Thread: Cannibalism On Bougainville

There were definitely some tribes which practised cannibalism near Bougainville -- in Papua New Guinea to the north-west. It's possible that some of the Bougainvilleans might have been cannibals also, but I don't have any documentation to that effect.

It seems to me that your father's claim, while unproven, is plausible.

Ritual cannibalism was still practiced in New Guinea well into the later half of the twentieth century, I’m not sure it isn’t still. It has been linked to the disease Kuru which is related to "Mad Cow Disease" in that they are both deteriorating prions in the brain. Read about this at:

Kuru: The Dynamics of a Prion Disease

While this isn't the same as the cannibalism practices against either hated or honored enemies, as is the tradition in many tribal societies, it is/was still in practice until recently. Might still be as far as I know.

You know, I have a friend who was in that area during the war, and he told me once, that the local indians were paid a handsome price for each Japanese head they brought in to the local officials, so maybe that would explain the photograph?

From: The US Army in WW2 by John Miller

The native inhabitants are Melanesians, most of them barely beyond the Stone Age. Cannibalism and headhunting were suppressed only recently in areas where British, German, Dutch, and Australian governments exerted their authority. During World War II there were rumors that some of the New Guinea natives, freed by the Japanese conquests from the white man's restraining influence, had reverted to their ancient practices.

My dad was on Bougainville, and he was sure glad the tribesmen (natives) were on our side.They were headhunters I do believe him saying.I have some pictures of my dad's from when he was over there, also . I wonder if our dads knew each other? My dad was a AM2 second class .

My father was also on Bougainville, and I do remember him mentioning cannibalism on the island.

I think there are reports of extreamely isolated Japanese garrisons that also on rare occasions reverted to cannibalism with Australian POW's.

Most "islander" cultures have canabalism in their past or even present. It is thought that the practice was adopted due to the dietry restrictions that islands provide.

Originally Posted by Thurman

My father was also on Bougainville, and I do remember him mentioning cannibalism on the island.

Yes , I have some pretty graphic pictures of what the natives did to the japs. I will try to get them on here in the next day or so.I remember dad saying they were friends with some of the natives, and they would bring "Trophies"... heads.He said also that some (japs)-were skinned alive ,by the natives,because the islanders really, really hated them.

Originally Posted by tmixjr68

Yes , I have some pretty graphic pictures of what the natives did to the japs. I will try to get them on here in the next day or so.I remember dad saying they were friends with some of the natives, and they would bring "Trophies"... heads.He said also that some (japs)-were skinned alive ,by the natives,because the islanders really, really hated them.

Please be aware that the use of the term "Japs" is considered offensive. We try not to use the term in our conversations and tend to use it only when it is used in articles from the time period.

Yes sir, I will watch using the text "japs" in the wrong way.

01-28-2011 02;43;48PM.jpg

Originally Posted by Keystone Two-Eight

You know, I have a friend who was in that area during the war, and he told me once, that the local indians were paid a handsome price for each Japanese head they brought in to the local officials, so maybe that would explain the photograph?

Is this picture maybe something along the lines of a reward for the heads of the japanese, of course the natives wouldn't read much japanese, but maybe a warning to the japanese what would happen to them if caught by the islanders.

I think it was in this area I that I read the story of an allied pilot who was shot down. The native found him then took him to a Japanese patrol and turned him in for the bounty. Shortly after they turned on the Japanese and took the pilot and the Japanese heads to the allies and turned them in for the bounty ....

Google is our friend! I did a quick search and came across this website which contains a personal account from a Marine who was on Bougainville:

Emirau -- the Kavieng Group
After Guam they sent us back to our rest area and to get new reinforcements. At that time we were still called the 1st Marine Brigade. Our group was getting ready to make island hopping. We were going to hit a place called Emirau which was in the Kavieng Group (in the Bismark Archipelago).

Keep in mind that 40 years ago, the island people were cannibals. There were many of them in that area. The cannibals had come from Kavieng and captured some of the people from that area and took them back. Also, I didn't mention that I saw at least 30 cannibals while I was on Bougainville on one occasion who were going up north along a road. The road was being made by our tanks and trucks and so forth and we saw cannibals. We knew they were cannibals because they carried swords - excuse me - they carried bows, arrows and spears. There teeth were filed at a point which I guess they used -- for their eating. There was about 30 or 40 of them. They even had some children and wives along with them as they were coming down. They had practiced cannibalism on Bougainville at that time in 1943.

I recommend reading the the entire first person account of this Marine's service during WWII.

Bougainville was first colonised around 1899 by the Germans. It was part of the German New Guinea Territory and administered on behalf of the German Government by the German New Guinea Company. At that time the territory included parts of what are nopw the Solomon Islands - the Shortland Islands, Choiseul and Santa Isabel Islands. Missionaries first went to Bougainville from the Shortland Islands in 1895. Bouganville (called the north Solomons Province) was under German authority until 1914 when the Australians evicted the Germans at the outbreak of WW1 and at the end of that war Australia was given a league of nations mandate over the territory. Until the Japanese attacks in Rabaul (New Guinea) and the landings at Gona and Buna (Papua) Papua was a different territory to New Guinea and they both had separate administrations.
During the war the Bougainvile actually ended up pro-Japanese. The locals had seen the Europeans evicted and the coastwatchers chased around and made the decision to support those who had the apparent might, a lot of Bouganivllians willingly joined the Japanese police force and hunted the Europeans, not all but signifigant number. When things started to turn in the allies favour the melanesian locals, who are very pragrmatic, switched to wholeheartedly support the allies.
Yes, the people on Bougainville, and melanesians generally, have been known to enjoy 'long pig'. But it is not right to generalise and assume they all do for the same reason. Very generally though it was done as both a ritual and a pleasure. I think the story that they didnt like americans because of the smell of cigarettes could be a furphy, I would say they were more afeared. And while I think there must have been some cannablism I would have thought that isolated Japanese were pretty emaciated and sick and the people on Bouganville would be able to see that. Lets face it we all like to think we are eating the best.
The kurukuru or the laughing sickness of mainland New Guinea comes from a different type of ritualistic cannablism, that of eating special parts of your relative to keep the memory and skills that they had, in the family.
I would suggest that the most frequently documented stories of cannabalism in New Guinea during world war 2 would have been of isolated and starving Japanese eating killed Australians, Americans and Melanesians.
The fire pits the first post refers to are called motu in Bouganville or aigir around Rabaul. As is obvious a fire is lit in a pit, stones are heated and as the fire dies down the very hot stones are laid evenly through the pit. Meat and vegatables (sometimes mixed with scrapped pith from a dried cocount) wrapped in banana leaves are laid inside and hot stones heaped on top and then covered with more banana leaves. It stays like that for a few hours
I have had a lot of motu fish chicken and vegatables but no.... no long pig!!!

Sorry I should have added that the Bouganvillians were very enthusiastic headhunters, a pastime that extended especially into the Solomon Islands and probably was only in the process of being suppressed when WW2 broke out. I would think that headhunting would have been quite common, almost encouraged by the Japanese and then the allies