Madang history captured in new book

IT was the famous Russian nobleman and scientist Nikolai Mikloucho-Maclay who named the Madang coastal area the “Archipelago of Contended people”.
Maclay was the first European to spend more than two years between 1871 and 1883 living amongst the Rai Coast (Maclay Coast) people (“Rai” being the native corruption of “Maclay”) and explored the coastal and interior areas of the province.
Other explorers, missionaries and government officers were also attracted to the area, among them, the late District Officer Kassa Townsend who wrote the following in his diary in 1922.
“Madang was, and perhaps still is, the most attractive township in the Territory. Built around the indented shore line, just inside the narrow entrance to its perfect harbour, the various bungalows and offices that Imperial German Government and several German companies had built stood surrounded by lawn and shrubs in profusion.”
The history of Madang has now been documented in a 450-page book titled Madang by author and former kiap James Sinclair who has authored many books on PNG subjects. The book was commissioned by Sir Peter Barter and Sir John Middleton and published by Divine Word University Press.
With the foreword written by Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, the book traces the story of Madang since the contact with the outside world beginning with Maclay up to recent times.
Compiled from formal records and anecdotes taken from those associated with the development of the province and town, the book provides a colourful and interesting, yet sometimes tragic, insight into the early years. The accounts come from an assortment of people – explorers, missionaries, plantation owners, miners, fortune hunters, Chinese entrepreneurs and government officials.
The establishment and development of the German colony in Madang was the direct result of power play thousands of miles away in Europe between the British and Germans who were carving up the Pacific region for themselves. The Germans established the famous Neuguinea Compagnie and arrived at Port Constantine on Rai Coast on October 11, 1884. Thus began the long contact Madang - then known as Friedrich-Whilhelmshafen by the Germans - was going to have with the colonisers.
The German connection still lives on today in names such as Dallman (Passage), Bismark (sea/range), Alexishafen (mission), Hagen (Mount) and Hatzfeldthafen (mission) and many of the plantations they established still exists today. The Germans were even responsible for the name “Madang” which they took from a little island at Finschhafen where the German settlement in New Guinea began.
Sadly the manner in which the Neuguinea Compagnie went about acquiring land for its plantations in Friedrich-Whilhelmshafen caused deep resentment amongst the local people.
A Compagnie official Joahann Stanislaus Kubary acquired vast tracts of land for plantations from unsuspecting local people paying for it with trade goods such as knives, mirrors, tomahawks, coloured beads and cloth. He purchased from the Bilibil (Bilbil) Island people all the land on the main land from the Gogol to Gum Rivers and the interior. He did the same for the land from Gum River to the present day Madang town purchasing it from the Yabob Island people. Of course, all the land did not belong to the Bilibil and Yabob people and it was obvious they did not understand what Kubary was doing. Judge F. B. Phillips corrected the blatant injustice in 1932 however; the resentment caused by the original land grab is still being felt today.
Unlike Maclay, the Germans and the local people did not get on well together. The Germans whose motives were to acquire land for business and profit soon met with resistance. The people understandably resented the acquisition of their land and did not want to submit to the authority of the colonisers. They despised having to provide labour to build roads and plantations in lieu of head taxes that they were ordered to pay. Plantation managers and workers were attacked and the Germans retaliated harshly by carrying out punitive raids on the villages.
The situation came to head in 1904 when the local people plotted secretly to attack and kill all the Europeans living in town including the District Officer. However, the plot was betrayed by a local man and armed police managed to foil the attack. Justice was harsh. The ringleaders were rounded up and executed by police firing squad and the remaining Siar island people were exiled to the mainland.
The book also includes chapters on the work of the Lutheran and Divine Word missionaries who apart from spreading the Good News also concentrated on providing formal education and health care for the health of the people.
Much of the early history in the book is told from the colonialists’ point of view for the simple fact that they had kept proper records of their activities. Therefore, if the book suffers from anything, it is the heavy concentration on the experiences of the early colonialists. The absence of the voice of the indigenous people is noticeable throughout the chapters and only appears towards the era after independence.
The book records all the major events beginning with Maclay’s contact through to the war years and development up until Independence. Of course, it is not possible to record in detail all the events in the history of Madang and the life and experiences of people like Maclay, the Lutheran and Divine Word missionaries, the work of the patrol officers and other influential people like Yali are recorded in detail elsewhere.
There are numerous colourful characters and some of their experiences are told throughout the book. One example is the story of the bronze Hagen Eagle that was erected over the grave of Acting Administrator of German New Guinea, Curt von Hagen in the early 1900s. In the 1950s the Eagle suddenly appeared in Mt Hagen and became the symbol of the town. According to former Madang resident Hec Longmore, the eagle was found by a patrol officer in Saidor and brought to Madang. It ended up with Longmore on his verandah where it seemed to have caused a lot of entertainment. Longmore says:
“People were always trying to lift it. I used to bet young blokes twenty quid if they could carry the Eagle from my verandah to the Madang Hotel bar. It was solid bronze, must have weighed at least 130 pounds . . . it wasn’t the weight, it was the awkward shape. One young German bloke carried it to the hotel, and dropped it on Flo’s bar, and broke it! Flo charged me twenty quid to get a new sheet of laminex …”
The book is illustrated by an interesting collection of photographs and the contemporary painting on the cover by internationally renowned Madang artist Larry Santana adds a local touch making it a valuable record of history of the province and a collector’s item. To get a copy of Madang inquire at Divine Word University or the Madang Resort, or log onto info@dwu.ac.pg.