Torres Strait Islands and Papua New Guinea, 1898

Collection overview

The British Library’s Alfred Cort Haddon 1898 Expedition (Torres Strait and British New Guinea) Cylinder Collection (C80) includes 141 wax cylinders recorded in the Torres Strait Islands and British New Guinea as part of the 1898 Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits. These cylinders are among the earliest sound recordings in the Library’s Sound Archive and the earliest extant collection from Oceania.

The collection is made up of two parts: 99 cylinders that were recorded on the Torres Strait Islands in what is today Australia and 3 recorded in England, known as the C80 Torres Strait collection, and 39 that were recorded in what is today Papua New Guinea, known as the C80 British New Guinea collection. Due to the scale of this collection, information about the recordings from each collection is divided across two separate collection pages, which can be accessed below.

Research by Vicky Barnecutt and Rebekah Hayes, British Library, with Don Niles, IPNGS, and Grace Koch, AIATSIS.

The Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Strait, 1898

All of the recordings in the Alfred Cort Haddon 1898 Expedition (Torres Strait and British New Guinea) Cylinder Collection were made as part of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits in 1898.

This expedition was organised and led by Professor Alfred Cort Haddon (1855–1940). Haddon, a distinguished natural scientist and ethnologist, was instrumental in establishing anthropology as a discipline at Cambridge. The expedition members included William Halse Rivers Rivers (1864–1922), a physician specialising in experimental psychology and physiology; Charles Seligmann¹ (1873–1940), a pathologist specialising in tropical diseases; Charles Samuel Myers (1873–1946), a physician who specialised in psychology and music; William McDougall (1871–1938), also a physician; Sidney Herbert Ray (1858–1939), a linguist; and Anthony Wilkin (1877?–1901), who acted as the expedition’s photographer.²

The expedition members met on Thursday Island on 22 April 1898, and arrived on Mer / Murray Island³ on 6 May. Haddon, Ray, Wilkin, and Seligmann left for Port Moresby and the Central District of British New Guinea on 23 May, with Haddon, Ray, and Wilkin returning to Mer on 20 July.

Myers and McDougall spent most or all of their time on Mer, leaving for Sarawak on 24 August 1898. On 8 September, Haddon, Rivers, Ray and Wilkin left Mer for the island of Kiwai in British New Guinea’s Western District. They met up with Seligmann on 12 September.

Haddon, Rivers, Wilkin, and Seligmann travelled from Kiwai to Mabuiag on 17 September. Ray joined them on 3 October. Rivers and Wilkin left Mabuiag to begin their journeys home on 19 and 21 October respectively. Haddon, Ray, and Seligmann visited Saibai and Iama / Yam Island between 22 October and 27 October, but spent only a few days on each of these islands (Haddon 1901:xiii, Philp 1999:59).

In October 1898, the expedition members separated with Rivers returning to England due to his teaching commitments. Wilkin travelled on to Egypt while the rest of the expedition members went to Sarawak (Slobodin 1978:24-25).

Motivations for the expedition

Haddon initially trained as a marine zoologist. However, his first visit to the Torres Strait Islands to study “coral reefs and their fauna” in 1888 was “the turning point in his life”, reshaping both his career and the field of anthropology (Quiggin 1942:81).

On his 1888 visit to the Torres Strait, Haddon spent time on the islands of Tudu Island / Warrior Islet (just off Iama / Yam Island), Mabuiag, and Mer (Quiggin 1942:88). He also visited the south coast of British New Guinea on this trip.⁴ He met with many Torres Strait Islanders, in part to obtain objects that could be given to museums to recover some of the journey’s expenses (Quiggin 1942:82). Haddon published anthropological as well as scientific work (see Haddon 1890a, 1890b, 1893) and an ethnographic monograph was planned. As Haddon felt “he had only skimmed the surface”, he wished to return to the Torres Strait to focus on anthropology (Quiggin 1942:88, 91). Haddon noted that the aim of the 1898 expedition was to “verify and supplement the anthropological observations that I made in Torres Straits in 1888-89” (1899:413).

The Torres Strait Islands were of particular interest to researchers of the time due to their location between the “distinctive cultural, geographical and biological zones” of Australia and New Guinea, enabling researchers to develop “European theories in both natural history and ethnology” (Herle & Rouse 1998:12). Haddon also noted that anthropologists could only comprehend the behaviour of peoples through direct observation and the 1898 expedition was an opportunity to demonstrate this fieldwork method alongside laboratory practice (Kuklick 1998).

Salvage anthropology was also a motivation for Haddon’s 1898 visit. In a letter to Haddon in 1889, the Rev. W. W. Gill in Sydney noted “You do well to pick up the crumbs that remain” of ethnological data (Quiggin 1942:90). In 1890, Haddon noted that “the natives of the islands had of late years been greatly reduced in numbers, and that, with the exception of but one or two individuals, none of the white residents knew anything about the customs of the natives, and not a single person cared about them personally … if I neglected to avail myself of the present opportunity of collecting information on the ethnography of the islanders, it was extremely probable that that knowledge would never be gleaned” (Haddon 1890b:297–298).

In particular, Haddon learned about the Malu-Bomai rites on Mer / Murray Island and was determined to record the details in 1898. He was persistent, despite some Islanders’ reluctance to divulge information about sacred beliefs and practices (Herle 1998:87). Haddon wanted to conduct research “before it was too late” and noted the impact, including depopulation, due to the “influences of the white man” (1899:413).

The western (including Mabuiag) and southern Torres Strait Islands groups “were very early exposed to European influence” and Mabuiag was the location for “one of the earliest headquarters and stores of a pearlsheller” with a mission opened in 1871 (Laade 1977:1). Even in 1898, Haddon already observed a “rapid change in the social life of the people. We were but just in time to record the memory of the vanished past” (1904:vi).

Mer / Murray Island was chosen as a focal point for research due to its relative geographical location; it was “little touched by colonialism (although many of its residents were Christianised and spoke pidgin English” (Kuklick 1998:161). This meant the residents of Mer would be more likely to have retained their “traditional lifestyle” (Kuklick 1998:170).

The recordists

The British Library’s Sound and Moving Image catalogue originally included Haddon and Myers as the sound recordists for almost all of the C80 Torres Strait recordings, and Charles Seligmann for the British New Guinea recordings, that were previously in the C62 Seligman New Guinea collection. Sidney Ray is listed as a recordist for four recordings made on Saibai Island (C80/1077-1080) and the two recordings made in England before the expedition (C80/1485, C80/1489).

When Haddon was looking to put together a team for the 1898 expedition, the missionary and anthropologist the Reverend Dr. Robert Henry Codrington (Quiggin 1942:98) recommended Ray as a linguist. Ray had researched a number of languages in both the Torres Strait Islands and British New Guinea.

Archival and other evidence indicates that Ray made all of the recordings in British New Guinea, and both Myers and Ray made the recordings in the Torres Strait Islands.

Throughout Haddon’s journal and in his book Head-Hunters, there are also numerous references to Ray’s use of the phonograph for both playing pre-recorded music and recording speeches, songs, and dances during their two visits to British New Guinea, and Ray’s journal confirms that he did most, if not all, of the recording there. There is no evidence to suggest that anyone else made any of the recordings. Ray noted that he was able to study the Koitapu language in Port Moresby, and Kiwai in Saguane, and that he also gained some knowledge of dialects spoken in the Mekeo and Roro districts (1907:285).

It seems likely that when Haddon, Ray, Wilkin, and Seligmann visited British New Guinea in May 1898, they only took one of the two phonographs definitely purchased and shipped by the expedition, leaving the other one on Mer with Myers.

There is one published reference to Seligmann using the phonograph in 1898, a photograph in Herle and Rouse (1998:228) that depicts one of the anthropologists using the phonograph in Hula, presumably on 14 June.⁵ However, it is not clear why this was labelled as a photograph of Seligmann; indeed, it is likely that it in fact depicts Ray. It may have been labelled “Seligmann” because the 1898 recordings from British New Guinea were until 2020 in a collection titled Seligman New Guinea (C62). Comparison of that photo with other portraits of the expedition members, particularly looking at the hat, facial hair and height, suggests it is Ray.

The photograph above clearly shows that the machine in use is the Edison Home Phonograph. It is possible that the photograph is posed or shows a practice run, as it appears that there is no wax cylinder mounted on the phonograph. There is only one photograph of phonographic recording in the Torres Strait, where the machine is being operated by Charles Myers, and it is not clear what machine was being used.⁶

For recording work in the Torres Strait, Myers noted that his anthropological work was confined to Mer / Murray Island, and that he was indebted to Ray “for phonographic records of the music of Mabuiag, Yam and Saibai” (1912a:261). On 24 July 1898, Ray noted that he heard Myers recording “Murray songs” (1898-1899:80). In a 28 July 1898 diary entry, Myers noted that “with great difficulty”, he recorded a few Malu songs using the phonograph (Myers 1898:104). These comments also suggest that Ray and Myers each had a phonograph.

Myers published a number of musical notations of the recordings in Volume IV of the Reports of the Cambridge Expedition to Torres Straits (1912a), and the Malu texts were published by Myers and Haddon in Volume VI (1908). Aside from the Reports, Myers also wrote about the music of the Torres Strait Islands in other publications (see Myers 1899, 1912b, 1914).

Ray noted that his “attention during [his] stay in the islands was mainly concentrated upon the grammars of the two languages” of the Eastern and Western Torres Strait Islands (1899:218). In this same article, Ray stated that he researched the languages of Mer and Erub, and of Mabuiag, Tudu, Saibai and Muralag. Ray’s work on languages is the focus of Volume III of the Reports (1907).

The interest of Myers and Ray in linguistics and music, as well as their writings, suggests that they were the recordists of the Torres Strait cylinders.

In the British Library’s box files related to this expedition, there are two handwritten documents, which reference recordings made in the Torres Strait Islands and British New Guinea. We presume these notes were written by Myers due to the handwriting and because they reference Ray and Seligmann’s work as well, including Ray’s work in Volume III of the Reports (1907). Therefore, it is likely these notes were written between 1907 and 1912.

Using the phonograph

Haddon may have been persuaded to take the phonograph on the expedition by Jesse Walter Fewkes, who used the equipment in 1890 during his research on the Passamaquoddy people in North America. Fewkes is widely recognized as the first person to make phonographic recordings as part of anthropological research. He wrote to Haddon in March 1890 and described the usefulness of using the phonograph to record stories and songs (Clayton 1996:69).

Use of the phonograph by the expedition “may well have been the first British use of the technique” (Ward 1984:1). The journals and papers of at least Haddon, Rivers, Seligmann, Myers and Wilkin include references to recording (Clayton 1996). In a 28 July 1898 diary entry, Myers noted that “cameras and phonograph apparatus constitute the bulk of our baggage” (Myers 1898:92).

Early notes by Haddon suggest he had originally considered or was recommended to the Edison Standard phonograph. He was advised to use more than one phonograph, label all cylinders, note the speed of recording, and pack the cylinders in cotton wool and wax paper.⁷

Two phonographs were apparently purchased, but documents do not agree as to their make. According to the expedition invoices, Haddon acquired one Edison Home phonograph and one Bijou Graphophone. On 16 November 1897, the expedition’s outfitter, John Haddon & Co., noted that they had forwarded “an Edison Home Phonograph” to Haddon on 15 November 1897, and that the Edisonia Co. was preparing a second for him.⁸ In a note from December 1897 estimating expenditures, Haddon wrote “2 phonographs £50”, and there is also a note that 200 cylinders would cost £15.⁹ According to the receipts, each device was around £15. An invoice from John Haddon & Co. from 21 January 1898 records the despatch of a “Bijou Grapho. + outfit” along with one dozen diaphragm glasses.¹⁰

It is not clear why one of each phonograph was chosen, or what happened to the second Edison Home phonograph that the outfitters mentioned. The Bijou Graphophone was a new and improved phonograph developed by Alexander Graham Bell’s Volta Laboratory.¹¹ The equipment was acquired through John Haddon & Co., who provided a 5% discount.¹² Further correspondence with John Haddon & Co from 20 January 1898 indicates that Haddon had asked for the price for 250 blank cylinders, which the Edisonia Company specified would be packed in wadding, each one in a tin case ready for use.¹³

Ray wrote to Haddon on 30 January 1898 to say that “I will have tin boxes for the phono cylinders. I am trying to get a few good records, which will do for the natives and for ship”. Ray also mentioned “my machine does not shave”,¹⁴ but there is no further information on whether he was referring to a phonograph of his own, or the Edison Home machine sent to Haddon in November. If Ray did have his own phonograph, we do not know whether he took it with him.¹⁵

We do not know what happened to the phonographs after the expedition. Myers and McDougall left the Torres Strait for Borneo on 24 August, and Haddon, Ray and Seligmann left for Borneo in November (Herle and Rouse 1998:2). They must have taken at least one phonograph with them as there are a number of recordings from that part of the trip in the British Library’s Borneo cylinder collection (C666). This collection has not been studied in detail yet. In a letter to his wife in September 1898, Haddon noted that he was writing to Walter W. Skeat in Singapore and “will let him have a phonograph with pleasure” and that “both phonographs require overhauling but we have obtained good results here”.¹⁶ In the same letter, Haddon noted that Skeat should order “50 (or as many as he wants) cylinders in tins”. His underlining of “in tins” indicates that his experience from the Torres Strait and British New Guinea had proved that individual tins were the preferred packing method.

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All content on this page © British Library Board, Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies & Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, unless otherwise stated.

Collection overview

The Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Strait, 1898

Motivations for the expedition

The recordists

Using the phonograph

All content on this page © British Library Board, Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies & Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, unless otherwise stated.

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