Meet the Huli Wig Men of Papua New Guinea – Paiya Village, Western Highlands, PNG

They are as colourful and distinctive as the birds of paradise that live high in the jungle tree-tops.

Today, the iconic Huli Wig Men of Hela Province in the Southern Highlands are immediately recognisable from advertising campaigns promoting travel and sing sings (festivals of culture, music and dance) in Papua New Guinea. Less than 100 years ago, however, they were completely unknown to the outside world.

Numbering between 250,000-800,000 people (sources vary wildly!), the Huli are one of the largest of Papua New Guinea’s more than 7000 different cultural groups. Their oral history traces back over thousands of years to one central ancestor named Hela. He had four sons and a daughter to whom he designated lands, and from whom the Hela nation of tribes – including the Huli – arose. 

In the 1930s, Australian explorers and gold prospectors, Mick Leahy and Michael Dwyer, walked across what was then New Guinea, finding – to their surprise – cultivated lands and complex societies of ‘murdering bastards’. It had been assumed by Europeans that the interior of the island was unpopulated and was ‘simply a continuation of precipitous mountains and miasmic jungles’. Of course, the prior claim of the Huli to their own lands was not recognised, and their first contact with outsiders was in November 1934, when the Fox brothers – who had just parted company from Mick and Dan Leahy – killed at least fifty. Although the Huli are legendary for their fearsome warring natures – fighting with other clans over land, pigs, and women – their deadly bows and arrows were no match for European weaponry. 

Feuds and clan warfare remain a fact of life today. With conflict over oil and gas production in the region, the failure of royalties to be disbursed as expected, frustrations and cross-cultural misunderstandings, and the easy access to high-powered guns (many trafficked across the border from West Papua), the old ‘rules’ of  warfare have broken down, making the region more unpredictable and dangerous than ever. 

I stayed well away from known hot-spots!  

I was in Paiya  Village with photographer Karl Grobl from Jim Cline Photo Tours and a small group of photography enthusiasts. Our hosts had arranged for three Asaro Mudmen (see: Asaro Mudmen), three Chimbu Skeleton Men (Watch this space!) and three Huli Wigmen to come and show us how they prepare themselves for war – or for a sing sing, as is more often the case these days. To be honest, I would not have been as brave about making pictures of these unsmiling and uncommunicative warriors if I had not trusted my hosts! Even without a shared language, I had fun with the Mudmen and Skeleton men; I very seldom achieved even a glimpse of eye contact with the Huli.

Fashioning their skirts, tails and armbands, applying their carefully designed face-paint, and feathering their elaborate headdresses is a long, painstaking process – and it is a wonder the Huli have the energy left over for war or for their peculiar up-and-down jumping Mali dance after hours of preening in the heat and humidity of the jungle. The growing and crafting of the wigs – for the elaborate Hulu headdresses are indeed made of human hair – is a whole other process (which I’ll talk about some other time -watch this space!) that takes many months and a bit of sorcery to create.

Join me in the jungle as they help each other prepare.

Sometimes you have to work harder than others to bridge cultural gaps – but the effort is always worth it!

Until we meet again,

Keep Smiling!

Photos: 17August2017