Papua
pp. 12-13 · Read in the full issue
Early Gold Days in Papua The Mambare Murders
By Mollie Lett
BY 1894, the creeks and gullies on Sud- Est and Misima Islands (Eastern Papua) were practically worked out; so the disappointed miners, convinced that payable gold existed in the interior of the mainland, turned their attention to the Mambare River, after three unsuc cessful attempts behind Bartle Bay.
Earlier in the year, Sir William Mc- Gregor (Administrator of Papua) had found traces of gold on a visit to the Mambare district, so the miners eagerly made arrangements for prospecting the Mambare headwaters. Two parties, formed by George Clarke and William Simpson, left Samarai in June, 1895, making for the northern coast in the “Seagull” and the “Mayflower”.
The Administrator’s report showed that the river, though wide at the mouth, narrowed considerably up-stream, where rapids and shallows had forced him to abandon his launch for a whaleboat.
Above his turning point, 50 miles from the mouth, precipitous banks and broken country barred further progress. He found the natives truculent—they showed marked resentment of his intrusion.
Clarke’s party was the first to enter the river-mouth. Here they unloaded their stores and provisions and made their way up-stream in a whaleboat and canoes bought from natives near the coast.
All went well for 35 miles, until they passed a group of villages below the first large rapids; there, seizing the first favourable opportunity, natives treacher ously murdered Clarke and looted the whaleboat. His companions were forced to retire, leaderless and without provi sions, to the coast.
Retaliation
IN the meantime, Simpson and his party had entered the river and advanced 20 miles from the mouth. When Clarke’s men met them, they joined forces, returned to the scene of the mur der, and retaliated by destroying village houses and killing all the pigs.
The combined party continued up stream, after ah unsuccessful attempt to find Clarke’s body. Without interference from the natives, they made their way over the rapids for 60 miles and built a permanent log camp above Tamata Creek, which became known as Clarke’s Fort. It was a substantial building, on the bend of the river, and the miners made it their depot while prospecting the creeks as they cut their way up the slopes of the rising ranges.
Thirty miles from Clarke’s Fort, they found indications that gold lay ahead So they returned to Tamata and, even tually, to the coast and Samarai to obtain adequate provisions for the ardu ous inland journey.
Govt. Station Established
RECEIVING news of Clarke’s murder, Sir William McGregor took mea sures to establish order. He ordered a Government Station to be formed at
the junction of Tamata Creek and the Mambare River, and appointed John Green as Government Agent, with 10 police under Corporal Sedu.
The site was only a small strip of land low-lying and surrounded by dense jungle’ but Green and his police soon got to work. From native material at hand, they built a post from which Green was able to maintain some semblance of law and order among the war-like tribes.
When Simpson and his men passed through on their return journey up the river, they obtained permission to make Tamata their headquarters.
Simpson’s party had now dwindled to 7 or 8 men, of whom Messrs. A. Clunas, S. McLaughlin, R. Elliot, and S. Mc- Lelland were regarded as outstanding.
All experienced miners, they were cer tainly the most persevering who had ever visited the New Guinea mainland.
Simpson, himself the discoverer of the famous Chartres Towers goldfield, was convinced that gold existed in the dis tant ranges. The more hardships they endured, the more they were determined not to endure them in vain.
Gold!
BY the end of November, they had cut their way over the steep and densely timbered slopes of Mt. Otovia, built a store, bridged the Chirima, and reached the foot of Mt. Scratchley. The waters of the Upper Mambare were by now a mere succession of cascades, flanked by steep slopes of the ranges, and the difficulties of travel were aug mented by incessant rain, fever and in adequate food.
Then, three months out from Tamata, their labours and trials were at an end for while prospecting 10 miles from the Chirima Junction, at the foot of Mt.
Scratchley, they found payable gold in a creek.
In three weeks they won 200 ozs.— worth only £7OO in those days; not an enormous sum, but sufficient to enable them to carry on with their search in the beckoning ranges.
Samarai heard the news of their good fortune and almost immediately every available schooner was making for the Mambare River, crowded with men for the new field, now known as McLaugh lin’s Creek. But so difficult was the long trek from Tamata Station that, in spite of all the excitement over the new dis covery and the numbers that set out, by the end of June, 1896, there were only 12 men working claims in the creek bed.
Seven Miners Murdered
rE natives, thoroughly resentful over the continued invasion of their ter ritory, became openly hostile, and attacked party after party as they made their way up-stream. Five miners were murdered later in the year, and also two others in a village on the banks below Tamata. Becoming bolder, tribesmen attacked a camp at the river mouth, and three miners (Davis, Steele and Patter son) were forced to take to the sea in rafts.
Their audacity reached its climax in January, 1897, when, while professing strong friendship to the Government, they massacred Green and nearly all his police, during the building of a new station.
Principally to get on to higher ground, Green had decided to shift his station two miles further up-stream. He had been taken in completely by the dupli city of the natives, and laid down his fire-arms when they complained of his lack of confidence. As he ordered his police to do likewise, the natives rushed Green and his constables and carriers.
All but two were speared to death.
The escapees hurried to the miners’ camp for assistance, but they were able only to retrieve Green’s body and bury it near the old Tamata buildings.
It was obvious, after Green’s murder, that the whole district would be up in arms, and the miners (except for three on McLaughlin’s Creek) made for the river-mouth. There, like Davis and his mates, they were hunted out to sea on their rafts. Thus was the Mambare left in possession of its war-like tribes.
Some time later, Capt. Butterworth arrived in the district with a contingent of police and he restored order. Mr. W.
M Shanahan was appointed to Tamata Station as successor to Green, in August, 1897.
All missionaries of the Unevangelised Fields Mission who have been serving in Papua have returned to Australia. Of a total of about 13 missionaries evacu ated four are New Zealanders —Mr. and Mrs' T Brunton, Miss Eva Stanton and Mr ’ Keith Dennis, of Hastings. Miss Stanton shortly will marry Mr. Len Twy ford, a fellow-worker in the Mission.
There is still no word of leading pub lic officers of the New Guinea Adminis tration, who were caught in Rabaul inva sion. Among the missing are Mr. Har old Pas-e. Government Secretary and Deputy Administrator; Mr. Gerald Hogan, Crown Law Officer; Mr. George Murray, head of the Department of Agriculture; and Mr. H. O. Townsend, the Treasurer.
Now that an organisation for making inquiries about civil prisoners in Japan ese hands is beginning to operate through the International Red Cross, some word of the missing men may be obtained soon.
All reasonable steps for the safety of property and plant in New Guinea of Sunshine Gold Development Ltd. were taken by the general manager before his departure from the field in January. Gold from the last-minute clean-up of boxes, about 155 oz., was deposited in a secret place. The Co. has an estimated cash surplus of about £5,000 after the dis charge of commitments.
Cuthbert’s Misima Goldmines made a profit of £35,557 in 1941, compared with £37,170 in 1940. There will be no profit in 1942 —operations were suspended and the staff withdrawn in January. This is the famdus Umuna-lode mine. Mr. Cuth bert sold it to the present company for a few years ago, after paying dividends of 100 per cent, on the capital of his own smaller company (New Mis ima Goldmines Ltd., formed in 1929 which held 19 leases, comprising 186 acres, on Misima Island, Eastern Papua) over a period of years.