Lake Kutubu Festival &
New guinea Islands Odyssey

The densely populated Highlands region of mainland Papua New Guinea was “discovered” as recently as the 1930’s by Australian gold prospectors, Mick Leahy and Michael Dwyer. Melanesians have occupied the highland interior of New Guinea Island probably for more than 30,000 years, developing advanced plant cultivation and irrigation technologies at 1,500 metres above sea level, possibly 10,000 years ago, establishing themselves amongst the world’s earliest agriculturists. The oldest evidence for this is in the Kuk Swamp area, where planting, digging and staking of plants, and possibly drainage have been used to cultivate taro, banana, sago and yam.

 

The cultural practices of the people of Lake Kutubu result in their wise use of natural resources. They illustrate on a daily basis the importance that traditional methods and cultural expressions play in conserving the lake and it’s surrounding forest. 

The Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival celebrates the Kutubu peoples continuing connection with their beautiful surrounds.

The people of Lake Kutubu in Papua New Guinea offers an unique opportunity to examine and appreciate the role of local people not only in biodiversity conservation but in the promotion of their cultural heritage as well. The Lake Kutubu people are indigenous and on account of the retention of much of their traditional culture, retain close ties to their ancestral land and the abundant biological diversity found therein.

 

Made throughout the Melanesian Islands tapa is a traditional cloth made from the inner bark of suitable trees like paper mulberry or breadfruit trees. In Papua New Guinea it is commonly associated with the Maisin people in the Oro Province. This bark cloth is also made by the Fasu and Foi people in the Lake Kutubu area. They utilize larger sheets as undecorated rain capes, predominately worn by women in times of bad weather, as well as for traditional dances, ceremonies and in times of mourning. The inner bark layer is peeled from the trunks of the harvested trees and alternately soaked in water and beaten to gradually produce a thin sheet. Strips of tapa are often overlaid crosswise and beaten again to produce larger and stronger pieces of blank cloth to suit particular end uses and designs. Tapa beating is carried out using a hardwood or stone tool to flatten the fibres against a smooth log or similar. The locals, more particularly the women wear costumes of tapa cloth throughout the “sing sing”. 

 

Sago is extracted from Metroxylon Palms by splitting the stem lengthwise and removing the pith which is then crushed and kneaded to release the starch before being washed and strained to extract the starch from the fibrous residue. The raw starch is suspended in water and then collected in a settling container.

 

Digaso oil is rubbed on the skin to give traditional dancers a shiny black look. It comes from the Digaso tree found growing among sago palms. The pinkish-white heartwood produces abundant clear exudes which react with oxygen to form black oil. The Kutubuans oil is stored in long bamboos, kept in the longhouses and traded for modern money, traditional shell money and pigs. Traditionally the oil was traded with the Huli people for pigs, Nipa people for stone axes and the Enga people for salt. In the past it was also used to protect against lice and heal sores.

 

The Lake Kutubu Wildlife Management Area supports a rich and varied bird community. Surveys conducted to date have recorded nearly one-third of all bird species resident or regularly occurring in  the New Guinea region. The high species richness is attributable to the presence of multiple habitats, including a variety of dryland forest, open-water wetland and swamp vegetation types, spanning an elevational range of nearly 600 m within a small geographic area.

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The Foi and Fasu people eat bamboo shoots from the gardens and use the bamboo tubes for carrying water, cooking sago and as pots for boiling other foods such as vegetables.

They also tend small, often fenced, tobacco gardens. Clearing garden land is primarily men's work while planting and weeding are done by both men and women. Longhouses are surrounded by small gardens, while larger gardens are made in the bush and along the banks of rivers. Various plants are mixed together in food gardens.Tree crops in the Kutubu area include pandanus, breadfruit, tulip and coconuts. The trees are planted in gardens as well as near villages. The tulip trees, in particular, are planted in gardens but unlike other places in New Guinea where people eat its leaves, in the Kutubu area, it is grown primarily for its bark which is used to make capes and twine for string bags (bilum). Foi and Fasu people hunt wild pigs and cassowaries in heavily forested mountains. They also hunt small bats in limestone caves. The lake is the main focus for fishing activities and usually available along the edges of streams and along the rivers are crayfish, crabs and large fish such as barramundi.

Pigs are of extremely high value anywhere in Papua New Guinea including the Kutubu lake area where they are kept in villages. They sleep by the women's houses and are given special attention and food such as chewed, cooked sago mashed with greens. When grown, they figure prominently as bridewealth given by the groom's family and in other ceremonies.

 

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In 1902, the 25-year-old German health reformer, August Engelhardt, who practiced sun worship and a strict coconut diet, retreated from Bavarian university life to Kabakon Island in the Duke of York Islands, which he purchased from his mother country with an inheritance. The first few years were idyllic. Engelhardt established a coconut plantation and called his followers to join him in this brave new world. They called themselves Sonnenorden and practised sun worship and nudity and lived off coconuts. But it didn’t last. The alien living conditions took their toll and several died. Others turned their back on him. Engelhardt, known by the local islanders as Mr Coconut, was eventually left alone, gripped by malaria and went insane. He died on the island aged 46 in 1919.

 

The Tubuan Society of the local Tolai people who have strict laws and taboos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learn of the Ingiet stone carvings associated with the powerful Ingiet sorcerers and the secret men’s society, outlawed by the German administration in 1905. Early missionaries and travellers to New Britain found it to be the only area in the Pacific region they had come across where the locals had a true money currency of a standard value. The Europeans were intrigued by the local monetary system and the way in which Tambu was intricately woven into the very texture of social life. It still plays its role in Tolai society today, maintaining its cultural significance, particularly as part of the bride price or gift giving to the father of the would be bride.

 

The Rabaul Caldera was created about 1400 years ago with an explosion which erupted 11 cubic kilometres of rock. This massive outpouring of gas, lava, rocks and ash produced the largest volcanic dry fog in recorded history. A mysterious cloud that blocked sunlight for 12 to 18 months over Europe, China and the Middle East in 536 AD is linked to this mighty eruption.

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Queen Emma Coe was a Polynesian Princess and daughter of an American sailor and Samoan mother who in the late 19th century brought commerce to East New Britain, through her savvy business sense and huge land holdings, upon which she grew an abundance of copra and cocoa. The steps are 140 years old, built in 1882 to grace Queen Emma’s famous bungalow Gunantambu. They were climbed by Governors, Ambassadors and Officers representing German Kaiser, American President and kings of England, France and other European nations along with assorted bishops and world-renowned scientists, explorers, anthropologists and adventurers. Gunantambu gatherings were famous throughout the South Seas.

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