Taubada (SIGNED)
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: First Edition.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Yellowed
Markings: Signed with inscription
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
In the remote jungles and coastal villages of Papua New Guinea, a young Flying Officer of the Royal Australian Air Force encountered a world utterly unlike his own — and Taubada is his remarkable testament to that encounter. Philip Opas chronicles his wartime and post-war experiences among the Papuan people, capturing with vivid clarity the rituals, relationships, and daily lives of a culture on the cusp of monumental change. The word Taubada, a term of respect meaning master or sir in the Motu language, frames the entire narrative, pointing to the complex and often fraught dynamics of colonial-era contact between Australians and indigenous Papuans. Opas writes with the sharp eye of a legal mind — he would later become a distinguished barrister and judge — and his prose balances personal memoir with keen anthropological observation, lending the work an authority rare among accounts of its kind. Taubada stands as a significant historical document, illuminating a pivotal chapter in Australia's engagement with its Pacific territories during the mid-twentieth century. For readers drawn to the intersection of personal history, colonial legacy, and Pacific cultures, this slim but deeply resonant volume raises questions that linger long after the final page.
Author: Philip Opas
Format: Paperback
Published: 1942, The Specialty Press.
Genre: Australasion & Pacific history
Edition: First Edition.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Yellowed
Markings: Signed with inscription
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
In the remote jungles and coastal villages of Papua New Guinea, a young Flying Officer of the Royal Australian Air Force encountered a world utterly unlike his own — and Taubada is his remarkable testament to that encounter. Philip Opas chronicles his wartime and post-war experiences among the Papuan people, capturing with vivid clarity the rituals, relationships, and daily lives of a culture on the cusp of monumental change. The word Taubada, a term of respect meaning master or sir in the Motu language, frames the entire narrative, pointing to the complex and often fraught dynamics of colonial-era contact between Australians and indigenous Papuans. Opas writes with the sharp eye of a legal mind — he would later become a distinguished barrister and judge — and his prose balances personal memoir with keen anthropological observation, lending the work an authority rare among accounts of its kind. Taubada stands as a significant historical document, illuminating a pivotal chapter in Australia's engagement with its Pacific territories during the mid-twentieth century. For readers drawn to the intersection of personal history, colonial legacy, and Pacific cultures, this slim but deeply resonant volume raises questions that linger long after the final page.