Colonial Town to Melanesian City : Port Moresby 1884-1974/ [By] N.D
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
:� -� � 'f;: � �� -�- �r...:; "'· :,Y:-�� ·� �-',_ �if;::� �= :� ·E::�'!' �'L - .._ �� :;;-· �:- ; � .._.. n�� :-:;� � ��· �-�� � ·�: COLONIAL TOWN TO MELANESIAN CITY Port Moresby 1884-1974 N.D. Oram Australian National University Press Canberra 1976 First published in Australia 1976. Printed in Hong Kong for the Australian National University Press, Canberra © N.D. Oram 1976 This book is copyright. Apart fromany fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism, or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries should be made to the publisher. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Oram, Nigel Denis Colonial town to Melanesian city : Port Moresby 1884-1974/ [by] N.D. Oram. - Canberra : Australian National University Press, 1976. Index. Bibliography. ISBN 0 7081 0540 8. 1. Port Moresby - History. I. Title. 995 Southeast Asia: Angus & Robertson (S.E. Asia) Pty Ltd, Singapore. Japan: United Publishers Services Ltd, Tokyo. Acknowledgments I gratefully acknowledge the funds provided by Australian Frontier to enable me to continue my research as an Honorary Research Fellow in the Depart ment of Anthropology and Sociology, Australian National University during 1968-9; and the encouragement given to me by Stephen Boyden at this time and his help in arranging this assistance. My thanks are firstdue to those who were either working with me, or on related projects, between 1962 and 1965: Gavera Baru, Susan Faircloth, Nancy Hitchcock, Philip Maimu, Dawn Ryan and Lyn Oeser. They are also due to Alan Rew for his co-operation while he was also carrying out research in Port Moresby. I am grateful to government officials and other residents of Port Moresby, who are too many to mention by name; but my special thanks go to Cecil Abel, the late H.W. Champion, Ivan Champion, the Reverend Percy Chatterton, Dr Alec and Mrs Thelma Price, and Mrs Beth Mylius and members of the Community Development Group forputting their time and knowledge at my disposal. I am grateful to Graham Smith, former Town Clerk, Port Moresby City Council for his unfailing helpfulness since we have been closely associated since 1970. My thanks also to H.T. Kienzle and John Smeeton for their com ments on my chapter on World War II. It is not possible to acknowledge by name all my colleagues in the Australian National University and the University of Papua New Guinea and others who over a period of eleven years contributed in a number of ways. I feel, however, that I should mention Lesley Andrews, J.A. Barnes, Ann Chowning, John Conroy T.E. Dutton, A.L. Epstein, E.K. Fisk, James Gibbney, Helga and James Griffin, D. Hegarty, L. Lewis, Hank Nelson, Terry Standley, D. Van de Kaa and G.R. Ward. Acknowledgments are due to the cartographer, Department of Geography, University of Papua New Guinea and Linda Allen for the preparation of Maps 1,2,4,5, and 8; to AV. Surmon and R.G. Ward for Maps 3 and 6 which appeared in Port Moresby 1970; and to the Planning and Survey Section of the Housing Commission and Urban Resettlement Office, Department of Social Development and Home Affairs for preparing Map 7 and Figures 2 and 3. Finally I am most grateful to my wife, Joan, who helped me to organise my material and patiently typed my drafts, and to my three children, Denis, Janet and Rosemary, who criticised various drafts and assisted in a number of ways. Port Moresby, 1974 N.D.O. Abbreviations A.N.G.A.U. Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit A.N.U. Australian National University A.R. British New Guinea Annual Reports, 1885-1906 Papua Annual Reports, 1907- c.o. Colonial Office D.S.N.A. Department of District Services and Native Affairs E.A.R.C. East Africa Royal Commission 1952-5 G.N. Government Gazette Notice H.A. House of Assembly H.A.D. House of Assembly Debates l.B.R.D. International Bank forReconstruction and Development J.P.H. Journal of Pacific History J.P.N.G.S. Journalof the Papua New Guinea Society J.R.A.I. Jo urnal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain L.C.D. Legislative Council Debates L.M.S. London Missionary Society N. G.A.P.S.A. New Guinea and Australia, the Pacific andSoutheast Asia N.G.A.R. New Guinea Annual Reports N.G.R.U. New Guinea Research Unit P.C. Post Courier P.l.M. Pacific Islands Monthly P.M.S.J. Port Moresby Station Journal P.N.G. Papua New Guinea Q.P.P. Queensland Parliamentary Papers S.P. South Pacific S.P.P. South Pacific Post T.P.N.G. Territory of Papua New Guinea U.N.O. United Nations Organization U.P.N.G. University of Papua New Guinea Contents Acknowledgments v Abbreviations vi Introduction ix 1 The Regional Background in Pre-European Times 1 2 The Foundation of Port Moresby 1873-1888 12 3 The Colonial Backwater 1889-1941 27 4 Administration and Social Change 1889-1941 42 5 Wartime Interlude 1942-1945 63 6 Expansion of Port Moresby 1946-1974 84 7 Characteristics of the Port Moresby Population 104 8 Social Organisation 128 9 Race Relations 157 10 Shelter 167 11 The Administration of Port Moresby 1945-1974 209 12 Administrative Institutions and Urban Society: towards mutual adaptation 236 References 260 Index 279 Tables 1 Indigenous and non-indigenous population of Port Moresby and projected population to 1986 85 Figures 1 Pyramids of Papua New Guinean and expatriate population, 1971 107 2 Rabiakini Settlement, existing development 200 3 Rabiakini Settlement, proposed redevelopment scheme 202 Maps 1 Villages in the Port Moresby area, 1873 3 2 Traditional coastal trading network 5 3 Major centres : Port Moresby, 1974 87 4 Mainland roads, Papua New Guinea, mid-1974 90 5 Population by race, 1971 102 6a, b, c Port Moresby 1942, 1958, 1971 130 7 Customary land and indigenous settlement, 1974 176 8 Port Moresby town boundary 178 Introduction Since the end of World War II, the proportion of the population of the world living in urban centres has been rapidly increasing, especially in developing countries. Between 1920 and 1960, urban populations in East Asia grew four times, in Latin America and Africa five times, and in Oceania two-and-a-half times (United Nations, 1968: 12). The majority of towns in modernising countries have been either founded by colonial powers or have come under their control or influence. Many are divided into two sectors which I have elsewhere called high-grade and low grade development sectors. The first sector consists of town centres and richer suburbs in which standards of planning, building and services are comparable to those foundin Western towns.1 The second sector is inhabited by the poorer members of the population and consists either of overcrowded tenements with in towns or areas of uncontrolled and congested settlements, inadequately provided with services, on their fringes. Poverty leads to malnutrition and disease. High crime rates, unstable family life and other forms of social disor ganisation emerge, although these characteristics are also found in Western towns. In spite of immense effort in terms of human thought and energy and of ex penditure of huge sums of money and masses of materials, social and physical conditions in these towns are getting worse. While a number of writers (e.g. McGee, 1967 : 155-70; Juppenlatz, 1970) have recognised various aspects which distinguish the two sectors, the administrative implications of the differences between them have received little attention. If solutions to urban problems are to be found, a new approach is needed and such an approach is proposed in this book. I argue that the problems which arise in Port Moresby are not mainly caused by lack of financial and other resources or by badly executed policies, although these play their part. They arise because administrative institutions 1. I use the term 'Western' as a convenient shorthand to referto the predominantly Anglo Saxon industrial culture of northern Europe, the United States and Australia. That it is not synonymous with European, readers of the People of the Sierra by Julian Pitt Rivers (1954) will appreciate. x Colonial Town to Melanesian City and policies have been adopted which reflect Western needs and goals, un related to the needs and aspirations of the Papua New Guinean population. Social problems arise when people suffer deprivation, injustice or other ills. As C. Wright Mills (1970 : 145) says : 'In our formulation of problems we must make clear the values that are really threatened in the troubles and issues involved, who accepts them as values, and by whom or by what they are threaten ed.' Problems may be identified in a number of ways. Many problems are partly culturally determined ; austere conditions welcomed by a Spartan, for example, would be abhorrent to a modern American or Australian. Those experiencing problems may articulate them, but their understanding of their problems and their feltneeds depends on their awareness of their total situation and of the options which are open to them. An observer from outside a society may judge problems in terms of his own values : a Westerner, forexample, may ipso fa cto condemn conditions he sees obtaining in a shanty settlement. He may, however, try to assess them in the light of the values of those involved and thereby come to a different conclusion. External assessments may be based on precise scientific evidence : medical research may establish beyond doubt that lack of hygiene in a canoe settlement plays a major part in the aetiology of helminthic diseases (intestinal parasites) which are prevalent among its in habitants.