Karkar’s volcano

houses a 'factory’

The Past and Future People, Tradition and Change on a New Guinea Island. By Romola McSwain. Published by Oxford University Press, 7 Bowen Cres, Melbourne.

AS 9.95. ISBN 0 19 550563 8.

The Past and Future People is a socioligical study of the people of Karkar Island which lies off the north coast of Papua New Guinea.

Dr McSwain gives a poetic description of the island. ‘Karkar rises purple and steep from the ocean in a classical pyramidal shape, its peak wreathed in clouds.’ She de scribes the ‘lush green growth tumbling down the slopes and over the coastal plain to the water’s edge’.

A tropical paradise? It would appear so at first glance with its tranquil villages where the people still perform their ‘ancient daily tasks’. But under neath the tranquillity the people are having to grapple with disturbing changes.

The traditional Karkar world was full of spiritual beings creator beings such as Kulbob and Manub; ancestral spirits such as Karkar; and non creative beings, Misken and Kaulok, who lived on or near the crater, Bagia, the resting place of the souls of the dead.

As well as these are the clan deities living in pools, springs and large trees.

Into this world from 1885 onwards came traders, missionaries, planters and ad ministrative officers. A large part of Dr McSwain’s study was concerned with the vil lagers’ reaction to these expatri ates, and to the changes that were introduced in the econ omic and religious fields.

The book is set out chronologically, which is logi cal in view of the fact that the people’s reactions to these changes were coloured by their traditional beliefs.

One reaction to the changes was the birth of the Kukuaik cult in 1941. Dr McSwain writes that ‘the movement was essentially an attempt to bring

the colonial order into harmony with the old world view, first in quasi-spiritual and later in clearly cargoist terms’. The synthesis that took place as a result between the traditional religious beliefs and Christianity is extremely inter esting.

Mount Bagia is still the place where the souls of the dead are believed to go. But now their time is spent manufacturing cargo in factories run by Kulbob, the creator being, and Karkar, their ancestor. Omin ous rumbles from inside the cone (and there have been many of these in recent times) are thought to come from this workshop.

Heaven itself is on the highest peak on Karkar, Kanagioi. To gain entrance, those on Bagia must die a second time and then proceed to the mountain where they will live in eternal happiness with God.

This is perhaps a simplistic presentation of the content of Dr McSwain’s work, but it should help to whet the appetite of the wide range of people who would find it fascinating read ing.

This book rates a place along side Professor Lawrence’s Road Belong Cargo in showing how the traditional beliefs of people have reacted with foreign contact to produce a changed intellectual system.

There are, however, basic differences between the two books. Dr McSwain studied an island people whose isolated position and economic potential meant that missionaries and planters had a stronger influence on their lives than was the case with the Garia people whom Professor Lawrence studied.

Furthermore, as Professor Lawrence himself says in the introduction, he believed that changes, in the economic and political spheres would lead to the eventual disappearance of cargo cult, whereas Dr McSwain demonstrates that cargo beliefs can co-exist with economic and political develop

ment. But then there is a time lag between the two studies.

Professor Lawrence carried out his research between 1949- 1958 before there was much socio-economic development.

This is one reason why Dr McSwain’s book is so valuable.

It is based on research in the Madang area from 1966-1969, after socio-political develop ments had taken place. In the intervening years cargo cult thinking has increased rather than decreased in the Madang area, and Karkar in particular.

It will be interesting to study the situation again in the late 1980 s, after a corresponding time lag.

As an oral historian I found the ‘creation myth’ about Karkar, the founding ancestor, intriguing. According to the Karkar testimonies ‘after a large tidal wave and volcanic eruption’, he arrived or came into being on the island some 10 generations ago, marking the transition from super-human to human ancestors.

Oral traditions along the north coast of Papua New Guinea indicate that there was a violent eruption of a volcanic island between nine to 11 gener ations ago. It was probably sited at Hankow Reef which lies between Karkar and Long Island. Most Austronesian (Melanesian-speaking) settle ments along the coast trace their ancestry back to this island. Many traditions indicate that some survivors went to Karkar also.

The genealogy of Dr McSwain’s book dovetails nicely with these other tra ditions. Although scientific re search has yet to be done to validate or disprove these tra ditions, I feel they should not be dismissed as mere myths.

Maybe Karkar, the man who struggled ashore on Karkar Island so long ago, was the first Austronesian to settle on Karkar and was the real ances tor of the Takia people there, and not some mythical being of ‘partly mortal state’. The Takias are closely related both culturally and linguistically to the Austronesian settlements on the north coast of Papua New Guinea, and these traditions point to a common ancestry.

Mary R. Mennis.