aruislands

Pearling has been carried out in Indonesian waters from very early times, with local divers collecting the shell. Some of the Indonesian divers went a con-siderable distance in search of shell. As Europeans extended their presence in the north of Australia, they saw Indonesians collecting pearls in Australian waters. The Aru Islands have been, and still are, one of the principal pearl-shell grounds in Indonesia. Al-though quite off the track of all European trade, these islands had by the early 19th century become the eastern terminus for the annual fleet of Bugis prahus from Ma-kassar (The Buginese are traders and seaborne colonists from south Sulawesi; see map, Fig. 2.) They were a source not only of pearls and mother-of-pearl, hut of such exotics as birds of paradise, tortoiseshell, trepang or sea slug, and edible birds’ nests. The British naturalist Alfred Wallace did the 1000-mile journey to the remote islands in a Bugis prahu in the 1850s (Fig. 4) and considered it quite an achieve-ment. “Even by the Makassar people themselves the voyage to the Aru Islands is looked upon as a rather wild and romantic expedi-tion, full of novel sights and strange adventures. He who has made it is looked up to as an authority, and it remains with many the unachieved ambition of their lives. I myself had hoped rather than expected ever to reach this “Ultima Thule” of the East…” (Wallace 1869:309). Source: www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/sampans-belangs-and-junkos/

The popular image of master pearlers is of Anglo-Celts in ‘pearling whites’ and pith helmets overseeing their ‘coolie’ labour. But, in reality, they came from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, and some were women. They exerted power and influence at all levels of government. Some of the early master pearlers – the McRae brothers, for example – were settlers and pastoralists; others were merchant seaman. Many were opportunists keen to exploit a lucrative trade for profit, even if this meant engaging in slaving. Some Asian pearlers owned pearling operations until their ownership was banned; others formed ‘dummying’ partnerships with white pearlers. Other Asian and European pearlers operated from East Indian ports, such as Dobu (Aru Islands). Under foreign flags of convenience, they exploited pearlshell outside the three-nautical-mile exclusion zone around Australia’s coast, thereby evading the fees, duties and regulations imposed on those based in Australia. In the Torres Strait, the London Missionary Society set up Papuan Industries, which allowed communities to build and own their own luggers. Each with its own colours, these ‘company boats’ were a source of pride and income for the Islander communities. Some pearlers founded pearling dynasties, but only the Paspaley family has survived into the twenty-first century. Source: museum.wa.gov.au/explore/lustre-online-text-panels/master...

Dobo was a trade hub connecting various trade points in the eastern part of Oost Indie, as the Dutch called it during the colonization period. It linked Banda, Ambon, Gorom, Tual, and Papua and contributed to the fortunes of traders in exotic commodities exclusively found in the east. Although in the past, many praus (wooden boats) embarked from its port, today the economy in Dobo is not as advanced as those of its neighboring islands, such as Ambon. Source: www.insideindonesia.org/photo-essay-looking-for-dobo