Non-hereditary Social Structures 
  
In Huli society there are no hereditary chiefs or offices that carry political power underpinning hereditary structures (cf Glasse 1968: 21).  An exception to this can be found in some clans where the deposit of genealogical history is in the hands of a single individual, who is deferred to by others when tracing ancestry back to the clan founder.  Apart from this, power and special importance can be achieved by any man with the right combination of talents, industry and ambition, a man’s influence over others being in direct proportion to his mastery of practical skills and the strategies necessary for combating malevolent influences.  In almost every case, mastery of skills and strategies is linked directly to mastery of their associated varieties of language, and one who has command of esoteric varieties of language and of secret registers and genres, is held in regard: others will tend to listen to his counsel and follow his lead.  This type of leadership is exercised in various areas of social and economic activity, some of which are described below.

homogo    A man who has succeeded in gaining wealth above the ordinary is called a homogo.  His success is evident in the size and productivity of his gardens, the number of his wives and children, and the health, size and number of his pigs.  He usually has gardens in several subclan territories, residing multilocally, and his influence is felt by many.  He clearly has the wisdom and secret strategies necessary for success, and his advice is sought – and bought – by others.  Because of his standing in different subclans, he is a natural arbitrator in times of dispute, while his wealth makes him a valuable associate when death indemnities have to be met or when wariabu bride wealthhas to be paid.  He may or may not also be recognized as a manaji.

manaji    One who is in possession of considerable secret knowledge is called a manaji.  His knowledge is of religious rites and divination, and his power has been proved.  He may also be a custodian of Huli myths and lore.  Among the publicly acknowledged manaji are figures of influence such as leaders of the haroli bachelor cult (cf Cheetham 1979: 889) and leaders of cave cults (cf Habel 1979).

dandaji    are men skilled in war and hunting, knowledgeable in the use of  fighting spells and strategies, and of the secret language necessary for  journeying into the high bush.  They are natural candidates for leadership in war, although war parties usually tend to follow the successful man of the moment.

dombagwa    An arbitrator  in disputes is know as a dombagwa.  He usually has command of a special register called damba bi arbitration talk (cf Goldman 1980: 224), and is skilled in remembering details, so that he is able quickly and vividly to relate the background to the matter under dispute (Peters 1975: 19) and to point towards a solution.  He is frequently, but not necessarily, a homogo.  An accomplished dombagwa will chant the damba bi in a monotone.

Singers exercise an influence in society through music, although there is no generic terms that covers all categories of music and music makers.  Players of the gãwã mouth bow and hirijule jaw’s harp articulate words as they play, telling stories and recounting everyday happenings (cf Peters 1975; Pugh-Kitigan 1975).  Chanters of the long and intricate bi te folk tales make an essential contribution to poetry and to phatic communion, as do singers of ritual ulove chants.  Performers of the dawe wail for dead men and dugu wail for dead women/children are leaders in important social functions, esteemed for their skills.  Players of the gãwã and hirijule may also be feared a little, since gamu religious formulae are considered to gain potency when performed on these instruments.

jagibano    are men who achieve no distinction in society and are patently unsuccessful, with few children, poor gardens, and sickly pigs.  They are presumed to have failed to gain little more than a minimum knowledge of everyday skills and gamu religious formulae.   They are at the opposite end of the continuum from the homogo.  Ajagibano may be married, but more typically he is single.  Such single men, including widowers, are called daloali, and generally have little social influence.  A marked exception to this, however, is the daloali who leads the haroli.

haroli    Significant in Huli society are the members of the haroli or ibagija.  This cult is part of the initiation process for young men, the group being led by an older, celibate, man, the ritual daloali.  He is admired and feared for his command of mana lore and of gamu religious formulae, for his wealth in pigs and for his spartan way of life.  Young men pay highly to join the cult for two or three years, learning from the daloali (who is also a manaji) the complexities of traditional mythology and lore, and the religious strategies for warding off the evil influences of women.  The haroli are segregated from the rest of society, living in special tracts of bush into which no woman or married man may go.

Huli man wearing a haroli wig. Note how the manda wig curves upwards.  Although more usually coloured with hare red clay, this one is charcoal black. Freedom of expression is an essential part of Huli culture, and accounts for the wide variety of decoration that is to be found.  The manda is surmounted with multiple ubija Raggiana Bird of Paradise plumes, and decorated in the front with the crest of ayagama Superb Bird of Paradise. Parrot feathers adorn the tips of the curves.  A bright lebage snake skin is stretched over the man’s forehead, and tia iri possum fur covers his ears.  The top of the manda is trimmed with small white feathers, and tail feathers of gulugala Astrapia stephaniae bird of paradise feature vertically on each wing of the wig.

 kebeali    Similarly segregated from others are the curators of cave shrines (cf Habel 1979: 19-24), the kebeali orgebeali.  These custodians of shrines are meant to refrain from contact with women during their term of office, and to dwell apart from the rest of the community.  They are privy to the religious rites and formulae necessary for mediation with the dama spirits that inhabit the shrines, and can command high fees for the placatory services that they perform.

wali    The position accorded women in Huli ideology is reflected in the social structures.  They live apart from men, and have little voice in decisions taken at subclan level.  Even when they have been the cause of war they take no part in the fighting or in subsequent negotiations for peace (cd Glasse 168; 1968: 99-100).  Their say in the choice of their marriage partner depends to some extent on how assertive they are (cf Glasse 1968: 52), but ultimately it is the male members of the subclans involved who control the decision making and settle on the wariabu bride wealth.

Huli woman with her keba digging stick;note that she wears her nu string bag hanging from her head.

A woman may own pigs and other valuables, and she is entitled to the food she grows in her gardens, but she can never achieve the wealth and influence that a man can.  She may gain a certain standing among other women as a chanter of dugu or a player of the gãwã or hirijule, or as one who possesses special secret knowledge and gamu(cf Pugh-Kitigan 1975: 45), but her political influence in society at large is not significant.

 Source:http://www.gabelomas.org/huli/htms/huli1c.htm 

Hereditary Social Structures

hamigini    This is a social group with residential rights within a defined territory.  Membership is reckoned in terms of descent – cognatic according to Glasse 1968, agnatic according to Frankel 1986.  Whatever the case, membership is established by being able to trace ones ancestors back through many generations, and thus demonstrate ones claim to identity within the group.  The Huli term hamigini is equivalent to what Glasse callsparish (Glasse 1968: 23-24), while his term parish section equates with the Huli hamigini emene.

hamigini emene    This is a unit residing within and owning a portion of the territory occupied by a hamigini.  At this point, I shall start to call hamigini a clan and hamigini emene a subclan, with the proviso that these labels take their definitions from the Huli terms to which they have been made to correspond.  Subclans are autonomous and are the basic social unit of Huli society, making war, initiating peace and paying indemnities without obligations to consult the rest of the clan (cf Glasse 1968: 24-25).  Claims to membership and to territorial rights are based on a person’s being able to establish descent from the founder of the subclan, or relationship with a subclan member.  Affines also become resident members, as do those who are permitted through bonds of friendship to reside within the subclan and align themselves with its activities (cf Glass 1968: 24-35).  Non-kin, however, can never claim the position accorded to full members of a subclan.  This position has to do with the amount of security enjoyed as regards land tenure, and the extent to which a person is morally obliged to be involved in subclan activities.  It also governs the degree of support a person is expected to give or can expect to receive in discharging obligations or accepting death indemnities from others.  This basic pattern is complicated by the fact that a person may, by descent, be affiliated to more than one subclan, while a further complication arises in that people can, and often do, reside multilocally.  Hence, an individual will usually belong in one way or another to more than one subclan at a time.  This mobility and freedom of choice mean that kinship and other ties extend beyond  subclan territorial boundaries. 
 

Young Huli man dressed for festivities The young man’s face is painted with trade store paint, and includes a vertical blue line in the centre of the forehead.  Traditionally, this colour would be obtained by using a clay such as dobe ordongoma.  ambwa yellow clay would provide the traditional back-ground face mask, while goloba vermilion clay or hare red claywould have been used around the chin.  His manda wig is trimmed with grass flowers, dange lini, and topped with yari iri cassowary plumes.  There are yellow feathers at the front of the wig, set into a forked flourish of parrot feathers.  Just under the wig, he wears a lebage snake skin.  He displays the usual half moon halepange mother-of-pearl shellround his neck, with a cluster of plastic beads above it.  The background is the grass roof of a traditional anda house.

  
Kinship 
             The extent of close kinship ties within Huli society is reflected in the language: brothers and sisters  include what we English ethnic groups would call half-brothers, half-sisters, and all parallel cousins (cf Glasse 1968: 148).  Within these parameters, siblings of the opposite sex call each other reciprocally mbalini, female siblings call each other hagabuni, and male siblings share among themselves the reciprocal label hamene.  The label aba includes ones father and all those whom he calls hamene, while the term ãija includes ones mother and all those whom she calls hagabuni.

The terminology and the semantic fields covered by each label indicate the generally wide concept of family among the Huli, although when occasion demands finer and more precise distinctions can be made.  Thus, the relationship between paternal uncle and nephew/niece is designated by the reciprocal terms ajane, while ama is used reciprocally of the relationship between maternal aunt and nephew/niece.  It can also be seen that while a subclan is an extended family, kinship structures go well beyond its confines. 
  
Marriage, 
                although an institution, is conveniently considered here.  It is male-dominated, in that a man is free to take as many wives as he can afford, but a woman is allowed only one husband at a time.  Choice of partners is restricted to some extent by hereditary kinship structures, custom demanding exogamy but forbidding the marriage of close cognates (cf Glasse 1968: 49).  This leaves open the possibility of marriages extending beyond clan confines, and even into other language groups.

A young man and woman may freely choose to marry each other, or a man’s bride may be selected for him by his sublcan or close kin.  Either way, the marriage is instituted by the bride’s kin receiving from the groom’s kin a suitablewariabu bride wealth - payment made mainly in pigs, varying in number from fifteen to thirty.  The groom has the right to designate the bride’s place of residence, and has the duty to build a house for her and give her land on which to work a garden.

The bride is expected to rear the children, tend the garden, and herd the pigs.  Girls are her continuing responsibility, but her sons go to live with their father when they reach the age of nine or ten.  In general, the husband is deemed to have greater rights over the children than the wife, and even after divorce he can claim the major share of anywariabu bride wealth paid for daughters, even though they are living with a former wife or her kin (cf Glasse 1968: 54).

Divorce is not infrequent, the commonest cause being the failure of the woman to produce children.  Indeed, there is an implicit understanding that a marriage can only become dabu binigo ore true marriage when children begin to appear.  A man will be anxious to recover pigs paid for a woman who proves to be lazy or unbiddable, while she on her part can end an unsatisfactory union simply by leaving her husband (Glasse 1968: 76). 

 Source:http://www.gabelomas.org/huli/htms/huli1b.htm 

Beliefs

The complicated account of Huli beliefs given in Glasse 1965 is based on data he gathered at Hojabia, near Lumulumu.  His view was limited by his being unable at the time of his fieldwork to move freely in and out of what was then restricted territory, and since his day others have queried his findings (e.g.. Goldman 1983; Frankel 1986), especially in regard to his main claim, that the Huli descent system is cognatic.  Consequently, what is and what is notHuli is not easy to define.  However, some aspects of Huli culture identified by Glasse seem to hold, or to be known, in quite widely different Huli communities. 
  
dama    These make up a loose hierarchy of supra-human beings that inhabit the sky, rivers, water holes, caves and dense bushlands – especially the higher reaches of the mountains.  They control the climate and the land, and affect fertility in both soil and livestock.  They can cause a variety of of sicknesses and misfortunes in humans, including death, and are constantly and capriciously active in human affairs.  The originating dama of the Huli and their neighbours are generally less malevolent than others, while all dama can to some extent be placated and persuaded to desist from causing harm.  Sometimes they can be tricked or warded off, and it is even possible to manipulate some of them and harness the powers that they possess (cf Glasse 1965: 33-37). 
 

Huli dama dancing, as depicted by artist Alphonsus Mariot dinini    Less powerful than dama, but still more powerful than humans, are the dinini or ghosts of the dead.  These, too, are active in human affairs, male ghosts being benevolent and protective towards their descendants, while female ghosts are invariably spiteful and malevolent towards all except their own offspring.  Some dinini have wandered in from other places and taken up their abode in Huliland, and these these may almost have the status of dama.  dininicannot be appeased, only tricked or thwarted by the use of strategies more powerful than their own (cf Glasse 1965: 29-32). 
  
tomia    is a generic term for power that is not necessarily attached to dama or dinini, but can reside in material objects such as stones, or be generated by certain religious formulae called gamu.  It can cause sickness or death, either accidentally or through human manipulation (cf Glasse 1968: 105-106).

wali    is Huli for woman or women, who are regarded as being unwittingly endowed with tomia, especially potent in their menstrual blood.  They are seen as being a baleful influence on and a potential source of danger to men.  On occasions they may consciously use their powers to cause harm (cf Glasse 1968: 106), and men have to learn ritual strategies to guard against them. 

Source:http://www.gabelomas.org/huli/htms/huli1a.htm 

Archeological evidence indicates that humans arrived on New Guinea at least 60 000 years ago probably by sea from Southeast Asia during an ice age period when the sea was lower and distances between islands shorter. Although the first arrivals were hunters and gatherers early evidence shows that people managed the forest environment to provide food. There also are indications of gardening having been practiced at the same time that agriculture was developing in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Early garden crops — many of which are indigenous — included sugarcane Pacific bananas yams and taros while sago and pandanus were two commonly exploited native forest crops. Today’s staples — sweet potatoes and pigs — are later arrivals but shellfish and fish have long been mainstays of coastal dwellers’ diets.

When Europeans first arrived inhabitants of New Guinea and nearby islands — while still relying on bone wood and stone tools — had a productive agricultural system. They traded along the coast where products mainly were pottery shell ornaments and foodstuffs and in the interior where forest products were exchanged for shells and other sea products.

The first Europeans to sight New Guinea were probably the Portuguese and Spanish navigators sailing in the South Pacific in the early part of the 16th century. In 1526-27 Don Jorge de Meneses accidentally came upon the principal island and is credited with naming it "Papua a Malay word for the frizzled quality of Melanesian hair. The term New Guinea" was applied to the island in 1545 by a Spaniard Ynigo Ortis de Retez because of a fancied resemblance between the islands’ inhabitants and those found on the African Guinea coast. Although European navigators visited the islands and explored their coastlines for the next 170 years little was known of the inhabitants until the late 19th century.

New Guinea

With Europe’s growing need for coconut oil Godeffroy’s of Hamburg the largest trading firm in the Pacific began trading for copra in the New Guinea Islands. In 1884 Germany formally took possession of the northeast quarter of the island and put its administration in the hands of a chartered company. In 1899 the German imperial Government assumed direct control of the territory thereafter known as German New Guinea. In 1914 Australian troops occupied German New Guinea and it remained under Australian military control until 1921. The British Government on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia assumed a mandate from the League of Nations for governing the Territory of New Guinea in 1920. It was administered under this mandate until the Japanese invasion in December 1941 brought about the suspension of Australian civil administration. Following the surrender of the Japanese in 1945 civil administration of Papua as well as New Guinea was restored and under the Papua New Guinea Provisional Administration Act 1945-46 Papua and New Guinea were combined in an administrative union.

Papua

On November 6 1884 a British protectorate was proclaimed over the southern coast of New Guinea (the area called Papua) and its adjacent islands. The protectorate called British New Guinea was annexed outright on September 4 1888. The possession was placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1902. Following the passage of the Papua Act of 1905 British New Guinea became the Territory of Papua and formal Australian administration began in 1906. Papua was administered under the Papua Act until it was invaded by the Japanese in 1942 and civil administration suspended. During the war Papua was governed by a military administration from Port Moresby where Gen. Douglas MacArthur occasionally made his headquarters. As noted it was later joined in an administrative union with New Guinea during 1945-46 following the surrender of Japan.

Postwar Developments

The Papua and New Guinea Act of 1949 formally approved the placing of New Guinea under the international trusteeship system and confirmed the administrative union of New Guinea and Papua under the title of "The Territory of Papua and New Guinea." The act provided for a Legislative Council (established in 1951) a judicial organization a public service and a system of local government. A House of Assembly replaced the Legislative Council in 1963 and the first House of Assembly opened on June 8 1964. In 1972 the name of the territory was changed to Papua New Guinea.

Elections in 1972 resulted in the formation of a ministry headed by Chief Minister Michael Somare who pledged to lead the country to self-government and then to independence. Papua New Guinea became self-governing in December 1973 and achieved independence on September 16 1975. It remains as a realm of Queen Elizabeth II represented by a Governor General. The 1977 national elections confirmed Michael Somare as Prime Minister at the head of a coalition led by the Pangu Party. However his government lost a vote of confidence in 1980 and was replaced by a new cabinet headed by Sir Julius Chan as Prime Minister. The 1982 elections increased Pangu’s plurality and parliament again chose Somare as Prime Minister. In November 1985 the Somare government lost a vote of no confidence and the parliamentary majority elected Paias Wingti at the head of a five-party coalition as Prime Minister. A coalition headed by Wingti was victorious in very close elections in July 1987. In July 1988 a no confidence vote toppled Wingti and brought to power Rabbie Namaliu who a few weeks earlier had replaced Somare as leader of the Pangu Party.

Such reversals of fortune and a revolving-door succession of Prime Ministers continue to characterize Papua New Guinea’s national politics. A plethora of political parties coalition governments shifting party loyalties and motions of no-confidence in the leadership all lend an air of instability to political proceedings. Under legislation intended to enhance stability new governments remain immune from no-confidence votes for the first 18 months of their incumbency.

Source:http://www.world66.com/asia/southeastasia/papuanewguinea/history

By Madeleine Coorey (AFP) – Jun 7, 2010

SYDNEY — An Australian trekker has uncovered the site of a World War II battle in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, with the bodies of at least three Japanese soldiers still lying where they fell in 1942.

Former army captain Brian Freeman, an expert on the arduous Kokoda Trail, said Monday that local villagers led him to the Eora Creek site where he found the remains of the soldiers, along with their weapons and equipment.

"I never anticipated that we would find war dead," Freeman said.

"As soon as we realised that Japanese and, potentially, Australian soldiers were buried at the site, we discussed with the villagers the need for those men to be identified and returned home," he said in a statement.

Freeman said the battleground was known to nearby villagers but they had avoided the site, believing that it was haunted by the spirits of the dead.

The Australian Defence Force said Monday it was investigating Freeman’s report.

Freeman believes the site, about one kilometre (half a mile) from the village of Eora Creek, was the site of the last major engagement of a battle that proved a significant milestone in Australia’s campaign against the Japanese in Papua New Guinea.

The Australian War Memorial attributes 99 deaths to the fighting there.

As the Japanese forces withdrew, they took positions on a ridge overlooking the Eora Creek crossing, giving them a strong defensive line against Australian offensives during six days of fighting in October 1942.

Freeman, who has trekked the Kokoda Trail more than 35 times and holds the record for the fastest one way crossing at 24 hours and 59 minutes, discovered the lost battleground in April but had met with Australian and Japanese officials to inform them of the find before making it public.

He said he hoped the site would reveal the resting places of Australian and Japanese killed in action on Kokoda, so they could be identified and returned to their families for appropriate burial.

Retired Australian General Peter Cosgrove, who travelled to the site with Freeman on May 29, described the find as "a hugely significant discovery".

"I have seen the site first-hand and was struck by the enormity of what lay around me — intact since 1942," he said.

"It is as if time has stood still. We found ammunition running out in a line from the rifle that was dropped as the Japanese advanced to the rear.

"However, it was the discovery of a Japanese soldier sitting up against a tree, only centimetres from the surface still in his helmet, with his boots nearby that began to tell the human story."

Cosgrove said they had found large rectangular rifle pits while metal detectors had picked up rifles, ammunition and helmets of Australian and Japanese soldiers.

Some 600 Australian soldiers died in battle near the extremely rugged Kokoda Trail, which was seen by the allies as a crucial point at which to halt the Japanese military’s southern advance through the Pacific towards Australia.

Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iNQ4XAzvnpD7hoPWWXTRtEDD4Qig