Paper short abstract:

Biangai use the national courts to establish their ownership of land surrounding Wau. However, unity or self-interest hinges on historic patterns of land use and alliances that make the Biangai a cultural-linguistic group. New patterns of settlement challenge their conception of identity.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores how Biangai people along the Upper Bulolo River of Morobe Province in Papua New Guinea, fight to be acknowledged as traditional owners of land surrounding the urbanised township of Wau. Biangai first encountered Australian gold prospectors in the 1920s and have witnessed substantial wealth being extracted from the area since. While many original records were destroyed during battles between the Japanese and Allied forces for Wau in WWII, Biangai claims to the 6000 h.a. of land appropriated by colonial administrators and containing Wau have been recognised by the Supreme Court in 1972, in subsequent land court hearings, and most recently by the National Court in 2019. Biangai stand to gain from these decisions, but wariness characterises the Biangai alliance. The benefits from mining activities in the area have not been distributed evenly across the group. Since gold was discovered in the area, there has been a significant influx of migrants from the adjacent Waria valley and other parts of Papua New Guinea. Settlers have stayed on long after employment opportunities disappeared. Disputing Biangai claims are neighbouring Watut people, the more recent settlers in Wau, and even the government of Papua New Guinea. Following a violent conflict between Watuts and Biangai in 2009, which destroyed the Biangai village of Kaisenik, some Biangai have found a renewed collective purpose and unitary identity behind the motif ‘From Ashes We Rise’.