Of Papua’S
pp. 60-61 · Read in the full issue
Gloomy View
Present And Future
By D. H. Osborne, Op
Rossel Island
IT was 50 years on May 1, 1949, since I first landed in Samarai, Eastern Papua.
I remained in the country until August, 1915, when I went to Townsville and joined the first AIF. I returned to the Territory in December, 1918, and re mained here until February, 1942, when the Jap invasion forced a four years’ ab sence.
I have travelled over much of Papua and the adjacent islands to the east and south-east. 1 have dealt with all kinds of natives. Some, in the early days, shot spears and arrows at me. Some, more recently, type letters for me. I regard Papua as a poor country—the land is mostly mountains or swamps.
The native population is fast decreas ing. Where there were big villages 30 years ago there is only jungle to-day. The decrease has been so marked in the eas tern part of Papua that there now is not sufficient labour to maintain the land that has been cultivated.
Heavy and frequent rain causes severe erosion; a heavy shower will take away a couple of inches of broken-up soil.
Transport is a big problem. Roads are difficult to build, and repairs are ex pensive.
Most of the land is unsuitable for stock.
Their sharp hooves cut up the surface soil; rain washes it away, in a few years; and the land becomes useless. Cattle pastured there become weedy—milk is poor and meat is tough and tasteless. I have tried to sell full-grown bullocks to the natives at £1 per head. They would not buy.
They would eat the meat when I killed a beast, but they buy tinned meat in pre ference to fresh meat.
A lot of the country is covered with dense jungle but there is very little mar ketable timber in it. Transport is almost impossible.
There is nothing in the Territory to en courage new settlers. All this hot-air bubble that is passing over the land now passed over in 1910, when the late Mr.
Staniforth Smith, the BNG Company and the late Mr. “Hoppy” Clarke were going strong. The Kwato Mission to-day has a rice “bubble”: but for the last ten years they have not produced any rice.
ANY crop that will grow in Papua will grow in Queensland, north of Bowen, and living conditions and transport are better there. The advantage that we here had over Queensland was that we could get native labour. But native labour has gone for a time —if not for all time.
Our present Administrator, speaking on the air recently, said there are a million people in Papua-New Guinea, and the population will be double in the next 20 years. The population has been decreas ing, to my knowledge, for the last 47 years. I am afraid it is continuing to decrease. I cannot suggest a remedy. The late Dr. Bellamy gave one reason—that idleness and over-indulgence in sex caused a small birth-rate. The Govern ment and the Missions encourage idleness among the natives.
This country is dying on its feet. There is a vast difference between the “progress” of to-day, and of fifty years ago. Most of the people are newcomers—town dwellers, or they are in the Government Stations.
In Moresby, a native said to me: “You have been a long time in Papua. You
are not like the Europeans who come to Moresby to-day.”
The idea that natives are fond of the Government and the missionaries is non sense. I have been asked by natives: “What do the Government and the Mis sions do for natives?” I try and explain the good they do. But natives are human beings—we are all human beings—and a human being takes all it can get and looks for more, regardless of colour or nationality.
THIS Territory is overloaded with drones, and still more are coming.
I have read many Mission reports —such as “taking civilisation to the natives of the New Guinea highlands” (your July issue). They do not want “civilisation.” The majority of natives be gin to decline at the age of 30. Their span of life is from 40 to 45 years. Odd ones live to 70 —not many. A number of both sexes die at about 20.
My experience is that the most dirty and slovenly natives in the village are those who have been trained by missionaries, or whites. After a certain age, a native’s brain becomes stagnant—he cannot or will not learn.
Natives are not as free to-day as they were twenty years ago. A native is liable to be imprisoned for one month for not sending his child to a Mission school within a radius of one mile from his home. The Missions do not stick to the mile, and take them from farther away.
A Labour Senator, in July PIM, praises the native police. Many of these police are rogues—they rob the native men and seduce the young women. Some mission native teachers consistently rob the school kids. Few white officers will lis ten to complaints against the Police.
There are far too many in the force.
These “native councillors” are another lot of drones on the inhabitants of the villages.
I have no personal complaint—His Honour the Administrator and all his staff have been very kind and helpful to my son and to me since our return to the Territory. But I am not happy about the conditions here, and I have tried frankly to tell you why.