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Living
Fixed Abodes
Spirits with
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– iii
The Masterpieces Exhibition
Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery
Barry Craig, Mark Busse, Soroi Eoe
Editor
Barry Craig
Photography
David Becker, Anthony L. Crawford
Fixed Abodeswith
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI’I PRESS
HONOLULU
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A CHP Production
Published in the United States of America by
University of Hawai’i Press
2840 Kolowalu, Honolulu, Hawai’i 96822-1888
www.uhpress.hawaii.edu
Published and designed in Australia by
Crawford House Publishing Australia Pty Ltd
14 Dryandra Drive
Belair SA 5052 Australia
www.crawfordhouse.com.au
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication data has been applied for.
ISBN 978-0-8248-3151-6
Copyright © 2010 Barry Craig, Mark Busse and Soroi Eoi
Design and layout by Jenny Crawford and Barry Craig
Cover design by Maureen MacKenzie, MSquared Design
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
Printed in China by Great Wall Printing Company limited
13 12 11 10 4 3 2 1
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– v
Contents
Foreword Sir Michael Somare vii
Preface Thierry Bernadac and Jacques-Olivier Manent viii
Acknowledgements Barry Craig ix
Maps x
Chapter 1 Introduction Barry Craig 1
Chapter 2 Short History of the Papua New Guinea National Museum Mark Busse 5
Chapter 3 The Work of the National Museum Mark Busse 15
Chapter 4 The Role of the National Museum in Contemporary Papua New Guinea
Society Soroi Marepo Eoe 19
Chapter 5 The Masterpieces Exhibition Barry Craig 25
Appendix 1 Functions of the National Museum and Art Gallery 253
Appendix 2 Ethnographic Collections of the National Museum Barry Craig 254
Bibliography 265
Sources of Illustrations 276
Sources of Masterpieces 277
Index of Masterpieces 278
General Index 280
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– vii
Foreword
by the Prime Minister the Right Honourable Sir Michael T. Somare, GCMG CH KStJ
With my interest in, and long association
with, the National Museum and Art Gallery of
Papua New Guinea, it gives me great pleasure
to be involved once again in the promotion
of Melanesian art and culture by making a
few remarks in this outstanding publication,
Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes.
As the founding Prime Minister, and in the
course of Papua New Guinea’s thirty years of
nationhood, I have been concerned about
the conservation, preservation and docu-
mentation of our rich heritage and the evolu-
tion of our art and culture in today’s rapidly
changing world.
My concern in part is that our children
must be empowered with the knowledge
that we are a diverse nation of people and
can build a great future on the richness of
our cultures, art forms and traditions. Byknowing and understanding our past we can
set the course for where we want to be in the
future.
In the present age of increased commu-
nication and technological advancements,
the peoples of the world are discovering
the existence and uniqueness of one anoth-
er. Always there will be quests into human
history. People have always searched their
past to give meaning and add value to their
existence. It is thus important that we also
preserve information on our past so our chil-
dren can enrich their existence in the future.
Our people and our children must learn
that though we are all Melanesians, our ways
of life can differ greatly from village to vil-
lage. This fact is noticeably manifested in our
art and artefacts. Only through knowing our
differences can we live in harmony with one
another and understand why our neighbour-
ing ethnic groups make certain choices that
otherwise would appear to be beyond com-
prehension.
Tolerance comes about through under-
standing. It is important for our people and
their children to understand why some of
their ancestors built sacred houses and
adorned them with spirit masks. They must
be able to access information on why others
tattooed their bodies and what these tattoos
mean. They must know who their traditional
trading partners were and how these trading
relationships can be improved, strengthened
and adapted to suit their future environment
and needs.
My other concern is that we are driven
today by economics and providing the basic
essential services to our rapidly growing pop-
ulation. Though important, the preservation,
conservation and documentation of our his-
tory may continue to be regarded as second-
ary to the basic needs of our people. Thereinlies the contradiction. So many indigenous
societies are struggling to get on their feet
and feel a real sense of loss because their
past has been erased forever.
Papua New Guinea is fortunate in so
many ways. Our late colonisation has protect-
ed us from many atrocities that have been
committed against indigenous peoples all
over the world. Many of our cultures and tra-
ditions are still alive because contact with the
outside world was so recent. For these rea-
sons we must preserve our identity so that
our future generations do not experience
the sense of loss that many other indigenous
peoples feel. With the richness of our diverse
heritage we can stand tall among all other
existing cultures of the world.
Given the reality of our current financial
limitations, we must find innovative ways to
inspire our young people to preserve our
heritage and keep it alive and dynamic. It
would be sad in years to come to see our chil-
dren perform dances that are meaningless
because their parents have not passed onto
them the reason behind why a certain dance
is performed. A people are just people if they
do not know their story.
For this reason I acknowledge a debt of
gratitude for the contributions of Sir William
MacGregor, Sir Hubert Murray and other
colonial administrators who, for the purpose
of establishing a future museum in this coun-
try, collected artefacts that are no longer
being made today but have been replaced
through the introduction of a new technol-
ogy and a new way of life.
There is much work to be done in giving
these items, that have been collected and
kept for us, their proper place by ensuring
that they are identified, classified and pre-
served for posterity.
Formerly in our country everything waspassed down by word of mouth. Secrets and
rites were passed down through family lines
in the haus tambaran or through myths and
legends. We must preserve some of this infor-
mation by adapting to today’s modern tech-
niques.
I commend the initiative of the National
Museum and Art Gallery in conceiving this
project to publish information relating to
the cultural treasures represented by the
Masterpieces Exhibition; and I am deeply
grateful to the French Government for sup-
porting this project financially through its
Embassy in Papua New Guinea.
We are living in the age of information
and our oral history can now be preserved
in writing. I cannot stress enough the impor-
tance of documenting our history, be it mu-
sic, architecture or folklore. Generations to
come will find usefulness in this information.
They will be grateful that their forebears had
the insight to document their history.
Foreword
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It is a great honour for France through its
Embassy in Port Moresby to be associated
with the publication of Living Spirits with
Fixed Abodes: The Masterpieces Exhibition
of the Papua New Guinea National Museum
and Art Gallery. We would like to thank Tony
Crawford of Crawford House Publishing
for the edition of this book, Barry Craig of
the South Australian Museum and former
curator of the Papua New Guinea National
Museum and Art Gallery for the writing of the
Introduction and Catalogue, Mark Busse of
the University of Auckland for his summary
of the history and functions of the Museum,
David Becker for the quality of the photos
and Soroi Eoe, Director of the Papua New
Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery,
for his chapter on the role of the National
Museum and, above all, for his collaborationthroughout the implementation of this
project.
Papua New Guinea is a country with over
800 spoken languages, often considered as a
real obstacle for its economic development
and its administration, but certainly not for
the richness of its cultural diversity. One who
travels through the highlands and the islands
of Papua New Guinea is always struck by the
cultural differences among the communities,
some showing great dexterity at wood
carving, others at painting, usually with the
use of bright colours, others still at music, and
so forth. Those differences are also expressed
through dancing, costumes and headgear,
masks, tattoos and all sorts of ceremonies
enjoyed by the tourists visiting Papua New
Guinea.
Many books have already been published
on the arts and traditions of Papua New
Guinea, especially by German scholars (for
the New Guinean part of the country) and
British, Australian and American researchers.
France was involved at an early stage
through some of the Catholic missions in
Papua New Guinea and, after the SecondWorld War, through the links established
between the Musée de l’Homme in Paris and
some communities in the Sepik and Morobe
provinces. However, this book is certainly the
first of its kind for the extensive coverage of
most provinces and the number of photos.
Although Papuan New Guinean artifacts
have a great aesthetic value through their
shapes and colours, they also have a spiritual
dimension deeply rooted in the ethos of their
community. The texts accompanying the
photos aim at rendering the specific ritual
meaning of artifacts and strongly contribute
to the interest of this book.
The publication of this work was made
possible through a grant from the French
Government within the framework of the
Treaty of Cooperation and Friendship signed
between the Governments of France and
Papua New Guinea in 1995. We would like
to acknowledge the role of the Secrétariat
Permanent pour le Pacifique in Paris,
especially its former Director from 1996
to 2002, Mr. Garrigue-Guyonnaud, and the
Agence Francaise de Développement for
their assistance in this most valuable project.
Thierry Bernadac
Ambassador of France in Papua New Guinea
(1999-2004)
Jacques-Olivier Manent
Ambassador of France in Papua New Guinea
(2005- )
Preface
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– ixAcknowledgements
It would be unlikely that any one person
would have sufficient knowledge of the
large number of Papua New Guinea cultures
to write a catalogue of the Masterpieces
Exhibition without assistance from others.
This catalogue has benefited immensely
from the work of many researchers
from many countries, but of course their
information comes from the large number
of Papua New Guineans who have accepted
these researchers into their communities,
their houses and their lives, and shared their
knowledge. This catalogue is an opportunity
to give back to those Papua New Guineans
and their descendants at least something of
the heritage of their ancestors.
Inevitably there are uncertainties and
perhaps even mistakes in the information
provided. On behalf of the researchers whohave provided the information, and of the
authors of this book, I apologise for this.
We have done our best but should anyone
be able to contribute to a more accurate
account, the editor and authors of this book,
and the staff of the National Museum, will be
pleased to receive corrections and additions
to add to the database of the objects in the
Masterpieces Exhibition.
An expression of gratitude is first due to
the many authors who have been referred
to in the text; their names appear in the
bibliography. Without their published works,
precious little would be known outside the
communities of origin about many of the
pieces in the Exhibition.
Many other researchers responded to
email requests for information and gave
generously of their time in doing so. These
people include Albert G. van Beek, Ross
Bowden, Helen Dennett, Pat Edmiston, Ossie
Fountain, Steven Frost, Godfried Gerrits, Mike
Gunn, Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin, Bernard
Juillerat, Christian Kaufmann, Anthony Meyer,
Anthony Mulderink, Roger Neich, Philippe
Peltier, Eva Raabe, Paul Roscoe, Thomas
Schultze-Westrum, Meinhard Schuster,
Dirk Smidt, Glenn Summerhayes, Pamela
Swadling, Jürg Wassmann, Robert Welsch
and Dadi Wirz.
Library and archival research was
facilitated by Jill Evans of the South
Australian Museum Library; staff of the
Special Collections, Barr Smith Library of
the University of Adelaide; Steven Miller,
archivist of the Art Gallery of New South
Wales; and staff of the PNG National Museum,
especially Sebastian Haraha, John Dop
and Francis Bafmatuk. Reproductions ofarchival photographs were facilitated by Jan
Brazier (Australian Museum), Paul Dalgleish
(Australian Archives), Fran Jury (South
Australian Museum) and Virginia Lee-Webb
(Metropolitan Museum of Art).
Waltraud Schmidt patiently translated
many papers published in German and
without that the text would have been
considerably impoverished. I am most
grateful to have had her professional
assistance in this matter.
I was first asked to participate in this
project in April 2002 and I was able to spend
a week and a half at the National Museum
in June, at the end of a seven-week field
trip in Papua New Guinea financed by the
South Australian Museum. Crawford House
Publishing Australia paid for my fare to Papua
New Guinea in 2003 to do another three
weeks research at the National Museum;
the National Museum paid for meals and
accommodation for both periods totalling
nearly five weeks; and the South Australian
Museum allowed me to spend a considerable
proportion of my work time for well over a
year on this project.
Jim Specht read through the entire text
and gave innumerable valuable suggestions
to improve its accuracy and readability, but
any failings are the responsibility of the
authors and editor.
Most of the photographs of the exhibits
were provided by David Becker, facilitated
by the generous grant from the French
Government. Tony Crawford provided
additional photography at my request.
The Director of the PNG National Museum
permitted me to access and select images
from the photographic archives of theMuseum, especially those thousands of
photographs taken by me in 1981-83 while
I was Curator of Anthropology there, to give
context to the exhibits. Other people also
provided images and they are acknowledged
in the captions. Jenny Crawford stalwartly
dealt with the large number of changes to
text and layout leading up to the stage of
final printer’s proofs.
Finally I wish to thank my wife, Gillian
Perchard, for giving me leave of absence from
family reponsibilities during two periods
spent in Port Moresby researching the
objects in the Masterpieces Exhibition, and
for daily support during the long period of
researching, writing and editing; and to thank
our son, Sai, for picking up some extra duties
during my absence.
Barry Craig
Acknowledgements
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Introduction – 1
The Masterpieces Exhibition at the Papua
New Guinea National Museum and Art
Gallery is intended to show Papua New
Guineans, and overseas residents and visitors,
some of the finest examples of the traditional
cultural heritage of the country.
Although there are some societies in
Papua New Guinea where it is clear there were
‘master’ carvers or painters, sometimes with
apprentices (for example, see Beier and Aris
1975; Beran 1996), most sculptures, paintings,
war shields, masks and the like were made
by people only a little more distinguished in
their skills than their fellow villagers. Therefore
it seems more appropriate to think of the
exhibition not as one of ‘masterpieces’ but
of places where the spirits dwell. For Papua
New Guineans, this is the most important
characteristic of such works.
Inevitably there are gaps in the exhibition
because some cultures are poorly represented
in the collections of the Museum, all the
significant examples having been removed
from the country long before the Papua New
Guinea Public Museum and Art Gallery was
established by legislation in 1954. In some
cases, skilfully made objects from the 1960s
and 1970s have been included to provide
representation from such areas. There also appears to be an over-
representation of objects from the Sepik
River region, partly because over a quarter
of Papua New Guinea’s language groups
are located in that region, and remarkable
objects could still be found there even in
the 1980s and, indeed, at the present time.
Further, there are many cultural groups in
Papua New Guinea that do not produce
artistically notable objects; instead, their
creative energies are manifested in songs,
stories and ceremonies that cannot be
preserved as objects in a museum. One of
the National Museum’s sister institutions,
the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies, is
charged with recording and preserving such
works (see Niles and Webb 1987 and Kulele:
Occasional Papers on Pacific Music and Dance).
The Masterpieces Exhibition was first
set up during 1979-80 using 120 objects
displayed under multi-coloured lighting
as individual art works with no apparent
relationship to one another (TNMAG 1980:
12th and 13th pages). The designer of the
exhibition apparently did not invite any
assistance or advice from the anthropology
department. The exhibition had no
discernible structure and the information
provided for each object was minimal and
sometimes incorrect.
In November of 1980, earthquake
damage to the roof of the museum building
resulted in extensive and serious leakage
problems when the wet season commenced.
The exhibition area had to be cleared until
the roof could be repaired. The repairs
were accomplished over the following ten
months and during that time, as Curator of
Anthropology, I undertook to expand and
structure the exhibition, within the limits of
the modest funds that were made available.
The revised exhibition was opened byMichael Somare in September 1981.
There are now over 200 pieces on display
and most of the objects have been grouped
into several general categories of function
– watercraft, architecture, household items,
gardening and fertility figures, hunting and
warfare, musical instruments, masks, and
funerary objects.
Some individual objects do not sit
comfortably in any of these categories
and have been allocated according to
the principle of ‘best fit’. Also, the original
exhibition included a few objects from the
Chapter 1 Introduction
Barry Craig
western half of New Guinea (then known as
Irian Jaya, now confusingly named ‘Papua’
and therefore in this book referred to as
‘[West] Papua’). These objects were retained
to demonstrate the continuity of New Guinea
cultures across the international border.
The information on the labels for the
objects in the exhibition remains minimal.
The main purpose of this book is to provide
additional information in association with
images of the exhibits.
Melanesian cultural heritage as art
It was only about eighty years ago that
European scholars began to refer to
particular artifacts made by tribal peoples
as ‘art’ (Goldwater 1967: 7-9). Previously, all
such objects were treated like natural history
specimens in museums and prior to that
they were thought of as ‘curiosities’. Artists
such as Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh
recognised the aesthetic qualities of tribal
artifacts on display at the Paris Exposition
of 1889 and half a century later Robert
Goldwater published his ground-breaking
thesis, Primitivism in Modern Art . Goldwater
later became the Director of the Museum
of Primitive Art (Nelson A. Rockefeller
Collection) in New York, founded in 1954 (as
was the PNG Public Museum and Art Gallery)
and opened in 1957. This museum was later
incorporated into the Metropolitan Museum
of Art in New York.
But, just as there has been no agreement
in the Western world of what ‘art’ is, and what
relevance aesthetics has to the concept, so
there is confusion about what constitutes
art among tribal peoples, few of whom
have a word that suggests anything like the
various meanings of the word in European
languages.
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about the objects produced by them? And
what can be said in this book that will be
useful to all readers – Papua New Guineans
as well as those people of other cultures
and places? This book has the task of saying
something to both categories of readers.
Except perhaps for some among the
youngest generation who have grown up in
urban centres and been educated in overseas
schools, Papua New Guineans don’t have to
read about how they see the world and what
place traditional objects have in that world.
Information about the identity of objects,
such as where they have come from, who
made them, what they have been used for
and the names by which they are known,
would, however, most likely be of interest
to them. The kinds of spirits that inhabited
these works also are of interest to Papua
New Guineans. For others, it will be necessary
to say something here about what may be
considered art works in Papua New Guinea,
how such works relate to material culture
generally, and what is their significance in the
context of daily life.
Papua New Guineans, just like Europeans,
produce works of sculpture, painting,
architecture, music, song, dance and so forth.
Europeans agree among themselves thatonly some of these products are works of art
but differ widely on what criteria they use
to differentiate art from non-art. Papua New
Guineans do not engage in such debates.
What is important to them is the difference
between objects (or works in other media)
that are inhabited by spirits and those that
are not. A magnificent sculpture or awesome
building is merely a piece of wood or a shelter
until such time as the appropriate ritual has
induced the habitation of the work by a spirit
(Hauser-Schäublin 1976/77; for translation see
Hauser-Schäublin 1983). Whether the carving
is well done or not, a spirit can be called to
inhabit it; whether the building is newly-built
and sound, or falling to pieces, it can be the
dwelling place of a spirit.
Whereas Europeans practise their arts in
various media more-or-less as separate art
forms (sculpture, painting, poetry, music and
so forth), Papua New Guineans bring to bear
all their art forms in the great ceremonies
whose themes encompass healing, marriage,
fertility, harvests, initiation, hunting, warfare
and death.
Of course, many objects are created
outside the context of the great ceremonies
– household items, tools, weapons, canoes,
cooking pots, body ornaments, musical
instruments, and so forth – but ‘even those
carry numerous and constant allusions to
themes whose primary expression is found at
the ceremonies’ (Schwimmer 1990: 10).
A large component of these great
ceremonies is ritual activity. Erik Schwimmer
agrees (ibid.: 7) with Claude Lévi-Strauss’s
distinction (1962: 38-44)
between ritual (and myth) on the one
hand and art (and play) on the other. Ritual
claims to have as its end result a kind of
preordained equilibrium corresponding
to certain conditions of life that are fixedand unalterable. This fixity of outcomes is
absent from both art and play, where there
must exist a plurality of possibilities and
an unpredictable course of events.
Schwimmer (ibid.: 8-9) points out that ‘it
is only in a very l imited sense that [the] great
ceremonies can be said to have a fixed and
unalterable outcome’ and cites Alfred Gell’s
study of the Umeda ceremonies of the Border
Mountains in West Sepik Province. Although
the ida performances were intended to
promote the increase of sago, the participants
made statements and acted in ways that
Apparently not bothered by this lack of
clarity, scholars of tribal art continue to add
to the considerable library of works on the
subject. We have books on the art of Africa,
of pre-Columbian America and of Oceania.
In the latter field we have books on the art
of Easter Island, of the New Zealand Maori,
of Vanuatu, New Britain and New Ireland. For
New Guinea, scholars have identified the ‘art
styles’ of a number of areas, commencing at
the ‘Bird’s Head’ of western New Guinea and
working through the island in a more-or-
less clockwise manner (Bühler, Barrow and
Mountford 1962: 97-137).
Within certain ‘art-rich’ areas, several art
style provinces have been identified; for
example, Alfred Bühler’s six ‘art provinces’
of the Sepik region (Bühler 1960), Douglas
Newton’s thirteen ‘art styles’ of the Papuan
Gulf (Newton 1961), Simon Kooijman’s
four ‘style areas’ of southern New Guinea
(Kooijman 1956), and Dirk Smidt’s four
‘style regions’ of south-west New Guinea
(Smidt 1993). Other scholars have provided
a classification according to form and have
tried to link these styles to prehistorical
movements of peoples and their cultures,
such as in Felix Speiser’s six styles for
Melanesia (Speiser 1966).What is striking about these analyses is
that they favour sculpture, primarily wood
carvings, and only occasionally refer to
paintings or work in other materials. Part
of the explanation for this bias may be that
Westerners trace their cultural ancestry back
to ancient Greece and the ‘art works’ that have
most noticeably survived the millenia are the
sculptures. But all this is largely irrelevant to
Papua New Guineans.
If European ways of seeing the world are
inadequate for understanding how Papua
New Guineans see things, how do we talk
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Introduction – 3
is ancillary; the manifestation or
production of unusual (or provocative)
images evidences uncanny power, and
power in the world is apprehended
through the presence of such
manifestations or appearances. The
images can be those of the celestial
bodies and their movements, as in the
archaic and little-remembered calendric
system; those of unusual natural objects
or events; or those of the coordinate
spectacle of a ‘singsing’ performance.
Meaning, and ultimately power, comes
from the successful penetration –
experiencing and exhausting – of images,
a process that … can be accomplished
only by confrontation and ‘seeing for
yourself’.
Shirley Campbell, in her detailed andexemplary analysis of the designs carved and
painted on the prows and splashboards of
Trobriand Islands (specifically Vakuta Island)
kula canoes, summarises (2002: 149-50):
The design units on the kula prow
and splashboards are fundamentally
about the representation of desired
characteristics seen in the natural world
to be ‘successful’. The ‘animals’ used for
representation on the boards are enlisted
for the success of a kula expedition. This is
marked by the board’s ability to woo kula
partners and bring home shell valuables.
With the multiplicity of representations
on the prow and splashboards, together
with special beauty magic and the magic
to protect the canoe from possible
dangers encountered at sea, the kula
expedition is guaranteed success in the
minds of Vakutans; that is, as long as the
magic is more powerful than anyone
else’s and is efficacious enough to distract
or deter the dreaded ‘women’ [witches].
Ann Chowning, in a paper on the painted
designs of the Lakalai of West New Britain,
reports that designs called tataro are painted
on the face and on masks, on shields and
on canoes (1983: 95), and are often inspired
by close observation of things and natural
processes around them. She says, ‘some
artists are exceptionally interested in nature’
(ibid.: 97) and provides an image (Fig. 15)
of one of the painters, Bagou, ‘watching an
insect new to him with intense interest’. She
goes on to state (ibid.: 101):
On the whole, what gives rise to new
designs is a new or unexpected sight – a
previously unnoticed marking on a bird,
fish or bu tterfly, or leaf, or a break in the
usual shape or appearance of things.
Another source of new designs is the
spirit world, ‘as when a dreamer finds himself
watching spirits dance or sees them wearing
masks of an unknown design’ (Chowning
1983: 93). The word tataro:
may come from … taro ‘to change shape’
which appears in the name of a spirit
called tarogolo (golo = ‘to deceive’) that
takes on the shape of particular human
beings, disguising itself as a friend or lover
(ibid.: 95).
There is therefore a clear relationship
between these Lakalai designs and the worldof the spirits. Indeed, when men with painted
faces, or wearing masks bearing the painted
designs, perform at the ceremonies, they
are not merely representing spirits, they are
spirits. This is a universal belief in Melanesia.
Ironically, the enthusiasm of fundamentalist
Christians for banning or destroying
traditional cults and ceremonies, and the
objects associated with them, testifies to
the power of this belief, held even by the
Christians themselves.
When Sir Michael Somare, the present
Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea,
indicated the performances ‘went altogether
beyond that theme … the dancing, masks,
and body paintings were not “translatable”
into the theme of sago increase’. Schwimmer
adds that this untranslatability makes it
possible for the ceremonies to ‘convey quite
a variety of meanings to different observers
… or they may convey many meanings
simultaneously’.
Thus this indefiniteness of outcomes or
plurality of possibilities is the aspect of the
activity that is ‘art’. The relationship of the
standard ritual performance (as recounted
by the actors) to the actual event is like
that between a European music score and
an actual performance. It is the degree of
freedom allowed to the performers that
makes art possible.
Schwimmer elaborates (ibid.:11):
no initiatory performance could be
wholly successful unless it was aided
by the audience’s ‘inferential walks’ and
constructs of ‘possible worlds’.
and
Papua New Guinea art often stands in a
mimetic relation to nature, not only when
it imitates movements, colors, and habits
perceived in nature, but also when it
seeks, by its constructed images, to reveal
hidden truths about nature.
And what this truth is, is knowledge of the
spirits. Schwimmer tells us that the Orokaiva
term for initiation is embahi kiari – ‘seeing the
spirits’.
In his analysis of the social and ritual life
of the Barok of New Ireland, Roy Wagner
(1986: 221) summarises ‘the esoteric world
of power and meaning that both vivifies and
mystifies the Barok’ in words concordant with
the gist of Schwimmer’s analysis:
It is a world of image, in which verbal
capability, however ultimately necessary,
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4 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
development and cultural institutions in
Papua New Guinea, he wrote:
We now have a National Museum and Art
Gallery. These house our heritage. Some
of our most valuable pieces of artwork
are outside our country. I would ask you
all to cooperate with us in returning our
ancestral spirits and souls to their homes
in Papua New Guinea. We view our masks
and our art as living spirits with fixed
abodes. [Mead 1979: xv]
was Chief Minister (before Independence
was gained on 16 September 1975), he
sent a message to members of the Pacific
Arts Association, meeting at McMaster
University, Hamilton, Ontario. In the context
of a consideration of the role of cultural
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Short History of the Papua New Guinea National Museum – 5
Chapter 2 Short History of the Papua New Guinea
National Museum
Mark Busse
The history of the Papua New Guinea
National Museum and Art Gallery is a
history of transformation from a colonial
institution based on European ideas to a
Papua New Guinean institution based on
Papua New Guinean concepts and values.
This transformation involved a change in
the museum’s goals and rationale. The first
museums in Papua and New Guinea were
established to preserve objects from cultures
that were believed to be disappearing. In
the lead-up to Independence, the museum
shifted its emphasis to documenting and
protecting Papua New Guinea’s cultural
heritage and encouraging contemporary
cultural expression. This shift occurred
because the nation’s leaders believed that
recognition and respect for indigenous
cultural expression in all its forms would
be an essential part of Papua New Guinea’s
national identity. These changes were
paralleled by changes in staff as Papua New
Guineans replaced expatriates and colonial
officers at all levels in the museum.
The British New Guinea Official
Collection1
The idea of a museum in what is now Papua
New Guinea dates to 12 October 1889 whenAnthony Musgrave, Government Secretary
for British New Guinea, wrote to the Chief
Secretary in Queensland (Australian Archives,
Series G31) proposing that a museum be
built in Port Moresby. He added that the
Lieutenant-Governor, Sir William MacGregor,
has on more than one occasion referred
to the importance of beginning the
formation of a local collection of
Ethnographic objects at Port Moresby. In
some districts articles that were at one
time of intrinsic interest and common
among the aborigines have already
disappeared, and it is daily becoming
more difficult and expensive to obtain
‘curiosities’ of value.
MacGregor did not support Musgrave’s
initiative, not because he opposed the idea of
a museum but because he thought that the
colony could not afford it. In August of that
year, he had already arrived at an agreement
with the Queensland Museum that the British
New Guinea ‘official collection’ would be
cared for and displayed in that institution.
MacGregor collected both cultural
objects and natural history specimens
during his many official travels between
1888 and 1898. In all, he collected and sent
to Brisbane around 10,800 objects from
178 different places in British New Guinea
during the decade that he was Lieutenant-
Governor. In 1897, around 2550 ‘duplicates’
were distributed to the Australian Museum,
the National Museum of Victoria and the
British Museum, leaving around 8250 items
in Brisbane (Quinnell 2000: 88, 91). Since
he collected many of these objects at the
time of first contact between Papua New
Guineans and Europeans, MacGregor’s
‘official collection’ is a unique sample of
Papua New Guinea’s material culture at
the very beginning of the colonial period(ibid.: 83-8).
MacGregor wanted to make a collection
that was representative of the full range of
objects and peoples of British New Guinea
and, reinforcing what Musgrave had written,
he stressed the importance of doing this
before these objects disappeared. In a lecture
in 1885 he had noted the salutary lessons
of Fiji and Hawai’i where colonial officials
neglected to collect material culture until,
as he put it, it was ‘too late’ (MacGregor
1897: 88). In 1889, after his first trip away
from Port Moresby, MacGregor noted that
it was already difficult to obtain stone axes
(Joyce 1971: 129).
He explained the purpose of his official
collection in a letter dated 12 October 1895
to the Governor of Queensland (Despatch
55/1895 QSA: GOV/A31):
The collection belonging to this colony
has been made with the object of its
possessing a full set of arms, utensils,
products of different kinds etc. as would
illustrate its past and present position in
the future.
Despite his stated goal of making a
representative collection, the largest part
of MacGregor’s collection came from what
today are Oro and Milne Bay provinces, with
comparatively fewer objects from Central,
Gulf and Western provinces. This imbalance
probably reflects the fact that people in the
coastal areas of Central, Gulf and Western
provinces already had considerable contact
with Europeans in the 1880s, and so it was
‘too late’ to collect the kinds of objects that
MacGregor wanted (Quinnell 2000: 88).
Although the colony could not yet afford
a permanent museum, MacGregor made it
clear to the Queensland authorities that the
objects in the official collection belonged
to the colonial government of British NewGuinea and that he expected that they would
eventually be returned to the colony when
a suitable place for their storage and display
had been built. He strongly objected to any
attempt by the Queensland Museum to give
away, sell or exchange any of the objects
in the collection, stating that he regarded
the Queensland Museum as the collection’s
custodian rather than its owner.
A Museum in Papua
In 1908, Hubert Murray, Acting Administrator
(later Lieutenant-Governor) of the Australian
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Territory of Papua, revived the idea of
establishing a museum in Port Moresby,
with the objects collected by MacGregor
forming the core of the proposed
museum’s collections. In response to a
query concerning the state of MacGregor’s
collection at that time, the Director of the
Queensland Museum assured Murray:
Typical specimens have been reserved
for the Papuan authorities and are held
in trust by this Museum until such time
as they may be required by them for
Museum purposes. [Quinnell 2000: 93]
Murray and his field officers were
collecting objects during their patrols in
Papua2
because:
articles of native manufacture and use
are becoming, in the settled districts,
more and more rare every day; there are
things which we can get now without any
trouble, but which we might have some
difficulty in procuring later on. [Australian
Archives, Series A1, Item 1911/12991]
Murray had a small museum built in Port
Moresby in 1911 to house the colony’s second
official collection but it was inadequate even
for that purpose. In 1915 an agreement was
reached with the Australian Museum tohouse the collections being made by Murray
and his officers, on the condition that a small
representative proportion of the material
could be selected for the Australian Museum,
the rest to remain the property of the Papuan
colonial government. The collections were
therefore only temporarily stored in Port
Moresby until they could be sent on to the
Australian Museum in Sydney for safekeeping.
Between 1915 and 1930, twelve shipments
totalling about 3200 objects were sent to
Sydney (Craig 1996: 222-24).
Then the Australian Museum ran out of
storage space for its own collections and at
the same time the idea of a Federal museum
in Canberra was revived. The Director of the
Australian Institute of Anatomy in Canberra
offered to house the collection until such a
museum was established and Murray agreed
to the transfer from Sydney to Canberra in
1934. The Australian Museum asked for and
was given permission to retain its selection
of around 400 objects in recognition of its
services in looking after the collection for so
many years.
For the next fifty years the Institute of
Anatomy looked after the Murray collection
but when the Institute was closed in 1984,
the collection was turned over to the newly
established National Museum of Australia
where it continues to be housed. The
MacGregor collection remained in Brisbane
until negotiations on its repatriation to Papua
New Guinea saw the first shipment leave
Brisbane in 1980 (Quinnell 2000: 97).
A Museum in New Guinea
The Australian Military Expeditionary Force
took over German New Guinea in 1914 and,
in 1921, civil administration was established
by Australia in the Mandated Territory of New
Guinea. During the period of German colonial
administration, there was no attempt to set
up a museum. Large collections were made
and deposited in museums in Germany, and
collectors from other European countries
and the United States also took away huge
amounts of material ( for example, see
Buschmann 2000, Gardner 2000, Regius 1999,
Specht 1999, Vargyas 1992, Welsch 1998 and
2000). During the wartime occupation of
German New Guinea, military officers sent
collections to the Australian War Museum,
then in Melbourne. These collections (almost
500 objects) were transferred on loan to the
(then) National Museum of Victoria, where
they remain to this day (Craig 1996: 92-4).
The first mention of a museum for the
Territory of New Guinea was in a memo-
randum dated 21 December 1921, from the
Protector of Natives to the Australian Prime
Minister’s Department (Australian Archives,
Series A518, Item A846/1/92):
I would recommend the inauguration
of a museum for native curios in Rabaul
– curios having both an anthropological
and ethnological interest can only be
retained if the Administration is given
the power to purchase, if they deem it fit,
curios of scientific value.
By 1922, collections were being made
and there was an allocation of funds from the
budget of the Department of Agriculture. In
the 1923-1924 Annual Report for the Territory
of New Guinea there was a listing that
included over 2500 anthropology specimens
and over 750 natural history specimens
(Craig 1996: 229-30). However, the same
problem of lack of space was experienced
in Rabaul as in Port Moresby. Most of the
collection was packed in crates and the
budget for the museum dwindled to nothing.
In 1931-32, correspondence between the
Australian Institute of Anatomy and Rabaul
resulted in around 277 items being sent on loan
from the Rabaul Museum to Canberra in 1933.
From time to time, material was added to the
collection but it appears that most of it remained
in crates in Rabaul and presumably was
destroyed during the Japanese attack in 1942.
Cultural Property Legislation in
Papua and New Guinea
In 1913 Murray enacted legislation to
protect Papuan material culture. The Papuan
Antiquities Ordinance, modelled on the Maori
Antiquities Act of 1901 (amended in 1904
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Short History of the Papua New Guinea National Museum – 7
and consolidated in 1908), made it illegal
to remove ‘antiquities’ from Papua without
written permission from the Commissioner
for Native Affairs and Control and without
first offering them for sale at a reasonable
price to the colonial Administrator. The
Ordinance defined antiquities as objects
‘manufactured with Papuan tools and
according to Papuan methods’, a telling
definition given that the term antiquity
usually refers to ancient times or objects
of great age. The use of that term was in
keeping with the notion that the people who
made such objects were living in the past,
the ‘stone age’ of human history. Such ideas
were consistent with nineteenth and early
twentieth century European ideas about
social evolution which sought to explain
differences between Europeans and other
peoples in terms of an evolutionary hierarchy
(Busse 2000).
The collecting activities of MacGregor
and Murray, as well as proposals to establish
museums in Papua and in New Guinea,
were based on these ideas about social
evolution, and on the belief that non-
Western cultures would disappear and non-
Western peoples would die out as a result of
Western expansion. European writers, such
as the anthropologist W.H.R. Rivers (1922),
argued that, in addition to introducing guns,
alcohol, repressive labour practices, and new
and fatal diseases, European contact led to
social and cultural changes so severe that
Melanesians would lose interest in life and,
as a result, die out. Collecting and protecting
cultural objects thus became an urgent
project to preserve evidence of a dying
people.
The New Guinea Antiquities Ordinance
of 1922 was modelled on the Papuan
Antiquities Ordinance of 1913, using
the same words and expressions. One
significant difference (provided for by a
1923 amendment) was that the New Guinea
legislation allowed for the proclamation of
specific objects, rather than simply of types
of objects, as cultural property restricted
from sale and export. Thus on 19 June 1936,
a proclamation forbade the acquisition of
‘two wooden images of crocodiles, carved
with bone and stone tools, at present in the
village of Mansamei on the Karawari River
in the Sepik District’ (Craig 1992; Craig 1996:
137-54).
After the end of the Second World War in
1945, the administrations of the Territory of
Papua and the Territory of New Guinea were
amalgamated. Legislation was reviewed
and the two antiquities ordinances were
consolidated into the Territory of Papua
New Guinea Antiquities Ordinance of 1953.
At about the same time, the Department of
District Services and Native Affairs, which
administered the Ordinance, initiated an
active collecting program, the primary
motivation for which was the collecting of
artifacts before they were lost forever as a
result of social change (Mann 1960).
The need to house the objects being
collected by the Department of District
Services and Native Affairs led to the pas-
sage of the Papua New Guinea Public
Museum and Art Gallery Ordinance in
1954. This ordinance established a Board
of Trustees as a statutory body charged
with controlling and managing the
museum, specified that the policies of
the museum were to be ‘in the interest
of the community’, and appointed the
Government Anthropologist as Curator. Two
buildings were provided on the grounds of
Government House in which to store the
collections (Eoe 1991: 20; Smidt 1977: 227).
The Birth of a National Museum: The
Years of Sir Alan Mann (1959-70)
The museum expanded tremendously in the
1960s. New staff were recruited and trained,
collections grew, new storage facilities were
constructed, the number of visitors increased
dramatically and the museum was given
responsibility for administering the Territory’s
cultural heritage legislation. Throughout this
period, the President of the museum’s Board
of Trustees was Sir Alan Mann, and it is dif-
ficult to overstate the role that he played in
the museum’s development. Sir Alan arrived
in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea in
1958 as Chief Justice and became President
of the Trustees in January 1959, a position he
held until his death in 1970. J.S. Womersley,
who became Acting President of the Trustees
when Sir Alan died, described Sir Alan’s role in
the changes as follows (TPNGPMAG 1974a: 2):
When Sir Alan took office as President
the collections of the museum were
almost entirely ethnographic. Storage
was inadequate in two spare buildings at
Government House. There was virtually
no opportunity for public display and
certainly no facilities for the scientific
study of collections. Early in 1959 space
was provided in the building whichhad been vacated by the Port Moresby
General Hospital. The museum achieved
its first public display galleries although
the space available was inadequate even
then as the greater part of the building
was remodelled as the Council Chamber
for the then Legislative Council.
In recent years Sir Alan Mann was
instrumental in having additional storage
rooms built and the introduction of air-
conditioning to some rooms. This has
ensured that, although storage conditions
are deplorable, some curatorial protection
of the collections has been possible.
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Sir Alan had a particular interest in
the natural history of Papua New Guinea
and personally collected objects for the
museum’s natural history collections.
The rationale for the museum during the
1960s remained the collection of natural
history specimens and the preservation of
objects from cultures that were thought
to be disappearing. The Museum’s Annual
Report for 1965, for example, suggested that
the museum’s purpose was ‘to preserve
materials relating to a vanishing culture
and to preserve natural material for intense
scientific study’ (TPNGPMAG 1966: 1).
The Annual Report for 1967 (TPNGPMAG
1968: 1) reiterated this purpose, stating:
The Trustees have during the year
continued to follow their established
policy of making the fullest possible
use of the resources available to them,
concentrating, as a matter of urgency,
upon the salvaging of as much material
representing the Territory’s disappearing
cultures as is possible.
The Report went on to state the Trustees’
concern about ‘the accelerated rate at which
material evidence of earlier cultures is
disappearing’, a situation which it attrib uted
both to ‘modernisation of the outlook ofthe native people themselves’ and to the
activities of overseas collectors. These factors
were making it difficult for the museum
to obtain ‘authentic objects which record
and illustrate facets of culture’ or ‘authentic
examples with specific meanings known to
the peop le concerned’.
The museum’s goal of salvaging cultural
objects from ‘disappearing cultures’ was
one reason that the Trustees were given
responsibility for administering and
enforcing the National Cultural Property
(Preservation) Act of 1965. This Act replaced
the Antiquities Ordinance of 1953 and, apart
from a minor amendment in 1967, is cur-
rently in force as Chapter 156 of the Laws of
the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.
The Annual Report for 1966 (TPNGPMAG
1967: 5-6) noted that the administration
of the new ordinance was both new to
the museum’s experience and beyond the
capacity of the museum’s staff. The Trustees
therefore temporarily delegated power to
grant export permits for cultural objects in
which the museum was not interested to
field officers in the Department of District
Administration.
DDA field officers were also asked to
continue to collect objects for the museum. A
circular requesting this assistance had been
issued first in 1953 and again in 1961. In 1965,
a brief catalogue of the museum’s collections
was published. This included a list of the
data required for specimens collected for the
museum. The introduction to the catalogue
explained:
Because of the accelerated change in
the life and culture of the peoples of
Papua and New Guinea, brought about
by the crash program of civilising the
people through economic, social, political,
educational, health, scientific and cultural
projects, many of the old arts, crafts and
cultures have been either greatly altered
or completely replaced altogether.
It is intended that as much material
evidence as possible of the past cultures
and traditions will be preserved in this
Museum as a permanent record … [Papua
and New Guinea Museum 1966: 1].
Field staff were asked to collect a wide
range of objects ‘illustrating any phase of
a people’s life’ (ibid.: 3). Partly as a result of
these initiatives, the Museum’s collections
expanded from approximately 4500 objects
in 1960 to more than 14,000 objects in 1970
(TPNGPMAG 1974a: 17). This enormous
increase over a relatively short period of time
highlighted the serious inadequacies of the
museum’s storage facilities, a challenge that
was partly met through the construction of
new storage at the old hospital building.
In addition to solving problems as they
arose, Sir Alan began a process of planning
for the future of the museum by seeking
advice from international experts, such as the
Director of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu
and the Director of the Australian Museum
in Sydney. They made suggestions about the
goals and organisation of the museum and
possible sources of non-government funding,
the last of which did not lead to anything.
To formalise the planning process, in 1963
the Trustees commissioned a report on the
museum from W.F. Ellis, Director of the Queen
Victoria Museum in Launceston, Tasmania.
Ellis visited Port Moresby for two weeks and
consulted with a wide range of expatriate
administration officials but apparently
very few Papua New Guineans – only
members of the Hanuabada Village Council
(TPNGPMAG 1965: 21). He avoided references
to ‘disappearing cultures’ and provided a
general description of the function of a
museum in the following terms (ibid.):
A museum establishes a record of the
various physical, biological or cultural
characteristics of any environment by
selecting representative samples from
it which, classified and ordered, form a
microcosm of the whole.
He established the importance of
collections as ‘the record’ and research on the
collections as necessary to ‘extract’ the data
‘abiding in them’. For this purpose, he wrote
(ibid.: 22):
collections … must be far in excess of
that required merely for display. Also the
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Short History of the Papua New Guinea National Museum – 9
preservation of specimens from deterio-
ration is of fundamental importance, …
for scientific knowledge is an accumula-
tion of experience requiring to be referred
back to its sources constantly.
He concluded by noting that ‘communica-
tion of the information secured is also essen-
tial’, through exhibitions and publications.
The Ellis Report addressed other issues as
well, such as management and infrastructure
(ibid.: 23-32), and led to the secondment
of a full-time secretary to the museum and
the recruitment of Roy Mackay, who joined
the museum as Preparator-in-Charge in
October 1964. Mackay, who had previously
worked as a preparator at the Australian
Museum, initiated a program to train Papua
New Guineans to carry out the work of the
museum as well as to encourage more Papua
New Guineans to visit. These programs,
together with increased numbers of tourists
visiting the Territory, contributed to the
dramatic increase in v isitors, expanding from
3600 in 1962 to 22,650 in 1970.
Ellis also recommended the establishment
of branch museums to serve the needs of
people who were unable to visit Port Moresby.
This suggestion by Ellis may have motivated
Peter Fox, the President of the Rotary Club inGoroka, to commence work in 1964 on the
establishment of a museum in that town.
This museum was named the J.K. McCarthy
Museum and opened to the public in 1968
as a branch of the Museum in Port Moresby
(M’Bagintao 1991).
Building on Ellis’s report, the Trustees
made it clear that they wanted the museum
to develop from an institution run by ‘a group
of interested amateurs’ (TPNGPMAG 1966: 7)
into a highly professional national institution:
The Museum is principally concerned
in collecting the ethnographic and
ethnological material of the native people
of the Territory. Emphasis is placed here
because so much of this material has
been taken away and so little is left to
preserve as a national heritage. [ibid.: 28]
In 1967, to maintain the momentum
of development begun following the Ellis
Report, Sir Alan Mann asked Dr W.D.L. Ride,
Chairman of the Council of Australian
Museum Directors and Director of the
Western Australian Museum, to prepare a
comprehensive report on the museum with
recommendations for its future development.
Ride drew on reports by the Trustees for the
years 1963 to 1966, a 1964 Report of the
Commission on Higher Education in Papua
New Guinea, a 1966 survey of published
information on archaeological sites in Papua
New Guinea prepared by Graeme Pretty of
the South Australian Museum (Pretty 1967a),
and a December 1967 report by Pretty3
on the
state of the archaeological and ethnological
collections in the PNG museum. These
documents, together with interviews with
about twenty people in the Territory who
had knowledge of the museum, allowed
Ride to provide both a broad assessment
of the museum’s situation and detailed
recommendations for its future direction.Ride’s report (1967) can be seen
as a natural progression from the
recommendations made by Ellis. Considered
together, the two reports laid much of the
groundwork for the National Museum as it
currently exists, especially in their discussion
of the place of the museum in Papua New
Guinea society and their emphasis on the
development of professional museum staff
and the training of Papua New Guineans to
carry out the work of the museum.
Ride identified five general functions
for the museum – documenting and
preserving significant collections, education,
contributing to the development of national
identity and national unity, tourism, and
administration of the National Cultural
Property (Preservation) Ordinance of 1965.
He emphasised the importance of
collecting and collections in the work of the
museum, arguing that systematic collections
could provide the basis for educational
programs for Papua New Guineans as well as
encourage tourists to purchase handicrafts,
to visit places of interest and to appreciate
the cultural achievements of the people
of the Territory. While he noted that there
was a ‘particular urgency and justification
for making museum collections’(1967: 13)
in the Territory because of the rapid social
change that was taking place, he did not
see collecting as simply a salvage activity
in which ‘authentic’ objects were collected
before it was ‘too late’. Instead, he argued
that the museum in Papua New Guinea
could function as a critical component in
the development of national identity and
national unity, ‘an important tool to allow
people to see their own small communities
(and their own familiar cultures) as part of a
national whole’ (Ride 1967: 11).
Ride noted that, at the time of his visit, the
museum was located in an inadequate space
in the basement of the House of Assembly,
a building that had previously been the
European hospital. The collections, which
at that time numbered about 8000 objects
were kept in a storeroom that was only 1200
square feet in area, although an additional
storeroom of 620 square feet was being built.
According to Ride (1967: 20):
The displays in the Museum are
characterised by magnificent material,
much of which is seriously in need of
proper conservative measures … [The
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New Guinea which was located nearby.
Despite the benefits that might come from
such a relationship, Ride was emphatic
that the museum and university should
remain separate, arguing that university
departments should not be burdened with
collections and the museum should not
have to compete directly with teaching
departments for funds.
With regard to staff, Ride recommended
the initial appointment of a director and a
curator, one with expertise in anthropology
or archaeology and the other with expertise
in zoology, to be followed by a second
curator and a registrar within a year of
the initial appointments. The director and
the two curators were to be experienced
museum professionals and thus expatriates,
since ‘indigenous personnel at the required
level of training are not yet available’. Roy
Mackay, the Preparator-in-Charge, Ride
suggested, should be given responsibility for
training Papua New Guineans as museum
technicians in the areas of museum display
and materials conservation.
In the light of later developments,
perhaps his most remarkable suggestion
(1967: 19) was:
In the event of there being little support
from the indigenous population, informed
opinion in Australia might well hold that
a museum is something that Australia
should give to the developing nation,
and see established before there is a
transfer of political responsibil ity, because
without experience of the advantages to
be gained from a museum the new nation
might leave the development of one until
too late for it to record the nation’s own
vanishing culture.
In fact, that is what happened; a detailed
account of the negotiations and politics
involved has been provided by Craig (1996,
Chapters 7, 8).
Transition to Independence
A striking feature of Ride’s report on the state
of the museum in 1967 – eight years before
Independence – is that not one of the people
who he interviewed concerning the museum
and its future development was a Papua New
Guinean. The twenty or so people whom he
interviewed while he was in the Territory
were all expatriates. Such an approach would
have been unthinkable only a few years later.
Ride’s report was well received by
the museum Trustees but ‘was not
accepted in principle by the Minister for
Territories’ (TPNGPMAG 1974a: 3) because
allocation of funding for implementing
the recommendations was not, at that
time, considered realistic (Craig 1996: 252).
Therefore, few changes took place at the
museum until 1971 when it became a
statutory authority and Michael Somare
became President of the Board of Trustees.
He replaced J.S. Womersley who had been
the Acting President since Sir Alan Mann’s
death the previous year. Somare was then
a Member of the House of Assembly;
in 1972 he b ecame Chief Minister, andon Independence in 1975, the country’s
first Prime Minister. He moved quickly to
put Papua New Guineans in charge of
the museum and to implement some of
Ride’s more significant recommendations,
particularly those concerning museum staff
and the construction of a museum building.
In 1972, seven new trustees were
appointed, five of whom were Papua New
Guineans. Also, in February of that year,
Dirk Smidt became the first director of the
museum, replacing Roy Mackay who had
been in charge for more than seven years.
objects] are deteriorating as a result of
atmospheric action, exposure to natural
light, and through the destructive action
of cleaning which is made necessary by
inadequate display furniture, such as
show cases, in poorly glazed galleries.
Equally disturbing was the lack of
information about many of the objects in
the collections. This, Ride argued, was the
result of the absence of staff qualified for
curatorial duties. He noted that ‘The Trustees
employ no senior academically qualified
professional staff ’ (ibid.: 21). At that time, the
staff consisted of the Preparator-in-Charge,
Roy Mackay, and three Papua New Guineans,
only one of whom had any education. Ride’s
conclusion (ibid.) in this regard was clear:
The only way to ensure that data in a
museum collection are adequate to
meet professional requirements is for the
museum to have staff who themselves
are trained to employ such data and
whose professional reputations depend
upon their precision and reliability. It
is unreasonable for any government
or trustees to expect this awareness to
be possessed as a matter of intuition
by untrained staff. The situation in Port
Moresby can only be corrected by placing
persons in charge who are qualified.
Ride’s recommendations emphasised
the need for a new museum building and
the development of a professional museum
staff beginning with the appointment of
a director. A site in June Valley had already
been allocated as the location for a new
museum building (not the site where the
National Museum is at present located), and
Ride argued that this site would facilitate
a close working relationship between the
museum and relevant departments at the
recently established University of Papua
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Short History of the Papua New Guinea National Museum – 11
Not long after his appointment, Smidt took
two critical steps toward asserting Papua
New Guinea’s control over its cultural
heritage.
First, he asked the Council of Australian
Museum Directors for the repatriation
of collections from Australian museums,
especially those made by MacGregor and
Murray. After considerable discussion it was
agreed that
The Conference of Museum Directors
recommends to Boards of Trustees
that when the new Papua New Guinea
Museum building i s completed,
representative cultural material of
Papua New Guinean origin held in
their museums be returned to Papua
New Guinea. The Conference furtherrecommends that this material be
returned as a gift. [TPNGPMAG 1976a: 12]
Second, in June 1972, museum officers,
together with Customs and Police authorities,
raided cargo sheds, shops and houses in
Wewak and Madang and seized more than
a hundred culturally significant objects,
including objects which had been gazetted
as proclaimed cultural property under
provisions of the National Cultural Property
(Preservation) Ordinance of 1965. Many ofthese objects were already packed and ready
to be smuggled out of the country. They were
the subject of the first catalogue produced
by what is now the National Museum, a
catalogue titled The Seized Collections of the
Papua New Guinea museum (Smidt 1975).
In 1973, planning began for the
construction of the present museum building
at a new site in Waigani, next to where
Parliament House would later be built. The
initial plans, drawn up by the Commonwealth
Department of Works, were rejected by the
Trustees because the proposed building
Fig. 1. Cartoon by Bob Brown (reproduced from
TPNGPMAG 1976b: 39).
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12 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
did not reflect traditional architecture
and because it was thought that Papua
New Guineans would not identify with it.
New plans were drawn up and eventually
approved by the Trustees in June 1974. The
building was to be funded by the National
Cultural Council from a cultural development
grant of $5 million made by the Australian
Government in 1973. Construction began in
1975 (Fig. 1) and was completed in 1977. The
National Museum and Art Gallery was opened
by Michael Somare, President of the museum’s
Board of Trustees and Prime Minister, on
Monday 27 June 1977 (NMAG 1980).
The building is a purpose-built museum
with air conditioning and humidity control.
In addition to large exhibition spaces, an
open-air theatre and a central courtyard for
live animals and birds, it has five storerooms,
office and laboratory space, workshops, a
library, and a small shop (Figs 2, 3). At the
opening ceremony (Fig. 4), Michael Somare
made it clear that the museum was more
than the building and its purpose went
beyond simply collecting and preserving
objects:
… it will not be sufficient just to preserve
the traditional past. Culture must be a live,
dynamic thing … What is important isthat we have a culture which is clearly of
Papua New Guinea and not a second-rate
imitation of another culture. What matters
is that we have a culture which reflects
our life, our aspirations, our feelings.
[Smidt 1977: 227]
By the time Papua New Guinea became
independent in 1975, the transition to a
museum run by Papua New Guineans was
under way. Geoffrey Mosuwadoga, an artist
and Lecturer in Painting at the National Arts
School, became the first Papua New Guinean
director of the museum in February 1975.
Fig. 2. PNG National Museum & Art Gallery, Waigani
(PNG National Museum Photo Archives #003402).
Fig. 3. PNG National Museum & Art Gallery, Waigani.Photo: B. Craig, 1979.
Michael Somare outlined further plans for
localising the museum (TPNGPMAG 1976b: ii):
We believe that the year ending 30/6/76
was a year of considerable achievement.
The Trustees of the Papua New Guinea
Public Museum and Art Gallery have
taken major steps in localising the
positions held by expatriate officers
in the Museum. In 1975 the Director’s
position was localised and by 1978 the
six remaining key positions will be filled
by national officers. The Museum will
be completely managed by Papua New
Guinean officers by 1979.
Thus, almost ninety years after a museum
was first proposed by Musgrave, Papua New
Guinea had a museum of which it could be
justifiably proud. And less than eight years
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Short History of the Papua New Guinea National Museum – 13
Fig. 4. The Rt Honourable Michael Somare, then
Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, beating a
slit-gong at the opening of the National Museum,
27 June 1977. Photo: A.L. Crawford.
after Ride reviewed the museum’s situation
and made recommendations for its future
without consulting a single Papua New
Guinean, the museum’s Trustees were, with
only two exceptions, all Papua New Guineans,
as was the director.
The National Museum after
Independence
Dirk Smidt, who became Assistant to the
Director when Geoffrey Mosuwadoga was
appointed director in 1975, described the
National Museum as it was at Independence
(Smidt 1977). There were more than 20,000
ethnographic objects in the museum but
many had little or no information associated
with them. Further, the collections were
uneven, with some parts of the country well
represented while other areas were hardly
represented at all. He wrote that, even in
the mid-1970s, the National Museum had
insufficient funds to purchase objects on the
international art market despite the fact that
the Papua New Guinea Government doubled
the museum’s budget at Independence. Also,
some parts of the museum’s collections were
small in comparison with collections outside
Papua New Guinea. Overseas museums, for
example, had thousands of malagan figures
from New Ireland while the National Museum
had only a dozen. These matters could only
be put right, Smidt argued, through the co-
operation of overseas museums that might
agree to transfer some of their holdings to
Papua New Guinea (ibid.: 231).
According to Smidt (ibid.: 228), several
Papua New Guineans, including the director,
had received overseas museum training and
held positions of considerable responsibility
in the museum. Each of the scientific
departments, for example, had a graduate
of the University of Papua New Guinea
employed as an Assistant Curator with the
intention that these people would soon take
over from the expatriate Curators.
Issues concerning staff and collections
raised by Smidt in 1977 have continued to be
prominent during the twenty-five years since
he wrote. The collections have continued to
grow through a combination of donations,
repatriation and field collecting by museum
officers and other researchers. Today, the
museum’s ethnographic collections consist
of more than 30,000 objects. Much of this
increase took place during the 1980s, while
the 1990s were a time of consolidation
during which new storage and retrieval
systems were developed and information
about the collections was computerised. As
in the 1970s, the collections remain uneven
in terms of geographical distribution, types
of objects and associated information.
Approximately 3300 of the total number
of objects added to the collections since
Independence were from MacGregor’s
‘official collection’. Between 1979 and 1992,
by mutual agreement between the Papua
New Guinea National Museum and the
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Queensland Museum, almost 6000 objects
were divided up with 55 per cent going to
Papua New Guinea. Almost 2300 spears,
bows and arrows await selection to complete
the repatriation process (Quinnell 2000:
97). The value of the MacGregor collection
for the National Museum is immeasurable,
having immense significance historically
and ethnographically. Thus, after more than
seventy-five years, MacGregor’s intention that
the objects he collected should be returned
to New Guinea was honoured. Negotiations
for the Hubert Murray and Rabaul Museum
collections, now in the National Museum
of Australia in Canb erra, have not yet
commenced.
Since 1976 the National Museum’s Board
of Trustees has been completely localised
and Soroi Marepo Eoe, an anthropologist
with a BA from the University of Papua New
Guinea, succeeded Geoffrey Mosuwadoga
as director in 1988. Thus the management
of the museum, and responsibility for
the enforcement of the country’s cultural
heritage legislation, have been entirely in
the hands of Papua New Guineans since
Independence. On the other hand, the
ambitious program of localisation set out
by Michael Somare in 1976, in which the
museum was to be staffed completely by
Papua New Guineans by 1979, took longer
to be realised than Somare imagined. Three
senior scientific positions continued to be
occupied by expatriates until the late 1990s,
although there was a dramatic increase in
the mid-1990s in the number of Papua New
Guineans with university degrees (including
post-graduate qualifications) working in
the museum. This growing contingent of
professional Papua New Guinean officers
is well qualified to carry out the museum’s
responsibilities.
Conclusion
Anthropologists who have studied culture
contact have long noted that what issignificant about the adoption of foreign
objects, ideas or institutions is not the
fact that they are adopted, but how they
are culturally redefined and used. Not
surprisingly, during the decades since the
foundation of the museum in Port Moresby
in 1954, it has been transformed from a
colonial institution to one more in keeping
with Papua New Guinea ideas and values.
Prominent Papua New Guineans writing
at the time of Independence signalled a
shift in the purpose and rationale of the
National Museum away from being simply
a repository for traditional objects and a
place for scientific research to an institution
actively engaged in the process of nation
building based on shared history and
common cultural values. The then-director,
Geoffrey Mosuwadoga, described the aims
of the museum in the following terms
(TPNGPMAG 1976b: 14):
The Papua New Guinea Public Museum
and Art Gallery is the house of spirits,
surrounded by the decorative ornaments
made by our craftsmen as material gifts
to these unseen beings. The Museum
is not an institution for great external
admiration stored with the country ’s
valuable treasures, but a place of spiritual
values. It is a place not only for the past
but for the present and future traditional
arts.
The coexistence and even integration of
culturally significant objects from the past
with dynamic contemporary manifestations
of Papua New Guinea culture, including
music and performance, has been an
orientation of the National Museum since
Independence. The National Museum is
also the National Art Gallery and has a
collection of contemporary art. The outdoor
amphitheatre provides the opportunity
for performances by the National Theatre
Company, Raun Raun Theatre and other
performance groups. This is vitally important
since it is central to how at least some Papua
New Guineans think about national identity.
As Papua New Guinea historian Professor
John Waiko (1993: 217) has written, ‘In the
eyes of many Papua New Guineans, the
country found a national identity through
a blending of ancient and modern in the
expressive arts’. Bernard Narokobi, in a b ook
on the contemporary arts of Papua New
Guinea, argued (1990: 20-1):
The contemporary art depicted by the
artists represented in this book have
a unique place in Papua New Guinea
history. They are our national treasures,
the world’s treasures, for in a very real
sense they express what lies deep in our
hearts, a longing to be new, yet rooted in
our rich and ancient past.
This catalogue of the Masterpieces
Exhibition of the Papua New Guinea National
Museum documents something of this ‘rich
and ancient past’.
Notes
1. For a history of this collection, see Quinnell
1981, 2000.
2. For an account of the Papuan Official (‘Hubert
Murray’) Collection, see Craig 1995 and 1996:
222-28.
3. In this report (1967b: 90), Pretty acknowledges
input from Papua New Guinean visitors to the
museum.
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The Work of the National Museum – 15
Chapter 3 The Work of the National Museum
Mark Busse
The Preamble to the Constitution of
Papua New Guinea recognises ‘the worthy
customs and traditional wisdoms of our
people – which have come down to us from
generation to generation’, and pledges ‘to
guard and pass on to those who come after
us our noble traditions’.
The National Museum and Art Gallery is
a cultural, scientific and educational institu-
tion devoted to protecting and understand-
ing the country’s cultural and natural herit-
age and preserving it for the people of Papua
New Guinea and their descendants. It does
this by assembling and preserving national
collections of cultural, historical and natural
history specimens, by carrying out research
on these collections, by educating the public
through exhibitions and publications, and by
enforcing cultural heritage and war surplus
legislation. These activities are the basic work
of the National Museum.
The National Museum and Art Gallery is
an independent statutory authority func-
tioning under the National Museum and
Art Gallery Act of 1992 and governed by a
Board of Trustees made up of prominent
Papua New Guinea citizens. The Museum
is located next to the National Parliament
on Independence Drive in Waigani. It is the
home of the national archaeological and eth-
nographic collections, the terrestrial verte-
brate portion of the national fauna collection,
the history collection, and the contemporary
art collection. Selected items from these col-
lections are displayed in the Museum’s gal-
leries, which are open to the public without
charge. The majority of the collections are
preserved for the future in environmentally
controlled storerooms where they are used
for research and changing exhibitions.
Section 4 of the National Museum and Art
Gallery Act lists twenty specific functions of
the National Museum, and these are repro-
duced as Appendix 1 to this book. In gen-
eral, however, the work of the Museum can
be summarised in terms of collections and
conservation, research, public education, and
enforcement of cultural heritage legislation,
to which I now turn.
Collections and conservation
The Museum’s collections are large, and a
crucial aspect of the work of the Museum is
their preservation. Of equal importance is the
collection and preservation of knowledge
about the objects in the collections. The eth-
nographic collections, for example, include
more than 30,000 objects from all parts of
the country, ranging in size from small itemsof body decoration to an entire ocean-going
canoe. The archaeological collections are
similarly large and contain critical evidence
about the 50,000 years of human history in
what is now Papua New Guinea.
The Museum’s natural history collections
reflect Papua New Guinea’s tremendous bio-
logical diversity and contain many ‘type spec-
imens’ for particular species.1
The National
Museum is seeking funds for a new building
to house the natural history exhibitions and
collections as part of the proposed develop-
ment of Constitution Park in Waigani.
In addition to these collections, the
Museum has a significant collection of
objects from Papua New Guinea’s colonial
and postcolonial history, including many
objects from World War II. These are kept at
the Museum’s Modern History Department in
Gordons. The National Museum is also seek-
ing funds for a new Modern History Museum
as part of its plans for Constitution Park.
Finally, the Museum has a small, but grow-ing, collection of contemporary Papua New
Guinea art including drawings, paintings and
sculptures. This significant collection docu-
ments the creativity of Papua New Guinea’s
artists and the innovative ways in which they
use new materials and media to combine tra-
ditional themes and styles of representation
with contemporary experience.
Ensuring that these large and varied col-
lections are stored and displayed safely is the
responsibility of the Museum’s Department
of Materials Conservation. This department is
responsible for the physical well-being of all
specimens in the Museum and monitors the
environment inside the buildings (tempera-
ture, humidity and other factors), takes steps
to ensure that pests cannot damage speci-
mens, ensures that procedures are in place
in case of fire or natural disaster, and treats
objects that arrive at the Museum in poor
condition.
Research
Archaeologists, anthropologists, biologists,
and historians employed by the National
Museum carry out research with the aim of
adding to our knowledge and understand-
ing of the prehistory, cultural diversity, natu-
ral history and recent history of Papua New
Guinea. Some of this research directly con-
cerns objects in the Museum’s collections.
For example, a museum artifact is of limited
value without information such as how and
where it was collected, who made it, how and
when it was made, the purpose for which it
was made, and what the cultural beliefs and
symbolism associated with it are. The storage
and organisation of information associated
with objects and specimens in the Museum’s
collections is a major part of the Museum’s
work, increasingly carried out with comput-ers. Also, because many of the artifacts in the
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16 – Living Spirits and Fixed Abodes
Museum – particularly those from the late
19th and early 20th centuries – were col-
lected with little or no information, there is
an urgent need to examine archival sources
and to go into the field to find people who
can provide this information.
At the National Museum, scientific staff
undertake research that adds to our gen-
eral knowledge and understanding of Papua
New Guinea and of the cultural creativity
and diversity of its people. Applied research,
in the form of consultancies for companies
and government departments, is also car-
ried out. Archaeological surveys, for exam-
ple, are carried out during the planning
and construction phases of development
projects. Such surveys are required under
Papua New Guinea’s environmental legisla-
tion to ensure that development projects do
not damage or destroy evidence that con-
tributes to our understanding of the human
history of Papua New Guinea. Staff of the
Modern History Department co-operate with
researchers from Japan, the United States
and Australia to identify and investigate sites
thought to contain human remains from
World War II. Archaeologists, anthropologists
and biologists from the Museum have con-
tributed to a wide range of feasibility studies
related to conservation and development.
Public education
As a result of its large and varied collections
and its program of research, the National
Museum is a unique institution for pub-
lic education. The Museum works closely
with primary and secondary schools to pro-
vide curriculum materials and guided tours
of the Museum’s galleries for school groups.
Further, the results of research carried out by
museum staff are communicated through
publications, and exhibitions incorporating
objects from the Museum’s collections.
The Museum has large permanent exhibi-
tions devoted to Papua New Guinea’s natu-
ral history, artistic achievements and mate-
rial culture. It also has a regular program of
temporary exhibitions that may include over-
seas content. During the last decade, there
has been an exhibition of photographs of
archaeological sites in Israel, an exhibition
commemorating the anniversary of the intro-
duction of Papua New Guinea’s national cur-
rency, exhibitions of contemporary art, and
an exhibition about the mining and petro-
leum industry in Papua New Guinea. More
recently in 2002, there was an exhibition of
photographs documenting the impact of
the July 1998 tsunami that devastated sev-
eral villages along the north coast of the West
Sepik (Sandaun) Province. This exhibition
went on tour to several provinces to publicise
the need to plan and facilitate emergency
responses to natural disasters.
Enforcement of cultural heritage
legislation
In addition to assembling and caring for the
national collections, carrying out research
and engaging in public education, the
National Museum is responsible for enforc-
ing Papua New Guinea’s cultural heritage leg-
islation. The National Museum and Art Gallery
Act of 1992 requires the Museum to main-
tain a register of cultural and archaeologi-
cal sites which is consulted during the plan-
ning of development projects to make sure
that such sites are not damaged or destroyed.
The Museum also maintains a register of
objects that have been gazetted as pro-
claimed national cultural property under the
provisions of the National Cultural Property
(Preservation) Act of 1965. These objects,
which are of great importance to the cultural
heritage of the country, cannot be bought,
sold or even moved without written consent
from the Trustees of the National Museum.
Many of these objects are still located in
the villages where they were made, and
the National Museum has a legal and moral
responsibility to inspect them and report on
their condition at regular intervals. If such
objects are missing, investigations must be
made to find out where they are and how
they came to be moved. If necessary, legal
action may be taken to seek their recovery.
The National Cultural Property
(Preservation) Act of 1965 also regulates the
export of artifacts and prohibits the export
of items that the Museum considers impor-
tant to the cultural heritage of the country.
Common objects such as contemporary bas-
kets, woven arm bands, string bags, walk-
ing sticks, and model canoes and houses, are
exempted from the provisions of the Act and
do not require an export permit. Objects not
exempted from the provisions of the Act, and
also not listed as proclaimed national cultural
property, must be inspected by museum
officers, and a permit must be issued in
order for them to be legally exported. The
Museum works closely with Papua New
Guinea Customs and the Royal Papua New
Guinea Constabulary, as well as with Customs
bureaus in other countries, to prevent the
smuggling of Papua New Guinea’s cultural
heritage.
In addition to the National Cultural
Property (Preservation) Act of 1965, the
National Museum is also responsible for
administering the War Surplus Material
Act (Chapter 331, amended 2003). This Act
declares all objects in Papua New Guinea that
previously belonged to combatants in World
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The Work of the National Museum – 17
War II to be the property of the Independent
State of Papua New Guinea. People wanting
to collect or export such objects must there-
fore obtain permission from the Trustees of
the National Museum acting on behalf of the
State. Day-to-day administration of the War
Surplus Material Act is the responsibility of the
Museum’s Department of Modern History.
Conclusion
The importance of safeguarding Papua
New Guinea’s cultural heritage is explicitly
acknowledged in the Constitution. The mate-
rial manifestations of Papua New Guinea’s
many cultures – the objects which Papua
New Guineans have made and used – along
with the ideas, beliefs and values associated
with those objects, not only demonstrate
Papua New Guinea’s great cultural diversity
but also link Papua New Guineans together.
Visitors to the Museum’s galleries are able
to distinguish differences between objects
from different parts of the country but also
may notice similarities in function, form and
designs.
The National Museum plays a cru-
cial role in protecting and preserving the
country’s cultural and natural heritage,and thus in developing a sense of national
unity and national identity. Many of the
Museum’s responsibilities are legal respon-
sibilities, given both by its own legislation
(the National Museum and Art Gallery Act of
1992), and by virtue of its responsibilities for
administering the National Cultural Property
(Preservation) Act of 1965 and the War Surplus
Materials Act of 2003.
Despite these large responsibilities and
their national significance, over the last dec-
ade the National Museum (along with many
other government agencies) has received
decreasing funding in real terms. This has
made it difficult for the Museum to add
important cultural objects to its collec-
tions, carry out research, mount exhibitions,
extend its educational programs beyond the
Museum itself, and to enforce cultural herit-
age legislation. Further, it has made it increas-
ingly difficult to employ well-qualified Papua
New Guinean staff. These people have many
responsibilities and occupy technical and
scientific positions that require university
degrees, as well as specialised museum train-
ing that is not available within the country.
Employment by private enterprise usually
provides salaries that are higher than those
offered by the museum so it is difficult to
recruit and retain professional staff.
These various obstacles may be over-
come, perhaps, through partnerships with
museums in Australia, Japan, the United
States and Europe. Such partnerships could
provide training, practical assistance with
computerisation of catalogues, collection
management, conservation, research and the
preparation of exhibitions and publications. A
vigorous program of activities at the Museum
would then attract and retain professional
staff who might otherwise seek employment
elsewhere.
Papua New Guinea faces significant eco-
nomic and technical challenges in meet-
ing the expectations and aspirations of its
people. In the case of the National Museum,
these challenges include professional devel-
opment as well as obtaining sufficient fund-
ing to carry out the work of the Museum.
Given decreasing funding in real terms from
the Papua New Guinea Government, the
National Museum will require support and
assistance from other sources, including over-
seas sources, if it is to carry out its vital cura-
torial, legislative and moral responsibilities.
Notes
1 A type specimen is a specimen that defines the fea-
tures for its species and with which other speci-
mens are compared, in order to determine whether
they belong to the same, or a different, species.
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The Role of the National Museum in Contemporary Papua New Guinea Society – 19
Chapter 4 The Role of the National Museum in
Contemporary Papua New Guinea Society
Soroi Marepo Eoe
Introduction
Museums are often associated with dino-
saur skeletons, human skulls, stuffed animals
and dusty old artifacts. For many Pacific peo-
ples, dead should be buried; certain artifacts
should be destroyed after they have beenused in ceremonies. Museums in the Pacific
still are seen today as a foreign, unfamiliar
concept. The museum’s role as a scientific
research and educational institution in the
service of society has been little understood
by the people in general or by government in
particular. Government planners and finance
people view museums as warehouses of for-
gotten relics. Why should scarce resources
be used to maintain a museum when its
contributions to national welfare and Gross
Domestic Product are so difficult to identify
and measure?
But museums are not the institutions they
were once thought to be. They are becoming
more innovative in the face of a wide range
of competing entertainments and sources of
information such as the Internet. Museums
worldwide are taking centre stage in their
contributions to science, education and serv-
ice to society, even contributing to national
income by attracting tourists.
Historical Perspective
Museums in the Pacific, particularly in Papua
New Guinea, owe their origins to the 19th
century colonial experience. This period was
characterised by an extremely rapid growth
in scientific knowledge. Industrial and com-
mercial expansion went hand-in-hand with
rapidly changing geo-political and economic
boundaries. Museums, libraries and art galler-
ies provided the means by which European
colonists kept in touch with their home cul-
ture and maintained a sense of their commu-
nal identity.
As an adjunct to the scientific role of
museums in collecting, storing and studying
specimens of natural history, colonial gov-
ernments extended these activities to items
of indigenous material cultural heritage.
Collections were made, ‘before it has become
too late’ (Quinnell 2000), in the face of serious
threats to traditional cultures posed by the
activities of government, Christian missionar-
ies and overseas collectors of tribal arts. This
has contributed to the view among some
Pacific peoples that museums are foreign
in concept, and their collections are accu-
mulations of exotic curios from the almost-
forgotten past, having no contemporary rel-
evance (Eoe & Swadling 1991: 1).
Traditional Keeping PlacesBut museums are not a concept entirely for-
eign to Pacific peoples. In most societies, con-
scious efforts are made to safeguard objects
and places of historical and religious impor-
tance. In Papua New Guinea, our ancestors
stored objects of spiritual, ceremonial and
artistic significance in caves or in special
houses such as the eravo in the Papuan Gulf
or the haus tambaran (spirit house) of the
Sepik-Ramu region.
Although traditional keeping places and
museums differ in their roles, the objects
stored in them are the tangible manifesta-
tions of cultural heritage, carrying the col-
lective consciousness and memories of the
people who made and used them in their
domestic, political, religious and ceremo-
nial lives. These objects mediate the associa-
tion between man and the natural world and
between man and the spiritual world. These
associations change a lot more slowly than
the items of material culture they gave rise to,
so although many of the objects in museums
are from the past, most Pacific peoples are
aware of their significance. Bernard Narokobi
(1983: 107) suggested as much when he
wrote:
We must develop a sense of appreciation
for and, where appropriate, continuation
and development of our rich traditional
values. These values are not to be con-
fused with physical objects of cultural or
aesthetic or religious significance. While
physical objects may change in value with
change in social values, our abstract val-
ues – respect for the aged, sharing, …
community life, reconciliation, loyalty,
courage, sympathy, tolerance, obedience,
humour, popular participation, co-opera-
tion, acceptance of death, self-reliance, …
and countless others – remain useful and
relevant now as ever before.
Many people think that objects from the
ancestral past have no relevance in the con-
text of a world dominated by Western values
and traditions, that such objects belong with
history and that the study of history is merely
an intellectual pursuit. But history provides
the foundation, the connection, the legitimacy
to who we are. It establishes the identity of a
family, clan, or tribe and identifies the rights
and obligations of an individual within soci-
ety, including rights to land and magico-reli-
gious knowledge. A person who claims there
is no history is like an illegitimate child who
does not wish to know his past because he
does not have one. The role of the Papua New
Guinea National Museum is to draw atten-
tion to the foundation and historical depth
of some 50,000 years of cultural heritage and
to its richness and vitality. But to concentrate
only on the past would be to deny the evolv-
ing and dynamic nature of culture. Therefore
there must be a balance between material
objects and non-material values, between the
past and the present, for the sake of the future.
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20 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
National Identity
The International Council of Museums (ICOM)
defines the museum as a:
non-profit making, permanent institu-
tion, in the service of society and its devel-
opment, and open to the public, which
acquires, conserves, researches, commu-
nicates and exhibits, for the purpose of
study, education and enjoyment, mate-
rial evidence of mankind and its develop-
ment. [Boylan 1992: 12]
Not mentioned, though implicit in this
definition, is the issue of identity. From the
viewpoint of developing countries, the role
of a national museum could be expanded
beyond safeguarding the nation’s material
cultural heritage and using it for scientific
enquiry and public education, to include the
promotion of national identity.
Peoples who are still under the control
of a colonial power, or who have recently
won their independence, see cultural herit-
age as central to the building of national con-
sciousness, freedom and identity. Museums
can function as the glue that holds people
and varying interests together for the com-
mon good. Given the extraordinary cultural,
linguistic and ethnic diversity of Papua New
Guinea, the primary role of the NationalMuseum must be to safeguard the national
consciousness, sovereignty and identity of
this nation.
Everything we have inherited from the
West – political, legal, educational and eco-
nomic systems – enables Papua New Guinea
to function in the modern world. There is
a danger, however, that these systems will
end up controlling us and determining our
priorities and identity. Our political independ-
ence and survival as a unique people rests on
the cultural heritage of this nation. The cul-
tural material held by the National Museum
and Art Gallery is part of the heritage that
binds the peop le of this nation together. The
National Museum therefore has a central role
in facilitating the opening commitment of
the Constitution of the Independent State of
Papua New Guinea:
We, the people of Papua New Guinea
our ancestors – the source of our
strength and origin of our combined
heritage
and traditional wisdoms of our peo-
ple – which have come down to us
from generation to generation
on to those who come after us our
noble traditions … [Narokobi 1993:
118]
Repatriation
The Papua and New Guinea Museum and
Art Gallery was established in 1954 and offi-
cially became the National Museum and Art
Gallery in 1979, although it was commonly
referred to as the National Museum after
Independence in 1975, and was sometimes
called that even as early as 1965. The National
Museum houses over 30,000 items of mate-
rial culture (excluding archaeological mate-
rial) from the nation’s 750 or so language
groups, although only about thirty of those
groups are well-represented and another
thirty fairly well represented. The idea of a
museum for Port Moresby goes back to Sir
William MacGregor, followed up by the dedi-
cation of Sir Hubert Murray and, post-World
War II, of Sir Donald Cleland (see Chapter
2). Their efforts resulted in the restriction of
export of certain items of material culture,
and the accumulation of representative col-
lections from areas visited by government
officers on patrol. These collections were sent
to Brisbane by MacGregor, and to Sydney,
then to Canberra, by Murray, until such time
as a suitable museum could be established
in Papua New Guinea. The MacGregor col-
lection has been undergoing a process of
repatriation but the Murray collection awaits
the commencement of negotiations. The
National Museum therefore has another
important role, apart from fostering national
unity and identity, and that is to recover
the material cultural heritage temporarily
removed from the country during the colo-
nial administration.
Complementary Role
The last century has seen phenomenal
growth and change globally. Mobility and
social interaction among peoples and
nations have increased at the same time
as the gap between rich and poor has wid-
ened and the environment has degraded as a
direct result of the activities of transnational
and multinational companies. Where they go,
they leave behind scars, footprints and shad-
ows in their quest to satisfy the requirement
for shareholder profit.
Over the last decade or so there have
been significant changes in the way muse-
ums across the world have responded to
these facts – museums are changing from
collections-oriented to service-oriented insti-
tutions, from being static storehouses for
artifacts to institutions providing a service.
This change in function has meant a radical
re-organisation of the whole culture of muse-
ums – staff structure, attitudes and work
ethics. Museums are beginning to use their
collections of objects to create bridges with
the communities that support them, stimu-
lating meaningful dialogue and lasting part-
nerships. The National Museum has taken the
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The Role of the National Museum in Contemporary Papua New Guinea Society – 21
initiative to respond to these challenges. The
most significant of these are in the areas of
Social Commentary, Advocacy and The Living
Museum.
Social Commentary
Museums have a role to play in leading their
communities to an appreciation of their cul-
tural heritage and ethnic identity. Museums
are distinguished from other educational
and social institutions by their collections.
The significance of these collections is com-
municated by means of exhibitions, publi-
cations,interactive and hands-on presenta-
tions, videos, demonstrations, workshops and
seminars. There is the danger, however, of the
communication becoming one-way traffic –
from the National Museum to the community
– providing little or no opportunity for dia-
logue. Ways of dealing with this problem are
in their infancy.
Museums should not only be concerned
about the collections but also be involved in
public discussion about issues beyond the
confines of the collections, issues that affect
the lives of ordinary people on a daily basis.
Such topics as the use and abuse of drugs,
HIV-Aids, violence against women, law and
order, discrimination, youth problems, envi-
ronmental degradation, poverty and so forth
can be addressed through exhibitions. By
engaging in such activities, museums would
be demonstrating their social relevance.
The National Museum has made several
important contributions in this regard over
the last decade. Several exhibitions were
organised through the collaborative efforts of
the Museum and the public. The first was an
exhibition on mining and petroleum explora-
tion in Papua New Guinea involving the com-
panies operating at Ok Tedi, Misima, Gobe,
Lake Kutubu, Porgera, Tolukuma, Lihir and
so on. The purpose of the exhibition was to
show what these organisations do from the
preliminary stages of searching and testing,
through consultation with the various inter-
ested parties, to the production stage. This
demonstrated the importance of planning,
dialogue and consultation between differ-
ent interest groups such as the developer, the
government and the landowners regarding
environmental, social and economic impacts.
This exhibition attracted many comments
from the public and demonstrated that mul-
tinational companies have learnt from previ-
ous experiences, such as the troubles at the
Panguna Copper Mine on Bougainville, that
there has to be fully transparent consultation
and dialogue.
Other exhibitions, organised jointly
between the National Museum and commu-
nity groups, addressed issues of concern to
women and young people. Assistance and
involvement was obtained from international
organisations such as the European Union,
the United Nation’s Development Program
and UNESCO. Issues of public engagement,
dialogue and participation will remain a high
priority in the National Museum’s public edu-
cation policy.
Advocacy
Museums can assist government and pri-
vate enterprise to plan development projects
in ways that take into consideration the
present and future needs of people and envi-
ronments likely to be affected by proposed
developments. Museums can play a proactive
advocacy role rather than a reactive adver-
sary role. Museum staff can provide factual
information on the socio-cultural, archaeo-
logical, biological and environmental impacts
of development plans. There are financial
implications:
Unless economic development is placed
in an appropriate cultural and social con-
text it will be forever damaging to culture
and society and therefore more expensive
in the long term both financially, in areas
such as civil order and health, and politi-
cally. [Eoe & Swadling 1991: 270]
The Mining and Petroleum exhibition,
cited above, summarised the process by
which different parties negotiate to arrive at
a settlement but it did not explore problems
associated with national legislation, govern-
mental policy or international conventions.
Sometimes there is an impasse because of
contesting issues. For example, governmen-
tal policy supporting development may be in
accordance with national legislation but con-
trary to international conventions to which
Papua New Guinea is a party; or pragmatic
financial considerations may over-ride both
national legislation and international conven-
tions. In such cases the National Museum can
highlight the socio-cultural, biological and
environmental costs and benefits of proceed-
ing with a particular development.
There are two ways the National Museum
can be, and has been, involved in research
of relevance to development projects. The
first is research for the sake of extending
knowledge, research not directed towards
any particular end but which will undoubt-
edly one day prove relevant to an issue of
importance for development projects. Such
research would normally relate to items in
the anthropology and natural science collec-
tions of the Museum. In particular, the collec-
tions provide a base line for the presence or
absence of certain cultural features or biolog-
ical species that may come under pressure
from a development project in a particular
area. Research may indicate the existence of
archaeologically valuable sites that ought to
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22 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
be undisturbed by development, or rare ani-
mal species that require protection.
Governments in developing countries
often do not realise the value of scien-
tific research and provide little or no finan-
cial support. In Papua New Guinea in 1999,
budget allocations to research institutions
were cut, some to zero. Although research
may not yield immediate results, in the long
term, governments will benefit from this
investment in intellectual capital.
The second way the National Museum has
been involved is by conducting impact stud-
ies and salvage research. National Museum
curators have been engaged by develop-
ers or by the government to conduct impact
studies in the field of archaeology, anthro-
pology, contemporary history and biology
as a component of the government’s pol-
icy on environmental planning. The aim of
this research is to identify the likely impacts
of developmental projects on the environ-
ment, on the lives of the people in the area,
and on cultural, historical and archaeologi-
cal sites, and to make recommendations
for protection as required under existing
legislation. The National Museum has con-
ducted several independent salvage research
projects, or has done so in collaboration with
the PNG Department of Environment and
Conservation, the University of Papua New
Guinea, the Australian National University,
and overseas museums and research insti-
tutions. One such project resulted in a pub-
lication about the peoples and cultures of
the Lake Kutubu and Kikori areas likely to
be affected by the Kutubu Joint Venture oil
extraction and pipeline project (Busse et al.
1993).
The Living Museum
For too long, museums in developing coun-
tries have suffered from the perception that
they store and study dead things. But there
are alternative models being explored by
some. Right from the beginning, the new
National Museum building in Waigani was
planned to have a space to exhibit living
fish, birds and animals – that is, a small zoo. It
also incorporated an outdoor performance
and theatre area. In effect, it was based on
the notion of a cultural centre (see Crawford
1977), a place where people could come and
not only look at dead things, but see live ani-
mals and watch and participate in cultural
performances and workshops.
More recently, the Constitution Park and
National Heritage Centre Project has been
proposed. This would involve a precinct
where the present National Museum and Art
Gallery becomes an anthropology and pre-
history museum, and additional buildings
would house a natural history museum, a
contemporary arts museum, a modern his-
tory museum, a conference centre and live
animal exhibits. The latter would exhibit a
sample of the bird and animal life of Papua
New Guinea, including birds of paradise, cas-
sowaries and crocodiles, and include cap-
tive breeding of poisonous snakes and the
commercial production of venom for medi-
cal use.
In 1989, a Cultural Heritage Workshop
organised by the National Museum and Art
Gallery of Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby,
attended by directors, managers, curators
and cultural workers from all over Papua New
Guinea and the Pacific, reported that:
Considerable discussion focused on the
perceived differences between museums
and cultural centres. It was felt by many
that the differences should be based on
practical considerations only. Participants
could see no reason why museums could
not also function as cultural centres where
living aspects of culture are encouraged,
and cultural centres might also provide
some storage and exhibition facilities in
addition to their other functions. [Eoe &
Swadling 1991: 269]
Another National Museum and Art
Gallery initiative was the Artists in Residence
Program that had two components. The
first consisted of a group of performing art-
ists and the second of graduates from the
National Arts School who were located at
the Museum and carried out intensive edu-
cation programs involving schools and street
kids. This program was complemented by
small-scale cultural events organised by
people from various parts of the country.
This program added colour and vitality to
the Museum, and provided the opportunity
for artists to share their creativity and sup-
port their families financially. Lack of funding
forced the program to end in 1998.
Many places in the Pacific, such as
Vanuatu, the Cook Islands, Tonga and New
Caledonia, have built cultural centres rather
than museums, but the centre has been
adapted to include some of the functions of
a museum. Thus in addition to their primary
role in performing arts, story-telling and craft
development, they have added storage and
exhibition facilities. This approach discards
the stereotypic view of museums by focus-
ing on the performance component, more
appropriate for Pacific communities, as the
primary function of the institution.
Many provincial and local cultural centres
were established in Papua New Guinea in
the 1970s and 1980s but most failed due to
management problems and inadequate sup-
port from government. At Goroka, the J.K
McCarthy Museum is a branch of the National
Museum operating on national government
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The Role of the National Museum in Contemporary Papua New Guinea Society – 23
funding. It opened to the public in 1968 and
is more of a traditional museum than a cul-
tural centre.
Recently, the idea of a cultural centre has
been revived and expanded to include such
facilities as a museum, library, auditorium,
performance space, university centre, tour-
ism office, coffee shop/restaurant, Internet
cafe, souvenir shop, book shop, leased office
spaces, and so forth. The capital costs would
be met by Provincial or National govern-
ments or by a major national-level, or interna-
tional, donor; the running costs would be met
by funding generated by the centre.
Funding and Revenue Generation
For institutions in Papua New Guinea such
as the National Museum, opportunities for
non-government funding are limited. Private
donors are rare and foreign funding aid is
geared towards community infrastructure,
and social, health and economic programs. Tax
incentive programs are strictly limited to char-
itable organisations to minimise erosion of
the ‘national tax base’. Institutions such as the
National Museum are therefore almost entirely
dependent on the government for funding.
As successive governments struggle with
how to allocate insufficient funds to meet
their many responsibilities, cuts are made and
the National Museum suffers. But the contri-
bution of museums in society cannot be, and
should not be, measured solely in monetary
terms. For example, their role is not unlike
that of libraries and schools in providing
information and educating people. Because
there is only one National Museum (with a
branch in the highlands) and a large number
of schools, the Museum is overlooked as an
educational resource and not included in
education funding allocations. Therefore the
question arises, can the National Museum
generate revenue to supplement the govern-
ment’s basic allocation?
The National Museum must now imple-
ment programs not only because they are in
accord with the functions of the museum as
set out in Section 4 of the National Museum
and Art Gallery Act (No. 9 of 1992), but to
attract more funds. Therefore exhibitions will
be set up that not only provide information
for the visitor but that also attract private and
corporate funding, and maintain good rap-
port with government as the major source
of funding. The dilemma is then that the
agendas of the providers of funds become
the agenda of the Museum, which may not
always be in accord with its statutory func-
tions as set out in the Act. The National
Museum requires sources of funding that it
can generate itself.
Some government fiscal strategists
believe the Museum should charge an
entrance fee but this would almost certainly
deter Papua New Guineans from entering
the building, which would be a great shame
as the Museum is there primarily to serve the
people of Papua New Guinea. In any case,
the Museum has never attracted more than
40,000 visitors per annum (in the years fol-
lowing the opening of the new building in
1977) and figures for 2002 and 2003 sug-
gest some 20,000 annually, with some 3000
of these being expatriates and tourists. This
number could increase if there were other
reasons for people to come to the area in
which the Museum is located and a regular
bus service was available, but the Museum
is located at the end of the road and there
is no through-traffic. Such difficulties could
be overcome by introducing housing, busi-
nesses and commercial services into the area,
and connecting the road to other suburbs,
but even so, entrance fees would not solve
the Museum’s financial problems and would
only erode its visitor numbers as has been
shown to happen at museums in Australia
that have introduced entrance fees.
Two major projects are being planned
that are intended to help the Museum create
a source of income that will supplement gov-
ernment funding. These are the Constitution
Park and National Heritage Project near the
National Museum in Waigani, already men-
tioned, and the Old House of Assembly
Restoration Project located in Port Moresby. It
is intended that these projects would attract
visitors and tourists, carry out certain statu-
tory functions of the Museum, and generate
income through sales of goods and services
and leasing of office space.
In addition, the National Museum could
facilitate tours to some of the 2500 sites of
archaeological, historical and cultural impor-
tance in the country, such as the early agri-
culture site at Kuk in the Western Highlands
(7500 – 9500 years old) and the Bobonggara
archaeological, geological and geomorpho-
logical site on the Huon Peninsula which has
over 47,000 years of human history. Both sites
are currently being considered for world her-
itage listing.
Statistics provided by World Tour
Organizations show that museums gener-
ated nearly one-fifth of the world’s tourist
revenue of around US$621 billion in 2002,
forecast to rise to US$1.5 trillion by 2010.
East Asia and the Pacific regions are
expected to host some 229 million tourists by
2010.1
In 2003, almost 56,000 tourists came to
Papua New Guinea.2
This figure is small com-
pared to those for Australia, New Zealand
and some other Pacific countries such as
Fiji. But Papua New Guinea has the poten-
tial to attract far more tourists than it does.
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24 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
This requires effort on the part of all relevant
government and non-government agencies.
The National Museum is ready to take on the
challenge of being involved in such an enter-
prise but it needs the support of the gov-
ernment through the Tourism Promotional
Authority for the realisation of its two major
projects.
Conclusion
The basic role of museums is to provide
a service to society through their collec-
tions, exhibitions and educational programs.
However, in Papua New Guinea, the role of
the National Museum goes beyond this. Most
important is fostering a sense of nation-
hood, of national consciousness and national
identity. Papua New Guinea has the world’s
greatest cultural, linguistic and ethnic diver-
sity and the National Museum is one of the
few institutions that, through its collections,
can contribute to socio-political stability and
national identity. It is a symbol of unity in
diversity for a country whose national con-
stitution is firmly anchored on preservation
and respect for cultural heritage. In addition,
the Museum has changed its image from that
of a storeroom of dusty old objects to that of
a living, innovative and progressive institu-
tion making meaningful contributions to the
national development process.
Notes
1. Information obtained from East New Britain
Province’s Five Year Corporate Tourism Develop-
ment Plan 1999-2003, page 5.
2 . Tourism Promotion Authority, Turism Niusleta,
Volume 1 January – February 2004.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 25
As noted in Chapter 1, the 209 exhibits have
been grouped as much as possible according
to function. However, this is partly a conven-
ience for the purpose of display and there are
many cases where objects could have been
placed as easily in one category as in another.
Most objects have several levels of signifi-
cance and therefore may be considered as
multi-functional. For example, a large
wooden post is a support for a structure but
may also be carved with the image of a
founding clan ancestor who is appealed to
for success in warfare and hunting.1
A sus-
pension hook keeps certain valuable items
out of reach of destructive pests but may
bear the image of an important female
ancestor who is appealed to for protection
against illness. A mask may be attached to a
costume and worn by a man who imperson-
ates a spirit in the context of a particular
Chapter 5 The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition
Barry Craig
Fig. 5. Plan of Masterpieces Exhibition Gallery
ceremony; but it may be kept on a shelf in
the men’s house and used as a shrine to
invoke that spirit’s powers to achieve success
in hunting or warfare, or to inflict illness and
death on an enemy.
The plan of the Gallery (Fig. 5) shows
where the groups of exhibits can be found.2
Discussion of these functional groupings
proceeds as follows:
Watercraft. Canoes have been significant
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26 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
for travel, trade and communication through-
out the riverine, coastal and island regions of
PNG, from prehistoric times to the present.
Architecture . Apart from domestic hous-
ing, Papua New Guineans build special
houses for secret/sacred ritual purposes and
to store family and community foodstuffs,
heirlooms, weapons and ancestral relics.
These houses are often seen in symbolic
terms as human, bird or beast.
Household items. Even domestic items
feature the sculptural forms and graphic
designs found on objects that house the
spirits.
Gardening and fertility figures. Certain
spirits are called upon to assist in gardening,
to promote the fertility of plants, animals and
humans, and to protect crops from theft, the
figures functioning as shrines for communi-
cation with these spirits.
Hunting and warfare. Not only were war
shields carved and painted with designs to
promote success in battle, but carved human
and animal figures house spirits whose assist-
ance was sought in finding and killing
enemies, an activity in which head hunting
was often a feature. The spirits in these
figures also assist in the hunting of the larger
animals such as pigs, cassowaries and
wallabies.
Musical instruments. A wide range of
musical instruments is made. Those most
commonly featuring carved motifs include
slit-gongs, hand drums, water and mud-
beater drums, trumpets and long flutes.
Masks. Many different materials are used
to construct masks to represent the spirits
and conceal the men impersonating them.
The wood face-masks are the more durable
component and function also as shrines for
the spirits. Some other types of masks are
constructed of perishable materials over sev-
eral months, performed for less than an hour,
then destroyed.
Mortuary objects. When an important
person dies, their descendants may create
images to remind them to revenge the death;
or the mortuary ceremonies may provide the
context for honouring the dead, strengthen-
ing the relationships between groups, and
reaffirming rights to land (the figures then
acting as title deeds).
WATERCRAFT
It is widely believed that humans came
to Sahul, the combined continent of Aus-
tralia–New Guinea, at least 40,000 years ago
and from South-East Asia. ‘This fully mod-
ern human was probably coastally adapted
and equipped with highly functional water-
craft’ (Bowdler 1993: 66). Because of the lower
sea levels at that time, such craft enabled
people to spread from Sahul to New Britain,
New Ireland and the Solomon Islands. People
reached Buka around 30,000 years ago and
even reached the Admiralty Islands, over 200
kilometres off the north coast of New Guinea,
at least 20,000 years ago.
Although there is no evidence of the
types of crafts used, they may have been rafts
or log canoes. Both forms of water transport
continue in use to the present day, especially
on rivers and in estuaries (Figs 7, 8). There is
remarkable variety in the dugout log canoes
of New Guinea, in both form and decoration,
perhaps the most spectacular being those of
the Gogodala (Fig. 6 and Crawford 1981: 110-
17, 284-307) and the Purari Delta (Young and
Clark 2001: 69).
It appears that more sophisticated water-
craft were brought to New Guinea and
Melanesia by the speakers of Austronesian
languages from the islands of south-east
Asia. These vessels consisted of a dugout
canoe with planks lashed along the sides to
increase the depth of the hull, stabilised by
an outrigger (usually single – Fig. 9 – but
sometimes double as in the Torres Strait). The
smaller outriggers for reef fishing were pad-
dled but the larger ones for the open sea
were driven by rectangular, triangular or
‘crab-claw’ sails.
In some areas, such as the south-east
coast of Papua, the vessels were double- or
multi-hulled, for example, those used by the
Mailu (Fig. 10) and Motu (Fig. 11). In other
areas, such as the Solomons, the entire hull
was constructed of shaped planks lashed
together and sealed with Parinarium paste
(Fig. 12), but these were seldom equipped
with outriggers or sails. It is believed this type
of vessel was introduced from the Moluccas
in relatively recent times, along with the
areca palm (Haddon and Hornell 1975, III: 79)
from which the ‘betel nut’, chewed with lime
and the fruit of the betel vine, is harvested
(Beran 1988: 5).
The peoples speaking Austronesian lan-
guages, according to most scholars, came
from Taiwan, through the Philippines to New
Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago around
3500 years ago (Bellwood 1995; Spriggs 1995,
1997). They then spread to Vanuatu, New Cal-
edonia and Fiji around 3200 years ago,
colonising the islands of Tonga and Samoa
perhaps 3000 years ago. Around 2500 years
ago, they moved on to the more remote
islands of the eastern Pacific, helped by the
development of the double-hulled canoe
(Horridge 1995: 135).
Other scholars, such as Stephen Oppen-
heimer, suggest that there were two
movements of Austronesian-speakers from
South-East Asia into the Pacific and not nec-
essarily from Taiwan (Oppenheimer 1998:
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 27
Fig. 8. Raft on S epik River, arriving at Angoram from
the Yuat River. Photo: Peter Tree, October 1982.
Fig. 7. Canoes at Mahanei village, Abau speakers,
upper Sepik. Photo: B. Craig USEE 1969, M14:11A;
16 July 1969.
Fig. 6. Gogodala racing canoes, Aramia River,
Western Province. Photo: A.L. Crawford, 1974.
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28 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
160-76 and Fig. 27). According to this theory,
the first movement of people was to New
Guinea, the Bismarcks and the Solomons
around 6000 years ago. They then mixed with
the previous populations speaking Papuan
languages, becoming the people generally
called ‘Melanesians’. The second movement of
Austronesian-speaking peoples passed
through the small islands north of the Bis-
marcks and the Solomons about 3500 years
ago, with minimal interaction with the previ-
ous Austronesian-speaking colonisers,
passing on to the Reef–Santa Cruz Islands,
Tonga and Samoa, and eventually out into
the rest of the Pacific to become the people
we call ‘Polynesians’. The first group (the
‘Melanesians’) adopted some of the cultural
characteristics of the second group and colo-
nised the rest of island Melanesia (Vanuatu,
New Caledonia, and probably Fiji). Some later
moved back westwards to settle the islands
off the south-east of New Guinea and pro-
gressed along the north and south coasts of
New Guinea, even penetrating inland up the
Markham Valley. Some ‘Polynesians’ also
moved back westwards and in particular
there was intense interaction between Tonga
and Fiji that so strongly affected the Fijians
(and vice versa) that they are often catego-rised with Polynesians rather than
Melanesians (Haddon and Hornell 1975: 342).
A great deal more archaeology (and work
in other disciplines) is needed before it will
become clear which of these competing the-
ories is closer to the truth. However, it is clear
that ‘Austronesian’ maritime technology (in
particular, planked dugout outrigger and
multi-hulled canoes) survived to the 20th
century in coastal and island regions around
New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago.
Sea-going outrigger and multi-hulled canoes
were the vehicles by which maritime trade
Fig. 9. Outrigger canoes, Lauan, Kara speakers,
northern New Ireland (Meyer and Parkinson 1900,
Plate 30).
Fig. 10. Mailu double-hulled trading canoe. Photo:
Frank Hurley, June 1921 (Specht and Fields
1984: 43).
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 29
MPNr 33. Canoe paddle, Nafri village, Yotefa Bay, Nafri speakers, [West] Papua, Indonesia. Wood. 197 cm
long. 76.32.9. Acquired by Robert Mitton from Ananias Merahabia and registered June 1976. Carved c.1928
from su timber (‘kwila’, Intsia species). The design on the paddle represents flying fish (ha’oi ) chasing small
phosphorescent sea lice (hiabo). Also represented are sea snakes (ware).
Fig. 11. Motu trading canoe. Lindt 1887 Plate VII, 1.
Fig. 12. Buka canoe (Meyer and Parkinson 19 00,
Plate 41).
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30 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Fig. 14. Slit-gong (bung’gi ) at Rauit, Gnau speakers,
near Anguganak, Torricelli Mountains, West Sepik
Province. Photo: B. Craig M5: 6A; 17 May 2002.
Fig. 13. Drawing of paddle blade, Sanji clan,
Humboldt Bay (after G alis 1955: 102, Nr 4).
a = chasò (a type of fish), b = chont ufechu (trepang),
c = taidj-rówárò (calm sea).
networks moved specialised goods over
large areas (Barton 1910; Brookfield and Hart
1971: 322-29 and Figs 13.2-13.5; Dark 1974,
1997; Haddon and Hornell 1975; Harding
1967; Hogbin 1935, 1947; Irwin 1985; Lewis
1972; Malinowski 1922; Malnic 1998; Mennis
1980; Tiesler 1969-70). Towards the close of
the 2nd millennium AD, only the maritime
trade networks on the north coast of theSepik provinces, around the Vitiaz Strait, and
in the Massim region of south-east New
Guinea had survived in more-or-less tradi-
tional form.
Central North Coast of New Guinea
From Humboldt Bay and Yotefa Bay in [West]
Papua, eastwards to Vanimo in West Sepik
Province, the men’s outrigger canoe, rigged
with a rectangular sail, is decorated with the
same kind of carved and painted designs.
Canoe paddles also are carved with the same
kind of designs (Galis 1955: 98-103, Plate 32;
Haddon and Hornell 1975, II: 310-14). This
similarity is not surprising; Hermione Fran-
kel (1978: 2-3) reports that people came from
Tobadi (Sande 1907, Fig. 87), at the northern
end of Yotefa Bay, and moved eastwards to
settle at Walomo, bringing their designs and
artistic skills with them. However, it would
appear they did not bring their language as
the people of Tobadi speak an Austronesian
language whereas the people of Walomo
speak a completely unrelated Sko Phylum
language.
The designs on canoe paddles appear to
be the property of particular clans. A Hum-
boldt Bay paddle from Sanji clan illustrated
by K.W. Galis (1955: 102, Nr 4, reproduced
here as Fig. 13) is quite similar to the one col-
lected by Robert Mitton (MPNr 33) from Nafri
at the southern end of Yotefa Bay, whose
inhabitants speak a language of the Trans-
New Guinea Phylum. Galis (1955: 100) shows
that the sails are decorated with tassels that
indicate clan identity, and Frankel (1978: 12-
15, 32-5, 42-4) provides drawings and
information for clan emblems carved at the
front of the strake of Walomo canoes. We may
reasonably assume that the people of Tobadi,
Nafri and Walomo share many cultural fea-
tures despite speaking such differentlanguages and, nowadays, living on either
side of an international boundary.
In this region, the motifs on the paddles
and canoes usually represent birds, fish,
sharks and dolphins. Frankel suggests that it
is the forms and habits of these creatures
that carry significance for the Walomo peo-
ple. For example, the box fish, Mukebi, is
thought of as ‘the wooden fish’ and is ‘an apt
description of the canoe’ (ibid.: 59). She adds
(ibid.: 57):
Symbolically, the combination of crea-
tures, of messenger bird, dolphins, sharks,
hammerhead shark and blue-banded
sprat, adds up to an image of forceful
speed … It is echoed in the Long Tom that
shoots along the front of the hull, and in
the flying fish with their phenomenal
flights that dance lightly along the hull.
The world of the Walomo is divided into
the mountains in the south, where the clan
spirits dwell, the forest of the coastal plain,
which is the realm primarily of the women,
the villages along the coast where both men
and women dwell, and then the beach, the
reef and the open sea which are the realmsprimarily of the men. When a canoe is drawn
up on the beach, it must be left with its prow
facing the sea.
It is up to the man, as he goes between
village and canoe, to maintain its [the
canoe’s] purity through his correct proce-
dure while preparing himself for fishing
… lest the fish … should become reti-
cent and make themselves hard to find.
[ibid.: 42]
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 31
Upper Sepik River
About 55 kilometres westwards from
Ambunti, on the Sepik River, is the village of
Kubkein, one of four villages of the Wogamus
people. These people have had diverse ori-
gins but are mainly from the east, that is, fromdownriver, so their culture is related to that
of the Nggala, the Kwoma and other groups
around Ambunti.
The designs on canoe prows and on the
handles of the paddles vary according to the
clan of the owner. Comparing the motifs on
the canoe prow MPNr 31, and paddle handle
MPNr 32 to the illustrations of canoe prows
and paddle ends provided by Douglas New-
ton (1971: 59), it is likely that the prow is of
the Wismi clan, whose members are
descended from Nggala ancestors (ibid. 52),
and the paddle is of the Munggwal clan.
Newton records that Wogamus canoe prow
designs came from the Nggala and that the
paddle ends usually represent totemic birds
(ibid.: 53). Specific clans also own designs on
war shields.
There appears to be a symbolic relation-
ship between canoes and slit-gongs, which
were believed to be personified female
water-spirits. Newton (ibid.: 52) reports:
The gongbeaters (mi ras or ga’hei ) were
also female; they symbolize paddles, so
that the gongs themselves are, by implica-
tion, symbolic canoes.
Newton’s illustrations 91 and 92 show slit-
gongs with prows carved quite like those of
canoes. In the Torricelli Mountains, the resem-
blance to canoes is striking (Fig. 14).
MPNr 32. Canoe paddle (and detail of handle),
Kubkein village, Upper Sepik, Wogamusin speakers,
East Sepik Province. Wood. 184 cm long. 77.43.21.
Acquired from Island Carvings in 1977.
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32 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Middle Sepik River
Yambi Yambi is one of three villages of Bisis
speakers whose territory extends south of
Chambri Lake to the north-west bank of the
lower Salumei River, a western tributary of
the Korosameri River. The influence of Iatmul
culture shows in the row of spirals incised
along the side of the canoe prow MPNr 29,
the hint of crocodile head, and in the form
of the long-beaked bird (a hornbill ?) at thefront of the prow. However, the face of the
male figure suggests links with the Karawari
cultures to the east.
It is not certain where the paddle MPNr
39 came from. It was bought along with sev-
eral other items from the ‘middle Sepik area’
in November 1966 from an unnamed person.
The face carved where the shaft of the pad-
dle meets the blade is consistent with Iatmul
designs (cf., Kelm 1966a, Plates 443, 447 from
Timbunke). However, the face at the top end
of the paddle shows the saw-toothed motif
around the top of the slanting eyes, and the
loop of tiny circles across the lower part of
the face, motifs that have their equivalents
on shields from the Mundugumor, lower Yuat
River (cf., Fuhrmann 1922: 109 right; Kelm
1968, Plate 420). This paddle may, therefore,
be from one of several villages near or on the
Lower Yuat.
MPNr 31. Canoe prow, Kubkein village, Upper Sepik,
Wogamusin speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.
205 x 37 cm. 81.26.104 [original registration number
lost].
MPNr 39. Canoe paddle and detail, Middle Sepik
area, East Sepik Province. Wood. 253 cm long.E.4557. Registered 20 November 1969. No further
information.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 33
Lower Sepik-Ramu Rivers
Villagers at Murik Lakes and Watam, near
the mouth of the Sepik, have two types of
canoes: dugouts (Murik: gai’iin and bor ) for
use on the Sepik River and on the lakes (Fig.
15), and large sea-going outriggers (Murik:
sev gai’iin) for trading along the coast and tothe nearby islands (Lipset 1997: 279, Plate 7).
The men of the Schouten Islands and of the
islands off the coast north-west of Wewak
also construct and sail these large outriggers
(Fig. 16 and Hogbin 1935).3
Murik voyages reach out to the Schouten
Islands and westwards as far as Sissano
Lagoon. Watam voyages are more restricted;
they go to Murik to connect to the western
and offshore trading networks, inland to Bos-
mun on the Lower Ramu, and eastwards to
Hansa Bay and Potsdamhafen to connect to
the Manam Island and Madang trade net-
works (Tiesler 1969-70). Because of these
widespread trade links, the carved prows on
the outrigger canoes (Neuhauss 1911, I, Figs
253-55), and on the dugouts at Murik (Craig
1987, Plate 41), Watam, Bosmun (Christensen
1975: 49-51) and nearby villages, are similar in
style and motifs (MPNr 30).
The outrigger canoes require a large
steering paddle (MPNr 34). For the Murik,
Lipset reports (1997: 43) that the steersman’s
wife ‘is held to possess magical influence over
the outrigger canoe as it travels to and from
the islands’. She is subject to various taboos
such as not cutting grass or chopping fire-
wood, lest the canoe break up and sink; or to
engage in sexual dalliances lest the canoe be
swamped, sink into the sea and her husband
drowned.
The making and sailing of an outrigger
canoe is exclusively a male project and the
men working on the canoe must refrain from
sexual activity.
As the log is carved into a canoe hull, men
also view it as being metamorphosed
from a feminine entity into a powerful,
masculine vehicle by means of a process
of cultic initiation. [Lipset 1997: 42]
The shed where the canoe is constructed
is the symbolic equivalent of the women’s
birth hut and just as men are excluded from
the mystery of childbirth, so women are
excluded from the canoe-making process.
There appears to be some connection
between a certain type of men’s house and
canoes, as suggested by the finial decora-
tions of a men’s house in the village of ‘Big
Murik’ (Ruff and Ruff 1990, Fig. 15 and Fig. 25
this book).
MPNr 29. Canoe prow, Yambi Yambi village, lower
Salumei River, Bisis speakers, East Sepik Province.
Wood. 170 x 40 cm. E.367. Collected by Dadi Wirz in
1955 and registered 7 December 1956.
MPNr 30. Canoe prow, Watam village, Lower Sepik,
Watam speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 98 x 41
cm. 81.26.103 [original registration number lost].
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34 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 34. Steering paddle, showing detail of
handle and blade, Watam village, Lower Sepik,
Watam Speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 328 x
34 cm. E.16304. Purchased from Barry Hoare and
registered 4 March 1974.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 35
MPNr 38. Canoe paddle (naap) and detail of handle , Bosmun village, Lower Ramu, Bosmun speakers, Madang
Province. Wood. 212 cm long. E.5681. Collected by Dr G. Gerrits from owner Bugai and registered 4 June 1970.
This Bosmun paddle is almost certainly for use with a river canoe. Unfortunately, nothing is known of the
significance of the figure carved on the blade or at the end of the handle.
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36 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Fig. 15. Murik paddle canoe, Darapap village, Murik
speakers, Murik Lakes. Photo: B. Craig, C33: 35; 23
November 1981.
Fig. 16 (bottom). Outrigger trading canoe from
Guap, Yuo Island, Kairiru speakers (Meyer and
Parkinson 1894, Plate 44).
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 37
Vitiaz Strait-Huon Gulf region
Outrigger canoes sailing from the Huon Gulf
and the Tami Islands, and across the Vitiaz
Strait from the Siassi Islands off the west-
ern end of New Britain, are similar in design
and in carved and painted decorative motifs. The people sailing these canoes all speak lan-
guages belonging to the same sub-family of
Austronesian languages. Their maritime trade
network reaches Madang in the west, as far
as the north-west and south-west coasts of
New Britain, and to Busama south of Lae in
the Huon Gulf. Food, animals, raw materials
and manufactured objects are traded among
communities specialising in certain products
(Brookfield and Hart 1971: 328-29, Fig.13.5;
Harding 1967; Hogbin 1947).
The larger sea-going vessels are usually
two-masted, with rectangular mat sails, a can-
tilevered platform and central hut, and no
obvious distinction between prow and stern
(Fig. 17).
There are two rows of strakes, covered
with carved and painted designs, along each
side of the canoe hull, closed at each end
with a splashboard. The prow and stern of the
hull are carved by the Tami with simple
incised designs and by the Siassi, for example,
MPNr 25,with human, bird and animal figures(Neuhauss 1911, I, Figs 260-65). Single-masted
outriggers are used for coastal voyages and
have only one row of strakes along the hull
(Bodrogi 1961: 31, 109-11).
The Yabim, around Finschhafen, regard
the portrayal of a human figure, head or face
as a representation of a balum spirit. The
word balum is ‘the name given to the soul of
the dead’, ‘the central spirit of the [men’s]
secret cult’,4
and the bullroarer used in the
cult (Bodrogi 1961: 40). They call the repre-
sentation of the head or face balum-kaui
(balum mask) and the whole figure goam,
MPNr 25 (top). Canoe prow, Aramot Island, Siassi Islands, Mutu speaker s, Morobe Province. Wood. 133 x 26
cm. E.13882. Collected, along with several other canoe parts, by Morris Young and registered 18 March 1974.
‘These canoe pieces were collected on Tami Island but were made in Aramot Island in the Siassi group’.
Eric Coote (pers. comm. October 2009) states that this prow is clearly Tami and not Aramot. He suggests that
while the canoe could have been built at Aramot, the iconography suggests the prow has been car ved by a
Tami islander.Fig 17 (bottom). Double-masted Tami trading
canoe at Bukaua, south coast of Huon Peninsula
(Neuhauss 1911, I, Fig. 257).
MPNr 27 (middle). Canoe bailer, Siassi Islands,
Mutu speakers, Morobe Province. Wood. 50 x 16 cm.
E.16119. Purchased from Barry Hoare and registered
11 February 1975.
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38 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
after the figurative posts of the men’s houses
(Bodrogi 1961: 159). If we assume similar
beliefs for the Tami5
and Siassi, then the
crouching figure on the splashboard (MPNr
26) is a goam and the face on the larger bailer
(MPNr 27) is a balum-kaui , a motif often
found on wooden bowls (ibid., Figs 88, 89).
Both wear an oa-balan feather-plume head-
dress (ibid.: 157-59, Figs 211, 212). On the top
of the smaller bailer (MPNr 28), the double-
loop motif ( yabo) represents two fully-curved
pig tusks, a precious ornament made by
Siassi Islanders (Bodrogi 1961: 166-67 and
Figs 60, 211; Neuhauss 1911, I, Plates 66-7,
105-7). The eyes and nose carved in relief
below the yabo echo the form of the scoop
with its nose-like handle.
MPNr 26. Canoe splashboard, Tami Islands,
Tami speakers, Morobe Province. Wood. 134 x
51 cm. 81.73.19. Acquired from Village Arts and
registered 10 December 1981. Eric Coote (pers.
comm. October 2009) states that this splashboard
(damundam) was carved by the Tami canoe-builder
Daulo for a two-masted canoe (uang salu), personal
name Matabung, that he built on Umboi Island.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 39
MPNr 28. Canoe bailer (top and bottom), Siassi
Islands, Mutu speakers, Morobe Province. Wood.
35 x 14 cm. 76.63.19. Acquired from Village Arts and
registered 21 December 1976.
Massim region of south-east New
Guinea
The kula maritime trading cycle of the Trobri-
and Islanders and their Massim neighbours
was made famous by Bronislaw Malinowski
in his 1922 book, Argonauts of the Western
Pacific . A summary of this trading cycle, with
diagrams showing the geographical network
and the movement of various trade goods,
has been provided by Brookfield and Hart
(1971: 324-27).
The kula circulates non-utilitarian valu-
ables in a formal way that brings renown to
the kula participant through temporary own-
ership of the armshells (mwali ) circulating
anti-clockwise and of the necklaces (soul-
ava or bagi) circulating clockwise. Associatedwith this series of formal transactions is the
movement of many raw materials and useful
commodities along sections of the network,
and into and out of the network at various
points. The vehicle for this trade is the out-
rigger canoe, itself a potential item of trade.
Brookfield and Hart (1971: 324) state:
But while the shells passed right around
the ring, no man did. The system operated
principally by means of voyages in each
direction outward from each point in the
ring, rarely going further than two legs
from the point of origin. Each voyage was
reciprocated, so that the network con-
sisted of an overlapping series of voyages,
alternating in time, linking an overlapping
series of contact fields.
Since Malinowski’s Argonauts …, a series
of books and films have documented this
activity in detail (for example, Balson and
Mitchell 1992, Campbell 2002, Ichioka 1971,
Malnic and Kasaipwalova 1998, Weiner 1988).
The outrigger canoes used in this trade
(generically termed waga) are the masawa
of the western sector of the kula region
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40 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 35. Canoe splashboard (lagim), Boagis,
Madau Island, Misima speakers, Milne Bay Province.
Wood. 106 x 85 cm. 81.26.105 [original registration
number lost but identified as E.3022, collected in
March 1969 by Dr G. Gerrits and registered 12 May
1969].
Fig. 18. Outrigger trading canoe (masawa) of
Kiriwina, Kilivila speakers, Trobriand Islands
(Malinowski 1922, Plate XXIII).
( Trobriands, Kitava, Iwa in the Marshall Ben-
nett Islands, Dobu, Amphletts) and the bigger
and better-crafted, but heavier and there-
fore slower,nagega of the eastern sector
(Boagis – a Misima-speaking settlement on
the southern tip of Madau Island, Gawa in
the Marshall Bennetts, Woodlark, and, out-
side the kula region, Misima and Panaeati)
(Malinowski 1922: 144-45). Malinowski com-
ments that the masawa probably originated
in Dobu and spread (during the 19th cen-
tury) to the north from there, supplanting
the manufacture and/or use of the nagega in
the Trobriands, Kitava and Iwa. Godfried Ger-
rits informed me (pers. comm. 7 June 2004)
that by the 1970s, both the masawa and the
nagega could be found on Gawa.
Both masawa (Fig. 18) and nagega (Fig.
19) are highly-decorated with carved and
painted boards and with egg cowrie (Ovula
ovum) shells. There is a great deal of ritual
and magic involved in the construction, dec-
oration and launching of a kula canoe. There
appears to be no clear distinction between
front and back of the canoe6
as that depends
entirely on the direction of travel and the
outrigger is always kept to windward.
The main decorative components are the
strakes or sideboards (from top to bottom:lowaila, sipa and budaka), two splashboards
(lagim), two water breakers (tabuya) and the
detachable prow ornament called sikusaku.
This ornament is tied to the top of the nagega
canoe’s tabuya (water breaker). It signals that a
kula trip has been successful, that the desired
kula valuables have been obtained; or, where a
wedding is being planned, that pigs have
successfully been obtained. If a nagega returns
without a sikusaku it signals lack of success in
these enterprises, or that a member of the
crew has died (Dr G. Gerrits, pers. comm.
8 September 2003).
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 41
MPNr 36. Canoe water breaker (tabuya), Boagis,
Madau Island, Misima speakers, Milne Bay Province.
Wood. 111 x 86 cm. E.7780. Collected in March 1969
by Dr G. Gerrits and registered 6 Apr il 1971.
MPNr 37. Canoe ornament (sikusaku), Gawa Island,
Marshall Bennett Islands, Muyuw speakers, Milne
Bay Province. Wood. 69 x 37 cm. E.7856. Collected by
Dr G. Gerrits and registered 7 May 1971.
Fig. 19. Outrigger trading canoe (nagega), at
Narian, Misima Island, 1932. H.K. Bartlett, SAM
archives, AA18, Acc. Nr 973.
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42 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
The three canoe components in the Mas-
terpieces Exhibition are from nagega canoes.
Dr Gerrits has provided information about
what the various carved and painted motifs
represent. MPNr 35, a lagim or splashboard, is
from Boagis (Misima speakers). The two circu-
lar designs represent ubwara or utuyam
(‘star’); at the termination of the spiral, below
each ‘star’, there is the head of a protective
bird called weku. Right around the rim of the
two lobes of the splashboard are tiny repre-
sentations of sausawila, the sandpiper. There
are four mwata (‘snakes’) in the central panel.
The red pigment is kaimalaka and the black
pigment (burnt coconut husks) is koisalu.
MPNr 36, a tabuya or water breaker, is also
from Boagis (Misima speakers). Along the
bottom of the carved panel, two snakes
(mwata) each hold an eagle (tubulib-wala) in
its mouth, one facing to the front and one to
the rear. These eagles also appear at the top,
facing front and rear, each supporting the
beak of a frigate bird (kuludauta), each of
which in turn support a grasshopper
(nipawa). The long vertical spiral terminates
in the head of a boi (generic for seabird but
specifically a heron). Along the rim at the ver-
tical front and at the curving rear of the
tabuya are a series of tiny sandpipers (sau-
sawila). Scattered elsewhere among the
curving motifs are representations of boi (sea
bird/heron), nipawa (grasshopper), and weku
(protective type of bird). Boi and weku are
protective in that if a canoe sinks, these birds
circle above it and then fly off to the nearest
land. The sailors then know in which direction
to swim to shore.
MPNr 37, the sikusaku, is from Gawa
(Muyuw speakers). It is tied to the vertical
uncarved projection of the tabuya. In some
areas, the sikusaku is called maan, mana, or
mani . The two birds facing each other at the
the boi is always even, always balanced,
always clear.
In contrast to the boi , Campbell says of
buribwari the osprey (Gerrits’s tubulib-wala)
that it is ‘magic personified’, representing ‘wis-
dom that is not attainable’ by humans.
Vakutans say that ‘When Dobuans see the
buribwari [on the kula canoe prow] they
will want to throw their kula shell valua-
bles at the crew because his magic is so
strong. [Campbell 2002: 99]
As one informant pointed out:
The buribwari always catches its prey, it
does not simply strike here and there
hoping to take a fish. That is why the
buribwari [on the dogina prow board]
always lands first in kula because it will
never fail to get all the vaiguwa and mwari
[shell valuables].
Little is understood about the sandpiper
sawila (Gerrits’s sausawila); it is merely said to
be lucky. But mwata the snake is ‘associated
with power, particularly the power of shed-
ding old skin for new, attractive and “young”
skin’, a trick that enabled mythic heroes to
attract kula shell valuables (ibid.: 105).
These few examples demonstrate how
characteristics of the various creatures areselected and combined to create a system of
meaning relevant to the male enterprise of
securing kula shell valuables (ibid.: 109).
The prevalence of sea birds as carved
motifs on canoe components is not surpris-
ing given their usefulness as indicators of the
presence of schools of fish and their impor-
tance for navigation in times of emergencies.
Malinowski reports (1922: 225-26) that stars
are not so important for navigation but the
Trobriand Islanders (and presumably other
Massim sailors) can set course by the stars if
necessary.
top of this sikusaku are sawila; the sawila is
usually carved on top of the mast also. The
sawila protects seamen against mulukwausi ,
the flying witches whose manifestation at
night are meteors (Malinowski 1922: 320).
Before a trip, magic is spoken over the sawila
to ask their help in keeping away witches and
stormy winds (Gerrits, pers. comm. 8 Septem-
ber 2003). Supporting the two sawila is a
motif that could be understood as a canoe
with a bird’s head at each end. A frigate bird
(kuludauta) sits on top of the uncarved ‘handle’
of the sikusaku facing forwards; supported on
its back is a second frigate bird, upside down
and facing the rear and supported on the tip
of its beak is a third frigate bird. Opposite this
third contorted frigate bird is another bird in
spiral form, perhaps an eagle.
Shirley Campbell (2002: 91-109) provides
interpretations of the significance of the vari-
ous creatures represented on the carved canoe
components. Bearing in mind that the terms
Gerrits recorded are for languages different
from that of the Trobriand Islands, and that the
significance of the creatures represented also
may differ somewhat, Campbell’s interpreta-
tions are nevertheless indicative here.
For example, boi , which she identifies as
the egret (Egretta alba) suggests ‘wisdomthat is attainable by human actors’, especially
through performance of magic, which the
egret is believed to carry out to ensure suc-
cess in fishing (2002: 98). Ulli Beier (1974: 39)
reports the comments of Chief Narabutal
about this bird:
The ancestors began all their carving from
the boi . They said, ‘We have seen all the
birds but none has the same grace. The
crane [sic] is complete in rest or in motion.
Whether he bends forward or tilts his
head backwards, whether he is standing
or sitting, whether he is resting or flying,
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 43
ARCHITECTURE
For most of the time that people have inhab-
ited New Guinea and its nearby islands, they
have undoubtedly subsisted by hunting, fish-
ing and gathering. Such a lifestyle is unlikely
to have demanded more than the use of rock
shelters and the simplest of built structures
to protect from rain and, at higher altitudes,
from cold winds. Perhaps the type of shelter
they built would have been a simple lean-to
with a leaf roof, like that of the Borneo
nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes (Sellato 1994:
66) or the simple walled platform covered
with a slanting roof noted by van Baal (1966:
46-8) for the Marind-anim of south-east
[West] Papua. Hunting parties in the moun-
tains of central New Guinea still use
earth-floor, lean-to huts.
New Guinea horticulture no doubt devel-
oped gradually from harvesting wild crops of
vegetables, and tree fruits and nuts. Sago
would have been extracted from wild palms
before the advantages of propagation
became evident. In the highlands, New Guin-
eans were developing horticultural skills
around 9000 years ago, probably planting
taro and yams as staples. Experiments with
the propagation of banana, sugarcane, and
various fruit and nut trees may also have
been under way (Haberle 1993: 119-20;
Spriggs 1993a; Yen 1993: 90). Archaeologists
have noted the abandonment around this
time of certain rock shelters. Some have sug-
gested the possibility that ‘a shift to
agriculture meant less reliance on hunting
and gathering in the forest as well as a shift
to village settlement, hence abandonment of
rock shelters’, though the evidence is incon-
clusive (Spriggs 1993b: 189).
In due course people began to settle into
villages to exploit resources in a more con-
Fig. 20. Photo of Purari ravi by E.S. Usher, 1915, South
Australian Museum archives, AA835, D3.
centrated fashion and to unite into larger
settlement groups to protect themselves and
their resources. Over time, rituals and cere-
monies would have become more elaborate,
the paraphernalia associated with such activ-
ities more sophisticated, and special
buildings would have been constructed to
segregate the secret/sacred activities of the
initiated men from women and the uniniti-
ated. In the Papuan Gulf, especially amongst
the Namau and the Elema, and in the Sepik-
Ramu region, these structures rivalled in
magnificence and scale the vernacular archi-
tecture found elsewhere in the world.
Papuan Gulf
Papuan Gulf men’s houses were not embel-
lished with carved and painted structuralcomponents or with intricately painted
façades such as those of the Sepik region. But
they housed an impressive quantity and vari-
ety of portable objects such as shields, hand
drums, figures, masks and ancestral boards. It
is therefore appropriate to provide an over-
view of these houses and of the activities
they housed, as a context for appreciating
the Papuan Gulf Masterpieces exhibits dealt
with elsewhere in this book.
The Namau ravi and Elema eravo (Fig. 20)
are documented by the research and photo-
graphs of Albert Buell Lewis (Welsch 1998, I:
475, 477-80) and Francis Edgar Williams
(1924, 1940), and by the marvellous photo-
graphs of Ernest Sterne Usher (Pike and Craig
1999: 248-49) and Frank Hurley (Specht and
Fields 1984: 167, 171, 175, 183). Among the
Namau, these structures were up to 200
metres long and 20 metres high at the front
(somewhat smaller among the Elema),
decreasing in width and height to about 3
metres at the rear (ibid.: 174); they were basi-
cally a funnel-like vault supported by a
longitudinal row of pairs of posts, and in the
bigger houses there was a series of four posts
across the width (Fig. 20). The walls and roof
were fabricated as one surface from numer-
ous light curved vertical ribs fastened to a
series of horizontal longitudinal battens. On
top of this framework were affixed the
thatching ‘tiles’ prefabricated by folding nipa
palm leaves over a short length of palm leaf
stem. A floor of flattened palm bark was laid
on a platform supported above high tide
level by numerous short posts driven into the
mud. A row of cubicles or spaces ( larava) was
located down each side of the building; each
cubicle was used by the men of a descent
group as a sleeping area and for the display
and storage of sacred boards (Namau: kwoi ;
Elema: hohao), the skulls of wild pigs and
crocodiles, shields, weapons, masks, hand
drums, the occasional human skull, and other
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44 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
ritual and personal property ( Young and
Clark 2001: 80).
This type of men’s house was found also
among the Era River people, although they
speak a language of a different sub-Phylum
to their Purari-speaking eastern neighbours.
The roofline sloped from a high front to a
low rear where a screened enclosure housed
the large wickerwork, gaped-mouth
kaiaimunu, in which the sacred bullroarers
were kept (Newton 1961, Illust. 27, and Fig.
21 this book).
West of Era River, the men’s houses were
of even height with a horizontal ridge, more
like a long tunnel than a funnel. Notably, on
Urama Island, racks of human skulls were part
of the display of sacred boards, there called
gope (Specht and Fields 1984: 159, 161). Still
farther west, on Goaribari Island, the Kerewa
agiba function as suspension hooks for clus-
ters of human skulls (Newton 1961: 56-7;
Specht and Fields 1984: 147). On the
bullroarer-shapedgope boards, the image of
a spindly humanoid body with large head
and concentric circle eyes suggests a foetus
in the womb.
At the rear of the Namau ravi was a parti-
tioned space in which were kept the sacred
bullroarers and the woven cane kaiaimunu
‘masks’ (ibid.: 181). Newton (1961: 22-3) writes:
They are huge four-legged beasts with gap-
ing jaws, constructed of wickerwork … up
to twelve feet long and seven feet high…
When new, the beasts are decked out with
red seed eyes, feathers and crotons. Gen-
erally speaking they are left quite alone …
Only the old men dare approach them.
The wickerwork beasts are not vaguely
possessed of imunu, … They are the
actual imunu… every larava (in theory at
least) has an individual kaiaimunu with
its own name. While the kaiaimunu live
in the ravi , their spirits may sometimes
leave the building to haunt the rivers with
which each (like its larava) is associated.
Each is also associated with a stated ani-
mal, [F.E. Williams reports fish o r crocodile
– Young and Clark 2001: 79] … which is its
‘canoe’. But above all, they are extraordi-
narily potent beings, expressing their will
through dreams and thunder, who should
be placated with offerings of food from
day to day.
… every male goes through Pairama,
initiation to the kaiaimunu. This begins
with the seclusion of the young boys in
the ravi , where the older men feed them
well and entertain them with songs. After
some months of this, the whole group
goes off to the bush to gather cane. Then
the old kaiaimunu are brought out of hid-
ing and placed in their respective larava.
A boy is lif ted onto each figure, the frail
wickerwork collapsing under his weight.
The boys help the men to build new kai-
aimunu [see Young and Clark 2001: 83],
thus revivifying and renewing the power
and energy of the patron b eings. After this
the boys are carried about the ravi in the
monsters’ mouths.
It is tempting to see this as a symbolic
devouring of the young initiate, which is
what Wirz concluded (1937: 408), and is con-sistent with the custom of shoving slain
enemies into the kaiaimunu. But ‘Williams
was at pains to point out that there was
never any suggestion that the child was
being “devoured” by the monster’ (Young and
Clark 2001: 83). Otherwise one could think of
these monsters as the equivalent of the
devouring crocodiles of the lower and mid-
dle Sepik cultures, as shown in Speiser’s 1930
photograph at Kambrambo (reproduced in
Kaufmann 1975, Plate 86) showing a croco-
dile monster mask ‘devouring’ an initiate.
Such a correlation is supported by the
remarkable formal similarity between the
kaiaimunu and the cult houses of Kambot on
the Keram River (Kaufmann 1975, Plate 148
compared to Plates 81, 82).
Hurley’s description of the wickerwork
figures as ‘masks’ (Specht and Fields 1984:
180), and the opening in their base that sup-
ports this interpretation, appears to be
inconsistent with Newton’s recounting of
their use.
On 29 April 1908, the Lieutenant-
Governor of Papua, Hubert Murray, took two
kaiaimunu from the ravi of Koivia and Karara
at the village of Ukiaravi in the Purari Delta.
He wrote in his Introduction to F.E. Williams’s
The Natives of the Purari Delta (1924: iv-v):
I think I was responsible for the first ofthese figures (and, so far as I know, the
only ones) that ever left the Delta … I
took them to Port Moresby but, when I
went on leave shortly af terwards, they fell
into unsympathetic hands and were so
roughly treated that one was quite ruined
and the other very much damaged.
He sent this latter one (Fig. 21), with other
material for the Papuan Official Collection, to
The Australian Museum in Sydney but the
collection was later transferred to the Aus-tralian Institute of Anatomy in Canberra. The
institute’s PNG ethnographic collections
subsequently were transferred to the
National Museum of Australia, where they
remain to this day (Craig 1991, 1993), await-
ing a revival of repatriation negotiations.
Thus the kaiaimunu might one day be
returned to PNG.
The high entrance of the men’s houses
facilitated the exit and entrance of the tall
oval masks (Namau: aiaimunu; Elema: hevehe)
which, when worn by a performer, reached
almost 7 metres in height (Specht and Fields
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 45
1984: 174-77, 182-85; Young and Clark 2001:
207-9, 215-18, and Fig. 22 this book). These
masks represented sea spirits, and another
much smaller, conical mask (kovave) repre-
sented spirits of the bush (Williams 1940,
Plate 16). The kovave were used in the initia-
tion of boys into the cult of the bush spirits
whereas the hevehe were part of a much
more elaborate cycle of ceremonies involving
the whole community. The hevehe ceremo-
nies were reported in detail by Williams (1940)
but summary versions may be found in New-
ton (1961) and Mamiya and Sumnik (1982).
The Elema eharo masks were performed
in association with the hevehe ceremonies,
but unlike the tall hevehe masks, the eharo
were not considered sacred. They portrayed
mythological characters, often in a comical
fashion, and in the 20th century became
merely figures for entertainment, sometimes
representing characteristics of contemporary
culture such as hurricane lamps (Specht
1988: 34) and European boats (Young and
Clark 2001: 201).
Under pressure from outside influences,
the great ceremonies were abandoned prior
to and during the period of World War II (see
F.E. Williams in Schwimmer 1976: 331-92; but
see also Kiki 1968: 48-52) and the last of thegreat houses burnt down, never to be
replaced (Kiki 1968: 45).
Sepik-Ramu region
On the northern side of New Guinea, the
Sepik haus tambaran (‘spirit house’ in Pidgin
English), both on the river and in the Prince
Alexander Mountains to the north, fared bet-
ter than those of the Papuan Gulf. Some are
still in existence today, though not quite as
magnificent as those of the early 20th cen-
tury. The Papuan Gulf men’s houses were
impressive as structures but all the carved
Fig. 21. Sacred woven rattan figure (kaiaimunu)
from Ukiaravi village, Namau speakers, Purari Delta
(Murray 1912, Plate facing p. 219).
Fig. 22. Hevehe masks coming out of the eravo,
Orokolo, eastern Papuan Gulf. Photo: F.E. Williams,
February 1932 (Williams 1940, Plate 54; original
negative in South Australian Museum archives,
AA335, negative Nr 166).
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46 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Fig. 25. Main post of taab cult house named
Wotinkarau, under construction at Wokomot hamlet
of Big Murik village, Murik speakers, Murik Lakes.
Photos: B. Craig, M4: 7-9; 25 September 1983.
Fig. 23. Newly-completed taab cult house named
Bungabwar, at Janainamot hamlet of Big Murik
village, Murik speakers, Murik Lakes. Photo: B. Craig,
C32: 16; 21 November 1981.
and painted works – flat oval boards, sculp-
tures, masks and the like – were portable
items. In the Sepik-Ramu region, on the other
hand, the posts, beams, ridge poles and gable
supports of the houses are often richly
carved as sculptures in their own right and
some houses have large painted façades, and
carved and painted lintels and other sculp-
tures, as integral components.
There is a rich variety of architecture in
the Sepik-Ramu region (Craig 1975, 1980,
1987; Hauser-Schäublin 1989a; Lutkehaus et
al. 1990, Chapters 43-5, 52; Newton 1971; Ruff
1984; Schuster 1969; Swadling et al. 1988) but
here only that represented by objects in the
Masterpieces Exhibition will be mentioned.
Murik Lakes
The type of cult house called taab (Figs 23,
24) at Murik Lakes was said to have origi-
nated on Muschu Island and is also found on
Manam Island, on the Keram River, and on the
lower Sepik upstream from Angoram. This is
rectangular with one floor level, and a hori-
zontal or only slightly saddle-backed ridge.
The ornamented projecting gables at each
end (sometimes only one end) overhang
a transverse roofed porch and almost face
the ground (Hauser-Schäublin 1989a, Plates
66, 75, 78, 80, 83, 84, 106-11; Ruff 1984: 12-
14, 22-9, 40-3; Ruff and Ruff 1990, Figs 5, 15;
Swadling et al. 1988, Plates 170, 172-73, 197,
198). The centre posts may be carved with
representations of ancestral beings, masks
and animal totems (Fig. 25 and Craig 1987,
Plate 36).
The interior used to be decorated with
painted panels and feather mosaics (Stöhr
1987, Plates 48-50). Lipset (1997: 179-80)
writes of this type of house at Murik Lakes:
The Iatmul and Abelam cult buildings are
classed as feminine ‘bodies’. The Murik
taab is no woman but a beautiful spirit-
man (brag). Intimations of womanhood
are nevertheless found upon and within
‘his’ body. The cult house has a ‘penis’, but
‘he’ also has ‘skirts’ (dag) … Upon entering
the hall, men climb up a ladder and brush
through the fringe ‘like children,’ they say,
‘crawling underneath the skirts of their
mother’ … Hidden deep beneath these
‘skirts’ live the ‘canoe-bodies’ of the cult’s
most sacred spirits [the karkar spears].
Further, in the context of male initiation,
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 47
Fig. 24. Cult house (taab) named Bungabwar, at
Janainamot hamlet of Big Murik village, Murik
speakers, Murik Lakes. Plan and side elevation by
Wallace Ruff (Ruff 1984).
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48 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 12. Carved post and detail, Mendam village,
Murik Lakes, Murik speakers, East Sepik Province.
Wood. 615 cm x 23 cm diameter. 81.26.177 [original
registration number lost but identified as E.16257,
purchased from Barry Hoare and registered 28
February 1975].
Lipset concedes that the taab is ‘the symbolic
“womb” of a pregnant woman as well as a
birth house’ (1997: 161).
Another version of the Murik cult house,
called kamasan (Figs 26, 27) , has a floor plan
that is a long rectangle with one or two
pointed ends. The horizontally-ridged gabled
roof follows the same shape as the floor plan
(Ruff 1984: 8-11, 17-21; 32-6; Ruff and Ruff
1990, Figs 14, 17). This type of house is also
found at Watam Lagoon, the lower and mid-
dle Ramu, and in the lower Sepik and
Porapora region downstream from Angoram
(Hauser-Schäublin 1989a, Plates 87, 89-100;
Höltker 1966; Swadling et al. 1988, Plates
176-82).
Only in the men’s cult houses (taab and
kamasan at Murik Lakes) are the posts carved
with images (Ruff 1984: 10, 11). On the lower
Sepik, two posts may be carved but at Murik
Lakes it is only the rear post, its ‘centre man’
(wabii nor ). At each end of the roof beam a
serpent’s head (wakun kombatok ) is carved
and painted red (Lipset 1997: 180).
The taab and kamasan cult houses are
given personal names, as are the masks, fig-
ures and many other objects related to the
men’s cult. One of the most popular names is
Sendam and in 1982 ‘no less than three culthouses in Murik villages bore his name’ (ibid.
194). In 1981, I recorded six brag masks
named Sendam at Murik villages, for exam-
ple, Fig. 28, and, in 1983, one at Marbuk on
the lower Sepik. At Watam there was, in 1983,
the life-sized figure Sendam (see Fig. 66 this
book), pair to Jore in the Masterpieces
Exhibition.
Sendam is a highly significant figure in
Murik legend. He is ‘the spirit-man some
credit with the invention of organized war-
fare, the moiety system and wife-lending in
the [men’s] cult’ (ibid.: 192). Sendam came to
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 49
Fig. 26. Cult house (kamasan) named Sendam at
Mendam village, Murik speakers, Murik Lakes. Photo:
B. Craig C33: 25; 22 November 1981.
Fig. 28 (bottom). Mask (brag) named Sendam,
Mendam village, Murik speakers, Murik Lakes.
Bought by Pai-is f rom Watam, early 19th century.
This is the oldest mask known in the Murik Lakes
region. Photo: B. Craig, M33: 15; 22 November 1981.
Murik from Samap, 10 kilometres along the
coast beyond the western end of Murik Lakes.
His mother was a wild pig and his father a
villager. Lipset (ibid.: 192-93) recounts Send-
am’s subsequent adventures:
… the men of the father’s village hunt [his
mother] down. In retaliation, Sendam
destroys everything and everyone in it
(save his sister and her children) and then
leaves for the Murik coast where he finds
men fighting each other without form or
even weapons. He introduces spears and
spearthrowers to them and teaches them
how to fight each other in opposed pairs,
a principle of dual organization some say
he also applied to the male cult moieties.
… After making his gifts of weapons
and dualism to Murik warriors, Sendam
went on towards the Sepik River, where
the village today called Kopar was under
attack by two sea-eagle spirits,7
who were
husband and wife. Climbing the tree in
which they nested for the n ight, Sendam
killed the couple just at the very moment
they were making love in their mosquito
basket … In return for rescuing them, the
village men wanted to celebrate and
honor Sendam with a great feast. But the
hero refused their offer. He only wanted
women. Each man brought his wife to the
cult house and the spirit-man had inter-course with them, one by one …
Lipset recounts further episodes that
involve Sendam manipulating circumstances
to gain access to other men’s wives. The pur-
pose of this was to institute the practice of
wife-lending in the context of the cult of the
karkar spears. The function of this custom
was to provide the opportunity for men (the
husbands) to rise above mere jealous posses-
siveness, to be released from emotional
dependence on women (the ‘mother-wife’),
and to become fearless warriors. Being able
to engage in a battle of life-or-death is not
natural for men – it has to be learned.
No information was recorded regarding
the post in the Masterpieces Exhibition
(MPNr 12). It probably was carved for sale as
it is not a functional house post, lacking the
cradle-shaped top end required for support-
ing the ridge pole (Ruff and Ruff 1990, Fig.
14). Both sides are carved in similar fashion.
The ‘faces’ certainly represent brag masks,
inhabited by male guardian war spirits. At
least two of the male figures may represent
named ancestors descendant one from the
other, although the long noses of the lower
two figures are those of brag spirits rather
than ancestors (Beier and Aris 1975: 21). The
masks and figures all seem to be different,
suggesting that particular named masks and
ancestors or spirits are being represented.
The birds carved between the figures and the
masks are most likely what Lipset calls
‘canoe-bodies’ in which the brag ‘travel about
in nature’ (1997: 137).
Lower Ramu River
The museum’s register states that MPNr 14
is a post from Bosmun, but the style of the
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50 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Fig. 27. Cult house (kamasan) named Sendam at
Mendam village, Murik speakers, Murik Lakes. Plan
and side elevation by Wallace Ruff (Ruff 1984).
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 51
carved head on each side at the base of
the post does not match Bosmun style (cf.,
Christensen 1975: 49; Höltker 1966). Dirk
Smidt has attributed it to Mikarew, 8 kilome-
tres east of the lower Ramu in the Ruboni
Range. He visited there in 1973, noting sev-
eral such posts and purchasing two for the
museum. He writes (pers. comm. 15 March
2004) that such posts are called dupena
kunim and are carved for the men’s cer-
emonial house, which is constructed in
association with initiation and end-of-mourn-
ing rituals. Each post has a personal name
that is also the name of the two faces on
the lower part of the post. It is not known
whether the name is of an ancestor or per-
haps a bush spirit. Sometimes the posts
have representations of various animals
carved onto them. The bulging shape at the
top of the post represents a clay cooking
pot (munem). Pots used to be made by the
Mikarew people before the Catholic mission
MPNr 14. Carved post, Mikarew area, Ruboni R ange,
Mikarew speakers, Madang Province. Wood. 340 cm
x 35 cm diameter. E.15287. Purchased from Rudi
Caesar and registered 17 September 1974.
Fig. 29. Simon Novep of Kambot village, Kambot
speakers, with figure named Dama and one of his
paintings. Photo: B. Craig M22: 35;17 October 198 2.
Fig. 30. Paintings by Simon Novep. Left to right:
Konyim, a tree spirit (Dennett and Dennett 1975:39); wife of Dawena; Dawena (Dennett and Dennett
1975: 77); Wain (Dennett and Dennett 1975: 33-4);
wife of Wain. Photo: B. Craig C30: 36; 18 November
1981.
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52 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 4. Cult house façade, Kambot village, Keram River, Kambot speakers, East S epik Province. Sago spathes,
wood, rattan. 2.74 m high x 1.7 m wide at base. 81.26.121 [original registration number lost but identified as
E.10269, collected by Dirk Smidt in 1971, registered 18 May 1972]. Published in Smidt 1981: 21-2 and Illu sts
11-14; TPNGPMAG 1974b: 36; TPNGPMAG 1976a, Plate p. 29 (left of centre).
was built on the place where the clay was
mined; since then they have had to trade
pots from Bosmun.
Below the two faces at the base of the
Mikarew post (MPNr 14), the human figure is
carved in low relief, male on one side and
female on the other. The name of this post
was not recorded by Rudi Caesar.
Keram River
The painted men’s cult house façade from
Kambot on the Keram River (MPNr 4) was
commissioned by Dirk Smidt for the museum
in June 1971. It was painted over four days
by Simon Novep (Fig. 29), who drew the out-
lines of the figures, leaving other men to fill
in the colours (Smidt 1976, 1981, and pers.
comm. 17 March 2004). Simon Novep was themost well-known and competent artist of the
1960s-1980s in the Keram River area (Fig. 30,
and compare MPNr 4 with Craig 1987, Plate
74 and Dennett and Dennett 1975: 25, 28, 32,
36-9).
This façade was used as the model for the
painted façade of the building at the
entrance to the National Museum (Fig. 31 and
TNMAG 1980, front cover).
The central figure in the Masterpieces
painting is Mopul or Mobul. Novep told Helen
Dennett that the central figure in the façade
painting is always Mopul, never his brother
Wain (Helen Dennett, pers. comm. 9 February
2004). This is further confirmed by the title of
Josefine Huppertz’s book (1981) and in her
text.
Smidt (pers. comm. 17 March 2004) states
that the bird-headed figure on Mopul’s left is
a warrior named Bew; he holds a fighting
club (saleng). The female figure on Mopul’s
right is Angong, Mopul’s sister. The birds
above Mopul’s shoulders are cassowaries
(bandema). Above the cassowaries, the
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 53
animal on Mobul’s right side is a wallaby
(kowe) and on his left side is a lizard (lan),
probably the Varanus lizard whose skin is
used for hand drums. Above Mopul’s head is
his dog (lunduma), which kills the lizard and
wallaby to provide food for Mopul. Above the
two cassowaries, stars (gunouma) give Mopul
light at night. Mopul’s headdress ( pombwan)
incorporates the tail feathers of a cockerel,
and fish bones at the centre (the remains of
his meal). Ornaments of crescent pearl shell
and oval melo shell (Cymbium? ) hang round
Mopul’s neck and on his chest; ornaments
incorporating dogs’ teeth, cowries and nassa
shells are worn on his forehead and at his
waist; he wears three types of armbands and
his loincloth is painted with a face design. On
his abdomen, the curvilinear design repre-
sents his intestines ( yanbe). The zigzags on
his shoulders and rows of small circles on his
thighs are the scarification marks of the fully
initiated man.
Huppertz8
has published a series of pho-
tographs of Kambot cult house façades:
Plate 10) is a reproduction of the one
taken in 1929 by K.P. Schmidt of the
Crane Expedition (see Shurcliff 1930,
Plate opp. p. 234; Webb 1995, Fig. 8); aphotograph of the interior of the cult
house also was published by Shurcliff
(1930, Plate opp. p. 236);
1950s photograph by Peter Beltjens,
demonstrating that the façade had been
replaced, at least once but probably
more than once, since the Crane Expedi-
tion;
photograph taken by Henry Lehner in
1965, showing a replacement façade just
before its erection;
Fig. 31. Façade of the entrance building at PNG
National Museum and Art Galler y, Waigani, showing
reproduction of Simon Novep painting. Photo:
B. Craig, September 1981.
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54 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Fig. 32. Drawing by Wallace Ruff of cult house
named Bonjo, and its façade, at Kambot village,
Kambot speakers, Keram River (Ruff and Ruff 1990,
Fig. 5).
Plate 14), taken by John Kovac in the
1970s, is of the façade on the cult house
Bonjo (Craig 1981: 147) that was painted
around 1970 and was still in place in
1981 (cf., Ruff and Ruff 1990, Fig. 5;
Swadling et al. 1988, Plate 197, image
left-right reversed) but was taken down
in 1982 or 1983 because it was too
damaged by rain. Huppertz suggests that
this painting (Fig. 32) was done by Simon
Novep (1991: 93). It was there when
Smidt commissioned the museum’s
painting from Novep in 1971 and
survived until 1982.
illustrates a façade painted for John
Kovac in 1974 by Zacharias Wepenang to
send to a museum in Europe.
Although the iconography of each of
these façades is similar, with a large male fig-
ure standing in the centre flanked by two
smaller persons, usually female, there are
some interesting differences in the motifs
that are analysed by Huppertz. The style of
each is also significantly different. Her series
of five photographs of paintings of a culthouse façade ranging over almost half a cen-
tury is unique in the record of New Guinea’s
cultural heritage.
Dennett and Dennett (1975: 33-4) have
published the story of Mopul and his older
brother Wain, as told by Simon Novep:9
The story of Mopul and Wain
Mopul and his elder brother Wain lived near
Angoram at a place called Mangrama where
they built a haus tambaran [men’s cult house].
Wain’s wife, angered because Mopul, who
was unmarried, ignored her constant efforts
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 55
to attract him, smeared some red sap on her
head and told her husband that she had
been injured during a struggle with Mopul
when he had tried to force his attentions on
her. In fear of reprisal, Mopul hid in the haus
tambaran.
Wain took a spear and went to the haus
tambaran, loudly demanding retribution
from his brother. Mopul’s friends, who had
hidden with him, advised him to lie low til l
Wain’s temper had cooled. But Wain’s rage
continued and he demanded that blood be
spilt to avenge the insult to his wife. Consid-
ering it the best solution, Mopul passively
presented himself to be speared in the leg.
Fearing that there would be further trou-
ble, Mopul told his mother, sister and friends
to return to their houses. He sensed that Wain
would set the haus tambaran on fire. Mopul
flung a bone knife at the main post and it
split. He squeezed through the crevice, went
down the hollow centre and left the building.
He collected some animal bones and placed
them at the spot he normally occupied in the
haus tambaran. Then he hid in a hole to await
developments.
Just as he had feared, Wain set fire to the
building and it burned to the ground. In the
ruins, Wain came across the supposedremains of his brother and was struck with
bitter remorse. Mopul waited for nightfall and
crept to his mother’s house. They collected
their possessions and got into a canoe. As it
pulled away, Mopul flung a coconut at Wain’s
house. Wain woke and, believing the noise to
be made by Mopul’s spirit, ran outside. He
saw no one.
Downstream they went to a place in the
Pora Pora area called Busima. Mopul built a
haus tambaran there and carved a garamut
drum for it.
The sound of the drum reached Wain and
he recognised the rhythms as those made by
his brother. He set out to find Mopul and on
reaching Busima was overjoyed to find him
still alive. Wain noticed a fine canoe there and
asked Mopul to make a similar one for him.
Mopul said that it had been laboriously
carved out by shell. This was a lie as he had
brought a stone axe with him when he fled
from Mangrama. He promised to make a
canoe if Wain would fetch a stone axe from
up river. Wain set, out leaving his wife behind.
All that night Mopul worked on a new
canoe, making it very thin in parts. Here and
there he made holes and caulked them over
with mud. Next morning Mopul left with his
mother and sister for a nearby island. Wain’s
wife wished to accompany them but Mopul
insisted that she stay there to await Wain’s
return.
Wain soon came back and was puzzled by
Mopul’s sudden departure. His wife showed
him the new canoe and he decided to go
back to Mangrama. They paddled off but
soon the canoe sank. Wain swam about look-
ing for his wife but could not find her.
Eventually he gave up the search and struck
out for the shore.
On the bank he saw two girls who were
fishing for eels. Their names were Sisili andYiripi. He swam ashore without being noticed
and hid inside a length of bamboo which he
caused to fall in front of the girls. Sisili
decided to take the bamboo to her father for
spearheads but Yiripi said it was too heavy.
Sisili carried it for a while but then cast it into
the undergrowth by the side of the track. It
rolled towards them of its own accord so Sis-
ili, recognising its magical properties,
struggled with it back to the village. She put
it on a platform above the fire. As they were
resting, Wain threw a betel nut at each girl.
Looking up in surprise, they saw a man sitting
where the bamboo had been. Sisili was
charmed by his appearance and claimed him
as her husband but Yiripi, as the elder sister,
claimed prior right.
At that point the girls’ parents came home
carrying white clay, which they used to boil
and eat. Wain threw the clay away in disgust
saying that he would get them something
more palatable. He ordered them to line up
their pots, baskets, canoes and any other
receptacles they could find. Uttering a spell
Wain drew prepared sago from the surround-
ing bush. It came as a long white snake and
filled the containers to overflowing. They
then ate to their hearts’ content.
In a few days, the store of sago had fin-
ished and the people asked Wain for more.
He told the girls to go into the bush and call
out. The sago snake would heed their calls
and come to the village. But they did not fol-
low his instructions and crept silently
through the bush. One of the girls saw what
she thought was a snake. She struck out at it
but too late recognised it as the ‘snake’ of
sago. It retreated into a tree and Wain, upon
hearing their account of what had happened,
lamented their foolishness. From then on,
sago [has] had to be prepared by the labori-
ous process used nowadays.Wain married the two girls and after a
time Yiripi gave birth to a son who was called
Tai. Meanwhile, Mopul had built a house on a
small island where he lived by himself. Mopul
disapproved of Wain’s having two wives and
as Tai grew older, appeared in dreams and
ordered Tai to tell his father to send Sisili
away. This Tai did but his constant requests so
angered Wain that he killed Tai. As they were
burying the boy, the people noticed two fig-
ures approaching the spot in a canoe. When
they came closer, the people saw that they
were Mopul and Tai. Mopul asked for a
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56 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Fig. 33. Drawing by Wallace Ruff of men’s cult house
Molgaivi, Tongwindjamb village, Kwoma speakers,
Washkuk Hills (Ruff and Ruff 1990, Fig. 7).
coconut. He drank the milk, made magic with
the shell, and rendered Tai and himself invisi-
ble. The villagers were struck with fear and
fled. They then established a new settlement
at Kambot and their descendants have lived
there to this day.
Washkuk Hills, Ambunti area
Roughly halfway up the Sepik River, the
Washkuk Hills relieve the monotony of the
lower and middle Sepik floodplain. The
government station of Ambunti has been
established there. The culture of the peo-
ple living in this area is significantly different
to that of the Sepik mainstream people,
with yam cultivation featuring prominently.
These people locate their ancestral origin in
the north, at the eastern end of the Torricelli
Mountains.
A roofline similar to that of the double-
pointed kamasan of Murik Lakes is a feature
of the Kwoma, Nukuma, Warasei and Yasyin
cult houses of the Washkuk Hills and of the
Sanchi and Namblo rivers near Ambunti
(Bowden 1983: 44-51, Plates 2-4; Hauser-
Schäublin 1989a, Plates 175-79; Newton 1971,
Illusts 131-40; Ruff and Ruff 1990, Fig. 7; Swa-
dling et al. 1988, Plates 225-26, 228-30). But
these buildings consist of a roof only, taper-
ing at both ends and lacking raised floors,
walls and gables. Also, all the major posts,
beams and finials are extravagantly carved
and painted with figures depicting clan spir-
its and episodes in clan myths (Figs 33-6). The
underside of the roof is often completely
lined with sago ‘spathes’10 painted with
designs in red, yellow and white on a black
ground, representing totemic species of
plants and animals. Ross Bowden writes
(1990: 482):
Totems (sabo) and spirits (sikilowas) , like
myths, are owned by particular clans,
and only members of the clans that own
them may carve or paint representations
of them.
The structural components of the Kwoma
cult house (korombo) are made of two types
of timber (Bowden 1990: 483-84; 1992: 80-3).
The horizontal ridge pole, finials and side
beams are made of mes and the vertical posts
are made of the hardwood nyembi . The mes
timber is associated with yam-planting as it is
from this timber that the yam-planting stick
is made. In a certain story the stick functions
as a penis and impregnates a female snake
that gives birth to a human male child. This
boy is subsequently ki lled and reincarnated
as a giant mes tree. When a woman steps over
its roots, she automatically becomes preg-
nant. Another myth gives the men’s house a
murderous, cannibalistic character that is
embodied as a spirit in the front post made
of nyembi timber. Bowden thus argues that,
through the significance of the types of tim-
ber used in the construction of the cult
house, and through the yam harvest rituals
conducted within it,
men represent themselves … both as cre-
ators of human beings and yams and as
killers. These two ideas are actually related
in Kwoma thought, since it is by kill ing
enemies in battle that men are believed
to acquire the capacity to plant and grow
yams.
It is in these cult houses that the sacred
slit-gongs are kept and where the yena, mija
and nowkwi figures are set up in conjunction
with the yam harvest rituals, analysed in
detail by Bowden (1983).
The motif on the two ridge poles in
MPNrs 208, 209 is the same as that on the
finials of the Wosera, Sawos and Iatmul cult
houses – a bird perched above a human face
or figure. The carved and painted faces
beneath this motif represent clan water spir-
its (sikilowas).
Middle Sepik River
Essentially the one type of cult house existed
in all the Iatmul villages along the middle
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 57
Fig. 35. Men’s cult house, Bangwis village, Kwoma
speakers, Washkuk Hills. Photo: B. Craig BM27: 24;
7 January 1973.
Fig. 34. Finial of men’s cult house, Bangwis village,
Kwoma speakers, Washkuk Hills. Photo: B. Craig
BM27: 27; 7 January 1973.
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58 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 208. Ridge pole, Washkuk hills, Ambunti area,
Kwoma speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 500 cm.
x 25 cm. diameter. E.7292. Registered 10 February
1971.
Fig. 36. Interior of Ambunti Court House, built in the
style of a men’s cult house. Photo: B. Craig C9: 35;
29 October 1981.
MPNr 209. Ridge pole, Washkuk hills, Ambunti area,
Kwoma speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 263 cm.
x 28 cm. diameter. E.7291. Registered 10 February
1971.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 59
Sepik, the lower reaches of the Karawari
and Blackwater rivers, at Chambri Lake, and
to the north among the Sawos (Fig. 37; also
Hauser-Schäublin 1989a, Plates 121, 124-27,
133-34, 137-42, 137-49, 156-65 and Swa-
dling et al. 1988, Plates 206-14, 217-24, 227).
Many of these cult houses remain to this
day. They used to contain a large number of
carved and painted objects such as debating
stools, suspension hooks, human and ani-
mal totem representations, slit-gongs, sacred
flutes, water drums and mud-beaters, and
the upper floor levels once displayed painted
sago-’spathe’ skull racks (Kelm 1966a, Plate
237; Stöhr 1987, Plate 28). Of all these types
of objects, only the slit-gongs remain in any
number, most of the other objects having
been purchased by museums and art dealers.
The middle Sepik cult house (Iatmul:
ngego) may be seen as a variation of the
Murik Lakes taab cult house – rectangular
floor plan and peaked gables, but rising
vertically rather than near horizontal, and as a
consequence having a distinctly saddle-
backed ridge line. As is the case for the taab,
there is often, but not always, a transversely-
roofed porch at each end.
These houses are characterised by a post-
and-beam method of construction, which
employs a central row of tall posts
supporting the ridge beam, two rows of
shorter posts supporting the roof’s side
beams, and two rows of short posts
Fig. 37. Men’s cult house, Paiyembit (Paiambit),
Palimbei village, Iatmul speakers, middle Sepik
(cf., Ruff and Ruff 1990, Fig. 9). Photo: B. Craig C16: 3;
4 November 1981.
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60 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
supporting the raised floor beams. Thus the
flooring is structurally independent of the
rest of the building. The tops of the posts are
notched to cradle the beams and elaborate
rattan bindings provide strong but flexible
fastening of the other components, impor-
tant in an area subject to earth tremors. The
main posts of the men’s houses are carved
with faces or figures representing certainancestors and their adventures, and bear
their proper names. Animal and geometric
motifs represent clan totems. Hauser-Schäub-
lin (1983: 46, footnote 14) reports that a myth
‘relates that the men’s house used to be sup-
ported not by wooden posts but by
ancestors that took their place and sup-
ported the house with their bodies’.
A gable support post is placed high up on
a crossbeam at each end of the house thus
creating the saddle-back roof form (Swadling
et al. 1988, Plate 216, but normally hidden
from view, as in the Tolembi men’s house in
Plate 209). Sometimes there are two of these
gable support posts at each end of the cult
house (Coiffier 1990, Fig. 3). The gable sup-
port post is carved from the buttress roots of
a tree, which form the legs and arms of a
spread-legged female figure.11
Among the
Sawos, this figure is called vavi . Schindlbeck
(1985) has provided detailed information on
Sawos gable support posts and their signifi-cance (see below).
At the top of the gable support post at
each end of the cult house is a finial carved as
an eagle clutching a woman in its talons (Fig.
38; also Craig 1987, Plate 30; Swadling et al.
1988, Plate 219). Wassmann (1991: 15) asserts
that, at the Iatmul village of Kandingei, ‘The
eagle is held to be a symbol of the aggres-
siveness and the warlike strength and
boldness (ko) of the village’.
The gables and walls are elaborately dec-
orated with leaf shingles trimmed and cut
into patterns in various shades of brown, and
Fig. 38. Finial of men’s cult house, Shotmeri-yogwi
at Shotmeri village, Iatmul speakers, middle Sepik.
Photo: B. Craig C14: 34; 3 November 1981.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 61
Fig. 39 (opposite page top). Men’s cult house
Paimbit, Tolembi Nr 1, Sawos speakers, middle Sepik.
Photo: B. Craig C3: 25; 11 September 1982.
Fig. 40. Family house, Tambanum village, Iatmul
speakers, middle Sepik. Photo: B. Craig C20: 21;
10 November 1981.
large triangular flaps hang from the raised
floor (Fig. 39).
There is often a large gable mask made of
carved and painted wood (for example,
MPNrs 21, 22), painted basketry or other
materials, representing the named female
spirit of the house (Fig. 40).12
These masks
had a protective function (Craig 1987, Plates
16, 61; Stöhr 1987, Plate 19; Swadling et al.
1988, Plates 211, 217, 220, 222-24). Coiffier
(1990: 494) reports:
Sometimes the whole gable looks like a
human face, with the opening for the
door taking the place of the mouth. The
names of the decorative elements of the
gable confirm this anthropomorphism: pu
(breast), dama (nose), nimbi (teeth), kundi
(mouth), menii (eyes), dama-livit (decora-
tive nose).
Below the gable mask there may be a row
of small windows, each displaying nowadays
a carved and painted head, substitutes for
over-modelled and painted enemy skulls
(Webb 1995, Fig. 5).
The most famous of the Sepik River cult
houses is Wolimbit in the Iatmul village of
Kanganaman (Figs 41-4 and Craig 1987,
Plates 17-22). Perhaps the largest cult house
ever built in the Sepik, it has probably been inexistence for well over 100 years and one of
its centre posts (named ‘Sagasagu’) has a his-
tory stretching back before the foundation of
Kanganaman village itself. Wolimbit was pho-
tographed by Shurcliff in 1929 (Webb 1995,
Fig. 5) and by Speiser and Bateson in the
early 1930s (Bateson 1958, Plate VIIa; Hauser-
Schäublin 1989a, Plate 143; Swadling et al.
1988, Plate 215).
Around 1947-48, the house was rebuilt,
re-using a few of the old posts. By 1956, all
the façade, porch roofing, the walls, and the
large triangular flaps hanging from the raised
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62 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 21. Gable mask , middle Sepik, Iatmul
speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, raffia remnants
along nose. 83 x 46 cm. E.511. Registered 24
September 1958. Published in a photograph of
an exhibition in the PNG Museum around 1965
(TPNGMAG 1966, Plate opp. p. 24, left of centre) and
in TPNGMAG 1967, Plate 4.
MPNr 22. Gable mask , Yentchanmangua village,
middle Sepik, Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province.
Wood. 108 x 41 cm. E.346.1. One of seven large
masks collected by Dadi Wirz in 1955 and registered
7 December 1956. Published in a photograph of
an exhibition in the PNG Museum around 1965
(TPNGMAG 1966, Plate opp. p. 26, bottom left).
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 63
MPNr 18 (right). Cult house gable finial, attributed
to Kanganaman village, middle Sepik, Iatmul
speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 220 x 33
cm. 81.26.127 [original registration number lostbut identified as most likely E.1348, registered 9
February 1966 but noted as in museum before that
date].
floor, were gone (Kaufmann 1975, Plates 95,
96; see also Hauser-Schäublin 1989a, Plate
144; Swadling et al. 1988, Plate 216). A fin-
ial and gable support post, removed from
Wolimbit cult house at Kanganaman for
replacement, was brought to the attention
of the President of the Museum’s Board of
Trustees, Sir Alan Mann, in a letter written
at Ambunti by Douglas Newton on 19 June
1964 (National Museum archives). In a let-
ter from the Museum of Primitive Art, dated 6
October 1964, Newton responded to a letter
from Mann dated 26 June 1964 stating, ‘I was
…most happy to have been of any assistance
to the Museum in the matter of the carv-
ings at Kanganaman’. Presumably, the finial in
MPNr 18 was the one referred to in this cor-
respondence but as it has lost its registration
number, it can only be inferred that it is the
item registered E.1348 in 1966. There are no
other candidates in the register, up until the
end of 1969. It seems that its companion fin-
ial may be the one bought by Jean Guiart
from Kanganaman in 1965 for the Musée
National des arts d’Afrique et Océanie in Paris
(Meyer 1995, Plate 213). However, the caption
does not specify that it came from Wolimbit
cult house.
In 1961, Eike Haberland collected fourposts from a Kanganaman cult house on
behalf of the Frobenius Institut and Museum
für Völkerkunde, Frankfurt am Main (Haber-
land and Schuster 1964: 52-3). But these were
from Munsimbit cult house, not Wolimbit.13
On 30 November 1967, Wolimbit cult
house and all the artefacts in and underneath
it were declared and gazetted as National
Cultural Property. Perhaps around 1970, some
posts were replaced and in 1972 and 1974,
two old ones were acquired for the PNG
Museum (MPNrs 10, 11). Holden published
the first detailed architectural drawings in
1975. He measured the house at 34 metres
long, 8 metres wide and 17 metres high to
the peak of the finials. In 1980 an earthquake
caused severe damage. Wallace Ruff exam-
ined the building in 1981 and produced a
comprehensive report of the damage and
options for repairing the house (Ruff 1981).
The National Museum provided some fund-
ing to assist with the carving of replacement
posts (Craig 1987, Plate 21). The two gable
finials were acquired for the museum in 1981
and are presently in storage. Wolimbit has
since been rebuilt.
The largest Kanganaman post (MPNr 10),
named Masagumban, was purchased by the
museum in January 1974 and transported on
a raft of river canoes to Angoram on 17 Jan-
uary 1974. In due course it arrived in Port
Moresby but because of its size was put into
storage pending construction of the new
museum building at Waigani. It would appear
that it was never registered, a situation that
was remedied in 1981. This, like the other
post (MPNr 11), formed part of the structure
of Wolimbit. It was positioned in one of the
rows of posts along the sides of the building
and supported one end of a roof side beam.
Clan ancestors and other mythical beings
are represented on the post, including Masa-gumban, the full figure carving on one side
of the post, who was the founder of the clan
that owned the post. The little frog-like fig-
ure on the side opposite the representation
of Masagumban is identical to the little figure
carved at the base of the Kanganaman finial
(MPNr 18). In museum correspondence, the
post was noted as approximately 28 feet (8.6
metres) long; approximately 1.45 metres of
the base is buried into the floor of the exhi-
bition space.
The smaller of the two Kanganaman posts
is the oldest. It supported one of the
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64 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 10. House post (and details), personal name
Masagumban; Kanganaman village, middle S epik,
Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. c. 7.15
m x 60 cm diameter. 81.26.123 [purchased by the
museum in January 1974 but apparently never
registered].
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 65
MPNr 11. House post (and details), personal name
Masam; Kanganaman village, middle Sepik, Iatmul
speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. c. 4.8 m x 43
cm diameter. E.10192. Collected by Dirk Smidt and
registered 5 May 1972.
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66 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
horizontal transverse beams of the upper
floor and was located right beside one of the
major corner posts of the building support-
ing the roof side beams. Its name is Masam,
the name of one of the two clans that owned
the post. Masam is a mythical clan founder
whose image is carved onto the post.
Because of its deterioration, around 1971 it
was replaced by a new post and bought the
following year for the National Museum. In
the museum register it is noted as 20 feet 7
inches (6.27 metres) long; approximately 1.47
metres of the base is buried into the floor of
the exhibition space.
The post from Marap Nr 2 (MPNr 15), a
Sawos village about 12 kilometres north of
the Sepik village of Yentschan, probably sup-
ported the side beam of the roof of the cult
house. It is only half the height of its Kangan-
aman counterpart, but Sawos cult houses
tend to be much lower to the ground than
the riverside Iatmul houses, which have to be
built up high because of annual flooding. The
figure on the Marap post no doubt depicts a
clan’s founding ancestor but the name was
not recorded by its collector, Barry Hoare.
The finial MPNr 18 is attributed to Kanga-
naman village because the eagle has its
wings at its sides, not outstretched, and that
design is copyright to Kanganaman. The frog-
like figure incised beneath the feet of the
woman may refer to the frog as a totem. In
Kandingei, the frog belongs to Wango clan
(Wassmann 1991: 219); this may also be the
case in Kanganaman, where I recorded a clan
named Wanigo. The sawfish incised on one
side also may be a clan totem; the sawfish is
the totem of Yambune clan at Kandingei but
it might be the totem for some other clan at
Kanganaman.
There are many versions of the story of
the woman held by the eagle, as portrayed
Fig. 41. Southern entrance to men’s cult house
Wolimbit at Kanganaman vi llage, Iatmul speakers,
middle Sepik. Photo: B. Craig C9: 20; 28 October
1981.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 67
on the finials of Iatmul cult houses. An
abridgement of the lengthy story recorded at
Kandingei by Wassmann (1991: 192-95) is as
follows:
There were once two sisters, Kanda and
Kula. They went off in their canoe to go fish-
ing. After a while, Kula wanted to go and
relieve herself and she asked Kanda to take
her to a nearby floating grass island. While
Kula was relieving herself, Kanda took off,
abandoning Kula on the island. Kula became
frightened and wept.
After a while, a little fish came swimming
along and Kula said: ‘Oh good fish, swim
down and tell your father, the water spirit and
crocodile Tandemi, to come up and set me
free.’ The fish swam down and told his father
that there was a very pretty young woman
on a grass island who had asked for help. The
crocodile father was angry. ‘You liar!’ he
shouted, and struck the fish, who lay there
and wept bitterly.
Another fish came by and again Kula
asked it to take a message to its father, the
crocodile. He did so and again the father
yelled ‘You liar!’ and struck the fish so that it
wept. This happened over and over again,
with other fish, a crayfish and an eel, until at
last the eldest child, a crocodile, decided toinvestigate. He adorned himself and swam up
to see this woman. When he surfaced, Kula
was frightened and asked him if he was the
father crocodile. He said ‘No’, and Kula asked
him to go down and ask his father to come
and fetch her.
The eldest swam down and reported,
‘Father, my little brothers were not lying; they
were telling the truth. There really is a very
pretty woman up there. She wants you to go
and fetch her.’ The father dropped what he
was doing at once, put on his adornments,
took his crocodile frame of rattan and slipped
Fig. 42. Two gable support posts, southern end of
Wolimbit, Kanganaman village, Iatmul speakers,
middle Sepik. Photo: B. Craig C14: 3; 1 November
1981.
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68 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Fig. 43. Eaves post (right) and floor support post
(left), south-east corner of Wolimbit, Kanganaman
village, Iatmul speakers, middle Sepik. Photo:
B. Craig C10: 28; 30 October 1981.
into it. Now he was a big crocodile, a mighty
thing; he swam to the surface and splashed
around a little. Kula became afraid and
called out, ‘Are you going to eat me up?’ Tan-
demi opened his jaws and said, ‘You called
for me and now I have come. I am not a croc-
odile; I am a human being, Tandemi
[Samangwak clan]. I have come to take you
down to my place.’ He then revealed himself
as a man by briefly removing his rattan croc-
odile frame.
He told her to sit on his shoulders but she
protested that she would drown. ‘No, the
water is only on top. Below there is no more
water; there’s a village there. That’s where we
two will go.’ They sank into the water and
reached the village. Its name is Wanandi or
Meimbanandi. She became his wife.
After a while, Kula became pregnant; then
she gave birth to two eggs. Tandemi told her
to put them in a clay pot. After a while, the
eggs broke open and two little birds came
out. The elder, Mingre [Wango clan] pushed
the lid aside and perched on the rim of the
pot; the younger, Ndambali [Wango clan] also
perched on the rim. The two cried ‘ Aaaa, iiii,
aaaaa, iiii, klaklaklakla, aaaaa, iiii !’ Then Kula
and Tandemi came running and spoke their
names. The two eagles then rose and flewaround the village. Then Kula called the name
of the wani tree [Samangwak clan]. At that,
the two young eagles flew up through the
water and found a large wani tree where they
built a platform. There they lurked and very
soon there was not a man, woman or child
left in the area; they had pecked the heads
off all of them and eaten them. They brought
their victims up to their platform and ate
them there. This went on for some time.
They then decided to fetch their mother
and flew back down to the underwater vil-
lage. The elder brother, Mingre, seized her by
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 69
the head and the younger, Ndambali, seized
her by the feet, and the mother cried out in
fear. The two flew up through the water, up to
the wani tree and laid her on the platform.
Then they killed her, tore her to pieces, ate
her arms, her legs, her belly and her head;
they ate everything except her skull. Her skull
fell down near the wani tree.
There is much more to the story, how two
brothers (one of whom is named as Mangi-
saun – see MPNr 123) tricked the eagles and
were able to kill them, but the brothers were
in turn killed by their own children.
Another version of this story, associated
with a carving kept at Kararau (Fig. 45 and
Craig 1987, Plate 31), has the woman, Gun-
namak (Mbagat-ngowi, Kwala-nambu),
mating with the crocodile and giving birth to
a snake (kinjin) and an eel (ang-guri ). The
story goes on to tell how Gun’namak carved
out the course of the Sepik, which flowed
from the large inland lake called Mebenbit. It
is possible that this mythical lake is a
Fig. 44. Middle centre post of Wolimbit,
Kanganaman village, Iatmul speakers, middle Sepik
and orator’s stool Kiganmeri. Photo: B. Craig C9: 12;
28 October 1981.
Fig. 45. Figure of Gun-namak (Mbagat-ngowi, Kwala-
nambu) at Kararau village, Iatmul speakers, middle
Sepik. Photo: B. Craig C16: 30; 5 November 1981.
reference to the large saltwater embayment
that existed in that area several thousand
years ago (Swadling et al. 1988: 14-15; Swa-
dling et al 1991).
The gable support post MPNr 19 is from
Tolembi, a village towards the western side of
Sawos territory. The Iatmul and Sawos regard
their men’s houses as female. Schindlbeck
(1985) informs us that the Sawos men’s house
‘Mindjembit’, which existed in primeval times,
is referred to as ‘mother’ and that the men’s
houses in other Sawos and Iatmul villages are
regarded as her ‘daughters’. In the myth of the
building of this first men’s house by the
woman Solambundivi (ibid.: 370-71), it was
her younger brother Mondiawan who carved
the first gable support post (vavi ) with the
likeness of a woman with spread legs, arms
stretched out to her knees, at its base
(Fig. 46).
The Sawos gable finial (tapmui-vavi ) por-
trays an eagle on top of a male figure. Sawos
and most western Iatmul portray a male
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70 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Fig. 46. Gable support post named Am biawoli, north
end of men’s cult house Sombi, Nangusap village,
Sawos speakers, middle Sepik. Photo: B. Craig M9: 19;
15 September 1982.
MPNr 19. Cult house gable support post, female
figure, Tolembi vi llage, middle Sepik, Sawos
speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 342 x 131
x 108 cm. E.16046. Purchased from Barry Hoare
and registered 10 February 1975. Published by
Schindlbeck (1985: 381, 390).
figure on the finial whereas central Iatmul
portray a female figure. In all cases, the base
of the finial is carved as the lower half of a
hand drum and its hollowed-out section sits
over the top of the gable support post. This
finial is said by the Sawos to be the ‘brother’
of the female figure that forms the base of
the gable support post (vavi-ambu).
The word vavi can refer to the woman at
the base of the gable support post, to the
bird of the gable finial or to the sacred flutes.
Some say that flutes were, in primordial
times, played by women in a flute house (sai )
in the forest; but men came along and k illed
the women and took away their flutes. Others
say that the sound of the flute is the voice of
the dead soul of a mythical woman. Related
to this is the statement that the sound of the
flutes in the men’s house is the voice of vavi
and it is she who makes the circular cuts
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 71
around the nipples of the boys at their
initiation.
Women were the original beings and
therefore had the social primacy normally
due to the older brother. Olimandji of
Gaikarobi said:
A woman is the o lder brother. She speaks
with certainty. She opens her vulva when
we want to have intercourse. She gives
birth to us, she raises us and she swallows
us again. She is the head of us all and she
decides when we have to die. [Schindl-
beck 1985: 369]
The Sawos think of death as ‘going to the
vulva-pit’. The spread-legged female figure
above each entrance of the men’s house is
portrayed with an open vulva, thus remind-
ing the men of where they have come from
and where they will be going. A vavi is also
named in many of the songs about warfare
and headhunting. The Sawos say that the
enemy was brought back to the village and
the body cut up. Blood was smeared on the
posts of the men’s house, the sitting plat-
forms, the stools, the slit-gongs and over
everyone inside the house. They say that vavi
drank the blood of the enemy (ibid.: 377).
‘Without blood, nothing is there.’ Only when
the blood of an enemy is ‘honoured’ in this
way is the spirit of that person recruited for
the benefit of the community.
MPNr 158, said to be from the Iatmul vil-
lage of Korogo, is a lintel-like carving of a
spread-legged female figure flanked by fish.
The significance of this iconography is not
known but perhaps the woman represents
Kula and the fish are two of the ‘sons’ of the
crocodile Tandemi. A similar carving, with a
central female figure flanked on each side by
four smaller, headless female figures and a
crocodile head at each end, appears under-
neath the gable mask of the Man-gembit
men’s house at Tolembi (Fig. 47; also Craig
1987, Plate 61 and Swadling et al. 1988, Plate
211). It is possible that the central female fig-
ure represents the same woman, vavi , that is
at the base of the gable support post, and the
fish and crocodiles are totems of particular
clans.
These gable carvings are obviously
related in form to the larger and more elabo-
rate lintels of the cult houses of the Prince
Alexander Mountains to the north (Craig
1987, Plates 54-6; Koch 1968, Plates 23-8).
MPNr 15. House post, Marap Nr 2 vi llage, middle
Sepik, Sawos speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.
3.57 m x 38 cm. E.10449. Donated by Barry Hoare
and registered 19 October 1972. Published in
TPNGPMAG 1976a, Plate p. iv (with incorrect
registration number) and Plate p. 29 (centre).
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72 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Fig. 47. Gable masks and ‘lintel’ on men’s cult house
Man-gembit, Tolembi village, Sawos speakers,
middle Sepik. Photo: B. Craig C2: 37; 11 September
1982.
MPNr 158. Female figure flanked by fish, Korogo
village, middle Sepik, Iatmul speakers, East Sepik
Province. Wood. 177 x 16 cm. E.8053. Purchased from
Wayne Heathcote and registered 8 June 1971.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 73
Fig. 48. Men’s cult house, Wingei village, Abelam
speakers, Prince Alexander Mountains. Photo:
B. Craig C10: 19; 16 June 1981.
Prince Alexander Mountains
The type of cult house to be found north of
the Sawos – among the Kwanga, Arapesh,
Abelam and Boiken (Swadling et al. 1988,
Plates 183-96) – is radically different to the
Middle Sepik type, though Hauser-Schäublin
(1989a: 615ff.) makes a case for its evolution
from that type. It has an earth floor, a trape-
zoid or triangular plan, a ridge pole sloping
dramatically from the richly decorated front
gable to the ground at the rear, forming a
three-sided pyramid on a triangular base.
The external face of the gable is covered with
paintings on sago ‘spathe’, with red the dom-
inant colour. The Masterpieces Exhibition has
achitectural items representing the Abelam,
Kwanga and Boiken.
Abelam
The Abelam façade and lintel in MPNrs 1 and
2, collected by Roy Mackay, most likely came
from the same cult house at Kalabu Nr 2. The
Abelam call their cult house korombo. The
external face of the gable is covered with
paintings on sago ‘spathe’, with red the dom-
inant colour (Fig. 48 and Losche 1982: 50-1).
The design usually depicts rows of faces or
figures representing nggwalndu. These super-
natural beings are not, according to some
researchers, ancestors but spirits normally
residing outside clan territory, each having
an interest in the welfare of a particular clan
(Hauser-Schäublin 1989a: 612). Their powers
can be invoked through yam cult ritual and
male initiation to benefit human endeavours,
especially the competitive growing of long
yams by men. A carved and painted lintel
depicting a row of faces or figures (for exam-
ple, MPNrs 6, 7) is secured at the base of the
painted façade (Craig 1987, Plates 54-6; Forge
1973a, Plate 2; Hauser-Schäublin 1989b: 20,
132; Koch 1968, Plates 4, 26-31). Carved and
painted images of snakes, hornbills and other
animals may be displayed on and/or near
the lintel.
In cubicles inside the korombo are the
carvings of the nggwalndu (see MPNrs 17,
185, 186), which are kept secret from the
women and uninitiated boys. The interior
walls and ceilings of the cubicles, in which
the carved and painted ritual objects are dis-
played, are lined with painted palm ‘spathes’
(Hauser-Schäublin 1989b: 160; Losche 1982:
52-3). A large corpus of carved, painted and
ephemeral works is produced for various
stages of male initiation (Hauser-Schäublin
1989b: 79, 148).
Hauser-Schäublin (1989a: 612) explains
that the cult house is regarded as the tempo-
rary dwelling for the nggwalndu. The secret
carvings do not so much represent the
nggwalndu as provide a physical abode for
them after they have been enticed from their
normal habitat outside village territory by
the screams of pigs being singed to death
(ibid.: 610-11). Forge (1973a: 189) analyses the
imagery in a different way and argues that
what the nggwalndu faces are expressing
is the primacy of female creativity, which
in Abelam terms is natural, over male cre-
ativity which is cultural in that male access
to supernatural power is through ritual.
Ritual from which the rival female power,
mainly sexuality and maternity, must be
excluded.14
He says that the representation is not ‘of
anything in the natural or spirit world, rather
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74 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNrs 1 & 2. Cult house façade and lintel, Kalabu
Nr 2 vi llage, Maprik, Abelam speakers, East Sepik
Province. Sago ‘spathes’, wood, rattan. c. 5.5 x 3.8 m.
E.4696-8. Collected by R.D. Mackay and registered
14 January (lintel) and 15 January (façade) 1970.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 75
MPNr 6. Lintel (tikit ) and details, Maprik area,
Abelam speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 426 x
55 cm. E.16031. Purchased f rom Wayne Heathcote
and registered 10 February 1975.
MPNr 7. Lintel (tikit ) and details, Maprik area,
Abelam speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 465 x
43 cm. 81.26.175 [original registration numb er lost].
This lintel has been cut short, accounting for three
heads on one side and five on the other.
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76 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
it is about the relationship between things’
(ibid.). This, as a general principle, is arguably
true of much (if not all) Sepik art.
Hauser-Schäublin (1989a: 613) believes
that the korombo represents the mythical
cassowary woman, the culture heroine who
built the first cult house. In another interpre-
tation, the roof can be seen as the wings of a
bird (Fig. 49), as in the narrative of Kwatbil
(Losche 1999: 219).
In this story, women were unable to give
birth in the normal way so when it was evi-
dent that a woman had a baby in her belly,
the men killed her, cut her open, took out the
child and ate the woman. One day a pregnant
woman was sitting on the plaza in front of
the korombo. Suddenly she was covered up
by the bird Kwatbil who gave her a magic
spell to assist in giving birth to her child.
Kwatbil disappeared and the woman found
that she was sitting inside the korombo. She
then gave birth to her baby in the normal
fashion. Now women recite the spell when
they are in labour to aid them in giving birth.
‘Today the korombo is Kwatbil. The sides of
the korombo are his folded wings.’ Presuma-
bly Kwatbil is the personal name of this
mythical male bird, which may be a hornbill
( paal ) according to Hauser-Schäublin (pers.comm. 12 March 2004).
There is no necessary contradiction in the
cult house being thought of as a female cas-
sowary and a male mythical bird called
Kwatbil (possibly a hornbill). Hauser-Schäub-
lin reports that, in other contexts, the cult
house alludes to ‘a primeval sacred boar, or to
the bowerbird and the beautifully decorated
house he builds in order to impress the
females’.
The hornbill finial (for example, MPNr 169)
seems to occur only among the southern
Abelam. A finial similar to the one in the
Fig. 49. Roof in the form of bird wings, Maprik
Council House, Abelam speakers, Prince Alexander
Mountains. Photo: B. Craig C1: 26; 21 October 1981.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 77
MPNr 169. Hornbill as cult house finial or façade
decoration, Wosera, Maprik area, Abelam speakers,
East Sepik Province. Wood. 117 x 14 cm. E.9044.
Bought from South Pacific Artefacts, Port Moresby,
and registered 24 February 1972.
Masterpieces Exhibition, but consisting of
two birds side-by-side, is shown on a Wosera
cult house photographed by Rene Gardi in
1956 (Hauser-Schäublin 1989a, Plate 201) and
there appears to be a bird as finial on the
Wosera cult house at Tjamangai photo-
graphed by Richard Thurwald in 1913 (ibid.,
Plate 189). It is possible that the finial carved
as a hornbill bird refers to the myth of
Kwatbil.
Kwanga
The twelve painted ‘spathes’ that constitute
MPNr 5 are part of a collection of 232 paint-
ings and carvings comprising the entire
contents of a cult house purchased on behalf
of the National Museum by Dirk Smidt, with
the advice and assistance of Dr G. Gerrits, at
Sunuhu Nr 2 village and registered E.15296
to E.15527 from 17 September 1974 to 4
October 1974. The external façade of the
cult house was not purchased. Some of the
collection was photographed at Sunuhu
(TPNGPMAG 1976a, Plates pp. 44, 46). The
twelve paintings on display have been ran-
domly chosen and assembled without regard
for their original location in the cult house.
Sunuhu Nr 2 is about 17 kilometres south-
west of Maprik. The people speak Kwanga, a
language more closely related to that of the
Kwoma than to that of the Abelam, but their
culture is more recognisably Abelam than
Kwoma. The men’s cult houses look more-or-
less like those of the Abelam, with the
painted façade, carved and painted lintel, and
Fig. 50. Initiates wearing waken headdresses outside
the men’s cult house, Sunuhu Nr 2 village, Kwanga
speakers, Prince Alexander Mountains. Photo:
Dr G. Gerrits, Transparency Nr 6967, May 1973.
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78 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Fig. 51. Sketch by Dr G. Gerrits of side elevation
and floor plan of men’s cult house at SunuhuNr 2 vil lage, Kwanga speakers, Prince Alexander
Mountains, 5 May 1976.
MPNr 5. Twelve sago ‘spathe’ paintings, Sunuhu
Nr 2 village, Kwanga speakers, East Sepik Province.
Display 4.2 m long x 2.4 m high. For collection and
registration information, see text.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 79
interior spaces lined with painted ‘spathes’
and large painted wood figures.
Dr G. Gerrits provided information on the
Sunuhu cult house (Fig. 50) in a letter to Dirk
Smidt dated 5 May 1976. Figure 51 is a sketch
plan of the cult house, indicating its size and
the layout of the interior rooms. The cult
house is called korombo; the painted façade
is called bai ; the initiation set-up inside,
including the carved figures, is kware; the
painted ‘spathes’ inside (Fig. 52) are maubin-
gaye. Inside was a tomb-like feature
consisting of a reclining figure made of
painted palm ‘spathes’, not unlike an ancient
Egyptian mummy’s coffin (Fig. 53). This figure
was made to ‘speak’ to the initiates. A few
senior men, concealed in a secret room, made
sounds with bamboo voice-modifying tubes
Fig. 52. Inside the men’s cult house, Wall A,
Room 1, Sunuhu Nr 2 vi llage, Kwanga speakers,
Prince Alexander Mountains. Photo: Dr G. Gerrits,
Transparency Nr 7014, June 1973.
that projected into the figure. This figure rep-
resented Umahapa Febomanki , a ‘masalai’
(nature spirit) from nearby Worombu Creek.
Dr G. Gerrits (pers. comm. 25 March 2004)
has provided the following information
about the paintings on display:
Top row, left to right:
E.15410, painted by Topo of Ugutagwa;
from left wall of Room 1.
E.15359, painted by Simboueni who
followed an Ugutagwa design; from mid-
right of Wall A, Room 1.
E.15343, painted by Wapinglar who
followed an Ugutagwa design; from left wall
of Room 1.
The face-like designs on these three
paintings represent namtawapi , the centi-
pede. The cross-hatched panels surrounding
the faces, and the bordering triangles in alter-
nating colours, represent string bag designs
(wanikowe). White circles with central black
dots are the valuable shell rings (mau). These
three paintings are all typical of Ugutagwa, a
village about 7 kilometres south-west of
Sunuhu.
Middle row, left to right:
E.15368, painted by Simboini; from left
wall of Room 1.
E.15386, painted by Sipayeni; from right
side of tunnel.
E.15401; from left side of tunnel.
E.15328, painted by Simboini; from left
side of tunnel.
E.15332; from right side of tunnel.
E.15404; from right wall of Room 1.
Gerrits obtained information for three of
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80 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
these six paintings (which would be applica-
ble also to two of the others). All five are
typical for Sunuhu. The central design con-
sists of a head, apparently wearing an
initiate’s waken headdress (see Fig. 50), with
tiny body wearing shell, dogs’ teeth and pigtusk ornaments on the chest. E.15368 was
said by Simboini to be a self-portrait. The
small figures at the bottom of E.15386 and at
the top of E.15328 are children of the central
figures. Around the head of the central figure
are alternating rings of colour, black repre-
senting hair, red representing red beads, a
white zigzag line representing spiderweb,
short white strokes representing dogs’ teeth,
solid white representing feathers. In Fig. 50,
these features may be seen on the initiates
and echoed in the details of the painted
image on their headdresses. Images of initi-
ates wearing waken headdresses are the
main motif on the painted façade of the
men’s ceremonial house.
Bottom row, left to right:
E.15396, painted by Sipayeni; from rear
left corner of Room 1.
E.15391; from left wall of Room 1.
E.15436, painted by Amilowen; from rear
wall of Room 1.
Gerrits obtained information for two of
these paintings. E.15396 (and by inference
E.15391) represents a row of the large shell
rings (wiwa) used as chest ornaments or tied
to the wrist. String net bags are suggested
along each edge and the parallel multicol-
oured lines at the right end represent
cordyline leaves that often are attached to
armlets or cover the buttocks as a dance dec-
oration. E.15436 represents a row of the
Fig. 53. The ‘tomb’ inside the men’s cult house,
projecting from bottom right of Wall B, Room
5, Sunuhu Nr 2 village, Kwanga speakers, Prince
Alexander Mountains. Photo: Dr G. Gerrits,
Transparency Nr 7034, June 1973.
circular ornaments (mambukula) attached on
each side of the waken headdress at its base,
enclosed by a lozenge shape called ugwalape
(butterfly wings). The parallel white lines fill-
ing the rest of the space again refers to string
net bags.
Thus the non-anthropomorphic elements
of the designs link images of the wealth of
the community (shell rings, string net bags,
dogs’ teeth, pigs’ tusks, and so on) with male
initiation (the anthropomorphic images) and
revelation of the power of the nature spirits
represented by the carved figures called
kware.
Boiken
Boiken cult houses are similar to those of
the Kwanga, Arapesh and Abelam. Roscoe
(1995a: 3) believes that the Boiken ka
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 81
MPNr 8. Lintel (pau) and details, Yangoru area, Boiken speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 4.47 m x 31 cm.
81.26.122 [original registration number lost]. Twenty human figures, variously male and female, holding
hands, with a bird between some pairs of figures. A large sideways head and upper torso at the left end and a
hornbill at the right end. Purchased from Wayne Heathcote some time during 1974 or 1975 (conjecture based
on a photograph from Heathcote in files at the National Museum) but could not be positively identified in
the register.
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82 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
nimbia ‘clearly was derived from the Abe-
lam korombo… it has the same tetrahedral
shape, the same thatched dorsal flanks and
intricately painted, cantilevered façade’. It
also has a carved horizontal lintel ( pau) at the
base of the painted façade, featuring a row
of carved and painted heads, like the Abelam
lintels, or a row of linked figures interspersed
with totemic birds (MPNrs 8, 9). At the peak
of the gable is a carved totemic bird (Hauser-
Schäublin 1989a, Plates 234-35). The humanheads or figures carved on the lintel are said
to represent enemies who have fallen to the
spears of the tuahring (clan or sub-clan) that
built the cult house (Roscoe 1995a: 11).
The carved and painted components of
the outside of the building endure for some
time. But at the celebration of the newly-
completed building, there is an ephemeral
display inside consisting of ‘numerous large
wamayuwa and kilayuwa shell rings laid out
on beds of white menja leaves, sometimes
around a dramatic effigy of a wala spirit’
(ibid.: 5). This is similar to the puti initiation
display of the Abelam (Hauser-Schäublin
1989b, Plate 167).
Roscoe writes (1995b: 73):
… wala spirits are considered potent
beings … causing thunder, lightning, and
violent winds to sweep across the night
… the term wala is metaphorically
extended to any bush agency believed to
be hazardous to humans … To call artistic
creations such as initiation displays wala,
then, is to recognize that they incarnate
power and menace.
A totem is a representation of a particular
male wala spirit residing in a tuahring’s terri-
tory. When someone dies, their spirit goes to
the feature in the landscape in which their
totemic wala dwells and ‘becomes’ that wala.
Thus the totemic wala is the union of all the
tuahring’s ancestral spirits. (Perhaps there is a
similar belief among the Abelam; hence the
confusion over whether the nggwalndu are
ancestral or bush spirits.)The cult house,
when completed, becomes this wala spirit
and at the same time represents the tuahring
that constructed it, both its ancestral compo-
nent and its living embodiment.
The various parts of the cult house and its
forward-leaning façade suggest a protective
and yet menacing bird-of-prey but there are
other associations as well. The building is
thought of as the ‘soul’ of the headman
(hwapomia) who organised its construction.
Thus the structure represents the hwapomia’s
head – the thatched roof is his hair, the
façade his face, the gable his nose, the lintelhis teeth, the entrance his mouth and the rat-
tan chain dangling from the peak of the
gable is his necklace bag. Another interpreta-
tion visualises the cult house as his whole
body – the gable is his head, the ridge pole
his spine, the purlins his ribs, the façade his
thorax, and the roof and base his back and
legs (Roscoe 1995a: 14-16). A successful cult
house elicits feelings of pride and triumph in
its builders, fear in children, and humiliation
and envy among members of rival clans.
Fig. 54a (opposite page). Men’s cult house ( telefolip)
at Telefolip village, Telefol speakers , Telefomin,
central New Guinea. Photo: B. Craig BC23: 29; July
1964.
MPNr 9. Lintel ( pau) and detail, Yangoru area, Boiken speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 3.15 m x 32 cm.
E.10447. Purchased from Bruce Lawes and registered 19 October 1972. Twelve human figures, variously m ale
and female, holding hands, with eleven birds alternately perched between them; human heads alternate
with the figures at leg level. A large sideways face with two b irds’ heads at the left end and a face with one
bird head at the right end.
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84 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Central New Guinea
The Telefolmin and related Mountain-Ok
groups of central New Guinea have a hier-
archy of houses in their villages, and in the
region as a whole. Each settlement consists
of one or more family houses (‘woman-
house’ – unang-am) and at least one men’s
house ( yolam). For a large village of around
a dozen unangam or more, there are usu-
ally three men’s houses – the ‘hornbill-house’
(kabel-am) where any male may sleep, the
‘little-house’ (katip-am) where only the few
old men sleep, and the cult house (‘house-
mother’ – am-ogen) that contains animal and
human relics, sacred artefacts such as oldshields, stone-headed clubs and adzes, and
where certain rituals are performed (Craig
1988: 24-30; 1990).
In the village of Telefolip, a few kilometres
south of the government administration cen-
tre of Telefomin, there was a special cult
house that was considered to be the
supreme cult house for the whole Mountain-
Ok area, as it was believed to have been built
originally by Afek, the Old Woman, the found-
ing ancestress of all the -min tribes
(Brumbaugh 1990; Jorgensen 1990). This
house (Fig. 54), called the telefolip (or am-
dolol because of the particular method of
making the external wall cladding – Craig
1984, 14th and 17th unnumbered plates and
Craig 1988, Fig. 15), was reputed to contain
the skulls of Afek and her brother Umoim.
Men from surrounding Telefol villages, and
even from other -min groups, attended some
of the more important rituals performed
there.
Despite the fact that the telefolip and its
contents were declared and gazetted as
National Cultural Property on 30 July 1982,
the collapsing structure was burnt by Chris-
tian fundamentalists in late 2001, destroying
Fig. 54b. Inside men’s cult house (telefolip) at
Telefolip village, Telefol speakers, Telefomin, central
New Guinea. Photo: B. Craig BC17: 11; 27 August
1963.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 85
Fig. 55. Top: Burnt out and overgrown site of the
telefolip at Telefolip village. Telefol speakers, central
New Guinea. Photo: B. Craig C15: 7; 3 June 2002.
Below: Skull fallen from burnt out telefolip. Photo:
B. Craig C15: 10; 3 June 2002.
the sacred contents (Fig. 55). This criminal act
of desecration15
appears to have raised little
or no concern at official local or provincial
levels and the museum does not have the
resources to investigate the matter.
The destruction of traditional cultural
material is not confined to Telefomin. As
Steven Frost informed me (pers. comm. 28
June 2002):
In Telefomin I was told the group of out-
siders responsible for the destruction is
Joshua Oppression [Operation?], a cultwhich is being directed by two white guys
in Hagen … [They] also convinced the res-
idents of Imigabip to take all their old
things and put them into the haus tam-
baran and torch it. They are working on
trying to destroy what is left elsewhere
now.
Ossie Fountain (pers. comm. 8 August
2002), a missionary of more temperate
nature, commented on the above:
As I understand it, Operation Joshua,
rather than being a cult is a network of
pentecostal/charismatic Christians who
MPNr 3. Houseboard (amitung), Telefolip village,
Telefomin, Telefol speakers, West Sepik Province.
Wood. 306 x 65 cm. 79.1.95. Registered 24 April
1979. Collected by Barry Craig 28 June 1972 on
behalf of the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board,
Canberra, and subsequently gifted to the PNG
Museum by the Australian government.
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86 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Fig. 56. Bisanip’s house at Telefolip village, Telefol
speakers, Telefomin, central New Guinea. Photo:
B. Craig M17: 16; 30 January 1967 (see also Craig
1988, Fig.12).
believe that the problems of PNG are
related to a battle in the spiritual realmbetween good and evil forces … they
have ambitions of active involvement in
many parts of the country but they saw
Telefomin as one of the key points of
attack.
This behaviour exposes some expressions
of Christianity as a vehicle for the exercise of
power by some human beings over others
rather than, as claimed, for the demonstration
of the power of God’s love. It is fortunate that
there is a national museum to preserve at
least something of the material cultural herit-
age that otherwise would have been
destroyed under pressure from such fanatical
expatriates and their local collaborators.Another house in the village of Telefolip
also was special; this was the unangam built
on the site of what was believed to be the
first house (a family house) built by Afek at
Telefolip (Fig. 56). One of the hearth posts in
this house was believed to be at the entrance
of the road to the underworld for those who
have died. Umoim, Afek’s brother, had trav-
elled along this road when he died. The
amitung or house board MPNr 3 is the one
from that house. It was carved by Unmoiyim
and others c.1870 (six generations ago) with
stone tools at Inantikin in the Elip Valley
during the Telefolmin push against the I li-
kimin. At the time this board was purchased,
the house was owned by a woman named
Bisanip.
This house was burnt down, along with
the sacred relics kept in it, at the same time as
the telefolip and its relics were destroyed, in
late 2001.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 87
MPNr16. House pole (‘Masil’) with detailed v iew,
Aromot Island, Siassi Islands, Siassi speakers, Morobe
Province. Wood. 765 x 22 cm. 81.26.125 [original
registration number lost but identified as E.16258,
purchased from Barry Hoare, and registered 28
February 1975].
Siassi Islands
The Siassi Islands were at the hub of the mar-
itime trading system that operated in the
Huon Gulf, to and from the Tami Islands,
along the coast of the Huon Peninsula and
across the Vitiaz Strait to Umboi and West
New Britain (Brookfield and Hart 1971, Fig.
13.5). All the peoples involved are speak-
ers of Austronesian languages and it is not
surprising that there are many cultural simi-
larities. Sometimes it is difficult to determine
whether a particular object is from the Siassi
Islands or from the Tami Islands.
There is some evidence that this pole,
MPNr 16, reported to be from Aromot Island
in the Siassi group, was purchased from Mor-
ris Young of Lae rather than from Barry Hoare
of Madang.
Fr Anthony Mulderink (pers. comm. 13
April 2004) of the Catholic Church in Lae, has
been kind enough to provide information
about this pole based on photographs sent
to him and his knowledge of Siassi Islands
culture. He has suggested that the name
Masil may be an incorrect transcription of
‘Mesel’, a male Kilenge name sometimes used
on Aromot Island. It is also possible that the
name ‘Masil’ has been transcribed into the
register incorrectly and should read nasil ,
which is the Siassi term for the central, carved
post of the ceremonial house (bar ) erected by
a village kin group (rumai ) for circumcision
rites.
This pole is too high for the now-extinct
traditional ceremonial house. It may have
been carved for use as a nasil for a contem-
porary public structure such as a church, or it
may have been carved as a likeness of the
carved ceremonial pole (gungun dige) that
stood beside the ceremonial house.
At the top of this pole is the face of Aikos,
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88 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
the father of the nakamutmut spirits. Aikos is
a Kilenge word used also on Aromot and
Mandok islands. Aikos enters the village car-
rying a wooden club, to frighten or punish
disobedient people or to whip the young ini-
tiates. He wears a conical helmet mask
topped with a wooden ball (saruwa) and a
central feather plume (sar ) surrounded by
cassowary feathers (muimui ). This mask is
equivalent to the Kilenge mask recorded by
Dark (1974: 42 and Illust. 121) as the nagiltung
type in the category nataptavo, and another
mask he photographed at Umboi (ibid.: Illust.
73).
Beneath Aikos are three rounded shapes
probably representing baskets (arei ) carried
on the head of the male figure beneath them.
This figure wears a bark cloth mal or apron.
Next below this male figure is the four-sided
face of a mariam, an ancestral ghost not
recently deceased. Mariam ghosts make peo-ple uneasy as they can cause trouble.
Circumcision of the boys is said to have been
performed by a particular mariam ghost
called naboyou.
Beneath the four-faced mariam ghost is
another male figure (like the one above), and
beneath that figure is a female figure wear-
ing a fibre skirt and carrying baskets on her
head. The baskets may indicate the exchange
of food in a competition for prestige. Person
A challenges B to dance with A’s nakamutmut
mask. B accepts and for a year or two, when-
ever there is a festive occasion, B and his clan
relatives will dance A’s nakamutmut mask.
While the dancing takes place, A has to feed B
and his relatives, and provide tobacco and
betel nut. When A decides to send his mask
away, there will be a final performance at the
end of which B receives from A many baskets
of food for his family and his clan. Some time
later, B challenges A to dance his mask and
after the final dance performance, he
attempts to give A more baskets of food than
he received from A in the previous round of
dance ceremonies. This type of competitive
food presentation is often an important
aspect of ceremonies in PNG (see Smidt and
Eoe 1999: 133-34 for an example in the lower
Ramu River area).
The bottom figure on the pole is a woman
wearing a fibre skirt and carrying baskets on
her head. She holds a snake (mot ) in front of
her. The snake is a veiled reference to the
penis but is rare in Siassi Island carving, thelizard being more commonly represented.
Beneath this woman is a cylindrical object;
around it are two rows of oval shapes called
pon atulu (turtle eggs).
At the bottom of the pole is a mariam
(ancestor) face wearing the equivalent of the
Yabim (Finschhafen) oa-balan headdress
(Bodrogi 1961: 157-59). This face, which is a
common motif on wooden bowls, canoe bail-
ers, hand drums and other wooden objects,
has a protruding tongue, indicating ‘ready for
sex’. During a dance festival a mother might
tell her daughter to take care and stay away
MPNr 20. Yam house plank (tataba) made by
Musulikoli of Liluta village, Trobriand Islands, Kilivila
speakers, Milne Bay Province. Wood. 173 x 27 cm.
E.7798. Collected by Dr G. Gerrits in September 1968
and registered 15 April 1971.
from the men. ‘Look at the protruding
tongue’, she warns.
Trobriand Islands
In the Trobriand Islands, only the chief’s
house (ligisa – Fig. 57; also Lawton 1999,
Figs 3, 9; Young 1998, Plates 16, 17) and the
yam storage hut (bwaima – Fig. 58; also Law-
ton 1999, Fig. 4; Weiner 1988, Photo 25) are
decorated with carved and painted boards.
Lawton (1999: 106) provides a glossary of
the terms for the various decorations of
these houses. He informs us that the curv-
ing side gable boards are called kaivalapula,
the board at the base of the gable triangle is
called kaibilabeta, and below this is a board
with similar designs called the tataba (MPNr
20). Below the tataba are suspended several
rows of ‘egg-cowries’ (Ovulum ovum shells);
the number of rows indicates the owner’s
social rank. Lawton says (ibid.):
When a chief dies, the tataba complete
with buna shells will decorate his grave for
some years. The chief may give his sup-
port to some public event by loaning his
tataba, which would be hung on public
display.
In the Trobriand Islands, the yams grown
in special gardens by a man are not kept and
eaten by him but presented to his sister and
they are stored in his sister’s husband’s yam
house. But even his sister and her husband
avoid eating these yams. Weiner explains
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 89
Fig. 57. House of Paramount Chief Vanoi in
Omarakana village, Kiriwina Island, Kilivila speakers,
Trobriand Islands. Photo: Dr G. Gerrits TC 31-6-20a,
August 1971; in photographic collection of, and
with permission from, the Queensland Museum,
Brisbane.
(1988: 86) that ‘A yam house … is like a bank
account; when full, a man is wealthy and
powerful. Yams can be stored for four or five
months,’ she says, and
During that time, yams not necessary for
food are used to purchase arm shells; red
Chama-shell necklaces and ear-rings;
betel nuts; pigs; chickens; and other locally
produced goods such as wooden bowls,
combs, armbands, floor mats, and lime
pots. Even some kinds of magic spells may
be bought from others by payment in
yams.
Yams are also essential for distribution at
funeral ceremonies and marriages. Food for
daily consumption is provided by taro and
other crops from ordinary gardens. Yams are
a prestige crop, a sign of wealth and a form of
currency. They are usually eaten only after
having been received at a ceremony or as
payment for something.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 91
Fig 58 (opposite p age). Yam house of Chief Maluwa
of Olivilevi, Kiriwina Island, Kilivila speakers,
Trobriand Islands. Photo: Dr G. Gerrits TC 16-3-13,
August 1970; in photographic collection of, and
with permission from , the Queensland Museum,
Brisbane.
New Ireland
In northern New Ireland and the nearby
Tabar Islands, the funerary ceremonies and
the associated masks, carved figures and
other paraphernalia are called malagan
(malangan/ malanggan). Sometimes, special
malagan buildings inside the men’s sacred
enclosure (rongar ) are decorated with carved
and painted vertical panels (Kaufmann 1975,
Plates 30-2; Lincoln 1987: 94-5). But it is not
clear whether these are part of a permanent
structure or, like other malagan carvings set
up in display huts, used only for the duration
of the ceremonies.
As an entrance to the Tabar Islands rongar
enclosure around the men’s house (amir ), a
tree-fork (called matanangas or ‘eye of the
demon’) shaped like the letter V or Y, is
embedded in the coral ‘stone’ wall (about a
metre thick and a metre or so high) sur-
rounding the sacred enclosure (Stöhr 1987,
Plate 164). This space is used for feasts associ-
ated with malagan mortuary rites and for
burial of the clan dead (for this arrangement
among the Barok of central New Ireland, see
Wagner 1986: 148-59; 1987: 58-9 and certain
unnumbered photographs between pp. 40
and 41). The two arms of the tree-fork may be
carved as anthropomorphic images (Fig. 59;
Wagner 1986: 149). The tree is an important
image in New Ireland culture; the fruit and
branches suggest nurture, and the roots are
associated with the burial of clan ancestors
(Wagner 1987, Fig. 24).
Matanangas may be carved with images
of fish, sharks, snakes, crocodiles or human
beings. They are believed to prevent evil spir-
its from entering the men’s house or its
courtyard. Women are not permitted to enter.
Live captives from raids were slaughtered on
the matanangas, their flesh eaten and their
MPNr 23. Gate post carving (matalakalaka/
matanangas), Tabar Island, Tabar speakers, New
Ireland Province. Wood. 135 x 30 cm diameter.
Acquired from M. Benoir and Langules. E.10294.
Registered 25 May 1972. Published in TPNGPMAG
1974a, Plate opp. p. v.
MPNr 24. Gate post carving (matalakalaka/
matanangas), Tabar Island, Tabar speakers, New
Ireland Province. Wood. 120 x 20 cm diameter.
Acquired from M. Benoir and Langules. E.10293.
Registered 25 May 1972. Published in TPNGPMAG
1974a, Plate opp. p. v.
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92 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Fig. 59. Drawing of gate posts by Elisabeth Kramer-
Bannow in Stöhr 1987, Plate 164.
bones burnt and scattered on the path lead-
ing up to the matanangas.
The two posts in the Masterpieces Exhibi-
tion (MPNrs 23, 24), along with four stone
carvings, were confiscated from Jean Benoir
and Pierre Langules, along with other mate-
rial they attempted to export without a
permit (Craig 1996: 167-74).
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 93
MPNr 63. Suspension hook as female figure,
Tolembi village, Sawos speakers, East Sepik Province.
Wood, sago fibre ski rt. 90 x 54 cm. E.16423. Seized in
1972, donated by Customs in 1974 and registered
24 March 1975. Published in TPNGPMAG 1976a,
Plate p. 32 and Smidt 1975 : 73.
HOUSEHOLD ITEMS
Household items in the Masterpieces Exhibi-
tion include suspension hooks, clay pots,
wooden bowls and headrests. A much more
representative exhibition of domestic items
is to be found in the Independence Gallery.
SUSPENSION HOOKS
In the middle Sepik area, suspension hooks
(MPNrs 63-7) are carved for domestic use (to
hang string bags, and bundles of food and
possessions out of the reach of rats, dogs and
children) and for magical purposes. Some
suspension hooks are quite large, virtually
life-size. They represent important clan ances-
tors, have personal names, assist in hunting
and warfare, and in warding off illness. Thespirit in the hook is offered food, areca nuts
and/or tobacco and asked by its guardian
to advise on the results of intended hunting
expeditions or raids. On returning, offerings
again are made to the spirit. It is believed
that the spirit accompanies the hunters or
warriors.
Without information from the original
owners, it is impossible to know the identity
and function of the spirit inhabiting a partic-
ular suspension hook. The inclusion of some
in this category of domestic items and others
in the hunting and warfare category is arbi-
trary, reflecting the ‘poor fit’ between
English-language categories and those of the
local people.
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94 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 64. Suspension hook , Chambri Lake, Chambri
speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 157 x 23 cm.
E.510. Registered 24 September 1958.
MPNr 65. Suspension hook , Kanganaman vil lage,
Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 68 x
16 cm. E.8085. Collected by Robert Mitton and
registered 11 June 1971.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 95
MPNr 66. Suspension hook , Kanganaman vi llage,
Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 73 x 20
cm. E.16218. Purchased from Wayne Heathcote and
registered 13 February 1975.
MPNr 67. Suspension hook , personal name
Samban, Kanganaman village, Iatmul speakers,
East Sepik Province. Wood. 83 x 39 cm. E.16233.
Purchased from Wayne Heathcote and registered
17 February 1975. Gazetted National Cultural
Property 10 February 1972.
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MPNr 73. Cooking pot, Boitalu v illage, Kiriwina Island, Trobriand Islands, Kilivila speakers, Milne Bay Province.
Clay. 44 cm high x 62 cm diameter. E.7877. Donated by collector Dr G. Gerrits and registered 17 May 1971.
Almost certainly made at Nabwageta in the Amphlett Islands (cf., May and Tuckson 2000, Fig. 4.13) where this
type of cooking pot, large enough to prepare food for feasts, is called nokuno.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 97
CLAY POTS AND BOWLS
Pottery-making traditions have a limited dis-
tribution in PNG and the Solomon Islands.
Pottery is made along the coast and coastal
ranges of northern New Guinea, the Sepik,
Ramu and Markham valleys, the north and
south coasts of south-eastern New Guinea,
the islands off the south-east end of New
Guinea, the Admiralty Islands and the north-
ern Solomons. There is only one site in the
highlands (May and Tuckson 2000, Map 4).
This distribution suggests to some archae-
ologists that pottery-making was associated
with colonisation by Austronesian-speak-
ing peoples. It may have been out of their
pottery making traditions that Lapita pot-
tery developed in the Bismarck Archipelago
around 3300 or so years ago (Spriggs 1995:
115-16; 1997: 67-73; Summerhayes 2000:
233-34).
In PNG, clay vessels are used for cooking,
storing and serving food. There are basically
two methods of making clay pots – by coiling
and by paddle-and-anvil. In the coiling tech-
nique, the walls of the vessel are built up with
long rolls of clay. In the paddle-and-anvil
technique, a ball of clay is forced into a rough
shape then further shaped and thinned by
beating from the outside with a piece of flat
wood against a hard object such as a smooth
stone held on the inside. There are various
ways of starting and finishing pots and some-
times techniques are combined.16
Pots may be burnished by polishing with
a smooth pebble, shell or seed or may be
decorated while still damp or leather-hard,
before firing, by applied techniques, or by
pressing or cutting designs into the surface.
Pots are left to dry out then fired in an open
bonfire reaching temperatures of around 650
to 900°C. Ceremonial pots and bowls may be
painted after firing, as in the middle Sepik
and Prince Alexander Mountains to the north.
The coiling technique is mainly used by
potters who are male, located inland and are
non-Austronesian speakers, though there are
exceptions to this generalisation. The paddle-
and-anvil technique is used exclusively in
coastal and small island communities bywomen, mainly Austronesian speakers. The
pots made by women using the paddle-and-
anvil technique are ‘round-based, full-bellied
and typically “female” in form. Most are light
and thin-walled’; the coiled vessels ‘tend to
be thick-walled, heavy … and often …
crudely made’ (May and Tuckson 2000: 6-7).
May and Tuckson suggest that on the basis of
language and geographical distribution, the
coastal ‘female’ traditions are more recent
than those of the inland, mostly male, potters.
These correlations are set out in their Map 3
(ibid.: 15). It is possible, even likely, that Lapita
pottery was made by women as there is evi-
dence that Lapita potters used paddle-and-
anvil and slab-building techniques (Glen
Summerhayes, pers. comm. via Pamela Swa-
dling, 12 February 2004). In other words, one
could speculate that the ‘male’ coiling tradi-
tion may already have existed on the New
Guinea mainland when Austronesian female
potters arrived in the Bismarck Archipelago.
Pots were, and in some places still are,
important items of maritime trade. Perhaps
the most famous was the hiri trading system
(now extinct) that moved pots and shell valu-
ables from the southern central coast of
Papua in exchange for sago and canoe hulls
from the Papuan Gulf (Seligman 1910: 96-
115). Mailu pots similarly were traded inland
and along the southern coast of Papua (Irwin
1985: 15-18).
In the Massim area – the coast and islands
at the eastern end of New Guinea – the kula
MPNr 72. Cooking pot (gur aniang), Zumin village, Markham valley, Adzera speakers, Morobe Province.
Clay. 17 cm. high x 31 cm. diameter. E.16818. Collected by and purchased from Ms Gabrielle Johnston and
registered 30 June 1975. 23 x 15 cm. This type of pot, with modelled figures or heads acting as handles, is
used for cooking meat (May and Tuckson 2000: 138, Fig. 6.17).
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98 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
and its extensions move pots especially from
the Amphlett Islands (MPNr 73) to the Trobri-
and and Woodlark islands in the north and to
Milne Bay in the south.
In the Markham Valley, among the
Austronesian-speaking Adzera, pots are
made by the men using the coiling technique
but finished with the paddle-and-anvil. They
then decorate the pots with special tools
(May and Tuckson 2000, Figs 6.7-6.10), and
one type by modelling (ibid., Figs 6.16, 6.17,
6.20; MPNr 72). The animals modelled on
opposite sides of the rim of the pot serve as
handles. This type of vessel is named gur ani-
ang (= pot [for] meat). Adzera pots were a
valuable item of trade among surrounding
villages and were used for bride price pay-
ments. Nowadays they are popular in the
tourist market. The Adzera are known also for
their ceramic hand drums (simpup gur ), made
by joining two plain pots with a cylindrical
shaft of clay (ibid.: 138-39 and Figs 6.18, 6.19).
Pots made by Austronesian-speaking
women at Sio, on the north-east coast of the
Huon Peninsula, are traded by Siassi Island
sailors north across the Vitiaz Strait to Umboi
Island and West New Britain, westwards along
the New Guinea coast towards Madang, and
southwards along the coast of the Huon
Peninsula as far as the Tami Islands (Harding
1967; May and Tuckson 2000: 151). The sailors
of Bilbil and Yabob islands, immediately
south of Madang, trade their women’s pad-
dle-and-anvil pots north along the coast as
far as Manam Island and east as far as Sio.
Inland of Madang, along the Gogol River and
in the hills to the north and south, men make
coiled pots. Bau cooking pots (MPNr 70) are
used in bride-price transactions along with
wooden bowls, and are traded almost as far
north as the Ramu, but do not compete with
the coastal pots of Bilbil and Yabob.
MPNr 70. Cooking pot (avar ), Guman hamlet, Bauk
village, Gogol River, Bau speakers, Madang Province.
Clay. 40 cm high x 28 cm diameter. E.11026.
Collected by and purchased from Ms Gabrielle
Johnston, Auckland University, and registered
4 April 1973.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 99
MPNr 68 (top). Serving bowl (khomongu),
Toanumbu village, Boiken speakers, East Sepik
Province. Clay. 12 cm high x 31 cm diameter.
E.11308. Bought from collector Margaret Tuckson
and registered 19 July 1973.
MPNr 71 (below). Pot ( papi ), painted, Sunuhu vi llage, Maprik area, Kwanga speakers, East Sepik Province. Clay.
20 cm high x 18 cm diameter. E.11491. Bought from collector Dr G. Gerritts and registered 30 August 1973.
Although this pot was collected at Sunuhu, it is not of the Kwanga type and may have been imported from
the Wosera area to the east, where these pots are called kwam. The Kwanga papi are used by men as serving
bowls in the cult house.
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100 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
As in the Madang region, pots made by
paddle-and-anvil are part of maritime trade
along the north coast of the Sepik provinces
and coiled pots are traded to the coast from
inland villages in the Prince Alexander and
Torricelli mountains. The men of the Boiken
(MPNr 68), Abelam, and Kwanga (MPNr 71),
especially, make large and small serving
bowls for ceremonial occasions, incised, chip-
carved and painted with curvilinear designs.
For some groups, the designs represent bush
spirits associated with the potters’ clan terri-
tories; for others, they are said merely to
represent particular features of plants and
animals.
The lower Sepik area is provided with
pots from villages along the Keram, called the
Töpferfluss (Pottery River) by the Germans.
Dimiri, Marawat and Yaul near the Yuat River
is also an important pottery-making centre
for the area upstream of Angoram. On the
north side of the Sepik, serving bowls, chip-
carved and painted with all-over curvilinear
designs, are produced at Koiwat (MPNr 69),
an eastern Sawos village about 12 kilometres
north of Timbunke. These pots are traded
north to the Boiken and south to villages
along the Sepik.
Aibom at Chambri Lake is a major sup-plier of pots to middle Sepik villages. The
large hearths (gugumbe), feast pots (kombio),
food bowls (ntshangguigo) and the sago stor-
age pots (au) with sculpted and painted
human and animal faces (MPNr 74), are espe-
cially prized. In one story reported by May
and Tuckson (2000: 239), the culture heroine
Yuman made pots that became her children
‘created by her own hands without a father’.
Subsequently she suffered indignities and
rape, and disappeared. The ancestors tried to
make a mask to represent her face but failed,
so they over-modelled an enemy skull. This
head, representing Yuman, is the human face
depicted on the Aibom sago storage pots.
Another name for Yuman is Kolimangge, and
Meintu is reckoned variously as the son,
brother or creator of Kolimangge. Meintu ‘is
identified as a cannibal eagle and a pig and
appears on the pottery as a bush spirit, a pigand an eagle’ (ibid.). One type of pot that fea-
tures the eagle is the cult house gable
decoration (May and Tuckson 2000, Fig. 9.45),
which substitutes for the Iatmul carved
wooden finial (MPNr 18).
MPNr 69 Serving bowl (kamana), Koiwat vil lages,
Sawos speakers, East Sepik Province. Clay, 10 cm
high x 32 cm diameter. E.11277. Bought from
collector Margaret Tuckson and registered 12 July
1973.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 101
MPNr 74. Sago storage pot (au), Aibom vil lage,
Chambri Lake, Chambri speakers, East Sepik
Province. Clay. 67 cm high x 53 cm diameter. E.7914.
Donated by Island Car vings, Lae, and registered
27 April 1971.
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102 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
WOOD BOWLS
Wood bowls are rare or non-existent in high-
land cultures where the basic staple – taro
or sweet potato – is baked in the ashes of
a fire, although some groups (such as theMountain-Ok) have shallow wood platters
for preparing a taro mash topped with red
pandanus sauce. Wood bowls are more likely
to be found where cooked sago or yam is
served with a garnish of vegetables, meat,
fish or the like, as among riverine, coastal or
island cultures.
Bowls may be circular or oval-shaped,
shallow or deep, and are usually decorated
with sculpted forms or incised and painted
designs. These designs may incorporate
images significant in the ritual life of the peo-
ple, particularly where the more elaborately
MPNr 78 (top). Food bowl, red ochred, Bosmun
village, Lower Ramu River, Bosmun speakers,
Madang Province. Wood. 65 x 18 cm. E.98.2. One of
three wooden bowls registered 17 March 1954. The
heads at each end of this bowl perhaps represent
water spirits in the form of a crocodile, although
one has a recurved snout.
MPNr 79 (below). Food bowl (nambiel), Wangam
(Wongan) village, Kopar speakers, East Sepik
Province. Wood. 56 x 21 cm. E.5539. Collected by Dr
G. Gerrits from owner Kum and registered 7 May
1970.
decorated bowls are used to serve food at
important ceremonies. Wood bowls, masks,
canoes, slit-gongs and the spearman’s shield
in the lower Sepik-Ramu area, are all
scooped-out forms and it is not surprising
that certain significant designs are shared bythese objects (MPNrs 78, 79).
Tami and Siassi bowls (MPNrs 76, 77) form
a significant part of bride-price exchanges
and are used on ceremonial occasions to
serve a mash of taro mixed with coconut
milk. They are also an important maritime
trade item. According to Bodrogi (1961: 99),
the wood bowls of north-east New Guinea
are made only by the Tami Islanders. How-
ever, Dark (1974: 46) states:
The Tami islanders used to have a monop-
oly on bowl carving which gradually was
taken over by the Siassi islanders in the
twenties. Tami, or now Siassi, bowls were
traded west into Astrolabe Bay and east as
far as the Vitu Islands.
The wood from which the bowls are
carved is called kwila in Pidgin English and is
an ironwood tree ( Afzalea or Intsia bijuga). The design at each end of the Siassi bowl,
MPNr 77, represents a human head wearing
the tri-partite oa-balan headdress (Bodrogi
1961: 157-59). The figure at the centre of each
side of the bowl represents a fish – a species
of skate, according to Biro’s notes (Bodrogi
1961: 102) – with the yabo spiral pig-tusk
motif 17
at the tip of each fin and beneath the
oval dentated form at the centre.
A human figure, represented in a squat-
ting position without torso, is carved at each
end of the Tami bowl, MPNr 76, to serve as
handles. A snake is represented along each
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 103
MPNr 77. Food bowl (and detail), Siassi Islands,
Siassi speakers, Morobe Province. Wood. 102 x 45
cm. E.15628. Purchased from Morris Young and
registered 12 November 1974. Eric Coote (pers.
comm. October 2009) believes this bowl, considering
the iconography, is more likely Tami than Siassi, even
if it was collected in the Siassi Islands.
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104 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
side of the bowl. This may be a reference to
the selam snake that lives in the sea but
emerges to wander about the land changing
its appearance. It seduces young men by
assuming the form of a girl and seduces the
girls by assuming the form of a young man;
its victims waste away and die (Bodrogi 1961:
69). The figures may be goam or nguam (the
ancestral balum spirit), or may represent the
two brothers of the widespread story known
on Tami as that of Gidging and Gimoling, and
in Madang as that of Kilibob and Manub
(Bodrogi 1953: 119-27; Mennis 1979; Pompo-
nio 1994).
Admiralty Islands wood bowls are of three
types (Ohnemus 1998: 201-11). There are the
bowls that range from circular to oval in
shape, with or without some sort of stubby
legs, with or without carved motifs around
the rim, but with no handles. Then there are
bowls carved in the form of an animal, such
as a crocodile, turtle, dog, pig or bird. Finally
there are the bowls with ‘handles’, of which
the great feast bowls over a metre in diame-
ter and displaying two delicately carved
spiral ‘handles’ like prows of a canoe, are the
most magnificent (Kaufmann et al. 2002: 134-
35; Wardwell 1994: 112-13). Much speculation
on the significance of these spiral motifs
range from correlations with the South-East
Asian ‘ship of the dead’ to spiral tails of pos-
sums, thought to be a totem animal. It is
possible too that they are clan insignia and
differences in the detail of the ‘handles’ repre-
sent different clans.
The National Museum has no example of
these great feast bowls with the openwork
spiral ‘handles’. The inclusion of a recently-
carved model of such a bowl (MPNr 75),
presented to Sir Michael Somare during an
official occasion, amounts to a plea for an
overseas museum to present one to the
National Museum in the spirit of responding
to Sir Michael Somare’s plea for the return ofimportant items of PNG’s cultural heritage.
MPNr 76 (top). Food bowl, Tamigitu v illage,
mainland Tami speakers, Morobe Province. Wood.
45 x 29 cm. 81.73.15. Said to have been made
by Awel, c.1890. Donated by Village Arts and
registered 1 December 1981.
MPNr 75 (below). Model of food bowl, Manus
Island, Manus Province. Wood. 39 x 14 cm. 79.38.19.
Gift to Sir Michael Somare. Registered 16 October
1979.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 105
HEADRESTS
Apart from the normal convenience of hav-
ing a pillow when sleeping on one’s side,
many people, particularly men, have elabo-
rate hairstyles, and the headrest is a practical
device for preventing damage to them.
18
Thesimplest pillow or headrest is a short length
of large-diameter bamboo or sago leaf mid-
rib. More elaborate is the carved wooden
horizontal component supported by two
pieces of thick rattan bent and bound at
each end to form two pairs of legs, or whole
headrests are carved from a single piece of
wood, such as those found in East Sepik Prov-
ince (for example, Kelm 1966a, Plates 474-88,
1966b, Plates 76-80 and 1968, Plates 263-67,
269-71; Mead 1970, Fig. 45). Some people,
such as those around Collingwood Bay in Oro
Province, carve a short headrest from a sin-
gle block of wood. Others (such as the Adzera
of the Markham Valley and the peoples of the
Papuan Gulf) find a suitably shaped branch
or root and carve three-legged headrests.
Sometimes the same forms are used as stools
(in Newton 1961, compare stool, Illust. 142,
and neck rest, Illust. 216). Headrests often
incorporate carved figural elements, usually
human or animal heads representing ances-
tral or mythical heroes, various spirits, oranimal totems.
The head near each end of the Bosmun
headrest (MPNr 81) almost certainly repre-
sents a male brag spirit, possibly from the
bush, depending on the identification of the
animal head at each end (which could be
that of a snake, given the undulating form
underneath the horizontal part of the head-
rest). Smidt and Eoe (1999: 118) inform us:
… spirits associated with the bush usually
play an important role in the context of
hunting. These spirits may show the prey
to the hunters of their own group while
MPNr 81 (top). Headrest, Bosmun? village, lower
Ramu River, Bosmun speakers, Madang Province.
Wood. 53 x 12 cm. E.16268. Purchased from Barr y
Hoare and registered 28 February 1975.
MPNr 82 (below). Headrest, Kaimari village, Purari
Delta, Purari speakers, Gulf Province. Wood. 75 x 38
cm. E.16403. Seized in 1972, donated by Customs
in 1974 and registered 24 March 1975. Published in
Smidt 1975: 19, 20; Nr 14.
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106 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
making it invisible to outsiders, and they
make sure that the prey does not run
away and will be surely hit.
It is possible that the use of these motifs
on headrests provides the sleeping hunter
with dreams that indicate the best time andplace to seek his prey.
The Adzera are Austronesian speakers liv-
ing in the middle to upper Markham Valley,
and are best known for their pottery (May
and Tuckson 2000: 130-40). They also make a
headrest characterised by a figure, often
without genitalia, leaning forward on two
arms but with only one leg. The head is usu-
ally turned upwards (MPNr 83) although
sometimes looks downwards or sideways.
Gunn (1985) discusses an example in the
Northern Territory Museum, comparing it to
ten other published examples. Schmitz (1959)
reports that these objects are both headrests
and stools. Gunn summarises (1985: 139-40):
During the night prior to a headhunting
raid the warriors would sleep prone with
the nape of the neck resting on the back
of the artefact, in effect using it as a head-
rest. Upon return from a fruitful raid, the
successful warrior would sit upon the
three-legged object … apart from his
companions, and would eat pig-meatwhile his fellows ate the flesh of the
human victim.
Schmitz (1959) relates the face on the
headrest/stool to that of the carved figure in
the men’s house representing Mugus, a male,
cannibalistic sky-god. Elsewhere he reports
(1963: 64):
In the dreamtime, the life of the gods was
constantly threatened by a giant who
devoured everything he could get hold of.
Sometimes he appeared in hu man form,
sometimes as a monstrous boar whose
tusks curved round … So terribly did he
MPNr 83. Headrest, Kaiapit village, Markham Valley,
Adzera speakers, Morobe Province. Wood. 38 x 21
cm. 78.1.2. Donated by J. Perkings and registered
13 February 1978.
rage among the gods, that whole districts
were depopulated. In the end the survi-
vors decided to leave the country … [But
there was] an old woman they could not
take with them … Thus she remained
behind alone, and hid herself as well as
she could in a cave, that the giant might
not find her …
The old woman … cut her finger one
day with a taro leaf. She let the blood run
out into two hollows in the earth, and
covered them over with leaves. The nextday already two boys had formed from
the blood, a pair of twins. One, they say,
was right-handed and the other left-
handed … In a marvellously short time
the children grew up to be strong men.
The mother taught them to fight, and
requested them to kill the man-eating
giant … After an atrocious fight the giant
was killed, cut up and eaten. The gods
who had fled returned and took part in
the meal of victory, the first cannibalistic
communal meal in this world, and from
now on the world of men could develop
undisturbed. The twins married, and their
children were the first people … The can-
nibalism of men … is no other than the
symbolical re-enactment in the cult of this
creative event in primordial times.19
Schmitz suggests that ‘in the cannibal cult
of human times, the victim who is eaten plays
the part of that primordial giant, and the
actual killers take the part of the twins’ (ibid.:
149). He notes that the protruding tongue (a
common feature of the head carved on the
headrest) is a characteristic of carvings repre-senting this primordial man-eater who is
himself killed and eaten.
Headrests of the Papuan Gulf (MPNr 82)
are generally from the area between Goarib-
ari Island in the west to the Purari Delta in the
east. They, like the Adzera headrests, are often
three-legged with a head jutting upwards
above the front two legs (or arms) (cf., Meyer
2004: 24). These forms are related to the simi-
lar imunu carvings – strange, active figures
carved from twisted branches or roots of
trees, suggesting habitation by nature spirits
(Newton 1961: 62-3).
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 107
GARDENING AND FERTILITY FIGURES
Success in gardening, the protection of crops
from thieves, the general fertility of plants,
trees and women, are concerns that many
New Guinea societies address through com-
munal rituals, often involving the use of
carved objects, sometimes displayed publicly
and sometimes restricted to the men’s cult
house. Often such rituals were considered
also to be effective in healing illnesses.
Washkuk Hills, Ambunti area
In the hills and swamps west and north-west
of Ambunti, several groups of peoples share
a culture that is different to that of the main-
stream Sepik. The Kwoma in the Washkuk
Hills are the better known, with the closely
related Nukuma in the swamps around the
Namblo River to the north of them. The
Yasyin are in the hills on the south side of the
Sepik and their swamp-dwelling cousins, the
Warasei, live around the Sanchi to the north-
west (Newton 1971, map); both groups speak
the Mayo language and were antagonistic
to the Kwoma and Nukuma. All these groups
say they migrated from the hills farther to
the north – perhaps from the Bongos-Nuku
region of the Torricelli Mountains where peo-ple speak related languages. Bowden (1997)
outlines oral traditions recounting the move-
ments of these peoples over the past few
centuries.
Like their northern and north-eastern
neighbours, the Kwoma, Nukuma, Yasyin and
Warasei are primarily yam cultivators and
their ceremonials are carried out in connec-
tion with male initiation and stages of yam
cultivation and harvesting (Bowden 1983;
Kaufmann 1968; Newton 1971: 82-109). Only
the Kwoma have been intensively studied
but the cultures of the other groups are
believed to be similar to that of the Kwoma.
Yena, minja and nowkwi carvings of the
Kwoma have personal names and are used at
three different ceremonies celebrating the
growth and harvest of yams. Yena ( yina) is a
large wood head carved with a neck-like
stake (MPNrs 171-73). Several yena are dis-
played during the yena ceremony, highly
ornamented with shells and feathers, sur-
rounding a ‘basket’ of yams (Bowden 1983,
Plates 16, 17, 20, 21; Kaufmann 1968, Plate 39;
Newton 1971, Illust. 153). The yena ceremony
takes place immediately after first harvest
and the singing and dancing is accompanied
by the sounds of slit-gongs and flutes. This
continues all day and night, during which the
women are kept well clear of the cult house.
Minja (mindja, mija) is a long canoe-
shaped board with a yena-like head at the
top end and usually with a series of loops,
representing a snake, issuing from or below
the mouth and reaching the base of the fig-
ure. Minja (MPNrs 174-77) embody male
water spirits that are believed to promote the
growth of yams. They are displayed in pairs,
highly ornamented like the yena, against a bi-
conical heap of newly-harvested yams,
immediately following the yena ceremony
(Bowden 1983, Plate 24; Kaufmann 1968,Plate 40; Newton 1971, Illust. 176). There is a
day and night of singing and dancing accom-
panied by slit-gongs, bullroarers, and
bamboo trumpets. For some of the time, the
women are permitted to join in the dancing
in front of the cult house.
Nowkwi (nogwi ) are female figures,
around life-size (MPNrs 178-83). They are
used in the most secret of all the yam harvest
ceremonies, though strictly speaking not to
do with yams so much as with ‘man killing’.
This ceremony takes place a few weeks after
the yena and minja ceremonies and tradition-
ally is restricted to men who are homicides
and the fathers of many children. Only such
men are permitted to carry the large wooden
shields instead of the animal-hide shields car-
ried by the younger men (Newton 1971: 88).
One or two nowkwi are displayed, decorated
with shell ornaments, in front, or on top, of a
‘basket’ of yams. The display includes large
net bags of food and betel (areca) nuts, which
are later distributed to the women to ensure
their success in fishing. The dancing and sing-
ing of the initiates is accompanied by the
sounds of slit-gongs, flutes, and trumpets of
conch shell and wood. But the most impor-
tant instrument is the water drum, an
upturned canoe suspended from a platform
over a trench of water with its rim touching
the surface. This is beaten with a long pole,
held and guided by several men, to simulate
the sound of the footsteps of the two danc-
ing nowkwi female figures. Aggressive
mayhem and minor destruction of house-
hold effects occurs during the nowkwi
ceremony and this is attributed to Nankwi,
the spirit represented by the nowkwi
carvings.
Bowden (1983: 88) reports that when
Kwoma men are asked ‘What are yena?’ they
assert three things: ‘that they are “spirits”(sikilowas), that they have great “power” (ow ),
and that they are responsible for the continu-
ing fertility of the yam gardens.’ The same
applies to the minja figures. However, nowkwi
is not considered by the Kwoma to be a yam
ceremony but to be concerned with ‘man kill-
ing’ and was restricted to homicides. Nowkwi
figures represent powerful female spirits
owned by the clan (or clans) sponsoring the
ceremony; they are also seen as sisters of the
men of the clan, ‘the women, that is, who
have been “given away” in marriage to men in
other groups’ (ibid.: 77).
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108 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 171. Yam cult figure ( yena), Sanchi River,
Kwoma speakers (Nukuma dialect), East Sepik
Province. Wood. 112 x 24 cm. E.16369. Seized in
1972, donated by Customs in 1974 and registered
24 March 1975.
MPNr 172. Yam cult figure ( yena), Namblo River,
Mayo speakers (Warasai dialect), East Sepik
Province. Wood. 102 x 23 cm. E.16371. Seized in
1972, donated by Customs in 1974 and registered
24 March 1975.
MPNr 173. Yam cult figure ( yena), Asawurr v illage,
Namblo River, Mayo speakers (Warasai dialect), East
Sepik Province. Wood. 129 x 25 cm. E.16373. Seized
in 1972, donated by Customs in 1974 and registered
24 March 1975.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 109
MPNr 174 (left). Yam cult figure (minja), personal name Yamonau (male); Tongwindjamb village, Kwoma
speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 200 x 37 cm. 79.1.541. Carved by Nouksu c.1900, and passed down
from ‘son’ to ‘son’20
through Faiambai, then Eigwasi, Walaman, Uyeiwongku (Mangkahua), Abunendzungu,
and finally to Gutok. Bought by Barry Craig from Gutok, 27 April 1973, on behalf of the Commonwealth Art
Advisory Board, Canberra; subsequently gifted to the PNG Museum by the Australian government, and
registered 24 October 1979.
Fig. 60. Gutok of Tongwindjamb village, Kwoma
speakers, Washkuk Hills, and his minja figure at
Ambunti. Photo: B. Craig, BM24: 26; 31 December
1972.
The figures are completely naked with
bright red vulvas and thick pubic hair (a mark
of female beauty), and carry women’s net
bags full of food. ‘Taken as a whole the dis-
play presents a striking and unambiguous
image of fecundity and abundance in both
the natural and social worlds’ (ibid).
Bowden (1983: 115-16) notes that the
yena and minja sculptures are painted pre-
dominantly black and provided with the
decorations appropriate to homicides –
those ‘who, through killing, have acquired the
power to plant and grow yams’. Thus in the
series of yena, minja and nowkwi ceremonies,
the twin themes of nurture and hostility, pro-
creation and killing are given expression,
with the men taking both roles in the realm
of culture, nevertheless tacitly acknowledg-
ing but competing with the role of women as
procreators and nurturers in the realm of
nature.
The minja, MPNr 174, was purchased from
Gutok of Tongwindjamb village (Fig. 60). Its
personal name is Yamonau and it is male. It
was carved with stone tools, before the Ger-
mans came to the Sepik, by Nouksu, then
inherited by Faiambai, then by Eigwasi, then
by Walaman, then by Uyeiwongku, then by
Abunendzungu, then by Gutok. The ‘hooks’along either side of the figure are its ‘spears’;
the spiral forms along the centre (abasambal-
uka) represent the curled abdomen of the
butterfly that congregates on the pith of
sago that has been cut from the trunk of the
palm. The figure is normally painted in sev-
eral colours and coloured flowers and plants
decorate the hooks. Black cassowary feathers,
and the white feathers of the hen, cockatoo
and egret, are attached to the figure’s head. It
is kept hidden from women and the
uninitiated, and among other functions,
assists in hunting and formerly in warfare.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 111
Fig. 61. Left to right: minja, nowkwi and yena for
sale at Ambunti, 12 January 1973. Minja figure
from Nagri village, Nukuma speakers, at left. Photo:
B. Craig BK13: 3; 12 January 1973.
MPNr 177. Yam cult figure (minja), Nagri village, Kwoma speakers (Nukuma dialect), East Sepik Province.
Wood. 125 x 40 cm. 79.1.619. Carved by Abungambo, father of Wendabe of Nagri vil lage, and subsequently
sold by Wendabe to Bi of Brugenauwi. Bought by Barry Craig from Bi, 12 January 1973, on behalf of the
Commonwealth Art Advisor y Board, Canberra; subsequently gifted to the PNG Museum by the Australian
government, and registered 23 October 1979.
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112 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 113
MPNr 179 (below right). Yam cult figure, female
(nowkwi ), Urambanj village, Kwoma speakers, East
Sepik Province. Wood. 99 x 22 cm. E.16239. Probably
the same carver as for Masterpieces Nr 178.
Purchased from Wayne Heathcote and registered 17
February 1975.
MPNr 178 (below left). Yam cult figure, female
(nowkwi ), Urambanj village, Kwoma speakers, East
Sepik Province. Wood, cowries. 111 x 23 cm. E.16238.
Purchased from Wayne Heathcote and registered
17 February 1975.
Fig. 62 (opposite page, right). Gutok of
Tongwindjamb village, Kwoma speakers, Washkuk
Hills, and his nowkwi figure at Ambu nti. Photo:
B. Craig, BM24: 2; 30 December 1972.
MPNr 180 (opp osite page, left). Yam cult figure,
female (nowkwi ), personal name Hambawali,
Tongwindjamb village, Kwoma speakers, East Sepik
Province. Wood, human hair. 163 x 34 cm. 79.1.590.
Carved by Kweiamboi before 1914 and passed
down through four generations to Gutok. Used in
nowkwi ceremony called Neliapalen. Bought by
Barry Craig from Gutok, 27 April 1973, on behalf ofthe Commonwealth Art Advisory Board, Canberra;
subsequently gifted to the PNG Museum by the
Australian government and registered 24 October
1979.
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114 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 182. Yam cult figure, female (nowkwi ),
Muruwa or Yaung’get village, Namblo River, Mayo
speakers (Warasai dialect), East Sepik Province.
Wood. 106 x 22 cm. E.16382. Seized in 1972, donated
by Customs in 1974 and registered 24 March 1975.
MPNr 183 (right). Yam cult figure female (nowkwi), Sanchi River, Kwoma speakers (Nukuma dialect), East
Sepik Province. Wood. 152 x 24 cm. 81.26.118 [original registration number lost]. Probably purchased from
Wayne Heathcote c. 1975 and said to be from ‘Kwaka, Nukumu-Abletak area’.
MPNr 181. Yam cult figure, female (nowkwi ), Yasyin
village, Mayo speakers (Yasyin dialect), East Sepik
Province. Wood. 130 x 37 cm. E.16380. Seized in
1972, donated by Customs in 1974 and registered
24 March 1975. Published in TPNGPMAG 1974a,
Plate opp. p. 12.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 115
MPNr 80. Pot modelled as head, ‘Washkuk’, Kwoma?
speakers, East Sepik Province. Clay. 35 cm x 14 cm
diameter. E.16182. Purchased from Barry Hoare and
registered 12 February 1975.
In addition to the carved wood figures,
the Kwoma and Nukuma make head-like pots
that are sculpted and painted, and used in
the yena ceremony ‘to decorate subsidiary
piles of yams’ (Newton 1971: 85, Illust. 177).
Some of these pots-as-heads have a hole in
the bottom to allow them to be supported
on a stick. These representations of spirits
(sikilawas), via the medium of modelled, chip-
carved and painted pottery, are made only by
men who have been through the third stage
of initiation, at about thirty-five years of age
(Kaufmann 1972: 215; May and Tuckson 2000:
219). MPNr 80 is most likely a Nukuma pot,
judging from the style of the face (cf., May
and Tuckson 2000, Figs 9.16-17), but much of
what is known about the Kwoma is most
likely true also for their northern neighbours,
the Nukuma.
Kaufmann reports that informants give
several different stories of the significance of
these clay heads for the Kwoma but summa-
rises with the formula, pot=head=yam=the
spirits of ages past (Kaufmann 1972: 182).
Bowden (1983: 106) further elaborates on the
significance of the head in Kwoma imagery by
stating that ‘the head derives its significance,
visually and ritually, from the fact that it simul-
taneously symbolises masculine sexuality and
fertility on the one hand, and homicidal
aggression on the other’. He recounts the
incredible story of the adventures of Yowjasu’s
severed head to establish these connections
(ibid.: 106-10). It is therefore possible that,
apart from other meanings, the pottery yena is
a reference to Yowjasu’s head – or the equiva-
lent in Nukuma mythology. An episode of this
story, where Yowjasu’s head attaches itself to
the wattles (‘breasts’) of a female cassowary,
was carved at one end of a horizontal beam of
the Council House (modelled on a cult house)
at Ambunti (Fig. 63).
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116 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Fig. 63. Carved representation of Yowjasu’s head
attached to the wattles of a female cassowary.
Council House, Ambunti. Photo: B. Craig BK13: 11;
21 January 1973.
Prince Alexander Mountains
Abelam
According to Forge (1966), among the
Abelam of the coastal range to the north of
the middle Sepik, myth is virtually irrelevantto their art, unlike the situation among the
Kwoma and Nukuma who recount several
mythical episodes that are relevant to their
carvings. The major figure sculpture of the
Abelam are the carvings of nggwalndu, clan
spirits that are not ancestors but spirits
normally residing outside village territory,
having an interest in the welfare of a
particular clan (Hauser-Schäublin 1989a: 612).
Like the ancestors of other Sepik peoples,
they are responsible for the health and size
of pigs and for human welfare and fertility,
in addition to their special role in promoting
There are several stages of male initiation
and, at the fourth, the nggwalndu and other
figures and paintings are prepared and dis-
played to initiates who submit to a variety of
ordeals. Both initiators and initiates are
painted and decorated so that they resemblethe carvings and they then emerge into the
cleared space in front of the cult house and
present themselves to the women. Initiation
is the opportunity for men to gain magical
power that will help them to become suc-
cessful growers of long yams (Losche 1982).
Forge has said (1973a: 189), ‘Woman as prime
creator and man as nourisher come clearly
out of … Abelam art’. These themes are
remarkably like those of Kwoma and Nukuma
art, with which other links also may be found.
the success of long-yam growing.
The nggwalndu (MPNrs 17, 185, 186) are
male figures up to 5 metres long, the carving
style characterised by minimal differentiation
of the parts of the body (Hauser-Schäublin
1989b). The face is usually rendered with ahorizontal brow line and small eyes set close
to the long, slightly swelling ridge of the nose.
The figures are generally painted all over with
red (the most powerfully charged pigment)
and the other colours, rather than carving, are
used to indicate ornamental details.
Forge (1973a: 174) says that painting is
… a sacred activity [which] under ritual
conditions becomes the means by which
the benefits of [a] ceremony are trans-
ferred to the initiates, to the village as a
whole, and to the villages of those who
have assisted and attend the ceremony.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 117
MPNr 17 (left). Male figure (nggwalndu), Maprik
area, Abelam speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.
376 x 35 cm. E.7284. Registered 10 February 1971.
MPNr 186 (right). Male figure (nggwalndu), Maprik
area, Abelam speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.
314 x 29 cm. 81.26.176 [original registration number
lost but identified almost certainly as E.4669,
personal name Biangarum, Malba Nr 2 vil lage.
Purchased by Roy Mackay on behalf of the museum
from Gabrasepa Mungalgul, and registered
14 January 1970].
MPNr 185 (below). Male figure (nggwalndu),
Maprik area, Abelam speakers, East Sepik Province.
Wood. 116 x 17 cm. E.8845. Purchased from Barr y
Hoare, Sepik Primitive Arts, Madang and registered
29 December 1971.
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118 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Boiken
The Boiken speak several dialects and are
scattered from the Sepik plains northwards
across the mountains and down to the coast
and offshore islands in the vicinity of Wewak.
They share many cultural characteristics with
their Abelam and Arapesh neighbours to the
west.
MPNr 187 is significantly different from
the other Boiken figures in the exhibition
(MPNrs 188-92). However, it is quite like a fig-
ure in the Masco collection (Wardwell 1994:
40-1), having the same style of painting on
the face, cockatoo-like beaks where the
shoulders should be, and a similar torso. The
Masco piece is provenanced to Southern
Abelam or Boiken. A figure with a facepainted in a similar way (Myers 1975, Nr 110)
is said to come from Kumun (just west of Yan-
goru), which is a Boiken village (although the
caption wrongly states ‘Arapesh’). It is there-
fore likely that all three pieces are West
Yangoru Boiken and have been influenced by
the eastern Abelam. The other Boiken figures
in the Masterpieces Exhibition must come
from elsewhere.
Most of the Boiken figures in the Master-
pieces Exhibition appear to be female but a
survey of other such figures supports
Roscoe’s information (1990: 412, endnotes 5,
9) that they were carved as pairs, male and
female. Of twenty-one offered for auction at
Sotheby’s in Sydney (1993, Lots 245-50), and
at a gallery in New York (Myers 1975, Lots 109,
111-18, 120, 122-24, 130, 131), ten were
clearly female, six were male and the gender
of five could not be determined from the
photographs. The female figure Lot 112
(Myers 1975) looks like a pair to the male?
figure MPNr 192 and appears to have been
carved by the same man. Inspection of all
these figures suggests that there are several
styles of carving, each characteristic of a par-
ticular group of Boiken and/or of particular
carvers, but unfortunately the exact place
where each of these figures was made is not
known.Little information has been recorded
about the cult figures from the Yangoru
Boiken, as the ceremonies in which they were
used were last held in the 1940s (Roscoe
1990: 402). Paul Roscoe notes they were
called malingatcha and had individual names.
He outlines three grades of initiation –
sumbwi , kwuli and suwero. It was during the
second grade (kwuli ) that the male initiates
(in their late twenties or so), after the incision
of their penes to remove ‘bad blood’,
… were shown the malingatcha carvings,
which, newly painted and decorated, were
displayed in the hut next to the stilt house
or, if the weather was fine, against one of
its outer walls. Each initiate in turn was
instructed to stand before the array,
where the ritual guardians of the carvings
informed him of their identity – wangi-
wandauwa, the kwuli wala or tambaran
– and listed a series of taboos that must
be observed for several months hence on
pain of serious risk to health. [Roscoe
1990: 406]
The function of these carved figures may
be considered to be the effect they had on
the initiates. Roscoe (1995: 58) states:
Male initiation was believed to confer
motivation and ability in battle, oratory,
the pursuit and manipulation of shell
wealth and pigs, and those aspects of
food production, such as hunting, garden-
ing, and sago processing, that were ‘men’s
work’. Female initiation motivated women
to bear and rear children, and conferred
on them the full-bodied figure esteemed
as the prerequisite for bearing and suck-
ling many offspring. It furnished
motivation and ability for long, arduous
work in the fields and prodigious culinary
production, and it inspi red them to ‘settle
down’ in marriage with the best interests
of their husbands and husbands’ kin
groups at heart.
Thus it seems appropriate that there
should be both male and female malingatcha
figures, thereby emphasising the comple-
mentary roles of men and women in
maintaining the prosperity of the community
as a whole.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 119
MPNr 187. Figure with lizard-like body, Yangoru
area, Boiken speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.
103 x 19 cm. E.1373. Acquired from Bruce Lawes and
registered 15 March 1966.
MPNr 189. Female figure, Yangoru area, Boiken
speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 45 x 13 cm.
E.16213. Purchased from Wayne Heathcote and
registered 13 February 1975.
MPNr 188. Female figure, Yangoru area, Boiken
speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 80 x 16 cm.
E.16232. Purchased from Wayne Heathcote and
registered 17 February 1975.
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120 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 190. Female figure, Yangoru area, Boiken
speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 74 x 11 cm.
E.16209. Purchased from Wayne Heathcote and
registered 13 February 1975.
MPNr 191. Female figure, Mount Turu, Yangoru
area, Boiken speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.
68 x 13 cm. E.14182. Donated by Bruce Lawes and
registered 25 April 1974.
MPNr 192. Male? figure, Yangoru area, Boiken
speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 102 x 15 cm.
81.26.117 [original registration number lost].
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 121
MPNr 184. Guardian figure for garden (kuku),
Iyobo sub-clan insignia, Isago village, Aramia River,
Gogodala speakers, Western Province. Wood. 136
x 23 cm. 76.47.1. Collected by A.L. Crawford and
J.A. Baldwin and registered in 1976. Published in
Crawford 1981: 141 and catalogue Nr 227.
Fig. 64. Kuku in situ, Isago village, Aramia River,
Gogodala speakers, Western Province. Photo:
A.L. Crawford, 1975.
The Aramia-Fly River Gogodala
The Gogodala live on the floodplain of the
Aramia River that flows eastwards into the
Bamu River, and on the north bank of the
Fly River estuary, at the western end of the
Papuan Gulf. Canoes were essential fortransport in the watery environment of the
Gogodala, and a man’s canoe was identi-
fied with his sub-clan totem. The spirits of
these totems (limo) were portrayed by par-
ticular painted designs called gawa tao. Such
a design was far more than a symbol of the
sub-clan or ‘canoe’ to which a man belonged
– it embodied the spiritual force or ugu of his
canoe, and
… was instrumental in controlling most
happenings. The ugu, through themedium of an effigy known as a kuku, had
essential tasks to perform: to dispel an evi l
spirit or sickness from the village; to
ensure healthy coconut palms; and to
prohibit the unlawful harvesting of gar-
den produce, especially that of a dead
man. A kuku usually took the form of a
simple limbless figure carved from hard-
wood with the gawa tao painted on the
torso. They were positioned upright in
gardens normally at the top of a slope
looking out across the tranquil waters of
the lagoon, or in close proximity to the
village amongst the coconut palms. One
usually stood at the foot of the steps lead-
ing up to the komo [central hall] entrance
of the longhouse to guard against evil
spirits. [Crawford 1981: 50 and Figs 9 1, 106,
189]
The figure in the Masterpieces Exhibition
(MPNr 184) was the last kuku of Isago village.
Most were destroyed in a Mission-inspired
bonfire in the late 1930s. This figure was
made by Beya in the 1950s and erected at the
summit of a sloping garden where it served
as a guardian (Fig. 64). It was believed it
would cause illness or even death to anyone
who stole coconuts or other crops from the
garden.
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122 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
The Highlands Enga and Huli
Yupin or iubini are human figures between
0.5 and 1 metre high, usually male, con-
structed of rattan and/or vines by men using
basketry techniques. They have been col-
lected from the area bounded approximately
by Porgera, Laiagam and Kandep, in Enga
Province but also from the vicinity of Marga-
rima in the north of the Southern Highlands
Province. The people of these locations speak
Ipili, Enga and Huli languages. Roger Neich
(1975) published a thorough survey of them,
including in his account extensive quotations
from Reverend H.M. Reah who was living at
Laiagam, Patrol Officer W.R. Paterson who
was based at Margarima, and E.R. Lockyer
who was Forestry Officer at Mendi, about 40
kilometres south-east of Margarima. Both fig-
ures in the Masterpieces Exhibition (MPNrs
193 and 194) are included in Neich’s survey
and a third figure (E.15582, in the National
Museum’s storage) is mentioned. Since then
another three or four have been added to the
collections. One of these (E.16442) was pub-
lished as part of the ‘Seized Collections’ of
1972 (Smidt 1975: 42) and is remarkably like
the Wambli and Laiagam figures published
by Neich (1975, Figs 1 and 6 respectively).
These figures are regarded as highly
sacred and kept secret from women and chil-
dren. Reah reported (Neich 1975: 34-6) that
each clan has a spirit house where sacred
‘female’ stones and prehistoric stone mortars
are kept. The basketry figures are hidden in
various locations but brought to the spirit
house for rituals, one of which involves the
male figure ‘copulating’ with the female
stones.
All believed that the spirits of their
departed dead resided in [these] figure[s]
… If the spirits were not appeased by
MPNr 193. Human figure (iubini ), Imipiaka village, Waka Enga, Enga speakers, Enga Province. Rattan. 90 x
57 cm. E.2171. Collected by Patrol Officer W.R. Patterson of Mendi; donated and registered 19 July 1967.
Published in Neich 1975: 45, 49-50, Fig. 11.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 123
offerings of pork etc., then these spirits
would come forth and harm the clan as a
whole by spoiling the food supply and
would be detrimental to the health of the
community … Pig grease or blood was
often rubbed on the Yupin [which] would
be referred to in a drought, or when the
children were sick, etc. … Yupins were sup-
posed to punish people for misdeeds and
for ignoring good tribal habits … The
keepers [of the yupin] received all kinds of
rewards or pay f rom people, such as pigs,
axes, mother of pearl shells etc.
Usually, the yupin are not made locally but
bought from other locations. Reah stated:
If the man making the Yupin had occult
powers then he could ask and get a high
price for it. His pay could be as follows; tenfull grown pigs, a large quantity of shell
necklaces of ver y high value, salt, axes, pig
grease, sugar cane, taro, sweet potato and
many other items.
One of the figures in the Masterpieces
Exhibition (MPNr 193) comes from the Waka
(south-western) Enga of the Waga River val-
ley, at the headwaters of the Kikori River; the
other (MPNr 194) comes from the eastern
Huli near Margarima, farther down the Waga
Valley, south of the Waka Enga.
According to informants, the Waka Enga
figure collected by W.R. Paterson (MPNr 193)
was made in the 1940s or 1950s by Borone of
Imipiaka.
The figure was then purchased from Bor-
one by the Wirimbi group in a big pig and
kina (pearl shell) transaction … The figure
was kept in a cave and brought out only
when required.
Paterson bought the figure from the
Wirimbi. He was told (Neich 1975: 49):
The figure is known as ‘Iubini ’ and is said
to have a spirit within named ‘Aimene’.
MPNr 194. Human figure, male ( yupin/taama), Yaruna village, Magarima area, Huli speakers, Southern
Highlands Province. Vine, rattan, gourd and human hair. Face painted red and yellow.
68 cm high x 82 cm circumference at the head and 79 cm at the chest. E.16497. Purchased by E.R. Lockyer
from Margarima Local Government Council, donated to the National Museum of New Zealand, subsequently
repatriated to the PNG National Museum on 20 August 1974; registered 25 June 1975. Published in
TPNGPMAG 1976b: 11, top left and in Neich 1975: 50-2, Figs 12, 13.
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124 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Aimene is representative of the great
spirit known as ‘Tatagali-Wabe’ … [who]
was responsible for seeing to the general
well-being of the people, ie. it fell within
his capabilities to ensure that the kau-kau
(sweet potato) produced, that the pigs
became plenty in number and that the
women bore children… A major festival
to Tatagali-Wabe would be held at inter-
vals of approximately six to seven years or
whenever the seasons were going badly
… On the feasting occasions people with
pigs would bring them to the festival site,
those without pigs would bring kina
[pearl shells] with which to buy pigs.
When pig was kil led and cooked, pieces of
pig would be passed by the mouth of the
Iubini, this being symbolic to the spirit
Tatagali-Wabe eating a share of the pig…
[On other occasions] pigs would be killed
and portions offered to Tatagali-Wabe on
behalf of some person from within the
group who was sick …
Neich (1975: 50-2), reports information
from Lockyer about the Huli figure (E.16497)
that came to the Margarima Council House
from nearby Yaruna:
Ordinarily, the figure is called Taama, but
when used in the pig-killing ceremony its
name changes to Amena. Two or threemen made the figure from bush vines and
cane strips gathered from the virgin for-
est. Taama is normally kept in a specially
built, medium-sized bush materials ‘haus
tambaran’ in the village. The night before
a pig-kill no-one sleeps and the men carry
the figure around the village all night.
When the sun comes up he is put into his
house. Then the pigs are killed and the
‘singsing’ begins.
Women cannot touch or even look at the
figure. The Taama figure is also used during
the four-day initiation seclusion of boys. For
initiation, usually three boys are put through
at one time. A multi-level house is built in the
village and the boys sit in it for four days and
cannot talk to anyone. On the first day, the
pigs are prepared; on the second day, vegeta-
bles are prepared; on the third day, the pigs
are killed; on the fourth day, the boys come
out of the house after eating pork. During
this time the figure remains in the cult house
separate from the initiation house, except for
the night before the pig kill when it is carried
around the village as described above. The
boys still cannot talk to anyone, until the
fourth night is over. They then return to the
communal sleeping house. Taama build up
so much power that the men become afraid
of them. They then put them out in the bush
to rot as they become too powerful to use.
Neich has traced the variations in the
names, function and significance of these
basketry figures throughout the area of their
occurrence and concludes (ibid.: 53):
… the figures and their originally associ-
ated beliefs need not be diffu sed together
as an integral unit. The Waka possibly
adopted the idea and techniques of mak-
ing the figures from the Enga or Ipili to
the north, and applied the widespread
Enga name to them, but … associated
them with modified Huli beliefs.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 125
HUNTING AND WARFARE
In the Masterpieces Exhibition there are two
types of object that have to do with hunting
and warfare. First there are the carved figures
and plaques that serve as habitations for spir-
its whose assistance may be enlisted for
success in hunting and warfare. The second
type of object has to do specifically with the
technique of warfare, and this is the war
shield. War shields were used almost every-
where in New Guinea and New Britain,
displaying a variety of materials, shapes, sizes,
handle-types, and carved and painted
designs. There is available a comprehensive
survey of war shields in Melanesia (Beran and
Craig 2005).
HUNTING AND WARFARE FIGURES
The Masterpieces Exhibition includes many
examples of this type of carving, most being
from the Sepik-Ramu region with just a few
from villages of the Papuan Gulf. To acti-
vate the power of these figures, a ritual is
performed that might involve offerings of
tobacco, betel nut and various foods, even
blood. Upon successful completion of the
hunt, or attack on an enemy settlement, aportion of the quarry may be prepared and
presented to the spirit of the carving as
thanks and to encourage future assistance.
Although it is known that rituals have
been performed to transfer to replacement
carvings the spirits inhabiting some of these
objects, such as Mangisaun (MPNr 123), in
many instances these rituals may not have
been performed. Respect for these objects as
museum exhibits therefore is not simply
based on regard for the carvers’ skills but for
the continuing presence of spirits within
them.
Fig. 65. Murik ‘spider’ design (mabranarogo) (after
Beier and Aris 1975: 20).
Lower Sepik River
At Murik Lakes, carving skills are believed
to have originated with two culture heroes,
Andena and Dibadiba who came down the
Sepik River in a canoe. They taught the peo-
ple to make sago and how to carve masks
and canoes (Beier and Aris 1975: 17):
All the important art forms – brag [masks],
kandimbong [figures], namon [canoe
masthead figures] and canoe heads –
were derived from them. Only the ritual
karkar spears are supposed to have a dif-
ferent origin.
The men who learned the art of carving
from Andena and Dibadiba became the
first moanabinarogo [carvers]. The craft is
passed on only in their families … From
his teacher [father or uncle] the young
carver will absorb a style, which is referred
to as darin or ‘hand’ … A carver is free,
once he has learned what he can from his
immediate relative, to apprentice himselfto another carver from the same village
and to learn some variants of the style he
has acquired.
Morakau, a Murik master carver, told Ulli
Beier that power (maneng) is invested into a
carving by incantations (timit ) and the use of
magic leaves. The former are learnt during
initiation and supplemented with special
ones learnt from the master carver; the magic
leaves are particular to individuals, everyone
having his own formula. The incantations are
recited continuously while the carver works.
‘When carving a brag, the artist leaves the
eyes and the mouth until last. The moment
when he carves these openings is the
moment when he bestows life on the image’
(Beier and Aris 1975: 22). Masks are always
painted after carving, usually with red ochre,
and are decorated with shells and leaves for
use in ceremonies. When the masks are
danced, there may be a quite large and elab-
orate superstructure of feathers and other
materials that almost obscure the woodenmask itself (cf., Berg 1992, esp. Plates 14, 31;
Smidt and Eoe 1999, Figs 13.8-13.12).
Traditionally, Murik design elements are
used in quite specific ways for specific
objects. Beier and Aris (1975: 17), for example,
inform us:
All important masks have the spider
design occurring on them somewhere.
The spider is the perfect designer. The fine,
precise lines of its web and the intricacy
of the design it produces symbolize the
kind of perfection the carver himself is
aiming at. [Fig. 65]
Carved anthropomorphic figures are of
two types: those having relatively naturalistic
human noses and those with long, beak-like
noses. The nimbero kandimbong, half to full
life-size, are carved with human, naturalistic
noses and represent male clan ancestors. Two
such figures, MPNrs 111 and 112, have been
published by Beier and Aris (1975, Figs 10, 11).
The young male initiates are shown these
figures, even sleep with them (Barlow
1995: 97), so that they may absorb the
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126 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
inhabiting spirits’ virility and gain magical
knowledge about seduction. Beier and Aris
(1975: 24) state that the kandimbong ‘ depicts
a clan ancestor and culture hero’ and has
oracular powers:
When the carving is finished, its potencyhas to be established with a kind of ritual
experiment. A spear is placed next to the
kandimbong , and a young boy is asked to
walk close to the figure. If the kandimbong
has meneng, or magic power, the spear
will suddenly tilt towards the boy. The boy
will then fall into a trance and the kandim-
bong will speak through the boy.
The kandimbongretains the power of
speaking through various p eople, and
when it appears to the owner in dreams it
sings and speaks to him.
The female equivalent of kandimbong fig-
ures (Specht 1988: 40, Plate 1) are presented
to girls at initiation and, as is the case during
the initiation of the young men, they sleep
with these female figures to absorb ‘seduc-
tion and beautification magic’ (Barlow
1995: 106).
MPNr 111 has a scarification design
(taganap sigia) on the upper torso, said to
represent a crab. In 1983, I was told that this
kandimbong’s name is Marara and informants
confirmed that it was carved at Darapap.
MPNr 112 has the same scarification design
but also a wig of human hair, a string of shell
rings around its neck and several shell rings
are attached to its arms and legs by woven
rattan bands. A bark cloth belt holds a bark
loincloth in place. In 1983 I was told that this
figure’s name is Gila, is from Mendam, and
was carved by Kanaba of Jangimot, a mem-
ber of the current generation of old men.
Both these figures appear to have been
carved by the same man, that is, Kanaba.
Other types of Murik figures also feature
MPNr 111. Male figure (kandimbong), personal
name Marara, Darapap village, Murik Lakes, Murik
speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, rattan. 94 x 17
cm. E.16186. Seized in 1972, donated by Customs in
1974 and registered 12 February 1975. Published
in Beier and Aris 1975: 24 and Fig. 11; Smidt 1975:
54-55; TPNGPMAG 1974a, Plate opp. p. 23.
MPNr 112. Male figure (kandimbong), personal
name Gila, Darapap village, Murik Lakes, Murik
speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, rattan, shell
and human hair. 99 x 19 cm. E.16187. Purchased
from Barry Hoare and registered 12 February 1975.
Published in Beier and Aris 1975: 23-4 and Fig. 10.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 127
the human, rather than bird-like, nose (for
example, Kelm 1968, Plates 28, 84). Murik
paddle-canoe prows combine animal and
human elements (Craig 1987, Plate 41). At
Kopar and Watam, east of Murik, small figures
are kept in baskets as village guardians (ibid.,
Plate 46).
Sendam, the pair to Jore (MPNr 114), was
still kept in Watam in 1983 (Fig. 66 and Craig
1987, Plate 79), though much deteriorated.
Both Jore and Sendam were carved so long
ago (even before Watam village was
founded) that the name of the carver has
been forgotten. The spirits in these figures
were asked for assistance in warfare and
were presented with enemy heads after suc-
cessful raids.
Long, beak-like noses are to be found on
the brag (spirit masks) and namon (mast-
head figures), figures and heads carved on
the sacred karkar spears, finials of slit-gongs
and canoe paddles, war shields, wooden food
and betel-nut pestles, handles of hand drums,
supporting figures of betel-nut mortars,
stools and headrests (Beier and Aris 1975,
Figs 1-9, 12-15; Beier and Somare 1973; Craig
1987, Plates 38-40, 42, 44, 45; Kaufmann 1980,
Plate 54; Kelm 1968, Plate 278; Specht 1988:
42-3). Beier and Aris (1975: 21) report:
Spirit noses resemble the beaks of birds;
for example, the nose of the tarego mask
is always modelled on the beak of an
eagle, while others are said to represent
the beak of the kauren bird or the
kekekaur bird. The kauren nose may also
be described as sakenemp (prawn’s tail).
Other noses are described as daur
gogongo (long nose) and waunor daur
(spirit nose).
Lipset considers these noses have an
additional significance. Of the male war spirit
(brag), he states (1997: 135):
Fig. 66. Male figure named Sendam, Watam village,
Watam speakers, Watam Lagoon. Photo: B. Craig,
C5: 27; 27 September 1983.
MPNr 114. Male figure, personal name Jore; Watam
village, Watam speakers, Watam Lagoon, East Sepik
Province. Wood. 166 x 26 cm. E.16417. Purchased
by Wayne Heathcote from Babo Saun of Watam
but seized as an illegal export in 1972 and donated
by Customs in 1974; registered 24 March 1975.
Published in Smidt 1975: 55.
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128 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
He is not just a spirit but a spirit-man …
Far from repressed, the glamour of his
face (brag sebug) depicted in wooden
masks … is animated by blatant images of
genital desire and aggression. His visage is
dominated by a great phallic, beak nose.
In wooden figurines (kandimbong), the
top of the spirit-man’s head often turns
into the face and head of a serpent
(wakun kombitok ) whose nose reaches
down to his genitals … [B]eautifully orna-
mented … his decorations are intended
to seduce women …
Murik carvers are aesthetically sophisti-
cated; ‘Symmetry and proportion are of the
utmost importance’ and ‘An inventive carver
may be praised for his nonon, or imagination’
(Beier and Aris 1975: 22). However, the aes-
thetic qualities of a carving are irrelevant for
its function. Morakau explained to Ulli Beier
(ibid.):
‘You can give power to a carving as long
as you have the right incantations and as
long as you make it the way you want it.
Whether other people like it or not does
not matter.’
The power of the namon outrigger canoe
mast figure (ibid.: 24, Fig. 12) ensures the
owner of the canoe is given many pigs by his
trading partners. Miniature squatting figures
with the namon’s exaggerated beak-like nose
are placed in a wooden bowl during a ritual
for the inauguration of a new outrigger
canoe.
Ramu and Keram Rivers
The Ramu and Keram rivers are separate river
systems (the Keram being a southern tribu-
tary of the Sepik) but the upper Keram
meanders just 3 kilometres west of the mid-
dle Ramu. At high water there is no difficulty
in passing by canoe from one river system to
the other. It is not surprising then that some
language groups (Banaro and Rao) have set-
tlements on both rivers and others straddle
the middle Ramu and its eastern tributary the
Guam (Romkun, Kominimung, Breri and
Igana).
Richard Thurnwald (1916) did research
among the Banaro as long ago as 1913-14,
Father Aloys Kasprús published a general
ethnographic survey in 1973 based on his
time in the area (1936-43), and Father John
Z’graggen published a survey of the lan-
guages of the whole of the Madang Province
in 1975. Otherwise very little was known
about the area until Dirk Smidt (1990b: 15)
undertook to survey the area and to work
intensively among the Kominimung as a field
officer of the PNG National Museum between
1976 and 1980. Artefact collectors had been
operating in the area some time before but
their scant documentation was unreliable
and it was this that motivated Smidt to go to
the area (Smidt 1975: 87). Since then, he has
published several papers on the Kominimung
(1983, 1990a, 1990b, 1990c) in which he dis-
cusses the production and uses of their war
shields, masks and anthropomorphic figures
and the significance of the graphic designs
carved and painted on them. However, it isnot clear whether, or how much of, this infor-
mation is applicable to the Romkun and Breri,
nearest neighbours of the Kominimung, or to
the Banaro and Rao, who are farther away
and more distant culturally and linguistically.
Lower Keram River
The provenance of MPNr 152 is uncertain and
nothing is recorded about its significance.
The style of the carved face is consistent with
lower Keram carving (Kambot speakers). The
form of the piece overall is quite like a smaller
carving in the Museum für Völkerkunde in
MPNr 152. Male? figure, much deteriorated, Keram
River area, Kambot? speakers, East Sepik Province.
Wood. 151 x 20 cm. E.14188. Purchased from Bruce
Lawes and registered 25 April 1974.
Almost identical figures are illustrated in Friede
2005, Cat. Nr 121 and Kjellgren 2007, Cat. Nr 54.
Both are said to have been collected in the Keram
River area.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 129
Berlin (Kelm 1968, Plate 52), collected by the
New Guinea Company in 1900 ‘in the area
of the mouth of the Sepik’. The function of
that figure was not recorded. Similar figures
are found through the Angoram-lower Sepik
area (Kelm 1968: Plates 32-50). In the Ango-
ram area, they are called atei , are said to be
ancestor figures, and are invoked before war
and hunting expeditions ( Wardwell 1994: 42-
3). It is possible that MPNr 152 is the remnant
of a figure with similar functions, perhaps
from the lower or middle Keram.
Upper Keram and Middle Ramu Rivers
MPNr 115 has a suspension hole at the top
and stands on the head of an unidentified
animal (perhaps a flying fox), a totem of the
clan to which this figure belongs. The figure’s
long beak-like nose (similar to the brag
spirit man’s nose of the Murik Lakes) joins
the body just above the penis. It is interest-
ing that Smidt reports (1990b: 29) a type of
woven string loin covering worn by Komin-
imung men engaged in initiation rituals, that
hangs from a belt to cover the penis and
loops back upwards so that the narrow end is
held in the mouth (ibid., Fig. 3.34), analogous
to the carved beak-like nose of many male
wood figures. This type of nose image is com-
mon throughout the lower Sepik region, for
example at Kopar, Tsingarin and Karadjundo
(Kelm 1968, Plates 67-9, 70, 76, 90) though
none of those in the Berlin museum’s cata-
logue are as finely carved as this one from
the Banaro. A strikingly similar but somewhat
smaller figure in the Museum der Kulturen,
Basel, collected by Speiser at Tambanum on
the middle Sepik in 1930 (Kaufmann 1980,
Kat. Nr 57), is attributed to the lower Sepik.
Virtually nothing is known about the signifi-
cance of these figures but it is likely that they
represent male clan spirits (not necessarily
MPNr 115. Male figure, Wokam village, middle
Ramu, Banaro speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.
56 x 10 cm. E.10438. Donated by Rudi Caesar and
registered 11 October, 1972. Published in TPNGMAG
1974b: 20.
MPNr 116 (right). Male figure, upper Keram River,
Banaro? speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, bark
loincloth. 69 x 9 cm. E.16055. Purchased from Barry
Hoare and registered 11 February 1975.
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130 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
ancestral) and have important roles at times
of male initiation.
Dirk Smidt (pers. comm. 19 May 2004)
showed a photograph of a figure, similar to
MPNr 116, to Akasi of the Banaro village of
Ninias (=Minias?). Akasi claimed to recognise
that figure so it is l ikely that MPNr 116 comes
from the Banaro. It has traces of red paint on
the face and belly, and wears a beaten bark
loincloth21
and a woven rattan band on one
leg. It is possible that this figure is equivalent
to the kandimbongof the Murik Lakes (as it
has a naturalistic nose) and represents a male
clan ancestor. Thurnwald mentions such fig-
ures in connection with the initiation of
Banaro boys. Over several months, various
ceremonies are performed to introduce the
initiates to the sacred bamboo flutes,
bullroarers, the ritual cleansing by penis-
bleeding, and to sexual intercourse and
marriage. Thurnwald writes (1916: 265-66):
After three months of confinement the
initiates are ‘shown’ the phenomena of the
world that surrounds them – animals,
plants, high water, thunder and lightning
– which are presented as spirits in the
shape of wooden idols. They are also
introduced to the goblins of this world
and the spirits of their ancestors … Thefathers in the meantime have carved
small human figures (bukámorom, on the
lower Sepik called kandímboan)as a gift
of mutual friendship between the inter-
marrying gentes [people living in hamlets
each associated with a particular m en’s
house]. With these figures a particular
charm is perfor med. The father goes with
the boy into the forest to search for a
water liana … This liana is cut and the
water allowed to flow over the figure,
betel nut and betel pepper are laid upon
it, and it is then wrapped up in bark. The
figure is used as a love charm. If the boy
MPNr 153. One-legged figure, Romkun village,
Guam River, middle Ramu area, Romkun speakers,
Madang Province. Wood. 147 x 27 cm. 78.36.1 .
Collected by Dirk Smidt 18 September 1972 and
registered 1 September 1978.
MPNr 154. Male figure, right leg missing, Romkun
village, Guam River, middle Ramu area, Romkun
speakers, Madang Province. Wood. 59 x 14 cm.
E.10440. Donated by Rudi Caesar and registered 11
October 1972.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 131
MPNr 155. Male figure, Romkun village, Guam River,
middle Ramu area, Romkun speakers (but probably
Breri), Madang Province. Wood, rattan. 107 x 14 cm.
E.16419. Seized in 1972 and donated by Customs;
registered 24 March 1975. Published in Smidt 19 75:
93, Nr 104.
MPNr 156. Female figure, attributed to Romkun
village, Guam River, middle Ramu area, Romkun
speakers, Madang Province. Wood. 82 x 15 cm.
E.14304. Purchased by Fr Z’graggen at Catholic
Mission Kuanga from Breri speakers; later bought
by Dr Christian Kaufmann for the Museum für
Völkerkunde, Basel, but restricted from export.
Registered 24 May 1974.
should go into the bush with this, he
would expect to meet a woman. When the
women hear that such a charm has been
executed, one of them … complies with
the wish expressed in the charm. This is
the boy’s initiation into sexual life.
Guam River
It is not unreasonable to assume that the
information published by Dirk Smidt (1990b:
28-9) for the one-legged figures of the
Kominimung is more-or-less applicable to
MPNr 153, a one-legged figure of the Rom-
kun, since the two groups are closely related
in language and culture. However, the Komin-
imung one-legged figure is represented with
a torso and tiny arms whereas the Romkun
‘one-leg’ has a face only, which is symmetri-
cal around both the horizontal and vertical
axes. The three triangular projections imme-
diately below the face at the top of the ‘leg’
suggest the three poisonous barbs of the cat-
fish, a clan totem. Dirk Smidt (pers. comm.
15 March 2004) informs me that this inter-
pretation is supported by the projection at
the top of the head, which was said to repre-
sent the tail of a fish, most likely the catfish.
He also notes that the hook-like projections
above and below the face were referred to as
birds’ beaks, probably the hornbill; at the top
of the single ‘leg’ of the figure, the male spir-
it’s penis has been carved; and the diamond
shapes below that are ‘the traces of a water
insect’. The name of the carving was said to
be Kwanga.
The Kominimung believe in ancestral spir-
its called bwongogo; it is likely that the
Romkun have a similar belief. There are male
and female spirits and each one is associated
with a particular clan. These spirits are
believed to be helpful for human activities
such as gardening, hunting, fishing, warfare
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132 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
and initiation – or they may obstruct success
if certain rules are broken.
At ceremonial occasions the [bwon-
gogo], who belong to the spirit world, are
brought into the realm of human beings
by means of theatrical performances
which are prepared in the men’s house.
The [bwongogo] are made tangible and
visible through the wood carvings and
additional paraphernalia worn or manipu-
lated by initiated male performers. [Smidt
1990b: 28]
Each type of bwongogo is represented by
a specific kind of carving and by specific
musical instruments and songs. The one-leg-
ged figures are considered to represent the
most powerful of all the spirits, as it is only
after young men have been through an initi-
ation featuring these figures that they are
permitted to marry. The one-legged figures
are used to prod or thump the chest or back
of the initiate (ibid., Fig. 3.35), after which the
figures are placed in a special room in the
men’s house. The boys are circumcised and
the glans of the penis is scratched to make it
bleed, ‘to remove the female blood with
which they are still contaminated’ (ibid.: 30).
Some years later the initiates go through
another ritual involving the one-legged fig-
ures, they are informed of the choices they
have for a marriage partner, and they are
then permitted to marry.
After these ceremonies, some of the fig-
ures are kept in the men’s house. Others are
taken to family houses where they are kept
on a screened platform hidden from the
women and uninitiated, who must not see
them or they would fall ill. The figures protect
the house and its inhabitants. ‘They also
ensure successful hunts, particularly of pigs,
and they seem to ensure a sufficient supply
of food in general’ (Smidt 1990b: 30).
MPNr 157. Male figure (and detail), attributed to
Romkun village, Guam River, middle Ramu area,
Romkun speakers (but probably Breri), Madang
Province. Wood. 113 x 15 cm. E.16084. Purchased
from Barry Hoare and registered 11 February 1975.
MPNr 154 is rather different to MPNrs
155-57 (even though all are noted to be from
Romkun in the museum’s register) in not hav-
ing multiple hooks above and below the face,
in having upraised arms and a differently
shaped abdomen. Its Romkun provenance
has been confirmed by the trader Jeff Liver-
sidge and his assistant William Siep (Dirk
Smidt, pers. comm. 19 May 2004).
Of the other three (MPNrs 155-57), two
are male and one is female. Attributions
made by Liversidge and Siep favour a Breri
provenance (Dirk Smidt, pers. comm. 19 May
2004) as does Smidt. A fourth, female figure
(E.16421, not on display), similar to MPNr 156,
has been published by Smidt (1975: 92, Nr
103), although with an incorrect village prov-
enance provided by Rudi Caesar. A Breri
provenance is supported also by a figure
from Misingi (Misinki) , a Breri village, pub-
lished by Miller (n.d.: 39, Item 244).
The Breri live on both sides of the Ramu
south of the Romkun (Z’graggen 1975: 35)
but Kasprús seems to place them both under
the name Breri (1973, Map 2), as did Smidt
(1975: 89, map and 93, caption for Nr 104)
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 133
before he went to the Ramu and discovered
otherwise. Nor does Kasprús distinguish the
Kominimung. Kasprús reports the name of
the Breri water spirit associated with male
initiation as brobo, a term that could be cog-
nate to the Kominimung’s bwongogo.
It is significant, perhaps, that both male
figures have a handle-like projection at the
top of the head whereas the two female fig-
ures lack this. It is possible therefore that the
male figures were used like the Kominimung
bwongogo ‘one-legs’ (and like the Romkun
‘one-leg’, Nr 153) to prod the backs of the ini-
tiates, the figure’s ‘handle’ being held in the
raised right hand. The female figures may
represent spirits associated with fishing or
gardening, as amongst the Kominimung,
eastern neighbours of the Breri.
Yuat River
Under registration number E.361 are three
carvings, from Dauneng (Ndauenang, Dow-
aning), Arani (Araning, Araining), and
Antefuga (Antéfugoa, Andafugan), all villages
on or near the old course of the lower Yuat
River (see map, Laumann 1952: 899). None of
these figures is securely identified by regis-
tration number. MPNr 122 has at present the
registration number E.1347 and MPNr 128
has the registration number E.361.1. How-
ever, MPNr 128 is a Sawos figure collected by
Oscar Meyer and Bruce Lawes (Meyer 1995:
257) and by using a photograph I identi-
fied it to be from the village of Yamok (Craig
1982: 27, 29); therefore it cannot be one of
the three figures under E.361. MPNr 122 is
from Dauneng as Dadi Wirz (pers. comm. 16
February 2004) has confirmed that he col-
lected it there in late 1955, and has supplied
a field photograph to prove it (Fig. 67; see
also Meyer 1995, Plate 227). Both figures were
sent to the AGNSW for exhibition in 1966 so
MPNr 122. Male figure, Dauneng village, Yuat River, Biwat speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 157 x 30 cm.
E.1347 [incorrect number; identified as E.361.1 , collected by Dadi Wirz in 1955 and registered 7 December
1956.] Exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW, 20 April - 22 May 1966 (AGNSW 1966, Item 50 – illustrated as Plate
17) and published in Meyer 1995: 217.
Fig. 67. Male figure, Dauneng village, Biwat speakers,
lower Yuat. Field photo by Dadi Wirz, late 1955,
courtesy of Dadi Wirz.
it has to be assumed that the registrationnumbers were written on tags and somehow
they were mixed up while preparing the
figures for shipment to Sydney.
The Dauneng figure is most likely one of
the type from the lower Yuat villages referred
to by Karl Laumann (1951: 810; 1952) as Jagd-
gottheiten (‘hunting gods’), but he notes that
in Antefúgoa there was a ‘hunting god’
named Blíssoa (Vlísso) that was also a ‘war
god’. Food offerings were made to these fig-
ures before embarking on such activities, to
ensure their assistance.
MPNr 110 also was sent to the AGNSW for
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134 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 110 (left). Male figure, Arani [Araining], lower Yuat River area, Mekmek speakers, East Sepik Province.
Wood. 186 x 27 cm. 81.26.114 [original registration number lost but identified as E.361.2, recorded as
collected by Dadi Wirz in 195 5 and registered 7 D ecember 1956 along with two other figures, each from
the nearby villages of Dauneng and Antefuga]. Exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW, 20 April – 22 May 1966
(AGNSW 1966, Item 51).
Fig. 68 (above). Male figure named Tamasua, at
Maramba village, Angoram speakers, lower Yuat.
After Laumann 1951.
exhibition in 1966. In the catalogue of that
exhibition it has the registration number
E.361.2 and is provenanced to Arani. It is
identifiable by its catalogue description and,
although it is not illustrated in that catalogue,
AGNSW archival photos of the exhibition
confirm that it was part of the exhibition. Its
registration tag must have been lost after it
was returned to Port Moresby from Sydney. It
was registered in 1956 at the same time as
the figure from Dauneng but Dadi Wirz said
that he did not collect it (pers. comm. 16 Feb-
ruary 2004). In the PNG National Archives is a
list of the Dadi Wirz collection. The list
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 135
MPNr 113 (opp osite page, middle). Male figure, personal name Tamasua; carved at Tambigenum but
collected at Maramba village, Yuat River, Angoram speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, shell eyes, human hair.
210 x 39 cm. 81.26.115 [original registration number lost or never registered]. Published in Laumann 1951,
TPNGPMAG 1967 Plate 1, and TPNGPMAG 1976b: 11, top right.
includes a 2.4-metre figure from Arani and a
3.8-metre carved crocodile from Arani, but
not a 1.86-metre figure. The 2.4-metre figure
from Arani (‘Muliákeban’ – see Laumann
1954, Tafel 3: 5a-c) was one of those identified
for retention from the Dadi Wirz collection by
the PNG administration. This raises the ques-
tion as to whether ‘Muliákeban’ was later
substituted by another figure (the one cur-
rently identified as E.361.2). It also casts
doubt on this latter figure’s provenance,
which may have been collected by Alfred
Bühler during his 1955/56 Sepik Expedition
and perhaps from a village other than Arani.
There is a figure identical to this piece,
though less weathered-looking and a little
taller at 205 cm, in the Museum für
Völkerkunde in Frankfurt am Main (Haber-
land and Schuster 1964: 30, right). It was
collected by Meinhard Schuster from
Yuaroma in 1961 during the First Sepik Expe-
dition of the Frobenius-Institut (Eva Raabe,
pers. comm. 13 February 2004). Schuster
(pers. comm. 12 May 2004) recorded only that
it was an ancestor figure and was unaware of
MPNr 110. Yuaroma is about 16 kilometres
northwards from Arani. Perhaps the Frankfurt
piece was carved to replace MPNr 110 (which
was collected around 1955/56), or the twowere carved as a pair and one was better pre-
served than the other. The answer to this
question may be somewhere in Bühler’s field-
notes.
A further problem involving the Dadi Wirz
material retained by the Administration is
that the only carving in the National Museum
recorded to be from Antefuga obviously does
not come from the lower Yuat, but from the
vicinity of Maprik. This figure matches a brief
description of a piece in a list (also in the PNG
National Archives) of a collection from that
area made by Paul Wirz not long before he
unexpectedly died in the field. The Antefuga
piece in the Dadi Wirz collection was ‘Vlisso’,
published by Laumann (1952) and now in the
Museum der Kulturen in Basel (Bühler 1963,
Tafel 2). It is possible that Bühler arranged for
the substitution on the grounds of the fragil-
ity of ‘Vlisso’ and the lack of conservation
facilities in Port Moresby, and that this substi-
tution was not noted when the registration
of the items took place.
MPNr 113 also has lost its registration
number or was never registered. However, it
is identifiable as a hunting spirit called Tama-
sua by reference to a paper written by Karl
Laumann (1951). He came across the figure in
Maramba village, on the old course of the
Yuat River (10 kilometres west of the present
river course). According to what he was told,
the figure originates from an old village
named Tambigenum, a few kilometres south
of Maramba. Tambigenum was destroyed in a
raid by Maramba warriors and the victors
took Tamasua back to Maramba (Fig. 68),
where it became the property of Tungémali.
It was subsequently inherited by his son,
Málünga; then by Málünga’s son, Assam; then
by Assam’s son, Johannes Málünga, who was
about twenty-seven years old when Lau-
mann obtained the information. The peopleof Maramba did not know the name of the
carver of this figure but they knew the fig-
ure’s personal name and that it was a
benevolent hunting spirit. It was not kept in a
cult house but in the owner’s family house. To
enlist Tamasua’s co-operation, the figure was
rubbed with a mixture of ochre, lime and
coconut oil (a large figure from the Yuat area
– Bühler 1963, Tafel 2 – collected by Dadi Wirz
in late 1955, appears to have been given this
treatment). A meal of yam boiled in coconut
‘milk’ was placed at the foot of the figure. In
the evening, after Tamasua was thought to
have had his share, the people in the house-
hold finished off the food. If the hunt was
successful, the livers of the animals were fried,
put on cooked sago and given to Tamasua.
After he had ‘eaten’, the cooked livers were
then threaded onto a cord and hung around
the figure’s neck; the family ate the rest of the
food. A stool was always placed among them
for his spirit to sit on. The figure was not
secret-sacred; anyone in the family could see
and touch it.
Tamasua’s conical headpiece probably
represents a hair binder (cf., Kaufmann 1975,
Plate 73) but the odd angle of the head could
not be explained. The breast piece was said
by informants to represent a sea shell orna-
ment, perhaps similar to the series of
crescent-shaped mother-of-pearl shells in the
image of Mobul from Kambot (MPNr 4). The
figure used to have a loin covering of sago
palm leaves but it has been lost. According to
Laumann, the big penis was lopped off with a
machete in 1943. The large hole in the chest
was not carved but is a knothole from which
the knot has fallen out after the figure was
completed. The shawl-like garment could not
be explained other than as ‘ornament’.
This piece is similar in iconography,
though different in style, to a piece in the
Wielgus Collection (Pelrine 1996: 124-25)
which is stated to have been collected by
Captain H. Voogdt 1908-9 and later acquired
by A.B. Lewis at Singarin during his 1909-13
expedition for the Field Museum, Chicago.
However, this information is incorrect. Robert
Welsch (pers. comm. 4 December 2003)
states: ‘Wielgus got it all wrong … The piece
was never obtained by Lewis at all. It was col-
lected by Voogdt, almost certainly during his
1908 trip up the Sepik with Dorsey [Field
Museum’s Anthropology curator]. The piece
[along with other objects] was sent to
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136 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Hamburg I believe and later Dorsey arranged
to buy half of the collection directly from
Voogdt. The other half was bought from
Umlauf to whom Voogdt had sold it in 1909
or 1910’. This Wielgus piece does not conform
to Singarin style and it is possible the prove-
nance may be in error. It may have been
collected by Voogdt from farther up the river,
perhaps at Magim (Magem, Magendo), the
highest point represented by his collection
(Welsch 2000, Table 7.1), just upstream from
where the Keram joins the Sepik and there-
fore much closer to the Yuat than is Singarin.
Indeed, I photographed a similar piece,
named Ambakapa at Magendo in 1981 (Craig
1981: 135-36, Photos FT038: 19-24). I was
informed that the figure was used as an
augery for the success of raiding parties.
Another piece remarkably similar in ico-
nography is the damaged figure, said to be
from the lower Yuat, in the Haus Völker und
Kulturen, St Augustin (Inv. 83.4) published by
Menter (2003: 191, Item 49). The main differ-
ence from the Wielgus piece is the flange-like
headpiece rather than the conical hair cap.
The shawl-like feature is identical and the
long, narrow breast ornament is similar.
In 1981, I photographed Yan of
Asang’gumban (Asangamut) on the middleYuat displaying what he described as a head-
hunting bag (Fig. 69 and Craig 1981: 138). This
bag was heavily adorned with feathers cut
into rows of small triangles and down the
centre was a line of pairs of boars’ tusks, one
pair for each head taken. It is possible to see
in this headhunting bag and its vertical row
of boars’ tusks the inspiration for the shawl-
like feature and long narrow breast ornament
of Tamasua and the other figures noted
above.
It is uncertain how Tamasua came into the
National Museum’s collections. Perhaps
Alfred Bühler collected it during his 1955/56
Sepik Expedition, on advice from Laumann,
but it was prevented from being exported.
MPNr 124 also has lost its registration
number but like MPNr 110, it was in the AGNSW
exhibition and although not illustrated in the
exhibition catalogue, has been identified by the
catalogue description and an exhibition archi-
val photograph. A PNG Museum index card
states that the figure is from Maramba, lower
Yuat River, and that it ‘embodies a spirit child
named Andi; one of a group of three figures
together forming a family’. Although registered
with other objects I discovered were collected
by Dadi Wirz in 1955, he does not recognise it
(pers. comm. 16 February 2004).
In his paper on spirit figures of the middle
Yuat River area, Karl Laumann (1954) provides
information about Andi and two other fig-
ures representing a man and his ‘wife’
(Fig. 70). The adult male figure was named
Mündábalä and the female figure Pandi. The
figures were recorded by Laumann (1954:
37-42) at Maramba in the lower Yuat area, the
same village in which Tamasua was located.
Laumann was told that Mündábalä and his
‘family’ were Maramba spirits, whereas Tama-
sua was looted in warfare from Tambigenum.
Mündábalä was represented by a male
figure carved from wood, 199 cm. high; Pandi
was a female figure 107 cm. high but lacked a
head, having instead a peg-like neck onto
which an overmodelled skull had been
placed for a mortuary ceremony (as among
the Iatmul of the middle Sepik). Whereas
Mündábalä and Pandi are consistent in style,
Andi is significantly different and much
smaller at only 54 cm high. Mündábalä is a
spirit who assists in hunting and warfare. He
takes care that there is plenty of wildlife in
the bush and fish in the river. As a reward for
his help, he got the livers of hunted animals
Fig. 69. Yan of Asang’gumban village, Miyak
speakers, middle Yuat, displaying headhunting bag,
sword-club and bow and arrows. Photo: B. Craig,
C25: 5; 15 November 1981.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 137
hung on him. When the men went off to fight,
they called his name to get his protection. In
particular, spears thrown at a person
protected by Mündábalä broke apart on
impact.
All three figures were kept together in the
family house of the owner, not in a men’s
house. The story told to Laumann about
Mündábalä and his ‘family’ is as follows (1954:
37-8, translated by Waltraud Schmidt):
A long time ago a man named Agroábar
lived in Maramba. One evening, he killed
a wild boar in his sago patch. He carried
the dead pig to his village but returned
immediately to the sago patch because
he wanted to catch some marsupial rats
as well. But the Yambárengar came and
took him prisoner.
The Yambárengar are bush spirits who
live in tall forest trees. They were very angry
and said to the man: ‘You have just killed a
pig. Why are you coming back to kill some
marsupial rats?’ They bent his legs at the
knees, and his arms at the elbows, and
pierced his joints with the thin wing bones
of flying foxes. This way the man was ren-
dered completely helpless.
After that the Yambárengar took their
helpless prisoner to the spirit house. They
handed him over to one of their womenand told her, ‘We first want to prepare
some sago and then we will kill the pris-
oner and have him with the sago. Until
then, watch him well.’ But the woman felt
pity for the impr isoned Agroábar. She
removed the bone needles from his joints.
That way the man could flee and made it
back to Maramba.
At home, he thought about what had
happened. ‘I will m ake a spirit figure that
looks exactly like those Yambárengar. This
spirit figure should provide me all the
time with good hunting.’ He then
explained to a carver in Maramba exactly
Fig. 70. Male figure named Mündábalä, female
figure named Pandi and child figure named Andi,
Maramba village, Angoram speakers, lower Yuat.
After Laumann 1954, Tafel 2. A similar figure is
illustrated in Friede 2005, Cat. Nr 136 and is said to
MPNr 124 (left). Female figure holding bird,
Maramba village, Yuat River, Angoram speakers,
East Sepik Province. Wood. 54 x 11 cm. 81.26.116
[original registration number lost but identified
as E.371.1, registered 7 December 1 956. Published
in Laumann 1954, Tafel 2, 3d-e; TPNGMAG 1966,
Plate opp. p. 24 (bottom centre), and TPNGPMAG
1974b: 18. Exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW,
20 April – 22 May 1966 (AGNSW 1966, Item 78 – notillustrated).
what the figure had to look like. The
carver, whose name is not known, pro-
duced the wooden figure according to
the instructions and Agroábar called it
Mündábalä. The child figure Andi was
made as well, according to Agroábar ’s
instructions.
At that time, the people of Andoar
(which today is a well-known village on
the Yuat River) lived together with the
Maramba people in the village of
Maramba. The Andoar were living in their
own half of the village and they did not
mix with the Maramba people. Quite
often there were quarrels between the
two groups and, one day, the Andoar
killed, for unknown reasons, a Maramba
woman named Pandi. Pandi was the wife
of a Maramba man named Woalám. After
the murder, the Andoar people were afraid
of blood revenge by the clan of the mur-
dered woman and they fled towards the
have come from the middle Yuat (Biwat or Mekmek
speakers). Another similar figure (E.46302) in the
Australian Museum, Sydney, was collected at
Kraimbit (Kapriman speakers) 50 kilometres west
of Maramba.
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138 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Yuat River. Later on they settled on the
banks of the Yuat where they founded the
village of Andoar.
Woalám carved a female figure of wood
in the likeness of his murdered wife and
called the figure Pandi. He put his wife’s
head on the figure. That’s why this figure
hasn’t got a head but only a wooden peg,
on which the woman’s head was placed.
Several months later, the Maramba peo-
ple performed the usual mortuary
ceremony with a great singsing. After-
wards, the woman’s head was buried with
the rest of her body. Since then, the head-
less female figure was thought to be the
wife of the war and hunting god
Mündábalä and was called Pandi.
Although Andi was wearing a female skirt
when Laumann saw it, he states that it is a
male child (1954: 42); however, the figure def-
initely appears to be female. He was told the
figure is portrayed about to eat the bird it
holds in its hands. Although it is thought of
as a spirit child, the ‘child’ of Mündábalä, it
does not appear to have any other signifi-
cance for the Maramba people.22
MPNr 125 is from Kambrindo, a little up
the Sepik from the mouth of the Yuat. It was
collected by Dadi Wirz in late 1955 and
although it was registered, it may have lost
that registration number and was given
another number (E.7296) in 1971. While at
first glance this figure appears to be carved in
the Iatmul style, it is quite slender and its pos-
ture recalls that of Mündábalä photographed
in Maramba by Laumann. The two figures
also share the same two concentric circle
breast motifs. The Kambrindo figure stands
on a post on which a crocodile has been
carved, similar to the way MPNr 110 and
Frankfurt Museum’s Yuaroma (Lower Yuat)
piece are carved standing on a post but with
a human head and arms instead of the
crocodile. This figure may represent a clan
founder who, through his migration to a new
site, following his path-making crocodile,
established a new village or village section
(see Wassmann 1991:179).
Karawari (Korewori) River
On the Karawari River, the linguistic situation
is complex (Laycock 1973, 1975):
swamps to the east, there are the Kara-
wari speakers, and south of them on the
Arafundi, that joins the middle Karawari
from the east, there are the Yimas speak-
ers; both languages belong with the
Pondo Family of Lower Sepik languages;
speakers whose language belongs to the
Arafundi Family of Ramu languages;
Wogupmeri, that joins the upper Kara-
wari from the west, there are Alamblak
and Sumariup of the Sepik Hill Family of
Middle Sepik languages;
The language of Inyai is named Bisorio
by Laycock (1973: 51 or Iniai by Wurm and
Hattori (1981, Map 6), a language of theEnga
sub-family spoken by the Gadio of the upper
Wogupmeri. However, the Inyai speak Ewa
or Sumariup, the same language as spoken
at Latoma. This confusion arose because of
extensive and changing bilinguilism in the
region (Haberland and Seyfarth 1974: 402-4:
Kaufmann 2003: 69-70).
Karawari and Yimas
It appears that MPNr 205, a 6-metre long
wooden crocodile, was collected by Assist-
ant District Officer P. Donaldson. Sir Alan Mann,
President of the Board of Trustees of the PNG
Museum, had seen it in a carpenter’s shed near
the Sub-District Office at Angoram. Mann sent
MPNr 125. Male figure and crocodile, Kambrindo,
lower Sepik, Angoram speakers, East Sepik Province.
Wood, human hair. 221 x 21 cm. E.363, registered 7
December 1956. Collected by Dadi Wirz, 1955. Re-
registered E.7296 on 10 February 1971.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 139
MPNr 205. Cult crocodile and details, Kundima
village, middle Karawari River, Karawari speakers,
East Sepik Province. Wood. 6.31 x 32 cm. 81.26.178
[original registration number lost but identified as
E.937, registered 7 June 1963].
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140 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
a letter about it to the District Commissioner
(DC) in Wewak and after some correspond-
ence, Donaldson informed the DC (letter dated
17 August 1961):
The carved crocodile at Angoram was
presented to me during a patrol of the
Karawari in 1959, on the understanding
that it would never leave Angoram. I
promised the Kundima people that their
wish would be carried out. According to
the Kundimas, they had buried this croco-
dile for some years as they were afraid
that Mission influence would result in its
destruction. At the time of presentation, it
was expressed by the Kundima people
that it would be better to have the croco-
dile kept on show at Angoram rather than
keep it buried. No payment was asked for
the crocodile …
A photograph taken by Franz Panzenbock
in the early 1960s (Craig 1996, Fig. 4.2) shows
this crocodile outside the Angoram Sub-
District Office, so there is no doubt that it is
the one on display in the Masterpieces
Exhibition.
In due course, despite the agreement
made between Donaldson and the Kundima
men, the crocodile was flown to Port
Moresby. For an account of the collecting of
the carved crocodiles of the Karawari, see
Craig 1992: 80-98 and 1996: 137-53.
The Karawari and Yimas are well known
for these magnificent carved wooden croco-
diles, ranging between 2 and 8 metres long
(Bühler 1961; Bühler et al. 1962, Plate p.75;
Haberland 1975). These crocodile images
belong to a category of powerful bush spirits
called saki and are believed to have come to
the Karawari with the founding ancestors as
spirit crocodiles (mambo). They are regarded
as male, generous and protective, and have
personal names. They are usually carved in
pairs, owned by the village’s two founding
clans, kept in the men’s cult house and play
a part in the rites of initiation of the young
men. Borut Telban reports (1998: 194):
The novices who are brought into the
men’s house are frightened by the men
who hold the crocodiles and push the
boys around. Also, the carvings on their
[the crocodiles’] backs depict all the food
prohibited during and after the initiatory
seclusion: bananas, little birds from the
grassland, different kinds of Malay apple
fruits, breadfruit seeds, all kinds of frog, a
large hornbill. The tail has a small car ved
crocodile which represents one of the last
foods to be eaten once the initiation cere-
mony is completed. Where the tail joins
the body [and sometimes where the body
joins the neck] there is a carved figure.
Having only arms but no legs it symbol-
izes Panggamari, the fighting spirit. This
saki , which is said to live in creeks, repre-
sents a dangerous spirit which drives
people to fight, making them fearless and
strong. The designs on both sides of the
crocodile represents the belly, intestines,
and lungs … At the tip of its snout and on
the carved belt of shells around the neck
of every crocodile, the carvers inscribed a
face of a wunduma (female [ancestral]
spirit). Through the middle of the head
runs a snake, also prohibited in the nov-
ices’ diet.
The women are told that their sons’
cicatrisations are the teeth-marks of the
primeval crocodile that devoured the boys
during the ritual and spat them out as young
men. This idea is widespread in the Sepik
River region.
Prior to headhunting raids, the figures,
with poles placed through holes in their
sides, were danced by several men and asked
to indicate where a raid should be directed
and how many heads would be taken. Food
and areca nut offerings were made and
trophy heads placed in the crocodiles’
mouths.
Alamblak
The Alamblak are well known for the large
kamanggabi (also called yipwon, Fig. 71) from
1 to over 3 metres high (Craig 1987, Plate 67;
Forge 1960, Illusts 2, 6-9), which have func-
tions similar to the wooden crocodiles of the
Karawari and also are kept secret from the
uninitiated in the cult house.
Meat and liver from successfully hunted
animals are given to the figures to ensure the
fertility of crops and success in hunting and
warfare. Forge (1960: 7) writes:
Small offerings of food were made to the
figures to ensure their benevolence and
the prosperity of the group and whole
village. They were especially consulted
about any projected raid on the tradi-
tional enemies, the decision to attack or
not being given by a shaman, who was
believed to be possessed by the spirit of
the Kamanggabi.
The small yi’pon (= yipwon) are similar in
form to the kamanggabi but only around 15
cm high. They are carried about by the men
in netted string bags as personal hunting
charms (Forge 1960, Illusts 3, 4).23
Both large
and small figures have personal names.
MPNrs 159 and 160 were gazetted as
National Cultural Property in 1972 but were
purchased by the National Museum from
Wayne Heathcote three years later to prevent
them from being exported. MPNr 159, per-
sonal name Nakunan, was carved at a hamlet
named Makobit that later joined with other
hamlets of Kambratauwi and Bariger to form
the village of Amongabi. MPNr 160, personal
name Taumauwi, was carved at the now
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 141
Fig. 72. Several carved figures (aripa and yipwon)
for sale at Gamnanenbak (or Sikaiyum) village,
Alamblak speakers, Wogupmeri River. Photo: B. Craig,
C9: 10; 21 September 1982.
Fig. 71. Large yipwon named Togonagon at Chimbut
village, Alamblak speakers, upper Karawari. Carved
by Tambi, father of owner Toni, with steel tools
c. 1940. Photo: B. Craig, C10: 23; 22 September 1982.
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142 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 159. Cult hook figure (yipwon), personal
name Nakunan, Amongabi village, upper Karawari
River, Alamblak speakers, East Sepik Province.
Wood. 110 x 12 cm. E.16219. Purchased from
Wayne Heathcote and registered 13 February 1 975.
Gazetted National Cultural Property 10 February
1972.
MPNr 160 (right). Cult hook figure ( yipwon),
personal name Taumauwi, Amongabi village, upper
Karawari River, Alamblak speakers, East Sepik
Province. Wood. 188 x 28 cm. E.16237. Purchased
from Wayne Heathcote and registered 17 February
1975. Gazetted National Cultural Property
10 February 1972.
extinct village of Kambratauwi.
At Gamnanenbak (or Sikaiyum) on the
Wogupmeri, and Chimbut on the Karawari,
both Alamblak-speaking villages, in 1982 I
saw large and small yipwon, and other hook
figures that are indistinguishable from the
aripa of the Inyai (see below) (Fig. 72).
This demonstrates that the present distri-
bution of these different types of figures is
not entirely coincident with language bound-
aries. Pat Edmiston of the Summer Institute of
Linguistics informed me (pers. comm. March
1983) that one yipwon-like carving he photo-
graphed at Inyai ‘was given by the Alamblak
to establish peace between the two groups’.
Kaufmann reports (2003: 40) he was told that
a large yipwon at Inyai was evidence of dis-
may that the aripa had not protected them
from imported diseases whereas yipwon
seemed to them to have been effective in
protecting their Alamblak neighbours.
Eike Haberland includes the Alamblak
under the name Yimar (‘human being’). He
recorded a lengthy Yimar story of the adven-
tures of Sun, whose mother was Moon
(Haberland 1964: 57-61; 1968: xii-xviii). This
story includes an account of the origin of the
yipwon.
Running from the evil spirit of a dead
woman named Menginda, Moon and Sun-
boy were rescued by a man named Danimag,
who killed the evil spirit. Yirkaba, older sister
of Moon, found them and took them home.
Yirkaba miraculously healed the weak Sun-
boy and he instantly became a healthy,
strong grown man. Sun then proceeded to
carve the first slit-gong, using a log that was
Yirkaba’s body transformed into a tree. The
splinters left over from the carving process
became yipwon, the demoniac beings who
call for hunt and war. They were the ‘children’
of Sun, living with him in the men’s house,
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 143
from which they never departed.
One day a relative of Sun came to visit but
Sun was away hunting. The yipwon killed this
man, danced around his body drinking his
blood, and cut him to pieces. Moon was
watching, and when the yipwon noticed that
she had seen what they had done, they
became stiff with fright, then rushed back to
the men’s house, stood against the wall, and
extended in size. Sun returned to find his rel-
ative dead in a pool of blood. He rushed into
the men’s house but everything was silent
and still. The metamorphosed demons were
standing against the wall, responding no
more. Sun was enraged and decided to leave
this world. He climbed up a huge ladder into
the sky and as he climbed he called out to
the people below, ‘This is what I wish to give
you: a bamboo splinter for drawing blood
from the penis, excrements from the wild pig,
cassowary and kangaroo, and the yipwon fig-
ures for bringing a magic spell to the hunt.’
With that he disappeared into the heavens.
Sumariup or Ewa
The Sumariup (or Ewa) carve medium-sized,
one-legged figures, called aripa (aleba).
Kaufmann (2003 – see also Kaufmann 1974)
calls the aripa ‘hunting helper figures’. MPNrs161-65 and 167 are such figures.
The largest collection of these figures is in
the Museum der Kulturen, Basel. In 1971, the
then Museum für Völkerkunde in Basel pur-
chased 85 of 105 pieces offered for sale by
D’Arcy Galleries in New York (see catalogue,
Haberland 1968). These had been collected
originally by Madsen, a trader and timber
miller living at Angoram, who sold them to
Maurice Bonnefoy of D’Arcy Galleries around
1966.24
There is no evidence that an export
permit was issued for this collection. Madsen
and his wife were killed in an aircraft crash
MPNr 161. Cult hook figure (aripa), male, Inyai
caves, upper Karawari River, Sumariup speakers, East
Sepik Province. Wood. 52 x 6 cm. E.4081. Presented
by Assistant District Officer and registered 15
August 1969.
MPNr 162 (right). Cult hook figure (aripa), male?,
Inyai caves, upper Karawari River, Sumariup
speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 71 x 6 cm.
E.4078. Presented by Assistant District Officer and
registered 15 August 1969.
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144 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 163. Cult hook figure (aripa), male, Inyai
caves, upper Karawari River, Sumariup speakers, East
Sepik Province. Wood. 35 x 10 cm. E.4077. Presented
by Assistant District Officer and registered
15 August 1969.
MPNr 164. Cult hook figure (aripa), male, Inyai
caves, upper Karawari River, Sumariup speakers, East
Sepik Province. Wood. 79 x 7 cm. E.4076. Presented
by Assistant District Officer and registered
15 August 1969.
MPNr 165. Cult hook figure (aripa), male, Inyai
caves, upper Karawari River, Sumariup speakers, East
Sepik Province. Wood. 102 x 10 cm. E.16429. Seized
in 1972 and donated by Customs in 1974; registered
25 March 1975. Published in Smidt 1975: 76, Nr 72.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 145
not long after the transaction. In 1968, the
collection was exhibited by D’Arcy Galleries
and twenty pieces were sold before the Basel
museum was able to raise the money to buy
the rest. George Kennedy of Los Angeles, Cali-
fornia, collected at least eighteen such
figures in the mid-1960s (Kennedy 1967);
eleven from unknown sources were pub-
lished in a catalogue of an exhibition in
London (Goldman 1971); and two from Inyai
and four from Latoma were published in
another New York catalogue (Myers 1975,
Items 46-51). There are, no doubt, many oth-
ers in museums and private collections
around the world.
These figures are believed inhabited by
spirits associated with hunting and warfare.
They are usually kept in men’s houses but
many are stored in caves or rock shelters,
after their owners die, as memorials and thus
are preserved from weathering. Many of
these figures can be distinguished as male
(for example, Haberland 1968, Plates 1, 17, 25,
26) but others are less obviously so (ibid.,
Plates 2, 5, 7, 9 etc.); these were carved to be
seen in profile (from the side). Other figures
are clearly female (ibid., Plates 6, 8, 13, 18, 22
etc.), are relatively flat and were carved to be
seen from the front. These are usually repre-
sentations of mythical female ancestors. It is
not known what function these figures have.
A third category is of figures of indetermi-
nate gender that have a sort of cradle or
hollowed-out area where one might imagine
the belly to be (Haberland 1968, Plates 80-2),
which according to information given to me
in 1982, serves as a receptacle for the bone of
a game-animal (Fig. 73). These figures are said
to be the ‘mothers’ of particular kinds of
game animals such as the pig, cassowary, tree
kangaroo or cuscus.
A fourth category consists of a carved
MPNr 166. Cult hook figure, female, Inyai caves,
upper Karawari River, Sumariup speakers, East Sepik
Province. Wood. 91 x 9 cm. E.16430. Seized in 1972
and donated by Customs in 1974; registered 25
March 1975. Published in Smidt 1975: 76, Nr 73.
MPNr 167 (right). Cult hook figure (aripa), male,
Inyai caves, upper Karawari River, Sumariup
speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 96 x 6 cm.
E.4080. Presented by Assistant District Officer and
registered 15 August 1969.
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146 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
head on a stick, reminiscent of the Kwoma
and Nukuma yena (Haberland 1968, Plates 14,
27, 28, 34, 43, 47 etc.). Kaufmann (2003: 62-3)
has identified such heads as representing
koanggingge, ‘the mother of the men’s house’
and ‘mother of all aripa figures’. At the
inauguration of a men’s house, the carved
head is attached to a mannequin made of
certain symbolically important plant materi-
als. This mannequin is decorated with both
male and female attire and ornaments. A rit-
ual is then performed at the fireplace to
make the men’s house and the mother-figure
‘hot’, to induce the soul (tite) of the ‘mother’
to take up residence in the figure and the
house. Heads such as these may also have
been attached to other types of figure con-
structions, such as the magnificent woven
rattan bird illustrated by Haberland (1968,
Plate 37) that perhaps represents a clan
ancestral totem.
There are other types of carved figures,
such as two-legged male or female figures
carved fully in the round. Information about
these figures is sketchy but it is thought that
the female figures in this category have ‘spe-
cific clan affiliations’ (Kaufmann 2003: 94-5).
MPNr 166 is such a figure.
Kaufmann (2003: 53-6) provides interpre-tations of some of the motifs of these
carvings. In particular, the chest, internal
organs (such as heart-lung, liver and intes-
tines), ribs and genitals were named.
According to Kaufmann (2003), the
mother of the men’s house (koanggingge) is
also ‘the mother of all aripa figures’. The tite
(soul) of koanggingge empowers or activates
the tite of the aripa (the hunting helper fig-
ures) that are kept in the men’s house, but
that is not enough. The owner of an individ-
ual aripa smears it with a mixture of particles
of previously hunted game or their
droppings, ginger root and blood drawn out
of his penis with a sliver of bamboo. This
enlists the help of his aripa in seeking out
and killing the souls of game animals (or
enemy in the case of warfare). The ‘mothers’
of the game animals also have a role to play
in that they must lure the souls of the individ-
ual animals out into the open so that the
aripa can find them and kill their souls. It is
not clear whether other rituals are necessary
to enrol their assistance. In the case of raids
on an enemy group, the ‘mother of the men’s
house’ performs this function. The hunter or
warrior then is able to kill the physical animal
or enemy with his bow and arrows.
Middle Sepik River
Carved figures in this area are usually named
representations of clan ancestors or of per-
sonages in legends and myths. Some are of
masalai – nature spirits of the water, rocks,
trees or other features in the environment. The
figures may be free-standing or incorporated
into other types of artefact such as architec-
tural components, slit-gongs, flute-stoppers,
debating stools, suspension hooks (for exam-
ple, MPNrs 121, 126, 127) and the like.
Because people believe in the ability of
people and spirits to shape-shift (changeform), these images may incorporate animal
forms; or the animals, birds, fish and so on
may be clan totems, that is they are meta-
phors for the primal beings who are the clan
ancestors. Often there are several animals
and plants that are in effect alternate forms
of the one totem; they allude to various epi-
sodes in the song cycle of the clan’s primal
being. Wassmann (1991: 169) states of the
Iatmul culture of the middle Sepik:
The animals and plants publicly named in
the song cycle and possessing names of
their own [and represented by various
Fig. 73. ‘Mother’ of the cassowaries, named
Fogiambut, owned by Wonjimbai of Chimbut
village, Alamblak speakers, upper Karawari. Photo:
B. Craig, C10: 36; 22 September 1982.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 147
MPNr 127. Male figure as suspension hook ,
middle Sepik, Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province.
Wood, cowrie shells. 94 x 24 cm. 81.48.1. Purchased
from Patricia Withofs on 13 March 1981, registered
8 July 1981.
MPNr 121. Female figure as suspension hook , Tolembi vi llage, middle Sepik, Sawos speakers, East Sepik
Province. Wood, shells, sago fibre. 91 x 52 cm. E.16424. Seized in 1972, donated by Customs in 1974, and
registered 24 March 1975. Published in Smidt 1975: 72 and TPNGPMAG 1974a, Plate opp. p. 34. The figure’s
right leg has broken off at the knee and the point of the right hook is damaged.
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148 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
constructed or carved forms] have as a
rule no separate existence: they are
merely the changing outer form of the
primal human beings who act independ-
ently. The relationship between primal
human beings and animals or plants
proves to be one of great complexity.
The named animals and plants are the
‘masks’ of the primal beings … [who] are
basically ‘human’ but also possess abilities
which the people of today ‘have lost’;
prominent among these is the power to
‘transform’ themselves, thereby altering
not only their outer form but also suitably
changing their behaviour, and also the
power to move freely between this world
and the land of the dead after death.
Wassmann notes a difference between
the plants and the animals that have per-
sonal names. The plants are used only as
metaphors, whereas ‘the mobile animals are
in the true sense masks which human beings
can slip into’. However, the primal crocodile
and the primal dog, both of which have per-
sonal names and which preceded the
creation of human beings, are not masks but
‘real’ animals. There is a further distinction
between these two primal animals that have
personal names and are ‘real’, and animals
that are real but do not have personal names– they are the animals of the everyday experi-
ential world. Many carvings representing
human beings and animals have been col-
lected without their personal names being
recorded. It is therefore impossible to truly
know the significance of these carvings.
Carving styles range from fully-modelled
naturalistic forms to flat-faced, tubular-limbed,
rather stiff representations that Schefold sug-
gests (1966) are the characteristics of the
earliest carving style, the more naturalistic
style developing later. It is possible that the
practice of over-modelling human skulls with
MPNr 126. Female figure as suspension hook ,
Tolembi village, middle Sepik, Sawos speakers,
East Sepik Province. Wood, sago fibre. 108 x 32 cm.
E.16425. Seized in 1972, donated by Customs in
1974, and registered 25 March 1975. 93 x 29 cm.
Published in Smidt 1975: 74-5.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 149
MPNr 123. Male figure (and canoe paddle), personal name Mangisaun; Nyaurengai vil lage, middle Sepik,
Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 187 x 29 cm. (paddle 248 x 16 cm.). E.16230. Purchased from
Wayne Heathcote and registered 13 February 1975. Published in TPNGPMAG 1974b: 23 and front cover and
TPNGPMAG 1976a, Plate p. iii. Gazetted National Cultural Property on 23 December 1971.
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150 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
clay to produce portraits of dead persons may
have had something to do with this develop-
ment of a naturalistic style.
MPNr 123 (Mangisaun) was gazetted as
National Cultural Property on 23 December
1971, just days after Wayne Heathcote
purchased it and the accompanying paddle
from its Nyaurengai owner. I was informed
that a replacement carving I saw and photo-
graphed on 24 October 1981 (Fig. 74) had
been carved around 1970-71, presumably to
transfer the spirit of Mangisaun from the old
carving to enable Heathcote to buy it.
The old carving remained in Heathcote’s
possession until, in December 1972, he
claimed it had been stolen from his house at
Ambunti. A leaflet announcing the alleged
theft, showing images of Mangisaun, was
prepared by the National Museum and dis-
tributed widely in PNG and overseas.
Unannounced, the figure arrived at the
museum 10 February 1973 after having been
flown to Port Moresby from Wewak. The pad-
dle was delivered to the museum on 5 June
1973. Heathcote was subsequently paid sev-
eral thousand dollars for Mangisaun.
Mangisaun is a significant person in
Nyaura (West Iatmul) culture. He is a type of
primal being of the same generation, but dis-
tinguished from, the clan founder and it was
he (along with his brother) who killed the
two eagles born of the mating of the woman
Kula and the crocodile Tandemi, and who
subsequently introduced sexual intercourse
among human beings (see Wassmann 1991:
182, 195-96).25
MPNr 128 (Tulalamun) bears an incorrect
registration number, E.361.1. The museum’s
register records three figures under E.361,
from Arani, Antefuga and Dauneng, all vil-
lages on the old course of the lower Yuat
River. This is clearly not a Yuat figure and in
1982 I used a photograph of it to identify it as
a figure with the personal name Tulalamun,
from the Letbit cult house at Yamok, a Sawos
village about 3 kilometres inland northwards
from Korogo. According to Anthony Meyer
(1995: 257), his father Oscar, and Bruce Lawes,
collected it in 1956 along with several other
similar figures (Fig. 75).
Tulalamun was sent to the AGNSW for
exhibition in 1966 (AGNSW 1966, Nr 74)
along with other items, including MPNr 122,
which was published in the gallery’s cata-
logue with the registration number E.1347.
MPNr 122 has been identified by Dadi Wirz as
collected by him from Dauneng on the Lower
Yuat (Anthony Meyer, pers. comm. 18 Novem-
ber 2003 and Dadi Wirz, pers. comm. 16
February 2004) and therefore should be one
of the three figures registered E.361. Thus the
registration numbers for MPNrs 128 and 122
must have been on tags that were inadvert-
ently interchanged, perhaps during the time
leading up to the exhibition in NSW.
There are several such figures from
Yamok, for example, Mian’gandu (Meyer 1995:
256-57; Wardwell 1994: 58-9), Malabi (Meyer
1995: 256), and Kundang’gowi and Kurubu in
the Basel museum (Bühler 1960, Tafel 2, left
and right respectively). A sixth example, Min-
jemtimi, is in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York (Newton 1978: 107).
In 1982, I obtained information about
these figures that was subsequently incorpo-
rated into a thesis by Marianne Pfeiffer (1983).
All the figures except Minjemtimi and
Kundang’gowi were said to have been carved
to make the swampy ground firm so a village
could be established (Craig 1982: 27). They
killed enemy warriors and made magic to
empower the carvings. The men appeal to
the spirits in the figures, offering areca nuts
and tobacco, for help in hunting, warfare and
Fig. 74. Replacement carving for Mangisaun
at Nyaurengai village, Iatmul speakers, middle
Sepik River, carved c. 1970. Photo: B. Craig, C5: 11;
24 October 1981.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 151
his spear and somersaulted backwards off the
bench through the open side of the men’s
house to challenge them. They thought they
would kill him quickly but he fought
ferociously and drove them out of the house.
Then Kundang’gowi transformed from
wood to flesh and called out to Simai to wait
for him – he just needed to fasten his loin-
cloth and he would come to his assistance.
However, Simai did not hear and fought on.
Kundang’gowi backed him up, catching
enemy spears in his hands and throwing
them back. Villagers rushed on the scene and
saw the two routing the enemy. The attackers
ran, calling out that they had had enough
from Simai and his big warrior friend.
Simai was puzzled by the reference to a
companion. When he had had enough of
chasing the enemy, he returned to the village
and the people told him that Kundang’gowi
was seen backing him up. Kundang’gowi did
not return that night and Simai began to fear
that he had been captured by the enemy.
Meantime, Kundang’gowi had been chas-
ing one particular man and after he speared
him, he stood on his body and went into a
the curing and causing of illness. It appears
that the spirit is not necessarily loyal to the
creators of the carved figure it inhabits. As
was the case with Minjemtimi, if the figure is
captured in an attack on a village and the
right offerings are made, the spirit will work
for the benefit of its new owners.
Kundang’gowi, which was collected
around 1955 from the Wolembi hamlet of
Yamok, was carved to represent a very tall
man of that name who visited Yamok from
Kaminimbit, which is 27 kilometres south-
east from Yamok. Everyone was so impressed
by this man that they decided to have a
carver create his image in wood and place it
in the Yamok men’s house named Kokombi.
Years later (and some three or four gener-
ations prior to the current generation of
greybeards), a man named Simai Kwong’gu
was asleep in Kokombi men’s house when a
war party from Kalau (Kararau?)and Kamin-
imbit crept into the house. Simai became
aware of them but pretended to be asleep.
The enemy tried to awaken him so they could
kill him but he pretended to be deep in sleep.
But then, at the right moment, he grabbed
Fig. 75. Bruce Lawes loading thr ee large Sawos
figures at the Sepik River, 1956. Photo by Oscar
Meyer; © Oscar Meyer Archives, Galerie Meyer –
Oceanic Art, Paris; by permission of Anthony Meyer.
MPNr 128. Male figure, personal name Tulalamun,
Yamok village, Sawos speakers, East Sepik Province.
Wood. 234 x 51 cm. E.361.1 [but probably E.1347,
registered 9 February 1966]. Published in AGNSW
1966, Nr 74 and Meyer 1995: 257.
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152 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Fig. 76. Cult hooks (alakei and komkii ) for sale at
Maliba (Bekapeki) v illage, Sanio speakers, middle
April River. Photo: B. Craig, BK12: 17; 26 December
1972.
trance. Two or three nights later, Simai had a
dream and Kundang’gowi told him where he
was and complained that his leg was going
numb from standing on the dead man’s body.
The next day, Simai and the villagers went
out and found Kundang’gowi, but he had
changed back into a wooden sculpture so
they carried him back to the village and
stood him against the centre post of
Kokombi men’s house.
April River and Hunstein Range
Stylistic connections exist between the one-
legged hook figures of the Karawari and the
hook figures (garra) of the Bahinemo of the
April River and Hunstein Range (Newton
1971; Schuster and Schuster 1973). Added
to this, comparison of the Bahinemo hook
‘masks’ with the flute masks and skull holders
of the middle Ramu (Goldman 1971, Plate 29;
Haberland 1964: 65-6, Tafel IV, 3; Kelm 1968,Plates 238, 239) makes a convincing case for
stylistic continuity across the southern edge
of the Sepik-Ramu floodplains. The Sanio
speakers of Bekapeki on the middle April
River, whose territory stretches west to the
middle Wogamush River and beyond, carve a
profile hook figure called alakei and a mask-
like figure with hooks they call komkii (Fig.
76). They represent fish-like spirits that live in
deep pools in the April (Niksep) River. Young
men are shown these figures as part of their
initiation into the marriageable age-set (Craig
1972-73: 164).
The garra forms of the Bahinemo range
from a non-figural, profile series of opposed
hooks (MPNr 168; Goldman 1971, Plate 26), to
hook figures that include a pair of eyes (Gold-man 1971, Plate 15), others that include a
mouth and/or nose and more obviously rep-
resent a face (MPNr 170; Goldman 1971,
Plates 2, 7, 9, 21, 27), and others appearing
more convincingly as face masks because of
the eye holes (Goldman 1971, Plates 4, 5, 20,
22, 25), though it appears that they were
probably never used as masks. Newton (1971,
Illusts 23-47) also shows the full range of
these objects and for two of these carvings
he recorded personal names, suggesting
habitation by particular named spirits.
Newton notes the significance of the hornbill
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 153
beak motif (of which the plain curved hooks
may be an abstraction) in that the hornbill is
said to nest in places belonging to bush spir-
its (ibid.: 20).
Not a lot is known about the hook figures
and ‘masks’ of the Bahinemo and their neigh-
bours. Goldman (1971, 5th page) quotes a
personal communication from Wayne Dye, a
linguist who worked among the Bahinemo:
The Bahinemo keep their carvings hang-
ing in men’s cult houses, where the older
pieces are believed to have magical pow-
ers to protect the villagers. They are said
to be angered by failure to follow the
men’s cult, and then to withdraw their
protection. Their powers can be obtained
for hunting and fighting by means of cer-
tain rituals.
Meinhard and Gisela Schuster (1973: 633)
note the importance of hunted game for all
Bahinemo festivities and emphasise that the
carvings are connected with the hunting of
animals. They report (ibid.: 634) that these
hook figures are called grababufa, abbrevi-
ated to gra (equivalent to Newton’s garra; I
heard it at Gahom as guah). They have per-
sonal names, are individually owned and can
be inherited (even by women, although they
are not allowed to see them). They are sus-
pended from the roof purlins at the side of
the cult house, in which the small and large
slit-gongs also are kept (Schuster and Schus-
ter 1973, Plate 19). If a cult house is being
built for a new settlement, the smaller hook
figures are taken to caves, rock shelters, hol-
low trees or put in water pools until the new
cult house is ready. This suggests that these
carvings are closely associated with, perhaps
even representations of, bush and water spir-
its. Their function is to heal sickness and to
aid in hunting and warfare.
If a man falls ill it means that his
MPNr 168. Cult hook figure (garra), April River area,
Bahinemo speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.
111 x 28 cm. E.2997. Donated by Wayne Heathcote
and registered 5 May 1969.
MPNr 170. Cult hook ‘mask’ (garra), Gahom vil lage,
Setifa River, Bahinemo speakers, East S epik Province.
Wood. 93 x 50 cm. E.10373. Purchased from Richard
Leahy and registered 30 June 1972.
grababufa is being malicious (Schuster and
Schuster 1973: 635). It is taken down and
leaned against a side wall of the cult house
with its hooks pointing towards the interior
space. The owner of the grababufa sings a
song that belongs specifically to that object
and rubs the skin of the sick man with special
leaves to heal him. The night before a hunt, the hunter asks
his grababufa for support in finding game. If
the hunter accidentally touches or bumps
the carving before going out, he might be
bitten or killed by the animal he is hunting. If
the hunt is successful, the spirit is thanked
but it is not offered any portions of the ki lled
animals. Before raiding an enemy, the warrior
sticks betel nuts on the hooks and ginger
leaves through a hole in the middle of the
figure to enlist the grababufa’s assistance.
After a successful raid, enemy heads are
brought back and placed on the slit-gongs.
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154 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
A young man cannot properly play the
slit-gongs or flutes until he has been shown
the cult objects at initiation (ibid.: 636). His
sponsor is an older patrilineal relative. While
in seclusion he is taught how to play these
instruments. He lives on sago and pork and is
permitted to chew betel nut but is forbidden
to eat birds and fish, and must not smoke
tobacco. Food is prepared by the wife of the
initiate’s mother’s brother and taken to the
cult house by the mother’s brother.
Newton describes the use of garra in the
context of the initiation of three boys at
Wagu (Newton 1971: 20-1); the women are
excluded while the garra are being used out-
side the confines of the cult house.
It is clear that although some garra look
like masks, they are not used as such. Instead,
woven rattan objects ( panarawa),bedecked
with feathers and reminiscent of Abelam yam
masks, are worn as masks by the men in a cer-
emony in which other men (the initiates’
mothers’ brothers according to the Schusters)
dance with the hook figures and hook ‘masks’
held between their legs (Newton 1971, Illusts
54-9). This suggests some form of phallic
symbolism, as do the finials of slit-gongs pro-
truding from the palm frond screen at the
front of the cult house (ibid., Illust.14). How-ever, unlike the Nggala and Wogumas to the
west, who also had slit-gongs with phallic
finials, and the Alamblak to the east, the Bahi-
nemo did not incise or bleed the penes of the
initiates.
The Bahinemo told the Schusters (1973:
636-37, translated by Waltraud Schmidt) a
short account of the origin of the hook fig-
ures:
In ancient times, Wimegu lived with his
wife Igusua at the head of the April River.
Wimegu, assisted by his wife, made all the
items of material culture – bows and
MPNr 151. Male figure, Minj?, Wahgi? speakers,
Western Highlands Province. Various plant materials,
wood, shells feathers, seeds. 85 x 30 cm. 81.17.1.
Collected by Mrs Penny Klap at Goroka Show 1980
from a Banz ‘medicine man’. Bought by museum and
registered 17 June 1981.
arrows, plaited bands, hand drums, slit-
gongs, flutes and so on. He created the
first hook figures and gave each one a
name. He gave the slit-gongs names too.
He blocked the river with a tree trunk and
placed all the artefacts behind the dam.
The water rose and rose and eventually
the tree broke and the artefacts washed
down the river. The people at each place
got the proper things that way. Wimegu
changed into a rock and is in the middle
of the river at Koko, where a great whirl-
pool swirls around him. You can’t go down
to see him because you would drown. He
and his wife can be called upon to heal
the sick. The healer chews betel nut, sings
a song and rubs the chewed betel onto
the skin of the sick person. All the songs
sung at the great annual feasts (kiamege)
were given by Wimegu. If you don’t know
the story of Wimegu you can’t make
things properly; everything would turn
out crooked and rubbishy.
Highlands
It is not clear whether MPNr 151 is a tradi-
tional object or whether it has been invented
for the tourist market. It is constructed of
plant and other materials in a similar way to
the so-called Mendi payback dolls and a male
figure of uncertain origin (Smidt 1975: 43-5),
except that this piece has no legs; instead it
is mounted on a sharpened stick, suggest-
ing it may have been stuck into the ground.
Such figures made by binding plant materials
around a framework of sticks can be found
in many places in the Pacific, for example the
Papuan Gulf (Newton 1961: 86, Illust. 223),
New Ireland (Heintze 1987: 43, Fig. 11) and
Easter Island (Barrow 1972, Plates 245-46).
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 155
Papuan Gulf
The carving styles of the Papuan Gulf are
quite different to those of the middle Sepik.
Most, but not all, of the carved figures of the
Papuan Gulf are flat, two-dimensional boards
with narrow relief bands, painted black, out-
lining the motifs painted in red and white
pigments. In the extreme west of the Gulf,
from the Bamu River to Goaribari Island, flat
boards called agiba are shaped like the upper
half of a human being and function as skull-
holders (Kaufmann 1975, Plate 157; Newton
1961, Illusts 17, 18, 84-6, 108-13). At Goaribari
Island, and adjacent inland, the long oval
form of the gope board is found. This type of
object is found eastwards as far as the Elema
of the eastern Gulf, where they are called
hohao. At Wapo Creek and Era River, at the
centre of the Gulf, the flat board-like figures
(called agiba or bioma) are reminiscent of the
agiba skull-holders of the western Gulf, but
have legs and arms, sometimes multiple sets
of limbs (Kaufmann 1975, Plate 156; Newton
1961, Illusts 155-65, 168).
It is perhaps no coincidence that the
ancestral boards from the Era River eastwards
to Orokolo (in the Purari delta, called kwoi –
Fig. 79) are predominantly white in colour. The high front of the men’s house allows a
flood of light to penetrate down along the
narrowing interior and the boards, set up fac-
ing the entrance, catch the light in a startl ing
fashion (Craig 1999, Figs 9-11; Newton 1961,
Illusts 31-3, 208; Specht and Fields 1984: 177,
179; Young and Clark 2001: 80-1).
Tall, spindly figures with legs but some-
times no arms are found in the Bamu River
area and the Turama delta (Newton 1961,
Illusts 80, 81, 101, 102). In the Wapo-Era dis-
trict, and amongst the Namau and Elema of
the eastern Gulf, more substantial figures,
MPNr 119. Skull holder (agiba), Goro village
[Goaribari Island?], Kerewo speakers, Gulf Province.
Wood, sago fibre. 87 x 36 cm. E.840. [One of two
agiba with this number]. Donated by R.J. Hedlund, 2
November 1961. Compare with Haddon 1918, Figs
2, 3 and Plate M.
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156 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Fig. 77. Agiba shrine at Dubumba vi llage, Kerewo
speakers, western Papuan G ulf. Photo: Thomas
Schultze-Westrum, 1966 (by permission).
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158 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
to the skull holder, or agibe (agiba) (MPNr
119). He was informed that each agibe had
a clan name and that in each community
‘there was an old man called the agibe abera
(i.e., “father of the agibe”), whose duty it was
to repaint the slab of wood before a head
dance was held.’ A carving is innocuous ‘until
it has received its black, white and red paints
… Once painted, it becomes impregnated
with a “dangerous” sacredness’. The repaint-
ing therefore renews this sacred power (like
recharging a battery). Austen (ibid.: 349)
described the rituals and dances follow-
ing the attachment of the fresh skull to the
repainted agibe, and transcribed words from
one of the songs that underlines the signifi-
cance of the colour red:
Sway wondrous sacred scarlet flower ariia
Sway long house as an ariia in the breeze
Ariia the flower from the land of the dead
Wondrous scarlet flower from Dudi
Whose flowers are so like a hand dipped
in blood.
Dudi is the mythical village of the land of
the dead, and is said to be a location south-
west of the Fly River estuary. In the legend of
Hido, recorded by Austen (1932), Hido travels
for days and days westwards from his home
at Nepau, on the western shore of an inlet
opposite Goaribari Island, ‘until he came to a
great village which he found was Dudi, the
home of the dead. This village was so great
that he could not tell where it ended.’
Austen (1934: 5) distinguishes two types
of carved and painted boards (apart from the
agiba and the obsolete daimowa ebiha) in
the Kerewa area: the gope or titi-ebiha (MPNr
134), which has a hole at the top end and is
carved in ‘heavier relief’, and the kaiamunu
(MPNr 133), which has no hole and is more
lightly carved. By comparing the two catego-
ries of object in Newton 1961 (compare
Illusts 114-22 to Illusts 123-31), it can be
observed that the titi-ebiha are carved, like
the agiba, in a fairly regular way, whereas the
kaiamunu are less regular or as Newton puts
it (ibid.: 60), carved in a style ‘striking for its
spontaneity and freedom’. This may have
something to do with the observation by
Austen (1934: 5) that whereas boards of both
categories have personal names, ‘the gope is
the property of the clan as well as the indi-
vidual, the kaiamunu of the individual alone’.
The names of titi-ebiha are of mythical ances-
tors or place names whereas those of
kaiamunu ‘have names which do not belong
to the clan’. There may be, therefore, fewer
restrictions on how the images are depicted
on the kaiamunu boards.
Austen (1934: 6) writes: ‘From the roof of
the main house, and inside the huomoto shel-
ter at the salt-water end, are hung the smaller
gope or titi-ebihari ’; this is possible because of
the hole at the top end of each board. Pre-
sumably the kaiamunu are stood on the floor,
as they cannot be suspended.
Austen notes that the gope guards the
village from sickness, but its main use was in
preparation for warfare. He does not distin-
guish a difference in function, if any, between
the two types of boards in his graphic
account of the use of gope in the context of
the gibumanu dance in preparation for a
headhunting raid. Space does not permit
extensive quotations from Austen’s detailed
account, but the significance of the gope for
warfare warrants recounting the last day of
the gibumanu gama (ibid.: 8):
… when the day breaks, the dancers
descend to the ground carrying drums or
gope. As they fall into line, the headman
will call out and ask where they will go
and fight. As various v illages are named,
the gope are turned to face in the direc-
tion of that village. Should the gope move,
while facing a certain direction, it is
decided to raid a village in that direction
… when a decision is reached, the drums
are struck quickly, several times, and the
gope placed face downward on the
ground. There they are left all day, and
after dark are taken to the long house, and
put back in their everyday position along
the walls of the cubicles at the side
entranceways … The day following this
final ceremony, all the fighting men set off
in their great war canoes to raid the
village selected by the gope, who have
already gone ahead in spirit form to over-
come the enemy’s spirits, and make them
weak and unable to withstand the
onslaught of the raiders.
This is strongly reminiscent of the way the aripa of the upper Karawari function.
Gope-Wapo Creek-Urama Island-Era River
area
The North-eastern Kiwai speakers make
tall oval keweke masks, long-snouted hel-
met masks (kanipu, but called avoko in the
west) and long-necked small-headed masks
(kanipu? ). The figures carved and painted
onto the gope of Wapo Creek and Era River
are relatively loosely-drawn and unclut-
tered, with the same feel as the bioma figures,
whereas the designs on the Urama Island
gope are more rigid and dense (compare
Newton 1961, Illusts 148-51, 178-81 with
Illusts 187-92).
Newton (1961: 19) describes the arrange-
ment of skulls and sacred boards of the
Gope-Wapo Creek-Urama Island area as
rather different to that in the west. Here the
men’s house (daimo) was divided into a
series of clan cubicles either side of a central
aisle. On the upper part of each partition was
a latticework series of niches in each of
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 159
MPNr 117. Male figure (bioma), Wapo Creek, North-
eastern Kiwai speakers, Gulf Province. Wood.
98 x 34 cm. E.1673.9 – one of nine boards under
this number collected by Dr T.G. and S. Schultze-
Westrum and registered 4 August 1966.
which a skull was placed (ibid., Illusts 24, 25).
Small flat wooden figures (agiba) hung near
the skulls. Against the lower section of the
bark-walled partition stood the gope boards
and on the floor in front of the gope were the
skulls of pigs and crocodiles. Flat anthropo-
morphic figures (bioma) straddled these
skulls (ibid., Illust. 159; MPNr 117). The
kakame, carved from branches or roots, were
stood with their legs in the eye sockets. Usu-
ally, each daimo had a pair of large wooden
figures representing the mythical hero, Iri-
vake, who originated headhunting. The name
kaiaimunu in this area was applied to the
sacred bullroarers.
Although described in the museum’s reg-
ister as an iroa headrest, MPNr 118 certainly
did not function as such. It is clearly a kakame
figure, such as that on the right in Paul Wirz’s
1930 photograph reproduced by Kaufmann
(1975, Plate 155) and Newton (1961: 19, Illust.
25). Thomas Schultze-Westrum (pers. comm.
23 November 2003) informed me:
I did not find it myself on location in one
of the villages. It was brought to us while
staying at Aird Hill. It is certainly from the
Gope area of the central Gulf [about 40
kilometres to the east]. The name cor-
rectly, for this kind of figure (usually a pair)is kakame … Kakame figures are placed in
the skull shrine (awae) in front of the
skulls and gope boards, together with
bioma and other sacred objects.
Schultze-Westrum added later (pers.
comm. 3 February 2004) that the 1930 Wirz
photograph was taken in Ubuo village, Gope
area, and the kakame figure on the right
… was burnt by accident b efore we came
there. However, we were able to collect
another very old and large one at the
same village. And we collected all the
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160 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 129. Ancestral board (gope), Era River, North-
eastern Kiwai speakers, Gulf Province. Wood. 116 x
39 cm. E.4590. Registered 24 November 1969.
MPNr 118. Female figure (kakame), Gope area,
North-eastern Kiwai speakers, Gulf Province. Wood,
pearl shell, string. 179 x 48 cm. E.1676. Collected
by Dr T.G. and S. Schultze-Westrum and registered
4 August 1966.
items shown in [another] photograph
[Newton 1961, Illust. 153] of the same
men’s house at Ubuo.
According to Schultze-Westrum, he sold
these items to John Friede of New York but
he understands that most if not all have sincebeen dispersed to other collectors.
MPNr 129 has an unusual feature at the
bottom – a suggestion of legs and arms. One
or two boards with similar features may be
seen in photographs, taken by A.B. Lewis, of
the interior of men’s houses in the western
Purari area (Welsch 1998, I, Figs 7.30. 7.37)
and by F.E. Williams at Ukiravi (Young and
Clark 2001: 81). There is another in a photo-
graph taken by Frank Hurley at Kaimari
(Specht and Fields 1984: 179). Specht notes
that this latter board ‘is similar to canoe prow
boards such as those mentioned by Hurley
on canoes at Adulu, Fly River delta’.
MPNr 130 is identical, in size and motifs, to
one in the collection of Serge Brignoni, illus-
trated by Newton (1961, Illust. 181). It is
tempting to believe that it has been copied
from Newton’s illustration.
Pie River-Purari Delta area
Nothing is known of the particular signifi-cance of the unique figure (MPNr 120) that is
dressed and equipped like a male warrior. In
the Kerewa area to the west, Haddon (1918:
182, Fig. 6) collected three small carvings of
human figures: one that was ‘supposed to
make a canoe invisible when the crew go on
a head-hunting expedition’, and the other
two ‘were made by a man to represent the
dead parents of the youth to whom they
were given’. It is unclear whether such fig-
ures were carved as far to the east as the Pie
River and therefore whether this little figure
in the Masterpieces Exhibition was one of
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 161
Fig. 78. Gope board and pig skulls in family house at
Meagoma (Karalti) village, Gope area, North-eastern
Kiwai speakers, central Papuan Gulf. Photo: Thomas
Schultze-Westrum, 1966 (by permission).
MPNr 130. Ancestral board (gope), Gibao? Vil lage,
Era River, North-eastern Kiwai speakers, Gulf
Province. Wood. 147 x 48 cm. E.7357. Obtained from
[Mr?] Nochinson and registered 1 March 1971.
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162 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 120 (left). Male figure with bark belt, shell pubic cover and cassowar y bone knife; Vaiamu (Vaimuru,
Baimuru) village, Pie River, Purari (Koriki/Namau) sp eakers, Gulf Province. Wood, bark, rattan, sago fibre, shell
and cassowary bone. 55 x 11 cm. E.16385. Seized in 1972, donated by PNG Customs in 1974 and registered
24 March 1975. Published in Smidt 1975: 14, 15, 18; Nr. 9.
these. Another figure that wears a shell pubic
covering (Schmitz 1969, Colorplate 28), prov-
enanced to Gibu on the Turama River west
of Kerewa, is called a kaiamuru (kaiamunu?).
However, it is much taller at 132 cm and the
carving style is significantly different to that
of MPNr 120.
Orokolo-Vailala River area
MPNrs 131 and 132 are superb ancestral
boards (hohao) from the Elema of the
Orokolo-Vailala River area. Ulli Beier and
Albert Maori Kiki (1970: 12) were told that
hohao ‘were first carved to contain and
control the dangerous spirits of certain
powerful ancestors who would otherwise
harass the living’, and are named after them.
Each lineage (aualari ) in Orokolo used to
have one or more hohao, which they kept in
the eravo (men’s house) (Fig. 79).
The help of the spirit of the hohao was
enlisted for assistance in warfare.
Before any military expedition the Hii
Haela of the aualari group had to place all
the arms in front of the Hohao. The warri-
ors assembled in the dark Eravo and sat in
complete silence while the Hii Haela
burned sacred leaves in front of the
Hohao and invoked his help with magic
formulas. When the ritual was over a shell
horn was blown and the clan leader gave
his military orders. The Hii Haela was the
first to step out of the Eravo. He would
then spit the sacred bark he had been
chewing on the ground and say: ‘Owner of
the ground, move aside, let my warriors
pass.’ The mythical hero embodied in the
Hohao was then believed to walk in front
of the warriors and lead them into battle.
[Beier and Kiki 1970: 12, 15]
The hohao could be asked also for assist-
ance in hunting. ‘It was considered that the
Hohao had the power to make the pig weak,
so that he fell an easy prey to the hunter’
(ibid.: 15).
MPNr 131 named Eoe, and MPNr 132
named Hilake, are a pair belonging to the
Vailala clan and were kept one on each side
of the eravo. They were almost certainly
carved by the same man. They differ only in
that the image on Eoe is represented with
legs and male genitals. The circle with the dot
inside represents the navel, which is a meta-
phor for a clan’s place of origin. The dentate
pattern around the navel is called merove ari
(rattan thorns). The dentates framing the
head are a representation of iupu, the warri-
or’s headband made of pig bristles. The
pattern of chevrons framing the top and near
the bottom of the boards represents clouds.
In the Purari Delta, clouds are a portent of
thunder, and thunder is the voice of the kai-
aimunu.
There is a myth associated with Eoe – that
of Hilake’s mother, Lamara (Beier and Kiki
1970: 59-60). Kurua Mila Maipala was a giant
who lived alone in the forest. One day he saw
a beautiful woman, Lamara, who lived with
her husband Hilaka. One day as they were
returning from the garden, Kurua changed
his appearance to a beautiful young girl in a
grass skirt, and went up to greet Hilaka.
Hilaka liked the girl and decided to marry her.
As she looked small and fragile, Hilaka
ordered Lamara to carry her. Now Hilaka was
walking in front with his bow and arrows and
did not realise that Kurua was making love to
Lamara as he was riding on her back. A few
months later Hilaka noticed with surprise
that Lamara was pregnant. He had not slept
with her for several months, because as a
hunter and a warrior he believed that i t was
wrong to spend too much time with his wife.
To find out who her lover was, he pretended
to go hunting, then crept back towards his
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 163
hut and discovered Kurua and Lamara
embracing each other. He said nothing, but
next day he asked them both to come fishing.
Kurua was unsuspecting, and while he was
busy looking for fish in the water, Hilaka ran
him through with his bamboo spear. Hilaka
carried the dead body of Kurua home,
cooked it and forced his wife to eat him.
Lamara had to eat the body, but she would
not eat the penis. She put it aside secretly
and threw it into the bush. There it grew and
became the first wild banana. Shortly after
this she gave birth to a boy whom she called
Huli. When Huli was four or five years old, his
mother made him a swing of cane and hung
it from the branch of a big tree. One day, as
Huli was playing on his swing, he sang a song
he had heard his mother sing at home:
Maipala’s penis is a banana;
Wild banana in the forest.
Is that what your penis is like?
This is how the news of Lamara and
Maipala spread in the forest and all the trees,
birds and lizards began to laugh at the
woman. Then she felt very ashamed and she
cried and her tears began to form the begin-
ning of the Vailala River. The river rushed
along towards the sea and Lamara sat on a
log travelling to the ocean. And all the sandand the trees which the Vailala River carried
with it gathered on the sea and became
islands.
The myth associated with Hilake was
recorded by Beier and Kiki (1970: 56, 59). This
appears to be a different episode in the life of
Lamara, but with motifs similar to those in
the story associated with Eoe.
Lamara gave birth to Hilake, a pig called
Ilaluvu, and a fish called Halevera. Lamara
told her son Hilake that the pig and the fish
were his brothers and he should not kill
them. But Hilake was a wild boy, a great
Fig. 79. Interior of ravi showing several kwoi boards
and two shields; Iari, Namau speakers, Purari delta;
photographed by F.E. Williams. Published in Young
and Clark 2001: 80. Reproduced by permission of
The National Archives of Australia, Canberra. A6003,
Item 53, Prime Minister’s Department, Territories
Branch.
hunter who killed many pigs and birds. One
day he killed his pig-brother Ilaluvu by mis-
take. Then he took him to his mother and
asked her to cook him. But Lamara recog-
nised her son and she wept. In the night she
picked up the dead body of her son and left
the house. She floated down the river and
finally came to Ahea Hiyu, a distant island in
the sea. There the people made her their
chief. Lamara revived the dead body of the
pig Ilaluvu. Hilake looked for his mother
everywhere. In the end he too drifted down
Vailala River and he came to Ahea Hiyu island.
Then he saw his mother and he also saw the
pig. His mother said to him: ‘I told you not to
kill him; but you killed him. This is him again.’
Hilake was sad. He wanted to stay on Ahea
Hiyu with his mother, but she said to him: ‘Go
back to your land. These people are not
yours.’ So Hilake returned to his home and he
became the ancestor of the Vailala clan.
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166 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 167
MPNr 145 (opp osite page). War shield ( parrku), Lumi area, Torricelli Mountains, probably Olo speakers, West
Sepik Province. Wood, bast, rattan. 105 x 72 x 7 cm. 81.26.5 [original registration num ber lost but identified
probably as E.13862, purchased from Morris Young and registered 14 March 1974 ].
MPNr 141 (left). War shield (iben), probably Idam
valley, upper Sepik, Abau speakers, West Sepik
Province. Wood, bast. 139 x 59 x 2 cm. 79.29.25.
Ex-collection Wayne Heathcote. Registered in 1979
among a group of 300 unidentified objects but
believed to be in the museum several years before
that.
MPNr 135 (above). War shield (teiya), Lower April
River, Bitara speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.
158 x 48 x 3 cm. E.3000. Purchased from Wayne
Heathcote and registered 5 May 1969.
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168 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
carried on the shoulder by a bast strap
attached to the rattan sheath covering the
lower half of the shield, and used with spears.
The face design at the top centre represents
Bwongogo ‘which perhaps could be inter-
preted as the face of a mythical ancestor’
(Smidt 1983: 155). The pair of motifs either
side of the face is the emblem of the flying
fox (urukmo) clan. Although rather worn, the
dominant colour of the design appears to be
yellow; the shield is therefore of the ‘black-
eye’ moiety (rather than red indicating the
‘red-eye’ moiety), which is consistent with
Smidt’s assertion (1990c, caption to Plate 19)
that the flying fox clan is of the ‘black-eye’
moiety. ‘When a shield was used in fighting,
these clan emblems and accompanying col-
ours served to show the enemy to which clan
the bearer of the shield belonged.’ During a
fight, members of a particular clan would
avoid engaging with enemy members of that
clan (ibid.: 157).
MPNr 146. War shield, Kominimung, middle Ramu
area, Kominimung speakers, Madang Province.
Wood, bast, rattan. 129 x 47 x 1 cm. E.16283.
Purchased from Barry Hoare and registered 28
February 1975.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 169
Fig. 81. Use of war shield being demonstrated at
Telefomin, Telefol speakers. Photo: B. Craig, C25: 1;
August 1964.
Highlands
The shields of central New Guinea were car-
ried by unarmed shield-bearers protecting
bowmen behind them (Fig. 81). They were
held by gripping the vertical, intertwined rat-tan straps at the rear but the warrior could
stand the shield on the ground and brace
it with his foot. The shield from Magalsim-
bip (Figs 82, 83; MPNr 139) was named Gilinip
because ‘they worked hard looking for a suit-
able tree from which to make it’. It has been
used against the Kamfegolmin of Wang-
bin, several kilometres to the north-west of
Magalsimbip and there are arrow holes in it
(Craig 1972-73: 31).
The shield from Komdavip (Figs 84, 85;
MPNr 140) was used in the same way as the
Magalsimbip shield. It has been used in sev-
eral battles against the Mianmin to the north,
in which two Mianmin men and two Mian-
min women were killed. There are many
arrow marks in it (Craig 1972-73: 54).
The shield from the Simbai Valley (MPNr136) was carved with stone tools from the
buttress root of a forest tree. It was sold to
Lyle Scholz by Moojmooj of Gajool (Salemp
area), but it is from the Wumod area.
Kalam shields were hung from the shoul-
der for use with bows and arrows. The raised
patterns of little square knobs, characteristic
of Kalam shields, ‘are sometimes interpreted
as [sweet potato] garden plots’ (Smidt 1975:
37).
The Huli shield from Wabia (MPNr 142),
called humbi , was carved with stone tools.
The two small holes at the top centre were
for attaching feather decorations. The design,
vaguely anthropomorphic, is marked by
incised lines and in-filled with paint. The
humbi (Fig. 86) was hung on the shoulder for
use with bow and arrows when clansopposed each other in open lines of battle.
The eláyaborr (Fig. 87) hung from the
shoulder under the arm and was used in the
more common skirmishing and guerrilla raid-
ing (Ryan 1958: 244). The Mendi shield from
Bela (MPNr 143) was carved with stone tools.
The designs, marked by incised lines and in-
filled with paint, are most often geometric
but occasionally, as in this shield, a human
figure is represented. Sillitoe reports (1980:
496) that for the neighbouring Wola, if the
human figure is red it indicates that the fight
has been successful and they have killed an
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170 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Fig. 83. Meaning of design elements on
Magalsimbip war shield (after Craig 1969: 137 and
1972-73: 31)
Fig. 82. War shield (MPNr 139) named Gi linip, held
by Manmanim of Magalsimbip, Tifal speakers, West
Sepik Province. Photo: B. Craig, BK1: 31; 7 June 1972.
tail ‘wire’ of King Birdof Paradise (Cicinnurusregius)
tracks of snake (mafom)
mouth of crocodile(matup-bon)
heart (aget )
snake (mafom)
man’s belt of rattanhoops (oltil )
MPNr 139. War shield (askom), personal name Gilinip; Magalsimbip village, Wopkeimin, Tifal speakers,
Western Province. Wood, rattan. 147 x 69 x 3 cm. 79.1.15. Registered 26 Apri l 1979. Carved by Amumiap
c.1907 with a stone adze (febi). Bought by Barry Craig from Manmanim, 8 June 1972, on behalf of the
Commonwealth Art Advisor y Board, Canberra, and subsequently gifted to the PNG Museum by the Australian
government.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 171
Fig. 84. War shield (MPNr 140) held by Afupnok of
Komdavip v illage, Telefol speakers, Eliptaman, West
Sepik Province. Photo: B. Craig, BK2: 23; 20 June 1972.
snake (duliam); dorsal
plates of crocodile
beak of cockatoo; jaw-
bone of man
jawbone of crocodile
beak of cassowary
tracks of snake (mafom)
abdomen of spider
(don); man’s heart or
liver; woman’s vagina
man’s elbow
crocodile’s leg
MPNr 140. War shield (atkom), Komdavip vil lage, Eliptaman Telefolmin, Telefol speakers, West Sepik Province.
Wood, rattan. 164 x 56 x 3 cm. 79.1.56. Registered 30 April 1979. Carved by Damnisep (father of vendor
Afupnok) and Blangsep (father of vendor Mamsamsep) at Komdavip before 1914 with a stone adze (mok )
from ful t imber. Bought by Barry Craig, 20 June 1972, on behalf of the Commonwealth Ar t Advisory Board,
Canberra, and subsequently gifted to the PNG Museum by the Australian government.
Fig. 85. Meaning of design elements on Komdavip
war shield similar to MPNr 140 (after Craig 1969: 127
and 1972-73: 54)
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172 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 136. War shield, Simbai valley, Kalam
speakers, Madang Province. Wood, rattan. 99 x 44 x 2
cm. E.10717. Purchased from Lyle Scholz, Summer
Institute of Linguistics, and registered 13 February
1973.
enemy; if it is white, the colour of mourning,
they have lost a warrior and there is a death
to avenge.
The kumba reipe of the Mount Hagen area
was hung on the shoulder from bast slings
attached near the centre and steadied by
gripping a vertical rattan strip near the lead-
ing edge. It was used for fighting with spears
although bowmen were often involved in the
set-piece battles (Connolly and Anderson
1987: 264; Vicedom and Tischner 1943-8: 218-
20). The top edge usually was decorated with
bundles of feathers.
MPNr 142 (opposite page left). War shield (humbi ),
Wabia village, Huli speakers, Southern Highlands
Province. Wood, rattan. 118 x 36 cm. E.4207.
Collected by G.L. Pretty and A.L. Crawford and
registered 12 November 1969.
MPNr 143 (opposite page right). War shield
(eláyaborr), Bela village, Mendi speakers, Southern
Highlands Province. Wood, rattan. 86 x 31 cm.E.3808. Collected by G.L. Pretty and A.L. Crawford,
and registered 23 June 1969.
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174 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 175
Fig. 87 (opposite page bottom). Warrior from Bela
village, Mendi speakers, demonstrates how an
eláyaborr would be used during battle. Photo:A.L. Crawford 1969.
MPNr 144. War shield (kumba reipe), Wurup village,
Mount Hagen, Melpa speakers, Enga Province.
Wood, bast, rattan. 140 x 68 cm. E.4231. Registered
29 September 1969. Collector not known.
Fig. 86 (opposite page top). Warrior f rom Wabia
village, Huli speakers, demonstrates how the humbi
would be used during battle. Photo: A.L. Crawford
1969.
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176 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Southern New Guinea
MPNr 137 could be from Otsjanep village,
Ewta River (compare with Gerbrands 1967:
146, 150). It is held by a vertical handle carved
at the rear and is used with, and for protec-
tion against, spears. The projection at the
top of the shield is the tsjemen (penis); the
wing-like double-spiral design (ainor ) is ‘a
mysterious powerful design’ that, combined
as two motifs above and below a central
small circle, may represent a human figure’s
legs, arms and navel, therefore a subtle ref-
erence to an ancestor. Asmat shields were
named after a dead relative of the owner and
were used in headhunting raids to avenge
the death of the relative for whom the shield
was named.
The design on MPNr 138 is related to that
on MPNr 137 from the coastal Asmat but it is
clearly not a coastal Asmat shield. Its design is
similar also to the design on a Kombai shield
of the Dairam Hitam River (Schneebaum
1990: 36, right) and another unspecifically
noted as Tjitak (ibid.: 35, left). However, the
shield’s relatively small size suggests that it
might be from the Kombai’s southern Auwyu
neighbours on the upper Mappi (see map in
Smidt 1993: 16-17) where the shields are
smaller.
This shield was held by the vertical handle
at the rear but it is not clear whether it was
used like the coastal Asmat shield with a
spear, or with bow and arrows. The semi-
nomadic Tjitak appear to have been armed
with bows and arrows (see photographs in
Mitton 1983: 149-53). The large shield of the
Tjitak may have been carried by an unarmed
shield-bearer who sheltered a group of bow-
men behind him, as was the case in central
New Guinea.
Through the southern lowlands of New
MPNr 137. War shield ( jamasj ), Casuarina Coast
Asmat, Asmat speakers, [ West] Papua, Indonesia.
Wood, sago fibre. 186 x 44 cm. E.755.1. One of
two shields acquired from Mr C. Groeneveldt and
registered 23 February 1961.
MPNr 138. War shield, atttributed to north-eastern
Asmat (Tjitak), Asmat speakers or upper Mappi
River; Auwyu speakers, [ West] Papua, Indonesia.
Wood. 140 x 31 cm. 81.48.3. Purchased from Patricia
Withofs 13 March 1981 and registered 8 July 1981.
Old registration number 2877/11 written on the
back of the shield.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 177
MPNr 148. War shield (naua), Orokolo, eastern Papuan Gulf, Orokolo speakers, Gulf Province. Wood, bast. 78
x 29 cm. 80.66.4. Collected by Sir William MacGregor on 1 August 1894 at Maipu[a], a coastal Namau village,
but its design suggests it was m ade by the Elema, neighbours of the Namau to the east. Repatriated from
Queensland Museum (Mac4652) and registered 24 October 1980.
Guinea east of the border with [West] Papua,
apart from bark shields with a vertical stick
handle found among the Kamula of Western
Province and on the upper Era River of cen-
tral Gulf Province (Beran and Craig 2005),
wood shields are not found until the Purari
Delta and then the Elema of Orokolo and the
lower Vailala River. These shields are under-
arm shields with a notch at the top for the
arm, obviously related to the under-arm
shields of the Southern Highlands Province.
They are used with bows and arrows. Among
the Purari and Elema groups, the carved and
painted designs are related to those found
on the kwoi and hohao boards.
The Orokolo shield (MPNr 148) is just one
of almost 8300 specimens that constituted
the MacGregor Collection held on loan at
the Queensland Museum since the 1890s. So
far, almost 3300 items have been returned to
PNG and almost 2700 retained in Brisbane,
with a further 2300 items requiring allocation
(Quinnell 2000).
The shields of Central Province were
mainly of ‘figure-8’ shape (MPNr 150) with a
finely-woven sheath decorated with feathers.
They have been photographed (for example
by J.W. Lindt, see Quanchi 1999, Fig.20.1) and
collected in coastal and inland settlements(Beran and Craig 2005: 181).
A photograph by Reverend George Brown
(1908, facing p. 478) illustrates how the ‘fig-
ure-8’ shields were held. They were used with
spears and clubs, apparently as parrying
shields as they were relatively light, though
made of hardwood, and held by a single
piece of bent rattan secured near the middle
at the rear.
In Milne Bay Province, Trobriand Islands
shields (MPNr 149) were used with spears in
inter-village warfare. A particular type of tim-
ber (vayola) was used for making the shield
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178 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 150. War shield (gei ), Kerepuna village, Keapara-Aroma speakers, Central Province. Wood, rattan,
feathers. 87 x 46 cm. 77.57.4. Collected c.1883. One of seventeen i tems repatriated by The Australian Museum,
Sydney, 27 June 1977, to mark the occasion of the official opening of the new National Museum building (see
also MPNrs 47, 60).
– it has a cross-grain making it hard to split.
It has been said that the smaller the shield,
the more skilful the warrior. These shields, like
the ‘figure-8’ shields of Central Province, also
appear to have been used as parrying shields.
Much has been written about the signifi-
cance of the painted design on these shields
(see summary in Beran and Craig 2005: 203).
Edmund Leach has claimed it represents a
flying witch, greatly feared by Trobriand
Islanders. Ronald Berndt suggested it repre-
sents sexual intercourse, thus showing
contempt for the enemy as such references
are used in verbal abuse. P. Glass suggests
two additional interpretations: that it repre-
sents Topileta, the ruler of the world of the
dead, and that it is a symbolic map of the Tro-
briand world. Trobrianders themselves give
only names for elements of the design, with
reference to animals, birds, fish and other
aspects of the natural world; these may be
only labels for patterns and not meanings.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 179
MPNr 149. War shield (vayola), Trobriand Islands, Kilivila speakers, Milne Bay Province. Wood, rattan. 83 x
39 cm. 80.66.44. Collected by Sir William MacGregor c.1890 at ‘Kilivila’ [not a recognised place name – used
today as the name of the language]. Repatriated from the Queensland Museum (Mac4770) and registered 14
October 1980.
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180 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
New Britain
The so-called Arawe or Kandrian shields ( Fig.
88; MPNr 147) consist of two narrow planks
bound either side of a wider plank. The cen-
tral, wider plank has a recessed grip carved
out at the back. They were not only used withspears in warfare, but also in formal dance
ceremonies (Todd 1934: 199). Although this
type of shield is commonly believed to have
come from Arawe or Kandrian, in fact they
were made in the interior and traded down
to, and east and west along, the coast (Gos-
den and Knowles 2001: 182). The Sengseng,
neighbours of the Kaulong, make the same
MPNr 147. War shield (ilo), attributed to Kandrian
area, Pasismanua speakers (Kaulong dialect),
West New Britain Province. Wood, rattan. 141 x 31
cm. E.14640. Purchased from Morris Young and
registered 24 July 1974.
Fig. 88. Two spearmen pose with war shields at
Ablingi Harbour, Pasismanua speakers (Sokhok
dialect), West New Britain Province, 1916. Photo
E.62, Usher Photographic Collection (AA835), South
Australian Museum archives, by permission.
type of shield and call them hiliyo, obviously
cognate to ilo.
No definite meaning for the finely carved
and painted spiral designs on the front of
these shields has been reported. On the rearare painted designs altogether different from
the designs on the front. These designs are
related to those painted on lengths of tapa
cloth worn by men around their waists (com-
pare Heermann 2001, Plate 96 rear, to Plates
93, 98, 99). The individual design elements
may be given names but so far as is known,
these do not provide an overall ‘meaning’.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 181
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Certain types of musical instruments have
limited distributions, occurring in some areas
and not in others. Even the almost universal
hand drum is not to be found in the high-
lands of [ West] Papua nor among the Anga
(formerly Kukukuku) at the eastern end of the
highlands of PNG. Well known for their lack of
visual artistic expression, the Anga do have
other types of musical instruments, one of
which – the tall, bamboo aeolian flutes set up
around the village for the wind to make the
sounds – may be unique to them.
The slit-gong is almost entirely confined
to the north coast, coastal ranges and Sepik-
Ramu-Markham valleys of mainland PNG, and
the Bismarck Archipelago. The bullroarer, usu-
ally said to be the voice of ancestors or spirits
in the context of initiation ceremonies, is to
be found throughout the Bismarck Archipel-
ago, the north coast, coastal ranges and
Sepik-Ramu-Markham valleys of northern
PNG, in a broad belt from the Huon Peninsula
to the Papuan Gulf, and in south-east [West]
Papua. Certain other instruments are unique
to a particular area, such as the friction or
rubbing blocks of northern New Ireland(Messner 1983), and the water drums and
mud-beaters of the middle Sepik.
The earliest detailed survey of musical
instruments for Oceania was published by
Hans Fischer (1958, translated 1983, revised
1986). Vida Chenoweth (1976) provides a tab-
ulated survey of the musical instruments of
PNG. Ken Gourlay (1974) has published a
comprehensive bibliography of literature of
the music, dances and instruments used in
PNG and the Torres Strait islands. He followed
this up (1975) with an analysis of the distribu-
tion of bullroarers, sacred flutes and
slit-gongs, their use in initiation and other
ceremonies, and their role in male-female
relations.
Mervyn McLean (1994) draws on these
sources to survey the occurrence of all the
most significant instruments used in New
Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago. He
relates them to one another and explains
their distribution in terms of borrowing and
population migrations as suggested by lan-
guage distributions. He theorises that the
first instruments in the Australia-New Guinearegion would have included the bullroarer,
introduced into Australia around 10,000 years
ago but coming into New Guinea, via the
Papuan Gulf, not until about 3000 years ago.
Shell trumpets came from the west with the
first groups of Austronesian speakers around
6000 years ago, closely followed by the slit-
gong. The jew’s harp, mouth bow, hourglass
hand drum and wooden trumpet came to
New Guinea between five and ten thousand
years ago but the latter two instruments did
not reach Morobe Province and the Bismarck
Archipelago until less than 3000 years ago.
No more than 3000 years ago, he suggests,
sacred flutes were invented in the highlands
and later expanded into bullroarer areas
(mainly northwards, most notably into the
Sepik-Ramu-Madang region).
All of the musical instruments in the Mas-
terpieces Exhibition are carved of wood (or
have sculptural components of wood, for
example, the pair of long flutes). Most are
from the Sepik region and most are hand
drums. Many types of instruments are not
Fig. 89a (top). Slit-gong named Wobnerluk at
St Benedictine Teachers College, Wewak, from
Washkuk village, Wogamusin speakers, upper
Sepik River. Gazetted National Cultural Property,
14 January 1977. Published in Newton 1971: 56
(Illust. 91). Photo: B. Craig, C1: 7; 20 October 1981.
Fig. 89b. Slit-gong named Wobnerluk at St
Benedictine Teachers College, Wewak, showing
deterioration over twenty years. Photo: B. Craig,
M4: 19; 15 May 2002.
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182 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
included at all and many regions are unrepre-
sented. However, the displays in the
Independence Gallery attempt to make up
for this.
Slit-gongs
Slit-gongs (also called ‘slit-drums’, and
garamuts in Melanesian Pidgin) are an Aus-
tronesian instrument as is demonstrated by
their distribution in the south-west Pacific
(Niles 1983; Swadling et al. 1988, Fig. 244).
There are many shapes, and the hollows are
carved out to different degrees and con-
figurations. Designs carved and/or painted
on them vary widely and there are different
ways of beating them.
Slit-gongs are used for musical purposes
during ceremonial songs and dances but
they are also used to send messages as far as
20 kilometres distant. As some Sepik men
have said, they are their wailis (Melanesian
Pidgin for wireless, i.e., radio). Not a lot is
known about this latter use, apart from the
relative simplicity of what is communicated,
but Thomas Aitken (1990: 546-47) has
emphasised the previously overlooked role
of pitch (versus rhythm) and advanced the
remarkable hypothesis for the Sawos of the
middle Sepik area, that
the principal aim of each tapet [an adult’s
individual signal] i s to imitate the call,
shriek, or some peculiarity of the bird,
insect, animal, etc., that ‘belongs’ to the
family of the person involved, the call hav-
ing been slowed down so much for ease
of performance that it has become unrec-
ognizable as such to the
unknowledgeable listener.
Newton (1971: 70) had already observed
that among the Manambu (on the Sepik
mainstream in the vicinity of Ambunti), ‘As in
other places, the rhythms [of the slit-gongs]
were onomatopoeic of the sounds made by
fish, birds, wind, rattling leaves, and so on’.
In the middle Sepik area, new slit-gongs
were consecrated by human sacrifice and
were provided with personal names. Stories
of individual slit-gongs indicate that they are
regarded as the habitations of particular spir-
its that may have originated as human beings
but have transformed into nature spirits, par-
ticularly those that inhabit waterways,
whirlpools and eddies. The carved images on
slit-gongs may refer to such spirits, to
Fig. 90. Slit-gong named Olmang’an, Watam village,
Watam speakers, Watam Lagoon. Carver u nknown
but made before the German administration. Photo:
B. Craig, C6: 21; 27 September 1983.
ancestors, to episodes in myths, to particular
totemic animals, or to such animals as flying
foxes and lizards as metaphors for the carry-ing-power of the slit-gong’s sound.
There are only two slit-gongs in the Mas-
terpieces Exhibition and both of these are
from the Sepik River region. The horizontal
log slit-gongs of the Sepik region are basi-
cally of three types:
slit towards the rear and a long, tapering
(and usually carved) finial (Fig. 89). There
is often a hole at the finial with which to
secure a rope for pulling the instrument
when it needs to be moved. This type is
to be found in the upper Sepik region,
upstream from Ambunti (Fischer 1986,
Plate IV, Nrs 46, 47; Newton 1971, Illusts
11-18, 20, 70-4, 91-3, 186-87).
slit and a projecting lug at each end, a
large one carved in human and/or ani-
mal form (often a crocodile’s head) in a
manner similar to a canoe prow, and a
smaller one usually plain or as a subsidi-
ary human or animal form. The body of
the drum also may be carved in low relief
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 183
and/or painted. Amongst the western
Iatmul and Sawos, the ‘prow’ consists of a
short carved section tapering from the
main body of the drum. It may be seen,
therefore, as a much-shortened version
of the upper Sepik type (Craig 1987,
Plates 24, 63-4; Fischer 1986, Plate IV, Nr
48; Newton 1971, Illusts 123-24). Among
the eastern Iatmul and the Iatmul-
influenced groups to the south, the
‘prow’ juts out at the top of the body of
the drum (Craig 1987, Plates 72, 75-7;
Fischer 1986, Plate III, Nr 39; Kelm 1966a,
Plate 165). Both slit-gongs in the Master-pieces Exhibition are of this sub-type.
slit and relatively short projecting lug at
each end carved identically as a mask, or
as a short spirit figure (with long nose)
supported by a lizard-like creature
(Fig. 90). The body of the drum is incised
with symmetrical designs. The drum is
usually then coated in red ochre and the
incised line designs picked out in white.
This type is to be found in the lower
Sepik region below Angoram, along the
lower Ramu, and along the north coast
and offshore islands (Craig 1987, Plates
38-40; Fischer 1986, Plate III, Nrs 31, 32;
Kelm 1968, Plates 374-83; Neuhauss 1911,
I, Fig. 216; Swadling et al. 1988, Fig. 246).
MPNr 206 is from the middle Karawari
River. According to Borut Telban (1998: 189),
Karawari slit-gongs ( yimbung) have personal
names and are water spirits, a category of
‘bush’ spirit. The Karawari people believe
these male ‘bush’ spirits (saki ) live in under-
water villages complete with men’s houses in
which rituals of initiation are performed. The
slit is the drum’s ‘mouth’ and the hollow
inside is its ‘belly’; the large lump of wood left
halfway along the slit is its ‘fruit’, which is
important for the quality of the sound.
The face at the prow of this drum is that
of the water spirit Kolmanki, depicted as a
composite of human and crocodilian
features. The projecting lug at the stern
appears to have been carved as a wild pig’s
head, most likely the Pig clan totem. A similar
slit-gong was located at Danyig on the
Wogupmeri River (Craig 1982: 65) and the
collar-like projection under the prow was
said to represent the crescent-shaped kina
MPNr 206. Slit-gong ( yimbung) and detail, personal name Kolmanki, Manjamai village, middle Karawari River,
Karawari speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 3.75 m lo ng x 94 cm high x 55 cm wide. E.16040. Purchased
by Wayne Heathcote about August 1971 fro m the owner Yaplas. Gazetted National Cultural Property on
16 March 1972. Purchased from Wayne Heathcote by the National Museum and registered 10 February 1975.
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184 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 207. Slit-gong (and details), personal name Mbauwi; Aibom village, Chambri Lake, Iatmul speakers, East
Sepik Province. Wood. 2.97 m long x 68 cm high x 56 cm wide. 81.26.174 [original registration number lost
but identified as E.10190, purchased by Dirk S midt for the National Museum in 1971 from five men (Bauwi,
Kindjinmaki Gauwi, Aitmun Unda, Kovai and Kumbu of Aibom) and registered 3 May 1972].
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 185
(pearl shell) ornament traded from the Sepik
up into the highlands. Telban (1998: 189) was
told at Ambonwari that this feature is the
spirit’s ‘fish basket’, where he keeps his food.
Telban continues his general description:
On either side of the drum the pattern
depicts its intestines and lungs, in appear-
ance resembling a line of crescent moons
or kina shells. Between the head and the
main body is a ‘belt’ of carved shells with
the face of a wunduma [female ancestral
spirit] in the m iddle. On top of the head
the two ‘breadfruit seeds’ indicate the
spirit’s eyes. The other carved patterns
depict shells, frogs, and bi rds: [represent-
ing] the spirit’s wealth and those foods
which new initiates are not permitted to
eat. All the main drums have incisions on
their bodies denoting the number of peo-
ple killed by members of the owning clan.
The drums are used to beat the rhythm of
songs associated with the major ceremonies,
to call someone back to the village, or to
announce important events. Telban informs
us (1998: 190-91):
Every totemic clan has its own signal …
Like the Kwoma but unlike the Sawos …
Ambonwari drummers, when calling
someone, first beat the signal of the per-
son’s own clan followed by the signal ofhis mother’s clan … The drummer (kapuk
yarar ) beats the slit-drum using rhythm
and pitch to mimic the sound, the walk,
the appearance or the behaviour of a
totemic animal of a particular clan.
Other sequences can urge the identified
person to hurry up, or can inform a hunter
that his dogs have already returned to the
village from the hunt, and so on. ‘As people
are familiar with constantly unfolding events
in the village, these signals in many ways con-
firm their expectations, hopes and fears’
(ibid.: 190).
MPNr 207 is from Chambri Lake. Accord-
ing to Smidt’s information, this slit-gong was
kept in the men’s house Nangukunbit
(Nagrimbit) and called ‘Mbauwi’ after the clan
to which it belonged. It was roughed-out by
two brothers, Tonop and Kam, at Aimsui,
about a kilometre from Aibom. Tambui and
Kindsjen did the final carving. The teeth of
the crocodile’s head on the prow are nimbie
and the catfish on the brow of the crocodile
head is called kamiwentsjo. The eye is called
menie’pauwi , the nose is dama and the chev-
rons at the side of the nose are dama’pauwi ;
circles represent the soft part of the cheeks
(kopmoiwimbui ). The small face is that of a
woman, Yambugawge. A small figure or bird
has broken off at the tip of the crocodile’s
snout. The person represented at the stern is
Nyap, the chevrons in the ribbon of design at
the stern are maranget, the initiatory scarifi-
cations representing the teeth-marks of the
cult crocodile that swallows the initiates.
Hand drums
Hand drums are used almost everywhere in
New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago to
set the rhythm for singing and dancing. They
are generally hourglass-shaped, with lizard
skin tympanum (Craig 1987, Plate 33), but dis-
play a variety of forms, even within a
particular village (Fischer 1986, Plate X, Nrs
162-65; Plate XI, Nrs 174-76). The major dis-
tinction is between those with carved
handles and those without. Fischer claims
that this is not a useful distinction because
‘drums of the same type appear in almost all
areas with or without handles’ (1986: 56).
However, his study was based on European
museum collections and published sources
so that some areas were inadequately repre-
sented. Further, it is likely that in areas where
hand drums usually have handles, sometimes
MPNr 89. Hand drum, April or Leonhard Schultze
Rivers, Sepik Hill speakers, East Sepik Province.
Wood, rattan. 109 x 13 cm. diam. E.7906. Bought
from Sepik Primitive Arts, Madang, 19 April 1971
and registered 23 April 1971. Tympanum missing.
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186 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 100. Hand drum, Lumi area, Torricelli
Mountains, Olo speakers, West Sepik Province.
Wood, lizard skin. 46 x 13 cm diameter. E.8781.
Purchased from Lakatoi Artefacts and registered
23 November 1971.
the handle breaks or cracks during the carv-
ing and rather than discard the part-finished
drum, the carver proceeds regardless. There is
no doubt that in certain areas the traditional
hourglass drum never had a carved handle.
Those without handles are generally from
the upper Sepik and Border Mountains
region, the Sepik Hills, from central New
Guinea to as far south as the middle Digul
and Fly rivers, and through the Strickland-
Nomad area to the central Papuan Gulf. They
are relatively long and slender, and generally
feature simple geometric designs in a narrow
band at the open end executed with black
lines in relief against a background of red or
yellow ochres and white. In the upper Sepik
area, these designs are consistent with the
designs painted on sago ‘spathes’, and carved
and painted on wooden trumpets and
shields (see Kelm 1966b, Plates 197-238; 1968,
Plates 521-22).
Drums with handles are generally shorter
and display a great variety of carved and
painted designs. Middle Sepik hand drums
incorporate animal and human motifs as
handles, often with curvilinear designs
carved and painted on the hourglass body
(Kelm 1966a, Plates 155-64; 1968, Plates 485-
86; 520). In the area on the Sepik aroundAmbunti, the handles consist of rattan tied
between small loops carved about where a
wooden handle would be located.
In the lower Sepik and nearby coastal
areas, the handles usually have symmetri-
cally-disposed animal or human heads at
either end, and the body of the drum is sym-
metrically carved with an intricate, incised
design in-filled with white pigment (Craig
1987, Plates 33, 42; Kelm 1968, Plates 385-86;
Swadling et al. 1988, Plate 245), consistent
with the structure and motifs of the designs
on slit-gongs (Kelm 1968, Plates 374, 379). The
MPNr 84. Hand drum, attributed to Malu village,
Ambunti area, Manambu speakers (but more likely
Yangoru area, Boiken speakers), East Sepik Province.
Wood. 86 x 23 cm diameter. 81.26.130 [original
registration number lost]. Tympanum missing.
incised designs are usually confined to a pair
of triangular panels on each half of the drum.
This way of decorating hand drums is found
all along the Sepik and Madang coastline and
coastal ranges, into the Huon Gulf, Huon
Peninsula and West New Britain areas
(Bodrogi 1961, Figs 39-46b; Christensen
1975: 12-13 [Siassi], 25 [Karkar], 114-15
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 187
MPNr 86. Hand drum (wek ), Kubkein village, upper Sepik, Wogamusin speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood,
rattan, cloth. 71 x 17 cm diameter. 79.1.534. Registered 23 October 1979. Carved by Nasimbwei, father of
vendor, soon after 1945. Purchased by Barry Craig, 14 January 1973, from Nasideyeiep of Kubkein on behalf
of the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board, Canberra, and subsequently gifted to the PNG Museum by the
Australian government.
[between Bogia and Madang]; Dark 1974,
Illusts 99-110; Swadling et al. 1988, Plate 245).
To complement the hand drums on dis-
play in the Masterpieces Exhibition, a much
wider variety can be found in the Independ-
ence Gallery.
Northern New Guinea
In the Border Mountains of West Sepik Prov-
ince, in central New Guinea, and among
speakers of Sepik Hill languages south of
the upper Sepik and east of May River, the
hand drums have a short carved and painted
design at the bottom end and are relatively
long and narrow, with no handle (they can
be gripped around the narrow ‘waist’ of the
hour-glass shape). MPNr 89 is an example
of such a drum, from the upper LeonhardSchultze or April rivers.
It is probably this type of hand drum that
was, among other sacred objects, said by the
Bahinemo to have been created by a man,
Wimogu, and a woman, Igoshua (Newton
1971: 18). Newton was told that these two
still live at a place called Maifa at the head
of the April River. The couple made a whole
range of sacred objects, weapons and other
goods and tied them onto a log that they
floated down the river. As it floated down-
stream, it shed its load thus distributing
objects to various places, ‘exept to the Buka
[Setiyali] of the upper April River, who only
obtained spears and hand-drums’.
In the Torricelli Mountains north of the
upper Sepik, the hand drums (see MPNr 100)
are short with a wooden handle and usu-
ally have a pair of triangular panels in each
half of the drum filled in with carved designs,
like those of the lower and coastal Sepik,
and offshore islands. Nothing is known of
the symbolic significance of the hand drums
or the designs carved on them. However,
the drums are used in co-ordination with
the slit-gongs to set the rhythm for dances
associated with the tall masks used in mas-
querades to cure illness and obtain other
benefits (such as success in hunting) from the
fish spirits represented by the masks (Briggs
1928: 270; McGregor 1982).
MPNr 84 has been attributed to Malu
village on the upper Sepik; however, it is more
likely to be from the Boiken of the Yangoru
area of the Prince Alexander Mountains. A
similar drum, with two wooden loops to
which to secure a rattan or fibre strap, and
with similar dentate-edged oval motifs at the
lower end, was advertised for sale by Michael
Hamson (www.michaelhamson.com/drums_
oct_03_Dscn2646.htm). Hamson states that
this type of drum is carried by shoulder strap
and beaten at the same time as the player
holds a bamboo flute to his mouth.
That MPNr 84 is from the Yangoru area
is strengthened by similarity of the design
to those on pots from that area (May and
Tuckson 2000, Figs 9.110 and 9.112). May
and Tuckson report (2000: 271): ‘The most
commonly repeated motif of concentric
circles is said to represent the face of a
“masalai” . ‘
At Kubkein, on the Sepik between theLeonhard Schultze and April rivers, apart
from ordinary hand drums used to sound
the rhythm of dances at initiation and other
ceremonies, there was always just one magi-
cal, oracular hand drum called wök , with the
personal name Sabortau, belonging to the
Nandi’iyan clan (Newton 1971, Illust. 105).
Newton (1971: 53) reports:
Before a raid, Sabortau was beaten all
night, while the raiding party chewed a
mixture of ginger, betel and blood from
the penis. At dawn the raiders entered the
war-canoes, which rocked on the water.
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188 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Sabortau was questioned whether the
raiders should proceed: if the canoes
stopped rocking, they could; if the move-
ment went on they called the expedition
off. If the party went out, they took Sabor-
tau with them. The spirit of Sabortau then
went ahead and appeared to the enemy
as a single woman in a canoe, thus both
enticing them to attack and disguising
the presence of the Kubka raiders until
they had closed in … On the way home,
signals were blown on wooden trumpets
for the benefit of the v illage women. On
arrival, trumpets and hand drums were
played. The homicide himself was deco-
rated with upstanding sprays of croton
leaves at his shoulders.
Fifty kilometres east of the Wogamusin
speakers, along the Sepik upstream and
downstream from Ambunti, are the villages
of the Manambu. Their territory adjoins the
western boundary of the Iatmul with whom
they share linguistic and cultural affinities.
Hand drums, along with bullroarers and
flutes, are said to have been first made by the
Manambu culture heroes, Nggutabwi and his
brother Miyangganau (Newton 1971: 66).
The Manambu hand drum in the Master-
pieces Exhibition (MPNr 104) does not have a
wooden handle but a single wooden loop towhich a rattan strap may have been fastened,
or by which the drum could have been held
with a finger or thumb. A hand drum from
Avatip (Kelm 1968, Plate 520) has three loops
for securing a rattan strap. The spiral motif
on MPNr 104 is related to Iatmul and Sawos
designs to the east (cf., designs on malu
boards of the Sawos in Kelm 1966a, Plates 28,
31 and Newton 1963, and on Iatmul shields in
Kelm 1966a, Plates 196, 197, 199).
Newton (1971: 70) comments on how the
Manambu used their hand drums after a suc-
cessful headhunting raid following the
initiation of the young men:
Successful headhunting was celebrated
by a large number of songs, to the
accompaniment of hand drums and danc-
ing in a circle, of which the leader danced
backward. The texts of the songs were
largely lists of names, including those of
totemic eagles, patches of grassland, bush
and water spirits, winds and the like. The
performances were brought to an end by
a series of hooting calls on a short bam-
boo trumpet hung with seed rattles.
Among the Iatmul of the middle Sepik,
songs (sagi ) are sung on such occasions as
the dedication of new houses, at initiation,
marriage, death and so on. These songs
recount episodes in the migration of the clan
ancestors to the present village sites from
their place of origin, Mivimbit, a location near
the present-day Sawos village of Gaikarobi
(Spearritt and Wassmann 1996: 61). The sing-
ing is accompanied by various musical
instruments, including hand drums. The hand
drum provides the basic rhythm for the other
instruments, notably the flutes. For the
Chambri of Aibom, Spearritt reports
(1990: 536):
The hour-glass drum player is not far from
any of the flute players, because it is
essential that they be able to hear h is beat
very clearly … this is a very responsible
role and calls for a dependable drummer
with a very good rhythmic sense. Fre-
quently one of the oldest, most
experienced men in the village is called
on to perform this function.
Only such a man has the secret knowl-
edge relating to the performance, the
experience of having played all the flutes in
the ensemble, and knows how the flutes
must fit in with the drum rhythm.
There is great variation in the form of the
hand drums of the Iatmul of the middle
MPNr 104. Hand drum, Malu village, Ambunti area,
Manambu speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 63
x 17 cm diameter. E.7981. Obtained from Wayne
Heathcote and registered 31 May 19 71. Tympanum
missing.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 189
MPNr 106. Hand drum (kwangu), middle Sepik,
Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, shells,
lizard skin, fibre remnants. 73 x 19 cm diameter.
E.16176. Purchased from Barry Hoare and registered
12 February 1975.
MPNr 107. Hand drum (kwangu), middle Sepik,
Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, lizard
skin, bast, rubber. 77 x 15 cm diameter. E.16057.
Purchased from Barry Hoare and registered
11 February 1975.
Sepik. Some have wooden handles carved as
animals, birds or anthropomorphic masks,
such as the two in the Masterpieces
Exhibition (MPNrs 106, 107; see also Kelm
1966a, Plates 158, 159, 161, 163). Others have
rattan handles tied to loops or holes carved
into the drum (ibid., Plates 157, 160, 162).
Based on information I obtained at Kangana-
man (Craig 1981: 82), hand drums, like many
carved objects among the Iatmul, may have a
personal name referring to the spirit that has
been induced to take up habitation in the
object. It is unfortunate that most collectors
failed to record these names.
Lower Sepik hand drums (such as MPNr
105), like those of the north coast and off-
shore islands, have a pair of triangular panels
at each end, infilled with designs that are
related to those on slit gongs and war shields
of the region. There is a carved handle, usu-
ally with symmetrically-disposed heads of
animals or anthropomorphic spirit beings
(see Haberland and Schuster 1964: 31 far left,
and 71; Kelm 1968, Plates 385, 386).
Towards the eastern end of northern New
Guinea are the Siassi Islands across the Vitiaz
Strait near Umboi (Rooke) Island, and the
Tami Islands off the southern end of the
Huon Peninsula. These two island groups
were once part of a maritime trade network
that linked the Huon Gulf peoples with the
western end of New Britain.
Tibor Bodrogi (1961: 78-83) has published
some information about hand drums of the
Huon Gulf area, in particular, hand drums of
the Tami, Yabim and Kate peoples. He notes
that, unlike the carving of wood bowls, the
carving of hand drums is not restricted to any
particular villages. Therefore, because of the
long association between the Tami Islands
and the Siassi Islands, it is probably safe to
apply to the Siassi hand drums, for example,
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190 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 105. Hand drum, Blupblup Island, Bam
speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, lizard sk in.
54 x 15 cm diameter. E.14622. Collected by and
purchased from Morr is Young, and registered
23 July 1974.
MPNr 103. Hand drum, Siassi Islands, Siassi
speakers, Morobe Province. Wood, lizard skin. 77 x
18 cm diameter. 76.36.197. Purchased from Island
Carvings (Morris Young) September 1975 and
registered 12 August 1976.
glue. The little tuning lumps on the tympa-
num are made of the wax from stingless
Trigona bees.
To make the drum, a section of log is
stood up and secured on the stump of a tree
and the hole is cut out with an adze (formerly
of stone or Tridacna shell but now steel) at
the same time as the outside is shaped to
achieve an hourglass form. Bodrogi does not
mention burning through the log with fire,
the method used by many other peoples of
New Guinea, such as the Kiwai (Landtman
1933: 69). When the shape is satisfactory, the
detailed carving is done, including the han-
dle and often a vertical ridge on the opposite
side. The handle may be plain or carved with
animal heads (Bodrogi 1961, Fig.46b).
Around the body of the drum, intricate
motifs are incised and in-filled with white lime.
The area of the surface of the drum that is
carved has the same shape as certain
armbands, with two or four triangular areas at
each end (ibid., Figs 39-46, 230-31; for Kilenge,
Siassi and Tami drums, see Dark 1974, Illusts
99-110). This design is called yo-bela, after the
plaited bracelets, decorated with small nassa
shells, that are made in south-west New Britain.
There are usually several motifs carved
onto the surface of the drum. The wide wavy
band on MPNr 103 is probably a representa-
tion of the centipede (Yabim: kalikali ) or
snake (Yabim: moa); the series of circles are
most likely Conus shell rings (Yabim:kematen)
that are made by Tami women or imported
from the Siassi Islands and used as jewellery.
The ridge of wood opposite the handle
appears to be carved as two pairs of linked
squatting figures with bird heads at each end.
Oval, eye-like shapes hint at faces and the
saw-teeth pattern is said to be i-lun (fish
teeth) or akwa-lun (shark teeth).
Men used hand drums both for
MPNr 103, the information he gives for those
of the Tami and their neighbours.
Bodrogi notes that the timber used for
making hand drums comes from Cordia, Calo-
phyllum and Afzelia species, the skin
(tympanum) of the drum is usually from the
Varanus indicus lizard. The skin is softened in
water and stretched over the top edge of the
drum, which has been smeared with tree sap
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 191
ceremonial and less formal occasions, to
accompany songs and to provide the rhythm
for dances (see Dark 1974, Illusts 171-73, 175,
177).
Southern New Guinea
The Asmat of the southern coast of [West]
Papua make hand drums by burning and
scraping out the log with a shell; the carv-
ing is done with an iron-nail chisel. The bird
beaks on the handle of the Asmat drum
MPNr 90 are of the hornbill, a headhunting
symbol. On the body of the drum, the double
spiral motif is the warrior’s bipane shell nose-
piece and the motif at the centre of each half
is a spirit’s elbow with its hands on either side
(see Gerbrands 1967: 219).
The hand drum has considerable signifi-
cance for the Asmat. ‘The creator Fumeripitsjs
built a yeu [communal men’s house], made
several wood carvings, and animated them
by beating a drum. Drums are still beaten to
act out this story at the inauguration of a yeu,
and at other ceremonial occasions. The grips
are usually decorated with headhunting sym-
bols’ (Smidt 1993: 105).
In the Western Province of Papua New
Guinea, to the north-west of Mount Bosavi,are a number of related groups including the
Bedamuni (also called Bedamini or Beami).
Albert G. van Beek published the results
of his fieldwork among the Bedamuni in 1987
but there is l ittle information there about
hand drums. However, he has kindly supplied
the following information (pers. comm. 24
December 2003):
I collected two drums for the PNG
National Museum from Gofabi village
(near Mougulu), Bedamuni. Drums, locally
called iribu, are played by men when per-
forming the kafoi ceremony, traditionally
MPNr 90. Hand drum (em), Buepis village, Fajit River,
Casuarina Coast Asmat, Asmat speakers, [ West]
Papua, Indonesia. Wood. 133 x 29 cm at widest
point. E.8945. Made by vendor Ofas. Collected by
Robert Mitton and registered 4 February 1972.
the most important ceremony on the
Bedamuni calendar. The kafoi is per-
formed as the final festive stage of the
boy’s initiation ceremony (goy lèègi ) or at
other dramatic occasions that need
confirmation of local cultural integrity or
identity (such as when the first Australian
[government] patrols visited the area).
The longer, slender drum [MPNr 88] was
the common one at the time of collecting
(1978/79) and later (1988). The shorter,
more cubic-formed one [MPNr 87], how-
ever, was the traditional Bedamuni drum
until the late 1960s. It was abandoned
when kafoi performances, following a
series of earthquakes and landslides, did
not have the desired effect. The new type
was acquired through exchange from the
Samo people [western neighbours of the
Bedamuni, near Nomad], together with
spells and knowledge of how to make and
use them. Since then, the longer drum has
been used throughout the area. The
‘mouth’ of both types of drum represents
the jaws of a crocodile.
The older shorter drum is one of only
two in existence that I know of; the other
one (also collected by me) being in the
collection of the National Museum for
Ethnology in Leiden. I came across the old
type by accident, simply because my
museum collecting activities stimulated
the people to ‘clean out the attic’ so to
speak. They were lying abandoned in two
longhouses but were not destroyed, as
drums are perhaps the only objects that
are carefully kept, apart from things made
of stone. Because of their rarity, I commis-
sioned a number of ‘old type’ drums to be
made by local craftsmen to ensure that
the remembrance of this type would not
be lost (they should still be in Gofabi
village).
The tympanum is made of lizard skin
( paigu). The four little lumps on the skin
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192 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 87 (left). Hand drum (iribu), Gofabi village,
Nomad River, Bedamuni (Biami) people, Beami
speakers, Western Province. Wood, lizard skin.
84 x 19 cm diamryrt. 81.67.1 [incorrect number;
identified as 79.84.357, collected by Albert G. van
Beek 1978-79 and registered 16 November 1 979].
MPNr 88 (right). Hand drum (iribu), Gofabi vil lage,
Nomad River, Bedamuni (Biami) people, Beami
speakers, Western Province. Wood, lizard skin, rattan.
117 x 13 cm diameter. 81.67.2 [incorrect number;
identified as 79.84.356, collected by Albert G. van
Beek 1978-79 and registered 16 November 1 979].
are made from beeswax (lebèèri ) and
serve to tune the drum. Although the
designs on the drums have symbolic
interpretations, these meanings are
regarded as trivial compared with the
meaning of the sound. Tuning a drum is a
time-consuming affair that starts hours
before a nightly performance and remains
a preoccupation in the breaks during the
performance. Properly tuned, the drum
has to sound two-toned, somewhat like
‘ba-u’ (from low to high) otherwise the
performance is not right. This sound is
said to be the voice of Awamuni, the cul-
ture hero that gave the Bedamuni their
cultural identity. It is said therefore that
you can hear him calling ‘a-ta’ (also low-
high) which means ‘father-son’. An
intriguing detail is that drum rhythm and
the bodily movement of the performer
should not be in phase. In fact, when a
ceremony has a number of performers
(sometimes three or four) they too will
not drum in phase. This, together with
bursts of singing from groups of young
girls in the men’s sleeping area, makes the
whole performance completely
cacophonic to the untrained ear and eye,
yet strangely impressive.
The kafoi dancer is dressed much like
the Kaluli gisaro dancer [van Beek 1980 for
Bedamuni; Briggs 1980 for Kaluli]. In fact,
like the Kaluli know drum performances,
the Bedamuni know song performances,
but the cultural importance is inverted.
For a detailed description and analysis of
the significance and use of the hand drum
among the Kaluli, who are closely related to
the Bedamuni culturally and linguistically, see
Feld (1983) and Schieffelin (1976: 149, 225).
A couple of hundred kilometres to the
south-east of Bosavi are the riverine deltas,
mangrove swamps and sandbanks of the
Papuan Gulf, inhabited by peoples linked in
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 193
the past more by trade and warfare than by
shared languages and cultures.
The open ‘jaws’ of the Papuan Gulf drums
may be regarded as analogous to the jaws of
the crocodile in the western Gulf, and/or of
the wicker imunu that are kept at the far end
of the men’s house in the eastern Gulf.
The drum from Goaribari Island (MPNr 94)
is similar in form to the long drums from the
Bosavi region (cf., MPNr 88). Newton states
(1961: 47) that this type of drum was made at
Dibiri, at the mouth of the Bamu River, and
was traded south-west to Kiwai Island and
north-east to Goaribari Island (or that the
Goaribari copied the Dibiri drums). He sug-
gests a relationship between the spiral
designs on these drums and the tao (clan
insignia) of the Gogodala of the Aramia River,
a western tributary of the Bamu.
The hand drum of the central Gulf (MPNr
96) is also without a carved handle but quite
short. The carved and painted design at the
‘mouth’ of the drum is clearly related to the
designs found on the gope boards (see New-
ton 1961, Illusts 187, 188). One might
conjecture that the hand drum gives expres-
sion to the voice of the gope. On the other
hand, throughout the Papuan Gulf, the hand
drum is linked to the culture hero called Sidoon Kiwai Island, Hido in the western Gulf, and
Iko in the Purari Delta and further east (New-
ton 1961: 12).
The Namau hand drum (MPNr 95) has a
wooden handle, a characteristic of hand
drums of the eastern Gulf, and detailed
carved designs around the ‘mouth’ that are
closely related to those found on bark belts,
bullroarers and magic marupai , and ulti-
mately, though less obviously, to the designs
on the tall masks called aiaimunu by the
Namau (the equivalent of the hevehe of the
western Elema). For the Elema, and this
MPNr 94. Hand drum, Goaribari Island, western
Papuan Gulf, Kerewo speakers, Gulf Province. Wood.
Tympanum missing. 108 cm x 15 cm diameter.
E.16393. Seized in 1972, donated by Customs in
1974 and registered 24 March 1975. Published in
Smidt 1975: 19, 20, 22, and Nr 20, but with incorrect
provenance.
MPNr 96. Hand drum, attributed to Urama Island,
central Papuan Gulf, Urama-Gope speakers,
Gulf Province. Wood, lizard skin, rattan. 47 x 12
cm diameter. 77.10.18. Collected by Knezevic
and Gueroult, subsequently handed over to the
museum by the Honorary French Consul, N.F.
Maloney, and registered 19 January 1977.
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194 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 95. Hand drum, attributed to Namau people,
Purari Delta, Purari speakers, Gulf Province. Wood.
Tympanum missing. 80 x 25 cm maximum diameter.
81.26.131 [original registration number lost].
MPNr 93. Hand drum, Kikori, western Papuan Gulf,
Kerewo speakers [but more likely from one of the
Elema groups of the eastern Papuan Gulf], Gulf
Province. Wood. Tympanum missing. 59 x 16 cm
diameter. E.16269. Purchased from Barry Hoare and
registered 28 February 1975.
would be almost certainly the case for the
Namau as well, the hand drum was essential
to the public performance of the hevehe
masks. Mamiya and Sumnik state (1982: 28),
the full term for the hevehe mask was
apa-hevehe, or drum-hevehe, since each
masquerader carried a drum whenever he
appeared in public. Because ma-hevehe
were spirits, one way in which their pres-
ence was made manifest was through
sound . . . the masks began their symbolic
‘lives’ only after delivery of the drums.
In Namau legend, the hand drum is asso-
ciated with the culture hero, Iko. According to
one account of his birth (Williams 1924: 248),
his foster mother gave birth first to a drum,
and then to him. Other legends indicate that
Iko came from the west, ‘carrying his drum
with him … first to Urama, and then to the
villages of the Purari’ (ibid.: 250). Williams con-
tinues (ibid.: 251):
As he travelled he carried his drum always,
and beat it in the new villages. And the
people were astonished at the way it
seemed to speak, saying sometimes: ‘ Aiari,
Aiari; Pivai, Pivai ,’ from which the drum
came to be known to some by the name
‘ Aiari ’.
… And night after night he beat his
drum and sang in the men’s house of
Urama. And while he slept there in the
daytime, men would come and gaze at
him and say, ‘Who is this giant of a man?’
And it was by his drum-beating that he
got a wife in Urama. For sometimes the
drum seemed to call: ‘Iua, Iua, Bapia, Bapia,’
so that at last the people gave him a cer-
tain woman, Iua, to wife, thinking that he
was calling for her.
The legend recounts how Iko played a
role in the establishment of the Vaimuru
people, their social system and their material
culture (ibid.: 252):
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 195
Iko, who had brought his drum with him
here also, showed the people how to beat
it and how to sing. And he hung up his
drum in the ravi and always saw well to
the condition of it. But many other things
he gave to Vaimuru also, to wit, coconuts,
sago, talo [taro], and bananas, and even
fire itself; and above all he taught the peo-
ple their ceremonies and showed them
first the Aiaimunu, then the Gopi-ravi (or
Kaiemunu), then the Upura, and lastly the
Ke’upura.
It may be doubted whether MPNr 93 is
from Kikori. Unlike hand drums of the west-
ern Gulf (for example, MPNr 94), it has a
handle. Furthermore, the repeated design at
both ends of the handle, and at the edge of
the ‘mouth’ of the drum, is also found on
Elema arrows (Haddon 1894, Figs 47, 48). It is
possible that the drum was traded westwards
to Kikori from the Elema, or that the collec-
tion data is incorrect.
Away to the east, off the ‘tail’ of New Guinea,
are the numerous island groups of Milne Bay
Province. The shape of the drums from the
Trobriand Islands is significantly different to
that of the drums elsewhere in Papua New
Guinea, in being curved (see MPNr 85 and
Beran 1980, Plates 104, 105). Trobriand drums are carved from heavy
kwila wood (meku) because of its durability.
They are used for dances (ilowosi ) and some-
times just to beat out a rhythm (ligai ). They
are played with other drums, including the
tiny finger-drum (katuneniya). Although the
men own the drums, they are usually kept in
the family houses.
Malinowski reports (1929: 38-9) that mil-
amala, ‘the annual season of dancing and
feasting held after the harvest’, is inaugurated
by a ceremony to break the taboo on playing
the hand drum.
MPNr 85. Hand drum (kesosau), Losuia village,
Trobriand Islands, Kilivila speakers, Milne Bay
Province. Wood. 68 x 13 cm diameter. Tympanum
missing. UCL 220 (United Church Collection, on loan
to PNG National Museum).
In this initial feast there is a distribution of
food, and the men, adorned in full danc-
ing attire, range themselves for the
performance, the drummers and singers
in the centre of the ring formed by the
decorated dancers. As in a normal dance,
standing in the central place, the singers
intone a chant, the dancers begin to move
slowly and the drummers to beat time.
But they are not allowed to proceed:
almost at the first throb of the drums,
there breaks forth from inside the huts
the wailing of those women who are still
in mourning; from behind the inner row
of houses, a crowd of shrieking, agitated
female figures rush out and attack the
dancers, beat them with sticks, and throw
coconuts, stones and pieces of wood at
them. The men are not bound by custom
to show too considerable courage and in
a trice the drummers, who had so sol-
emnly initiated the perfor mance, have
entirely disappeared; and the village lies
empty, for the women pursue the fugi-
tives. But the taboo is broken and, on the
afternoon of the same day, the first undis-
turbed dance of the festivities is held.
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196 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Trumpets
Trumpets may be end-blown or side-blown,
made of bamboo, gourd, conch shell or wood,
and were used primarily for signalling, but
sometimes for musical purposes. They have a
scattered distribution in the Bismarck Archi-
pelago and New Guinea, with a concentration
in northern New Guinea (McLean 1994: 24-7,
35-7, 45-7). In the Border Mountains of West
Sepik Province, several end-blown wooden
trumpets of different sizes are used together
in an ensemble, each trumpet sounding a dif-
ferent tone, so that together a melody can be
played. On the upper Sepik (Kelm 1966b,
Plates 141, 230-31; Swadling et al. 1988,
Plate 242), and on the middle Sepik main-
stream (Craig 1987, Plates 32, 34; Kelm 1966a,
Plates 175-87) and southern tributaries,
wooden trumpets were used for signalling
success in an enterprise such as hunting, but
especially in warfare. On the middle Sepik,
the side-blown trumpets sometimes were
notched to indicate how many enemies had
been killed on each raid (for example, Craig
1987, Plate 34, right; Kelm 1966a, Plates 180,
185).
No details are known about MPNr 98. It
can be observed, however, that there is a sin-
gle notch below the mouth hole, suggesting
it has been used to celebrate the killing of at
least one enemy person.
The unusually large side-blown trumpet,
Kasapange (MPNr 99), also has one tally notch.
Kasapange (also recorded with the name
Miwan) had a companion piece, named Wisp-
ange ( Fig. 91), at Indabu village. Wispange was
gazetted as National Cultural Property on 23
December 1971 and was photographed at
Palimbei village during a routine check of
National Cultural Property in 1982 (Craig 1987,
Plate 32). Some time afterwards, it appears to
MPNr 98. Trumpet (kwi ), middle Sepik, Iatmul
speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, shell. 60 x 10
cm diameter. E.4561. Registered 20 November 1 969.
have been purchased and illegally exported,
as it was not in Palimbei village during a rou-
tine museum check in the 1990s.
Who carved these two trumpets is not
known. I was told in 1981:
… they date back to the beginning of
things when the Sepik basin was a huge,
swampy lagoon called Mevenbit. But one
day the Sepik broke through at Kopar and
the lagoon drained away into the sea.
Back in those early times, the area was
inhabited by two groups of people – Nauwa
(big brother) and Masam (little brother).
These two groups are said to have founded
the first settlements on the Sepik at Shotmeri
and Kararau.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 197
Fig. 91. Wood trumpet named Wispange, at Palimbei
village, Iatmul speakers, middle Sepik. Gazetted
as National Cultural Property 23 December 1971.
Photo: B. Craig, M8: 30; 14 September 1982.
MPNr 99. Trumpet (kul or yambalam?), personal
name Kasapange; Wombun village, middle S epik,
Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, 126 x 1 8
cm. E.10510. Purchased by Dirk Smidt on behalf of
the National Museum and registered 16 November
1972.
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198 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Water drums, mud-beater drums and
sacred flutes
Water drums and mud-beater drums are
technically stamping drums and are found
only in the middle Sepik area, most nota-
bly among the Iatmul. They are usually made
and used in pairs, like the sacred flutes. Also
like the flutes (and bullroarers), they are kept
secret from women and children and the
sound is regarded as the voice of a spirit.
The water drum is the size and shape of
an hourglass hand drum, left open at both
ends, but with one or two handles. MPNr 97 is
rather unusual in that its handles are shaped
like that of a hand drum. Usually they have
one or two thin uprights terminated by
human or animal heads, to act as handles, as
for MPNrs 91-2 (Craig 1987, Plate 25; Kelm
1966a, Plates 153-54). The handle is held and
the instrument is stamped onto a pool of
water. This is done inside an enclosure that
has been erected around the men’s house.
The mud-beater drum is like an upturned
wooden bowl tied to the end of a long, thick
rattan or bamboo handle and stamped into
the muddy bottom of a hole about a metre
deep, producing ‘a very low pitched sudden
bang … This is done inside a screen fence
which the novices must break through to
gain their way to the secret’ (Bateson 1932:
453 – caption to Plate X). This type of drum is
called kami or ‘fish’. There are usually carved
representations of the fish on top of the
drum, as in the examples here (MPNrs 101,
102 and Fig. 92). Newton (1971: 67 and Illust.
109) reports that among the Manambu, up
the Sepik west of the Iatmul, these are identi-
fied as catfish and that the pit into which the
instruments are plunged is filled with water
(rather than mud).
MPNr 97. Water drum, middle Sepik, Iatmul
speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 155 x 30 cm
diameter. E.349. Collected by Dadi Wirz in 1955
and registered 7 December 1956. Published in a
photograph of an exhibition in the PNG Museum
around 1965 ( TPNGMAG 1966, Plate opp. p.26,
extreme right).
The mud-beater drum is like an upturned
wooden bowl tied to the end of a long, thick
rattan or bamboo handle and stamped into
the muddy bottom of a hole about a metre
deep, producing ‘a very low pitched sudden
bang … This is done inside a screen fence
which the novices must break through to
gain their way to the secret’ (Bateson 1932:
453 – caption to Plate X). This type of drum is
called kami or ‘fish’. There are usually carved
representations of the fish on top of the
drum, as in the examples here (MPNrs 101,
102 and Fig. 92). Newton (1971: 67 and Illust.
109) reports that among the Manambu, up
the Sepik west of the Iatmul, these are identi-
fied as catfish and that the pit into which the
instruments are plunged is filled with water
(rather than mud).
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 199
MPNr 92 (left). Water drum – paired with Nr 91.
Chambri Lake, middle Sepik, Chambri speakers, East
Sepik Province. Wood, cassowary feathers, shell. 80
x 19 cm diameter. E.8847. Purchased from Sepik
Primitive Arts, Madang and registered 30 December
1971. Published in TPNGPMAG 19 76a, Plate p. 50
(incorrect height).
MPNr 91 (right). Water drum, Chambri Lake, middle
Sepik, Chambri speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood,
cassowary feathers, shell. 99 x 21 cm diameter.
E.8848. Purchased from Sepik Primitive Arts,
Madang and registered 30 December 1971.
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200 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Fig. 92 (bottom). Pair of mud-beater drums, named
Aramambun and Tomtei, at Palimbei v illage, Iatmul
speakers, middle Sepik. Photo: B. Craig, M16: 16;
4 November 1981.
MPNr 102 (middle). Mud-beater drum (kami), pair
to Nr 101, attributed to Palimbei village, middle
Sepik, Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood.
54 x 25 cm. E. 7300. Registered 11 February 1971.
MPNr 101 (top). Mud-beater drum (kami ), pair to
Nr 102, attributed to Palimbei village, middle Sepik,
Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 46 x 23
cm. E.7301. Registered 11 February 1971.
MPNrs 101 and 102 were registered in 1971
without information about collector or vil-
lage of origin. In 1981 (Craig 1981: 98) I
photographed two almost identical mud-
beater drums (Fig. 92) that were carved
around 1970-71 by Marisuva and Yamankan
of Palimbei. They are copies of two that were
sold to Barry Hoare of Madang. The two
drums, original and copies, were named Ara-
mambun and Tomtei. It is possible that the
two in the Masterpieces exhibition are the
two original drums from Palimbei, as it was
around 1970-71 that the museum began to
purchase items from Barry Hoare.
Sacred flutes are clan property, kept in the
men’s cult house. They are invariably made of
bamboo and are side-blown (Craig 1987,
Plate 27; Kelm 1966a, Plates 188-90), each
with a different but complementary note.
They are played in pairs (Fig. 93), sometimes
several pairs, with the players facing each
other, the rhythm supplied by a hand drum. If
several pairs of flutes are played, a continu-
ous melody can be constructed (Spearritt
1990). The sounds are believed to be the
voices of certain spirits ( Yamada 1997) whose
names are given to the flutes. The flutes have
wood stoppers at the proximal end, carved in
the form of animals, birds or humans repre-senting clan totems or ancestors.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 201
MPNrs108, 109. Pair of sacred flutes (and detail of their stoppers), middle Sepik, Iatmul speakers, East Sepik
Province. Bamboo, wood, rattan, shells, human hair. 240 and 260 cm long, respectively. E.1088.2, E.1088.3. Two
of six flutes collected by Charles Julius (Government Anthropologist) and registered 2 June 1964. The figures
at the end of the flutes appear to have been carved by the same man.
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202 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Fig. 93. Pair of old flutes named Man-galan being
demonstrated at Yentschan village, Iatmul speakers,
middle Sepik. Photo: B. Craig, C11: 23; 30 October
1981.
Fig. 94 (opposite page). Sulka hemlaut mask named
Bethlehem (now in PNG Museum), at Guma village,
Sulka speakers, Wide Bay, East New Britain Province.
Photo: B. Craig, C5: 32; 6 January 1982.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 203
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204 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MASKS
As stated in the Introduction to this book,
men wearing masks and performing at cere-
monies are not merely representing spirits,
they are spirits. The attempt to ensure
women do not view the manufacturing of
masks and that they do not ‘find out’ that the
masks are worn by their own men is a matter
that has been misunderstood by many writ-
ers. Of course, the women know that their
men make the masks, and of course they
often recognise their own men wearing
them. But that is not the point. They believe,
as do the men themselves, that the mask is
the material form the spirit inhabits for its
appearance among humans at the ceremony
it has been summoned to attend. The
attempt at secrecy is to preserve an element
of mystification and therefore respect for the
spirits, ‘to deflect the audience from everyday
perception’ (Schwimmer 1990: 12).
The spirits inhabiting the masks may be
ancestral, or nature spirits that normally
inhabit particular features in the environ-
ment. Some of the more complex masks, such
as the hemlaut masks of the Sulka of East
New Britain Province (Fig. 94), incorporate
motifs that depict episodes in legends, indig-
enous and European (Craig 1995: 47-8); and
as well as traditional themes, the eharo of
Orokolo alluded to features of colonial Euro-
pean culture (Specht 1988: 34, Plate 1; Young
and Clark 2001: 201).
The materials from which masks are made
vary widely. They include wood, rattan, leaves,
bark cloth and other plant materials; feathers,
fur and animal skin; shells, teeth and tusks; and
human skulls and hair. After contact with Euro-
peans, glass beads, wire, metal, cloth and, more
recently, plastics have been incorporated.
The carved wood face is rarely the whole
mask. There is usually a framework of some
sort to which the wooden face is attached.
The framework may serve to hide the wearer
of the mask and tower above the audience.
This is remarkably so for the Awar, Gamei, and
Kire (Giri) of the lower Ramu River (Lewis
1922, Smidt and Eoe 1999, and van den Berg
1992 respectively), the Abelam of the Sepik
coastal ranges (Forge 1973b: 73), the Wantoat
of the Finisterre Range (Schmitz 1963, Illusts
13, 24-8, 35), the Baining of the Gazelle
Peninsula (Hesse and Aerts 1982, Plates 18, 19
top), and the Sulka of Wide Bay (Fig. 94), East
New Britain, and for the Elema of the eastern
Papuan Gulf (Williams 1940). Some masks
Fig. 95. Ariaso masks in shelter, Wurabai village,
Kwomtari speakers, upper Sepik basin. Photo:
M.J. Lewis, January 1963; South Australian Museum
archives, AA180.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 205
MPNr 56. Mask (ariaso), Kwomtari vil lage,
Amanab area, Kwomtari speakers, West Sepik
Province. Bark cloth, rattan, feathers. 280 x 90 cm.
E.14173. Obtained from B. Juillerat and registered
24 April 1974.
may even be carried by several men, such as
some on the lower and middle Sepik River
(Kaufmann 1975, Plate 86; Stöhr 1987, Plate
33). As Schwimmer (1990: 11) points out,
… spirits are often referred to in Papua
New Guinea as larger than m en, [and]
masks are likewise often larger. One might
say that masked figures are as large as
actors can conveniently handle, but the
spirits represented may be conceptual-
ized as larger still.
Upper Sepik region
Amanab is an administrative centre in the
Border Mountains, looking east over Kwom-
tari territory in the upper Sepik basin. The
mask from the Kwomtari people (MPNr 56),
called ariaso, was used in sickness curing cer-
emonies (also called ariaso). An animal killed
by the sick person, always either a snake
or something associated with water, such
as a crocodile, eel or fish, was seen as the
cause of the illness and its image was repre-
sented at the centre of the mask. However,
it was a dead ancestor or a non-human for-
est spirit, who had become the guardian of
the particular animal killed by the sick per-
son while hunting or fishing, who was the
ultimate source of the malevolence. The cer-
emony sought to exorcise that malevolence
from the sick person. Sicknesses associated
with the spirits of other animals required dif-
ferent types of masks and ceremonies. Similar
beliefs, along with associated masking tradi-
tions, are widespread throughout the upper
Sepik basin and the Torricelli Mountains (Craig
1980, Huber 1990, Juillerat 1986, Kelm and
Kelm 1980, McGregor 1982, Mitchell 1975) and
even farther to the north-west in the Yafi area
of [West] Papua (Hoogerbrugge 1995).
The ariaso mask in the Masterpieces Exhi-
bition has no animal drawn in the central
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206 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
white oval and was therefore not assigned to
cure a particular illness. There were usually
four masks danced together at each ariaso
ceremony. Bernard Juillerat collected four at
Ianbi village (Kwomtari speakers) – two for
the PNG National Museum and two for the
Musée de l’Homme (now Musée du quai
Branly) in Paris. The documentation for the
masks in Paris states that even if there were
MPNr 52 (opposi te page, left).Mask (mai ), middle
Sepik, Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood,
rattan, shells. 58 x 9 cm. E.516 (one of thirteen
masks registered under this number on 24
September 1958). Published in TPNGMAG 1966,
Plate opp. p.24, below left-of-centre.
Fig. 96. Mai mask named Woliang-ginjan mounted
on a conical mask frame, Korogo village, Iatmul
speakers, middle Sepik. Photo: B. Craig, C6: 29;
25 October 1981.
only three illnesses scheduled for treatment,
there had to be a fourth mask. A photograph
(Fig. 95) by M.J. Lewis of four? masks in an
open-sided shelter at Wurabai,26 seems to
confirm this.
Lewis was told that more than one man
was needed to make a mask, which was con-
structed within a special shelter so as not to
be observed by women. Juillerat was told
that the masks remained unpainted, however,
until the eve of the ceremony. During this
period of several months, the sick persons
and those intended to dance the masks
observed certain food taboos and refrained
from sex; songs were sung almost every
night. The women participated in the singing,
and were spectators at the ceremonies in
which the masks were danced while the men
beat the hand drums, going around and
around a sacred enclosure in which the sick
people were located. Lewis was told that
poor garden crops also were reasons for
dancing the masks. After the ceremonies, the
masks were left in the shelter to rot.
Middle Sepik River
The Iatmul mai mask, according to some
sources, gets its name from the little nassa
shells (mai ) with which it is usually decorated
(MPNr 52 does not have its shell decora-
tion). These masks are attached to a profusely
adorned conical mask frame (Fig. 96 and
Meyer 1995, Plate 234) worn during certain
ceremonies by young men representing and
bearing the names of pairs of clan ancestral
brothers and sisters.
They also may bear the names of what
Wassmann calls ‘primal beings’ (such as Wolin-dambwi) who rank above the clan ancestors
(Hauser-Schäublin 1983: 41; Wassmann 1991:
161). Hauser-Schäublin (ibid.) discusses a pos-
sible link between the mai mask and Moiem,
the creator of sago (nau), but concludes that
the significance of mai masks remains elusive. I
was told by Asumbwi of Korogo (Craig 1981:
67) that mai masks are performed
… to celebrate yam and taro harvests …
The mask is worn by the owners’ sisters’
children. The owners kill a pig and give it
to their cousins [nephews and nieces?].
Red and green cordyline leaves [and
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 207
feathers and other plant materials] are
used to dress the mask. Sometimes both
male and female masks are [performed].
The masks may carry a long stick to hit the
women on the backside. The ceremony is
to ensure garden fertility.
The Iatmul say that the mai tradition orig-
inated from somewhere to the north, in the
Prince Alexander Mountains, that is, from the
region presently inhabited by the Abelam
and Boiken.
MPNr 51. Mask (mai ), Korogo village, middle Sepik,
Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, rattan,
shells, pig tusks, human hair. 50 x 9 cm. 81.47.1.
Donated by Allyn Mi ller, 7 July 1981.
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208 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 51, with its long and narrow facial
plane, is typical of western Iatmul villages,
although its concave surface with projecting
cylindrical eyes is rather unusual, perhaps
more typical of representations of the waken
spirits.
MPNr 52 is probably western Iatmul, pos-
sibly from ‘Sapandai’ (Japandai) as the face is
almost identical in style to the head of an
orator’s stool from that village (Haberland
and Schuster 1964: 67, right). The bird at the
end of the long nose is a clan totem.
The large woven rattan mask MPNr 57 has
a representation of a bird on top, possibly
saragwa, the megapode or bush fowl (cf.,
Bateson 1932: 452 and Plate VII, right). This
bird is a totemic ancestor of Mwailambu clan
in Mindimbit (in Kandingei, the megapode is
the principal totem of the Yambune/Ngama
clan – Wassmann 1991: 219). In songs that are
sung at death ceremonies for ordinary men
and women, the most important totem, usu-
ally a bird, is featured. It is ‘lured’ by its
particular slit-gong rhythm and the songs are
then commenced. They tell the story of the
bird being born at Mivimbit, the origin of the
Iatmul clans in Sawos territory. It is
at first astonished and bewildered, lights
the first fire, cleans up the future place of
settlement and builds the first house,
adorns and decorates itself like a head-
hunter who commands respect and puts
a war shield in its canoe, loads it with
chattels and thus leaves the first place of
settlement’ (ibid.: 57).
This part of the series of songs is much
the same for all the clans. The totem bird then
leaves Mivimbit along a particular route, dif-
ferent for the various clans, and ‘builds a nest
on a grass island, lays several eggs and
watches its young hatch out’. This is followed
by shorter songs that introduce the other
MPNr 57. Mask (awan), Mindimbit, middle Sepik,
Iatmul speakers, East Sepik Province. Rattan, shells,
clay, human hair, fibre. 219 x 61 cm (including
skirt). 81.26.128 [original registration number lost
but identified as E .16207; purchased from Wayne
Heathcote and registered 12 February 1975].
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 209
important animal totems of the clan. The
story as recounted by the songs may be
interpreted as a metaphor ‘for the well-being
and multiplication desired for the members
of the clan’, a concern that would require
reassurance when someone dies.
Not a great deal has been published
about the significance of awan masks. Forge
states (1973a: 172) that awan masks are
‘clearly associated with the clan as a provider
of other people’s mothers and the function of
male clan members as mother’s brothers to
non-clan members’. Thus the awan mask is
worn by the nephews (sister’s sons) of the
male members of the clan to which the mask
belongs (Bateson 1932: 452). They are not
secret-sacred and may be seen by any mem-
bers of the household when not in use.
Yuat River
MPNr 46 is definitely a Yuat style mask (cf.,
Kelm 1968, Plates 206-10; Stöhr 1987, Plate
59; Wardwell 1994: 56-7). It was most likely
traded down the Sepik to the place from
where it was collected. According to Smidt
(1975: 56), such masks represent ancestral
spirits associated with particular clans and
were attached to special mask costumes for
ceremonies. He notes a similar mask attached
to a large crocodile figure constructed of
rattan and palm ‘spathes’ at Kambrambo
(Kambaramba), located between the Yuat
and Keram rivers (Schuster 1968, Plate 82;
see also Kaufmann 1975, Plate 86; both pho-
tographs taken by Speiser in 1930). At an
initiation ceremony, these crocodile fig-
ures were each carried by several men, and
initiates were pushed into their jaws to be
‘devoured’ and reborn. It is not known for
what purpose this particular mask was used
at Watam village.
MPNr 46. Mask , collected at Watam village but
attributed to the Mundugumor people, Yuat River,
Biwat speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, rattan
and nassa shells. 36 x 18 cm. E.16406. Seized in 1972.
Donated by Customs 1974. Registered 24 March
1975. Published in Smidt 1975: 56 and TPNGPMAG
1974a, Plate opp. p. vii.
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210 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Lower Sepik region
All three masks from the lower Sepik (MPNrs
45, 48, 41) are brag masks representing ances-
tors or mythical beings and have personal
names. Each mask is usually fastened to a
small frame of sticks (Fig. 97) and then stored
on a shelf in the ceiling of the men’s house.
The spirits of these masks are evoked during
important occasions such as the building of
a cult house or canoe, or at the initiation of
young men. Lipset (1997: 135-39, 161) char-
acterises the brag spirit as male and warlike,
seducing women and devouring young ini-
tiates before spitting them back to their
mothers as adult men.
I was told (Craig 1981: 157) that the brag
masks were consulted before headhuntingraids and given food and blood. After a suc-
cessful raid, the severed head of the victim
was rubbed on the masks so they could ‘drink
the blood’; the young men likewise ‘drank the
blood’ of the severed head to make them
strong and fearless in battle. For such ritual
acts, the mask was not attached to a dance
costume but to a small frame in the cult
house where it was stored as noted above.
The description of such an event, by the
Catholic priest Father Joseph Schmidt
(quoted by Lipset 1997: 197), is startlingly
vivid:
… the men of Janain [Jangimut] were
opening a new spirit house named Bung-
abwar.27
They went out and got a man
from Ariapan and brought back his head.
Brag masks came down from the
houses. They were richly decorated and
shook as they surrounded the head. The
spirit [mask] slurped at the blood about
the head and then shoved it to the next
mask. Blood dripped from the mouths of
the masks.
On 22 November [1918], in the evening,
MPNr 48. Mask , attributed to Murik Lakes-LowerSepik area, East Sepik Province. Wood. 30 x 16 cm.
81.26.106. [Original registration number lost].
MPNr 45. Mask , Watam village, lower Sepik, Watam
speakers, East Sepik Province. Wood. 36 x 18 cm.
E.16059. Purchased from Barry Hoare. Registered
11 February 1975.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 211
Fig. 97. Four brag masks in men’s cult house (taab) named Keison, Karau village, Murik speakers, Murik Lakes. Photo: B. Craig, C3: 32; 25 September 1983.
the men entered the taab in procession
with torches and noise; the procession
was even frolicsome. [Inside], men danced
before the masks and the head, and
stained the snake head motifs carved at
the ends of the ridgeposts with blood. All
night in the taab, men sang the spells of
the brag spirit. The next day, they heated
up a big pot of water at the beach and
boiled loose the flesh o f the head. The
wajak [of the man who threw the first
spear] cleaned the flesh from the skull and
set it out in the sun to dry. Afterwards, the
skull was hung in the cult house. [Schmidt
1923-24: 700]
Brag masks were also used to determine
the cause of a person’s illness. A mixture of
coconut and sago is fried and offered to the
mask. The oldest clansman is a shaman. He is
possessed by the spirit of the mask and asks
about the illness to determine who caused it.
The mask MPNr 45 from Watam village
has the beak-like nose of the male war spirit
(Lipset 1997: 135) as does MPNr 41, and isrichly carved with swirling incised lines,
dentates and zigzags that emphasize its
aggressive qualities.
No details are known about MPNr 48
except that it was in the museum’s collec-
tions before Dirk Smidt began working there
in 1970 (pers. comm. 19 May 2004).
According to information I obtained at
Mendam village, Murik Lakes (Craig 1981:
168), Gweim (MPNr 41) was carved by Wiki at
the village of Gapun, several kilometres south
of Watam Lagoon. This was well before the
Germans came to the Sepik, perhaps early to
Left to right (information from Craig 1981: 172):
Gelamamun, carved by Ikun of K arau with steel tools prior to World War I.
Mambura, bought by Bei-ibo from Watam village with dogs’ teeth and baskets, c.1870s; jaglep (a lizard) totem on forehead.
Damei, bought by Yakeni from Watam v illage, c. 1870s;munimunik (a small black water bird) totem on forehead.
Wangar, carved by Emang of Karau pr ior to World War I, as a copy of an older mask (named Wangar Tarego) bought from Watam, and located at Wokumot hamlet of
Big Murik in 1981; munimunik (a small black water bird) totem on forehead.
mid 19th century. Gweim is an evil mask and
killed many men and women, so the people
of Gapun got rid of it by passing it on to
Arero of Karau at Murik Lakes, who lived
seven generations ago.
28
This is how Arero acquired Gweim. Arero
was from Karau but living at Mendam
(presumably he married a Mendam woman).
His son died and he believed that Mendam
people had ‘poisoned’ him (by sorcery). Arero
left Mendam and went on a journey looking
for a means of revenge. He came to Gapun
and there the people were performing a
sing-sing (ceremony) that involved a stone
‘spear’ that accompanied the mask Gweim.
Arero gave them a dog’s head that he had
placed in an ‘adze-basket’ (Fig. 99). In return,
they gave him Gweim, the stone ‘spear’ and
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212 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 41. Mask (brag), personal name Gweim;
Gapun village, lower Sepik, Gapun speakers, East
Sepik Province. Wood, rattan, shell. 104 x 28 cm.
E.16415, plus small mask 80.7.1 attached at the top.
Bought by Wayne Heathcote at Mendam village,
Murik Lakes. Seized in 1972, donated by Customs
in 1974 and registered 24 March 1975. Gazetted as
National Cultural Property on 23 December 1971.Published in Beier and Aris 1975: 22 and Figs 1a-1d;
Smidt 1975: 52-3 and TPNGP MAG 1974a, Plate
opp. p. iv.
Fig. 98. The small mask (registered 80.7.1) attached
to the original Gweim mask. Photo: James Spiers,
1981.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 213
three black palm spears and, after the cere-
mony was complete, they returned the
‘adze-basket’. Arero used the three spears to
kill some men of the Mindamot clan who he
believed were responsible for his son’s death.
Arero was of Mangaren clan and even today,
whenever Mangaren have a dispute with
Mindamot clan, they perform a ritual to acti-
vate Gweim against them.
The small mask attached to the top of
Gweim was in place when Gweim was photo-
graphed prior to being gazetted as National
Cultural Property on 23 December 1971
(Smidt 1975: 52-3). It must have been
removed prior to 10 June 1972 when Gweim,
along with many other objects, was seized in
Madang to prevent it from being removedillegally from the country (ibid.: 3). The small
mask was sent illegally to the United States of
America but in due course was handed over
to Douglas Newton of the Museum of Primi-
tive Art in New York by an anonymous
person, and passed on to the PNG authorities
in January 1980. It was registered 11 July
1980.
In 1972, when Wayne Heathcote was
negotiating for the purchase of the original
Gweim, a replacement mask (Fig. 100) was
carved by Gweim’s custodian, Mantarei of
Yamda clan in Mendam.
Fig. 99. The ‘adze basket’ named Eimora, associated
with the brag mask Gweim, Mendam vi llage, Murik
speakers, Murik Lakes. Photo: B. Craig, M33: 10;
22 November 1981.
Fig. 100. Mask carved in 1972 by Mantarei of
Mendam village, Murik speakers, Murik Lakes,
as a replacement for the original mask Gweim
(MPNr 41). The small stone ‘spear’ that accompanied
the original Gweim is to the right of the mask.
Photo: B. Craig, M32: 36; 22 November 1981.
The replacement Gweim has two small
carvings tied at the top of its head, one
carved as a miniature brag mask and the
other as a mask with a long bird-like beak.
The small mask registered 80.7.1 (Fig. 98),
identified and returned by Douglas Newton,
is the original of the miniature long-beaked
mask. Presumably there was an original of
the miniature brag mask too.
In 1981, Mantarei was the custodian of
the replacement mask as well as of the stone
‘spear’ given to Arero. Sanimba of Mendam
was custodian of one of the palm wood
spears (called Ataper) and of the adze and
‘adze-basket’ named Eimora. The other two
spears were held at Darapap and one of the
hamlets of ‘Big Murik’.According to Beier and Aris (1975: 22),
Mantare (sic) was the owner of the original
Gweim but they were told it was carved at
Wongan, ‘a Murik village that is not situated
on a sandbank like Mendam but slightly
inland in the bush’. However, this is inaccurate
as Wongan is not a Murik village but is on the
southern shore of Watam Lagoon, east of the
Sepik mouth. However, it is significant that
the walking trail leading south to Gapun
commences at Wongan.
Beier and Aris were informed that the
sharp nose of Gweim represents the beak of
the kekekaur bird. At Darapap (Craig 1981:
153) I recorded kekeko as the name of the
‘kookaburra’; this might be the Rufous-bellied
Giant Kingfisher (Dacelo gaudichaud ) (Gould
1970: 126-27). Beier and Aris were told (1975:
22) that the row of spikes at the top of the
nose represents the crest of the cockatoo
(irekirek ); Smidt recorded (1975: 52) that thesespikes are called jaboag, ‘the same term used
for the barbs of the sacred spears’. The four-
pointed design around the mouth is birin
(star). The fish on the brow is akok (a shark),
the ‘vehicle’ and totem of the spirit of the
mask. The pair of curved forms either side of
the shark’s head and the mask’s nose repre-
sent the pig tusk nose ornament (mangeb)
worn by warriors. All these characteristics add
up to an impression of loud aggression, con-
sistent with the mask’s fearsome reputation.
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214 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Wogeo Island
Wogeo (Wokeo, Vokeo) Island is at the west-
ern end of the Schouten Islands archipelago.
These islands, roughly 50 kilometres off the
north coast of New Guinea stretching from
opposite Wewak to opposite the mouth of
the Ramu River, were part of the extensive
north coast trade network documented by
Tiesler (1969-70). It is not surprising then that
Wogeo Island shares many cultural features
with the coastal Sepik-Ramu region.
The principal ethnographic fieldwork on
Wogeo was carried out by Ian Hogbin in
1934. His book on the religion of Wogeo
(1970) provides some information about the
social context of masking. Hogbin states that
the masks ‘are of similar general design
except that the shape and length of the nose
differs’ (1970: 62). He illustrates two such
masks (ibid.: 60), one of which has a long
beak-like nose and the other has a relatively
short, naturalistic nose, but he does not
explain the significance of the difference.
MPNrs 42 and 43 are examples of these two
types.
Wogeo Islanders believe in several types
of supernatural beings, one of which Hogbin
calls ‘spirit monsters’ (1970: 58). There are two
categories – the lewa (also the word for
‘mask’) and the nibek (meaning ‘flute’). The
lewa spirits are associated with ‘the lesser
food distributions (walage) held for the resi-
dents of a single district’ and the nibek spirits
are associated with ‘the elaborate festivals
(warabwa) in which the guests come from
different parts of the island’. These two
categories each consist of bush spirits and
village spirits. Bush lewa impose a ban on the
collection of certain bush crops and bush
nibek ban harvesting of plantation crops such
as bananas and areca nuts. Village lewa ban
MPNr 42 (left). Mask , Wogeo Island, Wogeo speakers,
East Sepik Province. Wood. 35 x 17 cm. E.16240.
Donated by J.K. McCarthy. Registered 18 February 1975.
MPNr 43 (right). Mask , Wogeo Island, Wogeospeakers, East Sepik Province. Wood, rattan. 34 x 16
cm. E.16241. Donated by J.K. McCarthy. Registered
18 February 1975.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 215
the harvesting of coconuts and village nibek
ban the killing of domestic pigs. Impersona-
tion of three of the four types of spirit
monsters is by imitation of their voices – bull-
roarers for the bush lewa, leaf whistles and
bamboo trumpets for the bush nibek , and
bamboo flutes for the village nibek . The vil-
lage lewa are represented by masked dancers
(tangbwal ).
The village headman has the right to
arrange for the appearance of the spirit mon-
sters and he it is who owns a couple of
wooden masks, usually inherited, that are
attached to the village lewa spirits’ costumes
(Fig. 101). These spirits ensure that there are
sufficient resources available for celebration
of such occasions as the headman’s daugh-
ter’s first menstruation or the intra-district
and inter-district food distributions that will
bring prestige to the headman.
The first appearance of a village lewa does
not require the use of a wooden mask. This is
the mother lewa, represented by a young
man wearing a conical ‘spathe’ over his head
and pads on his body, swathed in women’s
skirts to give the appearance of a heavily
pregnant woman. Later in the proceedings,
she ‘gives birth’ to twins and her offspring are
the male spirits wearing the wooden masks.
Each twin wears voluminous skirts and the
mask attached to a large wicker cone topped
with human hair and adorned with shells,
dogs’ teeth, boars’ tusks, strips of possum fur,
bird-of-paradise skins and other feathers. The
two masks dance to the rhythm of hand
drums and slit-gongs, facing each other, hold-
ing a seed rattle in one hand and a spear in
the other (see illustration in Hogbin 1970: 64).
The dancing is vigorous and tiring so the
masks pause regularly to allow other men to
take over the role. Everyone joins in the
dancing and feasting.
MPNr 50. Mask , Keram River, Kambot speakers? East Sepik Province. Wood. 24 x 15 cm. E.16080. Purchased
from Barry Hoare and registered 11 February 1975.
Fig. 101 (opposite page, bottom). Wogeo masked
dancer, c. 1934-35. Australian Museum Archives:
series 339, H.I. Hogbin P hotographs; Vokeo Album,
A. 3.80.
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216 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
The first public performance of the masks
signals the beginning of the ban on the col-
lection of ripe coconuts and they continue to
perform, at least all day once a week, for three
or four months until there are sufficient ripe
coconuts available for the big food distribu-
tion. The departure of the lewa spirits is then
orchestrated and the food distribution takes
place. The event reaffirms kinship ties and
obligations and brings the headman much
prestige. As one Wogeo man explained to
Hogbin (1970: 71): ‘You Europeans look on
provisions as something just to stuff your-
selves with, but to us in Wogeo they are for
display and admiration as well. They are twice
as important to us as to you’.
Keram and Lower Ramu Rivers
MPNr 50 is from the Keram River, according
to Barry Hoare. It is difficult to be confident
about this information but it is certainly
from within the Lower Sepik or Lower Ramu
region. The flat ovals around the eyes and the
projections on the cheeks are characteristics
sometimes found on masks of this region.The
relatively naturalistic nose shape suggests
a representation of an ancestor spirit rather
than of a male war spirit (brag) which is usu-
ally characterised by a long, beak-like nose.
Barry Hoare claimed that MPNr 44 also
was from the Keram River whereas Rudi
Caesar stated in 1978 that the mask was from
Dinam in the Ruboni Range, some 15 kilome-
tres east of the Ramu River. The style of this
mask is different to those from the Keram
River (cf., mask from Keram River illustrated in
Stöhr 1987: 54). Dirk Smidt (pers. comm. 19
May 2004) reports that in May 1977 he saw
similar masks at Abegini (Abegani), about a
kilometre from Dinam. He was informed that
the spirit in such masks ‘fosters the supply of
MPNr 44. Mask , attributed to Dinam village, Ruboni
Range, Mikarew speakers, Madang Province. Wood,
rattan. 52 x 21 cm. E.16070. Purchased from Barry
Hoare and registered 11 February 1975.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 217
food’. The masks have personal names but the
name for MPNr 44 was not recorded.
Middle Ramu – Guam River area
MPNrs 49 and 53 were both said to have
come from Romkun village but that informa-
tion is unreliable. The pieces may have been
collected at Romkun but taken there for sale
from neighbouring locations.
MPNr 49 might not be a mask, or only a
mask, but a skull holder (cf., Kelm 1968, Plates
238-39). According to Dirk Smidt (per. comm.
19 May 2004), it is most likely from Igana
village, upstream neighbours of the
Kominimung on the Guam River. Smidt has
seen similar masks at Igana, and Igana was
given as the likely origin by the trader Jeff
Liversidge and by his assistant William Siep.
The mask MPNr 53 is almost identical to
the Kominimung masks described by Smidt
(1990a). The difference is mainly in the carv-
ing of the eyes, which are small and slanted
on this mask rather than large and vertical as
on the Kominimung masks published by
Smidt. Also there is a projecting vertical hook
at the top of the mask, perhaps a clan symbol,
whereas Kominimung clan symbols are usu-
ally carved in shallow relief. Smidt favours the
Kominimung provenance; Liversidge and
Siep thought either Kominimung or Igana
(Dirk Smidt, per. comm. 19 May 2004).
The information Smidt obtained about
Kominimung masks may therefore be
applied to this one. Smidt states (1990a: 516)
that the Kominimung masks represent bwon-
gogo, a type of mythical ancestor spirit. ‘Every
man and woman is associated with several
bwongogo and through these individual
associations, each bwongogo is linked to a
certain clan.’
The masks are individually named and
may be male or female. The functions of male
MPNr 49. Mask , also described as a skull holder;
attributed to Igana village, Guam River, Igana
speakers, Madang Province. Wood. 96 x 26 cm.
E.10439. Donated by Rudi Caesar and registered
11 October 1972.
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218 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 53. Mask , attributed to Kominimung village,
Guam River, Kominimung speakers, Madang
Province. Wood, rattan, fibre. 83 x 20 cm (ignoring
rattan cap). E.16414. Seized Collection 1972,
donated by Customs in 1974 and registered
24 March 1975. Published in Smidt 1975: 92, 94
– Nr 102 and TPNGPMAG 1974a, front cover.
and female masks are different. The female
masks are associated with gardening, in par-
ticular with the growing and harvesting of
yams, and in that context are called ‘mothers
of the yams’. Smidt (1990a: 516-17) describes
their use:
Performances with them take place at the
time of the yam harvest at the end of the
dry season. On such an occasion a
number of masks … may be used in the
same performance. Masked dancers leave
the men’s house one after another and,
after dancing within the fence con-
structed around the men’s house, parade
through the village in strict order … Each
category of bwongogo has its own type of
music. The dancers masked as ‘mothers of
the yams’ hold pairs of clapsticks in their
hands; in contrast to those representing
other bwongogo, they do not hold hand
drums. Inside the men’s house, the sacred
flutes are blown and the slit-gongs are …
beaten … The ‘mothers of the yams’ hand
out the first yams to [the women and chil-
dren] saying … ‘We have harvested the
yams. You must eat these now’ …
While the female masks are associated
with gardening, the male masks are asso-
ciated with hunting, especially the
hunting of pigs … In former times the
bwongogo also played a role with regard
to warfare, stirring up the men to fight
their enemies and helping them to be
successful warriors … Some informants
indicated that certain male masks play a
role in initiation ceremonies in connection
with the one-legged figures used to beat
the initiates. [see MPNr 153]
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 219
North-east New Guinea and Bismarck
Archipelago
Several groups in the Huon Gulf-Huon Penin-
sula area, including the Tami, Umboi and
Siassi Islanders, and the Kilenge of West New
Britain, had a secret cult involving circumci-
sion of boys at initiation. This cult required
a wooden mask (MPNr 54) representing the
spirit named kani by Tami Islanders, balum in
the Huon Gulf, nausung by the Kilenge (Dark
1974: 18, Illusts 76-7) and naboyo in the Siassi
Islands (Bodrogi 1961: 70). On Tami Islands,
the mask was worn by a man hidden under
a bark cloth hood, with tapa cloth wound
round his limbs to make him look fat. The
kani spirit was said to swallow the boys and
spit them out again as men.
In northern New Ireland, malagan is the
name for the mortuary ceremonies and for
the objects associated with them. There is a
range of mask forms associated with mala-
gan. The two New Ireland masks dealt with
here could have been included with the
other malagan objects discussed in the next
section but are discussed here to conform
to the physical layout of the Masterpieces
Exhibition.
The taxonomy of New Ireland masks is
complex and undoubtedly varies from place
to place, with the names of masks changing
as well as their form and function. Noah
Lurang (1999) has set out a preliminary
account of masks for the Tabar Islands and
Helfrich (1973) has attempted a typology. But
there are still big gaps in the available infor-
mation.
According to Bühler’s notes attached to
correspondence found in the anthropology
archives of the National Museum, MPNr 40 is
a mask called marubát , incorporating in each
MPNr 54. Mask (naboyo), Siassi Islands, Siassi
speakers, Morobe Province. Wood, fibre, turtle shell,
cassowary feathers. 72 x 22 cm. 81.26.107 [original
registration number lost].
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220 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 47. Mask (tatanua), north New Ireland, New
Ireland Province. Wood, rattan, fibre, lime plaster,
shells. 45 x 28 cm. 77.57.17. One of seventeen items
repatriated by The Australian Museum, Sydney,
27 June 1977 to mark the occasion of the official
opening of the new National Museum building (see
also Masterpieces Nrs 60, 150).
Fig. 102. Noah Lurang dancing vanis mask from
Tatau Island, northern New Ireland, for the Fifth
Pacific Arts Symposium at the South Australian
Museum in Adelaide, 12 April 1993. Photo: B. Craig,
PAA2: 3.
MPNr 40. Mask (marubát ) (opposite page), Madina,
Nalik speakers, north New Ireland, New Ireland
Province. Wood, fibre, shells. 88 x 56 cm. E.864.2.
Collected in 1931 by Al fred Bühler. One of three
items repatriated in 1961 from the then Museum
für Völkerkunde (now, Museum der Kulturen),
Basel, Switzerland (registered there as Vb 105 46).Registered 19 February 1962. Published in
TPNGMAG 1970, Plate 5.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 221
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222 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
of the two earpieces the image of a mythical
being called Ranganof. He appears to be
being consumed by a flying fish (eililif ) but
this image is more likely a representation of
the relationship between the clan ancestors
and the social entity, the clan, as represented
by the totem animal. The notes state that the
mask was produced to honour this mythical
being but information about the context for
its performance was not provided.
A similar type of mask documented by
Phillip Lewis (1969: 114-16), called nit kuleg-
ula, was used in malagan ceremonies but
more specifically to escort initiated boys out
of the men’s enclosure to return them to their
families. It then performed a slow dance,
holding a shell rattle in one hand and a pad-
dle in the other. When it ceased dancing,
everyone – men, women and children –
crowded into the enclosure. Thus it
temporarily removed the taboo on the men’s
enclosure.
Such masks with the large earpieces are
called vanis on Tabar Islands (Lurang 1999,
Fig. 15.9). On the occasion of the Pacific Arts
Association’s Fifth International Symposium
in Adelaide in 1993, a slow dance with rattle
and dance-paddle, similar to that described
by Lewis, was performed on the lawns of the
South Australian Museum by Noah Lurang
(Fig. 102). He was wearing a Tabar Islands
mask called vanis si mi chur bang bang; bang
bang is most likely a reference to the image
of the hornbill bird, no doubt a clan totem,
perched on top of the mask’s head.
There are several sub-types of vanis (with
the large earpieces) depending upon their
particular form and function. Michael Gunn
(2002: 100, 171-72) names two (matalala and
vanariu) and discusses them generally under
the heading ‘Walking Masks’; they are used to
remove major taboo restrictions. At Madina
in 1980, Dieter Heintze (1987, Figs 19-21)
recorded two such masks ( pitalot and
waneskande) under the general term marua
(probably the same as Helfrich’s merue –
1973: 27) and a third type (vaneriu) at
Fatmilak (Heintze 1987, Fig. 22), ‘carved to
commemorate the owner’s mother and
[additionally] one of his babies who had died
a few years earlier’. The rights to this third
type were acquired from the Tabar Islands,
thus vaneriu is the same term as Gunn’s
vanariu. It appears therefore that the type of
mask with the large earpieces may be used to
commemorate particular individuals who
have died, as well as to remove major taboos
Fig. 103. A line of tatanua dancers, Langenia vi llage,
Notsi speakers, northern New Ireland. Photo:
B. Craig, C2: 12; 13 August 1982.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 223
during malagan ceremonies.
MPNr 47 is a tatanua (tantanua) mask.
These masks are usually danced in pairs;
therefore a ‘line of tatanua’ will consist of sev-
eral pairs of these masks (Fig. 103). Each side
of the hair-do on a mask is different, so that,
seen from the side, the masks change appear-
ance as the dancers turn their heads towards
and away from their partners. These masks
dance during the closing session of the major
mortuary ceremony honouring clan mem-
bers deceased during the several years since
the last major ceremony. They are not
destroyed after the performance but stored
for future use (Clay 1987: 67). In northern
Mandak, the organisers of a large mortuary
ceremony will send out invitations for those
related through marriage or male descent to
send tatanua dancers or a malagan display
(ibid.: 65); on Tabar, groups are invited to
compete in attempting to spear a hanging
coconut to earn the right to send a group of
tatanua masks (Lurang 1999: 151).
Preparation for the tatanua dance is rigor-
ous, with taboos on contact with women,
with food cooked by women, and fish
(because it attracts the spirits of those who
have died by violence) (Clay 1987: 65-6).
‘These precautions are designed to prepare
the dancers to perform successfully within
the power-filled tatanua masks.’ Failure to
maintain purity exposes the dancer to the
negative magic of those who conspire to ruin
the festivities (and thus damage the reputa-
tion and prestige of those sponsoring the
ceremonies).
The tatanua performance thus tests the
dancers before a large assembly of guests
from other villages. If the dance is com-
pleted without misfortune, the men have
proven their capabilities as men in inter-
action with power. [ibid.: 66]
The peoples of New Ireland are, with a
sole exception, speakers of Austronesian
languages. On New Britain, all but four
languages are Austronesian; one of the non-
Austronesian language groups is the Baining,
living in the mountains of the Gazelle
Peninsula of East New Britain. Their masking
traditions continue to the present day and
are comparable in variety, scale and materi-
als to those of the Wantoat of the Finisterre
Range (Schmitz 1963), the Bundi of the Bis-
marck Range (Fitz-Patrick and Kimbuna
1983), the Asaro of the eastern Highlands
(Miller 1983, Plate 220) and of course the
Elema of the eastern Papuan Gulf (Newton
1961).
MPNr 55 is most likely a night dance mask
of the Kairak Baining who live in the north-
east corner of the Gazelle Peninsula. There
are many forms of the kavat mask that depict
‘various flora, birds, mammals, insects, reptiles,
natural phenomena, and human processes
and products’ (Corbin 1979: 175). This partic-
ular mask is almost certainly a leaf spirit. The
leaf spirit was said to represent large leaves
used in wrapping food for cooking and for
covering houses and shelters. The leaf kavat
was called rengit by the Kairak (Corbin 1984:
47 and Fig. 9).
Kavat masks, made by the younger men,
consist of white bark cloth, stretched over a
light wood and rattan frame, painted with red
and black pigments. Corbin (1984: 46-7) sum-
marises the colour symbolism:
The red pigment is seen as masculine and
is associated symbolically with the flames
kicked up in the air during ceremonial
dances; the flowing of human and animal
blood in warfare and hunting; ritual self-
sacrifice in various ceremonies; the
Fig. 104. Baining ‘night’ mask being danced at Guma
village (Sulka speakers), Wide Bay, East New Britain
Province. Photo: B. Craig, C6: 23; 6 January 1982.
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224 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 55. Mask (kavat), Gazelle Peninsula, Baining
speakers, East New Britain. Bark cloth, rattan, fibres.
133 x 68 cm. 81.12.2 [incorrect number; identified as
81.12.11]. Donated at the conclusion of the S outh
Pacific Festival of Arts in July 1980 and registered
January 1981
blood-red saliva produced when chewing
betel nut; and pricked tongue blood spat
on masks and headdresses to activate
their spirits before ceremonial use. The
black pigment is seen as feminine and is
associated with ashes and soot from
cooking fires; the earth and mud and their
fecundity; dark wet places where power-
ful mythological spirits live; and
efflorescent secretions on plants and
trees. The white colour [of the unpainted
bark cloth] is associated with the spirit
world … White foam observed on
streams, ponds, and the beach is associ-
ated with afterbirth and primordial slime.
White bones and skulls are considered
important objects to be preserved for use
in garden magic and curative magic. The
white secretions produced by plants and
trees are likened, symbolically to seminal
fluids. The white lime and clay used to
paint patterns on the body before rituals
or entering taboo places is believed to
have magical protecting and curative
properties …
Kavat masks (and other types of masks –
Fig. 104) are danced during the night
accompanied by an all-male percussion
orchestra. Dancers often pass through the fire
that burns in the centre of the dance ground.
The dance appears to represent confron-
tation between the spirits of the dead (who
live in the bush but interfere in human
affairs) and the men of the village. At day-
break, the orchestra prevails and chases the
spirits back into the bush (ibid.: 47). ‘By repre-
senting these spirits in masks, man obtains
power over them, and by submitting himself
to their awe-inspiring presence he might
obtain indulgence and mercy’ (Hess and
Aerts 1982: 77).
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 225
Papuan Gulf
The masks MPNrs 58, 62, 59 and 61 are exam-
ples of the 1970s revival of traditional mask
forms. MPNr 58 has a mastic overlay on the
top half of its conical helmet shape, inset
with shells and seeds, with red mucuna seeds
for eyes, and trimmed cassowary feathers
representing hair and beard. This type of dec-
oration is characteristic of the trophy skulls of
the Bamu River people (Newton 1961: 48-9),
who are historically closely related to the
Kerewa of Goaribari Island.
Only one other Goaribari mask of this
type has been published (Miller n.d.: 3 and
front cover illustration). Allyn Miller reports
that it is called avoko and is used to celebrate
marriage. ‘After the husband has brought the
wife to his house, a clan elder dons this mask
and dances in front of the house to bring fer-
tility and good fortune to it’.
The Kerewa avoko mask illustrated by
Newton (1961, Illust. 106), is virtually identical
to the Era River kanipu masks (ibid.: Illust. 173)
and quite different in form to the ‘marriage’
mask reported above. MPNr 62 is a kanipu
mask from Urama Island just to the west of
the Era River estuary. Newton assumes the
plaited cane Kerewa (Goaribari) and Era River
masks he illustrates were used during initia-
tion ceremonies and admits ‘their functions
are not altogether clear’ (ibid.: 17), but could
be related to the kaiaimunu animals (ibid.:
Illusts 174-77) and the Namau Pairama cere-
mony (ibid.: 73).
MPNr 59 was obtained without documen-
tation but is of the type photographed by
Frank Hurley in 1924 on Uramu Island (New-
ton 1961: Illust. 186; Specht and Fields 1984:
163). Newton (ibid.: 19) reports that this type
of mask was used ‘to enforce the taboo on
coconuts destined for use in ceremonies’.
MPNr 58. Mask (avoko), Dopima village, Goaribari
Island, Kerewo speakers, Gulf Province. Rattan,
shells, red mucuna seeds, fibre, cassowary feathers.
147 x 65 cm (including skirt). 81.26.129 [original
registration number lost].
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226 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 62. Mask (kanipu), Mirimairau v illage,
Uramu Island, North-eastern Kiwai speakers, Gulf
Province. Rattan, wood, fibre, feathers. 111 x 73 cm
(including skirt). 76.30.166. Donated by Rudi Caesar
30 October 1975.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 227
MPNr 59. Mask (kanipu? ), attributed to Uramu
Island, North-eastern Kiwai speakers, Gulf Province.
Rattan, bark cloth, fibre. 161 x 48 cm (including
skirt). E.16465. Seized in 1972, donated by Customs
in 1974 and registered 4 April 1975. Published in
Smidt 1975: 29, 30, 32; Nr. 35 and TPNGPMAG 1976a,
Plate p. 14.
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228 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 61. Mask (keweke), Kivaumai Nr 2 village,
Uramu Island, North-eastern Kiwai sp eakers, Gulf
Province. Rattan, bark cloth, fibre, feathers. 148 x
47 cm (including skirt). 76.30.168. Donated by Rudi
Caesar 30 October 1975.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 229
Hurley’s notes (Specht and Fields 1984: 162)
support this:
The men inside the mask[s] rush about
the village scaring the women and
children … The mask is believed by them
to contain a spirit who will make them
violently ill if they should eat of the for-
bidden fruits. As there are but a few
coconuts struggling around the vi llages,
and the younger generation are very
prone to pull the fruit before maturity, this
means of placing upon the trees the
taboo is efficacious and even when the
fruit fall of their own accord they are not
even eaten – no matter how hungry they
might be until the Taboo is lifted.
MPNr 61 is an example of the keweke
masks of Urama Island. Newton (1961: 20, 77
and Illusts 182-85) does not tell us what their
functions were but they were probably used
in a similar way to the semese of the Namau
and the hevehe of the Elema. Perhaps the first
examples of this type of tall, oval mask to be
collected were obtained by Theodore Bevan
in 1887 on his journey by boat through the
Purari Delta (Bevan 1890: 144-45, 199). How-
ever, they had almost all disappeared by the
time the PNG Museum was established in the
1950s.
29
Even in overseas museums, thereare not many of these magnificent tall
masks.30
F.E. Williams published a detailed
description of the ceremonies in which
hevehe masks were performed (Figs 22, 105)
in his book Drama of Orokolo (1940).
MPNr 60 is an eharo mask that would
have been used in the hevehe ceremonies.
These masks were made and performed by
visitors from another village at the request of
the group organising the ceremonies.
Individual eharo masks were often made for
young men by their maternal uncles, and
were given along with valuable feathers and
Fig. 105. A hevehe mask in a ring of dancing women,
Orokolo, eastern Papuan Gulf. Photo: F.E. Williams,
March 1932 (Williams 1940, Plate 57; original
negative in SAM archives, AA335, negative Nr 175).
shell ornaments. The young man receiving
the mask would keep the valuables but had
to pay his maternal uncle a pig (Mamiya and
Sumnik 1982: 20). Eharo masks were not
sacred; any man could make and wear these
masks. Generally they represented some
character or event in a comical episode and
were performed for entertainment. In partic-
ular they served to attract a crowd to the
front of the eravo for the dramatic appear-
ance of the ‘yellow bark cloth boys’ and, later
in the cycle, for the formal emergence of the
hevehe masks (ibid.: 23-4; Williams 1940, Plate
37). The hevehe ceremonies became extinct
during World War II.
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230 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 60. Mask (eharo), Orokolo village, Elema
people, Orokolo speakers, Gulf Province. Rattan,
bark cloth, fibre. 162 x 65 cm (including skir t).
77.57.6. One of seventeen items repatriated by The
Australian Museum, Sydney, 27 June 1977 to mark
the occasion of the official opening of the new
National Museum building (see also Masterpieces
Nrs 47 and 150). This eharo was collected about1884.
Fig. 106 (opposite page). Bisj poles set up on the
bank of the river at Otsjanep, Casuarina Coast, 1961.
Photo (1035-19) by Michael C. Rockefeller courtesy
of the Rockefeller family.
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232 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MORTUARY OBJECTS
For many groups in New Guinea and Mela-
nesia, mortuary rites provide the occasion for
relatives to grieve, to identify the cause of
death (natural, accidental, sorcery, etc.), to
honour the dead, and to provide the oppor-
tunity for individuals and groups to sponsor
festivities that achieve recognition of their
rights to leadership, land and ritual knowl-
edge (for example, Smidt and Eoe 1999).
Usually, the more important the dead person
is, the more elaborate the ceremony.
Among the middle Sepik Iatmul, there is a
distinction between minor and major death
ceremonies – respectively, kitagamat and
minjango – the latter only for the most
important men and in rare cases for a woman
held in especially high esteem (Wassmann
1991:56-9 and Chapter 3 for a detailed
account of the major death ceremony). The
malagan funerary ceremonies of northern
New Ireland and Tabar Islands also are more
elaborate according to the importance of the
person who died and the prestige and influ-
ence of the sponsors (Lincoln 1987b: 33-4).
In some other areas, the rites are more
concerned with ‘a life for a life’. Among the
Asmat of [ West] Papua, memorial poles called
bisj (mbis) are carved with the images of peo-
ple killed by enemy headhunters, as a
reminder to avenge their deaths by taking
enemy heads. Even the egalitarian Asmat,
though, tend to commemorate the more
important people, ‘the deceased notables of
the village [who] carry a lot of life force and
have many relatives and followers to help
them meet their revenge obligation’ (van der
Zee 1996: 20).
There is a wide variety of beliefs about
death, and of mortuary rituals performed for
the dead, in Oceania (Oliver 1989: 748-85).
MPNr 13 (and details opposi te page). Ceremonial
pole (bisj/mbis) attributed to Casuarina Coast
Asmat, Asmat speakers, [ West] Papua, Indonesia.
Wood, fibre. 6 m high, figure diameter 29 cm. E.7294.
Registered 10 February 1971.
The objects in the Masterpieces Exhibition
that are particularly relevant to this topic are
the bisj pole from the Asmat and the masks,
figures and other objects associated with the
malagan rites of New Ireland.
South-west New Guinea
The bisj ceremonies of the Central and Casua-
rina Coast Asmat of south-west New Guinea
in [ West] Papua provide the occasion for the
retelling of the story of Fumeripits, the myth-
ical hero who created the men’s houses ( yeu),
carved many figures of men and women,
and enlivened them by tireless beating of
the hand drum (em) (Schneebaum 1990: 26,
65-6; van der Zee 1996: 16-17). Other stories
tell of the origin of death, of headhuntingand of the necessity to revenge the dead
(Schneebaum 1990: 52-3, 70, 77-8). There is
even a myth that establishes the origin of
the carving of bisj poles and the ceremoni-
als accompanying them (van der Zee 1996:
18-19).
Pauline van der Zee (1996) has gathered
information from a number of sources to
explain the significance of the bisj . She
explains (ibid.: 19):
When due to certain circumstances the
community’s life force has diminished,
people consider the time right to organize
a bisj feast. In that way they wish to re-
open contact with the ancestors in safan
[the after-world] to assure new physical
and spiritual forces.
Usually, several deaths are commemorated at
the same time (as for the malagan rites of
New Ireland – see below) but exactly who
will be named and depicted on the bisj poles
is determined by complex negotiation as this
identifies who will be required to avenge the
deaths. ‘A headhunting raid is held only when
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 233
the family feels strong enough to attack the
enemy successfully’ and ‘There must also be
enough relatives to contribute towards the
expenses of the bisj pole’ (ibid.: 20).
After cautioning that there is a good deal
of variation in the bisj ceremonials from vil-
lage to village, van der Zee outlines the usual
scenario (ibid.: 20-3). A war leader summons
all the men to the front of the yeu and orders
them to adorn themselves and repaint their
canoes. After doing this they paddle off in
search of suitable trees (a wild nutmeg, not
mangrove as often reported) for the bisj
poles, and sago palms are felled to stimulate
the activities of sago grubs in anticipation of
gathering them for the coming feast in about
six weeks time. The nutmeg trees are felled
according to a ritual that has the warriors –
one-by-one and led by the war leader
– attacking the first tree as though it is an
enemy, each reciting his heroic deeds and
chopping at the base of the tree until it is
felled. The top is trimmed of branches
(‘decapitated’) and one buttress root is left
intact; the bottom of the tree will become the
top of the carved bisj pole. The blood-red sap
of the tree is symbolic of the blood of the
ancestors who were killed and of the enemy
who will be killed, and the trees ‘are draggedto the village along streams and brooks, the
same way men return from a headhunting
raid’.
On their return to the village, the men are
attacked by the women in a mock battle, ‘as
they fear the harmful influences of tree spirits
upon uninitiated children and women’ (for a
photograph of a similar mock battle, see Kon-
rad, Konrad and Schneebaum 1981: 25). After
the skirmish, the tree trunks are dragged into
the yeu to a specially partitioned space for
the carving process. The war leader chips out
a rough outline of the figures to be depicted
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234 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
on the poles ‘while enumerating the names
of the enemies he has slain’, then turns them
over to the wow-ipits (skilled carvers) to com-
plete. The carvers are kept well fed by the
relatives of the deceased and they complete
their work in around six weeks. Sacred songs
are sung to protect the carvers from tree spir-
its and ancestral spirits prowling about the
village.
The wow-ipits first carve the openwork
projection called tsjemen (penis) from the
buttress root left intact on the post. ‘The
Asmat believe that protruding parts (of the
human body) contain a high concentration of
life force.’ The pole is then given a name, that
of the most important deceased ancestor
who is to be commemorated and depicted
on the pole. This is followed by a sumptuous
meal. Then the figures are carved next, male
and/or female, the carver singing songs
about the persons he is representing, finish-
ing with a song stating, ‘Now I am carving
your mouth; now I am opening your ears’. This
enlivens the carved pole with the spirits of
the ancestors.
The war leader then summons the warri-
ors to prepare for a headhunting raid. When
the raid is successful, they return with the
heads and smear the blood of the enemieson the eyes, mouths and genitals of the
carved figures. ‘From this time on until the
closing of the feast, there will be drumming
and dancing every night’.
The final phase is the carving of the canoe
(tsji ) and tapering point (bino) at the base of the
pole. Some sources connect this canoe, and
therefore the whole bisj pole, to the war canoe
used for headhunting and to the uramun, or
soul-ship, which takes the dead to safan, the
world of the ancestors. Although uramun are
carved only by the North-west Asmat, they are
used in a way similar to the bisj poles of the
Central and Casuarina Coast Asmat.
The carved pole is then painted entirely
with white pigment, details are carefully
painted in red and black, and ornaments and
fibre tassels are fastened. Food is now gath-
ered, the poles are erected on the bank of the
river facing the yeu and everyone joins in a
lament for the dead. Then follows eating,
singing and dancing to drums, culminating in
a sexual orgy.
There is a regional difference in the way
the bisj poles are set up. As Dirk Smidt
informed me (pers. comm. 14 May 2004):
In Central Asmat , bisj are displayed
upright, ‘their pointed ends stuck in the
ground’; in the Casuarina Coast [or South
Asmat] … they are mounted in a slanting
position. In my book [Smidt 1993] you can
see the difference on pp.102-3. The pole in
the middle has the pointed end and is
from Central Asmat; the other two have
canoe-shaped ends and are from the Cas-
uarina Coast [South Asmat].
Michael Rockefeller’s journal suggests
that Otsjanep village is in a transition zone
between the two areas of Central and South
Asmat. At Otsjanep, ‘Two of the seventeen
poles had a canoe at the base, a very remark-
able feature’ (Gerbrands 1967: 141). There the
poles were exhibited at a slant on a scaffold
(ibid.: 138, 140-44). Just a little north at Oma-
dasep, the poles have ‘figure-eight’ forms
near the bottom of the pole, a point at the
base, and are displayed upright (ibid.: 115-18).
At Awok, farther north and inland, the poles
are displayed upright inside the yeu (ibid.: 89-
105). Presumably they are carved with
pointed ends.
Konrad, Konrad and Schneebaum (1981:
62-71) illustrate a number of bisj poles and
those at the northern end of the Casuarina
Coast (for example, at Japtambor and Buepis)
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 235
have both pointed bottom ends and carved
bottom ends. In any case, MPNr 13 has the
base carved in the form of a canoe and there-
fore must have come from the Casuarina
Coast, and therefore was displayed in a slant-
ing position (Fig. 106).
When the feast is over, the bisj poles are
carried into the sago swamps and left to
decay there, imparting fertility to the young
palms through the life force of the ancestors.
In fact there are two types of bisj pole.
Apart from the taller bisj poles described
above (6 or more metres high), there are
those about 4 metres high that are located at
the left front corner of each hearth in the yeu.
These posts are permanent fixtures in the yeu
and the figures carved on the posts function
as advisers. ‘They help people with their daily
problems and guard the members of the
hearth group. This way, people can call upon
these ancestral spirits before a hunting
[expedition] or battle’ (van der Zee 1996: 23).
It is this type of bisj that Rockefeller photo-
graphed at Awok.
Where a bisj pole has two or more figures
standing one on another, they represent the
preceding generations of the person after
whom the pole is named and who is to be
avenged. ‘These generations will support theheadhunting raid with their supernatural
powers’ (ibid.: 24).
On all carved objects of the Asmat, the
many curvilinear design motifs refer to ances-
tors and headhunting. Because spherical
fruits are equated with the human head, any
dark-coloured fruit-eating animal or bird may
be considered as a symbol of headhunting,
for example the fatsjep or cuscus (Phalanger ),
the ufirmbi or Black Palm Cockatoo (Probos-
ciger aterrimus), and the fofoyir or Papuan
Hornbill ( Aceros plicatus).31
The bisj pole MPNr 13 features a male
figure holding the openwork tsjemen
between his legs, standing on the head of a
female figure, which in turn stands on the
prow of a vertically aligned war canoe. The
lower part of the tsjemen incorporates a side
view of an ancestor figure in a squatting pos-
ture, commonly associated with the wenet or
praying mantis (Mantis religiosa). The mantis
is an appropriate headhunting symbol, as it is
known that the female bites off the head of
the male after mating. The tsjemen design
also includes S-motifs representing the
human body (Gerbrands 1967: 218, drums A,
B), and three V-shaped spirals variously inter-
preted as ama wow (carved arms/wings
– Gerbrands 1967: 190, shield A), tar (flying
foxes – ibid.: 191, shield D), or less specifically
as ainor (a ‘mysterious, powerful design’ –
Schneebaum 1990: 38). The tip of the tsjemen
is carved as the curled tail of the cuscus and
two of these motifs are found also at the base
of the tsjemen. Between these main motifs on
the tsjemen are a tiny human head, black
Palm Cockatoo beaks and hornbill heads. The
prow and stern of the canoe at the base of
the pole is carved with the C-shaped cuscus
tail and a hornbill’s beak, and ‘ghost’s hands’
at the end of zigzag motifs. According to Ger-
brands (1967: 292, C), the zigzag probablyrepresents the blood of people slain by head-
hunting. The sides of the canoe are also
carved with several headhunting motifs, as
are the limbs of the two ancestor figures.
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236 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Malagan of New Ireland
Malagan (malangan, malanggan) is the name
used for both the ceremonies and the objects
associated with mortuary rites in northern
New Ireland and the Tabar Islands. Bodrogi
(1987: 18) has drawn attention to W.C.
Groves’s comment (1933: 340) that in order to
give a full description of the mortuary rites of
Fisoa on the north-east coast of New Ireland,
the entire culture would have to be sketched.
Groves wrote, ‘every other item is in one way
or another bound with, dependent upon,
preparation for, or outcome of this one domi-
nating cultural influence of malagan’.
Similarly, Hortense Powdermaker reports
(1933: 319, quoted in Lincoln 1987b: 33) that
she asked the old men of Lesu what sheshould tell her own people about the mala-
gan carvings she was taking away with her.
Their reply was that she should tell the peo-
ple who would look at the malagan that they
were not just carved, painted pieces of wood,
but that she must
make them understand all the work and
wealth that had gone into the making of
them – the large taro crops, the many
pigs, all the shell money, the cooking for
the feast, and other essentials of the rites.
The old men of Lesu said that these are
the important things to remember about
malagan.
Michael Gunn reports (1987: 74-5) that
‘Tabar is often mentioned as the place of ori-
gin of the malagan’, and that for Tabar in the
early 1980s,
malagan has as its essential premise the
tenet that a person must honour the dead
of his or her spouse’s kin group by display-
ing malagan sculpture or using malagan
masks in ceremonial context.
MPNr 203. Circular woven funerary object
(vavara), Panapai village, north-east coast, northern
New Ireland, Tigak speakers, New Ireland Province.
Rattan, lime plaster. 71 cm diameter. E.4586.
Registered 24 November 1969. Possibly donated by
Lady Rachel Cleland.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 237
MPNr 204. Circular woven funerary object
(vavara), Panapai village, north-east coast, northern
New Ireland, Tigak speakers, New Ireland Province.
Rattan, lime plaster. 72 cm diameter. E.4585.
Registered 24 November 1969. Possibly donated by
Lady Rachel Cleland.
Malagan activity includes:
-
uals of the spouse’s clan;
ceremonies for a plurality of dead mem-
bers of the spouse’s clan;
-
bitions;
new sub-clan;
truce to end fighting or arguments
between clans;
rights to one’s malagan inheritance.
Gunn states (ibid.: 75-6) that the benefits
of malagan ownership come at considerable
cost. ‘It is one of the main roads to prestige
and power’ but ‘the fuel is very expensive:
malagan runs on pigs’. People make commit-
ments of pigs to endorse contracts with one
another; thus ‘the pig is the living manifesta-
tion of a social bond’. The laying out of
strangled, singed pigs and their butchering
and distribution to guests is therefore a cen-
tral feature of malagan, for the pigs are not
simply food, or generous expressions of hos-
pitality, but declarations of agreements
people have made with one another.
Use-rights to malagan images can be
transferred during a malagan ceremony but
there is a copyright fee and the rights are not
lost to the original owner. Breech of copy-
right is taken extremely seriously. This,
according to Gunn (1987: 80), is where free-
dom in the expression of malagan finds its
greatest restriction:
New malagans can be dreamt up, dis-
played, and incorporated within a
tradition belonging to the dreamer’s clan.
However, before they are completely
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238 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
subsumed within the tradition, carvings
must receive the approval of all senior
men of that tradition, particularly those in
other kin groups … Generally, new ideas
are considered risky, for no one is entirely
sure what the tradition as a whole con-
tains; it takes a brave man to risk the
accusation of breach of another clan’s
copyright … New malagans are invented
so rarely today that few people on Tabar
recognize that innovation is acceptable
within the tradition.
Visitors to ethnographic museums outside
PNG are familiar with the carved wood fig-
ures and masks that were made for malagan
ceremonies; less familiar are the woven mala-
gans, called vavara (wawara, wowora). They
were neglected by Bodrogi in his 1987 over-
view of malagan sculpture despite being well
documented by Lewis (1969: 99-110).
Gunn (1987, Figs 38, 44) provides illus-
trations that show how central this type of
malagan can be for the displays associated
with the ceremonies. These disc or ‘sun’mala-
gan (MPNrs 203, 204) are usually made by
weaving a spiral of braided fibre onto a radial
arrangement of splints of rattan. Usually there
is a hole at the centre but sometimes there is
a small, carved wooden piece, or a form mod-
elled from plant materials. Occasionally avavara is oval rather than round and, rarely,
has arching petal-like forms rising from the
centre and reaching to the edges of the disc
(Lewis 1969: 107; Stöhr 1987, Plate 159). The
whole disc is heavily plastered with white
lime and the colours painted on, usually red
and yellow, sometimes a little black. The red
and yellow are usually plant pigments, which
lose their brilliance rather quickly.
The vavara malagan is set up in display huts
along with other forms of malagan (Fig.
107), sometimes with a kapkap32
fixed to its
centre; sometimes the skull of the deceased
was placed there. The huts are of various
shapes, depending on the types of mala-
gan to be displayed. Traditionally, after the
ceremonies the vavara is burnt, along with
various personal effects of the deceased. There is a myth of origin for vavara, r elat-
ing its form to a spider’s web. The following
story was told to me by Noah Lurang, at Tatau
village on Tatau Island, in December 1992:
There was a woman whose son had no
father. He used to go to malagan feasts in
other villages but was beaten up and
rejected by the children of those villages (it
is not acceptable to take part in malagan
feasts unless your father has a significant
role in the proceedings). One day his
mother, who was worrying about this, was
defecating in the bush and she noticed a
spider’s web in front of her – how it was
being spun, and its colours. She realised
that this was to be her son’s malagan. So
she made one for him. She also composed
the slit-gong beat for that malagan; there
was to be one player only, as her son had
no brothers to assist him to play it.
A similar story was told to Phillip Lewis
(1969: 103) by Pakua, a Notsi speaker of Libba
village on the north coast of New Ireland:
Kuli was an unmarried woman who had
no genitals. However, she had two chil-
dren, and she tried to have them initiated
in the enclosure. They were chased away
because they had no father. Kuli went to
fetch some water and there, saw a spider.
An idea came to her. She tells the children,
tomorrow you and I will go get the white
fibre called raramgo and put it in the
water. The children do this.
The men said, these children have no
father and no malanggans. Where will
they get one? The woman talks, says that
tomorrow they will sit in the enclosure.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 239
Fig. 107. Malagan display, incorporating three
vavara, for the death of Pitsia of Tatau village, Tabar
speakers, Tabar Islands, New Ireland. Photo: B. Craig,
C4: 24A; 2 May 2002.
She braids the vine, fastens it to the wood,
then beats it flat. She then makes the
Wowora, and asks them all to erect a coco-
nut leaf enclosure.
Once there were only wooden malang-
gans.Wowora malanggans originated with
this woman. Wowora are not from long ago.
The slit-gong cries out, and all the men
chide her. The woman has houses made.
All the men come. The day for erecting the
malanggans comes. They all come to look.
The sight of the Wowora closes their
mouths. From then on, everyone has used
Wowora, paying the original owners.
Another version of the story, with a less
happy ending, was recounted to Krämer at
the bush village of Bue, closer to its pre-
sumed place of origin. Lewis (1969: 107)
translated the German text as follows:
A woman went into the bush looking for
her pigs and had to remain overnight in a
cave. There she heard the raindrops beat-ing on the pandanus leaves, vatata, vatata,
like a stick pounding on a slit-gong. Then
her spirit went away in a dream and she
saw a house in which goblins were at
work plaiting a sun. She saw how it was
made, and when they finished she
returned back to her home, and then
showed her knowledge to the men of her
village. When they had learned exactly
how to make a sun, they hanged the
woman, to punish her for dealing with
sacred matters. Today the oara is sacred
and women must not see i t. Even a
glimpse of it meant death for a woman.
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240 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
The Panamecho malagan
During 1982 and 1983, Susanne Küchler, a
research student from the London School of
Economics and Political Sciences, was based
at Panamecho. She was requested by the
National Museum to document the carvings
in the museum that had come from a cave in
the escarpment behind Panamecho. The
results of Küchler’s enquiries were published
in the journal Oral History (Kuechler 1983). As
this journal is not easily available, the follow-
ing text is an abridgement of her paper and
all information and quotations are from that
paper except where acknowledged to other
sources.
There are eight carvings in the Master-
pieces Exhibition that came from Nombowai
cave in the limestone escarpment behind a
point about midway between Panamecho
and Panachais on the south-west coast of
northern New Ireland. One other piece held
by the museum is not on display (E.2147,
Kuechler 1983, Plate 12), and one mask (Fig.
108; Kuechler 1983, Plate 7; Wilson 1973,
Fig. 1) apparently was destroyed while on
display in the Panamecho Primary School.
The first three carvings from the cave
(E.2145-7) came to light when Roy Mackay,then preparator of the PNG Public Museum
and Art Gallery, purchased them from
Simeon Warenu (elsewhere spelt Vaneriu) in
1967. According to Rowena Hill (1980), the
cave had been ‘discovered’ by a man and a
young lad out hunting, when their dog tem-
porarily disappeared in the vicinity of the
cave and they went looking for the animal. It
must have been subsequent to this that the
first carvings were taken out and sold to Roy
Mackay.
According to Lindsay Wilson (1973), early
in 1973 Benson Bambai (Benson Tomelekau
according to Hill), head teacher at the Pana-
mecho Primary School, entered Nombowai
cave from the top of the cliff, assisted by vil-
lagers. They found two malagan figures
upright against the rear wall and facing out
to sea. Four masks and a bird figure were
nearby among a scatter of bleached bones,
including a skull. Lengths of bamboo tubing
held the cremated remains of several individ-
uals. The seven carvings were removed to a
temporary display house near the school.
They were considered to belong to two
brothers, Judas Titilip and Esau Mambingit,
upon whose property the cave is located. In
due course the Parents and Citizens Associa-
tion of the school bought the carvings from
them for two pigs and some money to estab-
lish clear ownership.
In 1973, the District Commissioner heard
about the carvings and informed Brian Egloff,
a curator at the PNG National Museum, who
corresponded with Benson and subsequently
visited Panamecho to check the condition of
the carvings. He also visited the cave and
took photographs but not inside it. The peo-
ple did not want to sell the carvings to the
museum so on-site conservation was carried
out and the two figures, the four masks and
the bird were gazetted as National Cultural
Property on 20 December 1973. In the gazet-
tal notice, the original location was given as
Balilang Cave, Panamecho. Küchler recorded
the name of the extinct village just above the
Nombowai Cave as Benelilieng.
By 1980, one mask had been destroyed, as
noted above, and the other pieces had suf-
fered some damage. Therefore these carvings
were purchased from the Parents and Citi-
zen’s Association by the National Museum to
protect them from further destruction. The
money from the sale was used to purchase a
truck, to be used by the villagers to transport
copra and other products to Kavieng. The
truck was named ‘Malangan’. As Küchler
notes, ‘Far from having disappeared from the
life of the people, the malangan of Nom-
bowai have transmuted and function as they
have in the past – as material objects which
focus the productive energies of the people’.
Another function of the malagan of Nom-
bowai, according to Küchler, was to act as a
kind of document affirming the rights of par-
ticular groups to certain tracts of land:
Oral tradition relevant to the malangan of
Nombowai refers to the movements of
clans and their settlement history and to
traditional ways of attaining rights to land
and to images of malangan. The memory
of these themes in oral tradition is stored
in, and recalled by, the images …
Yet another function is to enable people,
when they die, to become recognised ances-
tors of the clan:
Every deceased has to become identified
with a named image of malangan in order
to attain the status of ancestor. The names
of malangan images refer back to mythi-
cal events during which the images were
invented in dreams and carved for the
context of death. The [ancestor] spirits of a
clan identified during these mythical
events with the named images of malan-
gan constitute the core of [the clan].
The strongest clan is the one that pos-
sesses the most names of malagan. In the
region of Nombowai, it is the clan Moromaf
and its sub-clan Morokomaf that attained
this status, as a wune (the source) of the
malagan images of Nombowai.
The first carver of malagan images in that
area was Legis, a man of Morokomaf sub-clan
of Moromaf clan who l ived seven generations
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 241
Fig. 108. Mask (a kangalabo) from Balilang
(Nombowai) Cave, Panamecho area, northern New
Ireland, destroyed between 1973 and 1980. Photo:
Brian Egloff, PNG National Museum photo archives
Nr 105.
ago. He married a woman, Pasaradak, of
Morokomade clan, went to live with her at
Lugagon on the north-east coast, then both
migrated to live at Panarabut, a hamlet of the
village of Lomadali, in the hills about a kilo-
metre east of Nombowai.
During his lifetime … he carved numer-
ous images of malangan. The memory of
these images was handed down to the
present generation, the carvings of Nom-
bowai being examples of this process.
There are seven clans in the present-day
villages of Panamecho and Panachais, which
formed from the population living at Loma-
dali and Beneliliang in the hills in the vicinity
of Nombowai. Only the clan Moromaf (and its
sub-clan Morokomaf) could truly claim the
images of the malagan of Nombowai as its
own. The other clans had to acquire the rights
to the images from Moromaf by giving
women in marriage to Moromaf clan, by a
rarum (a gift of shell valuables and pigs), or
by a human sacrifice.
Nombowai is ‘the place where a wai [a
snake] lives’ and where the friction idiophone
(‘friction drum’) called lounet was played. This
instrument is unique in Oceania and its
sound is believed to be the voice of malagan
imitating the cry of birds – some sources say,
the owl. The cry of lounet announces a
funeral, and the climax of malagan. It is signif-
icant that the carved figures of Nombowai
show the appearance of death in the
exposed ribs and the slightly open mouth
with exposed teeth.
Information given to Küchler suggests
that the Panamecho figures and masks were
carved in the early years of European contact,
late in the 19th century. The carvings do not
show any sign of the use of metal tools.
Rather, they were carved using stone tools to
cut out the general shape, then red-hot coral
branches were used to burn through the
wood to make the intricate openwork detail.
More coral branches were used like a file to
achieve the final shapes, and a rough leaf
(suve) served as sandpaper to finish the sur-
face in preparation for painting. According to
Krämer (1925: 79-80), the carver receives a
singed pig and shell money for each of the
eighteen stages of the carving of a malagan
figure.
In 1980, Rowena Hill identified the wood
from which the objects were carved as sabaf ,
the milky pine or white cheesewood ( Alstonia
scholaris). The tufted fruits of Pandanus
(aroha) and seeds of Triumfetta pilosa
( yankara) were fixed to the masks and figures
in a matrix of beeswax (masiam) to represent
head hair and beards. The operculum of the
shell Turbo petholatus (aburon) was used for
the eyes of the human and bird figures. White
pigment (akoko) was slaked lime made from
coral; red (rai ) was ochre from the ground;
and black (agisong) was made from charcoal.
The commissioner of a malagan carving
has ‘carefully-guarded knowledge of special
plants which, when given to the carver in a
potion will provoke an appropriate dream
image of the figure to be carved.’ The carveris told what the basic structure of the figure
is to be, ‘the essential motifs and where they
are to occur on the figure’. The image is cho-
sen from ‘several possibilities owned by the
commissioner in his/her clan (eg. to state his
group’s claim to a disputed patch of land)’.
Küchler establishes a strong connection
between the activity of carving, and garden-
ing through the use of fire to make ‘holes’ or
clearings in the forest. Further, the timing of
malagan preparations parallels the growth of
taro in the gardens, which takes about six
months. During the second half of the period,
the images of malagan are carved.
Malagan is thought of as the yield of the
land. A saying claims ‘without malagan one
cannot eat taro, fish or pig.’ To make malagan
therefore, means to bring about the fertility
of the land.
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242 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
The figures
The four figure carvings of the malagan of
Nombowai share several characteristics. First
there is the reflection of the division of New
Ireland society into moieties, ‘a bird motif
on top of the figure’s head and sometimesalso at its feet, in contrast to other birds on
the body of the figure’. The bird on top of the
head
is identified with the moiety manuengak ,
the sea eagle (Haliaetus leucogaster ) or
‘big bird’. Birds on the body of the figure
are those identified with the moiety of
regaum, a species of hawk, or ‘small bird’.
‘Big bird’ is male and ‘small bird’ is female.
The actual birds represented are not nec-
essarily the sea eagle or hawk, but the totem
birds of particular clans or sub-clans within
the moieties. For example, the figure of MPNr
202 stands on manuengak , the sea eagle and
totem of the ‘big bird’ moiety; the subsidiary
birds are bengbenga or hornbills ( Aceros plica-
tus), the ‘small bird’ totem of the clan
Morokomade within the moiety regaum. In
the case of MPNr 201, the ‘big bird’ is the
cockerel and the ‘small bird’ is the rulowlow or
New Ireland drongo (Dicrurus megarhynchus),
totem of the sub-clan Morokomaf.
The most prominent motif common to all
four figures is probably the exposed rib-
bones (lengof ). Such images fall into two
categories: Tsuwarima (identified as male and
‘big bird’) and Tangla (identified as female
and ‘small bird’).
All images of malangan are understood as
projections out o f Tsuwarima and Tangla;
because the images of one moiety’s
malangan are exchanged for the other
moiety’s women and vice versa …
There are two metaphors that are used to
explain the relationships among images of
malagan: that of the tree and that of water. In
the tree metaphor, Tsuwarima and Tangla are
the source or foundation (a wune), and
images projected out of Tsuwarima and
Tangla are called iaiaran or branches. If an
image is projected out of iaiaran, it is called
bai (leaf ). In the water metaphor, it is said that
malangan is like water; ‘a stream of water is
always the same, yet its actual appearance is
different in every instance’. As Küchler con-
cludes: ‘it is the continuity of the existence of
malangan as a model of society that is being
stressed’.
The name of the figure MPNr 199 is forgot-
ten as it was carved before living memory.
It was therefore at least ninety years old in
the early 1980s. There is a dolphin at its base,
devouring the figure’s internal organs, prob-
ably the liver. The dolphin recalls a mythical
event when some men, pursued by enemies,
ran into the sea and turned into dolphins.
The dolphin devouring the liver ‘recalls the
practices of warfare and cannibalism in Kara
history’. In stories, the dolphin also was used
as a ‘vehicle’ for warriors to get to a village for
an attack.
The figure wears a rekap, a fretwork of tor-
toiseshell fastened to a white disc of Tridacna (clam) shell, and is probably therefore male.
This ornament, commonly called kapkap, is
worn by the maimai or speaker of the village.
Each village appoints one maimai , usually
coming from the dominant clan … He
summons the decisions of the belewiwira
or ‘big men’ of the village and directs
activities during the ceremonies of malan-
gan by the power of his speech.
The hornbill on top of the figure’s head is
the ‘big bird’ totem of the clan Morokomade
and the drongo bird at the front of the fig-
ure is the ‘small bird’ totem of the sub-clan
Morokomaf. ‘ The positions of the birds on
this carving demonstrate the history of the
exchange of women and malangan between
the [sub-]clan Morokomaf and [the clan]
Morokomade.’
The figure MPNr 200, its name forgotten,
is carved standing with its right foot in a
clamshell. It is believed that when the
shadow of a human being is caught in a
clamshell, that person will die. Thus the clam-
shell is the source of death. This figure also is
depicted wearing a rekap, the insignia of the
power of speech demonstrated by the
maimai .
The presence of the two motifs together –
clamshell and kapkap – visualises a
fundamental feature of Kara society:
power, or the right to do or own some-
thing, is acquired only in the context of
death. Only by organising a malangan for
his deceased father can a man acquire his
father’s rights … The two images could
also be read, so that the kapkap evokes
the idea of the big man wielding the
power of malangan, whereas the clam-
shell suggests that the big man is merely
the vehicle of the power of malangan.
Like MPNr 199, the dolphin and rib bones
are present, the ‘small bird’ totem of the sub-
clan Morokomaf is represented by the
drongo bird on each side of the head, and
raus, the Barn Owl (Tyto alba), is on top of the
figure’s head.
The call of raus is associated with death,
announcing an approaching funeral and
the last phase of malangan ceremonies.
The position of the two birds, rulowlow
and raus, … recalls the dominant position
of the sub-clan Morokomaf in the
exchanges of malangan.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 243
MPNr 199 (right). Male? figure (malagan), wood,
Panamecho village, south-west coast, northern New
Ireland, Kara speakers, New Ireland Province. Wood,
shell. 143 x 27 cm. E.2146. Purchased from Simeon
Warenu by Roy Mackay on behalf of the [National]
Museum and registered 1 June 1967.
MPNr 200 (extreme right). Male figure (malagan),
wood, Panamecho village, south-west coast,
northern New Ireland, Kara speakers, New Ireland
Province. Wood, shells. 161 x 22 cm. E.2145.
Purchased from Simeon Warenu by Roy Mackay on
behalf of the [National] Museum and registered 1
June 1967.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 245
MPNr 201 (opp osite page, left). Female? figure
(malagan), wood, Panamecho village, south-west
coast, northern New Ireland, Kara speakers, New
Ireland Province. Wood, adhesive, seed pods, shells.
155 x 32 cm. 81.46.2. Purchased by the National
Museum in December 1980 and registered July
1981. Gazetted as National Cultural Property 20
December 1973.
MPNr 202 (oppo site page, right).Male figure (malagan), personal name Melerawuk/Gumalokawuk; wood,
Panamecho village, south-west coast, northern New Ireland, Kara speakers, New Ireland Province. Wood, shells.
192 x 33 cm. (77 cm, including extended arm). 81.46.1. Purchased by the National Museum in D ecember 1980
and registered July 1981. Gazetted as National Cultural Property 20 D ecember 1973.
Although Küchler was unable to obtain
a name for the figure MPNr 201, I was told in
August 1982 at Panamecho that its name is
Fiviwok and that the finger-in-mouth motif
suggests contemplation. Küchler notes that
‘the presence of the rib-bones (lengof ) and
the lack of a rekap on its chest identify the
carving as being of the category of images
called Tangla (and therefore female)’. Like
MPNr 200, it is carved standing with its right
foot in a clamshell. At either side and at the
front are drongo birds, the ‘small bird’ totem
of sub-clan Morokomaf. On top of the head
sits a cockerel, holding in its beak a small
male figure that is one of the manifestations
of the clan ancestor spirits (rulrul).
The name of the figure (MPNr 202) with
an outstretched right arm was recorded by
Küchler as Melerawuk, but by Rowena Hill
(1980) as Gumalokawuk. These may be
alternative names. The male figure wears a
large kapkap and stands on the ‘big bird’
totem, manuengak , the sea eagle, and the
same bird is sitting on its head with a snake
in its beak. The snake, a manifestation of
rulrul , the clan ancestors, was entwined over
the outstretched arm but has broken off. ‘The
other arm is missing, but it is said to have car-
ried the skull of a man named Kasaumat.’
Perched on the penis of the figure is a horn-
bill (bengbenga), ‘small bird’ totem of
Morokomade clan, devouring the figure’s
internal organs. On each side, a hornbill
perches on a leg of the figure and holds one
of the ribs in its beak; a small hornbill sits on
the hand of the outstretched arm.
The masks
All of the masks brought out of the Nom-
bowai cave are called a menebei . The one that
was destroyed, and MPNrs 196 and 197, were
worn at malagan ceremonies; MPNr 195,
rombol , has a different context.
During Kara malagan ceremonies, masks
walk through the village to terminate taboos
(a vinebi ). This is called a waswasbingel , ‘the
finishing off of the work of the deceased’. No
masks of this type were recovered from the
Nombowai cave, but they would have looked
something like MPNr 40, called nit or vanis,
with various names for the sub-types.
Regarding the funerary taboos, Küchler says:
Three places are subject to a vinebi after a
person’s death – the house in which the
death occurred, called a gom; the place
where the corpse is kept until cremation
or burial, called a wen a bit; and the land
which the deceased had been cultivating
… Until the taboos are terminated, houses
in the village may not be altered or dis-
mantled and the resources of land and
sea may not be exploited. [Kuechler
1983: 81-2]
The walking mask ‘follows the steps of the
deceased’ accompanied by a group of men
and women who are clan members of the
deceased or from the clan of the dead per-
son’s father, singing songs in the old
language of the original mountain settle-
ment of Baum.
The man wearing the mask holds an axe
in his hand and cuts down trees planted
by the deceased and destroys his house.
Singers and observers break into tears,
shaken by the memory of all those who
have gone and who took part on such
occasions in the past.
After this, the mask is bought by the clan
of the deceased or of the children of the
deceased. ‘Pigs, shell valuables and money
are given to those owning the image carved
for this occasion.’
MPNr 196 is called kangalabo according
to Küchler. According to Brian Egloff, it has
the personal name Ragalabu, though he may
have misheard the term kangalabo. Küchler
states that the masks called kangalabo are
part of a group of images called kepong (cf.,
Helfrich 1973: 30-2, Plates 92-105). She says:
The kepong never dances. Its movement
through the village progresses slowly
from house to house, where its basket is
filled with food and shell money. Finally
kepong reaches the feasting ground at a
time when the final food distribution of
the malangan is about to star t. Here the
kepong imitates activities of women and
their behaviour. Again it demands to be
given portions of food.
This seems to be similar (though not
exactly the same) in function to the Tabar
Islands vanis masks (sub-category ngeis)
called Susur-vono, Mat-N’na-N’nach and Chire-
Chirep (Lurang 1999: 147 and Figs 15.4-15.6).
These ngeis masks are quite different in
appearance to the kepong.
The characteristics of the kepong mask
called kangalabo (‘big-ear’) are mortice-and-
tenon ear attachments, a nose attachment,
the slanted and sometimes protruding eyes
of what elsewhere are called ges or ngeis, and
distorted facial features. The destroyed maskfrom Nombowai had lost its ear attachments
but still had its nose attachment – carved as
the head of a pig – when brought out of the
cave (Fig. 108 and Kuechler 1983, Plate 7). It
was most likely similar in appearance to the
mask illustrated in Lincoln (1987a: 107), or
that from Tabar Islands illustrated in Helfrich
(1973, Plate 103), having the same pointed,
upturned tongue-like protrusion from the
mouth. MPNr 196 has lost both ear and nose
attachments and the spiky protrusions from
the mouth were broken off while it was on
display at the Panamecho school. It was
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246 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
MPNr 196. Mask (kangalabo), Panamecho village, south-west coast, northern New Ireland, Kara speakers,
New Ireland Province. Wood. 35 x 18 cm. 81.46.6. Purchased by the National Museum in December 198 0 and
registered July 1981. Gazetted as National Cultural Property 20 December 1973 .
probably similar in appearance to the Tabar
Islands kepong mask illustrated in Helfrich
(1973, Plate 100), which also has the spiky
protrusions from the mouth.
MPNr 197 is called pitalolot according to
Küchler. According to Brian Egloff, it has the
personal name Piscaut, though he may have
misheard the term pitalolot . Each ear-attach-
ment features a snake, a manifestation of the
rulrul clan ancestors. A contemporary version
of this mask, carved by Hosea Linge of Libba
village (Notsi speakers), was collected by
Peter Hallinan and exhibited in 1990-91 (Hal-
linan 1990: 10, Nr 3).
This mask is quite different to kangalabo.
It has the ear-attachments, identifying it as
nit kalerala according to Küchler, and there-
fore in at least that respect it is related to the
nit kulegula of Lewis (1969: 114-16). The name
also possibly relates it to the mask called pita-
lot in Helfrich (1973: 26) and Heintze (1987:
51-2), though there is little similarity in
appearance. It is rather more like the series of
masks, most of which are called merue, illus-
trated by Helfrich (1973, Plates 77-85), being
characterised by a face over-modelled in
blackened bees wax with hair and beard rep-
resented by plant materials. Küchler says, ‘The
impression of an over-modelled skull is
emphasised by the prominent brows, sunken
eyes and half-open mouth’.
Küchler draws a vivid contrast between
kangalabo and pitalolot .
The eyes of pitalolot are sunken in, the
eyes of kangalabo are sticking out; the
teeth of pitalolot are not visible but they
are prominent features of kangalabo; the
appearance of pitalolot is realistic, the
appearance of kangalabo is grotesque.
The contrast in the form given to kangal-
abo and pitalolot is met in the difference
of the activity of the two masks. The mask
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 247
kangalabo appears compact and heavy;
if worn at all by a dancer, its movements
have to be slow and guided by another
man (there are no holes for the dancer to
look through). The mask pitalolot is light
and fragile; the masked dancer can move
quickly and independently.
The mask MPNr 195 called rombol
(recorded as rambol by Brian Egloff ), appears
at the first opening of the sacred enclosure
and is worn by a failai . The person designated
a failai is the guardian of clan wealth and is
kept in seclusion until death. In Kara society,
he/she was not allowed to marry, to eat food
prepared outside the sacred enclosure, to
leave the enclosure on his or her own
account, or to be near anyone not specially
designated to come close. A mask had to be
worn by a failai when he or she left the enclo-
sure. After the death of a failai , the first
woman of his or her sub-clan that becomes
pregnant has to enter the enclosure. Her
child is born there, remains hidden, and is
‘raised with food given by the dead’. When a
failai reaches maturity, he/she makes the first
appearance, wearing the rombol mask. While
in seclusion, a failai learns about magic and
the images of malagan owned by the ances-
tors of his/her sub-clan.
This knowledge provided a failai the right
to acquire shell money, land and images
of malangan in exchange for the inherited
images of malangan. This is clan wealth
not personal wealth and a failai acts as
the guardian of that wealth.
Küchler continues:
The a failai cannot make decisions about
public affairs such as the organisation of a
malangan, or speak in public. The only
purpose of his/her being is to show off
the influence and wealth of h is/her clan.
Socially, he/she is dead (as signified in his/
her prohibition to marry or to take food
from other people). Being dead among
the living, the a failai is the manifestation
of the immortality of his/her clan; he/she
is a clan spirit. This striving for immortality,
manifested in the status of the a failai , is
the theme of the images of the mask a
menebei . The opposition of the form of
kangalabo and that of pitalolot is resolved
in the form given to rombol (an image
embodying both death-like and life-like
appearances, as do the images of
malangan).
MPNr 197. Mask ( pitalolot ), Panamecho v illage,
south-west coast, northern New Ireland, Kara
speakers, New Ireland Province. Wood, adhesive,
seed pods. 72 x 16 cm. 81.46.3. Purchased by the
National Museum in December 1980 and registered
July 1981. Gazetted as National Cultural Property
20 December 1973.
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248 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
The bird figures
Two carvings incorporating a bird as the
main figure have come from the Nombowai
cave, only one of which is on display in the
Masterpieces Exhibition. The one on display
(MPNr 198) is essentially a side view of the
Barn Owl with what appear to be its wings
extended to the rear. However, what look like
feathers are a representation of a mass of
mazemaze worms (Palolo virides). The owl’s
beak holds the remnant of what was proba-
bly a snake, one of the manifestations of the
clan ancestor spirits, rulrul .
The other bird figure (E.2147, see Kuechler
1983, Plate 12), not on display, is a frontal
image with the owl at the centre holding a
female figure in its beak and its ‘wings’extended on either side (though almost all of
the bird’s right ‘wing’ has been broken off) .
Küchler was able to obtain information
about how these figures were used:
One piece has a socket; the other has a
loop-like handle car ved at the rear. Both
are to enable the dancer to carry the carv-
ing. The dancer himself is dressed up as a
hornbill bird (‘big bird’). Dancing the lang-
manu or ‘rising bird’ dance motif, he
approaches the malangan platform
erected inside the malangan enclosure a
sebero. His movements imitate the move-
ments of a bird. During the final stage of
the dance the dancer, holding the carving
raus, mounts the platform and may per-
form, for example, a vivid imitation of a
bird settling down in its nest. After the
dance the dancer is paid and the carving
bought by the clans involved in the
exchange of malangan and women.
As has been noted above, the owl raus is
associated with death and the time for mala-
gan. In the carving on display, there appears
to be a remnant of what was probably a
snake held in its beak and in the one not on
display, the owl holds a female figure in its
beak. Both are manifestations of the clan
ancestor spirits, rulrul , also represented on
two of the full-figure malagans from Nom-
bowai and on the ‘ear attachments’ of the
mask, pitalolot .
The two Nombowai raus may be com-
pared, respectively, with the similar carvings
illustrated in Lincoln (1987a: 143 and 140-41).
In the caption to the former, Lincoln repeats a
common interpretation of the bird and snake
motif as ‘the New Ireland theme of birds and
snakes in struggle’. This is inconsistent with
the information provided to Küchler at Pana-
mecho and may be a Eurocentric
interpretation. Similarly, certain motifs of fish
or birds ‘devouring’ humans may have noth-
ing at all to do with devouring but rather is a
way of indicating the fundamental relation-
ship between human ancestors and the clan
as a continuously-existing social entity as
represented by its totem animal. Thus the
bird holding the snake is the same as the bird
holding a human or a fish holding a human
(for example, Lincoln 1987a: 88).
What is often thought of simply as feath-
ers or wings of the bird may in fact besomething else. In the case of the Nombowai
raus figures, Küchler was told that
instead of feathers the ‘wings’ consist of
representations of the worm Palolo virides
(mazemaze). The painting of the carving
once displayed the numerous colours of
mazemaze: yellow, brown, green and red.
She goes on to explain the significance of
the Palolo worm:
The Palolo worm mazemaze plays an
important role in the Kara conception of
time; mazemaze can be found on only one
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 249
MPNr 195. Mask (rombol), Panamecho village, south-west coast, northern New Ireland, Kara speakers, New
Ireland Province. Wood, adhesive, seed pods. 28 x 22 cm. 81.46.5. Purchased by the National Museum in
December 1980 and registered July 1981. Gazetted as National Cultural Property 20 December 1973.
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250 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
day of the year. It appears on exposed
reefs beneath stones and lumps of coral
during the night after the disappearance
of the moon – in October on the east
coast and in November on the west coast
… During the very early morning hours
after the mazemaze are collected in bas-
kets and carried to the village, children aretaken to the water to wash. The water in
which mazemaze was found is thought to
support the growth of children …
The appearance of mazemaze marks a
veles, the ‘centre’ of the year. The time of
the dry season is finished and the rainy
season starts … Matbung (the beginning
of the rains) is associated with the fertility
of the land – it is called upon in magic
performed at the time of the planting of
taro gardens for a future malangan. The
time of malangan itself lies in the dry sea-
son or a wenemat .
The year is thus divided into a time for
making gardens and a time for making
malangan. The power of mazemaze thus
achieves the unity of land and malangan.
Mazemaze symbolises the continuity of
time: it marks the end of the old year and
the beginning of the new year. Its image,
being integrated into the malangan raus
(representing death), makes a statementabout the continuity of social time and
‘immortality’ of social groups established
in and through the practice of malangan.
Throughout Papua New Guinea, the primacy
and ‘immortality’ of the community is a fun-
damental assumption of social life. It is the
community that owns land, and individuals
merely own rights to the use of land (Samana
1988: 12-13). Traditionally, whereas arrange-
ments can be made to transfer rights to the
use of land, it is not conceivable that owner-
ship can be permanently transferred, except
perhaps by force of conquest. This is a basic
difference between Papua New Guinea soci-
ety and Western society that regards land as
a commodity that can be bought and sold by
individuals.
Already, Papua New Guineans are experi-
encing the Western forms of land ownership
in the urban centres where land was alien-
ated from traditional community ownership
by the colonial powers and is now bought
and sold like any other commodity. It remains
to be seen how much longer the ways of the
ancestors, ‘ pasin bilong ol tumbuna’, as dem-
onstrated in the Masterpieces Exhibition of
the Papua New Guinea National Museum and
Art Gallery, can survive in the 21st century, as
Papua New Guinea becomes more and more
drawn into global politics and the global
economy.
MPNr 198. Bird (raus), wood; Panamecho village, south-west coast, northern New Ireland, Kara speakers, New
Ireland Province. Wood, adhesive, seed pods, shells. 62 x 32 cm. 81.46.4. Purchased by the National Museum
1980 and registered July 1981. Gazetted as National Cultural Property 20 December 1973.
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The ‘Masterpieces’ Exhibition – 251
Notes
1 For the sake of ease of reading and to be con-
sistent with the present tense often used by
ethnographers whose works are quoted, this
text has been written in the present tense
except where it is perfectly clear that a particu-
lar building or type of building, settlement
location or cultural practice no longer exists. Itshould not be thought that this convention
implies that New Guinea societies are un-
changing. In fact, many traditional beliefs and
practices do continue in the present day, and
although traditional warfare, and obviously
headhunting and cannibalism, do not, tradi-
tional conflicts and tensions are worked out on
the football field and in other ways. Also note
that, again for consistency, the italicisation of
vernacular and Melanesian Pidgin terms has
been applied within quotations, regardless of
whether or not the authors italicised such
words or phrases. Where alternative spellings
for vernacular terms, villages, rivers and so on
occur in the literature, they will be indicated atfirst mention but only one spelling used in the
text thereafter, although authors’ spellings will
be retained in quotations, as will authors’
spellings of English words (for example, Anglo-
English: colour; American English: color).
2 Each object in the exhibition has an exhibit
number [MPNr], apart from its registration
number, that was given to it when the exhibi-
tion was restructured in 19 81, but the structure
of this catalogue does not strictly follow these
numbers from 1 to 209.
3 Nowadays these canoes are propelled by out-
board motors rather than by sail (Lipset 1997,
Plate 8).
4 Bodrogi (1961: 42) draws attention to
Schlesier’s opinion that the balum is ‘the em-
bodiment of all ancestors’.
5 Bodrogi reports (1961: 70): ‘The balum spirit of
Huon Gulf appears under the name of kani in
the Tami Islands’.
6 Except that close attention will show that a
splashboard is bigger on one side than on the
other, and those that are bigger on the right
side are thought of as prow splashboards and
those bigger on the left side as stern splash-
boards (Narubutal 1975: 1).
7 The motif of two sea-eagles attacking villagers
is found in stories that explain the imagery of
the Iatmul men’s cult house finial figures (see
pp. 68-9 this book).
8 Josefine Huppertz published the German
edition of her book in 1981 and an English
translation in 1992. The illustrations for each of
these editions are different. Only the German
edition illustrates the whole series of five
façades.
9 Huppertz (1992: 66-74) also has published a
version of the story of Mobul as recounted by
Simon Nyowep (Novep) and tape-recorded inMelanesian Pidgin by John Kovac. In that ver-
sion, published in Melanesian Pidgin and in
English, Huppertz states that Mobul (= Mopul)
is the older brother and Goyan (= Wain) is the
younger brother and that the older brother
was angry with the younger because the
younger brother had seduced his (the older
brother’s) wife. None of this is a necessary
reading of the Melanesian Pidgin text. In
Dennett’s version, Mopul is the younger broth-
er who is wrongly accused of seducing the
older brother’s ( Wain’s) wife. In the course of
Huppertz’s version, the ‘older brother’ marries
the two daughters of Goyan, Vigil and Sisil, but
as the story progresses, the husband of thesetwo women is named as G oyan, so there ap-
pears to have been a mistranslation
somewhere. There are other difficulties in
Huppertz’s version too, whereas the version
reported by Dennett is consistent and more
complete. The story of the two brothers
Andena and Arena, recounted to Lipset (1997:
73-4) at Darapap, Murik Lakes, is remarkably
similar to the story of Wain and Mopul.
10 Although ‘spathe’ is the term commonly used,
the flat sheets are actually made from the base
of the sago palm leaf or frond.
11 I photographed a deteriorating gable support
post, in the form of a spread-legged female
figure with a crocodile carved at the rear, in a
men’s house at Korogopa on the middle Keram
River, 18 November 1981 (Photos 198 1 C30:
26-31). Considered along with a similar gable
support post from Kambot (Meyer 1995: Plate
214), this reinforces the identification of links
between lower and middle Sepik archi tecture.
12 Wassmann (1991: 15) asserts that these gable
masks, even on the men’s houses, represent
female ancestors. Métraux (1991: 527) men-
tions only that the dwelling house, ‘its façade
the face of a woman wearing long earings, was
symbolically a woman’.
13 Eva Raabe, pers. comm. 13 February 2004. See
also Haberland 1966.
14 This interpretation is of course questionable. It
is perhaps even more likely (depending on
what is meant by ‘primacy’) that the nggwal-
ndu faces are expressing the primacy of male
cultural creativity over female natural creativity.
15 The National Cultural Property (Preservation)
Act (Chapter No. 156 of the Laws of Papua New
Guinea), Section 9, stipulates a fine ‘not exceed-
ing K.500’ or imprisonment for a term ‘not
exceeding six months’. The monetary fine hasnot been upgraded since a 1967 amendment
to the original Act of 1965.
16 The most comprehensive survey of pottery in
PNG is the book by May and Tuckson (2000).
Most of the following information has been
obtained from that source.
17 For a photograph showing a man wearing the
pig tusk ornament on his chest, see Bodrogi
1961, Fig. 211.
18 For a survey of Oceanic headrests see Meyer
2004.
19 A remarkably similar story was told by a
Binandere at Ewore village on the Gira River,
Oro Province, in which the monster is named
Dodoima (Johnston 199 5: 1-4). Another ver-sion, with the monster appearing as the huge
snake-man, Wvawvasikai, was recorded by
Burridge (1969: 312-15) among the Tangu,
about 15 kilometres south of Bogia, Madang
Province. A portion of the story, involving the
birth of two boys from the blood of cut fingers,
is part of the Yangoru Boiken myth that at-
tributes the origins of male initiation to
women (Roscoe 1990: 404). Ewore and Tangu
are around 270 kilometres in opposite direc-
tions from the Adzera; the Yangoru Boiken are
200 kilometres farther west from Tangu.
20 It was not clear if these ‘sons’ were actual sons
or classificatory sons.
21 Incorrectly tied, according to Dirk Smidt, who
believes it should be hanging at the front and
not pulled up between the legs (pers. comm.
19 May 2004).
22 A figure (E.46303) quite similar to Andi, is part
of the E.J. Wauchope collection of 1938 in the
Australian Museum. According to Wauchope’s
notes, he collected this piece, along with sever-
al others, at Kraimbit, a village on the
Blackwater River some 50 kilometres south-
west of Maramba. On the basis of style, it may
be conjectured that this figure was brought to
Kraimbit from Maramba.
23 Whereas Forge distinguishes the large
kamanggabi from the small yi’pon, I was in-
formed that the large hook figures at Chimbut
(an Alamblak village on the Karawari) were
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252 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
called yipwon, and Kaufmann appears to have
been told the same (2003: 40).
24 This information is contained in a copy of a
letter from Christian Kaufmann to Ralph
Bulmer, dated 14 July 1971, held in the PNG
National Museum’s archives.
25 On 23 September 1983, I recorded an interest-
ing variation of the story of the woman, thecrocodile and their eagle progeny (Craig 1983:
134-38). Cletus Smank of Tambanum, an east-
ern Iatmul village, told the story as relevant to
the gable finial he sold to the National
Museum (registered 83.123.75), representing
what appears to be a male figure with an eagle
on top. The story follows the narrative recorded
by Wassmann from Kandingei, with some
minor variations, but when the eagles start to
attack and kill villagers, only one of them is
killed. (Neither eagle carries its mother into the
tree as in the Kandingei version.) The other flies
off and encounters a man and woman who
both appear to be pregnant but they say they
have distended bellies because they can’tdefecate. The eagle cuts op en their rectums
and they are relieved of their constipation. This
part of the story seems to be a transformation
of the introduction of sexual intercourse by
Mangisaun, who cut open the woman’s vagina
to make intercourse possible. The carved finial
sold by Cletus therefore appears to represent
one of the eagles carrying off a male victim,
rather than its mother as in the Kandingeiversion of the story.
26 Wurabai is a Kwomtari-speaking village in the
southern foothills of the Bewani Mountains on
the Wuro, an eastern tributary of the North
River. Wurabai is about 50 kilometres north-
east of Kwomtari village.
27 As a consequence of this event in 1918, the
District Officer burned down the new cult
house Bungabwar, destroying the karkar spears
and other contents, and it wasn’t until 1981
that it was eventually rebuilt (Lipset 19 95: 198
and Plate 25).
28 Dirk Smidt’s account (1975: 53) agrees in some
details with the story told to me but differs in
naming Onesi rather than Arero as the recipi-ent of the mask. It is possible that Onesi is an
alternative name for Arero, or Onesi may have
been a descendant of Arero.
29 In 1966, Thomas Schultze-Westrum (1968: 299,
Bild 4) photographed a few deteriorating
keweke and gope in a hut at Wowobo village,
inland from the complex waterways between
the Kikori and Era rivers.
30 The South Australian Museum has one largeone (A.8554) and several small ones from
Bevan; others from Bevan are in the collections
of the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin
(Newton 1961, Illusts 227, 230), and there is a
small one in the Macleay Museum in Sydney.
31 Van der Zee incorrectly provides the name
Aceros u. undulatus, which is a South-east Asian
species not present in New Guinea (Beehler et
al. 1986: 145, Plate 25; Iredale 1956: 213, Plate
VII, 2; Mayr 1941: 94; Rand and Gilliard 19 67:
302-3, Plate 43).
32 Kapkap is the Pidgin English word for a fret-
work of tortoiseshell fastened to a white disc of
Tridacna (clam) shell (Edmundson and Boylan
1999: Plates 37, 48, 50, 61; Stöhr 1987, Plate158).
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Appendices – 253
Section 4 of the National Museum and Art
Gallery Act of 1992 states:
The functions of the Museums [National
Museum, Branch Museums and designated
Cultural Centres] are to –
(i) protect and conserve the cultural
and natural heritage of Papua
New Guinea as required by the
Environmental Planning Act (Chapter
370 [of the Laws of Papua New
Guinea]), National Cultural Property
(Preservation) Act (Chapter 156) and the
Conservation Areas Act (Chapter 362);
and
(ii) collect, document, photograph,
conserve and manage examples of
prehistoric artifacts, traditional arts and
material culture, and contemporary
history and art; and
(iii) administer the National Cultural
Property (Preservation) Act (Chapter 156)
and War Surplus Material Act (Chapter
331) and any other Act that applies to
the functions of the Museum; and
(iv) research and document the
prehistory of Papua New Guinea
by archaeological surveys and
excavations, and manage the national
archaeological collections; and
(v) monitor archaeological research
in Papua New Guinea and issue
archaeological permits for the short-
term loan of archaeological material for
study overseas: and
(vi) maintain the national register of
traditional and archaeological sites,
locate and record prehistoric sites
and monuments, and carry out the
salvage of archaeological excavations
as required by the National Cultural
Property (Preservation) Act (Chapter 156)
and the Environmental Planning Act
(Chapter 370); and
(vii) identify, document and monitor
the conditions of objects of national
cultural significance, recommend
their proclamation as national cultural
property, and keep a register of
national cultural property; and
(viii) monitor the collection and export
of artifacts, issuing permits and perform
other duties as required by the National
Cultural Property (Preservation) Act
(Chapter 156); and
(ix) manage and preserve prehistoric
sites, traditional structures and movable
objects of cultural significance as
required by the National Cultural
Property (Preservation) Act (Chapter 156)
and the Conservation Areas Act (Chapter
362); and
(x) conserve objects, sites and
structures using traditional and
modern techniques; and
(xi) maintain a national collection of
natural history specimens and carry
out research on the flora and fauna of
Papua New Guinea; and
(xii) undertake field research on the
collections, and publish the results of
such research in the Museum records
and other appropriate publications; and
(xiii) monitor and affiliate researchers
from other institutions carrying out
research in the areas of the Museum’s
functions; and
(xiv) maintain a reference library that
serves the Museum’s functions; and
(xv) mount permanent, temporary and
travelling exhibitions for the education
and enjoyment of the public; and
(xvi) assist and provide training
programmes for personnel from
provincial and regional cultural centres;
and
(xvii) recommend to the Minister the
implementation of international
conventions relating to the cultural
and natural heritage of mankind where
Papua New Guinea is a party to such
conventions; and
(xviii) recommend to the Minister the
seeking of the return from overseas
countries of objects and collections of
national and cultural significance; and
(xix) establish Friends of the Museum
under a special Trust Fund; and
(xx) assist and encourage contemporary
arts at the national, provincial, local and
individual levels.
Appendix 1
Functions of the National Museum and Art Gallery
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254 – Living Spirits and Fixed Abodes
Introduction
Most readers of this Masterpieces Exhibition
catalogue may not have realised that there is
an enormously valuable treasure of material
cultural heritage preserved in the storerooms
of the National Museum. The Masterpieces
Exhibition is merely the best selection of
the most significant items that could be
made in 1979 and 1981, given imperfect
overall knowledge of the collections by the
selectors, myself included. The exhibition in
the Independence Gallery provides a broader
selection of items of more general and
everyday use and shows a lot more of what
can be found in the storerooms. Even so, the
items on exhibit are just a small proportion of
the total collections.
Despite the fact that the National
Museum almost certainly has the largest
collection of Papua New Guinea material
culture in the world (Table 1), there are many
distinctive cultures that are poorly, or not
at all represented (Table 5). There are many
reasons for this. The relatively short history of
the museum and limited funding, combined
with the enormity of the task of representing
the variety of cultures created by people
speaking over 750 languages, are sufficientexplanation.
It is rare that a museum can set about
deliberately collecting or acquiring major
individual items and collections of material
according to a predetermined plan. Most
museum collections come together largely
by circumstance and chance rather than
purposefully. Because this is so, curators in
museums world-wide should think of their
collections of Papua New Guinea material
culture as ‘dispersed collections’. Sometimes
a particular collection (made by one person
from a certain area) has been divided and
sent to two or more museums. Sometimes
different collectors make collections in a
particular area at different times, and the
material is sent to a number of different
museums. Often collections come from
different collectors from adjacent areas and
are therefore complementary in that sense.
The material cultural heritage of a
particular cultural group may be scattered
in several museums throughout the world
but, if they are fortunate, that group might
find a good collection from their area in the
National Museum. For scholars who want to
research the material cultural heritage of a
particular area or region, the objects they
would like to study are seldom conveniently
located in one museum. Then comes the
task of finding out where the relevant
material is located. But even with progressive
computerisation of registers, it is difficult to
discover what is held by the various museums
throughout the world.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, five
surveys of Pacific collections were carried out
and published, in Switzerland (Kaufmann et al.
1979), the United Kingdom and Irish Republic
(Gathercole and Clarke 1979), Australia
(Bolton 1980), New Zealand (Neich 1982), and
the United States of America and Canada(Kaeppler and Stillman 1985). Some museums
with major collections were not included in
these surveys for various reasons; for example,
the Museum of Cultural History (now Fowler
Museum) at the University of California in
Los Angeles had some 20,000 items from the
Pacific in 1981 (Ellis 1981:17), probably the
majority coming from Papua New Guinea, but
is not listed in the North American survey.
It may be assumed that there are at least
as many objects in museums in the rest
of Europe as were recorded by the above
five surveys, and collections in museums in
Japan (especially at the National Museum of
Ethnology at Osaka) also must be recognised.
This suggests that there could be half a
million artefacts from Papua New Guinea
in museums around the world but the
information at hand is preliminary at best.
A survey of French institutions is under
way (Boulay 1992) and there is an increasing
number of references to the Pacific collections
of particular museums, for example Anson
(1995) for the Otago Museum, Dunedin; Auld
(1982) for the Carnegie Museum of Natural
History in Pittsburgh; Coote et al. (1999)
for the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford; Craig
(1993) for the National Museum of Australia
in Canberra; Davidson (1991) for the National
Museum of New Zealand; Ewins (1997) for
the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in
Hobart; Fernstrom (1997) for the Baltimore
Museum of Art; Gathercole (1995) for the
Cambridge University Museum; Gunn (1993)
for the Northern Territory Museum in Darwin;
Holmes and Frlan (1989) for museums in
Yugoslavia; Hunt (1996) for the university
museum at Aberdeen; Idiens (1990a, b) for
museums in Scotland; Jones (1993) for the
South Australian Museum in Adelaide; Kaehr
(1992) for a Swiss museum at Neuchâtel;
Lavondes (1991) for a French museumat Grenoble; Lovelace (1992) and MacKie
(1993) for museums in Scotland; Pole (1996)
for the Saffron Walden Museum in Essex;
Raberts (1993) for the Museum of Victoria
in Melbourne; Regius (1999) for museums
in Sweden; Fetchko (1989) and Scarangello
(1996) for the Peabody Essex Museum at
Salem; Stanton (1995) for the museum at
the University of Western Australia in Perth;
Thomsett (1993) for the Australian Museum
in Sydney; Vargyas (1992) for the museum
at Budapest in Hungary; Watson et al.
(1996) for the Peabody Museum at Harvard;
Appendix 2
Ethnographic Collections of the National Museum
Barry Craig
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Appendices – 255
Zwernemann and Wilpert (1990) for the
museum in Hamburg, Germany. Mostly,
these accounts focus on the biography, and
historical and socio-political background, of
the collectors and collections rather than on
lists of ethnographic material.
The purpose of this Appendix is to give
an overview of the collections of the NationalMuseum and to provide an outline of who
were responsible for making the collections,
from where and when.
A short history of the registration
procedures used since the establishment
of the museum will explain the different
registration numbers encountered in the
catalogue and why research is necessary
to establish the identity of so many items.
Although there is a computerised register of
the ethnographic collections in the National
Museum, this requires a lot more work before
it can be considered reliable enough to be
made available to the public and to scholars.
Further, the Museum does not yet have the
facilities to make such a register available
on-line.
The following summary is only a
preliminary guide to what can be found in
the museum and how it got there, based on
limited examination of the Register Books.
The first two decades
After the end of World War Two, joint civil
administration was established for the
formerly separate Territories of Papua and
New Guinea. In 1954 the Legislative Council
of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea
passed an Ordinance which provided for the
establishment of a Papua and New Guinea
Public Museum and Art Galler y. Following
the precedent set by William MacGregor,
J.H.P. Murray, and the civil administration
in the Mandated Territory of New Guinea,
the intention to establish a museum in Port
Moresby was first expressed by accumulating
specimens.1
The Museum’s Annual Report for
1965 provided a graph illustrating the rate
of acquisition of ethnographic specimens
from 1952 until 1965 and commented that
(TPNGPMAG 1966: 2):
The two very high peaks which occur
during 1954 and 1963 followed the
distribution through the Department of
District Administration of a circular giving
details of information required in relation
to articles collected for the Museum.
This circular, prepared by the late Charles
Julius [Government Anthropologist] . . .
was first issued in 1953 and brought a
remarkable response.
There were no permanent employees
of the Museum until a Native Clerk was
employed to catalogue the specimens and
Table 1 Some Major Papua New Guinea and Torres Strait Islands Collections ranked by order of size
(from Kaufmann et al . 1979, Bolton 1980, Gathercole and Clarke 1979, Kaeppler and Stillman 1985, Neich 1982, rounded to nearest 10)
Museum PNG and
Torres Strait
Islands
Museum PNG and
Torres Strait
Islands
Bern, SwitzerlandEdinburgh, UK Neuchatel, SwitzerlandOttawa, Canada
Zurich, SwitzerlandOntario, CanadaMetropolitan Museum, NY, USAManchester, UK Canterbury, New Zealand
Horniman, UK Glasgow, UK Geneva, SwitzerlandAustralian National Gallery, CanberraLos Angeles County, California, USA
Liverpool, UK Uni of Newcastle-on-Tyne, UK Uni of Southern Illinois, USA
Tasmanian, Hobart, AustraliaBishop , Honolulu, Hawai’i
Smithsonian, Washington DCWellington, New Zealand
c. 800840
c. 850860
c. 900950950
10401050
11301170
c. 130013501370
150016201640
20702420
26502940
Otago, New ZealandPeabody, Salem, Massachusetts, USAUni. of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, USAQueensland Uni, Brisbane, Australia
Lowie, Berkeley, California, USAPeabody, Harvard, USANational, Canberra, AustraliaPitt Rivers, Oxford UK Auckland, New Zealand
Victoria, Melbourne, AustraliaSouth Australian, Adelaide, AustraliaCambridge Uni, UK Museum of Mankind, London, UK American Museum of Nat. History, NY
Queensland Museum, BrisbaneBasel, SwitzerlandField, Chicago, USA
Australian, Sydney, Australia TOTAL
PNG National (as at 1989)
2980349036903700
39704850521072708140
847090709150
1150012440
15180c. 20000
21650
27390c. 207540
c. 33000
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256 – Living Spirits and Fixed Abodes
care for the collections under the supervision
of the Government Anthropologist, Charles
Julius. Prior to that, the museum was run by
volunteers. It is not clear what year the Clerk
began his work but it wasn’t until 1959 that
the Museum was given the basement of the
old European Hospital at Port Moresby and
opened to the public on 15 October 1960.
At first, objects were registered according
to the District (now called Province) they
came from. There was a separate book for
each District that recorded ethnographic
and other details that were supplied with the
objects. A card index also was made. Most of
these exercise books and the card index are
preserved at the National Museum.
As a result of the Ellis Report of 1963, Roy
Mackay was appointed Preparator-in-Charge
of the Museum and arrived in Port Moresby
in October 1964. His first task was to assess
the situation at the Museum and develop
a plan of action for the immediate future
(TPNGPMAG 1966: 25):
The first half of this year [1965] was spent
in appraising the present state of the
Museum and its collections and from
this to develop a programme of work to
improve the preservation and cataloguing
of the collection, storage facilities, gallery
space and exhibits, provide a workroom
with basic tool equipment, increase the
floor space by at least one extension,
promote public relations and increase staff.
The second half of the year was devoted to
putting these activities into effect.
Revealingly, Mackay goes on to report
(ibid.: 27):
Very little existed in the way of storage
facilities in 1964. Specimens were heaped
on the floor and in consequence many
labels, numbers and accompanying data
became separated from the specimens.
The first task was to clear out each room,
build shelving and, as far as space would
allow, classify the material according to
type. As the space is so limited, classifying
according to District, language group or
culture group could not be considered. This
task was accomplished and a complete re-
registration of the collection begun.
Also in 1965, the National Cultural
Property Ordinance came into force and
the power to grant permits for the export
of cultural material not of special interest to
the Museum was delegated to the Director
of District Administration and to District
Commissioners (ibid: 9). As a guide to the
District Commissioners, and in an effort to
acquire more ethnographic specimens, a
catalogue showing a summary of the types
of material housed in the Museum was
published. This catalogue (Papua and New
Guinea Museum 1966) indicated the number
of objects in the collections for each District
as at October 1965 (Table 2).
When the collection was re-registered, the
specimens assigned numbers within each
District category were given new numbers
commencing at E.1. Up to October 1965,
these new numbers did not reach E.1300.
The discrepancy between the less-than
1300 entries in the register and the total
number of objects being 3017 as at October
1965 is explained by there being in many
cases more than one object registered
under each ‘E’ number. For example, E.1249,
37 tapa cloths; E.1251, 4 fighting picks;
E.1252, 3 adzes; E.1253, 2 spears; and so
on. Another potentially confusing factor is
that up until 1967 the ‘Date of Acquisition’
(by the Museum) was recorded, not the
date of registration, presumably because a
large number of items were acquired many
years before they were formally registered
under the ‘E’ system. After re-registration
was completed, the ‘Date of Registration’ of
newly arriving specimens replaced ‘Date of
Acquisition’.
Thus the material that came earliest
to the Museum includes many valuable
old objects that subsequently lost their
original registration numbers and other
documentation; and because more than
one object may have shared a registration
number, there were other confusions as
well. Further, objects were not routinely
measured as part of the registration process
until around August 1970 when E.5843 was
reached. These are the reasons why so many
objects in the Masterpieces Exhibition have
required considerable research to establish
their identity, and why a handful remain
unidentified.
Among the most important of the col-
lections gathered in these early years, and
which emerged from research on the objects
DISTRICT OBJECTS %
Sepik
MadangMorobeNorthern
Milne Bay
Central
Gulf Western
Manus
New IrelandNew Britain
Bougainville
Eastern Highlands
Western HighlandsSouthern Highlands
683
422204
87
139
122
91210
110
2891
120
174
361175
23
1473
5
4
37
4
13
4
6
126
TOTAL 3017 102
(NB. Total of percentages exceeds 100 because of
rounding errors.)
Table 2 Number of objects in PNG
Museum as at October 1965
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Appendices – 257
in the Masterpieces Exhibition, is that from
Dadi Wirz (the son of Swiss ethnographer
Paul Wirz) assembled during his trip through
the Sepik region in 1955 (following upon his
father’s untimely death, and burial at Wewak).
These include the 63 objects registered E.346
to 350 and E.352 to 378. Archival sources
indicate that these items were withheld from
export by the Administration. The larger
part of the collection was given an export
permit and most of it is now in the Museum
der Kulturen, Basel, and the Musée national
des arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie, Paris (now
relocated and renamed the Musée du quai
Branly).
No doubt other early collections will be
found to originate from particular collectors,
probably administration officers. For example,
E.1 to 14 received in 1952 and representing
almost 110 objects from the Lake Murray/Fly
River area; E.15 to 23 received in 1953 and
representing 60 objects from the Orokaiva
around Popondetta ; and E.79 to 154 received
in 1954 and representing 410 objects from
the Lower Ramu-Bogia area. Then there are
the two 1967 collections of about 125 items
from Wonenara, sent by ‘Discom, Eastern
Highlands’ (E.2021 to 2068) and nearly
20 items sent by ‘ADC, Imonda’ (E.2159 to
2167). Considerable archival research will
be necessary to find out more about these
and many other apparently anonymous
collections, but it can be done.
The Trustees published the first of their
Annual Reports of the Museum in February
1965, which covered the calendar years 1963
and 1964 and included a financial report for
the year July 1963-June 1964. Each Annual
Report thereafter referred to activities in the
calendar year but financial reports were for
the financial year. The first published Report
included a section on ‘New Acquisitions’ but
the information is insufficient to identify
the objects referred to. From 1965 onwards,
for each significant collection, usually the
number of items, where they were from and
the name of the collector was provided.
Table 2 shows the lack of material from
certain Districts, particularly Gulf, New Britain,
New Ireland and Northern (Oro) Districts
as compared with the Madang, Sepik and
Western Highlands Districts.
During 1966, Mackay made several field
trips
to collect, at relatively small direct cost, a
large number of valuable and significant
items. It is in planned collecting trips such
as these that we are likely to find the best
means of filling the many obvious gaps
in our collec tions, whilst maintaining
the essential high quality of the items
collected. [TPNGPMAG 1967: 3]
These trips resulted in almost 45 items
from the Eastern Highlands, over 230 items
from the Nomad River area of the Western
District, and six items from the Maprik area of
the Sepik District.
But prior to Mackay’s appointment and
his deliberate collection of ethnographic
material from particular areas, Bryan
Cranstone from the British Museum set
a precedent in 1964 by being the first
ethnographer to systematically allocate to
the PNG Museum a representative portion of
a collection made for an overseas institution.
Of his collection of around 800 objects
from the Telefolmin, Ulapmin and Tifalmin
peoples of central New Guinea, some 300
were allocated to the PNG Museum, although
intermittent registration of the collection
between 1964 and 1970 account for less than
200 of these items. Through the second half
of the 1960s and into the 1970s, the best-
documented collections came from such
arrangements where one part of the whole
collection went overseas and a matching
collection stayed in Port Moresby.
Many anthropologists, archaeologists,
museum curators and others doing long-
term research in particular areas made
collections of material culture which they
presented to the PNG Museum. Many of
these collectors provided material over a
number of years, not necessarily all at one
time, and include:
upper Sepik, 310 items;
Papuan Gulf, 330 items; Mt Bosavi,
Western District, 105 items;
District, 255 items;
District, 205 items;
Highlands (now Southern Highlands),
Eastern Highlands and Chimbu districts,
140 items;
districts, 50 items; Gogodala, Western
District, 250 items;
Mendi and Tari, Southern Highlands
District, 650 items;
Bay District, 70 items;
Northern, Madang and Sepik districts,
735 items and as agent for Dirk Smidt
of the PNG Museum, from Sunuhu in
East Sepik District, 255 items;
West Sepik District, 680 items;
East Sepik District, 160 items;
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258 – Living Spirits and Fixed Abodes
Madang District, 100 items;
District, 100 items;
Southern Highlands District, 40 items;
items;
District, 105 items;
District, 85 items;
West Sepik District, 95 items;
District, 25 items;
Highlands District, 50 items;
Madang and Milne Bay districts, 130
items;
Sepik/Western districts, 90 items;
Karawari, East Sepik District, 140 items;
items;
items;
Sepik District, 255 items
District, 95 items.
items;
District, 130 items.
These collections are an irreplaceable
contribution to the cultural heritage of the
nation.
The names of well-known government
officers are to be found in the Register. For
example, there is material from around the
country collected by Chief Justice Sir Alan
Mann, President of the Board of Trustees
of the Museum from 1959 until his death
in 1970. There is also material from all over
the country donated over a period of more
than twenty years by J.K. McCarthy, for
many years Director of the Department of
Native Affairs (renamed the Department of
District Administration in 1964), and a long-
time Trustee of the Museum. Much of his
collection was sent to the Branch Museum at
Goroka named after him. There were regular
accessions of small numbers of objects from
the Government Anthropologist, Charles
Julius, and a large collection made up of
many donations from all over the country,
from the Administrator Sir Donald Cleland
and Lady Cleland. Highlands material came
from James Sinclair; Roy Mackay continued
collecting during his employment with the
Museum and when Dirk Smidt joined the
staff, he too made many and large collect ions.
Brian Egloff contributed ethnographic
objects as well as archaeological material
during his time on the staff of the Museum
and Robert Mitton brought with him to the
Museum most of the [West] Papuan material
(some 175 pieces) that is in the Museum,
going on to add collections from places in
Papua New Guinea, for example, Southern
Highlands (225 items), Manus (150 items)
and East Sepik (40 items), before his untimely
death in 1977.
Other government officers who collected
material now in the National Museum
include:
65 items;
items;
District, 140 items;
Highlands District, 40 items; Long
Island, Madang District, 15 items;
East Sepik District, 10 items;
islands, Milne Bay District, 75 items.
Despite the dismissive and destructive
attitude of many of their colleagues, several
missionaries with a positive interest in
material culture also added to the collections:
Islands, Milne Bay District, 30 items;
District, 30 items;
Sepik District, 85 items;
Highlands District, 30 items;
District, 10 items;
District, 60 items.
Commercial dealers and collectors of
ethnographic objects and ‘tribal art’ also
contributed to the Museum’s collections,
sometimes as donations, sometimes through
confiscation, and often by sale to the
Museum. Unfortunately, this material tends to
be poorly documented:
districts, 35 items;
districts, 20 items;
items;
districts, 205 items;
and West New Britain districts, 720 items;
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Appendices – 259
Southern Highlands districts, 240 items;
Gulf districts, 60 items;
and Morobe districts, 130 items;
Papua New Guinea, 140 items;
items.
There are many other collectors, some of
whom provided excellent documentation,
but without further research it is not clear
to which of the above categories they
belong. There were also large archaeological
collections made by various researchers,
perhaps the most visible in the Register
being Jim Specht, J. Peter White, Ron
Vanderwal, Brian Egloff, Ian Hudson and
James Rhoads. Many of these archaeologists
also added to the ethnographic collections.
Repatriations from overseas museums
during this period include two New Ireland
malagan masks and a malagan figure from
the Museum für Völkerkunde (now Museum
der Kulturen), Basel, in 1961; a Tolai iniet
figure from the Queen Victoria Museum and
Art Gallery, Launceston, Tasmania, in 1966;
and ten items from the Southern Highlands
District (a yupin figure and stone objects)
from the National Museum of New Zealand,
Wellington, in 1974. One of the malagan
masks and the yupin figure are in the
Masterpieces Exhibition (MPNrs 40 and 194
respectively).
The last published Annual Report of the
Trustees was for the financial year July 1975–
June 1976 (TPNGPMAG 1976b). The growth
of the Museum’s ethnographic collections
during the period 1963-1976 covered by the
published Annual Reports of the Trustees is
summarised by Table 3 which shows, on an
annual basis, the number of artifacts received
and the amount spent on the purchase of
artifacts.
These figures show marked growth in
the museum’s ethnographic collections in
1966 following the Ellis Report of 1963 and
the appointment of Roy Mackay in 1964.
The next marked increase was in 1973 and
1974 as a result of the major grant of $5
million for cultural development from the
Australian government. Expenditure onartifacts dropped significantly in 1975-76
as the Museum budget was oriented to the
construction, furnishing and staffing of the
new museum building at Waigani.
The next twenty-five years
The registration numbering system was
changed in 1975, perhaps to reflect the birth
of Papua New Guinea as an independent
nation. The ‘E’ numbering continued until 30
September 1975 and E.17274 was reached.
Thereafter, the numbering commenced
according to the system: Year–Collection
number–Item number. The first collection
recorded under this system was 75.1.1
to 100 (a collection of 100 pots from five
provinces acquired from Lynne Hosking and
Margaret Tuckson). A Register recorded a
summary of each collection as it came into
the Museum but more detailed information
for each object was recorded on an Artifact
Registration Form. These forms were filed
under the Year and Collection number. The
Register that I accessed commenced in 1975
and ended in 1989. I do not have summary
information about incoming collections since
the end of 1989.
The most significant collections
registered under the system commencing
in 1975 through to 1989 were the following
(figures are approximate), most being from
anthropologists, museum curators and others
doing long-term research in particular areas:
75.1, several provinces, 100 pots;
Province, 60 items;
Wuvulu Island, 35 items;
Central Province, 75 items;
Gogodala people, Western Province,
250 items;
135 stone tools;
East Sepik Province, 50 items;
New Ireland Province, 35 items;
Morobe provinces, 35 items;
and upper Sepik, 650 items;
Year2 Artifacts
(N)
Cost of Artifacts
($)
19631964
196519661967
19681969197019711972
197319741975
440200
30015001160
9001700150015701760
24502910
590
650530
160024502030
18306280
16,18010,26011,170
177,320103,250
10,700
TOTAL 16,980 344,250
Table 3 Growth of the PNG Museum
Ethnographic Collections 1963-1975
Note: Figures for the number of artifacts and theircost have been rounded to the nearest 10
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260 – Living Spirits and Fixed Abodes
Western Province, 140 items;
Province, 50 items;
Western Province, 25 items;
area, West New Britain Province, 130
items;
70 items;
Kwoma people, East Sepik Province, 35
sago-spathe paintings;
Tabar Islands, New Ireland Province, 70
items;
people, Western Province, 70 items;
Wola people, Southern Highlands
Province, 520 items;
Sulka people, East New Britain Province,
55 items;
East New Britain Province, 25 items;
stone tools;
people, Western Province, 100 items;
Morobe Province, 25 items;
provinces, 40 string bags;
Western Province, 40 items;
items;
provinces, 45 items;
Province, 45 items;
Highlands Province, 445 stone tools;
upper Sepik, 85 items;
Province, 80 items.
PNG National Museum staff and
officers of other PNG government cultural
institutions who collected material include:
Province, 25 items; 76.32, [West] Papua,
75 items;
New Britain Province, 45 items; 77.82,
78.30, 79.62, middle Ramu, Madang
Province, 395 items;
Islands, 120 items;
Egloff; 77.80, Gulf Province, 90 items;
85.59, East Sepik Province, 275 items;
83.73, 83.95, Mountain-Ok, West Sepik
Province, 120 items;
Ramu, Madang Province, 15 items;
Madang Province, 115 items; 81.29,
81.67, Sepik River, 20 items; 83.116, Gulf
Province, 175 items;
81.46, six very old figures/masks moved
to a local primary school from a cave
near Panamecho, New Ireland Province;
Highlands Province, 195 items;
East New Britain Province, 20 items;
Highlands Province, 40 items;
25 items;
Eastern Highlands provinces, 15 items;
84.143, Eastern Highlands Province, 15
items; 85.69, East New Britain Province,
5 items;
Highlands Province, 65 items;
provinces, 75 musical instruments;
[West] Papua, 15 items;
Highlands Province, 110 items.
Many collections came in from Papua
New Guineans, the largest being purchased
from:
83.97, 83.99, 84.39, 84.42, 84.60, 84.86,
84.103, 85.54, 85.86, 86.2, 86.31, 86.80,
87.18, 87.46, all Simbu Province, 280
items; 85.101, Madang Province, 20
items;
items;
items;
86.101, 87.31, 87.65, Western Highlands
Province, 75 items.
Commercial dealers and collectors
of ethnographic objects and ‘tribal art’
contributed through donations, confiscation,
but mostly by sale to the Museum. Morris
Young, operating as ‘Island Carvings’ and
later as manager of the government owned
‘Village Arts’, was responsible for some 540
items, including a series of 175 wooden
bowls from the Siassi Islands. After Young’s
death, some 65 items were obtained from
‘Village Arts’. Maarten Borkent was the source
for 55 items, Rudi Caesar for some 250 items
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Appendices – 261
from East Sepik and Gulf Provinces, and 60
items were obtained from Joe Chan’s ‘PNG
Art’. Loed van Bussell contributed small
numbers of items several times, the largest
accession being for some 30 masks from East
New Britain Province (87.22). Allyn Miller of
the Handcrafts Development Branch of the
PNG Department of Industrial Development
was the source for 260 items from various
provinces over a number of years.
Confiscations included 70 items from the
Gulf Province (77.10), seized from Knezevic
and Gueroult in 1976, 105 items from West
Sepik Province (78.59) seized from H. Dutch,
and over 40 items originating from East Sepik
Province (80.61) seized from M. Stummer.
An important purchase from an overseas
private collector, Patricia Withofs (81.48),
consisted of a male figure as suspension
hook (MPNr 127), a canoe gope from the Fly
River, and three war shields (including MPNr
138).
Transfer of the ownership and care of
collections from local to national level also
occurred:
Kiriwina, Trobriand Islands, 250 items;
Kavieng, New Ireland, 150 items;
Collection; 85.68, Manus Island, 60 pots.
During this period there were a number
of repatriations from overseas museums:
seventeen items from several provinces,
three of which are in the Masterpieces
Exhibition (MPNrs 47, 60, 150); and
88.34, one Manus Island oil jar;
79.48, one Gogodala drum; and the
MacGregor Collection, 80.66, 81.35, 83.6,
83.71, 84.82, 84.95, 86.102, consisting
of about 2775 items from several
provinces, two of which are in the
Masterpieces Exhibition (MPNrs 148,
149). ‘Between 1979 and 1992 nine
selections took place, 3,297 items being
returned to Papua New Guinea while
2675 were retained by Queensland.
The documentation programme has
been completed and the remaining
2277 items comprising spears, bows
and arrows await selection’ (Quinnell
2000: 97).
Camilla Wedgewood Collection, 84.48,
consisting of 37 items from Manam
Island;
a necklace of nassa shells and two
infant’s hands, East Sepik Province;
collection in the Australian Museum,
consisting of over 140 items collected
during 1937-38 from the lower eastern
Ramu, Madang Province, was first
placed in the National Museum on loan
and later altered to a repatriation about
1998.
There were also large archaeological
collections made by various researchers,
including Jim Allen, Nick Araho, Chris Ballard,
Jack Golson, Paul Gorecki, Chris Gosden,
Les Groube, Pat Kirch, Andre Rosenfeld,
Jim Specht, Matthew Spriggs, Peter White
and of course Pamela Swadling during her
long service as Curator of Prehistory at the
National Museum.
Table 4 shows a variable rate of
acquisition of artifacts from 1976 until
1989, falling off rapidly after the mid-1980s,
presumably due to budget restrictions. I was
unable to discover the amount spent on
acquisitions as this information is sometimes
recorded in the Register and sometimes not.
The number of artifacts are approximate
only (figures rounded to nearest 10) as some
entries in the register did not state how
many items there are, some collections are
non-ethnographic (skeletal, archaeological),
and some entries are of items that may have
been registered long ago but had lost their
registration numbers and had to be re-
registered. Table 5 gives an approximation of the
number of items from each province as at
1989 (rounded to nearest 10) and a rough
notion of how well the material culture of the
various language groups in each province is
represented. This assessment indicates that
something like 90% of the language groups
in Papua New Guinea are poorly, or not at
all, represented in the collections. Those
provinces whose language groups are best
represented include Simbu (20%), Southern
Highlands (19%), Gulf (18%) and West and
East Sepik (13%).
Year Artifacts
(N)
Acquisition
budget(Kina)
19761977
1978
1979
19801981
1982
1983
19841985
19863
19871988
1989
1610950
1360
1510
8801190
370
2230
1270600
1150
700110
200
25,00025,000
25,000
25,000
Total 14,130
Table 4 Growth of the PNG National
Museum Ethnographic Collections
1976-1989
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262 – Living Spirits and Fixed Abodes
Table 5 Ethnographic Collections of the PNG National Museum in 1989 analysed by number of language groups
represented
Province No. of
items
% of Total
collectionin inventory
No. of
languages
Languages
wellrepresented
Languages
partlyrepresented
Languages
poorly/notrepresented
West and East Sepik
MadangMorobe
Oro
Milne BayCentral
Gulf
Western
ManusNew Ireland
East New Britain
West New Britain
North Solomons4
Eastern Highlands
Simbu
Western Highlands
EngaSouthern Highlands
4240
12401340
400
1950780
1000
690
*190280
140
160
110460
130
*890
1401390
27.3
8.08.7
2.5
12.55.0
6.5
4.4
1.21.8
0.9
1.0
0.73.0
0.8
5.8
0.99.0
167
17494
29
5429
28
43
3322
17
33
2123
10
7
821
14
3
1
11
4
2
-
-
-
-1
-
-3
8
7
1
2-
1
-
-
-
2
-2
2
11
145
164
27
5128
23
41
22
17
31
2120
8
717
Total 15530 100.0 30 27 629
NOTE: * These figures were provided by Pamela Swadling, pers. comm., 25 July 1995. The lists for these Provinces had been lost ‘but the computer catalogue I have,
not complete for all ‘E’ numbers, has Manus 185, WHP 894 and Morobe 1344 items’.
It must be kept in mind that these figures
are extremely rough approximations only.
For one thing, Table 2 suggests that by 1965
around 3000 items were in the Museum.
Table 3 indicates that between 1966 and1975, another 16,000 items were added and
Table 4 shows that from 1976 to 1989, a
further 14,000 items were added. The total as
at 1989 ought therefore to be around 33,000
items. However, Table 5 includes only half
that number of items.
Many entries in the Registers are of
archaeological material but the provincial
listings used for Table 5 refer only to
ethnographic material. Many objects are
lacking sufficient data to assign them to
a language group, some have never been
registered and some may even have been
registered twice.
Although the Registers have now been
computerised, there are many errors, either
in the original data or as a consequence of
the computerisation process. Improvementsin the quality of the information provided
by the Registers can be made only through
careful research over many years. This is not
a state of affairs peculiar to the PNG National
Museum. All museums, throughout the world,
have the same problem, to a greater or lesser
extent.
Conclusion
People may well ask what is the significance
of knowing who made all these collections. If
we know who collected certain material, we
can find out if there are other parts of their
collection in other institutions. A collection
that was once complete, then divided, can
be reunified ‘virtually’ on paper and on a
computer, making it more useful for research.
If that person is alive, we can ask if thereare field notes that will provide information
additional to what is held by the National
Museum. If the collector is no longer alive,
we can search for such information among
papers held by relatives or that may have
been lodged in an archive somewhere.
Such methods are proving invaluable for
enriching collections of ‘dusty old artifacts’,
making them come alive, and therefore more
relevant and useful for the people of Papua
New Guinea. During my time as Curator
at the PNG National Museum in the early
1980s, I was impressed that many people
8135
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Appendices – 263
said to me that they wanted their artifacts
– the physical tokens of their way of life, their
culture – represented in the collections of the
National Museum so that their children and
their children’s children could see how they
and their parents had lived. This knowledge
of, and respect for, the past is what gives
human beings their sense of community and
personal identity and establishes a secure
base from which to cope with the rapidly
changing circumstances of contemporary life.
Notes
1 Throughout this summary, only ‘ethnographic
specimens’ that is, those of recently historical
and contemporary traditional material culture,
will be noted, not natural history specimens,
archaeological and human skeletal material, or
items of non-traditional culture such as those
of the Modern History collection.2 Some figures refer to the financial year and
some to the calendar year.
3 Apparently there were 1500 items of the
MacGregor collection returned from the
Queensland Museum in 1986 which were not
yet entered on the Register as at 1989.
4 The number of items from Bougainville
(now ‘North Solomons’) as at October 1965
(see Table 1) was 120 so some items must
have been missed when staff compiled the
Provincial Inventories.
5 This total is far in excess of the oft-nominated
750 languages for Papua New Guinea, mostly
because many languages cross provincial
boundaries and thus have been counted
more than once for the purposes of this table.A more accurate tabulation would avoid
reference to provinces and be tabulated by
alphabetic order of name of language or
perhaps more usefully presented according to
the ‘family tree’ structure of the relationships
of languages as generally determined by the
linguists at the Australian National University
(Wurm and Hattori 1981).
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264 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
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276 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Sources of Illustrations
Bartlett, H.K. – Fig.19
Becker, David – MPNrs 1-17, 19, 21-74, 76, 78-
117, 119-209
Beier and Aris 1975 – Fig. 65
Brown, Bob – Fig. 1
Craig, Barry – MPNr 75, Figs 3, 5, 7, 14, 15, 23,
25, 26, 28-31, 34-49, 54-6, 60-3, 66, 69,
71-4, 76, 80-5, 89-94, 96, 97, 99, 100, 102-
4, 107
Crawford, Anthony L. – MPNrs 6-14, 16
(details), 18, 20, 77, 118, 205-7 (details),
Figs 4, 8, 64, 86, 87
Egloff, Brian – Fig. 108
Galis, K.W. – Fig. 13
Gerrits, Godfried – Figs 50-3, 57, 58
Hogbin, H.I. – Fig. 101
Hurley, Frank – Fig. 10
Kramer-Bannow, Elisabeth – Fig. 59
Laumann, Karl – Figs 68, 70
Lewis, M.J. – Fig. 95
Lindt, J.W. – Fig. 11
Malinowski, Bronislaw – Fig. 18
Meyer, Oscar – Fig. 75
Meyer and Parkinson – Figs 9, 12, 16
Murray, Hubert – Fig. 21
Neuhauss, R. – Fig. 17
Rockefeller, Michael C. – Fig. 106
Ruff, Wallace – Figs 24, 27, 32, 33
Schultze-Westrum, Thomas – Figs 77, 78
Spiers, James – Fig. 98
Tree, Peter – Fig. 6
Unknown photographer – Fig. 2
Usher, E.S. – Figs 20, 88
Williams, F.E. – Figs 22, 79, 105
Wirz, Dadi – Fig. 67
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General Index – 277
ADO, Amboin MPNrs 161-64, 167
Australian Museum MPNrs 47, 60, 150
Benoir and Langules MPNrs 23, 24
Bühler, Alfred MPNr 40
Caesar, Rudi MPNrs 14, 49, 61, 62, 115, 154
Cleland, Lady Rachel MPNrs 203, 204
Craig, Barry MPNrs 3, 86, 139, 140, 174, 177,
180
Crawford, A.L. MPNrs 142, 143, 184
Donaldson, P. MPNr 205
Gerrits, Dr. G MPNrs 5 (with Dirk Smidt), 20,
35, 36-8, 71, 73, 79
Groenveldt, Mr C MPNr 137
Heathcote, Wayne MPNrs 6, 8, 41, 57, 66, 67,
104, 114, 123, 135, 141, 158, 159, 160, 168,
178, 179, 183, 188, 189, 190, 206,
Hedlund, R.J. MPNr 119
Hoare, Barry MPNrs 12, 15, 16, 19, 27, 34, 44,
45, 50, 80, 81, 93, 106, 107, 112, 116, 146,
157, 176, 185
Island Carvings MPNrs 32, 74, 103
Johnston, Ms Gabrielle MPNrs 70, 72,
Juillerat, Bernard MPNr 56
Julius, Charles MPNrs 108, 109
Kaufmann, Christian MPNr 156
Klap, Ms Penny MPNr 151
Knezevic and Gueroult MPNr 96
Lakatoi Artefacts MPNr 100
Lawes, Bruce MPNrs 9, 128 (with Oscar
Meyer), 152, 187, 191
Leahy, Richard MPNr 170
Lockyer, E.R. MPNr 194
MacGregor, Sir William MPNrs 148, 149
Mackay, Roy D. MPNrs 1, 2, 186, 199, 200
McCarthy, J MPNrs 42, 43
Miller, Alyn MPNr 51
Mitton, Robert MPNrs 33, 65, 90
National Museum MPNrs 195-98, 201, 202
Nochinson MPNr 130
Patterson, W.R. MPNr 193
Perkings, J. MPNr 83
PNG Customs MPNrs 46, 53, 59, 63, 82, 94,
111, 120, 121, 126, 155, 165, 166, 171-73,
175, 181, 182
Scholz, Lyle MPNr 136
Schultze-Westrum, T.G. and S. MPNrs 117, 118
Sepik Primitive Arts MPNrs 89, 91, 92
Smidt, Dirk MPNrs 4, 11, 99, 131, 132, 153, 207
Somare, Michael MPNr 75
South Pacific Artefacts MPNrs 55, 169
Tuckson, Margaret MPNrs 68, 69
United Church Collection MPNr 85
Unknown MPNrs 10, 13, 17, 18, 21, 30, 31, 39,
48, 52, 54, 58, 64, 78, 84, 95, 98, 101, 102,
113, 129, 133, 134, 144, 192, 208, 209
Van Beek, Albert MPNrs 87, 88
Village Arts MPNrs 26, 28, 76
Wirz, Dadi MPNrs 22, 29, 97, 110, 122, 124, 125
Withofs, Patricia MPNrs 127, 138
Young, Morris MPNrs 25, 77, 105, 145, 147
Sources of Masterpieces
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278 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Index of Masterpieces
Note: Identification of languages based on
the following sources;
Laycock, D. 1973. Sepik Languages – Checklist
and Preliminary Classification. Pacific
Linguistics, Series B, No. 25. Canberra:
Department of Linguistics, RSPS, ANU.
Wurm, S.A. and S. Hattori. 1981. Language
Atlas of the Pacific Area. Canberra:
Australian Academy of the Humanities/
Japan Academy.
Z’graggen, J.A. 1975. The Languages of the
Madang District, Papua New Guinea.
Pacific Linguistics, Series B, No. 41.
Canberra: Department of Linguistics,
RSPS, ANU.
Abau speakers, MPNr 145 (p. 167)
Abelam speakers, MPNrs 1, 2 (p. 74), MPNrs 6,
7 (p. 75), MPNr 169 (p. 77), MPNrs 17, 185,
186 (p. 117)
Adzera speakers, MPNr 72 (p. 97), MPNr 83
(p. 106)
Alamblak speakers, MPNrs 159, 160 (p. 142),
MPNrs 161-62 (p. 143), MPNrs 163-65
(p. 144), MPNrs 166-67 (p. 145)
Angoram speakers, MPNr 113 (p. 134), MPNr
124 (p. 137), MPNr 125 (p. 138)
Asmat speakers, MPNrs 137-38 (p. 176), MPNr90 (p. 191), MPNr 13 (pp. 232-33)
Bahinemo speakers, MPNrs 168, 170 (p. 153)
Baining speakers, MPNr 55 (p. 224)
Bam speakers, MPNr 105 (p. 190)
Banaro speakers, MPNrs 115-16 (p. 129)
Bau speakers, MPNr 70 (p. 98)
Beami speakers, MPNrs 87-8 (p. 192)
Bisis speakers, MPNr 29 (p. 33)
Bitara speakers, MPNr 141 (p. 167)
Biwat speakers, MPNr 122 (p. 133), MPNr 46
(p. 209)
Boiken speakers, MPNr 8 (p. 81), MPNr 9
(p. 82), MPNr 68 (p. 99), MPNrs 187-89
(p. 119), MPNrs 190-92 (p. 120), MPNr 84
(p. 186)
Bosmun speakers, MPNr 38 (p. 35), MPNr 78
(p. 102), MPNr 81 (p. 105)
Chambri speakers, MPNr 64 (p. 94), MPNr 74
(p. 101), MPNr 207 (p. 184), MPNrs 91-2
(p. 199)
Elema people? MPNr 93 (p. 194)
Enga speakers, MPNr 193 (p. 122)
Gapun speakers, MPNr 41 (p. 212)
Gogodala speakers, MPNr 184 (p. 121
Huli speakers, MPNr 194 (p. 123), MPNr 142
(p. 173)
Iatmul speakers, MPNr 39 (p. 32), MPNrs 21-2
(p. 62), MPNr 18 (p. 63), MPNr 10 (p. 64),
MPNr 11 (p. 65), MPNr 158 (p. 72), MPNr
65 (p. 94), MPNrs 66-7 (p. 95), MPNr
127 (p. 147), MPNr 123 (p. 149), MPNrs
106-7 (p. 189), MPNr 98 (p. 196), MPNr 99
(p. 197), MPNr 97 (p. 198), MPNrs 101-2
(p. 200), MPNrs 108-9 (p. 201), MPNrs 51-2
(p. 207), MPNr 57 (p. 208)
Igana speakers, MPNr 49 (p. 217)
Kalam speakers, MPNr 136 (p. 172)
Kambot speakers, MPNr 4 (p. 52), MPNr 152
(p. 128), MPNr 50 (p. 215)
Kara speakers, MPNrs 199, 200 (p. 243), MPNrs
201-2 (p. 244), MPNr 196 (p. 246), MPNr
197 (p. 247), MPNr 195 (p. 249), MPNr 198
(p. 250)
Karawari speakers, MPNr 205 (p. 139), MPNr
206 (p. 183)
Keapara-Aroma speakers, MPNr 150 (p. 178)
Kerewo speakers, MPNr 119 (p. 155), MPNrs
133-34 (p. 157), MPNr 94 (p. 193), MPNr
58 (p. 225)
Kilivila speakers, MPNr 20 (p. 88), MPNr 73
(p. 96), MPNr 149 (p. 179), MPNr 85
(p. 195)
Kominimung speakers, MPNr 146 (p. 168),
MPNr 53 (p. 218)
Kopar speakers, MPNr 79 (p. 102)
Kwanga speakers, MPNr 5 (p. 78), MPNr 71 (p. 99)
Kwoma speakers, MPNrs 208-9 (p. 58), MPNr
171 (p. 108), MPNr 174 (p. 109), MPNr 176
(p. 110), MPNr 177 (p. 111), MPNr 180
(p. 112), MPNrs 178-79 (p. 113), MPNr 183
(p. 114), MPNr 80 (p. 115)
Kwomtari speakers, MPNr 56 (p. 205)
Manambu speakers, MPNr 104 (p. 188)
Manus Island, MPNr 75 (p.104)
Mayo speakers, MPNrs 172-73 (p. 108), MPNr
175 (p. 110), MPNrs 181-82 (p. 114)
Mekmek speakers, MPNr 110 (p. 134)
Melpa speakers, MPNr 144 (p. 175)
Mendi speakers, MPNr 143 (p. 173)
Mikarew speakers, MPNr 14 (p. 51), MPNr 44
(p. 216)
Misima speakers, MPNr 35 (p. 40), MPNr 36
(p. 41)
Murik speakers, MPNr 12 (p. 48), MPNrs 111-
12 (p. 126), MPNr 48 (p. 210)
Mutu speakers, MPNrs 25, 27 (p. 37), MPNr 28
(p. 39)
Muyuw speakers, MPNr 37 (p. 41)
Nafri speakers, MPNr 33 (p. 29)
Nalik speakers, MPNr 40 (p. 221)
North New Ireland area, MPNr 47 (p. 220)
North-eastern Kiwai speakers, MPNr 117
(p. 159), MPNrs 118, 129 (p. 160), MPNr
130 (p. 161), MPNr 62 (p. 226), MPNr 59
(p. 227), MPNr 61 (p. 228)
Olo speakers, MPNr 145 (p. 166), MPNr 100
(p. 186)
Index of Masterpieces
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General Index – 279
Orokolo speakers, MPNrs 131-32 (p. 164),
MPNr 148 (p. 177), MPNr 60 (p. 230)
Pasismanua speakers, MPNr 147 (p. 180)
Purari speakers, MPNr 82 (p. 105), MPNr 120
(p. 162), MPNr 95 (p. 194)
Romkun speakers, MPNrs 153-54 (p. 130),
MPNrs 155-56 (p. 131), MPNr 157 (p. 132)
Sawos speakers, MPNr 19 (p. 70), MPNr 15
(p. 71), MPNr 63 (p. 93), MPNr 69 (p. 100),
MPNr 121 (p. 147), MPNr 126 (p. 149),
MPNr 128 (p. 151)
Sepik Hill speakers, MPNr 89 (p. 185)
Siassi speakers, MPNr 16 (p. 87), MPNr 77 (p. 103),
MPNr 103 (p. 190), MPNr 54 (p. 219)
Tabar speakers, MPNrs 23-4 (p. 91)
Tami speakers, MPNr 26 (p. 38), MPNr 76
(p. 104)
Telefol speakers, MPNr 3 (p. 85), MPNr 140
(p. 171)
Tifal speakers, MPNr 139 (p. 170)
Tigak speakers, MPNr 203 (p. 236), MPNr 204
(p. 237)
Urama-Gope speakers, MPNr 96 (p. 193)
Wahgi speakers, MPNr 151 (p. 154)
Watam speakers, MPNr 30 (p. 33), MPNr
34 (p. 34), MPNr 114 (p. 127), MPNr 45
(p. 210)
Wogamusin speakers, MPNr 32 (p. 31), MPNr
31 (p. 32), MPNr 86 (p. 187)
Wogeo speakers, MPNrs 42-3 (p. 214)
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280 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
General Index
Note: words followed by ‘[people]’ are terms
conventionally used by ethnographers to re-
fer to particular speech communities and/or
the names given by linguists to the languag-
es spoken by those communities. Where a
page number is followed by -n and a number,
this refers to the endnote number on that
page (eg. 251-n19 is endnote 19 to be found
on page 251).
Abau [people] Fig. 7
Abegini (Abegani) 216
Abelam [people] 73-7, 82, 100, 116-17, 204,
Figs 48, 49
Ablingi Harbour Fig. 88
Admiralty Islands 104
Adulu 160
Adzera [people] 9, 105, 106, 251-n19
Afupnok of Komdavip Fig. 84
Aibom 100, 185, 188
Aitken, Thomas 182
Akimichi, T. 262
Alamblak [people] 138, 140-43, 251-n23, Figs
71-3
Alfendio [people] 138
Allen, Jim 263
Amanab 205, 260
Ambonwari 185Ambunti 56, 115, 260, Figs 36, 61, 63
Amongabi 140
Amphlett Islands 98
Andoar 137-38
Anga (Kukukuku) [people] 181, 262
Anguganak 260
Angoram [people] Figs 68, 70
Angoram [place] 129, Fig. 6
Antefuga 133, 135, 150
April (Niksep) River 152-54, 165, 187, Fig. 76
Arafundi River 138
Araho, Nick 263
Aramia River 27, 121, 193, Figs 8, 64
Arani 133, 134, 150
Arapesh [people] 73
Arawe Islands 180
Archaeological collections 261, 263
Aris, Peter 125-27, 213
Aromot Island 87-8, Fig. 17
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
(AGNSW) 133-34, 136, 150
Asang’gumban (Asangamut) 136, Fig. 69
Asaro [people] 223
Asmat [people] 176, 190, 232-35, Fig. 106
Asumbwi of Korogo 206
Austen, Leo 157-58
Austing, John 260
Australian Institute of Anatomy, Canberra 6,
44
Australian Museum, Sydney 5, 6, 8, 44, 251-
n22, 263
Australian War Museum, Melbourne 6
Austronesian 26, 28, 30, 97, 98, 181, 223
Auyu [people] 176
Ava, Siriso 262
Avatip 188
Awar [people] 204
Awin [people] 262
Awok 234, 235
Ayres, Mary 262
Bafmatuk, Francis 262
Bahinemo [people] 152-54, 187
Baining [people] 204, 223-24, 262, Fig. 104
Ballantyne, D. 261
Ballard, Chris 263
Bambai (Tomelekau), Benson 240
Bamu River 155, 193, 225
Banaro [people] 128, 129-31
Bangwis Figs 34, 35
Barok [people] 3, 91
Bateson, Gregory 61
Bau [people] 98
Beaver, Brian 260
Bedamuni (Beami) [people] 191-92
Beek, Albert G. van 191, 261
Beier, Ulli 42, 125-28, 162-63, 213
Bekapeki 152, Fig. 76
Bela 169, Fig. 87
Beltjens, Peter 53
Benoir, Jean 92
Berman, Marsha 262
Berndt, Ronald 178
Bevan, Theodore 229, 252-n30
Biami [people] 260, 261
Big Murik 213, Figs 23-5
Bilbil Island 98
Bimin [people] 260
Binandere [people] 251-n19
Biro, L. 102
Bishop Museum, Honolulu 8
Bisis [people] 32
Bisorio 138
Biwat [people] Fig. 67
Blackwater River 59, 251-n22
Boagis 40, 42
Boazi [people] 262
Bobonggara 23
Bodrogi, Tibor 102, 189-90,236, 238, 251-
n4&5
Bogia 259
Boiken [people] 73, 81-2, 100, 118-20, 187,
251-n19
Bongos 107
Bonnefoy, Maurice 143
Border Mountains 187, 196
Borkent, Maarten 261, 262
Bosmun 33, 49, 105
Bougainville 265-n4
Bowden, Ross 56, 107-9, 115, 262
Bowers, Nancy 260
Brennan, Paul 260
Breri [people] 132-33
Brignoni, Serge 160
British Museum, London 5, 259
Brouwer, Elizabeth 261
Brown, George 177
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General Index – 281
Brugenauwi 110
Bue 239
Buepis 234
Bühler, Alfred 2, 135, 136, 219
Buka Fig. 12
Bukaua Fig. 17
Bulmer, Ralph 252-n24
Bundi [people] 223
Burridge, Ken 251-n19
Busse, Mark 262
Bussell , Loed van 263
Caesar, Rudi 52, 132, 216, 261, 262
Camilla Wedgewood Collection 263
Campbell, Shirley 3, 42
Carpenter, Edmund 260
Central New Guinea 84-6, 169-71, 187, 259,
261, 262
Central Province 262
Chambri Lake 59, 100, 185
Chan, Joe 263
Chenoweth, Vida 181
Chimbu [people] 259
Chimbut 142, 251-n23, Figs 71, 73
Chowning, Ann 3
Christensen, O. 262
Cleland, Donald & Rachel 20, 260
Cletus Smank of Tambanum 252-n25
Collingwood Bay 105
Corbin, George 223-24, 262
Craig, Barry 14-n2, 165, 259, 261
Craig, Tom 260
Crane Expedition 53
Cranstone, Bryan 259
Crawford, Anthony 121, 259, 261
Cultural Property Legislation 6-8, 9, 11, 16, 17,
251-n15
Dairam Hitam River 176
Danyig 183
Darapap 126, 213, 251-n9, Fig. 15
D’Arcy Galleries, New York 143, 145
Dark, Philip J.C. 88, 102
Dauneng 133, 150, Fig. 67
Dennett, Helen 52, 54, 251-n9, 262
Depew, Robert 262
Dibiri 193
Dimiri 100
Dinam 216
Donaldson, P. 138-40
Dornstreich, Mark & Judy 259
Dorsey, George A. 135-36
Dubumba Fig. 77
Dye, Wayne 153
Eastern Highlands 259, 262
East New Britain 263
Edmiston, Pat 142
Egloff, Brian 240, 245, 246, 247, 260, 261
Elema [people] 43-5, 155, 162-63, 177, 193,
195, 204, 223, 229
Elip Valley (Eliptaman) 86, Figs 84-5
Ellis, Tom 260
Ellis, W.F. 8-9
Enga [people] 122-23
Eoe, Soroi Marepo 14, 262
Era River 44, 155, 158-60, 177, 225
Ewore 251-n19
Ewta River 176
Fatmilak 222
Field Museum, Chicago 135
Finschhafen 37
Fischer, Hans 181, 185
Fisoa 236
Fly River 263
Forge, Anthony 73, 76, 116, 140, 209, 251-n23
Fountain, Ossie 85
Fox, Peter 9
Frankel, Hermione 30
Franklin, Karl 260
Friede, John 160
Frobenius Institute 63, 135
Frost, Steven 85
Gadio [people] 138, 259
Gahom 153
Gaikarobi 188
Galis, K.W. 30
Gamei [people] 204
Gamnanenbak (Sikaiyum) 140, Fig. 72
Gapun 211, 213
Gardi, Rene 77
Gawa Island 40-2
Gell, Alfred 2
Gerbrands, Adrian A. 191, 234-35
Gerrits, Godfried 40, 42, 77-80, 259, 261
Gibu 162
Glass, Patrick 178
Gnau [people] Fig. 14
Goaribari Island 44, 106, 154, 157, 158, 193
Gofabi 191
Gogodala [people] 26, 121, 193, 259, 261, 263,
Figs 8, 64
Gogol River 98
Goldman, Philip 152-53
Goldwater, Robert 1
Golson, Jack 263
Goodenough Island 259
Gope area 158-9, Fig. 78
Gorecki, Paul 263
Gosden, Chris 263
Gourlay, Ken 181
Groube, Les 263
Groves, W.C. 236
Guam River 128, 131-33
Guiart, Jean 63
Guma Figs 94, 104
Gunn, Michael 106, 222, 236-38, 262
Gutok of Tongwindjamb 109-10, 112, Figs
60, 62
Haberland, Eike 63, 142
Haddon, A.C. 160
Hallinan, Peter 246
Hamson, Michael 187
Hauser-Schäublin, Brigitta 60, 73, 76, 206
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282 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Haus Völker und Kulturen, St Augustin 136
Heathcote, Wayne 140, 150, 165, 213, 260
Heintze, Dieter 222
Helfrich, Klaus 219, 246
Hermann & Kempf 262
Hide, Robin 262
Hill, Rowena 240, 241, 245, 262
Hoare, Barry 66, 87, 200, 216, 261
Hogbin, Ian 214-16
Holden, Gordon 63
Hosea Linge of Libba 246
Hosking, Lynne 261
Huber, Peter 260
Hudson, Ian 261
Huli [people] 122-24, 169, Fig. 86
Humboldt Bay 30, Fig. 13
Hunstein Range 152-54
Huon Gulf 37-8, 87, 219, 251-n5
Huppertz, Josefine 52-4, 251-n8&9
Hurley, Frank 43, 160, 225, 229
Iatmul [people] 32, 56-69, 150, 183, 188, 198,
206-9, 232, 251-n7, Figs 37, 38, 40-5, 74,
91-3, 96
Idam Valley 165
Igana 217
Ilikimin [people] 86
Imigabip 85
Imipiaka 123
Imonda 259
Inantikin 86
Indabu 196
Inyai [village, people] 138, 142, 143-46
Isago 121
Issac, Chris 262
Ivuyo, Baiva 262
J.K. McCarthy Museum, Goroka 9, 22-3, 260
Jablonko, A. & M. 260
Jackson, G.G. 259
Jangimot (Janain) 126, 210
Japandai 208
Japtambor 234
Jeffries, A.C. 260
Juillerat, Bernard 206, 260
Julius, Charles 258, 260
Kaiku, Resonga Omboni 262
Kaimari 160
Kairiru [people] Fig. 16
Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss-Expedition 165
Kalam [people] 169
Kaluli [people] 192
Kambot [village and people] 44, 52-4, 56, 135,
251-n11, Figs 29, 30, 32
Kambrambo (Kambaramba) 44, 209
Kambrindo 138
Kamfegolmin [people] 169
Kaminimbit 151
Kamula [people] 177
Kandep 260
Kandingei 60, 66-7, 208, 252-n25
Kandrian 180, 262
Kanganaman 61, 63-6, 189, Figs 41-4
Kara [people] 247, Fig. 9
Karadjundo 129
Kararau 69, 151, 196, Fig. 45
Karau 211, Fig. 97
Karawari (Korewori) River 7, 59, 138-46, 183-
84, 260, Figs 71, 73
Kasprús, Aloys 128, 132-33
Kate [people] 189
Kaufmann, Christian 115, 142, 143-46, 252-
n24, 260
Kaugel 260
Kaulong [people] 180
Kelly, John 260
Kelm, Heinz & Antje 260
Kennedy, George 145
Keram River 46, 52-6, 100, 128-30, 216
Kerewa (Kerewo) [people] 44, 157-58, 160,
225, Fig. 77
Keurs, Pieter ter 262
Kiki, Albert Maori 45, 162-63
Kikori 22, 195, 260
Kilenge [people] 87-8, 219, 262
Kilivila [people] Figs 18, 57, 58
Kirch, Pat 263
Kire (Giri) [people] 204
Kiriwina 263, Figs 18, 57, 58
Kirsch, Stuart 262
Kiwai [Island and people] 190, 193
Knezevic & Gueroult 263
Kobayashi, S. 261
Koiwat 100
Kombai 176
Komdavip 169, Figs 84-5
Kominimung [people] 128, 129, 131-33, 165,
168, 217-18
Kooijman, Simon 2
Kopar [village and people] 49, 127, 129
Korogo 71, Fig. 96
Korogopa 251-n11
Korope, Pim 262
Kova , John 54, 251-n9
Kraimbit 251-n22
Krämer, Augustin 239, 241
Kubkein 31, 187
Küchler (Kuechler), Susanne 240-50
Kuk 23
Kumun 118
Kundiawa 260
Kundima 140
Kwanga [people] 73, 77-80, 100, Figs 50-3
Kwoma [people] 56, 107-15, 116, 262, Figs 33-
6, 60, 61, 63
Kwomtari [village and people] 205-6, 252-
n26, Fig. 95
Laa, Nathan 260
Lagerkrantz, Kristian 261
Laiagam 122
Lakalai [people] 3
Lake Kopiago 259
Lake Kutubu 22
Lake Murray/Fly River 259
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General Index – 283
Langenia Fig. 103
Langules, Pierre 92
Lapita 97
Latoma 145
Lauan Fig. 9
Lauer, Peter 259
Laumann, Karl 133, 135-38
Lawes, Bruce 133, 150, 260, Fig. 75
Lawton, Ralph 88, 260
Leach, Edmund 178
Lehner, Henry 53
Leonhard Schultze River 187
Lesu 236
Lévi-Strauss, Claude 2
Lewis, Albert Buell 43, 135, 160
Lewis, Gilbert 260
Lewis, M.J. 206
Lewis, Phillip 222, 238-39
Libba 238
Lincoln, Louise 248
Lindt, J.W. 177
Lipset, David 33, 46, 48, 49, 127-28, 210, 251-
n9
Lissauer, Mark 260
Liversidge, Jeff 132, 217
Lockyer, E.R. 122, 124
Long Island 260
Lower Ramu 259
Lower Sepik 33, 125-28, 186, 189, 205, 210
Lumi 165, 260, Fig. 80
Lurang, Noah 219, 222, 238, Fig. 102
M’bagintao, Ivan 262
MacGregor, William vii, 5, 6, 7, 11, 20, 257
MacGregor collection 5-6, 13-14, 177, 263,
265-n3
Mackay, Roy 9, 10, 240, 258, 259, 260, 261
MacKenzie, Maureen 262
Macleay Museum, Sydney 252-n30, 263
Madak [people] 261
Madang 259, 260, 261, 262
Madau Island 40
Madsen, Mr 143-45
Magalsimbip 169, Figs 82-3
Magendo 136
Magim 136
Mahanei Fig. 7
Mailu [Island and people] 26, 97, Fig. 10
Maliba (Bekapeki) Fig. 76
Malinowski, Bronislaw 39, 40, 42, 195
Malu 187
Mamiya, C.J. 45, 194
Manam Island 46, 263
Manambu [people] 182, 188, 198
Mandak [people] 223
Mandok Island 88
Manmanim of Magalsimbip Fig. 82
Mann, Alan 7, 8, 9, 10, 63, 138, 260
Mansamei 7
Manus 260, 262, 263
Manus Provincial Government Collection 263
Mappi River 176
Maprik 135, 259, Fig. 49
Maramba 135, 136-38, 251-n22, Figs 68, 70
Marap Nr 2 66
Marawat 100
Marbuk 48
Margarima 122-24
Massim [region] 39-42, 97
Mawe, Theodore 262
May, Patricia 97-100, 187, 251-n16
May River 260, 262
McCarthy, J.K. 260
McLean, Mervyn 181
Meagoma (Karalti) Fig. 78
Mekeo [people] 261
Mendam 126, 211, 213, Figs 26-8, 99, 100
Mendi [people] 122, 154, 169, 259, Fig. 87
Métraux, Rhoda 251-n12
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1, 150
Meyer, Anthony 150, 251-n18
Meyer, Oscar 133, 150
Mianmin [people] 169, 260
Middle Sepik 32, 56, 59-72, 93-5, 146-52, 186,
196, 205, 207-9
Mikarew 51, 52
Miller, Allyn 225, 263
Milne Bay region 98, 259, 260, 262
Mindimbit 208
Misima Island Fig. 19
Misingi 132
Mitchell, William 260
Mitton, Robert 30, 260, 262
Mivimbit (Mebenbit, Mevenbit) 69, 188, 196,
208
Miyak [people] Fig. 69
Morakau of Murik Lakes 125, 128
Morehead River 262
Morobe 260, 261
Morren, George 260
Mosko, Mark 261
Mosuwadoga, Geoffrey 12, 13, 14, 262
Motu [people] 26, Fig. 11
Mount Bosavi 191, 259
Mount Hagen 172, 260
Mountain-Ok (see Central New Guinea)
Mulderink, Anthony 87
Mullerried F.K.G. 263
Murik Lakes 33, 46-9, 125-28, 129, Figs 15, 23-
8, 65, 97, 99, 100
Murray, Hubert vii, 5, 6-7, 11, 14, 20, 44, 257
Muschu Island 46
Musée de l’Homme, Paris 206
Musée National des arts d’Afrique et Océanie,
Paris 63, 259
Museum für Völkerkunde (Museum der
Kulturen), Basel 135, 143, 145, 150, 259,
261
Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin 165
Museum für Völkerkunde, Frankfurt am Main
63
Museum of Primitive Art, New York 1, 63, 213
Musgrave, Anthony 5, 12
Mutu [people] Fig. 17
Nafri 30
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284 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Nagri 110, Fig. 61
Namau [people] 43, 44, 155, 193-94, 225, 229,
Figs 21, 79
Namblo River 56
Nangusap Fig. 46
Narabutal of Kiriwina 42
Narian Fig. 19
Narokobi, Bernard 14, 19
National Cultural Property 8, 11, 63, 84-5, 140,
150, 196, 213, 240, 255
National Museum of Australia, Canberra 6,
14, 44
National Museum for Ethnology, Leiden 191
National Museum of Ireland, Dublin 252-n30
National Museum of NZ, Wellington 261
National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne 5
Neich, Roger 122-24
Nelke, Wolfgang 260
New Ireland 91-2, 219, 232, 236-50, 262, 263,
Fig. 59
Newton, Douglas 2, 31, 44, 45, 63, 110, 152-
53, 154, 157, 158-59, 160, 182, 187-88, 198,
213, 225, 229, 259
Nggala [people] 31
Niles, Don 262
Nomad River 259, 260
North-eastern Kiwai [people] Fig. 78
North Solomons 262, 265-n4
Notsi [people] Fig. 103
Novep, Simon 52, 54, 251-n9, Figs 29-31
Nuku 107, 260
Nukuma [people] 56, 107, 111, 115, 116, Fig. 61
Nyaurengai 150, Fig. 74
Olimandji of Gaikarobi 71
Olivilevi Fig. 58
Olo [people] Fig. 80
Omadasep 234
Omarakana Fig. 57
Oppenheimer, Stephen 26
Oro Province 262
Orokaiva [people] 3, 259, 260
Orokolo 155, 157, 162-63, 177, 204, Figs 22,
105
Oksapmin [people] 259
Otsjanep 176, 234, Fig. 106
Pacific Arts Association 4, Fig. 102
Pakua of Libba 238
Palimbei 196, 200, Figs 37, 91-2
Panachais 240, 241
Panamecho 240-50, 262, Fig. 108
Panzenbock, Franz 139
Papuan Gulf 43-5, 97, 105-6, 155-64, 192-95,
225-30, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263
Papuan (Hubert Murray) Official Collection 6,
14, 14-n2, 44
Parker, Fred 260
Pasquarelli, John 260
Pasismanua [people] Fig. 88
Paterson, W.R. 122, 123
Perey, Arnold 259
Peter, Hans 260
Pfeiffer, Marianne 150
Pie River 160
Plummer, Anthony C. 260
Popondetta 259
Porapora 48
Port Moresby Museum 6
Porter-Poole, John Fitz 260
Powdermaker, Hortense 236
Pretty, Graeme 9, 14-n3, 259
Prince Alexander Mountains 45, 73-82, 116-
20
Purari Delta/River 106, 155, 160, 162, 177, 193,
229, Figs 20, 21, 79
Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery,
Launceston 8, 261
Queensland Museum, Brisbane 5, 6, 14, 177,
263, 265-n3
Quinnell, Michael 14-n1
Raabe, Eva 135, 251-n13
Rabaul Museum 6, 14, 165
Ramu River 33, 128-29, 216-17, 262, 263
Rauit Fig. 14
Reah, H.M. 122
Repatriation 6, 11, 13-14, 20, 44, 177, 261, 263
Rhoads, James 260, 261
Rhodes, Jim [sic – see Rhoads]
Ride, W.D.L. 9, 10, 13
Rivers, W.H.R. 7
Rockefeller, Michael 234, 235
Romkun [village and people] 131-33, 217
Roscoe, Paul 80-2, 118
Rosenfeld, Andre 263
Ruboni Range 51, 216
Ruff, Wallace 47, 50, 54, 56, 63
Samap 49
Samo [people] 191, 260
Sanchi River 56, 107
Sanio [people] 152, Fig. 76
Sawos [people] 59, 60, 66, 69-71, 133, 150-52,
182-83, 188, Figs 39, 46, 47, 75
Schefold, Reimar 148
Schindlbeck, Markus 60, 69-71
Schlesier, E. 251-n4
Schmidt, Joseph 210
Schmidt, Karl P. 53
Schmitz, Carl 106
Scholz, Lyle 169, 260
Schouten Islands 33, 214
Schultze-Westrum, Thomas 159-60, 252-n29,
259
Schurcliff, Sidney 53, 61
Schuster, Gisela 153-54
Schuster, Meinhard 135, 153-54
Schwimmer, Erik 2, 3, 205
Seized Collections 11, 261
Sengseng 180
Sepik region 1, 45-9, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263
Shaw, Dan 260
Sheridan, R.J & H.F. 262
Shotmeri 196, Figs 38, 39
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General Index – 285
Siassi Islands 37, 38, 87-8, 102, 189, 219, 262
Siep, William 132, 217
Sikaiyum (see Gamnanenbak)
Sillitoe, Paul 169
Sillitoe, Paul & Jackie 262
Simbai Valley 169, 259, 260
Simbu Province 262
Sinclair, James 260
Singarin (Tsingarin) 129,135
Sio 98
Smidt, Dirk 2, 10-11, 13, 51-3, 77, 79, 128, 129-
30, 131-33, 168, 185, 209, 211, 213, 216,
217-18, 234, 251-n21, 252-n28, 260, 262
Smith, Regis 260
Solomon Islands 26
Somare, Michael 1, 3, 10, 12, 104, Figs 1, 4
Sorum, Ave 260
South Australian Museum, Adelaide 9, 222,
252-n30, Fig. 102
Southern Highlands 260, 261, 262
Spearritt, Gordon 188
Specht, Jim 261, 263
Speiser, Felix 2, 44, 61, 126, 209
Spriggs, Matthew 263
Stokes, Alison 262
Strathern, Andrew 262
Stummer, M. 263
Suki [people] 262
Sulka [people] 204, 262, Fig. 94
Sumariup 138, 143-46
Sumnik, E.C. 45, 194
Sunuhu Nr 2 77-80, 259, 261, 262, Figs 50-3
Susuve, Albert 262
Swadling, Pamela 262, 263
Sweeney, Jack 262
Tabar [Islands and people] 91, 219, 222, 223,
232, 236, 245-46, 262, Fig. 107
Tambanum 129, Fig. 40
Tambigenum 135, 136
Tambul 260
Tami Islands 37, 38, 87, 102, 189-90, 219,
251-n5
Tangu [people] 251-n19
Tari 259
Tatau [Island and village] 238, Figs 102, 107
Telban, Borut 140, 183, 185
Telefolip 84, 86, Figs 54-6
Telefolmin (Telefol) [people] 84, 259, Figs 54-
6, 81, 84, 85
Telefomin [place] 85-6, 259, 260, Fig. 81
Thurnwald, Richard 77, 128, 130-31
Thurston, B. 261
Tifalmin (Tifal) [people] 259, Figs 82, 83
Tjamangai 77
Tjitak [people] 176
Tobadi 30
Tolembi 60, 69-71, Fig. 47
Tomo, Wilfred 262
Tongwindjamb 109-10, Figs 33, 60, 62
Torricelli Mountains 31, 187
Trobriand Islands 3, 39-42, 88-9, 98, 177-78,
195, 260, 262, Figs 18, 57, 58
Tuckson, Margaret 97-100, 187, 251-n16, 260,
261
Turama River/Delta 155, 157, 162
Ubuo 159
Ugutagwa 79
Ukiaravi (Ukiravi) 44, 160, Fig. 21
Ulapmin [people] 259
Umba, Dungul 262
Umboi Island 87
Umeda [people] 2
Umlauf, J.F.G. 136
United Church Collection 263
University of Pennsylvania Museum 263
Upper Sepik 31, 196, 205-6, 259, 260, 261
Urama (Uramu) Island 44, 158-60, 194, 225,
229
Usher, Ernest Sterne 43
Utu High School Collection 263
Vailala River 157, 162-63, 177
Vanderwal, Ron 261
Vanimo 30
Vitiaz Strait 37-8, 98
Voogdt, H. 135-36
Wabag 260
Wabia 169, Fig. 86
Wagner, Roy 3
Wagu 154
Waiko, John 14
Walomo 30
Wangbin 169
Wantoat [people] 204, 223
Wapo Creek 155, 158-60
Warasei [people] 56, 107
Warenu, Simeon 240
Washkuk Hills 56, 107
Washkuk Village Fig. 89
Wassmann, Jürg 60, 67, 146, 148, 206, 232,
251-n12, 252-n25
Watam [Lagoon and village] 33, 48, 127, 209,
211, 213, Figs 66, 90
Wauchope, E.J. 251-n22
Weiner, Annette B. 88-9
Welsch, Robert 135
Wepenang, Zacharias 54
West New Britain 87, 260, 261
[West] Papua 260, 262
Western Australian Museum, Perth 9
Western Highlands 262
Western Province 262
White, Peter 259, 261, 263
Wielgus collection 135-36
Wilium Fig. 80
Williams, Francis Edgar 43-5, 157, 160, 194, 229
Wilson, Lindsay 240
Wingei Fig. 48
Wirimbi [people] 123
Wirz, Dadi 133-35, 136, 138, 150, 259
Wirz, Paul 44, 135, 159, 259
Withofs, Patricia 263
Wogamus(-in) [people] 31, 188, Fig. 89
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286 – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes
Wogamush River 152
Wogeo Island 214-16, Fig. 101
Wogupmeri River 138, 183, Fig. 72
Wola [people] 169, 262
Womersley, John S. 7, 10, 260
Wonenara 259, 260
Wongan (Wangam) 213
Woodlark Island 98, 260
Wosera area 77
Wowobo 252-n29
Wumod 169
Wurabai 206, 252-n26, Fig. 95
Wuvulu Island 261
Yabim [people] 37, 189-90
Yabob Island 98
Yafi 205
Yambi Yambi 32
Yamok 133, 150-2
Yan of Asang’gumban Fig. 69
Yangoru 118-20, 187
Yaruna 124
Yasyin [people] 56, 107
Yaul 100
Yellow River 260
Yentschan Fig. 93
Yimar [people] 142
Yimas [people] 138-40
Yonggom [people] 262
Yoshida, Shuji 262
Yotefa Bay 30
Young, Morris 87, 260, 262
Yuaroma 135, 138
Yuat River 32, 133-38, 209, Figs 68-70
Yuo Island Fig. 16
Yuri [people] 260
Z’graggen, John 128
Zee, Pauline van der 232-35, 252-n31
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