In a German Colony

This vivid colonial travel narrative follows a determined woman's journey from Sydney to German New Guinea, where she sets out to observe New Britain, the Gazelle Peninsula, and the lives of the island peoples at first hand. She writes with outspoken confidence, rejecting fashionable ignorance and insisting on honest, practical observation over speculation, while also engaging in sharp commentary on empire, race, and the responsibilities of civilization. From the voyage aboard the Prinz Waldemar to the steaming reefs of Blanche Bay and Herbertshöhe, the book blends travel writing, natural history, and ethnography. It records volcanic coasts, coconut plantations, canoes, imperial mail, and the uneasy rhythms of colonial settlement, then turns inland to village life, hunting, chiefs, women's work, ceremonies, feasts, trepanning, and the complex social order of clan authority and shell-money compensation. Along the way, the author compares Papuans, Melanesians, and Maori, reflecting on land, labor, education, missionary influence, and the pressures of colonial rule. At once observant, opinionated, and politically charged, this account offers a revealing portrait of a Pacific world in contact, conflict, and change. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.