RABAUL BOTANIC RESERVE

RABAUL BOTANIC RESERVE

Dr Albert Hahl ca 1890 built the most magnificent gardens around the caldera wall in Rabaul when he was governor of the German South Pacific with its capital on Namanula Hill in Rabaul. Gustav BredemannIn 1913 he went as an agricultural expert from the Imperial Colonial Office to Rabaul (German New Guinea), where he assisted the Botanical Garden. From 1916 to 1918 At that time, these gardens had one of the best collections of tropical and Papua New Guinea flora in the tropical world Lakes, fountains, fresh water springs and carriage ways were a feature of the Rabaul gardens. The Rabaul Gardens were finally destroyed by allied bombing during World War II.

The Australian attempt to shape even the natural environment into familiar Australian patterns on the British model was in complete opposition to German policy. When introducing new species into the colony, the Germans had always had long-term economic benefit in mind. The Australians, in contrast, were trying to transfer Australia to New Guinea by importing non endemic species. Australian birds (kookaburras, peewits, and magpies) were released in the Botanic Gardens in Rabaul. The military administrator had them imported especially, in order that “the presence of such birds will tend to Australianise the Colony in a way that will appeal to Australians.” Though native birds could be killed with the permission of the director of the Botanic Gardens, Australian birds were protected by strict regulations. The penalty for merely injuring an Australian bird was one month in prison.45 The attempt to Australianize the colony amounted, in part, to a blatant destruction of the environment. The well-known Australian dislike of tropical trees was especially marked. In Rabaul as well as Madang, the military government ordered the felling of large numbers of trees. Shortly before the end of the military administration, Rabaul’s famous tropical avenues, which had contributed largely to its reputation as a jewel in the Pacific, were systematically cut down. Since September 1914, the Botanic Garden had been used by the garrison as a firewood reserve. Every month, between sixteen and twenty tons of wood were cut there. By September 1919, 110 acres of what had originally been 200 acres of cultivated ground had been totally cleared. The decision to permit fishing with dynamite, which had been prohibited by the German administration, led to further despoliation of the environment. The German administration was initially responsible, having suspended its ban on the outbreak of war, presumably to alleviate the food supply situation, which threatened to deteriorate when relations with the outside world were broken off. What was intended as a temporary measure became a permanent state of affairs under the Australian Military Administration, with all this implied for humans and animals, long after food was regularly being imported again.