CARL WILHELM ÖBERG
FIG. 13 (left): A fi nely carved
fragment of what appears to be half
of a horizontal malangan frieze.
Photo © Bart van Bussel.
Although the main part and center image is
missing, the inserted shell (Turbo petholatus)
forms the eye of a hornbill bird with its beak
grasping a human lower arm with its hand
and outstretched fi ngers. Unfortunately, no
information is given by Öberg. It may be
among some unnamed objects as inv. no. 20–25
described “Dance embltems, acquired from Kap
Su.” A complete frieze was given by Öberg to Dr.
Palmquist (fi g. 33). Similar frieze to style of Gunn
& Peltier, 2006, pl. 96, with provenance to A.
Frings, Nusa Island, Northern New Ireland.
99
FIG. 11 (left):
New Ireland objects on
display in between the
malangan poles.
Photo © Bart van Bussel.
From top, a dance mouthpiece,
possibly an image of a lizard with a
bird´s head. Similar to Krämer, 1925,
pl. 68, and Gunn & Peltier, 2006, pl.
106 + 107. In the middle, a wooden
comb. Bottom, wooden coned
cups made to resemble a woman’s
breasts. Öberg writes, “Dance
ornaments, worn on men’s chests
as they dressed up like women in
their dances and held wild and
insidious orgies. These dances were
later abolished by the missionaries.”
Similar by Krämer, 1925, pl. 23.
FIG. 12 (right):
Display on the ceiling
Photo © Bart van Bussel
“Spears from New Britain and New
Ireland. The fi rst mentioned with
human femur from a chief. The
braveness of the deceased chief
gave success to the warrior. The
spear from New Ireland has burned
ornamentation and cost four tobacco
sticks. Two parade clubs from New
Hanover acquired from Ugue,”
extract from the coll. inv. no. 5-7,
Hometown Museum, Stora Skedvi.
Also, a fi ne turtle shell, perhaps
the one Öberg referred to as being
offered 140 marks for in Bremen,
“From New Ireland (the Chinese
coast). Gift from Tamaranget, chief
of the Patemajan.”
Named after the German
chancellor Otto von Bismarck,
German interest in
the area began in 1860 with
the Hamburg merchant Johann
Cesar VI. Godeffroy
(1813–1885). The J. C.
Godeffroy & Sohn company
was the fi rst to engage in
the systematic production
of copra (dried coconut meat,
from which oil is extracted) in
the South Seas.11 Other business
enterprises quickly emerged in
the following years, all engaging
in the lucrative industry of
producing copra by annexing
land and establishing coconut
plantations. Among these were
Hernsheim & Co., the Neuguinea
Kompagnie, E. E. Forsyth
& Co. (run by the noted
“Queen Emma”), and J.
O. Mouton & Co. Besides
copra, other natural products
such as turtle shell,
sea cucumber (beche-de-mer), pearls, and shells
were traded, and items of ethnography came to
be sought after and became a commodity type
unto itself.12
To operate the copra plantations, labor was
required on a far greater scale than the resident
European, Australian, and other foreigners
could manage. The climate greatly impacted almost
every foreigner arriving there, malaria was
widespread, and Öberg was to suffer from this.13
Not surprisingly, the immediate and inexpensive
solution to this problem was to recruit laborers
from among the indigenous population.
In his memoirs, the German governor at the
time, Dr. Albert Hahl, recalled the number of
the “white population” for the entire German
colonial South Seas region in 1909 as numbering
1,075.14 For the Bismarck Archipelago alone,
the indigenous population the same year was offi
cially listed as 150,000, while the “white population”
numbered 462 persons.15
BEFORE 1900
The diary notes made by Öberg about his time
in the Bismarck Archipelago begin in late 1893,
and describe intense activity sailing in between
the area’s many islands and plantations. It seems
clear that at this time he was already well acquainted
with the waters of the regioni. Diaries
from the immediately preceding years do not
survive today, however, his collection inventory