Description
Hungarians in New Guinea? How did a cohort of Hungarians end up in New Guinea? How did this small central European country send so many of its sons to such a faraway corner of Melanesia? The answer lies in Hungary’s 19th century history, when it was part of the important Habsburg empire, as the junior partner in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, that officially began in 1867. This was a German-speaking entity, as was the Prussian-led alliance that unified the German nation in the 1870s. This was the country that in the 1880s colonised parts of Africa as well as the north-east area of New Guinea in 1884. Shortly before the year 1900, two Hungarian scientist-collectors, Samuel Fenichel and Lajos Biro, worked in German New Guinea, the pioneers of the Hungarians who came after them.
They were followed by Count Festetics de Tolna, a wealthy Hungarian who sailed in his yacht along the eastern coast of New Guinea. He collected many artefacts and took numerous excellent photos. In 1914, the opening days of WW I, an Australian task force quickly defeated the small German defense force. Australia then absorbed the former colony that became a mandated territory under the post-war League of Nations. It existed separately, alongside the Australian colony of Papua in the south-eastern section of New Guinea. Three prominent Hungarians worked in, and/or wrote about, what became Papua New Guinea. Seven less prominent Hungarians also left their mark on eastern New Guinea.
In the former Dutch colony, in the eastern half of New Guinea, a prominent geologist collected many artefacts. After the Indonesian takeover of the former Dutch colony, the Hungarian author of this book spent 20 years (1996-2016) working for Freeport Indonesia, a gigantic mining company. His job included the purchase and sales of art-related carvings.
Most of the Hungarians, heading the main chapters of our book, impelled by patriotic feelings of nationalistic impulses, sent back from New Guinea to Hungary collections of ethnographic objects, complemented by photography. Most if this cornucopia eventually ended up in Budapest’s National Ethnographic Museum.
This book will reveal how, an insignificant, land-locked country with no colonies, was able to gather such a wealth of information about New Guinea.
About the author
Dr Muller spent 22 years working and living with two Papuan groups, allowing him access to excellent relations with not just the people but also prominent academics and scientists and their resources.
Table of contents
CONTENTS
Preface………………………….. 1
Introduction………………………….. 3
1. German New Guinea: A Colony Sharing the Island with Australia and Holland………………………………..5
- North-east New Guinea becomes a German colony
- Governing German New Guinea
- Albert Hahl
- A plantation-based economy
- The importance of New Britain
- Explorations
- H.H. Romilly, Acting Special Commissioner for New Guinea
- Otto Finsch lays the foundation for the German colony
- Further explorations
- Missions in German New Guinea: Lutheran prominence
- World War One: the end of German New Guinea
- A note on colonisation
2. Samuel Fenichel: A Short Productive Life and a Tragic Death…………………………………..37
- Moving to Kaiser Wilhelmsland
- Grubauer abandons Fenichel
- Fenichel’s collection
- Polished stone tools
- Of axes and adzes in West New Guinea (by Kal Muller)
3. Lajos Biro: Meticulous Research with a Sense of Humor…………………………………53
- Back to Astrolabe Bay and collecting in other areas
- Texts by Molnar-Bagley
- Lajos Biro and his relations with the Papuans
- Germans and their language
- Miklouho-Maclay, a famous Russian predecessor
- Biro’s finances
- Malaria and Dr. Robert Koch
- Biro’s Papuan wives
- His collections
- Biro and missions
- Two letters from New Guinea to Hungary
3a. Circular Boar Tusks …………………………………………………81
- Information from Harry Beran
- Information from Jane Goodale
- Information from Felix Speiser
4. Count Rudolf Festetics de Tolna: Two Books About a Rich Aristocrat Cruising the Pacific………………………………………..93
PART ONE
- The lure of adventure. Count Rudolf Festetics’ Oceanic collection. (Antoni in Gyarmati 2008: 281-312)
- Cruising the South Pacific through Polynesia
- On to dark Melanesia
PART TWO
- Style and content
- Polynesia: the first part of the journey
- Samoa and Robert Luis Stevenson
- The New Hebrides (now Vanuatu)
- The Solomon Islands: joining the headhunters?
- New Britain: the Count on trial
- The Tolna sails to New Ireland
5. Geza Roheim: Pursuing an Elusive,Oedipus Complex………………………………………………..123
- Five sculptures in detail
- The missing monster
- G. Roheim: Yaboaine, a war god of Normanby Island 1941
- G. Roheim: Cannibalism in Duau, Normanby Island 1954
- G. Roheim: Ceremonial prostitution on Duau 1946
- G. Roheim: Professional beauties of Normanby Island 1940
6. Less Prominent Hungarians: Diverse Encounters with Papua New Guinea …………………………………….139
– The Zollner Expedition
- Molnar-Bagley
- Oszkar Vojnich
- Karoly Verebelyi
- Maria Molnar
– Hungarian martyr in New Guinea
– Maria Molnar’s work in New Guinea
– Martyrdom on Manus
– Anna’s flight to Buin
– Tireless traveller
7. Tibor Bodrogi: The Most Prolific Hungarian who Wrote about New Guinea but whoNever Set Foot on this Island ………………………………………161
Bodrogi’s The Art of Oceania
- The Art of North East New Guinea
- Trade items and exchange cycles
- Bodrogi’s ethnographic articles
- The style province ‘Astrolabe Bay’
- Art motifs
- Initiation rites and the ghost/spirit (Asa) cult of Astrolabe Bay (1951 and 1953)
- Circumcision/supra-incision
- The ‘balum’ and initiation
- The ghost cult
- Tago masks from Tami
- Yabim Drums
8. Gabor Vargyas: Following the Legacy of Lajos Biro after Nearly a Century …………………………………….187
- Chapter One: ‘Blacks’ and whites: colonial administration and the natives
- Chapter Two: ‘Ol Meri’ Papuan Wives and European Husbands
– Australia’s Native and White Women’s Protection Ordinances
– Biro’s three wives
- Chapter Three: Misunderstandings, Conflicts and Punitive Expeditions
– Gabor Vargyas: Field Notes fromAstrolabe Bay (1987)
– Remains of the traditional material culture
– Links with the past
– Initiations
9. Horst Van Bandat: The Father of Photo-Geology at Work in West New Guinea …………………………………………….205
- Biography and Geological Work of Horst Van Bandat
- Von Bandat: Recollections of My New Guinea Trip
- From Makassar to Babo
- Babo
- Conquering Carstensz Mountain
- The Salawati and Rombombo Expedition
- Judit Antoni: Horst Van Bandat Collection from Western New Guinea in the Ethnographic Collection, Budapest
- Southwestern New Guinea – Asmat
- The von Bandat collection from Northwest New Guinea
10. Kal Muller: Twenty Years in West New Guinea ……………………………………231
- Kamoro art
- The revival of Kamoro art
- Initial ways of fostering Kamoro art and culture
- Kinds of Kamoro carvings
– ‘Yamate’
– The ‘mbitoro’
– The drum
– The ‘wemawe’ ancestors
– ‘Mbiikao’ or ‘spirit skin’ masks
– Walking sticks
– Animals
– Daily life objects
– Ladies’ plaiting
- The role of carvings
- Traditional right to carve: the ‘maramowe’
- The tools of the trade
- The yearly Kamoro Kakuru festival
- Freeport’s contributions
- Out to the villages: spreading the news
- Problems
- Positive aspects of the festival
- The bottom line: why the festival was cancelled
- Picking Kamoro Art
- Criteria for Kamoro art purchases in the villages
- Resurrection and new creation
- Choosing carvings for the yearly festival
- Choosing carvings for exhibits/sales
- The Kamoro art gallery for sales
- Taking Kamoro carvers to Jakarta and The Netherlands
- The Kamoro exposition in Holland
- An emotional visit
- Daily activities
- Carvings and an auction
- The end of the Leiden Kamoro exposition: disappointments
- Epilogue: After twenty Years in West New Guinea
HUNGARIAN BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………….279
