Ulli Beier and the IPNGS

DON NILES salutes Ulli Beier, the founding director of the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies, a government institution devoted to research on PNG cultures.

ULLI Beier died on April 3 at the age of 88.
Last week Kairu Laho wrote in The National Weekender about his outstanding work at the University of Papua New Guinea, 1967-71.
Aside from a three-month visit in 1973, Ulli and his wife, Georgina, returned to Papua New Guinea again in 1974-78.
Hence, their time here can be divided into two periods of four years each. While their first stay is much better known, particularly after the publication of Ulli’s book, Decolonising the Mind (2005), their second stay was no less remarkable.
For over three decades I have lived with the legacy of that period-Ulli was the founding director of my workplace, the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies (IPNGS), a government institution devoted to research on PNG cultures.
In the epilogue to Decolonising the Mind, Ulli recalls a visit he had in 1973, when he was Director of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ife, Nigeria. Albert Maori Kiki (Foreign Minister) and Pita Lus (Minister for Sports, Tourism, and Culture) brought a message from Chief Minister Michael Somare, asking Ulli to return to PNG to start IPNGS.
In 1970, Ulli had accompanied Michael Somare to his village, a visit that resulted in a co-authored article in a museum publication. Now he wanted someone he trusted to start an institute that would be concerned with the problems and aspirations of ordinary people, that would collect materials for use in schools and discuss the impact of topics such as tourism or missions. He wanted Ulli. Ulli, Georgina, and their sons, Sebastian and Tunji, returned in 1974, but Decolonising the Mind then concludes, “but that is another story.”
I hope Ulli did have the chance to write about that period. If so, he would certainly have discussed some of the following accomplishments. I’m also sure that he would do it much more thoroughly and eloquently than I can here.
Beginning near Five Mile (where Seoul House restaurant is now located), the IPNGS moved to its present location in Boroko a few months before independence.
IPNGS became the focus of a wide variety of cultural activities. Research was undertaken by staff, but UPNG students and others were also supported with travel funds and equipment.
Films were made and shown. Plays and poetry was written and performed. Exhibitions of Papua New Guinean and African art were held.
To work at the IPNGS, Ulli attracted some former students and some new visionaries, who came to include individuals such as Apisai Enos, Ilaita Gigimat, Andrew Hila, Kakah Kais, John Kolia, Jack Lahui, Simon Lohia, Les McLaren, William Onglo, Chris Owen, Zbyszek Plocki, Segg Putahu, Jacob Simet, Pamela Swadling, Kundapen Talyaga, Pou Toivita, John Urmagla, and Phillip Lamasisi Yayii.
They were concerned with fields such as archaeology, architecture, art, film, folklore, literature, music, photography, and printing-all aspects essential to the Ulli’s vision of the IPNGS.
Normal government funding was supplement by grants from various cultural organisations, as well as Nigeria and Senegal, testimony to Ulli’s influence on that continent. Radio programmes were produced on folklore, Third World arts, cultures, poetry, and music as worship. There were guest lecturers, poetry readings, and seminars on Enga oral history and with Melpa leaders.
An ambitious filmmaking programme was begun and music was released on LP records. Special research grants were given to scores of individuals, many students, to conduct research on various aspects of culture. Some of these materials were published in IPNGS publications, others continue to enrich the archives.
And then there were those publications. In 1974 alone, Ulli started Gigibori: A Magazine of Papua New Guinea Cultures, with a design and cover by Georgina, a task she often lent her talents to.
The seven years of its existence saw contributions by people such as Michael Somare, Albert Maori Kiki, Cecil Abel, Kundapen Talyaga, John Kasaipwalova, Barnabas India, William Onglo, Bernard Narokobi, John Kaniku, Jacob Simet, John Waiko, H. A. Brown, Apisai Enos, Greg Murphy, Steven Feld, John Kolia, Mathias Kauage, Louise Morauta, and Kambau Namaleu Lamang.
These were articles, photographs, and drawings, by researchers, artists, poets, playwrights, politicians, businesspeople, and others-a wide variety of topics and viewpoints from a diverse group of contributors. This well reflected Ulli’s idea of what an institute of Papua New Guinea studies should be about.
To further promote such aims, there was also a series of discussion papers by some of the above people, plus others such as Percy Chatterton, Marie Reay, Epeli Hau’ofa, Ron Crocombe, Tony Crawford, Greg Murphy, Buck Schieffelin, and Pamela Swaddling.
The subjects discussed included Christianity, urban housing, artistic revivals, UNESCO, the wantok system, radio, tubuan society, and cultural policy.
Individual books included collections of song texts and translations by Andrew Strathern, a bibliography of music publications by Ken Gourlay, as well as novels, collections of folks, and other works by Kakah Kais, Kundapen Talyaga, Frederic Duvelle, Benjamin Umba, John Kolia, Robert Paia, Simon Lohia, Garry Trompf, Russell Soaba, and Apisai Enos.
Publications in local languages were also intensely promoted; for example, Motu, Tok Pisin, Toaripi, Balawaia, Vaimuru, Lala, Kuanau, Kalam, and Kilivila. There was always a concern in making the work of IPNGS relevant and accessible to all Papua New Guineans, not just an English-speaking urban elite.
All of these publications began in 1974 and continued over the next few years. But Ulli’s activities were not just confined to IPNGS. He had also taped interviews with Michael Somare. He and Tony Voutas edited them, contributing to the autobiography of the prime minister, Sana, published 1975.
In 1976 metal gates for the Institute were designed by Georgina to tell the story of Aru Aru and his journey to the moon, based on an Orokolo myth told by Albert Maori Kiki. Their construction was executed by first-year apprentice electricians and diesel mechanics of the Electricity Commission’s training school, supervised by Georgina, Jim Richardson, and Siri Karr. The gates remain a distinctive part of our building in Boroko.
In 1978, the Beiers left PNG and settled in Sydney. When I finally met Ulli and Georgina twenty-five years later, I asked him why he had left the Institute. Ulli said it was because the bureaucracy had gotten to the stage where it overwhelmed the work he wanted to do. From what I have learned of his many accomplishments and the way he appeared to work, such a system could hardly have provided the liberal, creative environment he required.
Ulli’s foundations for the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies remain today, although they have been altered somewhat over the years. While I think Ulli would have been happy with some of these developments, he would probably be distressed at others.
During Ulli and Georgina’s four-year stay at the Institute, they promoted knowledge, understanding, dialogue, and experimentation. Most of all, perhaps, they encouraged respect for ancestral and contemporary cultural traditions, they did not hesitate to promote the importance of culture to every aspect of our lives, and they inspired countless individuals to the excellence they were capable of.
The Institute continues to aspire to their admirable ideals. We remain immensely proud that our founder had such a vision for us and Papua New Guinea.

* The writer is Acting Director and Senior Ethnomusicologist of the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies.