International Archives Day

The National Weekender

By TUKUL WALLA KAIKU
“ARCHIVE, Citizenship and Interculturalism” is the theme of the 2017 International Archives Day which falls today – Friday, June 9.
Since its creation in 2008, the International Archives Day aims to raise awareness of the importance of archives as vital memory and evidences for nations and societies as well as foundations for their identities and also a key element of the information society.  As the three concepts state, the significance of the theme “Archives, Citizenship and Interculturalism” for Papua New Guinea as a nation state is overwhelmingly appropriate.
Archives are recorded and documented information resources of cultural, administrative and historic value, which have been created by organisations during the course of past day-to-day transactions. Archives constitute a cultural heritage and a leading source of information. They are an important testimony to the economic, political, social and cultural development of mankind.  By documenting activities and decisions, archives ensure both the continuity of organisations and the justification of their rights, as well as those of individuals and states.
Archives represent an unparalleled wealth. They are the documentary product of human activity and as such constitute irreplaceable testimonies of past events. They ensure the democratic functioning of societies, the identity of individuals and communities and the defence of human rights. Open access to archives enriches our knowledge of human society, promotes democracy, protects citizens’ rights and enhances the quality of life.”
Today, the National Archives and Public Records Services of Papua New Guinea located in the administrative district of the nation’s capital holds records identifying Papua New Guinea as a Melanesian Pacific nation state with an historic past that connects it to the former imperial empires of Britain and Germany and later Australia and also in some ways, Japan.
Papua New Guinea is truly a unique nation state within the Pacific and the region of the world when it comes to the terms, ‘Archives, Citizenship and Interculturalism’.  When sighted by European explorers and navigators to the Pacific, the mainland and islands were found to be inhabited and occupied by inhabitants of those lands.
Today, it is estimated that there are over 840 linguistic cultural groupings   in territorial lands in which their ancestors have legal identities to. Current Melanesians who are Papua New Guineas by birth have legal right to belong to the nation state of Papua New Guinea. This is a result of a nation state with an equally unique historic past. And as the National Archives and other historic records attest to, Papua New Guinea was colonised in 1884 by Germany and Britain and underwent administrative transitions.
The Territory of Papua was declared in 1906 while; the Australian Expeditionary Force took over German New Guinea in 1914. The Mandated Territory of New Guinea was established in 1921 and both territories were theaters of the Pacific War of 1942 to 1945 only to be amalgamated in 1946. Under Australian rule, self government was attained in 1973 and two years later in 1975, the new nation state of Papua New Guinea attained political independence from Australia.
The gradual process of pacification and administration of the country through the patrol system is well documented in three government documents which are now kept at the National Archives and Public Records Services of Papua New Guinea. These three documents are known respectively as the ‘Patrol Reports’, the ‘District Annual Reports’ and the ‘Annual Reports’ of the Territory of Papua and Mandated Territory of New Guinea. Suffice to say, these three documents are now the historic records of the country and there have been or other such documents of their caliber since independence.
The pacification and administrative process undertaken to create the future nation state of Papua New Guinea can only be described as an incredible achievement. Because, in doing so, a people of many tribes and cultures and languages or nations so to speak, were brought together into one nation state. The concept of interculturalism was thus naturally achieved where people of the different regions with their own cultures and languages can now speak some kind of official language, with a national constitution as the legal confines and framework as basis for their identity. And as a people they live and move around within a cohesive nation state they call Papua New Guinea. This they can do within the symbolic elements of a democratic government that help foster identity, a sense of belonging, and based on a collective memory as evident from a shared history.

  • The author is a Lecturer with the Information and Communication Sciences Strand, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, UPNG.