WIRELESS AND EMPIRE AMBITION Wireless telegraphy/telephony and radio broadcasting in the ...

298 Pages·2016·8.04 MB·English

by  Martin Hadlow

WIRELESS AND EMPIRE AMBITION
Wireless telegraphy/telephony and radio broadcasting in the
British Solomon Islands Protectorate, South-West Pacific (1914-1947):
political, social and developmental perspectives

Martin Lindsay Hadlow

Master of Arts in Mass Communications, University of Leicester, 2003
Honorary Doctorate, Kazakh State National University (named after Al-Farabi), 1997

A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at
The University of Queensland in 2016
School of Communication and Arts
Abstract

This thesis explores the establishment of wireless technology (telegraphy, telephony and
broadcasting) in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate (BSIP), South-West Pacific and
analyses its application as a political, social and cultural tool during the colonial years
spanning the first half of the 20th century.

While wireless seemed a ready-made technology for the Pacific, given its capability as a
medium to transmit and receive signals instantly across vast expanses of ocean, the
colonial civil servants of Britain’s Fiji-based regional headquarters, the Western Pacific
High Commission (WPHC) in Suva, were slow to understand its strategic value.
Conservative attitudes to governance, combined with a confidence born of Imperial rule,
not to mention bureaucratic inertia and an almost complete lack of understanding of the
new medium by a reluctant administration, aligned to cause obfuscation, delay and
frustration.

In the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, one of the most geographically remote
‘fragments of Empire’, pressures from the commercial sector (primarily planters and
traders), the religious community (mission stations in remote locations), keen amateur
experimenters (expatriate businessmen), wireless sales companies (Marconi and AWA
Ltd.), not to mention the declaration of World War I itself, all intervened to bring about
change to the stultified regulatory environment then pertaining and to ensure the
introduction of wireless technology in its multitude of iterations.

While also methodically tracing the manner in which wireless evolved in the colonial
Pacific, specifically the BSIP, the thesis investigates and contextualises the philosophical
and technical dimensions by which the authorities exploited the medium to control
information flow, regulate commerce, express their own cultural dominance and suppress
independence movements. Eventually, it took both the Second World War and a local
rebellion against British authority to bring broadcasting into social prominence and to give
a small radio voice, albeit moderated and controlled, to the indigenous Solomon Islands
population.
Declaration by author

This thesis is composed of my original work, and contains no material previously published
or written by another person except where due reference has been made in the text. I
have clearly stated the contribution by others to jointly-authored works that I have included
in my thesis.

I have clearly stated the contribution of others to my thesis as a whole, including statistical
assistance, survey design, data analysis, significant technical procedures, professional
editorial advice, and any other original research work used or reported in my thesis. The
content of my thesis is the result of work I have carried out since the commencement of
my research higher degree candidature and does not include a substantial part of work
that has been submitted to qualify for the award of any other degree or diploma in any
university or other tertiary institution. I have clearly stated which parts of my thesis, if any,
have been submitted to qualify for another award.

I acknowledge that an electronic copy of my thesis must be lodged with the University
Library and, subject to the policy and procedures of The University of Queensland, the
thesis be made available for research and study in accordance with the Copyright Act
1968 unless a period of embargo has been approved by the Dean of the Graduate School.

I acknowledge that copyright of all material contained in my thesis resides with the
copyright holder(s) of that material. Where appropriate I have obtained copyright
permission from the copyright holder to reproduce material in this thesis.
Publications during candidature

Chapters

Hadlow, M. (2014). No Propaganda Will Be Broadcast: The Rise and Demise of Australian
Military Broadcasting. In S. Turnbull, B. Griffen-Foley & G. Goggin (Eds.), Media
International Australia (150), 77-82. St. Lucia, Qld: SJC/University of Queensland.
Hadlow, M. (2009). The Mosquito Network: American Military Broadcasting in the South-
West Pacific 1944-1946. In P. Dennis & J. Grey (Eds.), The Military, the Media and
Information Warfare (pp. 74-95). Canberra: Australian Military History Publications.
Hadlow, M. (2007). A Voice for the Voiceless? Community Radio and Social Change. In P.
Thomas & M. Bromley (Eds.). Communication and Social Change: A Reader (pp.
73-83). St. Lucia, Qld: SJC.

Encyclopedia contribution

Hadlow, M. (2014). Armed Forces Media. In B. Griffen-Foley (Ed.), A Companion to the
Australian Media (pp. 25-26). Melbourne: Australian Scholarly.

Journal articles

Hadlow, M. (2013). The Scourge of War: The Writing’s on the Wall. Media Asia, 40(4),
310-314.
Hadlow, M. (2012). 24 Torpedo Bombers Headed Yours. Wartime, (57), 36-38.
Hadlow, M. (2010). Tell Her the Baker’s Enlisted. Wartime, (49), 43-45.
Hadlow, M. (2009). All that Twitters is Not Gold. Media Asia, 36(1), 3-4.
Hadlow, M. (2009). New Media and the Next Generation: Game On…or Game Over?
Media Digest, (June) 12-13.
Publications included in this thesis

No publications included.

Contributions by others to the thesis

No contributions by others.

Statement of parts of the thesis submitted to qualify for the award of another degree

Chapter XI: the paragraphs relating solely to the establishment of the US Armed Forces
Radio Service (AFRS) contain some of the research material and original wording
submitted in my dissertation for MA (Mass Communications) at the University of Leicester,
2000/2003. Degree awarded July, 2003.
Acknowledgements

This research endeavour has been a labour of love which has consumed portions of my
life over a period of many years. Since working in Solomon Islands in the 1980s, the idea
to document aspects of the development of wireless in that country has been a personal
dream waiting to be fulfilled. Countless colleagues, friends and family members, too
numerous to mention but too important to be forgotten, have urged me onwards as the
project moved from an informal research exercise into a PhD programme.

To my principal academic supervisor, Dr. Levi Obijiofor, and associate supervisor,
Associate Professor Pradip Ninan Thomas, of the School of Communication and Arts at
The University of Queensland, my sincere thanks for your encouragement, patience,
diligence, candid opinions, objective criticism and intellectual rigour. I regret any angst the
length of this PhD programme may have brought to your lives. Thank you for ‘cracking the
whip’ and ensuring that I reached the finish line.

‘Tanggio tumas’ to Ashley Wickham, General Manager of the Solomon Islands
Broadcasting Corporation, who set the history hares running in 1982 with his suggestion
that I prepare a booklet about broadcasting in Solomon Islands for the official opening of
the new SIBC Headquarters in Honiara.

At the Auckland University Library in New Zealand, my thanks to the professionals led by
Stephen Innes, Director of Special Collections and in charge of the colonial archive of the
British Western Pacific High Commission (WPHC). Thank you also to the Methodist
Missionary Society Archives team in Auckland for enabling me to retrieve invaluable data. I
am also grateful to Emeritus Professor Clive Moore CSI, of the School of Historical and
Philosophical Inquiry at UQ, who allowed me to plunder his personal Solomon Islands
archival collection.

During the course of this research programme, I also visited other archives and libraries in
Australia, USA, UK and Solomon Islands. Thank you to all the librarians and archivists
who answered queries and made available documentation which added to my knowledge.

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Similarly, to all the correspondents with whom I have been in touch over the years,
whether in person or via letter or e-mail, I express my appreciation. Special mention must
be made of Martin Clemens, Dick Horton, Ron Calvert and Sir David Trench, formerly of
the BSIP Administration and all, sadly, no longer with us. In the USA, a personal thank you
to the late Colonel Thomas A. Lewis, Chief of the US Armed Forces Radio Service in
World War II, and those US Army personnel who served with the AFRS in the BSIP during
the war, Spencer Allen, Wilford Kennedy, Richard Sinclair, Allen Botzer, George Dvorak,
Ivan Saddler, Rudolf Luukinen and Hy Averback.

To the late Bill Bennett and all my wantoks at the SIBC, ‘tanggio tumas’ for your collegiality
and for four very happy years with my family working with you in Solomon Islands. ’Lukim
iu bihain.’

Without the on-going understanding, support and forbearance of my dear wife, Anne, and
my children, Charlotte and Rupert, this PhD road would not have been travelled. They
have lived the experience with me every step of the way for just as many years and I
cannot thank them enough for their never-flagging encouragement and optimism.

And finally, to my (late) loving parents, Brian and Greta Hadlow, whose ceaseless
personal care and belief in the value of education inspired me to dream of undertaking the
journey.

‘The coral waxes, the palm grows, but man departs.’ (Tahitian proverb.)

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Keywords

Radio, wireless, broadcasting, Pacific history, development, British Solomon Islands
Protectorate.

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classifications (ANZSRC)

ANZSRC code: 200103, International and Development Communication, 80%
ANZSRC code: 210313, Pacific History (excluding New Zealand and Maori), 20%

Fields of Research (FoR) Classification

FoR Code: 2001, Communication and Media Studies, 80%
FoR Code: 2103, Pacific History (excluding New Zealand and Maori), 20%

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Table of Contents

ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................................... II
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................ VI
ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………………………………………………………………………… XV
PREFACE: PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES AND EXPERIENCES .................................................................. 2
AN INDEPENDENT TRAJECTORY ........................................................................................................................ 2
CORPORATE IDENTITY ESTABLISHED ................................................................................................................. 3
REGIONAL TENSIONS........................................................................................................................................ 4
‘DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION’ AND RADIO .................................................................................................... 6
BSIP BROADCASTING PERSPECTIVES ............................................................................................................... 7
RESEARCH BEGINNINGS ................................................................................................................................... 9
COLONIAL DISRUPTIONS ................................................................................................................................... 9
ACADEMIC OBSERVATIONS ............................................................................................................................. 11
CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................................. 13
CHAPTER I: THESIS FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY ..................................................................... 14
CONTEXT AND HISTORIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................... 14
VIEWS AND VALUES OF EMPIRE ....................................................................................................................... 16
THE RESEARCH QUESTION .............................................................................................................................. 16
SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY ................................................................................................................................ 17
LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...................................................................................... 19
MASS MEDIA IN BSIP SOCIETY ........................................................................................................................ 20
CONTEXTUAL APPROACH TO PACIFIC RESEARCH ............................................................................................. 22
METHODOLOGIES .......................................................................................................................................... 40
PROBLEMS IN ACCESS .................................................................................................................................... 25
DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT AND USE ................................................................................................................ 26
ARCHIVES ACCESSED ..................................................................................................................................... 28
Solomon Islands...................................................................................................................................... 28
New Zealand ........................................................................................................................................... 28
United Kingdom....................................................................................................................................... 28
Australia .................................................................................................................................................. 29
USA ......................................................................................................................................................... 29
ORAL HISTORIES/PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS/PHOTOGRAPHS .......................................................................... 29
THESIS STRUCTURE ....................................................................................................................................... 30
CHAPTER II: THE IMPERIAL PACIFIC ........................................................................................................ 35
POPULAR CULTURE AND DISTANT CORNER OF EMPIRE ..................................................................................... 35
EMPIRE-BUILDING .......................................................................................................................................... 37
PARTITION OF THE WORLD .............................................................................................................................. 39
A PROTECTORATE IS ESTABLISHED ................................................................................................................. 40
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‘THE ISLANDS LOST IN TIME’ ........................................................................................................................... 60
SCATTERED TOPOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................. 44
PUBLIC SERVANTS IN PARADISE ...................................................................................................................... 46
CHAPTER III: THE PACIFIC AWAKENS TO WIRELESS (C.1900-1910) .................................................. 48
THE HAPPY ISLES .......................................................................................................................................... 48
EXPERIMENTS IN WIRELESS ............................................................................................................................ 49
IMPERIAL INTERVENTION................................................................................................................................. 50
CABLE REACHES THE PACIFIC ........................................................................................................................ 70
WIRELESS RIVALS CABLE ................................................................................................................................ 53
DEMANDS FROM THE PACIFIC ......................................................................................................................... 55
GOVERNMENTAL AMBITIONS ........................................................................................................................... 56
AUSTRALIA ASSERTS ITS PLACE ...................................................................................................................... 59
WIRELESS EMBRACED GLOBALLY .................................................................................................................... 60
BSIP BUSINESSMEN SEEK ACTION .................................................................................................................. 62
CHAPTER IV: CABLE MEETS ITS MATCH (C. 1910-1913) ....................................................................... 64
REGULATION TAKES PRECEDENCE .................................................................................................................. 64
BUREAUCRATIC CONTROL .............................................................................................................................. 66
BSIP WAITS FOR ACTION ................................................................................................................................ 68
PACIFIC WIRELESS EXPERIMENTS ................................................................................................................... 69
WPHC MOVES AHEAD WITH CAUTION ............................................................................................................. 70
BRITISH DOMINANCE ASSURED ....................................................................................................................... 72
TECHNOLOGY OVERTAKES REGULATION .......................................................................................................... 74
CHAPTER V: GAVUTU ISLAND TAKES TO THE AIRWAVES (C. 1913-1921) ......................................... 76
SHIPPING SHOWS THE WAY ............................................................................................................................. 76
AMATEUR FIRST TO TRANSMIT ........................................................................................................................ 77
GOVERNMENT WIRELESS STATION PLANNED .................................................................................................... 79
WORLD WAR HASTENS DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................................................ 81
TULAGI RADIO APPROVED .............................................................................................................................. 83
CONSTRUCTION BEGINS AT TULAGI ................................................................................................................. 85
BSIP’S ISOLATION BROKEN ............................................................................................................................ 87
WARTIME RESTRICTIONS ................................................................................................................................ 88
PRESSURE FROM PLANTERS GROWS ............................................................................................................... 89
GOLDIE MAKES HIS MARK ............................................................................................................................... 90
CHAPTER VI: MISSIONARIES MAKE HISTORY (C. 1921-1924) ................................................................ 97
GOVERNMENT HOLDS BACK THE TIDE .............................................................................................................. 97
WIRELESS BENEFITS RECOGNISED .................................................................................................................. 99
METHODISTS GRASP THE INITIATIVE .............................................................................................................. 100
GOLDIE IMPATIENT FOR WIRELESS ................................................................................................................ 102
CONCERNS OF RESIDENT COMMISSIONER .................................................................................................... 103
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