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TRAGEDY STALKS NEW GUINEA PIONEERS
Life Among Head Hunters
By C. R. SHELDON
Although this is a short account of men who
pioneered and opened up portion of Netherlands
New Guinea, and shot birds of paradise there, I relate
the history of a lonely pioneer who lived on Deliverance Island, because his life more or less depended
and formed part of the lives of those who pioneered
the Netherlands New Guinea.
Deliverance Island, which
was discovered and named by
Captain James Cook during his
voyage of 1770, lies between Thursday Island, Australia, and the large island of New Guinea. Very little
is known about it. Certainly it received some prominence during the war, 1914-18, on account of its
close proximity to New Guinea and
the passages joining the Arafura
Sea and the Coral Sea.
Deliverance Island is about 1000 kilometres long by 400 kilometres wide, just
a sandy stretch of land, low lying,
with practically no large trees, and is
surrounded by sand banks and coral
reefs. It was uninhabited until 1893,
when a Danish sailor named Henrick
Enevold took up his abode there.
Very few people knew Henrick Enevold by that name, but he was widely
known as "Deliverance Harry," and
until his death it was generally
thought he was a Frenchman. "Harry"
led a very lonely life, living chiefly on
turtles, fish, birds, &c.
One of "Harry's" best friends was
the late Reg. Hockings, a pearler, of
Thursday Island, and it was due to
Mr. Hockings's forethought that about
200 coconut trees were planted on the
island in 1919, in case of emergency,
for water and food. Deliverance Island
is without water, and again "Harry"
had to thank the late Mr. Hockings for
installing a 500-gallon galvanised iron
water tank, and building a house with
a galvanised iron roof to act as catchment for same.
"Harry" would not leave his island.
Mr. Hockings tried many times to persuade "Harry" to live at Thursday
Island, but he preferred to remain with
his dogs and cats.
Another great friend that ''Harry''
had was Dick Roche, of Merauke, a
former shipmate. Dick Roche, from
1925 onwards until his death, was in
the habit of making yearly trips to
Thursday Island, and always called at
Deliverance Island to see his friend
"Harry," as Thursday Island is only
187 miles from Merauke.
During the south-east monsoons
quite a number of Thursday Island
pearling luggers visited Deliverance
Island, taking shelter there from the
strong south-east winds, and to catch
and hunt for turtles. By these boats
"Harry" received news of the outside
world, provisions, &c.
A Lonely Death
In November, 1928, when Dick Roche
made one of his periodical visits to
Deliverance Island, he found his friend
"Harry" was dead. His body was lying
half inside and half outside the doorway leading into his hut. One of the
arms was missing, and was found some
distance away from the body. The
body was mutilated in several places.
It is presumed that "Harry" had
been too weak to recover after he had
fallen in the doorway, and remained
there until he had died. Apparently
"Harry's" dogs had tried to drag the
body away from the doorway.
Dick Roche buried "Harry" on his
little island, and reported his death to
the authorities at Thursday Island.
Such was the end of Henrick Enevold, who for over 45 years knew of
no other world than his own little
island, and who during those years
he spent there befriended many a passing lugger and gave welcome to all.
Deliverance Island is a wonderful
place for turtles, and when they come
up on the beaches to lay their eggs
they do not creep up in ones and twos,
but come on to the beaches in hundreds at a time. They do not wait
until the dead of night, but come up
on the beaches during the day as well
as long as the water is high.
Amongst The Head Hunters
Closely bound to Deliverance Island was Dick Roche by his old
shipmate "Harry"; but Dick Roche,
a new Zealander of Irish descent, was
one of the pioneers of the Netherlands
New Guinea — first in partnership
with an Australian called Jackson,
and later on joined by another Australian named Penrose. This trio
formed the first bird of paradise
shooters in Netherlands New Guinea.
They opened up new country, and
others followed. Every season this
trio had to open up new hunting
grounds, not because the birds of
paradise were being shot out, but on
account of the Chinese shooting
parties who followed in their wake,
and began to shoot on, more or less,
the grounds already exploited by
Roche and Co.
This necessitated the Britishers
going every season farther afield,
breaking new ground, penetrating and
exploring country where a white man
had never been before. I refer mostly
to the country surrounding the
Eilander River and the upper portions of the Diogel River, where in
this district in the years 1912-1916,
the native Kia Kias were head hunters
and cannibals, making immediate war
and hunted any strangers entering
their country.
It may be a coincidence, but it is
a fact, that these three pioneers met
with peculiar deaths. In the latter
portion of 1912 Dick Roche and his
party, consisting of Jackson, Penrose,
and native boys (recruited from places
near Merauke), sustained their first
catastrophe.
Earlier in that year Roche had
heard of new "play trees" for birds
of paradise, in the Upper Diogel
River, and as soon as the season
opened for shooting they set out for
the Upper Diogel. After steaming up
the river for three days it was proposed to split the party up into three.
Jackson and Penrose taking a party
each to shoot, and Dick Roche to stay
and guard the launch.
It was the custom at night to collect all the firearms in a safe place,
owing to illicit trading going on, with
firearms and cartridges, with native
boys from other shooting parties.
A few nights after Penrose had left
the launch, he was suddenly attacked
by a large number of native Kia Kias,
and, before the arms could be distributed all of Penrose boys were killed,
with the exception of one small boy.
Penrose received a spear right
through his body, just below the chest.
After the first assault the Kia Kias
withdrew, and the small boy, unseen
by the Kia Kias, managed to drag
Penrose, with the spear still in his
body, to a hollow tree nearby.
Penrose then told the boy to steal
away and call Jackson to his assistance. During the boy's absence Penrose saw the Kia Kias come back to
his camp and make preparations for a
cannibal feast of his boys that had
been killed the night before.
After two nights and a day Jackson
and party arrived at Penrose's camp,
and found Penrose still alive, but in
an exhausted condition. Jackson did
what he could for his friend, but could
see that there was no hope for him.
After hearing an account of the
tragedy from Penrose, and taking his
depositions, Penrose died, and was
buried.
A party was then organised under
Jackson to avenge the death of Penrose, which was carried out without
mercy. By this time word had spread
to other tribes, and when Jackson
commenced his trek back to the river
he found that he was hemmed in on
all sides by Kia Kias hindering his
progress.
An Eye For An Eye
He eventually came to a deserted
village at nightfall, which had a
raised platform in its centre. On this
platform Jackson and his boys camped
for the night. The Kia Kias surrounded his camp, but were afraid to
attack. One of the boys belonging to
Jackson, without saying anything to
his "Toean" (master), thought he could
obtain a better shot at the enemy by
climbing down at the back of the platform and hiding underneath the platform.
After this boy had remained there
for about two hours, and finding there
was nothing doing, he started to climb
up on top of the platform, in the front,
and was immediately shot by Jackson,
who thought it was one of the enemy.
The code of the natives in Netherlands New Guinea is an eye for an
eye, and a life for a life — therefore,
Jackson thought he would be murdered by his boys as a reprisal for the
wrong he had done. Jackson, knowing this code, dare not go to sleep, and
after two days and three nights without sleep, and exhausted by his arduous journey, was nearly mad: therefore,
on the third night he decided to take
an overdose of laudanum, in order to
put himself to sleep, and, if he was to
be murdered by his boys, he would be
insensible to any action his boys might
take.
However, nothing happened: his boys
remained loyal to their master.
Jackson continued his trek to the
river, but his adventures were not yet
over. Just before he reached the river
Jackson and party had to go through
a narrow defile, and it was here that
the Kia Kias staged their final assault.
Jackson had to fight his way through
the horde of natives lining this defile,
but he got through with little or no
casualties. He found Roche waiting at
the launch, and immediately set sail
for Merauke, where the murder of Penrose was reported to the Government
authorities.
A party of soldiers immediately left
for the scene of the tragedy and many
Kia Kias were killed. The murderer
was brought back to Merauke, where
he is still in prison. The body of Penrose was brought back to Merauke.
Two Tragic Deaths
Dick Roche made many other expeditions, shooting birds of paradise,
but when the Netherlands Government closed the bird shooting and
prohibited the exportation of birds of
paradise, Roche and Jackson dissolved
partnership. Jackson went to British
New Guinea, and Roche took up coconut planting about 6 miles away from
Merauke.
Roche, in order to increase his income, established a passenger service
with his launch, between Merauke and
Thursday Island, bringing at different
times tourists and others across to
Merauke. At one time he brought
Captain Hurley and his moving picture
company in order to "shoot" scenes
for a moving picture, which required
a true native setting.
In September, 1931, Roche proceeded
to the Bian River, about 45 miles west
of Merauke, in order to carry out repairs to his launch, Somerset. At
that time in Merauke there was an
Australian named Palmer.
Palmer accompanied Dick Roche to
the Bian River. From evidence supplied by Palmer, on the evening of
September 15, Dick Roche was seen
to step into one of the native dugouts, and start paddling out to the
centre of the river, using his hands
as paddles. A strong stream soon took
the dugout out of sight, and from
that day Dick Roche has not been
heard of. His ultimate fate was never
known, nor was the dugout ever seen
again.
Dick Roche up to the time of his
disappearance was the best informed
about the south-eastern portion of
Netherlands New Guinea, and did
more exploring in that unknown
country than any other European. I
refer mostly to the country surrounding the Eilander River, Diogel River,
and the Bensbach River and their
tributaries. He had many brushes
with the Kia Kias, many narrow
escapes from death at their hands, and
if his experiences could have been
written in book form, it would have
made interesting reading.
Jackson worked at many callings in
British New Guinea, and eventually
drifted to the New Guinea goldfields,
where he met his death under peculiar
circumstances. He was found out
amongst the natives some distance
from the gold diggings, shot through
the head. It has never been proved
whether he committed suicide or was
murdered by the natives. The remarkable part about his death is that Jackson died within one week of the date
when Dick Roche was reported missing.
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