Netherlands New Guinea in 1956: how to move?

Used Change of Address Card sent from Sorong 3 on the 11th of July 1956 to Amsterdam. 

Until fairly recently there existed a specific type of postal stationary in the Netherlands: the so called Verhuiskaart or Change of address card in English. In the Netherlands it was introduced in the late 1910s as cheaper alternative for the ordinary letter card. Moving to another premises had always caused logistical problems for the PTT and the new and cheap preprinted Verhuiskaart might ease the service's workload. It certainly was a clever device to make people aware of a forthcoming change of address and it must have contributed to a smarter and streamlined postal service. In short: it benefited both the PTT and the users, a win-win game and therefore very Dutch. I'm not aware of foreign change of address cards, but I would be keen to know!

Of course verhuiskaarten were available in the Dutch colonies as well. In the DEI people and businesses used them frequently, since there was a large Dutch presence until the 1950s. It should be noted though that a Malaysian translation was printed below or beside the Dutch text from the introduction from 1909 onwards. So even literate natives and Asian traders might have used them. For the attentive reader: verhuiskaarten were indeed introduced in the DEI 10 years prior to their introduction in Holland.... In the West (as the expression goes) there was no need for change of address cards apparently. The literate population of Suriname and Curacao was very small when compared to the DEI. Hence you might be surprised - and rightly so - why the (still) very large, but almost unpopulated colony of Netherlands New Guinea introduced a verhuiskaart... Even in its heydays the colony counted less than 15.000 literate inhabitants which rarely moved.   

It remains to be seen which argument was used to introduce the verhuiskaart in NNG. It might be suggested that the Dutch 'settlers' from Java and Sumatra were familiar with the concept? The card appeared on the 1st of August 1950. The 3c rate was of course less than the standard 5c letter card rate.  

Reverse of the NNG verhuiskaart

By now it won't come as a surprise that this specific verhuiskaart is a very rare piece in used condition. Extremely rare even when it has been used within NNG. Only contemporary philatelists in New Guinea and the Netherlands seem to have been aware of its existence, so the majority of the used card known to us have been used and stored by philatelists. Unused it's no rarity at all, although only ca. 6400 ex. were ever printed according to Geuzendam.   

The card which serves as illustration to this article is a commercially used example which was sent to the Netherlands. Not as rare as inland use, but nevertheless very rare!! It sold for €600 (ex. buyer's premium ),- at Corinphila NL in 2016.

The NNGPM terrain near Sorong - buzzing with economic activity in the late 1940s 

Sorong in the extreme northwest of Papua is home to the country's profitable oil industry. In 1908 oil was discovered by Shell and in the 1930s the first well was drilled by the NNGPM the Nederlandsch Nieuw-Guinea Petroleum Maatschappij. The Sorong oil wells were one of the economical arguments used by the Dutch to maintain power in NNG after the Indonesian war of Independence. In the mid 1950s the industry was booming, but only a few years later the wells dried up to a large extent and Sorong dried up along with it. The oil company entered into liquidation and a real exodus took place in the early 1960s. It would take decades before the new oil companies would find new wells. Nowadays Sorong is Papua's major economical hub again.   

Concrete oil storage tankers being erected in Sorong harbour the late 1940s.
The island on the horizon, Sorong Doöm, used to be the administrative centre of Sorong 

 

Photo from 1938 which  - I think -  shows the same terrain as the NNGPM area earlier.
Copyright: KB - https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=urn:gvn:KIT01:219635

Manokwari to Budapest - Netherlands New Guinea

Postcard from Manokwari (NNG) to Budapest on the 18th of April 1962 with the postage stamps 'Veilig Verkeer' applied

My next post will be devoted to this extraordinary postcard which was sent from Netherlands New Guinea to Budapest, Hungary. In philatelic circles modern, post-war items rarely make the stage in exhibitions and - especially in the case of picture postcards - collectors of older material simply despise 1950s and 1960s material. And than I'm not even daring to mention postcoded covers and cards...

This item will hopefully prove otherwise. I think it is an extremely rare postcard because of two facts: the country of origin (Netherlands New Guinea) and its destination (Hungary) and the set of postage stamps used to make up the rate to Hungary. We will return to the stamps later on, but first we have to return to Netherlands New Guinea in 1962. In short: the Dutch were willing to hand their last colony in Asia over to Indonesia in the early months of that year. To read more about the circumstances in which this transfer took place and the history of this short-lived colony, click here. About 12.000 Dutch citizens still lived in NNG by mid 1962, but they were all due to return to the Netherlands. The Dutch army labelled this repatriation task operation spectrum. There were few other Europeans around, especially since the large part of this colony was never 'properly' cultivated by the Dutch before. They possessed and exploited Java, Sumatra and Celebes, but Guinea only became of any interest after they lost these more populated islands to Indonesia in 1949.       

Front of the postcard with a contemporary view close to the capital of NNG: Hollandia

Now we return to the stamps. In the last 9 months when New Guinea was still a Dutch possession, 9 stamps were issued. Two of them are shown here and were issued in March 1962. The other stamps had the following topics: 1) a single 55c stamp commemorating the silver wedding anniversary of Queen Juliana and Bernhard; 2) 2 stamps commemorating the 5th South Pacific Conference in Pago Pago and 3) 4 semi-postal stamps depicting shellfish.

The stamps applied to our card were devoted to road safety (veilig verkeer). A bit odd since there existed only a small amount of motorized traffic in NNG, but entirely understandable when taking into account the Dutch 'campaign' to educate the native people in building their own future. However, by March 1962 it would have been absolutely clear in the Hague that Indonesia would simply annex NNG, rendering this self-awareness campaign quite futile... Nonetheless, the stamps were issued on the 16th of March. They were designed by P.M. van Lienden based upon photographs of A. de Vos. As Hungary was such an extraordinary destination the complete series was needed to make up the sufficient postage. Either the sender didn't want to use the regular 55c Juliana 'En Profil' stamp or the 'Veilig Verkeer' stamps were the only stamps available in Manokwari at the time to make up this scarce rate.   

Netherlands New Guinea 25c blue Road Safety stamp - 1962

It's more likely though that the sender didn't think about the stamps at all; he had more important matters to take care of. E.A. Polansky (according to the Nieuwe Leidsche Courant of 28-11-1960) wanted to study 'Indology' in Delft or Utrecht after his secondary education. Since this study became seemingly futile after the loss of the Dutch Indies, it was discontinued after 1949. Polansky left for Asia nevertheless and became a junior civil servant in NNG in the early 1950s. He studied at the NNG governing institute in Hollandia and    

Netherlands New Guinea 30c green Road Safety stamp - 1962

became a senior civil servant in Sorong and Selawati. The article in the Nieuwe Leidsche Courant states that Polansky studied non-western social studies at the time of writing (i.e. in 1960) and that he hoped to return to NNG after his graduation. The article itself features a summary of a panel discussion between 5 NNG experts about a potential independent future of New Guinea. Only a year later this utopia was smashed down by constant threats of Indonesia. This ultimately resulted in the UNTEA-government and annexation.

Mr Polansky probably witnessed these events with profound regret as he truly seemed to have believed that NNG could have become a successful sovereign Melanesian nation. The poignant power play of Indonesia and the U.S.A. aside in the early 1960s, Dutch politics was only starting to invest time and money to take care of the numerous problems which so often troubled underdeveloped colonies back then. A combination of both factors led to the detested annexation.

At the time of writing Polansky resided in Timinabuan, a small semi-coastal settlement relatively close to Indonesia. In this area (Bird Head's Peninsula) the were some skirmishes between Dutch and Indonesian troops in the early 1960s and especially in 1962. He was senior civil servant in the area and had to inform the Dutch public about the escalating moves of Sukarno in the 'hot' May days of 1962. Earlier that year he still lived in the Netherlands, so I expect that he wrote this postcard in Manokwari on his way to his destination. Timinabuan escaped the destructive force of warfare in the last year of Dutch rule, but nevertheless was shamefully bombed in 1967 by Indonesian troops. By that time Polansky did not interfere in New Guinean state of affairs anymore. During the 'transfer' of power (UNTEA) in late 1962 and the beginning of 1963 he acted as one out of eleven Dutch senior civil servants responsible for a fluid transmission of the civil apparatus into Indonesian hands. 

E.A. Polansky during a panel discussion in 1960

 

Biak to Nice - Netherlands New Guinea

Netherlands New Guinea cover, sent from Biak to Nice, France on the 17th of September 1962

The cover shown above was sent by Lieutenant Colonel G.J.B. Veenhuys to a real-estate agency in Nice, France. Veenhuys was stationed at the marine corps barracks on Biak, an island which is situated in the so-called Geelvink Bay in what is now Indonesia. Besides its strategic location, the city of Biak is equipped with an airport: ideal for defense operations. 

Situation of Biak (green) in the current province of West Papua

On the 1st of October 1962 the Dutch government would transfer the colony to the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority and on that same day most of the Dutch troops were repatriated to the Netherlands. Dutch citizens were repatriated as well, an estimate of 12.000 citizens still lived in the colony by mid 1962 and all were eager to return to the Netherlands, especially after it became clear the colony was to be transferred to Indonesian rule. In order to cope with this evacuation the Dutch government opened an airbridge between Biak and Schiphol. This operation was called Spectrum and was ready in August 1962. Because of the threat of war many people made use of this service, but civil servants had to remain in the colony until the 1st of October. When this date had finally past, 2540 servants which were still on duty could return to the Netherlands. Only 800 of them stayed behind to take care of an orderly transfer to UNTEA rule. The last Dutch soldiers departed Guinea in late November 1962 (1).   

Dutch Submarine Dolfijn departs Biak on the 1st of October 1962, © Rinus Peperkamp

The rate of a letter with destination Europe was 65c in 1962 and Colonel Veenhuys stamped his envelope accordingly. I'm not so sure how the airmail fee is included in this rate, but the cover clearly states 'by airmail' and the postmark reads Biak Luchthaven (airport). So, the cover obviously went by plane to  France, and therefore it seems to me that the airmail fee was already incorporated in the 65c.

20c bird of paradise and 45c Juliana en profil

In my previous post I mentioned that NNG covers sent to other countries than the Netherlands are quite scarce, especially if they are not philatelic. I do wonder how many (non-official) NNG covers  were ever sent to Nice or even France as a whole! Couldn't be more than a couple of thousands, since at its peak by mid 1960 there only lived a mere 18.000 Dutch citizens in Netherlands New Guinea. (1).

Hollandia together with Biak were the only two places in the whole of NNG were considerable amounts of mail were processed. Several NNG postmarks was used quite often apparently, so that the post deemed it useful to insert a time indicator as well. So we even know that this piece was posted at 11 a.m. This additional time stamp might have been helpful for NNG domestic mail - though even domestic mail took more than one day travelling - but for locations abroad it seems quite ridicule. Bureaucracy at its finest. 

(1) Meijer, H. (2007),  'Daar heb je ze weer': de overkomst van overzeese rijksgenoten uit Nieuw-Guinea bezien in het perspectief van de algemene repatriëring uit de Oost in Transparant, 18.2:18-25

Netherlands New Guinea - a short history

Map of New Guinea with an overview of steamboat connections in 1915, published in Batavia

After the Dutch East Indies became independent Indonesia in 1949, there remained several disputes unresolved between the new republic and the Netherlands. One of them was the gigantic province of New Guinea which equals Poland in size and which landmass is about 8 times larger than the Netherlands. Nevertheless, in 1949 there existed little to non Dutch colonial activity as it was never deemed profitable for proper cultivation. Besides, the Netherlands only barely started exploiting the enormous amount of natural resources on Sumatra and Borneo in the 1930s. In short: there was no real interest in New Guinea, apart from some colonial internment/concentration camps for Indonesian / Communist independence activists from 1926 onward. The local tribes which inhabited this large island mainly covered by tropical forest remained undisturbed.

Photograph of a bay on the north coast of New Guinea. This photo was taken by Gijsbert van der Sande on the 1903 North New Guinea expedition. One of the first Dutch scientific expeditions on this vast island. Tropenmuseum Collection.

This all changed in 1949 when Indonesia became independent. To ratify its independence the Netherlands had to agree politically on the the issue. This turned out to be quite a difficult matter. After two years of war against the independence movement the Netherlands was forced by the U.S.A. to settle the dispute. So shortly after WOII, the Netherlands was heavily depended upon the states for financial aid and supplies. More than 50% of the Dutch population held a negative opinion about an independent 'Indië'. This attitude created a major dilemma: it proved to be struggle to find a majority in the 2nd Chamber (Dutch lower house) to ratify the independence treaty. Moreover, Sukarno's highly dubious position regarding his collaboration with the Japanese during WOII created many additional problems for the then ruling PvdA to 'sell' this deal to the Dutch people. To cope with this political problem the PvdA proposed an unilateral addendum to the treaty: that the Dutch could retain control over New Guinea for the time being. This made it possible for the PvdA to get a majority in the 2nd and 1st Chambers and it softened the loss of the 'emerald girdle', a cognomen Multatuli once devised to describe the 'Oost'.

Sukarno in 1949

Of course this 'addendum' was a major blow for Sukarno, but he grudgingly accepted: he probably reasoned that it was now or never for his independent Indonesia. As stated above already, New Guinea was deemed uncultivated, inhospitable and wild in Dutch eyes. Sukarno likely reasoned the same: the vast country was of no necessity for the young republic at the moment and more importantly, there lived little to none Indonesians.

The old colonizer happily proclaimed 'Netherlands New Guinea' as their new colony and transported a small army of dignitaries, officials and soldiers to its new capital which was known as Hollandia and was situated close to the border of Australian territory of Papua and New Guinea. During the early 1950s Australian became a friend of the Dutch regime since it feared a communist led Indonesia bordering its province. Strengthened by this newly gained trust from Western allies, the Dutch government put the idea of handing New Guinea over to Indonesia in the 'refrigerator' as we say in Holland. We shelved the plan.

Sukarno felt obviously belittled over the matter and raised the stakes: he expelled Dutch Indonesians, attacked the Moluccans in 1950 and threatened to stop trade with its former colonizer. From 1957 onward relations between the two countries grew even worse: strikes in Dutch factories in Indonesia, trade bans on products imported from the Netherlands etc. Sukarno did everything to drive the Dutch government to the limit. Together with the under performing New Guinean economy and local resistance made it clear that Netherlands New Guinea wasn't meant to be for the long term.

Tensions reached boiling point in 1959 when a nationalistic government was created in the Hague. Cabinet De Quay was in favour of keeping New Guinea and it made it possible for Dutch conscripts to fight in colonies overseas. This policy made it easier to send troops to New Guinea, which lacked an army of its own. Meanwhile, Indonesia had developed an army which could easily take possession of the last bit of Dutch-possessed land if Sukarno wished. Still, he didn't know for sure how the U.S.A. would react if he dared to make such a bold move. Communis opinio had it that the U.S.A. supported the Dutch cause in this matter....

De Quay Cabinet bordes scene after Queen Juliana appointed all members by royal decision in Huis ten Bosch Palace - 1959

This all changed in late 1960 and 1961 when the Netherlands sent its troops to New Guinea: it turned into a diplomatic fiasco and was an absolute failure. The sabre rattling probably caused the U.S.A. to shift its position about the issue. Kennedy wanted to avoid a second conflict in Asia at all costs. He thought that the Netherlands provoked Indonesia which lured Sukarno into communism. He could buy plenty of weapons in Russia...

In the end Netherlands New Guinea fortunately saw little fighting between Dutch and Indonesian troops and in early 1962 De Quay made it clear he would like to negotiate with Indonesia about the transfer of power. In the meantime  a temporary executive authority led by the United Nations (UNTEA) would be in charge over the former colony. The Dutch left the colony on the 1st of October 1962, Indonesia took possession of it on the 1st of May 1963.

During the short existence of Netherlands New Guinea, it issued its own stamps- some of them were overprinted with UNTEA in 1962. Since not many Dutch officials lived in the colony and many of its native people were illiterate, its postal history is fairly unknown and real (non-philatelic) items are quite scarce. Especially covers from smaller towns and villages are sought after, as well as interesting locations to which covers were addressed. Most of them were sent from its capital, Hollandia, or Biak (airfield) to the Netherlands. Other destinations are quite rare. In my next post I will tell you something about the cover below, which was sent to France!