The Duyfken sails into the sheltered harbour formed by Banda Neira and Gunung Api, the smoking active volcano which dominates the scene.
The ferry reached the tiny island of Banda Neira at night, bearing down upon the flimsy wharf in a gargantuan blaze of light. Checking into a fading dockside hotel owned by Banda'sch ief, Des Alwi, Garvey and Cocks awoke the next morning to find themselves in a tropical paradise of lush jungle, deep green water and crumbling ruins, overshadowed by the towering volcanic island Gunung Api. But even this remote and seemingly peacefu l cluster of island gems had seen vio lence in the preceding weeks. "The Christian churches on Neira and Api, both of them hundreds of years old, had been destroyed ," says Garvey. "Christians had been killed on Loncar and the culprits rounded up and jailed on Neira.
'~s
soon as we started sailing, it was clear that the Duyfken would sail at a good speed with a favo rable wind. " They were allowed out during the day and were invo lved in a beating durin g the time Graeme and I were there. " In a strange way, the po litically inspired religious turmoil in the Maluku Province was like a 21st-century reverberation of the violent trade wars berween the Portuguese, Spanish, English and Dutch four hundred years earli er. In a time when spi ces were more valuable than gold, and nurmegthought to cure the plague-was found only on Banda, the economic powers of Europe would do anything to control the archipelago. Physical evidence of that violent era can be seen in the crumbling forts and can nons scauered abou t the roadsides. Garvey's images of Banda have a serene and timeless quality, taking the viewer back to a time when explorers dreamed of finding a fabled land of gold they called "Nova Guinea. " Records suggest that Captain Willem Janszoo n reached the great southern land in February 1606. Australia would have appeared drab and flat under a low grey sky, as the monsoon season cast a humid pall over the coast. Janszoon's crew clashed with Australian Aborigines and left a land that was clearly devoid of trade opportunities, not knowing they had unwiuingly discovered the Sixth Continent. The original Duyjken was hauled ashore SEA HISTORY 102, AUTUMN 2002
At Banda Neira, the Duyfken is greeted by a color.fol kora-kora, the traditional local war canoe.
19