Luigi D'Albertis
Luigi Maria D'Albertis | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 2 September 1901 | (aged 59)
Nationality | Italian |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Biology |
Luigi Maria D'Albertis (21 November 1841 – 2 September 1901) was an Italian
Early life
D'Albertis was born in 1841, in Voltri, Italy. At the age of eighteen he joined Garibaldi's army and later joined Odoardo Beccari in November 1871 on an expedition to western New Guinea. He reached the peak of Mount Arfak Geb but was compelled by fever to retreat and return to Sydney to recover. In 1874, D'Albertis returned to New Guinea to set up a base on Yule Island. Here he obtained notoriety for publicly kissing the most attractive young native women and passing it off as a customary sign of peace. He also, with a shell full of burning methylated spirits, ostentatiously threatened to set the ocean alight. Most of his companions and employees deserted him after these activities.[1]
1875 journey up the Fly River
D'Albertis conducted his first trip to the Fly River in the
1876 journey to the Fly River
D'Albertis' second sojourn to the river was on the "Neva" which was chartered from the Government of New South Wales. On board was
1877 journey to the Fly River
This was the final and probably the most eventful of the journeys of D'Albertis up the Fly River. On the first day of June, D'Albertis managed to get his crew and himself involved in a pitched battle with an armed flotilla of native watercraft. D'Albertis himself claimed to have fired about 120 shots in this skirmish which resulted in "some deaths" of indigenous people. None of his crew were killed but the hull of the "Neva" was riddled with arrows, some of which penetrated through the boards. For most of early July, D'Albertis was involved in daily clashes with native people along the river, shooting some of them dead. On one occasion, D'Albertis found the corpse of one of those killed and decided to decapitate him and preserve the head in spirits for his collection. He later killed one of his Chinese servants for refusing to go into the jungle to shoot specimens of local fauna. D'Albertis killed him by hitting him on the back a number of times with a bamboo cane which broke during the punishment. The other Chinese servants subsequently fled into the jungle, preferring to take their chances in unknown territory than to stay with the expedition.
Returning downriver in late October, D'Albertis again had several affrays with indigenous people killing at least seven. In one of these battles, D'Albertis decided to "let them have it, and their blood be on their own heads". After this encounter he became extremely wary, ordering every native canoe to be shot at on sight. During this trip, as with the others, D'Albertis regularly engaged in
Not long after, D'Albertis returned to Europe with his bounty of stolen goods. His cousin, fellow explorer
Criticisms and influences
Later colonial administrators of
D'Albertis however was not the first or last to implement such irresponsible plundering actions on the Fly and nearby rivers. Captain Blackwood, in 1846, of HMS Fly (after which the river is named) engaged in unapologetic raiding of villages on the river, including bombardment their houses.[8] Also, a few years after D'Albertis' voyages, Captain John Strachan made an expedition up the nearby Mai Kussa river which was even more destructive than the Italian's. Strachan, who seems to have been in a chronic state of irrational paranoia and insomnia, improvised a torpedo-like weapon against a convey of native canoes causing a large amount of damage and number of casualties. In a high state of anxiety, Strachan later had to abandon his vessel and return to the coast on foot, committing massacres of indigenous people along the way. Strachan was later accused of being a "red-handed murderer who had tramped knee-deep in blood through New Guinea". He applied for protection from Lord Derby and subsequently no charges were laid.[9]
Eponyms
A number of reptile species from New Guinea were named in honour of d'Albertis, but most have subsequently become synonyms of other species.
- Gonyocephalus (Lophosteus) albertisii W. Peters & Doria, 1878, now Hypsilurus papuensis (Macleay, 1877) (Papuan forest dragon)
- Heteropus Albertisii W. Peters & Doria, 1878, now Carlia bicarinata (Macleay, 1877) (bicarinate grassland skink)
- Leiopython albertisii (W. Peters & Doria, 1878) (northern white-lipped or d’Albertis python)[10]
Only the python carries d’Albertis’ name today.
Several of these species were described by the German naturalist
Only Leiopython albertisii (the white-lipped python) is currently recognised as a valid species, the other three reptiles being synonymised within species described earlier, ironically two of which were described by entomologist Sir William John Macleay whose rival expedition on the Chevert,[11] was also collecting specimens in southern Papua.
The beetle Bironium albertisi Löbl, 2021, is named after D'Albertis, "one of the early explorers of the fauna of New Guinea and Moluccas".[12]
The plant genus Albertisia Becc. (1877) is also named after him.
Publications
- "Journeys up the Fly River and in other parts of New Guinea". Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society 1879: 4-16 (including map). (read at the Evening Meeting, November 11, 1878).
- New Guinea: What I Did and What I Saw. Vol. I and II. London: S. Low Marston Searle & Rivington, 1880.
References
- ^ Gibbney, H.J. "Luigi Maria D'Albertis". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
- ^ D'Albertis, Luigi (1880). New Guinea: what I did and what I saw. Vol II. London: Sampson Low. pp. 1-40.
- ^ D'Albertis, Luigi (1880). New Guinea: what I did and what I saw. Vol II. pp. 45-205.
- Wikidata Q108384933.
- ^ D'Albertis, Luigi (1880). New Guinea: what I did and what I saw. pp. 213-360.
- ^ Murray, J.H.P. (1912). Papua or British New Guinea. London: Fisher Unwin. pp. 256-260.
- ^ Bevan, T.F. (1890). Toil, travel and discovery in British New Guinea. London: Kegan Paul. p. 19.
- ^ Jukes, J.B. (1847). Surveying voyage of H.M.S. Fly. London: Boone.
- ^ Strachan, John (1888). Explorations and adventures in New Guinea. London: Sampson Low.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("D'Albertis", p. 64).
- ^ Office, Publications. "Chevert". sydney.edu.au.
- Wikidata Q109601493.
External links
- Edwards, Ian. Luigi D'Albertis 1841-1901
- Kirksey, E. Anthropology and Colonial Violence in West Papua. Cultural Survival Quarterly, Fall 2002.
- Works by or about Luigi D'Albertis at Internet Archive
- Reptile Database listing for python Leiopython albertisii
- online copy of Luigi Maria d'Albertis, New Guinea: What I did and what I saw, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, London (1880).
Further reading
- Goode, John (1977). Rape of the Fly: Explorations in New Guinea. Melbourne: Nelson. viii + 272 pp.