The PNG program began in 2001 at Tatau and Kavieng in New Ireland Province and was run by Summerhayes. Leavesley ran the 2002 program in Lorengau, Manus Province. Manus was selected for the workshop because of its diversity of material culture (Kaufman et al. 2002) and the long antiquity of human occupation (Minol 2001; Spriggs 1997).

The international members of the workshop came from Taiwan, Japan, Canada and Australia. The PNG workshop members came from a variety of Provincial and National Government institutions. They included the National Museum and Art Gallery, the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG), the New Ireland, Manus, North Solomons, and East New Britain University Centres and the New Ireland, Manus and North Solomons Provincial Government Culture and Tourism Officers.

At the conclusion of the Tatau/Kavieng workshop (Summerhayes and Bedford 2001), it became clear that there were a number of issues of concern to the PNG workshop members and these became the basis for the 2002 workshop. In particular, the participants were interested in learning more about the PNG legislation, the preservation of contemporary cultural practices, cultural tourism and the role of international researchers in PNG. The PNG legislation, known as the National Cultural Property (Preservation) Act (1965), was discussed in the light of a paper written by Kaidoga, Swadling and Craig (1982) which describes the history of the legislation and a model for its future implementation. The paper proved a very useful starting point, as the participants were able to see, in some cases, the genesis and longevity of the contemporary problems. At the conclusion of the session the National Museum representatives resolved to construct a working paper describing ways in which the Act might be improved in the future.

The workshop members had a major concern for the protection of contemporary cultural practices and customs. The session covered a number of issues, on the local scale, such as culture groups and on the provincial or sub-provincial scale, such as the recent New Hanover Malmalang, run by John Aini, and the re-introduction of the Malanggan festival as described by Frmacis Rangatin. The participants concluded that although these larger festivals did not necessarily lead directly to grassroots change they did provide over-arching support for the retention of culture in contemporary society.

 

Acknowledgements:

Leavesley would like to thank Glenn Summerhayes and Geoff Hope for the opportunity to run the Manus program and the Sasakawa Pacific Island Nations Fund (SPINF), namely Rieko Hayakawa, for supporting this program. In Manus thanks to Bernard Minol, Andy Fairbairn and Henry Arifeae for their friendship advice and support. In Port Moresby, thanks to Herman Mandui and the National Museum and Art Gallery. In Canberra, thanks to Pam Swadling and Jean Kennedy for their advice. Also Peter Hiscock and Matthew Spriggs for their support.

 

Site designed by Mr. Matthew Leavesley, (Arch. & Anth., ANU) for the SWPCHTP.

 

 

Leavesley inspects one of the Umleang obsidian mine shafts prior to descending into it (also see Spriggs 1997:193).

Dr. Minol (UPNG), Andy Marsipal (Manus Province Cultural Officer), Jon Dop and Baiva Ivuyo (National Museum) inspect the Umleang obsidian shafts.

Other sessions were focussed on honing the workshop participant's site recording and assessment skills. This was facilitated by visiting a number of archaeological sites. The workshop went to Kohin cave, discovered by Allen and Kennedy (see Kennedy 1981) and to Lou Island (Ambrose 1978). At Lou Island the workshop members visited a variety of sites including the Umleang obsidian mines, Rei village and the Pisik School site. Kohin was visited to illustrate the complexities associated with the assessing a cave site and Lou Island for its variety of open sites. As a direct result of the workshop, Katakumb, Head of Modern History at the National Museum in Port Moresby, 'discovered' the remains of possibly up to seven WWII, US Marines on Los Negros Island. The 'discovery' was the result of the awareness program ran by the workshop and hopefully will eventually see their repatriation back to their country of origin. The Manus 2002, Sasakawa sponsored workshop, provided the PNG participants with much valued professional support and plenty to work on for the next workshop on Buka in 2003.

 

While the program was proceeding in Lorengau, Mr Sasakawa spoke about lapita archaeology to the Press Organisation in Port Moresby.

Manus is famous for its tradition of carving wooden bowls.

In addition to the formal sessions the workshop undertook an awareness campaign in order to illustrate a number of methods of participating in community liaison. The workshop visited three schools, in and around Lorengau as well as producing a radio show for the "mous blong Chauka", National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Manus. School talks were presented to ECOM High School, Manus High School and Papitali Secondary School. Henry Arifeae ran two radio sessions with the assistance of NBC Manus, Station Manager, John Mandrakamu. The sessions covered both the writing of a script, a tour of the NBC Manus facilities and the production of a radio show in which the workshop members participated. Both the school and radio talks were designed for the workshop members to witness and participate in an awareness program in order to learn the skills to run their own information sessions when undertaking their own programs.

Any discussion of cultural festivals inevitably leads to the impact of cultural tourism on culture. This is particularly so with the production of cultural carvings produced, for sale, by people who are not necessarily aware of the cultural significance of the carvings, or the motifs, which they display. With this in mind the participants began to set out a list of guidelines specifically for Culture and Tourism Officers. The complexity of the issues involved, coupled with the time limitations imposed by the workshop timetable, meant that this issue will be re-addressed during the Buka 2003 workshop.

The workshop members raised an issue regarding the role of non-PNG researchers in PNG. Of particular concern was the impact of anthropological research on the community, at local level. It was felt that while non-PNG researchers played an important role in collating and understanding the broad range of cultures in PNG it was all to easy for local communities to feel 'cut-off' from the results produced by the researchers. The workshop, therefore, focussed on ways in which this issue might be remedied for the benefit of all concerned.

Front page of one of PNG's daily papers, The National, (17th October 2002).

During our stay in papua New Guinea, we witnessed the repatriation of an important part of PNG's cultural heritage (skeletal remains). The repatriation of this skull collected during WWII was co-ordinated by Dr. Jim Specht of the Australian Museum in Sydney.

References:

Ambrose, W. 1978 The Loneliness of the Long Distance trader in Melanesia. Mankind 11(3):326-333.

Kaidoga, K., P. Swadling, and B. Craig, 1982 Retaining our Cultural Heritage. L. Morauta, J. Pernetta, and W. Heaney, Traditional Conservation in Papua New Guinea: Implications for Today. The Institute for Applied Social and Economic Research. Monograph 16, Port Moresby.

Kaufman, C., C. K. Schmid, and S. Ohnemus, 2002 Admiralty Islands: Art from the South Seas. Museum Rietburg Zurich, Switzerland.

Kennedy, J. 1981 Lapita Colonisation of the Admiralty Islands? Science 213:757-759.

Minol, B (Ed.). 2000 Manus from the Legends to Year 2000: A History of the people of Manus. UPNG Press, Boroko.

Spriggs, M. 1997 The Island Melanesians Blackwell Press, Oxford.

Summerhayes G.R. and S. Bedford, 2001 South-West Pacific Cultural Heritage Training Program: 2001 Final Report. Unpublished report submitted to the Sasakawa Pacific Island Nations Fund.