Patrol officers in pre-independence Papua New Guinea
For the practice of shouting in martial arts, see Kiai.
Kiaps, known formally as district officers and patrol officers, were travelling representatives of the British and Australian governments with wide-ranging authority, in pre-independence Papua New Guinea.
'Kiap' is a Papua New Guinean creole (Tok Pisin) word derived from the German word Kapitän (Captain).[1]
Role
Patrol Officer (Kiap), Christopher Viner-Smith, in 1964, examines weapons carried by men of the Biami people, during a patrol to investigate the earlier theft of some steel in a Biami raid on a government patrol post.
The role of the kiap changed as Papua New Guinea changed. The more primitive the conditions the more wide-ranging were the duties, and the more decision making power was granted. "The kiap, for example, is district administrator, commissioned policeman, magistrate, gaoler: if he is in a remote area he may well be engineer, surveyor, medical officer, dentist, lawyer, and agricultural adviser. The kiap system grew out of necessity and the demands made by poor communications in impossible country: the man on the spot had to have power to make the decision."[3]
Under Australian administration the kiap was a one-man representative of the government, taking on political education, policing and judicial roles as well as more mundane tasks such as completing censuses. The kiaps were commissioned as officers of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary and as such, members of the overseas serving police. They were appointed as district magistrates.[4][5][6]
During the 1960s, some kiaps became more like a magistrate, moving away from law enforcement. Others specialised in setting up local and provincial governments.[7]
History
With over 800 languages spoken among a population of just over six million people [in 2009], PNG is one of the most socio-linguistically diverse countries in the world.
Soon after the establishment of British New Guinea in the 1880s, a system of patrols was established to expand the government's administrative control beyond the major towns. The system continued after the change from British to Australian administration in 1905.
The kiaps patrolled at a time when cannibalism was still practised in parts of PNG.[9] Violent intertribal conflict occurred frequently.
When Patrol Officer (Kiap) Jim Taylor and prospector Mick Leahy, with eighty police and carriers, first entered the Wahgi Valley in March 1933, the Australians were thought to be ghosts. Later in the same year, a number of indigenous people in the valley were killed, after a misunderstanding, and in 1935 there were further indigenous deaths, during an intervention between fighting groups, and the deaths of two white missionaries.[10] First contacts were fraught with misunderstandings and the potential for violence.
"In the early years, there were relatively few kiaps scattered across vast tracts of land. At the height of Australia's pre-war administration in 1938, a total field staff of 150 men existed to govern three-quarters of a million people, while a similar number of people lay beyond official government control."[11]
Offices and accommodation for police, at Afore patrol post, being constructed by local indigenous men under the supervision of Australian kiaps in 1964.
Before World War II kiaps had been required to attend Sydney University for lectures in law, anthropology and tropical medicine. During the 1950s, kiaps with field experience could qualify to become district officers by sitting for an examination at the Australian School of Pacific Administration (ASOPA), where they studied law, anthropology, Pacific history, comparative constitutional development, and administration.[12]
"When I became Minister [of the Department of Territories, in 1951], I was shown maps on which parts of the territory were marked as 'controlled areas' or 'uncontrolled areas'... the meaning of control in its barest essentials was that an area had been penetrated by Administration patrols, contact had been made with most of the people in the area, a number of patrol posts had been set up as points of continuing contact, the people had been roughly enumerated and made familiar with the basic idea of law and order, namely that they should not kill each other, that they should take their disputes to the white officer of the Administration to be settled, and that they should respect government authority."
Kiaps provided "pacification, medical aid, and administration to some 11,920 villages" in rugged and almost impenetrable terrain. "The kiap system [...] appointed to each village a luluai, through whom control was administered, and in Papua a village constable.[14] "The 'pay-back killing had to be stopped before peace could come".[15] Before that every death was avenged by another death, in an unending vendetta. Gradually, revenge by the individual was replaced with punishment by the state, and compensation to the family of the victim.
Chris Viner-Smith leaving KIBULI Village 6 June 1963 – Oriomo-Bituri Patrol – Western District –Territory of PNG.
In 1954 Patrol Officer Gerald Leo Szarka was murdered with an axe by local people.[16] Szarka had been trying to call people together to conduct a census.[17] Other kiaps were also murdered while carrying out their duties. Kiaps were required to collect a poll tax in remote villages from people who mostly had no money. These taxes were much resented by the village people, who had always been self-sufficient.
Only in 1963 were the last remote areas of PNG officially declared to be under government control.[18] But by 1969, the wide-ranging powers of the kiap were being questioned, and petitions were being signed for the removal of individual kiaps.[19]
From 1949 until 1974, "the best estimate of how many men served in these roles [was] around 2,000."[20]Papua New Guinea became an independent nation in 1975.
In 1979, it would be stated "The kiap system has declined rapidly in influence since independence. This was perhaps inevitable, as the system was never meant to cope with free citizens in an independent democracy."[21]
A former World War II Field Marshal and Governor-General of Australia, Viscount Slim, said of the kiaps: "Your young chaps in New Guinea have gone out where I would never have gone without a battalion and they have done on their own by sheer force of character what I could only do with troops. I don't think there has been anything like it in the modern world".[18]
Indigenous perspective
August Kituai
August Ibrum K. Kituai, one of the early indigenous historians of PNG, has written "a study of the close encounters and entanglements which occurred when colonial regimes used indigenous people as agents of colonialism". Kituai "emphasises that orders and administration regulations were often not followed as native police did what they thought best, or to their own advantage" and "raises a number of unresolved issues about the pervasiveness of the Australian-led "civilising" administration, the extent of authority exercised by Kiaps over their men, and historiographically over the veracity of his informants' evidence".
Kituai "[peels] back of the veneer of Kiap authority, hierarchical command and so-called peaceful penetration which has underlined much of the earlier patrolling history of Papua New Guinea. My gun, my brother reveals a history of opportunism, property destruction, sexual predation and personal tragedy that highlights how the unofficial and unregulated underside of colonialism affected people's lives and created today's new nations".[22]
Anyan of the Tairora people
Virginia and James Watson were anthropologists in the Central Highlands of Papua New Guinea during the 1950s and 1960s. A local woman, Anyan, became Virginia Watson's interpreter. Anyan had been chosen by her family "to go live in the government station of Kainantu in order to learn Tok Pisin and thus be able to act as a translator for her relatives and other villagers". Subsequently, Virginia Watson asked permission from Anyan to write her story, using her field notes, in the form of a book:
One time when the kiap came to get us we all ran away from the village as fast as we could. I was still a young girl then. I ran as fast and as far as I could and then I hid among some reeds in low ground. But my feet were not completely hidden and a policeman came by and saw them. He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out to see if I was a girl or boy. When he saw I was a girl he took me to the house where they were keeping all of the people they caught. If I had been a boy I would have been shot. That time when the kiap came after us ten men and two boys were shot. This was one time in my life when I was most frightened. (pp.51-52)
Later "Anyan decided the benefits of the colonial administration outweighed many of her earlier fears." She married and lived in Kainantu, close to medical and educational facilities.[23]
Kiap courts
"Not many Papua New Guineans were ever found innocent in a kiap's court—never as many as 10 percent in any year for which records... are available"..."the law has been administered only intermittently in most indigenous communities, and then in what has often seemed to be an arbitrary manner in the eyes of many villagers" (Wolfers, 1975)[24]
Recognition from the Australian government
In July 2013, after eleven years of lobbying the Australian Government, forty-nine ex-Kiaps were presented with the Police Overseas Service Medal at Parliament House in Canberra by the Hon. Jason Clare MHR, Minister for Home Affairs and Justice and the Australian Federal Police Commissioner Tony Negus APM.
During the ceremony, which celebrated the work of the kiaps between 1949 and 1973, Minister Clare said, "Being a Kiap meant you were an ambassador, a police officer, an explorer, a farmer, an engineer and an anthropologist – all in one". He acknowledged that kiaps were often on call twenty-four hours, seven days a week, in remote areas in a role that "demanded perseverance, tenacity and commitment". He continued, "today we are righting a wrong. We are recognising men that should have properly recognised many years ago."[25]
Minister Clare, during an earlier parliamentary debate of the Bill, which enabled the award of medals for service, said, "The Kiaps were an extraordinary group of young Australians who performed a remarkable service for the people of PNG. They were some of our nation's finest."[26]
The economy of Papua New Guinea (PNG) is largely underdeveloped with the vast majority of the population living below the poverty line. However, according to the Asian Development Bank its GDP is expected to grow 3.4% in 2022 and 4.6% in 2023. It is dominated by the agricultural, forestry, and fishing sector and the minerals and energy extraction sector. The agricultural, forestry, and fishing sector accounts for most of the labour force of PNG while the minerals and energy extraction sector, including gold, copper, oil and natural gas is responsible for most of the export earnings.
Lae (German: Preußen-Reede, later Lehe) is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River on the northern coast of Huon Gulf. It is at the start of the Highlands Highway, which is the main land transport corridor between the Highlands Region and the coast. Lae is the largest cargo port of the country and is the industrial hub of Papua New Guinea. The city is known as the Garden City and home of the Papua New Guinea University of Technology.
"O Arise, All You Sons" is the national anthem of Papua New Guinea. Adopted in 1975, it was written and composed by Thomas Shacklady.
Kainantu is a town in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. It had some historical significance as an airstrip town during WWII. It functions primarily as a market town for local produce growers and cash croppers. It is located on the "Highlands Highway" approximately 170 kilometres (110 mi) by road west of Lae and 90 kilometres (56 mi) by road east of Goroka. It is 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) approx from a nearby missionary station Ukarumpa and is nearby the Aiyura valley. Kainantu has basic facilities such as a school, hospital, police station, district court, and service stations.
The Royal Pacific Islands Regiment (RPIR) is an infantry regiment of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF). The regiment is descended from the Australian Army infantry battalions formed from native soldiers and Australian officers and non-commissioned officers in the territories of Papua and New Guinea during World War II to help fight against the Japanese. Disbanded after the war, the regiment was re-raised in 1951 as part of the Australian Army and continued to serve until Papua New Guinea gained its independence in 1975, when it became part of the PNGDF. Today, the RPIR consists of two battalions and has seen active service in Vanuatu, Bougainville and the Solomon Islands.
Morobe Province is a province on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital and largest city is Lae. The province covers 33,705 km2, with a population of 674,810, and since the division of Southern Highlands Province in May 2012 it is the most populous province. It includes the Huon Peninsula, the Markham River, and delta, and coastal territories along the Huon Gulf. The province has nine administrative districts. At least 101 languages are spoken, including Kâte and Yabem language. English and Tok Pisin are common languages in the urban areas, and in some areas pidgin forms of German are mixed with the native language.
Education in Papua New Guinea is managed through nineteen provinces and two district organisational units. It is tuition-free and attendance is not compulsory.
Sir John Douglas Guise was a Papua New Guinean politician who served as the first governor-general of Papua New Guinea after the country's independence from Australia in 1975. Prior to the independence itself, Guise was a vocal advocate for a peaceful secession from Australia.
The Territory of Papua and New Guinea, officially the Administrative Union of the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea, was established by an administrative union between the Australian-administered territories of Papua and New Guinea in 1949. In December 1971, the name of the Territory changed to "Papua New Guinea" and in 1975 it became the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.
Jack Emanuel was an Australian colonial administrator who served as district commissioner in the East New Britain district of Papua New Guinea who was posthumously awarded the George Cross, the highest British award for bravery out of combat, for gallantry displayed between July 1969 and 19 August 1971. Emanuel served as a police officer and fireman in Australia before accepting a posting as patrol officer (kiap) to the Australian-administered United Nations trust territory of New Guinea, shortly after the Second World War. Emanuel was appointed acting district commissioner for East New Britain in 1969, and was confirmed in this role in 1971. He was well-respected as a local government official and noted for his willingness to negotiate resolutions to local disputes without police escort. Emanuel was trying to discuss a resolution to a land dispute between European settlers and the Tolai people in August 1971 when he was stabbed to death during negotiations. His killers were brought to trial and his death shocked the Tolai who largely abandoned the dispute.
The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) is a national police force with jurisdiction throughout Papua New Guinea.
Lombrum Naval Base, also known as HMPNGS Tarangau and formerly PNG Defence Force Base Lombrum, is a naval military base operated by the Maritime Operations Element of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF). It is located on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. Lombrum is the home port of the PNGDF's Pacific-class patrol boat force.
Sir Barry Blyth Holloway, KBE was an Australian-born Papua New Guinean politician.
As the township of Lae, in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea is a relatively new entity, the history of the Lae environs is much older.
ANGAU Memorial Hospital is a major hospital in Lae, Papua New Guinea. Named after an Australian Army unit that was responsible for the civil administration of the Territory of Papua and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea, the hospital provides in-patient and specialist medical services to people in the Sepik, Madang and Morobe provinces. In 2013–14, the Australian government announced that it would contribute to the hospital's redevelopment as part of a deal with the PNG government relating to the resettlement of asylum seekers.
Nigel Denis Oram , was a British born public servant, academic, ethnologist and anthropologist specialising in the Pacific and New Guinea and was an acknowledged specialist in Papuan oral history. He has influenced a number of later researchers in the field of Papuan and New Guinean anthropology and history and along with Vanderwal, he also established the Prehistory department at La Trobe University in 1976 and the chair in Prehistory in 1980.
This is a list of members of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 1977 to 1982, as elected at the 1977 election.
Winnie Anna Kiap is a Papua New Guinean former diplomat who served as the Papua New Guinea High Commissioner to the United Kingdom with accreditation to Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, South Africa, and Zimbabwe from 2011 to 2022. In 2022, she was a nominated as a candidate for Governor-General of Papua New Guinea.
Sir Joseph Nombri was a politician, administrator and diplomat in Papua New Guinea (PNG). He played an important role in events leading up to PNG's independence in 1975 and later became the country's ambassador in Tokyo.
Sir Philip Bouraga was a former police commissioner of Papua New Guinea (PNG) from 1979 to 1982, a member of the parliament of the country between 1982 and 1987, the minister of finance from 1982 to 1985, and the country's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1989.
↑ "A tale of two kiaps". Your Memento. National Archives of Australia. January 2011. Archived from the original on 18 August 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
↑ Standish, Bill. "Beyond a Mountain Valley: The Simbu of Papua New Guinea." The Contemporary Pacific. 1997. (December 30, 2013). HighBeam
↑ Nelson, H., 1982. Taim bilong masta � the Australian involvement with Papua New Guinea, Sydney, Australia: ABC Books, p. 33
↑ Downs, Ian, 1915–2004; Australia. Department of Home Affairs (1980), The Australian trusteeship, Papua New Guinea, 1945-75 / Ian Downs, Australian Government Publishing Service, p.117, ISBN0642041393{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
↑ Manning, H. J.; Ciaran O'faircheallaigh,. "Papua New Guinea." The American Journal of Economics and Sociology. 2000. (December 28, 2013). [dead link]
↑ QUANCHI, MAX. "My gun, my brother, the world of the Papua New Guinea colonial police 1920-1960. (Review)." The Australian Journal of Politics and History. 2000. HighBeam Research. (December 28, 2013).
↑ Holecek, Barbara. "Anyan's Story: A New Guinean Woman in Two Worlds." The Women's Review of Books. 1997. HighBeam Research. (December 28, 2013).
↑ Wolfers, Edward P (1975), Race relations and colonial rule in Papua New Guinea / Edward P. Wolfers, Australia and New Zealand Book Co, p.145
↑ Press release Hon Jason Clare MP,Minister for Justice 8 July 2013
Clifford, William, 1918-1986; Morauta, Louise; Stuart, Barry; Institute of National Affairs; Institute of Applied Social and Economic Research (Papua New Guinea) (1984), Law and order in Papua New Guinea, Institute of National Affairs, ISBN9980770023{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Kituai, August Ibrum K., 1950 (May 1998), My gun, my brother: the world of the Papua New Guinea colonial police, 1920-1960, University of Hawai'i Press, ISBN0824817478{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) (The main focus is on the native police force.)
Wolfers, Edward P (1975), Race relations and colonial rule in Papua New Guinea / Edward P. Wolfers, Australia and New Zealand Book Co
Memoirs, reminiscences
These works contain a wealth of first hand observations of life in PNG and the day-to-day work of kiaps.
McCarthy, J. K. (John Keith), 1905- (1963), Patrol into yesterday: my New Guinea years, Cheshire{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Roberts, Jan, 1941 (April 7)- (1996), Voices from a lost world: Australian women and children in Papua New Guinea before the Japanese invasion, Millennium Books, ISBN1864290714{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Sinclair, James, 1928-, Kiap: Australia's patrol officers in Papua New Guinea, Pacific Publications{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) One of the most prolific writers among the kiaps.
Viner-Smith, Chris (2007), Australia's forgotten frontier: the unsung police who held our PNG front line, C Viner-Smith, ISBN9780646475417 – A memoir of ten years spent as a Kiap in PNG, 1961-1971.
"The Northumbrian Kiap". Robert Forster (1947). Published 2018. UK Book Publishing. ISBN9781912183364. A detailed and revealing account of bush administration in self-governing PNG.
PNG government spokespersons
Albert Maori Kiki was a PNG politician and deputy Prime Minister from 1975 until 1977.
Kiki, Albert Maori, 1931-1993 (1968), Kiki: ten thousand years in a lifetime; a New Guinea autobiography, Pall Mall P, ISBN0269670289{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Kiki, Albert Maori, 1931- (1978), Kiki jiden = Ten thousand years in a lifetime (in Japanese), Gakuseisha{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Australian government spokespersons
Derham, David P. (David Plumley), 1920-1985 (1960), Report on the system for the administration of justice in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, Australian Department of Territories{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Downs, Ian, 1915-2004; Australia. Department of Home Affairs (1980), The Australian trusteeship, Papua New Guinea, 1945-75 / Ian Downs, Australian Government Publishing Service, ISBN0642041393{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Murray, Hubert, Sir, 1861-1940 (1925), Papua of to-day: or an Australian colony in the making, P. S. King & Son{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
General
Connolly, Bob; Anderson, Robin (1987), First contact, Viking
Laurie, E. A. H (1944), Australia in New Guinea, Current Book Distributors
Mair, Lucy, 1901- (1948), Australia in New Guinea; with an introduction by Lord Hailey, Christophers{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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