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Plenty gold, no glory
LOUD rumbling sounds caused by giant metal birds flying overhead made them flee deep into the jungles.
Armed with bows and arrows they stood guard all night fearing that the giant birds would return at night to attack them.
The people sought help from their dead ancestors to fight the invaders but to no avail as they were outnumbered and overpowered by the outsiders.
Their tiny arrows could not scare away the strange looking white men who flocked into their land and started constructing huge machines that looked like giant floating houses with long noses and huge mouths and ears.
They soon accepted defeat giving their land away without a fight and blood shed.
They were the people of Manki, Mumeng, Buang, Watut, Yamap and Biangai in Bulolo, Morobe province who once used their rich land for hunting, gardening, food gathering and other customary purposes.
Capitalizing on the people’s ignorance and lack of resistance the invading white-men flew in more equipment and vehicles and began setting up their operations.
The white men constructed roads, built houses and assembled all the heavy equipment that was flown in from the coast and Australia by the huge metals birds.
Heavy bits of metals flown in by junker aeroplanes were assembled piece by piece to make dredging machines.
Bulolo created aviation history by becoming one the busiest airstrips in the world at that time.
The construction of dredging machines heralded the start of the gold dredging work by Australians during the 1930s along the Bulolo river right through to the Watut river junction and Wau.
Greed for gold brought white-men flooding in to work on the dredging machines under the Bulolo Gold Dredging Company Ltd, the first registered gold mining company in PNG.
Local people stood helpless as their fertile land was dug up from Bulowat all the way past Bulolo towards Pine Top Bridge.
One machine was assembled up in Wau and worked along the Bulolo River and along the Sandy Creek area towards Wau.
The dredging machines left behind a trail of destruction, arable land, the habitat of many species of wildlife, flora and fauna were destroyed.
Dredging was briefly halted during the Second World War but resumed soon after the war.
The white-men took out millions of ounces of gold valued over billions of kina to their country leaving nothing but destruction for the local people.
No rehabilitation work was carried out by Bulolo Gold Dredging Company Ltd after mining activities ceased. No attempts were made to replant trees and restore damaged land which was the people’s biggest loss.
At that time the people were not aware that they had a right to claim compensation for damages done to their land by Bulolo Gold Dredging Ltd.
Twenty years later a young leader from Sambio named Mathew Bendumb took up the fight to ensure that his people were compensated for destruction to their land.
He stood for elections, got into Parliament and rallied support from fellow Morobe politicians like former regional MP Boyamo Sali and Lae MP Tony Ila to pursue their land compensation case.
“I raised the people’s concern a number of times on the floor of parliament for compensation to be paid to my people of Bulolo on the destruction that was done to our land by Bulolo Gold Dredging Company Ltd in the 1930s,” said Mr Bendumb.
“We are talking about the destruction to our environment and everyone knows about it. The Australian Government can’t deny having any knowledge about the damage they have done to our land,” said Mr Bendumb.
His son Patrick Bendumb has now taken up the fight as he believes this is a genuine case which the Australian Government must compensate.
Patrick Bendumb who is the chairman of West Watut Risos Ltd is spear heading a drive to claim compensation.
“Sixty years have passed since the gold dredging machines have exploited our land and have packed up and left leaving behind nothing but a trail of destruction to our land. Only old rusted machines stand idle on our land,” Patrick Bendumb said.
“All our ancestors have passed on from this life. However, the evidence of the destruction they witnessed remains today. We want to be compensated for this,” he said.
He said the Australian Government had responded to their first letter saying that all compensation demands were handed over to the PNG Government at Independence thirty years ago,” he said.
“This is not acceptable and we will still pursue the matter further through the PNG Government as we have the support of Morobe Governor Luther Wenge to take the matter through the political level,” Mr Bendumb said.
“We call on our Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare to approach his counterpart the Australian Prime Minister John Howard to discuss the issue on a diplomatic level,” he said.
Mr Bendumb urged educated people from Manki, Mumeng, Biangai, Watut, Buang and Yamap to work together to pursue the matter through with the Australian Government.
He called on Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare to respond to the letter they sent him in September.
“Sir Michael is fully aware of the issue that we have raised and he should respond favorably and let us know of his stand on the whole issue of Bulolo land destructions.”
Twelve new committees and members representing tribes from Manki, Mumeng, Watut, Yamap, Biangai and Mumeng were appointed to represent them on the land damages case.
“Morobe Governor Mr Wenge has thrown his support behind our case and we hope to bring the issue of compensation up on the floor of parliament in next year’s sitting to seek more political support,” he said.
“We are fighting a long battle for our people and for the future generations to benefit from.
“We do not want history to repeat itself from mining activities because it is a non renewable resource,” Mr Bendumb said. By SAMPSON BONAI, published in The National, 23 Dec 05
For more information, please contact:
Igor O'Neill
Workphone: +62 21 794 1672
Mobile: +62 81 286 12 286
Created: 23 Dec 2005 | Last updated: 23 Dec 2005
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