Memories of a Papuan

Miner The Murder of John Green and Other Incidents in the Early Days

■nnvrrv pnr.p • pORTY-FOUR years ago in the Mam hare District of Northern Papua, the Government Agent, John Green, and a number of police and carriers were mas sacred by natives. The story was told in the “ PIM” last December ; and its retelling has opened memory’s door for Mr. D. H. Osborne, now of Rossel Island, who has lived continuously in Papua for well over 40 years. Mr. Osborne has kindly written for us some of his memo ries of the early days in Papua’s mining history. He arrived at Tamata Station, where Green teas murdered, just a short time after the tragedy, and he pros pected for many years on the Gira gold field, where he met most of the miners mentioned in the following reminiscences.

AFTER gold was discovered on Me- Laughlm s Creek, at the head of the Mambare River, a number of miners landed at Port Moresby and tried to get there by travelling over the range, carry ing their swags and tools. Only two men got through—Steve Wolff and his mate (I mu aVe J°l g ? tten his + u name) ‘ . • * They had to cross the mountains at an altitude of over 8 000 ft., and it was bit terly cold at night. They were above the timber line with only moss growing on the top of the range. Though the moss seemed green and damp, underneath it was a dry streak: as this caught fire

and bui l nt fo £ mlle s> they had a narrow es ° a P e bemg . burnt to death.

When they arrived at McLaughlin’s Creek, their food was almost finished.

Three white men were there, but they could not spare any supplies. Wolff and his companion left their tools and walked ° n towards Tamata. When they reached Greens Creek, about 10 miles from TfP the mate “knocked up”. Wolff left him and continued on. Eventually, near sundown, he arrived at the site of the Tamata Station, just a short time after the massacre had occurred.

All around the buildings were pools of blood. Tracks were leading into the bush, but he did not know which one to follow, so he camped the night there. In the morning he followed the creek and came upon the camp where several other miners were living, at the junction of Tamata Creek and Mambare River. He called out before entering the clearing, for fear he would be fired on.

With these men, and some of their carriers, Wolff returned to Green’s Creek for his mate He recovered later and, finally, left the Territory.

The above story was told to me by Steve Wolff himself.

Wolff stayed in Papua for some years, but he unfortunately became mixed up in trouble with the natives at Milne Bay and was sentenced to six months’ gaol.

A second time, for trouble on the lakoro, he served a sentence of three years.

Then he was de P° rted mHREE men were on McLaughlin’s X Creek at the time of Green’s murder—Jack Schmitt, Jack Ryan and another man named Burns. They heard of Green’s murder and that Tamata was deserted. They had no food nor any

trade goods to buy native foodstuffs.

Desperate, they went to a village a short distance away; the natives proved friendly and gave them plenty to eat although they were not able to pay for it. They remained there three months.

One day a wild boar came into the village and got among the pigs. Several natives ran out with spears and wounded it. Infuriated, it attacked one of the natives, ripping his leg and severing an artery. He bled to death in a few min utes. His relatives built a staging in the village and laid the corpse on it After a few days the odour was so strong that the miners had to leave They decided to go to Tamata and when they arrived they found that other miners had re turned from Samarai This was Jack Schmitt’s own story He remained many years in Papua and died on the Lakekamu in 1910 or 1911 a T the time of Green’s death there were a number of miners in the camp at the mouth of Tamata Creek. The land was barely above flood level, a most depressing place Green had been hasteninQ' tn finish building three miles up Tamata Creek, 0 n higher ground He said the nolice carrying arms delayed the work so he made them leave their rifles in the camn a nd denended on his revolver for nrotec tion His nolice warned him of the dsn ger ‘ but he:did not heed them One day, as Green was working on the roo f of a big bungalow the revolver got in his way, so he put it down and climbed back up on the roof One of the Orikivas picked it up and ran into the bush Then the Orikivas attacked, killing Green and over 40 of his police and carriers Most of the miners at the Tamata camp

at the time were waiting for a boat to leave—they had been disappointed with the results of the goldfield. The road in was too long and too rough for natives to carry food; by the time they reached the field they had eaten most of their load. The ground was worked later from the Yodda.

I believe two white men were drowned or killed on the 40 miles’ journey down the river—one man’s name was Fry.

WHILE the miners were waiting at the mouth of the river for Bill Whitten to come with the schooner “Wona Wona”. the natives around became threatening. Three miners, Davy Davis, Steel and Olsen, were short of food and ammunition, so they decided to build two rafts and try to make towards Samarai and chance being picked up by a boat.

They made a start at night; at dawn they were near the Mitre Rock (8 or 10 miles from the mouth of the river), which they mistook for a boat and paddled out towards it. When they dis covered their mistake it was too late, and the current carried them away into the Huon Gulf to the north.

The three Europeans and three natives were on one raft and six natives were on the other. For two days and a night they drifted close together, but on the third morning there was no sign of the natives’ raft. They drifted for several days, foodless and without water. They could see fires on the coast, then a blank for some distance, and then more fires; so they planned to make a landing where there were no fires and then take to the bush during the night. When they were close inshore they discovered that it was sheer, high cliffs. Too late to go back, they struck, and were washed off the raft, all their belongings being lost.

They managed to scramble on to the shore, near the end of the cliffs, and at daylight a native found them. He took them to a German Mission Station, a short distance away. The Germans could not speak English, but they were kind to them and treated them well for some time.

A German gunboat later called at the Mission Station on her way south and landed the castaways in Sydney, long after they had been given up as lost.

I listened to Davis tell this story sev eral times. Davy was one of the pioneer prospectors and one of the whitest of men.

He died at Wau, New Guinea, about the year 1926 or 1927.

DURING 1909, Matt Crowe and Char lie Ereckenson were trying to find a short cut from the shores of the Huon Gulf to the head of the Waria River and they had some Milne Bay “boys” with them. One night camped in a village, their boys brought two natives to them. It appeared that they had heard the Milne Bay “boys” talking and remembered their old language. They were two of the “boys” from the miss ing raft! I am not sure if the Govern ment sent both natives or only one home to their village on Milne Bay.

Hon. V. W. T. McGusty, of Suva, Fiji, head of the medical services under the jurisdiction of the High Commission for the Western Pacific, is at present on six months’ leave.

Mr. S. G. Middleton, formerly an of ficer in the Papuan Magisterial Service, is at present a pilot-officer in the RAAF at Laverton, Victoria. A recent letter from him to a resident of Port Moresby mentioned that he had met several other Papuan residents—Messrs. Horan (flying officer), Cowley (pilot-officer), Way (pilot officer), and Robinson (undergoing a course for special duties officer),