Event — IIAS lecture

Letters from Aru Islands Maluku - Australian perspectives on the Arafura pearl-shell industry in the 1930s

01 May 2007

01/05/2007 - 16:00

1 May 2007
16.00-17.00 hrs

IIAS Lecture by Dr Julia Martinez
School of History and Politics, Faculty of Arts, University of Wollongong. Affiliated Fellow, International Institute for Asian Studies

PJ Veth building, room 329
Nonnensteeg 1-3
2311VJ Leiden

Dutch colonial sources on the history of the Aru Islands offer a sketchy view of the Maluku pearl-shell industry in the 1930s. Manon Osseweijer, used the administrative report, Memorie van Overgave of Controleur Balk, to discuss the extent of pearl-shell exploitation around Aru Islands, noting the extent of Japanese involvement. With the three pearling ports of north Australia relying on pearl-shell for their economic survival, it is not surprising that the Australian records provide a more detailed record of Australian pearling fleets and pearl-shell harvests. But quite apart from the economic facts of the industry, the Australian sources also include letters from pearling managers who were based in Maluku in the 1930s. These offer glimpses of social life in the port of Dobo in what might be termed an Australian "colonial" perspective on the Netherlands East Indies. The extent of the pearling connections between the ports of Dobo and Darwin in Australia at this time was such that the Darwin newspaper, the Northern Standard, began publishing a regular column titled ‘Dobo (Aroe Islands) News'. The ‘Dobo News' reported items of interest ranging from earthquakes to accounts of holiday celebrations in Dobo. Without a corresponding local newspaper in Dobo, this Darwin-based ‘Dobo News' is a unique source on Aru Islands history.