210:. As they began to navigate up the Fly River, D'Albertis had a collision with the native people and after shooting a number of rounds at their watercraft, Chester and his troopers dispersed them causing them to flee in terror. As "a trophy of victory", Chester stole a sixty-foot canoe and utilised it for firewood for the ship's engine. At other places along the river D'Albertis set off dynamite and rockets to both intimidate the indigenous people and to obtain aquatic life for food and specimen material. On their return downriver, they accepted an invitation from native people to enter their village, but Chester and his troopers, "wishing to intimidate them" decided to let off a number of shots, killing and stealing a couple of large domesticated pigs. Chester then proceeded to ransack the long-house of the village, taking ancestral and sacred human remains, weapons and other artefacts for D'Albertis' collection.
305:(after which the river is named) engaged in unapologetic raiding of villages on the river, including bombardment their houses. Also, a few years after D'Albertis' voyages, Captain John Strachan made an expedition up the nearby Mai Kussa river which was even more destructive than the Italian's. Strachan, who seems to have been in a chronic state of irrational paranoia and insomnia, improvised a torpedo-like weapon against a convey of native canoes causing a large amount of damage and number of casualties. In a high state of anxiety, Strachan later had to abandon his vessel and return to the coast on foot, committing massacres of indigenous people along the way. Strachan was later accused of being a "red-handed murderer who had tramped knee-deep in blood through New Guinea". He applied for protection from Lord Derby and subsequently no charges were laid.
247:
in this skirmish which resulted in "some deaths" of indigenous people. None of his crew were killed but the hull of the "Neva" was riddled with arrows, some of which penetrated through the boards. For most of early July, D'Albertis was involved in daily clashes with native people along the river, shooting some of them dead. On one occasion, D'Albertis found the corpse of one of those killed and decided to decapitate him and preserve the head in spirits for his collection. He later killed one of his
Chinese servants for refusing to go into the jungle to shoot specimens of local fauna. D'Albertis killed him by hitting him on the back a number of times with a bamboo cane which broke during the punishment. The other Chinese servants subsequently fled into the jungle, preferring to take their chances in unknown territory than to stay with the expedition.
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255:, claiming that "I think dynamite is..the best means to use, especially among coral reefs". Once back in the Torres Strait, two other deserters from his expedition brought charges against D'Albertis for murdering his Chinese servants. The police magistrate, H.M. Chester, a colleague of D'Albertis, promptly dismissed the charges and jailed the two Polynesian men for 16 weeks under charges of mutiny. D'Albertis wanted the men executed, but begrudgingly accepted the sentence.
222:, a future pioneer of aviation. D'Albertis again used rockets and dynamite as a weapons of fear. He removed intricate bark carvings on trees which he recognised was "perhaps a sacrilege" but did it anyway. Likewise, he stole ancestral bones from sacred long-houses claiming that "I shall turn a deaf ear to this sacrilege..I am too delighted with my prize". The
183:. Here he obtained notoriety for publicly kissing the most attractive young native women and passing it off as a customary sign of peace. He also, with a shell full of burning methylated spirits, ostentatiously threatened to set the ocean alight. Most of his companions and employees deserted him after these activities.
295:
British prospector to New Guinea, described an incident at a dinner in Sydney with D'Albertis where after having a steak accidentally thrown at him, the
Italian "foamed with rage" and standing up in the restaurant with a bottle in his hand threatened to smash the skull of whoever owned up to being the thrower.
250:
Returning downriver in late
October, D'Albertis again had several affrays with indigenous people killing at least seven. In one of these battles, D'Albertis decided to "let them have it, and their blood be on their own heads". After this encounter he became extremely wary, ordering every native canoe
246:
This was the final and probably the most eventful of the journeys of D'Albertis up the Fly River. On the first day of June, D'Albertis managed to get his crew and himself involved in a pitched battle with an armed flotilla of native watercraft. D'Albertis himself claimed to have fired about 120 shots
294:
were critical of the methods employed by D'Albertis. Although these directors themselves engaged in various repressive and punitive policies against the native peoples, they recognised that the techniques of D'Albertis were very harmful in facilitating
British colonisation. Andrew Goldie, an early
154:
as a technique of obtaining aquatic specimens for his collection. His expedition stole many ancestral remains, tools and weapons from the houses of the locals. He also collected specimens of birds, plants, insects and the heads of recently killed native people. Contemporary explorers and colonial
150:. Throughout the three voyages, D'Albertis was consistently involved in skirmishes with the various indigenous people living along the river, using rifle-fire, rockets and dynamite to intimidate and, on occasions, kill these local people. He also frequently employed destructive
206:. Their first stop was Tawan Island where Chester rounded up the inhabitants and warned them against stealing from the missionaries in the area. To emphasise his point, he ordered his troopers to obliterate a nearby termite mound with rounds from their
155:
administrators of d'Albertis were almost universally critical of the methods employed by D'Albertis in his expeditions up the Fly and more modern accounts, such as Goode's "Rape of the Fly" are equally condemnatory.
449:(the white-lipped python) is currently recognised as a valid species, the other three reptiles being synonymised within species described earlier, ironically two of which were described by entomologist
226:
forced its way upstream until brought to a halt by the shallows. They then steamed downriver to a tributary d'Albertis had named the Alice River (today known as the
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D'Albertis however was not the first or last to implement such irresponsible plundering actions on the Fly and nearby rivers. Captain
Blackwood, in 1846, of
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397:
318:
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A number of reptile species from New Guinea were named in honour of d'Albertis, but most have subsequently become synonyms of other species.
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online copy of Luigi Maria d'Albertis, New Guinea: What I did and what I saw, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, London (1880).
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Geb but was compelled by fever to retreat and return to Sydney to recover. In 1874, D'Albertis returned to New Guinea to set up a base on
202:. On board were Captain Runcie, Rev. MacFarlane and the Police Magistrate of Somerset, H.M. Chester with six troopers of the Queensland
17:
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D'Albertis' second sojourn to the river was on the "Neva" which was chartered from the
Government of New South Wales. On board was
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266:. The castle is now home to the Museum of World Cultures. His natural history specimens from New Guinea are in the
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Löbl, 2021, is named after D'Albertis, "one of the early explorers of the fauna of New Guinea and
Moluccas".
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Not long after, D'Albertis returned to Europe with his bounty of stolen goods. His cousin, fellow explorer
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142:. He undertook three voyages up this river from 1875 to 1877. The first was conducted in the steamer
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to be shot at on sight. During this trip, as with the others, D'Albertis regularly engaged in
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Csiki, 1909 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scaphidiinae) of New Guinea and the
Moluccas"
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and the other two in a smaller ship named the "Neva" which was chartered from the
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and crippled by rheumatism in both legs, he admitted defeat and returned to the
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steamer which left from the
British colonial port of Somerset on the tip of the
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in
November 1871 on an expedition to western New Guinea. He reached the peak of
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491:: 4-16 (including map). (read at the Evening Meeting, November 11, 1878).
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497:. Vol. I and II. London: S. Low Marston Searle & Rivington, 1880.
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Several of these species were described by the German naturalist
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484:"Journeys up the Fly River and in other parts of New Guinea".
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727:. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp.
191:
D'Albertis conducted his first trip to the Fly River in the
723:
Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011).
126:(21 November 1841 – 2 September 1901) was an Italian
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who, in 1875, became the first Italian to chart the
457:, was also collecting specimens in southern Papua.
27:
Italian naturalist and alleged murderer (1841–1901)
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821:Anthropology and Colonial Violence in West Papua
669:Toil, travel and discovery in British New Guinea
424:Only the python carries d’Albertis’ name today.
241:
213:
186:
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561:
540:
565:New Guinea: what I did and what I saw. Vol II
544:New Guinea: what I did and what I saw. Vol II
486:Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society
435:, the Italian naturalist and founder of the
393:(northern white-lipped or d’Albertis python)
273:
862:Rape of the Fly: Explorations in New Guinea
583:Maria Johanna van Steenis-Kruseman (1950).
167:, Italy. At the age of eighteen he joined
40:
777:Acta Musei Moraviae, Scientiae Biologicae
763:
707:Explorations and adventures in New Guinea
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825:Cultural Survival Quarterly, Fall 2002.
437:Natural History Museum of Giacomo Doria
268:Natural History Museum of Giacomo Doria
14:
870:
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475:Becc. (1877) is also named after him.
262:, housed many of Luigi's specimens at
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627:New Guinea: what I did and what I saw
495:New Guinea: What I Did and What I Saw
841:Reptile Database listing for python
864:. Melbourne: Nelson. viii + 272 pp.
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514:
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832:Works by or about Luigi D'Albertis
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521:Australian Dictionary of Biography
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725:The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles
651:. London: Fisher Unwin. pp.
420:(red-bellied short-necked turtle)
278:Later colonial administrators of
908:Italian explorers of the Pacific
547:. London: Sampson Low. pp.
163:D'Albertis was born in 1841, in
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690:Surveying voyage of H.M.S. Fly
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672:. London: Kegan Paul. p.
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391:(W. Peters & Doria, 1878)
242:1877 journey to the Fly River
214:1876 journey to the Fly River
187:1875 journey up the Fly River
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148:Government of New South Wales
373:(bicarinate grassland skink)
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648:Papua or British New Guinea
585:"Cyclopaedia of collectors"
382:W. Peters & Doria, 1878
362:W. Peters & Doria, 1878
292:John Hubert Plunkett Murray
18:Luigi Maria d'Albertis
10:
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815:Luigi D'Albertis 1841-1901
624:D'Albertis, Luigi (1880).
562:D'Albertis, Luigi (1880).
541:D'Albertis, Luigi (1880).
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230:). Eventually stricken by
274:Criticisms and influences
260:Enrico Alberto d'Albertis
171:'s army and later joined
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735:. ("D'Albertis", p. 64).
517:"Luigi Maria D'Albertis"
451:Sir William John Macleay
704:Strachan, John (1888).
645:Murray, J.H.P. (1912).
745:Office, Publications.
710:. London: Sampson Low.
353:(Papuan forest dragon)
138:in what is now called
124:Luigi Maria D'Albertis
46:Luigi Maria D'Albertis
34:Luigi Maria D'Albertis
903:Italian entomologists
888:Scientists from Genoa
843:Leiopython albertisii
387:Leiopython albertisii
860:Goode, John (1977).
687:Jukes, J.B. (1847).
666:Bevan, T.F. (1890).
358:Heteropus Albertisii
343:Hypsilurus papuensis
264:Castello D'Albertis
200:Cape York Peninsula
898:Italian zoologists
764:Ivan Löbl (2021).
463:Bironium albertisi
410:Emydura subglobosa
398:Emydura albertisii
280:British New Guinea
893:Italian explorers
766:"A review of the
733:978-1-4214-0135-5
378:Liasis albertisii
367:Carlia bicarinata
288:William MacGregor
220:Lawrence Hargrave
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878:1841 births
630:. pp.
568:. pp.
460:The beetle
181:Yule Island
177:Mount Arfak
93:Nationality
872:Categories
797:Q109601493
611:Q108384933
502:References
472:Albertisia
447:albertisii
445:Leiopython
328:albertisii
324:Lophosteus
270:in Genoa.
195:Ellengowan
159:Early life
128:naturalist
58:1841-11-21
789:1211-8788
747:"Chevert"
603:0071-5778
403:Boulenger
332:W. Peters
300:HMS
169:Garibaldi
136:Fly River
793:Wikidata
768:Bironium
607:Wikidata
597:(1): 9.
526:29 March
282:such as
132:explorer
834:at the
455:Chevert
418:, 1876)
351:, 1877)
349:Macleay
309:Eponyms
232:malaria
228:Ok Tedi
113:Biology
97:Italian
70:Liguria
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416:Krefft
407:, now
405:, 1888
384:, now
364:, now
340:, now
338:, 1878
334:&
165:Voltri
110:Fields
773:(PDF)
655:-260.
634:-360.
572:-205.
442:Only
336:Doria
74:Italy
66:Genoa
785:ISSN
729:ISBN
599:ISSN
551:-40.
528:2018
489:1879
431:and
290:and
224:Neva
130:and
81:Died
52:Born
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632:213
302:Fly
193:SS
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