ABSTRACT
The Chimbu could see the forces of change in individual or personified terms. The kiap (in larger stations, “number one kiap”) was the first and after that the most important representative of the Australian administration. He was the boss of the native police (kimberi nim, the Chimbu term for “Father of the Arrow”) and interpreters (turnimtok in Pidgin) as well as, in time, a staff of junior officers. The kiap was census-taker, administrator, judge, law interpreter and director of a number of labor and other enterprises, such as road work. He appointed and supervised the bosbois, tultuls and luluais and he was the mediator between the local people and any special officers or other white men, such as traders and missionaries.
