Thanks a lot, Brendan! Not only have you answered the question why
the Fly became a boundary (headhunters have always been a problem in
this area, and fugitives from Upper Digoel had more to fear from them
than from the Dutch colonial police), but the juggling of the
straight boundaries themselves is much more than you expect there is
to an average straight line.
You say that it was more convenient that the Fly be under UK
administration. But the treaty specifies the thalweg, and art. V of
the treaty makes it free for both Dutch and British subjects to
travel the Fly by boat. So did you mean that, or did the regime on
the border-Fly change since the treaty?
Indeed, changes in the course of the Fly could produce a problem. And
changes are very possible, since the debit of the river is huge. And
you don't want any flies in your ice cream...
Peter S.
--- In BoundaryPoint@y..., "Brendan Whyte" <brwhyte@h...> wrote:
> Sorry, "Frontiers of Asian and southeast Asia." which covers
Afghanistan
> through to Indonesia-Australian and PNg-Austrlaian boundaries.
> "Map of Mainland Asia by Treaty" was the more formal predecessor to
this
> title, contianing extracts of relevant treaties, and only covers
Afghanistan
> through North Korea and Malaysia.
>
>
> precis of
> Prescott, Collier and Prescott,
> Melb Uni Press, 1977
> "Frontiers of Asia and SE Asia"
> section 41, p84 with map p85:
>
> A territory from 141d on south coast to Cape Saprop Maneh [Tanjung
Duar]
> 140d47'East unilaterally declared as border by Dutch in 1848 in a
sectret
> declaration to UK, which was made public in 1865. In 1875 boundary
described
> as straight line from Tajung Duar on North coast to intersection of
141deg
> with south coast (very similar to 1848).
> 1884 UK and Germany divided PNG and drew a serries of straight
lines to
> intersection of 141E and 5S, marking the tript.
> 1893 raids of headhunters forced UK and Neth to precisely locate
border.
> Bensbach river mouth on south coast chosen as starting point,
determined to
> be 141d 01'47.9".
> UK thus conceded a strip 3km wide to Dutch,from south coast to the
DeNeUk
> tripoint. To offset this, UK asked for the Fly river bend, with 2
reasons:
> bend occupied by headhunters with whom a river border was easier to
deal,
> and goldseekers would use the Fly for access to interior, so more
convenient
> if it was entirely within UK administration. Dutch agreed in 1895.
> Dutch then looked to Germany to settle their border, but Germany in
no
> hurry, its surveyors all in Africa. Then WW1. Australia became
successor to
> Germany in New Guinea, as it had succeeded the UK in 1905 in Papua.
> Australian survey in 1928 placed a marker on northern coast near
Wutong,
> 141d 0'13.5", recording that Dutch border was 400m west. A joint
survey in
> 1933 found the Dutch and Australians differed by 398m over where
they
> calculated 141d to be. They decided to split the difference , but
this point
> was unsuitable for a marker, so it was placed 168m from the Dutch
> determination and 230m from the Australian, rather than 199m from
each, in
> the middle of the 398m gap.
> Proposals to mark intersection with Fly river delayed by WW2.
> 1960, Australia and Dutch agreed great circle through the marker on
the
> north coast to the northern intersection of 141d and Fly river to
be
> boundary. On the south side, the meridian passing through mouth of
Bensbach
> river until the southern intersection with Fly river. This
southern
> meridian determined to be 141d01'07" in 1958. In 1962 monuments
erected on
> Fly at each location. Therefore diagonal line in north and due N-S
line in
> south.
> Work repeated when Indonesia colonised West Irian. Agreed to use
141d in
> the north and meridian through Bensbach in the south. So two N-S
lines,
> slightly offset.
> Work began 1966, markers erected in two years.
> 1973 agreement lists 14 markers which were erected. 10 marked 141d
to the
> north of the Fly, and 4 marked the Bensbach meridian, newly
determined to be
> 141d01'10".
> Nowadays, the locations of major villages close to the border have
been
> determined and signs placed on major tracks crossing to border.
> The 1973 agreement does not make preovision for major shifts in Fly
river
> course, which may be a problem in future.
>
> See also
> Cook, Macartney and stott, 1968, "Where is the border?", Australian
External
> Territories, 8(5):7-18.
> van der Veur, (1966), "Search for New Guinea's boundaries",
Canberra.
>
>
>
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