Following the discovery of the Dani by Westerners at the end of the 1930s, the Dutch established their first colonial post in the remote area of the Baliem Valley in the mid-1950s. The Netherlands later offered the Dani the prospect of self-determination, but under international pressure all of New Guinea was incorporated into Indonesia in 1962. The Dani have lived mostly as a primitive tribe throughout these political changes, fighting and hunting with bow, arrow and spear. But in the last decades, international tourism and the need for survival has forced the Dani to confront modernity, albeit in their own way. Today, the Dani are participants in the militant struggle for an independent state.
-SM
God Can: Story of God's Faithfulness to a Pioneer Missionary Explorer in New Guinea, by American missionary Einar H. Mickelson, 1966
Photograph by Nico Verheyen, one of the early Catholic missionaries in the Baliem Valley, 1962
"There a Light in this Valley," New York: The Christian and Missionary Alliance, 1955
Photograph by Nico Verheyen, one of the early Catholic missionaries in the Baliem Valley, of his moped, ca. 1960
First primer in the Dani language, ca. 1965
The Americans took New Guinea from the occupying Japanese during WII and used it as a base for their Pacific operations. Troops stationed there made pleasure flights over the Baliem Valley, sometimes swooping down very low to scare the Dani and watch them run and hide. In 1945, a plane of soldiers out on one of these daytrips crashed in the mountain pass leading out of the valley. Out of the twenty-four passengers, three survived -- Lt. McCollom, Sgt. Decker, and WAC Cpl. Hastings. Filipino paratroopers dropped into the valley to build an airstrip so a glider could land and take the survivors back to the base. The tale of the crash and the rescue was canonized in the pop culture of the time, from comic book dramatizations to newspaper and magazine stories.
-SM
Newspaper clipping from Lieutenant McCollom's scrapbook.
Newspaper clipping from Lieutenant McCollom's scrapbook.
Image from Lieutenant McCollom's scrapbook.
"WAC in Shangri-La" comic book, 1945
Photograph of Jan Broekhuijse (right) interviewing Husuk (left) while Abututi (center) helps translate in Homoak, 1961
Gardens of War book jacket, 1969
The Dani of the Baliem Valley engaging in ritual warfare, from Robert Gardner's 1964 documentary film "Dead Birds."
Dead Birds film poster, 1964
"Watchtower," a sequence from Robert Gardner's 1964 documentary film, "Dead Birds."
"The Ancient World of a War Torn Tribe," Life, September 28, 1962
"The Ancient World of a War Torn Tribe," Life, September 28, 1962
"The Ancient World of a War Torn Tribe," Life, September 28, 1962
Excerpt from Dead Birds Revisited, Pua Dressing
Baliem Valley. Irian Jaya (Today, West Papua). Indonesia. 1996
Baliem Valley. Irian Jaya (Today, West Papua). Indonesia. 1996
Dani posing with tourists. Filmed by Robert Gardner, when he revisited the Dani in 1996 for his follow-up to "Dead Birds."
Baliem Valley. Irian Jaya (Today, West Papua). Indonesia. 1996
Baliem Valley. Irian Jaya (Today, West Papua). Indonesia. 1996
The Americans took New Guinea from the occupying Japanese during WII and used it as a base for their Pacific operations. Troops stationed there made pleasure flights over the Baliem Valley, sometimes swooping down very low to scare the Dani and watch them run and hide. In 1945, a plane of soldiers out on one of these daytrips crashed in the mountain pass leading out of the valley. Out of the twenty-four passengers, three survived -- Lt. McCollom, Sgt. Decker, and WAC Cpl. Hastings. Filipino paratroopers dropped into the valley to build an airstrip so a glider could land and take the survivors back to the base. The tale of the crash and the rescue was canonized in the pop culture of the time, from comic book dramatizations to newspaper and magazine stories.
-SM
The Dani of the Baliem Valley engaging in ritual warfare, from Robert Gardner's 1964 documentary film "Dead Birds."
"Watchtower," a sequence from Robert Gardner's 1964 documentary film, "Dead Birds."
Excerpt from Dead Birds Revisited, Pua Dressing
Dani posing with tourists. Filmed by Robert Gardner, when he revisited the Dani in 1996 for his follow-up to "Dead Birds."
God Can: Story of God's Faithfulness to a Pioneer Missionary Explorer in New Guinea, by American missionary Einar H. Mickelson, 1966
Photograph by Nico Verheyen, one of the early Catholic missionaries in the Baliem Valley, 1962
"There a Light in this Valley," New York: The Christian and Missionary Alliance, 1955
Photograph by Nico Verheyen, one of the early Catholic missionaries in the Baliem Valley, of his moped, ca. 1960
First primer in the Dani language, ca. 1965
The Americans took New Guinea from the occupying Japanese during WII and used it as a base for their Pacific operations. Troops stationed there made pleasure flights over the Baliem Valley, sometimes swooping down very low to scare the Dani and watch them run and hide. In 1945, a plane of soldiers out on one of these daytrips crashed in the mountain pass leading out of the valley. Out of the twenty-four passengers, three survived -- Lt. McCollom, Sgt. Decker, and WAC Cpl. Hastings. Filipino paratroopers dropped into the valley to build an airstrip so a glider could land and take the survivors back to the base. The tale of the crash and the rescue was canonized in the pop culture of the time, from comic book dramatizations to newspaper and magazine stories.
-SM
Newspaper clipping from Lieutenant McCollom's scrapbook.
Newspaper clipping from Lieutenant McCollom's scrapbook.
Image from Lieutenant McCollom's scrapbook.
"WAC in Shangri-La" comic book, 1945
Photograph of Jan Broekhuijse (right) interviewing Husuk (left) while Abututi (center) helps translate in Homoak, 1961
Gardens of War book jacket, 1969
The Dani of the Baliem Valley engaging in ritual warfare, from Robert Gardner's 1964 documentary film "Dead Birds."
Dead Birds film poster, 1964
"Watchtower," a sequence from Robert Gardner's 1964 documentary film, "Dead Birds."
"The Ancient World of a War Torn Tribe," Life, September 28, 1962
"The Ancient World of a War Torn Tribe," Life, September 28, 1962
"The Ancient World of a War Torn Tribe," Life, September 28, 1962
Excerpt from Dead Birds Revisited, Pua Dressing
Baliem Valley. Irian Jaya (Today, West Papua). Indonesia. 1996
Baliem Valley. Irian Jaya (Today, West Papua). Indonesia. 1996
Dani posing with tourists. Filmed by Robert Gardner, when he revisited the Dani in 1996 for his follow-up to "Dead Birds."
Baliem Valley. Irian Jaya (Today, West Papua). Indonesia. 1996
Baliem Valley. Irian Jaya (Today, West Papua). Indonesia. 1996