Henk Woldendorp

Henk Woldendorp was born in Groningen on 27 June 1924 and died in Doetinchem 7 December 2013. He became a Protestant naval chaplain in 1951, then a Protestant missionary in Dutch New Guinea in 1955 where he was stationed in Sorong. There he became the head of the resort of the Birds Head and the Radja Ampat islands. Later he was stationed in Hollandia where he was appointed rector of the Theological School. After his return to the Netherlands when New Guinea had been handed over to the Indonesian government, he became a parish vicar in Dronten in 1964, education vicar in Amsterdam in 1969, parish vicar in Tiel in 1979 and he retired in 1986 and settled in Doetinchem. In the 1970s he was also actively involved in the peace movement.
He wrote a book about Protestant religious views based on the new theology ‘Ground under the feet’, published in 1987 by Kok in Kampen. He also wrote a number of youth stories, with illustrations by Johanna Dalenoord, that were situated in New Guinea, published by the ‘Raad voor de Zending van de Nederlands Hervormde Kerk in Oegstgeest’: ‘Waikri a boy from New Guinea’ in 1960, ‘Permenas big journey’ in 1961 and ‘Waikri’s hunting adventure’ in 1964. They also include ‘Guru Christiaan’, a Christmas story for the elderly with illustrations by Elly van Beek in 1962 and ‘ On a journey through the country of four kings’, a picture book with photos from West Papua published in 1984. He was a member of the editorial board of the ecumenical monthly ‘Open Deur’ from 1977 to 1987 and wrote many biblical explorations for it. The PACE foundation manages his archive with notes, reports, letters, tour reports and stories, mostly about the Birds Head area, also with documents from F.C. Kamma and E. Osok. Furthermore, the PACE foundation manages his photo collection, which can be found at https://www.flickr.com/people/papuan_cultures/ and the movies he made on 8mm. Among them is a movie on the ‘Tamrau tournee’ which is also on his tape recorder tapes below.
For more information or any messages or correspondence contact huublems81@gmail.com or srgales@ziggo.nl.

Band 31
Tamrau tournee

A Philips tape in a red white Philips box on a Philips spool of 12.7 cm, speed 9.5 cm/sec recorded by the Protestant missionary Henk Woldendorp probably around 1960. On the tape are several languages: Dutch, Bahasa, and the local languages. It is a documentary with comments by Henk Woldendorp himself. It tells about one of the official journeys by civil servants, the vicar and medical personnel through the Tamrau mountains, what happened on the way with Woldendorp and the others who participated such as the medical doctor Schubert, the landscape, and includes excerpts of songs and dances, animal sounds, the sounds of the environment and church services. The story starts on side B and continues on side A. The end of side A, the last three minutes, has recordings from the Radja Ampat islands.

Side A is 32’50 and Side B is 32’54







Band 32

Nees Joka band 5

A Philips tape in a red white Philips box on a Philips spool of 12.7 cm, speed 4.75 cm/sec recorded by the Protestant missionary Henk Woldendorp probably around 1960. It contains classical music recorded from the radio and maybe some songs from the Joka choir a Protestant choir that was fairly well-known in Dutch New Guinea.
To listen to this tape contact PACE at the email addresses above.
Side A is 92’26 and Side B is 92’29

Band 33

Lied Moi stam

A Gevasonor tape in a red Gevasonor box on a brandless spool of 12.7 cm, speed 9.5 cm/sec, recorded by the protestant missionary Henk Woldendorp probably around 1960. On the tape are several languages: Dutch, Bahasa, and the local languages. Partly the same as Band 31, the Tamrau journey, but it starts to get different after 22 minutes on the A side.  Basically, it is a more extensive version of the documentary of one of the official journeys of civil servants, the vicar and medical personnel through the Tamrau mountains, with a more extensive story and more excerpts of songs and dances, animal sounds, the sounds of the environment and church services. The story continues on the B side and after seven minutes there are church songs and after 25 minutes songs of the Moi, mostly traditional with part of the Amu Lagilala cycle of songs, but also a church hymn. After 34 minutes there is a report of a vicar’s meeting in Sorong, and after 42 minutes a report about his reception on Ajau island with fife and drum music, a farwell song by the guru and his school class.

Side A is 49’23 and Side B is 45’35