The Tari Basin is now traversed by a network of roads that connect to the Highlands Highway, and thus most of the major highland and coastal towns. Many Hulis now spend much of their time away from the Southern Highlands working or visiting, often travelling in trucks driven and owned by Hulis. The air in Tari is filled by the thrumming of twin-rotored helicopters which maintain a constant shuttle to remote oil exploration camps. The bachelor cult through which young men were expected to receive their preparation for manhood is now all but defunct. Traditional healing is now rarely practised. The vast majority of Hulis are at least nominal Christians, and the majority attend church services regularly. These and other aspects of change represent radical departures from traditional experience. Glasse (1968) tells us that in 1959 the impact of the administration and the Christian missions was limited, and that rituals were still practised regularly. The seeming abandonment of traditional practice and adoption of the novelties, such as Western medicine, described here, were thus condensed into two decades or less. In this chapter I describe this remarkable change, first in terms of the development of administrative control, and secondly in terms of the traditional perceptions which have guided their adoption of new ideas and practices. Many of these traditional concerns relate to the Huli's earlier historical experience. Prins (1979) points out the importance of distinguishing ‘superficial change and underlying continuity from underlying change and superficial continuity.’