Dobu Is, D'Entrecasteaux Islands

View of Dobu Island, Normanby Island, sailing outrigger, bewitched man, warriors of Dobu Island, portraits of Dobu Island peoples, Kula artifacts, Bromikow memorial

Portrait of a young girl in a tree, Dobu Island, D'Entrecasteaux Islands, PNG<br />
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This girl caught my eye, not only for her perch in a tree, but for her bright dress that picked up the colours of the leaves behind her, and for her wide eyed expression of interest in our party of visitors.<br />
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Arctangent remarked that many of the villagers are wearing western clothing. William Henry Bromilow, an Australian, was the founder of the Methodist mission in British New Guinea in 1891. Because of its central position, and the prestige of its inhabitants among their neighbours, Dobu Island was chosen as his headquarters. Bromilow established mission stations throughout the D'Entrecasteaux and Trobriand Islands and the Louisiade Archipelago, as well as boarding schools for girls and boys, and a training institution for local teachers and pastors. Like so many missionaries in those days, he did not approve of many of the values and customs of the Melanesian peoples and he helped to destroy traditional customs wherever they conflicted with his own moral standards. We noticed a negative correlation in the various islands between the presence of women with bared breasts (which is traditional) and the 'civilizing' influence of missionaries.<br />
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The Bromilow Memorial is located on Dobu Island and a couple of photos of it can be seen here: <a href="http://goo.gl/23cF1">http://goo.gl/23cF1</a>. These are the last of the photos from Dobu Island; next stop the Trobriand Islands, the famous 'love' islands of Margaret Mead. <br />
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112 mm, 1/125 sec, f 6.3, ISO 640, flash fill

10 / 35

Portrait of a young girl in a tree, Dobu Island, D'Entrecasteaux Islands, PNG

This girl caught my eye, not only for her perch in a tree, but for her bright dress that picked up the colours of the leaves behind her, and for her wide eyed expression of interest in our party of visitors.

Arctangent remarked that many of the villagers are wearing western clothing. William Henry Bromilow, an Australian, was the founder of the Methodist mission in British New Guinea in 1891. Because of its central position, and the prestige of its inhabitants among their neighbours, Dobu Island was chosen as his headquarters. Bromilow established mission stations throughout the D'Entrecasteaux and Trobriand Islands and the Louisiade Archipelago, as well as boarding schools for girls and boys, and a training institution for local teachers and pastors. Like so many missionaries in those days, he did not approve of many of the values and customs of the Melanesian peoples and he helped to destroy traditional customs wherever they conflicted with his own moral standards. We noticed a negative correlation in the various islands between the presence of women with bared breasts (which is traditional) and the 'civilizing' influence of missionaries.

The Bromilow Memorial is located on Dobu Island and a couple of photos of it can be seen here: http://goo.gl/23cF1. These are the last of the photos from Dobu Island; next stop the Trobriand Islands, the famous 'love' islands of Margaret Mead.

112 mm, 1/125 sec, f 6.3, ISO 640, flash fill