Beyond The Coral Sea: Travels In The Old Empires Of The South West Pacific

A romantic and adventurous journey to the hidden islands and lagoons beyond Papua New Guinea and north of Australia. East of Java, west of Tahiti and north of the Cape York Peninsula of Australia lie the unknown paradise islands of the Coral, Solomon, and Bismarck Seas. They were perhaps the last inhabited place on earth to be explored by Europeans, and even today many remain largely unspoilt, despite the former presence of German, British, and Australian colonial rulers. Michael Moran, an experienced traveller, begins his journey on the island of Samarai, historic gateway to the old British Protectorate, as the guest of the benign grandson of a cannibal. He explores the former capitals of German New Guinea and headquarters of the disastrous New Guinea Company, its administrators decimated by malaria and murder. He travels along the inaccessible Rai Coast through the Archipelago of Contented Men, following in the footsteps of the Russian explorer Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay. The historic anthropological work of Bronislaw Malinowski guides him through the Trobriand Islands and the yam festival. Characters, both historical and contemporary, spring vividly to life as the author guides the reader through the cultures of Melanesia.