Chapter 81: Heading to Australian New Guinea (Please subscribe!)
April 19,1901.
After resting for a few days, Arthur became busy again. This time, his destination was New Guinea, situated north of Australia, which is now Australian New Guinea.
Since being taken over by Australia, Arthur visited and inspected this land for the first time.
It’s not that Arthur didn’t value this land; just that there were too many pressing matters in Australia, leaving him no time to manage this territory.
The entire population of Australian New Guinea is under one million, and the vast majority of them are indigenous to the island.
Most of these indigenous people live in isolated tribes, maintaining their unique customs and rarely communicating with the outside world.
This has also led to the emergence of many taboo cultures on this land, such as the horrifying existence of cannibalism that changes people’s color when heard.
If we look only at the population and economy, the importance of this land would decline significantly, and its development potential would be almost nonexistent.
However, the island’s rich mineral resources and superior geographical location make up for this gap, turning New Guinea into a treasure trove fought over by the British Empire, the German Empire, and the Dutch colonialists.
After handing over control of British New Guinea to Australia, this land has returned to a three-way balance – the Western part being controlled by the Dutch East India Colony, the northeastern part being controlled by the German Empire’s New Guinea Colony.
The southeastern part, naturally, is controlled by Australia’s Australian New Guinea Colony.
Arthur agreed to maintain the status of the New Guinea colony because he believed that it was truly more suitable for it to remain a colony.
In terms of population size, although it has more than 900,000 inhabitants, the vast majority are native to the region, with less than 10,000 European immigrants.
All of these indigenous people belong to independent tribes that are difficult to assimilate. Although they do not pose a threat to Australia’s rule, their taboo culture is also not something Australia can change.
At the harbor, Anibal Enrique Fernandez, the first Governor of Australian New Guinea, welcomed Arthur.
Anibal Enrique Fernandez was one of the talents left by Duke Arthur. After being appointed as Governor of New Guinea, he had been diligent and had not shown any signs of self-indulgence.
In the faraway Australian New Guinea, as the governor with the most power, Anibal Enrique Fernandez’s performance naturally also gained Arthur’s trust. Upon landing at the harbor, most of the staff at the Governor’s Mansion had congregated.
Everyone eagerly awaited Arthur while also feeling a bit apprehensive.
Some of the Mansion’s officers originally belonged to British New Guinea and chose to settle on this land, becoming true immigrants and residents of the territory.
After Australia took control of this land, they had no choice but to accept Australia’s rule and become Australians.
Skipping the welcoming ceremony, Arthur led the group directly to the Governor’s Mansion.
This visit aimed to inspect the work in Australian New Guinea and devise plans for Australian industry development.
Although the indigenous people of Australian New Guinea have various shortcomings, they are useful when it comes to Australia’s industrial development.
Before the Netherlands agreed to sell indigenous people to Australia, these New Guineans were the best labor force for Australia’s industrial development.
“Governor Anibal, I suppose you know the purpose of my visit?” Inside the Governor’s Mansion, Arthur looked at Governor Anibal Enrique Fernandez and asked with a smile.
“Yes, Your Highness,” Governor Anibal nodded respectfully in response.
“How many indigenous people are there in the entire New Guinea Colony, and how many can go to Australia to work?” asked Arthur, only nodding with satisfaction after Governor Anibal’s affirmative reply.
“Your Highness, there are too many isolated tribes on this land whose populations we cannot determine. If we only count those tribes that have been in contact with us, there are more than 800,000 indigenous people in Australian New Guinea,” blurted Governor Anibal Enrique Fernandez.
Seeing that Governor Anibal Enrique Fernandez clearly mentioned the population of the entire Australian New Guinea, Arthur nodded again with satisfaction and asked, “What is your opinion on the government’s plan? Can the transportation of indigenous people from New Guinea to Australia for labor be realized?”
Any country that wants to transition from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy must go through a bloody and brutal oppression process. Whether it is oppressing the domestic people or exploiting the colonies, this process is inevitable.
Arthur’s and the Australian Government’s plan is to buy as many indigenous people as possible from the colonies and abroad to substitute Australians, contributing their lives to Australia’s industrial development.
Although it may not seem humane, compared to oppressing Australians and having the rare and precious Australian people risk their lives to develop the industry, it is much better.
“Your Highness, I think it can be done, and Australia does need the contributions of these indigenous people. However, doing so will cause panic and anger among them. If we want to maintain the stability of New Guinea, my suggestion is to eradicate the roots as much as possible and take this opportunity to completely eliminate all the indigenous people of New Guinea. Otherwise, the hatred of exploitation and oppression will accumulate over time, and keeping these indigenous people will not be good for the stability of New Guinea,” said Governor Anibal Enrique Fernandez, seriously. He was slightly nervous when speaking, clearly worrying that his words might offend Arthur.
The strategy proposed by Governor Anibal Enrique Fernandez was bloodier compared to the Australian Government’s plan.
However, on second thought, there was nothing wrong with what Governor Anibal Enrique Fernandez said.
New Guinea’s indigenous people and Australians are two nationalities that can never merge, and Arthur will definitely not accommodate the indigenous people of New Guinea.
Under such premise, since they chose to oppress and enslave these indigenous people, it is better to be more ruthless and eradicate them completely after exhausting all of their value so as to eliminate future problems.
After all, Australia needs stability, and only the dead will not resist.