Luigi D'Albertis

Luigi D'Albertis, born on November twenty-first, eighteen forty-one, was a prominent Italian naturalist and explorer. His most notable achievement came in eighteen seventy-five when he became the first Italian to chart the Fly River in what is now Papua New Guinea. Over the course of three voyages from eighteen seventy-five to eighteen seventy-seven, D'Albertis navigated the river, initially aboard the steamer SS Ellengowan and later in a smaller vessel named the Neva, which he chartered from the Government of New South Wales.

Throughout these expeditions, D'Albertis found himself embroiled in numerous skirmishes with the indigenous populations along the river. His methods were often aggressive, employing rifle-fire, rockets, and dynamite to intimidate and, at times, kill local inhabitants. Additionally, he resorted to destructive dynamite fishing to gather aquatic specimens for his extensive collection, which included not only flora and fauna but also the heads of recently deceased native individuals.

Controversy surrounded D'Albertis's expeditions, as he and his crew were known to have stolen ancestral remains, tools, and weapons from the homes of the locals. His approach drew widespread criticism from contemporary explorers and colonial administrators, who condemned his tactics. Modern accounts, such as Goode's