Page From the Past

Punitive Expedition to Rossel Island

By D. H. Osborne

SOON after the discovery of gold on Sudest in the ’Bo’s, two French escapees from the penal settlement on New Caledonia, arrived on the island in a twenty-foot, square-sterned cutter, which they had stolen. They had called in at Rossel Island en route, and here the natives had given them food and water, which allowed them to proceed on their way. borne time previous to this event, Sir William McGregor, then Administrator of Papua, had experienced great trouble with New Caledonian officials over con vict escapees, and he had decreed that Frenchmen who behaved themselves could, if they wished, remain in the Territory. Accordingly, the two new arrivals sold the boat to John Mahony, settled in Sudest, and took up gold mining; and after a time they made good.

One of them, Lucien Fiolini, was able to buy the boat back, and he left for Rossel Island, with the intention of settling there. But only a short time afterwards he was murdered by the islanders.

Had the murderers sunk the boat, their crime might have gone undetected; but they took it outside the reef, set the sails with the sheet close-hauled, and let it go. It drifted with tide and wind, and eventually was picked up by Sudest natives, near the east end of their island, inside the barrier reef, which it must have negotiated at full tide.

The Sudest natives delivered the boat to Griffen Point. Foul play was suspected immediately by the Europeans, and the Administrator was informed, THE following is Sir William McGregor’s report on the expedition that was sent to inquire into the murder. It is copied from Armstrong’s book on Rossel Island.

“On August 1. the steamer anchored at the head of Yonga Bay, and prepara tions were made for visiting the south coast of the island next day. Mr, Morton, the Magistrate of the District, and the Commandant with some police, were directed to march across the island near the place where it was understood the murder had been committed; I went round the west end of the island in a whale boat, in the hope of winning over the different tribes along the coast.

“In this we were completely success ful; the co-operation of every tribe was secured, up to Tama, where Lucien was killed. My boat was beached about two miles west of that place, so that it was not seen by the Tama people, and my crew and a number of volunteers from Bamba and Kwanija went to the first Tama houses and were successful at once in arresting one of those implicated in Lucien’s murder. The rest of the Tama tribe fled to the mountains, without offer ing any resistance.

“The Kwaija tribe, near neighbour of Tama on the west, were naturally very shy and timid, but they were soon secured for the Government side. About fifteen or sixteen men and youths received me in their village, but in a somewhat peculiar way.

“Under the largest house, which was built on six posts about five or six feet long, they had built a sort of fence of leaves from the coconut palms, laid on their edges, and about a yard high. When I appeared, the Chief and three or four of the leading men were seated inside this enclosure, but before I reached the place the’other grown men also went in

side it and remained there during the whole of my visit. The idea seemed to be that it was a sacred place where they would be safe from molestation.

“On the way back (from an unsuccess ful attempt to reach the Island of Loa) we met three canoes at the head of Nyebe Bay, which had come down to the Nyavo Creek to fish. They were of the usual peaceful and friendly character of the Yela (Rossel) people and carried no spears or other arms in their canoes.

“On returning to Tama, I found that the volunteers from Bomba, Kwanji and Kwaiji, had captured two of the principals in the murder. Unfortunately, the secur ing of one of them had a fatal result.

It appears that two men found one of the criminals and tied him up with cords put round his legs, thighs, arms and fore arms. I could not find that any ligatures were applied so as to compress his chest, so I am unable to say whether the un fortunate man died from natural causes, from fright, or from constriction of the bands which were used to confine him.

There was certainly no intention what ever on the part of the men that secured him to inflict any injury on him. They

were, I believe, entirely unarmed, “There seems to be no doubt as to the cause of the murder. The same reason for it was given to me by the natives at the east end of Tagula, and from Yonga Bay to Tama or Yela; they all main tained that Lucien was killed because he was after their women.

“The Yela people are peculiar in many ways, but in nothing are they more dif ferent from their northern neighbours of Kiriwana than in their scrupulous care of their women. I have not yet seen a native woman on the island, so jealously do they guard them from strangers.

“There was every reason to be pleased with the attitude and the conduct of the tribes along the coast. They unanimously condemned the Tama people for killing Lucien and fully approved of them being punished. They answered me there was no inter-tribal fighting on the island and all the men and canoes we met carried no arms.”

One of the murderers was sentenced to ten years’ hard labour at Woodlark Island.

He returned to Rossel, after serving his term, and led a peaceful life thereafter.

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IN spite of the fact that these natives told Sir William that it was because Lucien had interfered with their women that he was murdered, other natives told my brother that it was be cause the Frenchman had interfered with tabus —which is much more likely.

Rossel was a maze of tabus —against which it was fatally easy to offend, with out being aware of it. My brother Frank had an uneasy four days there when he felled a tree on tabu’ed ground. Shortly after the felling, a heavy thunder storm came up, which led the natives to believe that the spirits were angry. They shut my brother up in a hut and, if it had not been for a ferocious dog, which kept them off him while he was asleep, and rain-water, which provided him with drink, he might have been allowed to perish.

After some parley, he discovered that the natives believed that if the timber were cut from this ground, the spirits of the dead from a certain village could not rest; he also discovered that there were old men who could remove the tabu.

Brother paid—and the tabu was removed!

There are many reasons for tabus. Some are purely religious, others are designed for the protection of fish or game, and serve the same purpose as our ‘close seasons.” And. incidentally, any fish or game that is not plentiful is reserved by tabu to the older people—a sort of native old-age pension scheme!

Contact with Europeans, and natives from other islands, have broken down many of these tabus.