Keith Jackson & Friends: PNG ATTITUDE

The year PNG education roared ahead

1960 was a big year in education in Papua New Guinea. Reading through the file summaries of The Blatchford Collection, now on site under ASOPA People Extra, the clear impression is conveyed of a year of high activity, great dynamism and growth in the Territory’s education system. It seems that finally Canberra has got the message, and the funding begins to flow.

Minister for External Territories, Paul Hasluck, wrote in his memoir, A Time for Building, that the Public Service Commissioner in Port Moresby had proposed a reduction in teacher recruitment numbers because of the incapacity of the Administration to absorb them. “I directed that priority for education be maintained," Hasluck wrote. "And told the Administrator to take immediate action to provide for absorbing the increase. ‘The Government looks to the Administrator for a special effort to give effect to the decisions, I wrote. ‘If he is unable to promise a successful effort he should have let me know within a week so that we can take the necessary steps.’ This was intended and was received as a direct warning to Cleland that he had to make the task his personal responsibility or face the consequences.” The drive for educational growth would take no prisoners.

In a letter written to a Prof Schindler on 22 September 1960, Director of Education Graham Roscoe cast some interesting reflections on his predecessor, Bill Groves. “Mr Groves’ intention,” Roscoe wrote, “was that Native Education should be directed not towards Europeanisation, but to fitting the Native for life in the Native manner, in a Native community.

“He had a picture in his mind of happy little peasant communities, living on subsistence agriculture, and free from the frustrations and tension of civilized living. The Territory is not developing like that; thousands of Natives are swarming to the urban areas and seeking employment in jobs of European type, while the older people and the children are left in their village communities, without sufficient man-power to meet the local needs for food and shelter.”

Meanwhile, Roscoe was well pleased with calibre of Australian recruits for the TPNG teaching service: “My Chief of Division, Teacher Training in a recent letter assures me that quite a high proportion of the applicants are people with a sense of vocation who really wish to serve and are prepared to put up with the isolation and lack of amenities inevitable in a frontier post.” Adding to his satisfaction was the arrival of the first group of 50 trainee teachers under the crash E Course teacher training program, which started in Rabaul on 1 November 1960. Hasluck himself said, “This group will form the spearhead of the government’s plan to accelerate education in the Territory.”

Job scheme a test of relations

The Australian government’s decision on which Pacific islands nations should be included in the proposed guest worker scheme appears as a test of Australia's relationship with Papua New Guinea, the president of the Papua New Guinea Association of Australia, Keith Jackson said.

At the Pacific Islands Forum in  Niue from Aug 19-21, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will give details of the job scheme.

“The big question is whether workers from PNG will be included in the scheme,” Mr Jackson said, adding the Rudd government has been working hard to normalise relations between the two countries.

The National, 4 August 2008

Rare opportunity to boost Papuan culture

These Notes have recorded previously the Australian Museum’s exhibition [until March 2009] featuring Frank Hurley’s photographs from his visits to Papua in the 1920s. Now the PNG Canberra Cultural Group choir will perform at the Museum in conjunction with this exhibition. The special Peroveta performance will be held on Sunday 17 August at 11 am.

The 15 members of the choir, originally from Central Province, specialises in Peroveta Anedia - a style of singing introduced by Rarotongan missionaries to coastal Papuan communities in the 1870s. In a 45-mt performance, the group will also perform traditional kundu drum songs and dance songs, Kitoro and Gaba Mavaru.

Erna Lilje [left], a doctoral student at Sydney University and expert on Papuan culture, comments: “If we can pull a big crowd for a PNG event at the Australian Museum, it may help to increase interest in Melanesian culture. I have become aware that no one beyond the art world, apart from New Zealand, wants to take the initiative with Pacific cultures in museums. The researchers do, but at the museum hierarchy level everyone is saying that it is not their responsibility. The British Museum thinks that Australia should take the lead, but Australia thinks that it should concentrate on indigenous Australians. New Zealand focuses on Polynesian cultures.”

If you’re interested in attending, please call Mure Lilje on 9633 4039. And it would be appreciated if you could bring along some food to share with dancers and organisers after the performance.

 

Wantoks to gather in Sydney

Tom Neeson

The Sydney PNG Wantok Club is having a picnic at Centennial Park this Saturday 9^th August from 10am onwards and everyone is welcome. The Club will meet at the Ash Paddock, between the Randwick Gate and the Children’s Cycle Track. Bring some food and drink to share and, if you want to get into the Olympic spirit with a bit of volleyball, don’t forget your sports shoes. Also bring some money to try your luck in the raffle.

 

Brown or green: SP on tap of the world

For the third year in a row South Pacific Brewery has won a gold medal at the major Monde Selection beer competition in Belgium, the world’s oldest quality beer judging organisation. The latest accolade qualifies SP for a special Grand Gold Medal.

The award shows how a small Pacific nation can take on the best in the world, including the beer giants of Germany and the US. An SP Brewery spokesman said, “This is a testimony to the skill and passion of the production team here at SP. It would not have been possible without consistent commitment to quality and adherence to stringent international standards.”

Cheers.

Test of Australia-PNG relations looms

Federal Parliament opens its Spring session on Tuesday 26 August but before then the Labor Government will face an early test of its vaunted new relationship with Papua New Guinea. At the Pacific islands Forum in Niue from 19-21 August, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will detail a trial guest worker scheme for Pacific islanders. The big question is whether workers from PNG will be included in the scheme.

 PNG High Commissioner to Australia, Charles Lepani [right], has said the Rudd government has been working hard to normalise the relationship between the countries but, if PNG is excluded from the labour program, it will represent a severe test. “It would be a tragedy if that happens,” Mr Lepani has said. “It will set our PNG-Australia relations in a very negative light again. Australia should start with PNG. It's very important that Australia gives a serious consideration to the largest Pacific Island and its closest neighbour, tied to its national security interests and much of the aid money is also directed to Australia's national security interest. So all these will be put to the test if I may venture to say on these labour mobility issues or seasonal workers issues.”

One of the reasons Australia will initiate the pilot seasonal worker scheme is to try to improve relations with Pacific countries and it would be a deep irony, given this goal, if PNG’s exclusion from the scheme should once again plunge the association with Australia into crisis.

The trial has been supported by Australian business and a number of trade unions. The idea is also strongly supported by Pacific nations, which see it as a means of supporting their ailing economies.

This is a matter I expect to raise during discussions with Duncan Kerr, Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, in Canberra late this month. ASOPA PEOPLE readers are invited to offer their views on the subject of seasonal labour from PNG so I may convey them to Mr Kerr when we meet. Simply utilise the ‘Email Me’ link under my very fine photograph top left of this site.

Reunion ripples connect Class of 62-63

Bill Welbourne

The ripple effect from last October’s Grand Reunion in Brisbane continues: taking the form of mini-reunions and small social gatherings. Any excuse is sufficient for a bunch of aging Asopians to organise an impromptu clan gathering.

So it was that Colin ‘Cuddles’ Huggins seized an opportunity to celebrate on the eve of Diane and Bill Bohlen’s 6-week European tour. On Friday ten of our number dined at the award winning Bow Thai Restaurant in the Valley, a favoured place for ASOPA people. I knew of August 1^st as the Horses’ Birthday and Wattle Day until informed by Bill that it is Swiss National Day. Colin imported a few Swiss flags and an apple in honour of William Tell.

Dennis and Ros Burrell both teach kindergarten. Dennis told me just that day he was asked to hold some toys but not before the urchin left a deposit on his shoe. I asked Dennis why he chose Kindy, because many of his protégés tend to have spontaneous toilet accidents. “The trouble is I can’t spell. Failed three times before they gave me a conceded pass rather than take me out of the classroom.” Also joining this group from the Class of 1962-63 were Dick and Jo Arnold (1959-60), both in vibrant health.

We enjoyed a wonderful evening supported by friendly staff and superb Thai cuisine. And heaven and earth fell into place when Huggie’s special friend, the showcase of Asia, Miss Nuk, took time out to chat with us pose for photos.

Photos: Top - Bob ‘Moose’Davis, Ros and Dennis Burrell, Bill Welbourne, Bill Bohlen. Lower – Henry Bodman and Colin’s special friend, Miss Nuk.

Taiwan: Will PNG workers be next?

Unskilled workers from Solomon Islands could soon be working in Taiwan under a new labour scheme between the two countries. Taiwanese Ambassador to the Solomons, , George Chen, says an agreement on terms and conditions is being worked out. He says the two governments will sign an agreement on the labour scheme, which will be implemented by private interests.

“Since Solomon Islands is our staunch ally in the Pacific, we proposed that scheme to the Solomon Islands,” said Mr Chen. “Taiwan is interested in construction, the services sector like maids, hospital helpers and so forth. Now I don't know the details but I think there's some unskilled labour will be easier to implement this project. We're not talking about skilled labour.”

Mr Chen said Taiwan could “import” up to 200 Solomon Islanders in the first instance, depending on market demand. He would not specify what remuneration the workers would receive but said “it must be very competitive for Solomon Island workers to travel to Taiwan and to work there.”

Source: Pacific Beat, ABC, ‘Solomons and Taiwan finalising labour scheme’