Year and Collection number. The

Register that I accessed commenced in 1975

and ended in 1989. I do not have summary

information about incoming collections since

the end of 1989.

The most significant collections

registered under the system commencing

in 1975 through to 1989 were the following

(figures are approximate), most being from

anthropologists, museum curators and others

doing long-term research in particular areas:

75.1, several provinces, 100 pots;

Province, 60 items;

Wuvulu Island, 35 items;

Central Province, 75 items;

Gogodala people, Western Province,

250 items;

135 stone tools;

East Sepik Province, 50 items;

New Ireland Province, 35 items;

Morobe provinces, 35 items;

and upper Sepik, 650 items;

Year2 Artifacts

(N)

Cost of Artifacts

($)

19631964

196519661967

19681969197019711972

197319741975

440200

30015001160

9001700150015701760

24502910

590

650530

160024502030

18306280

16,18010,26011,170

177,320103,250

10,700

TOTAL 16,980 344,250

Table 3 Growth of the PNG Museum

Ethnographic Collections 1963-1975

Note: Figures for the number of artifacts and theircost have been rounded to the nearest 10




Western Province, 140 items;

Province, 50 items;


area, West New Britain Province, 130

items;

70 items;

Kwoma people, East Sepik Province, 35

sago-spathe paintings;

Tabar Islands, New Ireland Province, 70

items;

people, Western Province, 70 items;

Wola people, Southern Highlands

Province, 520 items;

Sulka people, East New Britain Province,

55 items;

East New Britain Province, 25 items;

stone tools;

people, Western Province, 100 items;

Morobe Province, 25 items;

provinces, 40 string bags;


items;

provinces, 45 items;

Province, 45 items;

Highlands Province, 445 stone tools;

upper Sepik, 85 items;

Province, 80 items.

PNG National Museum staff and

officers of other PNG government cultural

institutions who collected material include:

Province, 25 items; 76.32, [West] Papua,

75 items;

New Britain Province, 45 items; 77.82,

78.30, 79.62, middle Ramu, Madang


Islands, 120 items;

Egloff; 77.80, Gulf Province, 90 items;

85.59, East Sepik Province, 275 items;

83.73, 83.95, Mountain-Ok, West Sepik


Ramu, Madang Province, 15 items;

Madang Province, 115 items; 81.29,

81.67, Sepik River, 20 items; 83.116, Gulf


81.46, six very old figures/masks moved

to a local primary school from a cave

near Panamecho, New Ireland Province;

Highlands Province, 195 items;

East New Britain Province, 20 items;


25 items;

Eastern Highlands provinces, 15 items;

84.143, Eastern Highlands Province, 15

items; 85.69, East New Britain Province,

5 items;


provinces, 75 musical instruments;

[West] Papua, 15 items;

Highlands Province, 110 items.

Many collections came in from Papua

New Guineans, the largest being purchased

from:

83.97, 83.99, 84.39, 84.42, 84.60, 84.86,

84.103, 85.54, 85.86, 86.2, 86.31, 86.80,

87.18, 87.46, all Simbu Province, 280

items; 85.101, Madang Province, 20

items;

items;

items;

86.101, 87.31, 87.65, Western Highlands

Province, 75 items.

Commercial dealers and collectors

of ethnographic objects and ‘tribal art’

contributed through donations, confiscation,

but mostly by sale to the Museum. Morris

Young, operating as ‘Island Carvings’ and

later as manager of the government owned

‘Village Arts’, was responsible for some 540

items, including a series of 175 wooden

bowls from the Siassi Islands. After Young’s

death, some 65 items were obtained from

‘Village Arts’. Maarten Borkent was the source

for 55 items, Rudi Caesar for some 250 items



Appendices – 261

from East Sepik and Gulf Provinces, and 60

items were obtained from Joe Chan’s ‘PNG

Art’. Loed van Bussell contributed small

numbers of items several times, the largest

accession being for some 30 masks from East

New Britain Province (87.22). Allyn Miller of

the Handcrafts Development Branch of the

PNG Department of Industrial Development

was the source for 260 items from various

provinces over a number of years.

Confiscations included 70 items from the

Gulf Province (77.10), seized from Knezevic

and Gueroult in 1976, 105 items from West

Sepik Province (78.59) seized from H. Dutch,

and over 40 items originating from East Sepik

Province (80.61) seized from M. Stummer.

An important purchase from an overseas

private collector, Patricia Withofs (81.48),

consisted of a male figure as suspension

hook (MPNr 127), a canoe gope from the Fly

River, and three war shields (including MPNr

138).

Transfer of the ownership and care of

collections from local to national level also

occurred:

Kiriwina, Trobriand Islands, 250 items;

Kavieng, New Ireland, 150 items;

Collection; 85.68, Manus Island, 60 pots.

During this period there were a number

of repatriations from overseas museums:

seventeen items from several provinces,

three of which are in the Masterpieces

Exhibition (MPNrs 47, 60, 150); and

88.34, one Manus Island oil jar;

79.48, one Gogodala drum; and the

MacGregor Collection, 80.66, 81.35, 83.6,

83.71, 84.82, 84.95, 86.102, consisting

of about 2775 items from several

provinces, two of which are in the

Masterpieces Exhibition (MPNrs 148,

149). ‘Between 1979 and 1992 nine

selections took place, 3,297 items being

returned to Papua New Guinea while

2675 were retained by Queensland.

The documentation programme has

been completed and the remaining

2277 items comprising spears, bows

and arrows await selection’ (Quinnell

2000: 97).

Camilla Wedgewood Collection, 84.48,

consisting of 37 items from Manam

Island;

a necklace of nassa shells and two

infant’s hands, East Sepik Province;

collection in the Australian Museum,

consisting of over 140 items collected

during 1937-38 from the lower eastern

Ramu, Madang Province, was first

placed in the National Museum on loan

and later altered to a repatriation about

1998.

There were also large archaeological

collections made by various researchers,

including Jim Allen, Nick Araho, Chris Ballard,

Jack Golson, Paul Gorecki, Chris Gosden,

Les Groube, Pat Kirch, Andre Rosenfeld,

Jim Specht, Matthew Spriggs, Peter White

and of course Pamela Swadling during her

long service as Curator of Prehistory at the

National Museum.

Table 4 shows a variable rate of

acquisition of artifacts from 1976 until

1989, falling off rapidly after the mid-1980s,

presumably due to budget restrictions. I was

unable to discover the amount spent on

acquisitions as this information is sometimes

recorded in the Register and sometimes not.

The number of artifacts are approximate

only (figures rounded to nearest 10) as some

entries in the register did not state how

many items there are, some collections are

non-ethnographic (skeletal, archaeological),

and some entries are of items that may have

been registered long ago but had lost their

registration numbers and had to be re-

registered. Table 5 gives an approximation of the

number of items from each province as at

1989 (rounded to nearest 10) and a rough

notion of how well the material culture of the

various language groups in each province is

represented. This assessment indicates that

something like 90% of the language groups

in Papua New Guinea are poorly, or not at

all, represented in the collections. Those

provinces whose language groups are best

represented include Simbu (20%), Southern

Highlands (19%), Gulf (18%) and West and

East Sepik (13%).

Year Artifacts

(N)

Acquisition

budget(Kina)

19761977

1978

1979

19801981

1982

1983

19841985

19863

19871988

1989

1610950

1360

1510

8801190

370

2230

1270600

1150

700110

200

25,00025,000

25,000

25,000

Total 14,130

Table 4 Growth of the PNG National

Museum Ethnographic Collections

1976-1989




Table 5 Ethnographic Collections of the PNG National Museum in 1989 analysed by number of language groups

represented

Province No. of

items

% of Total

collectionin inventory

No. of

languages

Languages

wellrepresented

Languages

partlyrepresented

Languages

poorly/notrepresented

West and East Sepik

MadangMorobe

Oro

Milne BayCentral

Gulf

Western

ManusNew Ireland

East New Britain

West New Britain

North Solomons4

Eastern Highlands

Simbu

Western Highlands

EngaSouthern Highlands

4240

12401340

400

1950780

1000

690

*190280

140

160

110460

130

*890

1401390

27.3

8.08.7

2.5

12.55.0

6.5

4.4

1.21.8

0.9

1.0

0.73.0

0.8

5.8

0.99.0

167

17494

29

5429

28

43

3322

17

33

2123

10

7

821

14

3

1

11

4

2

-

-

-

-1

-

-3

8

7

1

2-

1

-

-

-

2

-2

2

11

145

164

27

5128

23

41

22

17

31

2120

8

717

Total 15530 100.0 30 27 629

NOTE: * These figures were provided by Pamela Swadling, pers. comm., 25 July 1995. The lists for these Provinces had been lost ‘but the computer catalogue I have,

not complete for all ‘E’ numbers, has Manus 185, WHP 894 and Morobe 1344 items’.

It must be kept in mind that these figures

are extremely rough approximations only.

For one thing, Table 2 suggests that by 1965

around 3000 items were in the Museum.

Table 3 indicates that between 1966 and1975, another 16,000 items were added and

Table 4 shows that from 1976 to 1989, a

further 14,000 items were added. The total as

at 1989 ought therefore to be around 33,000

items. However, Table 5 includes only half

that number of items.

Many entries in the Registers are of

archaeological material but the provincial

listings used for Table 5 refer only to

ethnographic material. Many objects are

lacking sufficient data to assign them to

a language group, some have never been

registered and some may even have been

registered twice.

Although the Registers have now been

computerised, there are many errors, either

in the original data or as a consequence of

the computerisation process. Improvementsin the quality of the information provided

by the Registers can be made only through

careful research over many years. This is not

a state of affairs peculiar to the PNG National

Museum. All museums, throughout the world,

have the same problem, to a greater or lesser

extent.

Conclusion

People may well ask what is the significance

of knowing who made all these collections. If

we know who collected certain material, we

can find out if there are other parts of their

collection in other institutions. A collection

that was once complete, then divided, can

be reunified ‘virtually’ on paper and on a

computer, making it more useful for research.

If that person is alive, we can ask if thereare field notes that will provide information

additional to what is held by the National

Museum. If the collector is no longer alive,

we can search for such information among

papers held by relatives or that may have

been lodged in an archive somewhere.

Such methods are proving invaluable for

enriching collections of ‘dusty old artifacts’,

making them come alive, and therefore more

relevant and useful for the people of Papua

New Guinea. During my time as Curator

at the PNG National Museum in the early

1980s, I was impressed that many people

8135



Appendices – 263

said to me that they wanted their artifacts

– the physical tokens of their way of life, their

culture – represented in the collections of the

National Museum so that their children and

their children’s children could see how they

and their parents had lived. This knowledge

of, and respect for, the past is what gives

human beings their sense of community and

personal identity and establishes a secure

base from which to cope with the rapidly

changing circumstances of contemporary life.

Notes

1 Throughout this summary, only ‘ethnographic

specimens’ that is, those of recently historical

and contemporary traditional material culture,

will be noted, not natural history specimens,

archaeological and human skeletal material, or

items of non-traditional culture such as those

of the Modern History collection.2 Some figures refer to the financial year and

some to the calendar year.

3 Apparently there were 1500 items of the

MacGregor collection returned from the

Queensland Museum in 1986 which were not

yet entered on the Register as at 1989.

4 The number of items from Bougainville

(now ‘North Solomons’) as at October 1965

(see Table 1) was 120 so some items must

have been missed when staff compiled the

Provincial Inventories.

5 This total is far in excess of the oft-nominated

750 languages for Papua New Guinea, mostly

because many languages cross provincial

boundaries and thus have been counted

more than once for the purposes of this table.A more accurate tabulation would avoid

reference to provinces and be tabulated by

alphabetic order of name of language or

perhaps more usefully presented according to

the ‘family tree’ structure of the relationships

of languages as generally determined by the

linguists at the Australian National University

(Wurm and Hattori 1981).


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Sources of Illustrations

Bartlett, H.K. – Fig.19

Becker, David – MPNrs 1-17, 19, 21-74, 76, 78-

117, 119-209

Beier and Aris 1975 – Fig. 65

Brown, Bob – Fig. 1

Craig, Barry – MPNr 75, Figs 3, 5, 7, 14, 15, 23,

25, 26, 28-31, 34-49, 54-6, 60-3, 66, 69,

71-4, 76, 80-5, 89-94, 96, 97, 99, 100, 102-

4, 107

Crawford, Anthony L. – MPNrs 6-14, 16

(details), 18, 20, 77, 118, 205-7 (details),

Figs 4, 8, 64, 86, 87

Egloff, Brian – Fig. 108

Galis, K.W. – Fig. 13

Gerrits, Godfried – Figs 50-3, 57, 58

Hogbin, H.I. – Fig. 101

Hurley, Frank – Fig. 10

Kramer-Bannow, Elisabeth – Fig. 59

Laumann, Karl – Figs 68, 70

Lewis, M.J. – Fig. 95

Lindt, J.W. – Fig. 11

Malinowski, Bronislaw – Fig. 18

Meyer, Oscar – Fig. 75

Meyer and Parkinson – Figs 9, 12, 16

Murray, Hubert – Fig. 21

Neuhauss, R. – Fig. 17

Rockefeller, Michael C. – Fig. 106

Ruff, Wallace – Figs 24, 27, 32, 33

Schultze-Westrum, Thomas – Figs 77, 78

Spiers, James – Fig. 98

Tree, Peter – Fig. 6

Unknown photographer – Fig. 2

Usher, E.S. – Figs 20, 88

Williams, F.E. – Figs 22, 79, 105

Wirz, Dadi – Fig. 67



General Index – 277

ADO, Amboin MPNrs 161-64, 167

Australian Museum MPNrs 47, 60, 150

Benoir and Langules MPNrs 23, 24

Bühler, Alfred MPNr 40

Caesar, Rudi MPNrs 14, 49, 61, 62, 115, 154

Cleland, Lady Rachel MPNrs 203, 204

Craig, Barry MPNrs 3, 86, 139, 140, 174, 177,

180

Crawford, A.L. MPNrs 142, 143, 184

Donaldson, P. MPNr 205

Gerrits, Dr. G MPNrs 5 (with Dirk Smidt), 20,

35, 36-8, 71, 73, 79

Groenveldt, Mr C MPNr 137

Heathcote, Wayne MPNrs 6, 8, 41, 57, 66, 67,

104, 114, 123, 135, 141, 158, 159, 160, 168,

178, 179, 183, 188, 189, 190, 206,

Hedlund, R.J. MPNr 119

Hoare, Barry MPNrs 12, 15, 16, 19, 27, 34, 44,

45, 50, 80, 81, 93, 106, 107, 112, 116, 146,

157, 176, 185

Island Carvings MPNrs 32, 74, 103

Johnston, Ms Gabrielle MPNrs 70, 72,

Juillerat, Bernard MPNr 56

Julius, Charles MPNrs 108, 109

Kaufmann, Christian MPNr 156

Klap, Ms Penny MPNr 151

Knezevic and Gueroult MPNr 96

Lakatoi Artefacts MPNr 100

Lawes, Bruce MPNrs 9, 128 (with Oscar

Meyer), 152, 187, 191

Leahy, Richard MPNr 170

Lockyer, E.R. MPNr 194

MacGregor, Sir William MPNrs 148, 149

Mackay, Roy D. MPNrs 1, 2, 186, 199, 200

McCarthy, J MPNrs 42, 43

Miller, Alyn MPNr 51

Mitton, Robert MPNrs 33, 65, 90

National Museum MPNrs 195-98, 201, 202

Nochinson MPNr 130

Patterson, W.R. MPNr 193

Perkings, J. MPNr 83

PNG Customs MPNrs 46, 53, 59, 63, 82, 94,

111, 120, 121, 126, 155, 165, 166, 171-73,

175, 181, 182

Scholz, Lyle MPNr 136

Schultze-Westrum, T.G. and S. MPNrs 117, 118

Sepik Primitive Arts MPNrs 89, 91, 92

Smidt, Dirk MPNrs 4, 11, 99, 131, 132, 153, 207

Somare, Michael MPNr 75

South Pacific Artefacts MPNrs 55, 169

Tuckson, Margaret MPNrs 68, 69

United Church Collection MPNr 85

Unknown MPNrs 10, 13, 17, 18, 21, 30, 31, 39,

48, 52, 54, 58, 64, 78, 84, 95, 98, 101, 102,

113, 129, 133, 134, 144, 192, 208, 209

Van Beek, Albert MPNrs 87, 88

Village Arts MPNrs 26, 28, 76

Wirz, Dadi MPNrs 22, 29, 97, 110, 122, 124, 125

Withofs, Patricia MPNrs 127, 138

Young, Morris MPNrs 25, 77, 105, 145, 147

Sources of Masterpieces




Index of Masterpieces

Note: Identification of languages based on

the following sources;

Laycock, D. 1973. Sepik Languages – Checklist

and Preliminary Classification. Pacific

Linguistics, Series B, No. 25. Canberra:

Department of Linguistics, RSPS, ANU.

Wurm, S.A. and S. Hattori. 1981. Language

Atlas of the Pacific Area. Canberra:

Australian Academy of the Humanities/

Japan Academy.

Z’graggen, J.A. 1975. The Languages of the

Madang District, Papua New Guinea.

Pacific Linguistics, Series B, No. 41.

Canberra: Department of Linguistics,

RSPS, ANU.

Abau speakers, MPNr 145 (p. 167)

Abelam speakers, MPNrs 1, 2 (p. 74), MPNrs 6,

7 (p. 75), MPNr 169 (p. 77), MPNrs 17, 185,

186 (p. 117)

Adzera speakers, MPNr 72 (p. 97), MPNr 83

(p. 106)

Alamblak speakers, MPNrs 159, 160 (p. 142),

MPNrs 161-62 (p. 143), MPNrs 163-65

(p. 144), MPNrs 166-67 (p. 145)

Angoram speakers, MPNr 113 (p. 134), MPNr

124 (p. 137), MPNr 125 (p. 138)

Asmat speakers, MPNrs 137-38 (p. 176), MPNr90 (p. 191), MPNr 13 (pp. 232-33)

Bahinemo speakers, MPNrs 168, 170 (p. 153)

Baining speakers, MPNr 55 (p. 224)

Bam speakers, MPNr 105 (p. 190)

Banaro speakers, MPNrs 115-16 (p. 129)

Bau speakers, MPNr 70 (p. 98)

Beami speakers, MPNrs 87-8 (p. 192)

Bisis speakers, MPNr 29 (p. 33)

Bitara speakers, MPNr 141 (p. 167)

Biwat speakers, MPNr 122 (p. 133), MPNr 46

(p. 209)

Boiken speakers, MPNr 8 (p. 81), MPNr 9

(p. 82), MPNr 68 (p. 99), MPNrs 187-89

(p. 119), MPNrs 190-92 (p. 120), MPNr 84

(p. 186)

Bosmun speakers, MPNr 38 (p. 35), MPNr 78

(p. 102), MPNr 81 (p. 105)

Chambri speakers, MPNr 64 (p. 94), MPNr 74

(p. 101), MPNr 207 (p. 184), MPNrs 91-2

(p. 199)

Elema people? MPNr 93 (p. 194)

Enga speakers, MPNr 193 (p. 122)

Gapun speakers, MPNr 41 (p. 212)

Gogodala speakers, MPNr 184 (p. 121

Huli speakers, MPNr 194 (p. 123), MPNr 142

(p. 173)

Iatmul speakers, MPNr 39 (p. 32), MPNrs 21-2

(p. 62), MPNr 18 (p. 63), MPNr 10 (p. 64),

MPNr 11 (p. 65), MPNr 158 (p. 72), MPNr

65 (p. 94), MPNrs 66-7 (p. 95), MPNr

127 (p. 147), MPNr 123 (p. 149), MPNrs

106-7 (p. 189), MPNr 98 (p. 196), MPNr 99

(p. 197), MPNr 97 (p. 198), MPNrs 101-2

(p. 200), MPNrs 108-9 (p. 201), MPNrs 51-2

(p. 207), MPNr 57 (p. 208)

Igana speakers, MPNr 49 (p. 217)

Kalam speakers, MPNr 136 (p. 172)

Kambot speakers, MPNr 4 (p. 52), MPNr 152

(p. 128), MPNr 50 (p. 215)

Kara speakers, MPNrs 199, 200 (p. 243), MPNrs

201-2 (p. 244), MPNr 196 (p. 246), MPNr

197 (p. 247), MPNr 195 (p. 249), MPNr 198

(p. 250)

Karawari speakers, MPNr 205 (p. 139), MPNr

206 (p. 183)

Keapara-Aroma speakers, MPNr 150 (p. 178)

Kerewo speakers, MPNr 119 (p. 155), MPNrs

133-34 (p. 157), MPNr 94 (p. 193), MPNr

58 (p. 225)

Kilivila speakers, MPNr 20 (p. 88), MPNr 73

(p. 96), MPNr 149 (p. 179), MPNr 85

(p. 195)

Kominimung speakers, MPNr 146 (p. 168),

MPNr 53 (p. 218)

Kopar speakers, MPNr 79 (p. 102)

Kwanga speakers, MPNr 5 (p. 78), MPNr 71 (p. 99)

Kwoma speakers, MPNrs 208-9 (p. 58), MPNr

171 (p. 108), MPNr 174 (p. 109), MPNr 176

(p. 110), MPNr 177 (p. 111), MPNr 180

(p. 112), MPNrs 178-79 (p. 113), MPNr 183

(p. 114), MPNr 80 (p. 115)

Kwomtari speakers, MPNr 56 (p. 205)

Manambu speakers, MPNr 104 (p. 188)

Manus Island, MPNr 75 (p.104)

Mayo speakers, MPNrs 172-73 (p. 108), MPNr

175 (p. 110), MPNrs 181-82 (p. 114)

Mekmek speakers, MPNr 110 (p. 134)

Melpa speakers, MPNr 144 (p. 175)

Mendi speakers, MPNr 143 (p. 173)

Mikarew speakers, MPNr 14 (p. 51), MPNr 44

(p. 216)

Misima speakers, MPNr 35 (p. 40), MPNr 36

(p. 41)

Murik speakers, MPNr 12 (p. 48), MPNrs 111-

12 (p. 126), MPNr 48 (p. 210)

Mutu speakers, MPNrs 25, 27 (p. 37), MPNr 28

(p. 39)

Muyuw speakers, MPNr 37 (p. 41)

Nafri speakers, MPNr 33 (p. 29)

Nalik speakers, MPNr 40 (p. 221)

North New Ireland area, MPNr 47 (p. 220)

North-eastern Kiwai speakers, MPNr 117

(p. 159), MPNrs 118, 129 (p. 160), MPNr

130 (p. 161), MPNr 62 (p. 226), MPNr 59

(p. 227), MPNr 61 (p. 228)

Olo speakers, MPNr 145 (p. 166), MPNr 100

(p. 186)

Index of Masterpieces




Orokolo speakers, MPNrs 131-32 (p. 164),

MPNr 148 (p. 177), MPNr 60 (p. 230)

Pasismanua speakers, MPNr 147 (p. 180)

Purari speakers, MPNr 82 (p. 105), MPNr 120

(p. 162), MPNr 95 (p. 194)

Romkun speakers, MPNrs 153-54 (p. 130),

MPNrs 155-56 (p. 131), MPNr 157 (p. 132)

Sawos speakers, MPNr 19 (p. 70), MPNr 15

(p. 71), MPNr 63 (p. 93), MPNr 69 (p. 100),

MPNr 121 (p. 147), MPNr 126 (p. 149),

MPNr 128 (p. 151)

Sepik Hill speakers, MPNr 89 (p. 185)

Siassi speakers, MPNr 16 (p. 87), MPNr 77 (p. 103),

MPNr 103 (p. 190), MPNr 54 (p. 219)

Tabar speakers, MPNrs 23-4 (p. 91)

Tami speakers, MPNr 26 (p. 38), MPNr 76

(p. 104)

Telefol speakers, MPNr 3 (p. 85), MPNr 140

(p. 171)

Tifal speakers, MPNr 139 (p. 170)

Tigak speakers, MPNr 203 (p. 236), MPNr 204

(p. 237)

Urama-Gope speakers, MPNr 96 (p. 193)

Wahgi speakers, MPNr 151 (p. 154)

Watam speakers, MPNr 30 (p. 33), MPNr

34 (p. 34), MPNr 114 (p. 127), MPNr 45

(p. 210)

Wogamusin speakers, MPNr 32 (p. 31), MPNr

31 (p. 32), MPNr 86 (p. 187)

Wogeo speakers, MPNrs 42-3 (p. 214)




General Index

Note: words followed by ‘[people]’ are terms

conventionally used by ethnographers to re-

fer to particular speech communities and/or

the names given by linguists to the languag-

es spoken by those communities. Where a

page number is followed by -n and a number,

this refers to the endnote number on that

page (eg. 251-n19 is endnote 19 to be found

on page 251).

Abau [people] Fig. 7

Abegini (Abegani) 216

Abelam [people] 73-7, 82, 100, 116-17, 204,

Figs 48, 49

Ablingi Harbour Fig. 88

Admiralty Islands 104

Adulu 160

Adzera [people] 9, 105, 106, 251-n19

Afupnok of Komdavip Fig. 84

Aibom 100, 185, 188

Aitken, Thomas 182

Akimichi, T. 262

Alamblak [people] 138, 140-43, 251-n23, Figs

71-3

Alfendio [people] 138

Allen, Jim 263

Amanab 205, 260

Ambonwari 185Ambunti 56, 115, 260, Figs 36, 61, 63

Amongabi 140

Amphlett Islands 98

Andoar 137-38

Anga (Kukukuku) [people] 181, 262

Anguganak 260

Angoram [people] Figs 68, 70

Angoram [place] 129, Fig. 6

Antefuga 133, 135, 150

April (Niksep) River 152-54, 165, 187, Fig. 76

Arafundi River 138

Araho, Nick 263

Aramia River 27, 121, 193, Figs 8, 64

Arani 133, 134, 150

Arapesh [people] 73

Arawe Islands 180

Archaeological collections 261, 263

Aris, Peter 125-27, 213

Aromot Island 87-8, Fig. 17

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

(AGNSW) 133-34, 136, 150

Asang’gumban (Asangamut) 136, Fig. 69

Asaro [people] 223

Asmat [people] 176, 190, 232-35, Fig. 106

Asumbwi of Korogo 206

Austen, Leo 157-58

Austing, John 260

Australian Institute of Anatomy, Canberra 6,

44

Australian Museum, Sydney 5, 6, 8, 44, 251-

n22, 263

Australian War Museum, Melbourne 6

Austronesian 26, 28, 30, 97, 98, 181, 223

Auyu [people] 176

Ava, Siriso 262

Avatip 188

Awar [people] 204

Awin [people] 262

Awok 234, 235

Ayres, Mary 262

Bafmatuk, Francis 262

Bahinemo [people] 152-54, 187

Baining [people] 204, 223-24, 262, Fig. 104

Ballantyne, D. 261

Ballard, Chris 263

Bambai (Tomelekau), Benson 240

Bamu River 155, 193, 225

Banaro [people] 128, 129-31

Bangwis Figs 34, 35

Barok [people] 3, 91

Bateson, Gregory 61

Bau [people] 98

Beaver, Brian 260

Bedamuni (Beami) [people] 191-92

Beek, Albert G. van 191, 261

Beier, Ulli 42, 125-28, 162-63, 213

Bekapeki 152, Fig. 76

Bela 169, Fig. 87

Beltjens, Peter 53

Benoir, Jean 92

Berman, Marsha 262

Berndt, Ronald 178

Bevan, Theodore 229, 252-n30

Biami [people] 260, 261

Big Murik 213, Figs 23-5

Bilbil Island 98

Bimin [people] 260

Binandere [people] 251-n19

Biro, L. 102

Bishop Museum, Honolulu 8

Bisis [people] 32

Bisorio 138

Biwat [people] Fig. 67

Blackwater River 59, 251-n22

Boagis 40, 42

Boazi [people] 262

Bobonggara 23

Bodrogi, Tibor 102, 189-90,236, 238, 251-

n4&5

Bogia 259

Boiken [people] 73, 81-2, 100, 118-20, 187,

251-n19

Bongos 107

Bonnefoy, Maurice 143

Border Mountains 187, 196

Borkent, Maarten 261, 262

Bosmun 33, 49, 105

Bougainville 265-n4

Bowden, Ross 56, 107-9, 115, 262

Bowers, Nancy 260

Brennan, Paul 260

Breri [people] 132-33

Brignoni, Serge 160

British Museum, London 5, 259

Brouwer, Elizabeth 261

Brown, George 177




Brugenauwi 110

Bue 239

Buepis 234

Bühler, Alfred 2, 135, 136, 219

Buka Fig. 12

Bukaua Fig. 17

Bulmer, Ralph 252-n24

Bundi [people] 223

Burridge, Ken 251-n19

Busse, Mark 262

Bussell , Loed van 263

Caesar, Rudi 52, 132, 216, 261, 262

Camilla Wedgewood Collection 263

Campbell, Shirley 3, 42

Carpenter, Edmund 260

Central New Guinea 84-6, 169-71, 187, 259,

261, 262

Central Province 262

Chambri Lake 59, 100, 185

Chan, Joe 263

Chenoweth, Vida 181

Chimbu [people] 259

Chimbut 142, 251-n23, Figs 71, 73

Chowning, Ann 3

Christensen, O. 262

Cleland, Donald & Rachel 20, 260

Cletus Smank of Tambanum 252-n25

Collingwood Bay 105

Corbin, George 223-24, 262

Craig, Barry 14-n2, 165, 259, 261

Craig, Tom 260

Crane Expedition 53

Cranstone, Bryan 259

Crawford, Anthony 121, 259, 261

Cultural Property Legislation 6-8, 9, 11, 16, 17,

251-n15

Dairam Hitam River 176

Danyig 183

Darapap 126, 213, 251-n9, Fig. 15

D’Arcy Galleries, New York 143, 145

Dark, Philip J.C. 88, 102

Dauneng 133, 150, Fig. 67

Dennett, Helen 52, 54, 251-n9, 262

Depew, Robert 262

Dibiri 193

Dimiri 100

Dinam 216

Donaldson, P. 138-40

Dornstreich, Mark & Judy 259

Dorsey, George A. 135-36

Dubumba Fig. 77

Dye, Wayne 153

Eastern Highlands 259, 262

East New Britain 263

Edmiston, Pat 142

Egloff, Brian 240, 245, 246, 247, 260, 261

Elema [people] 43-5, 155, 162-63, 177, 193,

195, 204, 223, 229

Elip Valley (Eliptaman) 86, Figs 84-5

Ellis, Tom 260

Ellis, W.F. 8-9

Enga [people] 122-23

Eoe, Soroi Marepo 14, 262

Era River 44, 155, 158-60, 177, 225

Ewore 251-n19

Ewta River 176

Fatmilak 222

Field Museum, Chicago 135

Finschhafen 37

Fischer, Hans 181, 185

Fisoa 236

Fly River 263

Forge, Anthony 73, 76, 116, 140, 209, 251-n23

Fountain, Ossie 85

Fox, Peter 9

Frankel, Hermione 30

Franklin, Karl 260

Friede, John 160

Frobenius Institute 63, 135

Frost, Steven 85

Gadio [people] 138, 259

Gahom 153

Gaikarobi 188

Galis, K.W. 30

Gamei [people] 204

Gamnanenbak (Sikaiyum) 140, Fig. 72

Gapun 211, 213

Gardi, Rene 77

Gawa Island 40-2

Gell, Alfred 2

Gerbrands, Adrian A. 191, 234-35

Gerrits, Godfried 40, 42, 77-80, 259, 261

Gibu 162

Glass, Patrick 178

Gnau [people] Fig. 14

Goaribari Island 44, 106, 154, 157, 158, 193

Gofabi 191

Gogodala [people] 26, 121, 193, 259, 261, 263,

Figs 8, 64

Gogol River 98

Goldman, Philip 152-53

Goldwater, Robert 1

Golson, Jack 263

Goodenough Island 259

Gope area 158-9, Fig. 78

Gorecki, Paul 263

Gosden, Chris 263

Gourlay, Ken 181

Groube, Les 263

Groves, W.C. 236

Guam River 128, 131-33

Guiart, Jean 63

Guma Figs 94, 104

Gunn, Michael 106, 222, 236-38, 262

Gutok of Tongwindjamb 109-10, 112, Figs

60, 62

Haberland, Eike 63, 142

Haddon, A.C. 160

Hallinan, Peter 246

Hamson, Michael 187

Hauser-Schäublin, Brigitta 60, 73, 76, 206




Haus Völker und Kulturen, St Augustin 136

Heathcote, Wayne 140, 150, 165, 213, 260

Heintze, Dieter 222

Helfrich, Klaus 219, 246

Hermann & Kempf 262

Hide, Robin 262

Hill, Rowena 240, 241, 245, 262

Hoare, Barry 66, 87, 200, 216, 261

Hogbin, Ian 214-16

Holden, Gordon 63

Hosea Linge of Libba 246

Hosking, Lynne 261

Huber, Peter 260

Hudson, Ian 261

Huli [people] 122-24, 169, Fig. 86

Humboldt Bay 30, Fig. 13

Hunstein Range 152-54

Huon Gulf 37-8, 87, 219, 251-n5

Huppertz, Josefine 52-4, 251-n8&9

Hurley, Frank 43, 160, 225, 229

Iatmul [people] 32, 56-69, 150, 183, 188, 198,

206-9, 232, 251-n7, Figs 37, 38, 40-5, 74,

91-3, 96

Idam Valley 165

Igana 217

Ilikimin [people] 86

Imigabip 85

Imipiaka 123

Imonda 259

Inantikin 86

Indabu 196

Inyai [village, people] 138, 142, 143-46

Isago 121

Issac, Chris 262

Ivuyo, Baiva 262

J.K. McCarthy Museum, Goroka 9, 22-3, 260

Jablonko, A. & M. 260

Jackson, G.G. 259

Jangimot (Janain) 126, 210

Japandai 208

Japtambor 234

Jeffries, A.C. 260

Juillerat, Bernard 206, 260

Julius, Charles 258, 260

Kaiku, Resonga Omboni 262

Kaimari 160

Kairiru [people] Fig. 16

Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss-Expedition 165

Kalam [people] 169

Kaluli [people] 192

Kambot [village and people] 44, 52-4, 56, 135,

251-n11, Figs 29, 30, 32

Kambrambo (Kambaramba) 44, 209

Kambrindo 138

Kamfegolmin [people] 169

Kaminimbit 151

Kamula [people] 177

Kandep 260

Kandingei 60, 66-7, 208, 252-n25

Kandrian 180, 262

Kanganaman 61, 63-6, 189, Figs 41-4

Kara [people] 247, Fig. 9

Karadjundo 129

Kararau 69, 151, 196, Fig. 45

Karau 211, Fig. 97

Karawari (Korewori) River 7, 59, 138-46, 183-

84, 260, Figs 71, 73

Kasprús, Aloys 128, 132-33

Kate [people] 189

Kaufmann, Christian 115, 142, 143-46, 252-

n24, 260

Kaugel 260

Kaulong [people] 180

Kelly, John 260

Kelm, Heinz & Antje 260

Kennedy, George 145

Keram River 46, 52-6, 100, 128-30, 216

Kerewa (Kerewo) [people] 44, 157-58, 160,

225, Fig. 77

Keurs, Pieter ter 262

Kiki, Albert Maori 45, 162-63

Kikori 22, 195, 260

Kilenge [people] 87-8, 219, 262

Kilivila [people] Figs 18, 57, 58

Kirch, Pat 263

Kire (Giri) [people] 204

Kiriwina 263, Figs 18, 57, 58

Kirsch, Stuart 262

Kiwai [Island and people] 190, 193

Knezevic & Gueroult 263

Kobayashi, S. 261

Koiwat 100

Kombai 176

Komdavip 169, Figs 84-5

Kominimung [people] 128, 129, 131-33, 165,

168, 217-18

Kooijman, Simon 2

Kopar [village and people] 49, 127, 129

Korogo 71, Fig. 96

Korogopa 251-n11

Korope, Pim 262

Kova , John 54, 251-n9

Kraimbit 251-n22

Krämer, Augustin 239, 241

Kubkein 31, 187

Küchler (Kuechler), Susanne 240-50

Kuk 23

Kumun 118

Kundiawa 260

Kundima 140

Kwanga [people] 73, 77-80, 100, Figs 50-3

Kwoma [people] 56, 107-15, 116, 262, Figs 33-

6, 60, 61, 63

Kwomtari [village and people] 205-6, 252-

n26, Fig. 95

Laa, Nathan 260

Lagerkrantz, Kristian 261

Laiagam 122

Lakalai [people] 3

Lake Kopiago 259

Lake Kutubu 22

Lake Murray/Fly River 259




Langenia Fig. 103

Langules, Pierre 92

Lapita 97

Latoma 145

Lauan Fig. 9

Lauer, Peter 259

Laumann, Karl 133, 135-38

Lawes, Bruce 133, 150, 260, Fig. 75

Lawton, Ralph 88, 260

Leach, Edmund 178

Lehner, Henry 53

Leonhard Schultze River 187

Lesu 236

Lévi-Strauss, Claude 2

Lewis, Albert Buell 43, 135, 160

Lewis, Gilbert 260

Lewis, M.J. 206

Lewis, Phillip 222, 238-39

Libba 238

Lincoln, Louise 248

Lindt, J.W. 177

Lipset, David 33, 46, 48, 49, 127-28, 210, 251-

n9

Lissauer, Mark 260

Liversidge, Jeff 132, 217

Lockyer, E.R. 122, 124

Long Island 260

Lower Ramu 259

Lower Sepik 33, 125-28, 186, 189, 205, 210

Lumi 165, 260, Fig. 80

Lurang, Noah 219, 222, 238, Fig. 102

M’bagintao, Ivan 262

MacGregor, William vii, 5, 6, 7, 11, 20, 257

MacGregor collection 5-6, 13-14, 177, 263,

265-n3

Mackay, Roy 9, 10, 240, 258, 259, 260, 261

MacKenzie, Maureen 262

Macleay Museum, Sydney 252-n30, 263

Madak [people] 261

Madang 259, 260, 261, 262

Madau Island 40

Madsen, Mr 143-45

Magalsimbip 169, Figs 82-3

Magendo 136

Magim 136

Mahanei Fig. 7

Mailu [Island and people] 26, 97, Fig. 10

Maliba (Bekapeki) Fig. 76

Malinowski, Bronislaw 39, 40, 42, 195

Malu 187

Mamiya, C.J. 45, 194

Manam Island 46, 263

Manambu [people] 182, 188, 198

Mandak [people] 223

Mandok Island 88

Manmanim of Magalsimbip Fig. 82

Mann, Alan 7, 8, 9, 10, 63, 138, 260

Mansamei 7

Manus 260, 262, 263

Manus Provincial Government Collection 263

Mappi River 176

Maprik 135, 259, Fig. 49

Maramba 135, 136-38, 251-n22, Figs 68, 70

Marap Nr 2 66

Marawat 100

Marbuk 48

Margarima 122-24

Massim [region] 39-42, 97

Mawe, Theodore 262

May, Patricia 97-100, 187, 251-n16

May River 260, 262

McCarthy, J.K. 260

McLean, Mervyn 181

Meagoma (Karalti) Fig. 78

Mekeo [people] 261

Mendam 126, 211, 213, Figs 26-8, 99, 100

Mendi [people] 122, 154, 169, 259, Fig. 87

Métraux, Rhoda 251-n12

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1, 150

Meyer, Anthony 150, 251-n18

Meyer, Oscar 133, 150

Mianmin [people] 169, 260

Middle Sepik 32, 56, 59-72, 93-5, 146-52, 186,

196, 205, 207-9

Mikarew 51, 52

Miller, Allyn 225, 263

Milne Bay region 98, 259, 260, 262

Mindimbit 208

Misima Island Fig. 19

Misingi 132

Mitchell, William 260

Mitton, Robert 30, 260, 262

Mivimbit (Mebenbit, Mevenbit) 69, 188, 196,

208

Miyak [people] Fig. 69

Morakau of Murik Lakes 125, 128

Morehead River 262

Morobe 260, 261

Morren, George 260

Mosko, Mark 261

Mosuwadoga, Geoffrey 12, 13, 14, 262

Motu [people] 26, Fig. 11

Mount Bosavi 191, 259

Mount Hagen 172, 260

Mountain-Ok (see Central New Guinea)

Mulderink, Anthony 87

Mullerried F.K.G. 263

Murik Lakes 33, 46-9, 125-28, 129, Figs 15, 23-

8, 65, 97, 99, 100

Murray, Hubert vii, 5, 6-7, 11, 14, 20, 44, 257

Muschu Island 46

Musée de l’Homme, Paris 206

Musée National des arts d’Afrique et Océanie,

Paris 63, 259

Museum für Völkerkunde (Museum der

Kulturen), Basel 135, 143, 145, 150, 259,

261

Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin 165

Museum für Völkerkunde, Frankfurt am Main

63

Museum of Primitive Art, New York 1, 63, 213

Musgrave, Anthony 5, 12

Mutu [people] Fig. 17

Nafri 30




Nagri 110, Fig. 61

Namau [people] 43, 44, 155, 193-94, 225, 229,

Figs 21, 79

Namblo River 56

Nangusap Fig. 46

Narabutal of Kiriwina 42

Narian Fig. 19

Narokobi, Bernard 14, 19

National Cultural Property 8, 11, 63, 84-5, 140,

150, 196, 213, 240, 255

National Museum of Australia, Canberra 6,

14, 44

National Museum for Ethnology, Leiden 191

National Museum of Ireland, Dublin 252-n30

National Museum of NZ, Wellington 261

National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne 5

Neich, Roger 122-24

Nelke, Wolfgang 260

New Ireland 91-2, 219, 232, 236-50, 262, 263,

Fig. 59

Newton, Douglas 2, 31, 44, 45, 63, 110, 152-

53, 154, 157, 158-59, 160, 182, 187-88, 198,

213, 225, 229, 259

Nggala [people] 31

Niles, Don 262

Nomad River 259, 260

North-eastern Kiwai [people] Fig. 78

North Solomons 262, 265-n4

Notsi [people] Fig. 103

Novep, Simon 52, 54, 251-n9, Figs 29-31

Nuku 107, 260

Nukuma [people] 56, 107, 111, 115, 116, Fig. 61

Nyaurengai 150, Fig. 74

Olimandji of Gaikarobi 71

Olivilevi Fig. 58

Olo [people] Fig. 80

Omadasep 234

Omarakana Fig. 57

Oppenheimer, Stephen 26

Oro Province 262

Orokaiva [people] 3, 259, 260

Orokolo 155, 157, 162-63, 177, 204, Figs 22,

105

Oksapmin [people] 259

Otsjanep 176, 234, Fig. 106

Pacific Arts Association 4, Fig. 102

Pakua of Libba 238

Palimbei 196, 200, Figs 37, 91-2

Panachais 240, 241

Panamecho 240-50, 262, Fig. 108

Panzenbock, Franz 139

Papuan Gulf 43-5, 97, 105-6, 155-64, 192-95,

225-30, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263

Papuan (Hubert Murray) Official Collection 6,

14, 14-n2, 44

Parker, Fred 260

Pasquarelli, John 260

Pasismanua [people] Fig. 88

Paterson, W.R. 122, 123

Perey, Arnold 259

Peter, Hans 260

Pfeiffer, Marianne 150

Pie River 160

Plummer, Anthony C. 260

Popondetta 259

Porapora 48

Port Moresby Museum 6

Porter-Poole, John Fitz 260

Powdermaker, Hortense 236

Pretty, Graeme 9, 14-n3, 259

Prince Alexander Mountains 45, 73-82, 116-

20

Purari Delta/River 106, 155, 160, 162, 177, 193,

229, Figs 20, 21, 79

Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery,

Launceston 8, 261

Queensland Museum, Brisbane 5, 6, 14, 177,

263, 265-n3

Quinnell, Michael 14-n1

Raabe, Eva 135, 251-n13

Rabaul Museum 6, 14, 165

Ramu River 33, 128-29, 216-17, 262, 263

Rauit Fig. 14

Reah, H.M. 122

Repatriation 6, 11, 13-14, 20, 44, 177, 261, 263

Rhoads, James 260, 261

Rhodes, Jim [sic – see Rhoads]

Ride, W.D.L. 9, 10, 13

Rivers, W.H.R. 7

Rockefeller, Michael 234, 235

Romkun [village and people] 131-33, 217

Roscoe, Paul 80-2, 118

Rosenfeld, Andre 263

Ruboni Range 51, 216

Ruff, Wallace 47, 50, 54, 56, 63

Samap 49

Samo [people] 191, 260

Sanchi River 56, 107

Sanio [people] 152, Fig. 76

Sawos [people] 59, 60, 66, 69-71, 133, 150-52,

182-83, 188, Figs 39, 46, 47, 75

Schefold, Reimar 148

Schindlbeck, Markus 60, 69-71

Schlesier, E. 251-n4

Schmidt, Joseph 210

Schmidt, Karl P. 53

Schmitz, Carl 106

Scholz, Lyle 169, 260

Schouten Islands 33, 214

Schultze-Westrum, Thomas 159-60, 252-n29,

259

Schurcliff, Sidney 53, 61

Schuster, Gisela 153-54

Schuster, Meinhard 135, 153-54

Schwimmer, Erik 2, 3, 205

Seized Collections 11, 261

Sengseng 180

Sepik region 1, 45-9, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263

Shaw, Dan 260

Sheridan, R.J & H.F. 262

Shotmeri 196, Figs 38, 39




Siassi Islands 37, 38, 87-8, 102, 189, 219, 262

Siep, William 132, 217

Sikaiyum (see Gamnanenbak)

Sillitoe, Paul 169

Sillitoe, Paul & Jackie 262

Simbai Valley 169, 259, 260

Simbu Province 262

Sinclair, James 260

Singarin (Tsingarin) 129,135

Sio 98

Smidt, Dirk 2, 10-11, 13, 51-3, 77, 79, 128, 129-

30, 131-33, 168, 185, 209, 211, 213, 216,

217-18, 234, 251-n21, 252-n28, 260, 262

Smith, Regis 260

Solomon Islands 26

Somare, Michael 1, 3, 10, 12, 104, Figs 1, 4

Sorum, Ave 260

South Australian Museum, Adelaide 9, 222,

252-n30, Fig. 102

Southern Highlands 260, 261, 262

Spearritt, Gordon 188

Specht, Jim 261, 263

Speiser, Felix 2, 44, 61, 126, 209

Spriggs, Matthew 263

Stokes, Alison 262

Strathern, Andrew 262

Stummer, M. 263

Suki [people] 262

Sulka [people] 204, 262, Fig. 94

Sumariup 138, 143-46

Sumnik, E.C. 45, 194

Sunuhu Nr 2 77-80, 259, 261, 262, Figs 50-3

Susuve, Albert 262

Swadling, Pamela 262, 263

Sweeney, Jack 262

Tabar [Islands and people] 91, 219, 222, 223,

232, 236, 245-46, 262, Fig. 107

Tambanum 129, Fig. 40

Tambigenum 135, 136

Tambul 260

Tami Islands 37, 38, 87, 102, 189-90, 219,

251-n5

Tangu [people] 251-n19

Tari 259

Tatau [Island and village] 238, Figs 102, 107

Telban, Borut 140, 183, 185

Telefolip 84, 86, Figs 54-6

Telefolmin (Telefol) [people] 84, 259, Figs 54-

6, 81, 84, 85

Telefomin [place] 85-6, 259, 260, Fig. 81

Thurnwald, Richard 77, 128, 130-31

Thurston, B. 261

Tifalmin (Tifal) [people] 259, Figs 82, 83

Tjamangai 77

Tjitak [people] 176

Tobadi 30

Tolembi 60, 69-71, Fig. 47

Tomo, Wilfred 262

Tongwindjamb 109-10, Figs 33, 60, 62

Torricelli Mountains 31, 187

Trobriand Islands 3, 39-42, 88-9, 98, 177-78,

195, 260, 262, Figs 18, 57, 58

Tuckson, Margaret 97-100, 187, 251-n16, 260,

261

Turama River/Delta 155, 157, 162

Ubuo 159

Ugutagwa 79

Ukiaravi (Ukiravi) 44, 160, Fig. 21

Ulapmin [people] 259

Umba, Dungul 262

Umboi Island 87

Umeda [people] 2

Umlauf, J.F.G. 136

United Church Collection 263

University of Pennsylvania Museum 263

Upper Sepik 31, 196, 205-6, 259, 260, 261

Urama (Uramu) Island 44, 158-60, 194, 225,

229

Usher, Ernest Sterne 43

Utu High School Collection 263

Vailala River 157, 162-63, 177

Vanderwal, Ron 261

Vanimo 30

Vitiaz Strait 37-8, 98

Voogdt, H. 135-36

Wabag 260

Wabia 169, Fig. 86

Wagner, Roy 3

Wagu 154

Waiko, John 14

Walomo 30

Wangbin 169

Wantoat [people] 204, 223

Wapo Creek 155, 158-60

Warasei [people] 56, 107

Warenu, Simeon 240

Washkuk Hills 56, 107

Washkuk Village Fig. 89

Wassmann, Jürg 60, 67, 146, 148, 206, 232,

251-n12, 252-n25

Watam [Lagoon and village] 33, 48, 127, 209,

211, 213, Figs 66, 90

Wauchope, E.J. 251-n22

Weiner, Annette B. 88-9

Welsch, Robert 135

Wepenang, Zacharias 54

West New Britain 87, 260, 261

[West] Papua 260, 262

Western Australian Museum, Perth 9

Western Highlands 262

Western Province 262

White, Peter 259, 261, 263

Wielgus collection 135-36

Wilium Fig. 80

Williams, Francis Edgar 43-5, 157, 160, 194, 229

Wilson, Lindsay 240

Wingei Fig. 48

Wirimbi [people] 123

Wirz, Dadi 133-35, 136, 138, 150, 259

Wirz, Paul 44, 135, 159, 259

Withofs, Patricia 263

Wogamus(-in) [people] 31, 188, Fig. 89




Wogamush River 152

Wogeo Island 214-16, Fig. 101

Wogupmeri River 138, 183, Fig. 72

Wola [people] 169, 262

Womersley, John S. 7, 10, 260

Wonenara 259, 260

Wongan (Wangam) 213

Woodlark Island 98, 260

Wosera area 77

Wowobo 252-n29

Wumod 169

Wurabai 206, 252-n26, Fig. 95

Wuvulu Island 261

Yabim [people] 37, 189-90

Yabob Island 98

Yafi 205

Yambi Yambi 32

Yamok 133, 150-2

Yan of Asang’gumban Fig. 69

Yangoru 118-20, 187

Yaruna 124

Yasyin [people] 56, 107

Yaul 100

Yellow River 260

Yentschan Fig. 93

Yimar [people] 142

Yimas [people] 138-40

Yonggom [people] 262

Yoshida, Shuji 262

Yotefa Bay 30

Young, Morris 87, 260, 262

Yuaroma 135, 138

Yuat River 32, 133-38, 209, Figs 68-70

Yuo Island Fig. 16

Yuri [people] 260

Z’graggen, John 128

Zee, Pauline van der 232-35, 252-n31

livin spirits

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