Yes, what i meant was it was easier for the Fly to be on the border, and so
the whole of the river was then accessible for British subjects to enter and
follow it up stream to central British Papua, than to have a large bend
entirely in the dutch part, when navigation on the river was of no real use
to the Dutch as the mouth and the upper reaches were in British terrotiry.
There is a similar shaped river on the Vic/SA boundary in Australia, the
Glenelg, whose mourtth is at Nelson in Vic and which bends clockwise through
into SA then back into Vic. But the state boundary follows the meridian, so
the western part of the bend is in SA, meaning rules on the river for
houseboats and fishing boats, the main traffic, change. The land along the
inside of the bend is south Australian too, whereas the land east of the
meridian is Victorian and a naitonal park. The SA land is a state firest (so
can be logged) but that would require access through the naitonal park,
which would be difficult. So it remains unlogged, but not protected as a
national park yet.
Two access points to the river for boats are in SA.
>From: "Peter Smaardijk" <smaardijk@...>
>Reply-To: BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com
>To: BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [BoundaryPoint] Re: Fly river
>Date: Wed, 02 May 2001 06:45:48 -0000
>
>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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