Encyclopedia
New Britain, formerly
Neu Pommern , is the largest
island in the
Bismarck Archipelago of
Papua New Guinea, separated from
New Guinea by Dampier Strait, and has
Rabaul/Kokopo and Kimbe as its two main towns.
Description
New Britain extends from 148º to 152º E. longitude and from 4º to 7º S. latitude. It is crescent-shaped, about 600 km long, around 80 km wide , and has an area of 35,145 km² .
The coasts are in some parts precipitous; in others the mountains recede inland, and the coast is flat and bordered by coral reefs. The formation appears otherwise to be volcanic, and there are some active craters. The greatest elevation occurs towards the westabout 6500 ft. There is a rich tropical vegetation, and a number of considerable streams water the island.
Two geographical regions are distinguishable. Of the broad, irregular north-eastern section, known as the
Gazelle Peninsula, a great portion is occupied by wooded mountain chains; otherwise the soil is very fertile and admirably watered by rivers , which yield an abundance of fish. The western and larger section also has extensive mountain chains, which contain numerous active volcanoes.
New Britain comprises two administrative provinces:
- East New Britain with headquarters in Kokopo
- West New Britain with headquarters in Kimbe
History
William Dampier became the first known European to visit New Britain on February 27, 1700: he dubbed the island with the Latin name
Nova Britannia.
In November 1884, Germany proclaimed its protectorate over the New Britain Archipelago; the German colonial administration gave New Britain and New Ireland the names of
Neu-Pommern and
Neu-Mecklenburg, and the whole group was renamed the Bismarck Archipelago.
In 1909 the indigenous population was estimated at about 190,000; the foreign population at 773 . The white population was practically confined to the northern part of this section, which included the capital, Herbertshöhe. About 13,464 acres were under cultivation, the principal products being copra, cotton, coffee, and rubber. Westerners avoided exploring the interior initially, believing that the indigenous peoples were warlike and would fiercely resist intrusions.
On 11 September 1914, New Britain, became the site of one of the
earliest battles of World War, when
Australian forces landed on the island. At that time, it was part -under the name Neu-Pommern- of
German New Guinea.
People and culture
The indigenous people of New Britain fall into two main groups, the Papuans, who have inhabited the island for tens of thousands of years, and the
Austronesians, who arrived around two thousand years ago. There are around ten Papuan languages spoken and about 40 Austronesian languages, as well as Tok Pisin and English.
The population of New Britain was 404,873 in the 2000 census. The major towns are
Rabaul/Kokopo in
East New Britain, and Kimbe in
West New Britain.
The traditional cultures of New Britain are diverse and complex. While the Tolai of the Rabaul area of East New Britain have a matrilineal society, other groups are patrilineal in structure. There are numerous traditions which remain active today, such as the
dukduk secret society in the Tolai area.
Traditional culture has clashed with European culture and religion, but also has been integrated with it, and indigenous people in New Britain generally respect both aspects to some extent.
In the opinion of explorers and early missionaries , the natives were very superstitious, believing a demon resides in each volcano, and marks his displeasure by sending forth fire against the people. To propitiate the evil spirits, a piece of dewarra is always placed in the grave with the corpse. The celebrated institution of the Duk-Duk, by which justice is executed, and taboos, feasts, taxes etc., can be seen as a piece of imposture, by which the older natives play upon the superstitions of the younger to secure the food they can no longer earn. This "spirit" arrives regularly in a boat at night with the new moon, and receives the offerings of the natives. Their villages are clean and well kept. Unlike their Papuan relatives, the islanders are unskilled in carving and pottery, but are clever farmers and fishermen, constructing ingenious fishing weirs. They perform complicated surgical operations with an obsidian knife or a sharks tooth. The common dead are buried or exposed to sharks on the reefs; bodies of chiefs are exposed in the fork of a tree. The population is divided into two exogamous classes. The children belong to the class of the mother, and when the father dies go to her village for support, the land and fruit trees in each district being divided between the two classes. There are several dialects, the construction resembling Fijian, as in the pronominal suffixes in singular, triad and plural; the numerals, however, are Polynesian in character.
Ecclesiastical history
The vicariate Apostolic of New Pomerania was erected on 1 Janunary, 1889, and entrusted to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Issoudun. Since September 1905, when the
Marshall Islands were made a separate vicariate, its territory was confined to the Bismarck Archipelago. The first vicar Apostolic was Mgr Louis Couppé,
titular Bishop of
Leros. The mission soon made remarkable progress, and numbers according to the latest statistics 15,223 Catholics; 28 missionaries; 40 brothers; 27 Sisters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart; 55 native catechists; 77 churches and chapels; 90 stations ; 29 schools with over 4000 pupils; 13 orphanages.
Postage stamps
When the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force occupied German New Guinea in 1914, it met the need for
postage stamps by
overprinting existing stocks of the German New Guinea and
Marshall Islands stamps with "G.R.I"
The Australians issued a first setting of the overprint on 17 October 1914, followed by a second setting on 16 December. In all, they produced some 50 distinct stamps.
In addition, Australian postal authorities pressed registration labels into service as 3d stamps, overprinted in the same way as the others. Labels of the Friedrich Wilhelmshaven, Herbertshohe, Kawieng, Kieta,
Manus, and
Rabaul post offices became overprinted in this manner.
In 1915 the Australians superseded these improvised stamps of New Britain with stamps of the "North West Pacific Islands".
Because of the short period of use of the New Britain issues, they occur quite rarely, and command high prices; the most common denominations cost at least $15 US a piece, and the five-shilling overprints fetch prices of over $10,000 on the rare occasions when they come up for sale. In addition, the overprinting process produced a number of errors, and these also command high prices.
Sources and References
-
- Australian War Memorial, , 06 August 1914 - 06 November 1914.
