3-082-354 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

A Page from Papua: New Guinea warriors, 1895. Photograph from the collection of Mr. A. C. English. 'Although British New Guinea appertained to the realm before, it is only six years since Sir William declared her Majesty's sovereignty over it. He landed one September day, and before night the ceremony had been compassed, and British New Guinea became a Crown Colony...It has been thought a wise thing, in managing the Papuans, to investigate and comprehend their traditions, customs, and ways of life generally...Will the Papuans, now civilisation has reached them, continue to grow and multiply and people the land, or will they go down as the native Australians have done, as the Maoris of New Zealand are rapidly going? Much, if not, indeed, most of this big island, hanging on to the skirts of the continent of Australia, is utterly unknown. Apart from the direct work of administration, Sir William MacGregor has been actively engaged in gathering geographical and scientific information relative to the British slice of the island'. From "Illustrated London News", 1895.