Report of the New Guinea nutrition survey expedition, 1947 / [edited by E.H. Hipsley and F.W. Clements].

  • Australia. Department of External Territories
Date:
[1947?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report of the New Guinea nutrition survey expedition, 1947 / [edited by E.H. Hipsley and F.W. Clements]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    44/316 page 40
    The language of instruction is ‘Yabem, one of the lingua franca of the Lutheran Mission, and the teachers possess what appeared to be carefully drawn up and very detailed work-books, printed in Yabem, and.setting out the work for each-school day. The.actual work.of:the school seems to be rather limited, a typical day’s programme being: .roll-call, bible history (the story of Joseph), writing and simple arithmetic. The school does not function, as a group, in any other activity. The teachers, however, are alert and ‘keen, and there does not seem ‘to be any dullness of boredom in the institution. As is so frequently the case, the example set by the teachers and their wives in the matter of housing and general habits, is probably of at least as much value as the work they do in formal schooling. (Compare Ixora- vagi, p. 68.) Comments on Some Relevant Local Customs. (1) Inheritanee. Inheritance of garden lands, one is told, is in the matrilineal line, rights to make gardens in certain areas passing from men to their sister’s sons. It is also recognised that, very often, sons will garden in areas in which their fathers held rights. To do this, however, they must obtain the per- mission of the true heirs, who may if they so choose tell them to go back to their own land. Ownership of trees, such as sago and coconut palms, pass from a man to his own children. In the case of a sago palm, all the children inherit a right to a share in the sago. The right of saying when it shall be cut rests with the eldest son, and should any of the other children desire to organise its “working,” they must obtain his permission. Coconut palms are divided among all the children. (2) Men’s Club Houses. Individuals inherit the right to choose membership of the men’s club house (2) of either his own father or his mother’s brother. The present tendency appears to be that he should belong to his father’s club house. It is probable that the influence of these club houses, of which there are some fourteen or fifteen named, has declined considerably since the war. As was noted earlier, only two. or three temporary structures have been built, and young males who would formerly have slept in a club house, are now sleeping either in tents or in the family home. The club house, in olden times, provided not only sleeping quarters for young men, but a nucleus around which the social and political life of the community crystallised. Each one had its leader and from these a leader ‘would, through his industry, accumulated wealth and strength of person- vality, emerge the leader of the village. The club house, at the present time, finds its chief importance as a place in which men occasionally sit and talk and in which they keep their fishing gear. From an organised point of view, the only activity in which if appears to be utilised, is the activity of the Mission. It is the centre for the morning and evening prayer meetings which the people of Busama se scrupulously attend.
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