On April 8 1901 the LMS missionary James Chalmers was eaten by Goaribari villagers in the Gulf of Papua. The cannibalistic nature of Holy Communion notwithstanding, the Christian administrators of British New Guinea conducted several punitive raids against the offending gourmets during the next three years. In consequence there were a lot of people killed by arrows and guns, a Royal Commission of Inquiry, and a suicide. The suicide was that of Judge Christopher Robinson, the first Australian to act as Administrator in New Guinea. With a revolver he blew his brains out at the base of the government flagpole in Port Moresby on June 20 1904.
Sticks That Kill by Trevor Shearston
UQP, $14.95 pb, 594 pp
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