TRIBESMEN GATHERING, DANCING, MARCHING; TRIBESMEN IN CEREMONIAL COSTUME; ONLOOKERS. (NATURAL SOUND).




Initials WW/VS/PW/MH



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Background: EIGHTY THOUSAND HIGHLAND TRIBESMEN RECENTLY CONVERGED ON MOUNT HAGEN, IN A REMOTE PART OF NEW GUINEA, FOR THE HAGEN AGRICULTURAL SHOW, WHICH IS ORGANISED BY AUSTRALIA'S DEPARTMENT OF EXTERNAL TERRITORIES ONCE EVERY TWO YEARS.

MANY OF THE TRIBESMEN WALKED FOR THREE WEEKS TO GET TO THE SHOW, WHICH AUSTRALIA ORGANISES TO ENCOURAGE A BETTER DIET AMONG THEM AND PREVENT A RECURRENCE OF THE TRIBAL WARFARE THAT WAS PREVALENT 20 YEARS AGO.

MOUNT HAGEN, WHICH IS IN A REMOTE PART OF THE TERRITORY, HAS A POPULATION OF 800 WHITES AN 4,000 INDIGENOUS. BUT DURING SHOW WEEK THE POPULATION RISES TO ALMOST 100,000, MAINLY TRIBESMEN, BUT EACH SHOW SEEING AN INCREASING NUMBER OF TOURISTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, WHO HAVE COME TO SEE WHAT ARE, PERHAPS, THE LAST OF THE WORLD'S COMPLETELY UNSOPHISTICATED PEOPLE. ON THE OTHER HAND, MANY OF THE TRIBESMEN ARE SEEING WHITE PEOPLE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THEIR LIVES.

THE CLIMAX OF THE SHOW IS THE DANCE OF THE WARRIORS. TRADITIONAL RITUAL TRIBAL WAR DANCES PERFORMED BY THE WARRIOR BEDECKED WITH RICHLY COLOURED BIRD-OF-PARADISE PLUMES AGAINST A BACKDROP OF THE MIST-ENSHROUDED BISMARCK RANGES OF THE NEW GUINEA.

MOUNT HAGEN WAS DISCOVERED IN 1896 BY A GERMAN BOTANIST, WHO NAMED IT IN HONOUR OF CAPTAIN VON HAGEN, THE ACTING ADMINISTRATOR OF WHAT WAS THEN GERMAN NEW GUINEA. BUT IT WAS NOT UNTIL 1933 THAN AN EXPLORATORY PARTY MANAGED TO PENETRATE THIS HITHERTO INACCESSIBLE PART OF THE TERRITORY AND CONSIDERABLY AFTER THAT BEFORE CIVILISATION WAS BROUGHT TO THE AREA.

EVEN THE, TRIBAL WARFARE WAS STILL RIFE UNTIL COMPARATIVELY RECENTLY, AND THE HAGEN AGRICULTURAL SHOW HAS GONE A LONG WAY TOWARDS ENSURING THAT THERE IS NO RECURRENCE OF IT.