 | Explorations into Highland New Guinea, 1930-1935 In the 1920s and 1930s there were adventures to be lived and fortunes to be made by strong young men in the outback of Australia and the gold fields of New Guinea. This is the diary of five years spent in hot pursuit--not of honor and glory, but of excitement and riches--by one such adventurer, Michael "Mick" Leahy, his brothers Jim and Pat, and friends Mick Dwyer and Jim Taylor. Leahy and his associates explored the unknown interior of New Guinea, seeking gold and making contact for the first time with the aborigines of the interior mountains and valleys. White man was unknown to these often cannibalistic, always dangerous, aborigines who thought the seekers of yellow in the streams slightly mad, and thus easy prey. The chronicles of their explorations and their hundreds of photographs brought news of these native peoples to the outside world. In doing so, they changed forever our understanding of the human landscape of New Guinea, and carved a place in history for these explorers who, braving the environment in search of gold, found people. Michael J. Leahy (1901-1979) finally settled in Zenag, New Guinea, and, with his brothers, became a prosperous rancher and respected settler. Douglas E. Jones is Director of the Alabama State Museum of Natural History, which houses an extensive collection of aboriginal artifacts donated by Leahy following his explorations. Jane C. Goodale is Professor of Anthropology at Bryn Mawr College and a specialist on aboriginal New Guinea. |
