Boluminski: the eccentric road builder

BY PETER KRANZ

 

THE BOLUMINSKI HIGHWAY is the main land transportation route in New Ireland. It runs from Kavieng for 193 km down the east coast to Namatanai.

From Kavieng it is a sealed road for around 120 km until Bol village, and from there it has a crushed white coral road surface.

Originally named Kaiser-Wilhelm-Chaussee during the German protectorate, it was prosaically renamed the ‘East Coast Road’ in 1921.

After PNG gained independence it was renamed again, this time after Franz Boluminski who was the German District Officer from 1910 until World War I.

Boluminski was one of those weird ground-breaking heroes and eccentrics of colonial times. He was born in Graudenz, Prussia - and may be a distant relative of mine.

He served in the German Army in German East Africa and in 1894 went to work for the German New Guinea Company at Astrolabe Bay near modern-day Madang.

In March 1899 he transferred to the German colonial service and was posted to the new station of Kavieng. In 1910 he was promoted to district officer.

His major feat was the construction of the road along the north-east coast of the island. He made each village along the coast build and maintain a section. This eventually became known as the Boluminski Highway But, while he realised a grand vision, he was guilty of using virtual slave labour to build the road.

He built the highway in sections and forced individual villages along the coast to construct and maintain them. If a section fell into disrepair, the village responsible would be punished by having to carry his sulky (with him in it) over the substandard road, then his horse was reharnessed and he continued.

At the same time he established copra plantations connected to the highway and this made New Ireland one of the most profitable parts of German New Guinea.

Franz Boluminski died of heat-stroke and is now buried in Bagail Cemetery in Kavieng.

Photo: Scene from the highway (Barbara Short)

Comments

[Barbara Short]

During my two years at Manggai High School I had many wonderful trips up and down this road. I would consider it one of the most beautiful drives in the whole world.

I think the village people need to make more use of the opportunities it provides. Maybe eco-tourism is the way to go.

Each village needs to build a few bush-material houses and set them up with a good bed and a mosquito net. They also need some sort of cooking facility, maybe in a more permanent building and a good deep pit toilet set in the bush away from the house. They need to plant a nice garden around the house.

Then they need to get the government tourism office to help them with publicity.

When the overseas visitors arrive they need to go out and catch them some fresh fish and collect fresh fruit and vegetables.

While the foreign tourists are there they can work out an itinerary for them. They need to show them the best places to swim. The opportunities are unlimited.

So many of the South East Asian countries have made a lot of money from tourism and it can have many good side effects.

But the road is the key. It provides transport to the good airport at Kavieng and to the rest of the world.