On Reading Patrol Reports – 3: Burnett River People

Abstract

ABSTRACT Pre-independence patrols through remote areas of Papua and New Guinea were concerned both with mapping land and with identifying and counting those who lived there. People do not always stay in place, however, as colonial authorities envisioned, and patrols seeking to render them legible took different paths, at different times, through the same land. Reports from patrols to the vicinity of the Burnett River, which flows westwards from the Muller Range to the upper Strickland, used many different names when referring to groups of people who lived in that area. By cross-referencing between available reports, and supplementing interpretations with some post-independence information, we reach an improved understanding of the pre-independence distribution of people of different language groups. We direct particular attention to the role of interpreters in shaping the knowledge produced by patrol officers.