Colonial fever was still hot at the turn of the twentieth century. Sometimes it takes a deadly military campaign to realize some places are better left alone. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Todays stamp features a bird of paradise that is native to the tropical island. Still a common vision on todays successor Papua stamps. The bloody price paid by outsiders for the presence on New Guinea means that the draw is no longer as great.
Todays stamp is issue A32, a 3 Penny stamp issued by the territory of New Guinea in 1932 while the area was under a League of Nations mandate to Australia. It was part of a 15 stamp issue in various denominations issued over many years. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 used.
The northeastern part of the island of New Guinea was first colonized by the Germans. This caused some consternation in the then still British colonies on Australia. They were concerned about the sea trade lanes and just the presence of a potentially hostile power. In fact the colony of Queensland tried to formally annex German New Guinea. This was quickly resinded by the British foreign office who had no interest in the expense of starting a colony and no wish to comfront Germany. Germany formed a private company to exploit the territory and tried to set up rubber plantations. This did not go well as without slavery it was nearly impossible to get Guineans to work. The Germans tried to demand labor in order to pay taxes that required cash to pay but results were poor and rebellions frequent. Chinese or Indians were not brought in as would have happened in a British colony. At the beginning of World War I, Australian troops landed and got rid of the Germans with hardly a fight.
Post war, the Australians strongly argued for continued presence in New Guinea as an outside Australia line of defense. Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes said that strategically the northern island encompass Australia like fortresses and are as necessary to Australia as is water to a city. The League of Nations awarded the mandate to Australia in 1921. At this point it was administered separately from Papua to the south.
The fortress aspect came true during World War II. The Japanese landed and were able to establish a foot hold at Rabaul the capital but the Australians were able to hold on to Port Moresby to the south. From Rabaul, Japan was able to bomb Darwin and if they possessed larger bombers more of Australia would have been subject to bombing. What followed was a bloody three year campaign to dislodge the Japanese and caused the death of 7000 Australian soldiers, 7000 Americans and 30,000 Japanese. The Guineans/Papuans themselves played no part in the fighting although Australians made propaganda of Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels that assisted Australians and allowed them to imply they had native support. No doubt Imperial Japan would never imply they require the services of Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels or Devils for that matter.
After the war came a new UN mandate and new joint administration with Papua. The expense of fortresses on New Guinea was deemed too expensive and Australias forward defense post war would be handled by long range bombers, aircraft carriers and the ANZUS alliance. Papua New Guinea was set on course to independence which was achieved in the 1970s. The Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels are no longer considered so angelic as they have soaked up much Australian foreign aid that was mostly squandered.
Well my drink is empty and I may have a few more while I consider the plight of New Guinea. Another place where the colonizers should have left well enough alone. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.