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New Guinea Annexations

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Abstract

The late Muhammad Yamin might not have been surprised if future demarcators of New Guinea’s central boundary stumbled upon remnants of border markers placed there more than 2000 years before by intrepid Indonesian empire builders.1 Historical evidence for such early Indonesian influence, however, remains scanty. The list of tributaries to Java’s Modjopahit empire in the Nāgara-Kěrtāgama, recorded by the poet Prapañca about 1365 A.D. during the zenith of its rule, does include the names of Wwanin and Seran.2 These have been identified with the Onin and Kowiai regions of south-western New Guinea and point to some contemporary familiarity of the Javanese with that part of the island.3 More significant and lasting were the relations of the inhabitants of Ceram and some of the other islands of eastern Indonesia with parts of westernmost New Guinea and its off-shore islands. But limited expansion also took place from the New Guinea side. The Biak hero Goera-bèsi, for example, is supposed to have married the daughter of the Sultan of Tidore and to be the legendary progenitor of the four rulers of the islands off the western tip of New Guinea, known as the Radja Ampat (Four Princes) Archipelago.4

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References

  1. ‘The Western part of Irian according to the history of 2000 years has always been an inseparable part of the Indonesian fatherland’, Rapport van de Commissie Nieuw-Guinea (Irian) 1950 (’s-Gravenhage, 1950), pt. 3, p. 49.

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  11. Ibid., p. 76.

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  13. Ibid., p. 69.

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  14. Ibid., pp. 61-2. Italics in original.

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  24. Article VI in the ‘Treaty between Great Britain and The Netherlands, respecting Territory and Commerce in the East Indies’. H.C.T., vol. III (London, 1841), p. 287.

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  25. S.N.I., 1824, No. 26b, p. 19.

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  26. These rumours were caused by the ill-fated British attempt to found a settlement at Melville Island north-west of Arnhem Land. The decision to establish a post in this area was influenced by the prospect of attracting Indonesian traders, and the Admiralty’s belief that a settlement on the (as yet unclaimed) northern coast of Australia ‘ought not be long delayed, lest the Dutch get there first’. Donald G. Gordon, The Australian Frontier in New Guinea, 1870–1885 (New York, 1951), pp. 46-8.

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  28. Ibid., p. 158. The reference to ‘Pacific fisheries’ may seem peculiar unless it is kept in mind that one of the Commission’s tasks was to investigate the reported presence of ‘large fish’ in South New Guinea waters. It was pointed out that if these fish belonged to the whale family and were not merely ‘the black fish of the British’, their catch ‘could result in considerable profit’. J. Modera, Verhaal van eene Reize naar en langs de Zuid-Westkust van Nieuw-Guinea Gedaan in 1828, door Z.M. Corvet Triton, en Z.M. Coloniale Schoener de Iris (Haarlem, 1830), p. 12.

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  29. Ibid., pp. 8-9. The ‘Dourga River’ eventually turned out to be the Prinses Marianne Strait.

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  30. Ibid., p. 7.

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  31. J. van Baal, quoted by J. Verschueren in Nieuw Guinea; de Ontwikkeling op Economisch, Sociaal en Cultured Gebied, in Nederlands en Australisch Nieuw Guinea (W. C. Klein, ed.), vol. I (’s-Gravenhage, 1953), p. 195.

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  33. Salomon Müller, Reizen en Onderzoekingen in den Indischen Archipel, gedaan op last der Nederlandsche Indische Regering tusschen de Jaren 1828 en 1836, vol. I (Amsterdam, 1857), p. 109. Reproduced in Documents and Correspondence on New Guinea’s Boundaries (hereafter D.&C.) (Doc. A.1).

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  34. It is, therefore, not the ‘purely arbitrary selection’ which Bone (op. cit., p. 173) depicts it to be.

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  36. Müller, op. cit., p. 111.

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  38. Ibid., p. 75; J. E. de Sturler, Het Grondgebied van Nederlandsch Oost-Indië in verband met de Tractaten met Spanje, Engeland en Portugal (Leiden, 1881), pp. 39-40.

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  39. The following material is not included in Haga’s published work, but is derived from his official report ‘Historisch Overzicht der Betrekkingen van Nederland tot Nieuw-Guinea’ (1884), The author consulted the manuscript in the former library of the Ministry of Overseas Affairs in The Hague.

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  40. Haga Report. To substantiate this sweeping claim, Weddik enclosed a letter of the Sultan of Tidore (written at Weddik’s’ suggestion’). In it the Sultan did claim that his influence extended as far as the Humboldt Bay area, but failed to make any reference to the south and south-west coasts or to the unknown interior. Haga comments in his report that: ‘Apparently Weddik was of the opinion that it was in the government’s interest to extend Tidore’s territory in New Guinea as far as possible and [he] thus eagerly accepted what the Tidorese Court desired to tell him as proof of the rights of Tidore’.

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  41. Haga Report.

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  42. Haga, Nederlandsch Nieuw Guinea, vol. II, p. 78.

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  43. H. D. A. van der Goes et al., Nieuw Guinea, Ethnografisch en Natuurkundig Onderzocht en Beschreven in 1858 door een Nederlandsch Indische Commissie (Amsterdam, 1862), pp. 192–3. During the expedition’s visit to the Humboldt Bay area, the Tidorese representative (Prins Amir) was astonished by the dexterity of the local Papuan inhabitants and ‘repeatedly expressed his regret that they up to now had not been subjected to the rule of his sovereign’ (ibid., p. 86).

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  44. Ibid., passim; Haga, op. cit., vol. II, p. 145.

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  45. N.K.V., 1861, pp. 20-1.

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  46. Article 3 of the Agreement, N.B.H.S.G., 1861-2, Second Chamber, No. LXVI, 4, p. 781.

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  47. R.A.N.I., 1865, pp. 267-8. Reproduced in D. & C. (Doc. A. 2).

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  48. N.K.V., 1875. Nederlandsch (Oost)-Indië. No. 2, p. 24. The statement is made in a footnote which refers the reader to R.A.N.I., 1875, p. 226!

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  49. Following Weddik’s report of 1848, the location of Cape Bonpland is given as 140° 47′ East Longitude. Subsequent expeditions, however, all arrived at slightly different longitudes—the expedition of 1858 at 140° 54′ 30″; the one of 1871 at 141° 9′; and the one of 1881 at 140° 47′ 55″.

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  50. R.A.N.I., 1875, pp. 226-7. See D. & C., Doc. A.3. The error in the south (140°) was corrected in R.A.N.I., 1877, p. 237.

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  51. N.K.V., 1871. Nederlandsch (Oost)-Indië. No. 2, p. 14.

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  52. P. J. B. C. Robidé van der Aa, Reizen naar Nederlandsch Nieuw-Guinea Ondernomen op Last der Regeering van N ederlandsch-lndië in de Jaren 1871, 1872, 1875–76 door de Heeren P. van der Crab en J. E. Teysman, J. G. Coorengel en A. J. Langevcldt van Hemert en P. Swaan (’s-Gravenhage, 1879), p. xxxviii.

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  53. C. B. Yule, Australian Directory, vol. II (2nd ed., London, 1864), p. 362n. The Javasche Courant (16 Sept. 1846, No. 74, Bijvoegsel) printed the account of Yule’s proclamation which had appeared in a letter to the editor of the Singapore Free Press of 3 Sept. 1846.

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  54. Gordon, op. cit., Ch. IV, passim.

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  55. G.B.S.P., 1876, vol. LIV, C.-1566, NO. 12, p. 18.

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  56. Ibid., No. 13, p. 20.

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  57. Ibid., Enclosure in No. 14, p. 22.

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  58. John Moresby, New Guinea & Polynesia; Discoveries & Surveys in New Guinea and the D’Entrecasteaux Islands (London, 1876), pp. 207–8.

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  59. For the extension of the Queensland boundary see Chapter 3.

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  60. G.B.S.P., 1883, vol. XLVII, C.-3691, End. 3 in No. 14, p. 18.

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  61. Ibid., No. 21, p. 22.

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  62. Ibid., 1884-5, vol. LIV, C.-3839, Encl. in No. 19, p. 30.

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  63. Ibid., pp. 30-1.

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  64. Emil Zimmermann, Unsere Kolonien (new ed., Berlin-Wien, 1912), p. 369.

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  65. Ernst G. Jacob (compiler), Deutsche Kolonialpolitik in Dokumenten; Gedanken und Gestalten aus den letzten fünfzig Jahren (Leipzig, 1938), p. 112. Italics added. See also ‘Aus den Berichten des Dr. Finsch über die im Aufrage der Compagnie nach Neu Guinea ausgeführten Reisen’, N.K.W., I (1885), pp. 8-14, 19-27.

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  66. Count Münster to Earl Granville. G.B.S.P., 1884-5, vol. LIV, C.-4273, End. 1 in No. 164, p. 141.

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  67. Earl Granville to Lord Ampthill, 9 Aug. 1884. Ibid., End. in No. 5, p. 4.

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  68. Sir Edward Malet to Earl Granville, 24 Jan. 1885. Ibid., No. 148a, p. 125. Also Alfred Zimmermann, Geschichte der Deutschen Kolonialpolitik (Berlin, 1914), p. 100.

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  69. Charles S. Scott to Graf von Hatzfeldt, 19 Sept. 1884. G.B.S.P., 1884-5, vol. LIV, C.-4273, Encl. in No. 14, pp. 11-12. See also ibid., No. 6 (pp. 4-5) and Encl. in No. 7 (pp. 6-7). The extent of previous British interests in these regions is evident from the fact that the British High Commissioner for the Western Pacific had been charged with the regulation of British jurisdiction in the Solomons, the New Britain and New Ireland archipelago, and that ‘part of the island of New Guinea eastward of the 143rd meridian of longitude’. British Order in Council for the Regulation of British Jurisdiction in the Western Pacific Islands, H.C.T., vol. XIV (London, 1880), p. 874.

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  70. L. Plessen to Earl Granville, 27 Sept. 1884. G.B.S.P., 1884-5, vol. LIV, C.-4273, Encl. in No. 15, p. 12.

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  71. Scott to the Acting German Minister of Foreign Affairs, 9 Oct. 1884. Ibid., Encl. in No. 16, p. 13.

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  72. The matter is presented in ibid., C.-4217, Nos. 32, 34, and 35, pp. 35-6.

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  73. Ibid., C.-4273, Encl. 1 in No. 148, p. 119. The Colonial Office commented rather lamely: ‘Mr. Romilly followed the words of a telegram, and his mistake [?] lay in issuing a Proclamation of any kind. He had a very unpleasant scene with the Commodore in consequence, and there is no occasion to pursue the matter further.’ In private correspondence Romilly adds: ‘I made rather an ass of myself or rather other people made an ass of me’. Both quotes appear in R. B. Joyce, The Administration of British New Guinea (1888–1902), M.Litt. thesis (Cambridge, 1953), p. 16.

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  74. G.B.S.P., 1884-5, vol. LIV, C.-4273, Encl. 1 in No. 148, p. 121.

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  75. Ibid., p. 122. Reproduced in D. & C. (Doc. A. 4).

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  76. Ibid., No. 151, p. 127; Supplement to the Q.G.G., vol. xxxv, No. 113. Reproduced in D. & C. (Doc. A. 5).

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  77. Zimmermann, op. cit., p. 100. See also ‘Aus den Berichten des Dr. Finsch…’, N.K.W., I (1885), pp. 9-14, 19-27.

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  78. G.B.S.P., 1884-5, vol. LIV, C.-4273, NO. 72, p. 50. The feeling of frustration and indignation in Australia is most clearly expressed in the telegraphic despatch sent by the government of Victoria to Robert Murray Smith, its Agent-General in London: ‘At last the end has come. Information received reliable source that Germany has hoisted flag on New Britain, New Ireland, and north coast New Guinea. The exasperation here is boundless. We protest in the name of the present and the future of Australia[;] if England does not yet save us from the danger and disgrace, as far at least as New Guinea is concerned, the bitterness of feeling towards her will not die out with this generation. We now appeal in terms of Lord Derby’s Despatch, 11th January 1883, second paragraph.’ Ibid., Encl. 1 in No. 80, p. 54. Lord Derby’s’ second paragraph’ stipulated that if there had been ‘any evidence of the intention … of a foreign Power to take possession of any part of New Guinea’, immediate action ‘could have been taken without a delay of more than a very few hours’. G.B.S.P., 1883, vol. XLVII, C.-3691, NO. 21, p. 22.

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  79. Ibid., 1884-5, C.-4273, Nos. 81, 82, 83, Encl. in No. 83, pp. 54-5, and Encl. in No. 167, p. 149.

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  80. Ibid., C.-4584, Encl. 1 in No. 68 (Report of Captain Cyprian A. G. Bridge to Rear-Admiral George Tryon), pp. 100-9.

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  81. Münster to Granville, 28 Jan. 1885. Ibid., C.-4273, Encl. 1 in No. 164, p. 144.

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  82. G.B.B.F.S.P., 1884-5, vol. LXXVI (London, 1892), pp. 66-7. During this whole period the famous Russian explorer Baron N. de Miklouho Maclay had tried in vain to protect the inhabitants of the Maclay Coast from ‘the evils connected with the invasion of the whites’. His cable and letters to the Earl of Derby went unacknowledged and his repeated request to the Russian Emperor ‘to recognize the autonomy of the Maclay-Coast’ ( Maclay’s italics, C.-4584, No. 50, p. 82) did not prevent it from becoming part of the German protectorate. See G.B.S.P., 1884-5, vol. LIV, C.-4273, Encl. 1 in No. 3, pp. 2-3; and C.-4584, No. 50, pp. 81-2; No. 89, p. 127; No. 96, p. 135.

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  83. G.B.S.P., 1886, vol. LXXIII, C.-4656. Reproduced in D. & C. (Doc. C. 2).

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  1. Department of Pacific History, Australian National University, Australia

    Paul W. van der Veur

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van der Veur, P.W. (1966). New Guinea Annexations. In: Search for New Guinea’s Boundaries. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-3620-2_2

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