Harry West honoured in Queen’s Birthday awards

Former President of the Papua New Guinea Association of Australia, Harry West, has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his service to the Association.

Until he retired from active office last year, Mr West had served as Secretary of the PNGAA for ten years and President for sixteen years. In April 2008 he was unanimously voted an honorary life member for outstanding and meritorious service to the Association, only the third such appointment in its 58-year history.

His humility and a gentle manner belie his underpinning achievements and leadership qualities as demonstrated in his handling of one of the most difficult assignments in pre-Independence PNG: his role of District Commissioner of East New Britain at a time of serious civil unrest.

Harry West enlisted in the Australian Army at Paddington in Sydney on 3 February 1942 and was discharged at Lae on 1 March 1946 as a Lieutenant in the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit.

His PNG career effectively began in 1944 when the Army sought applicants for aspirant patrol officers to attend the School of Civil Affairs. He was interviewed by Colonel JK Murray, later the first Administrator of Papua New Guinea, Les Haylen MP and JR Halligan, Secretary of the Department of External Territories. With 40 other young men, he was sent to the School, based at Duntroon and, after five months, 16, including Mr West, were posted to PNG.

In October 1945, the Territories of Papua and New Guinea – administered separately under military rule – were returned to civil administration. This transition was to be formally effected by a treaty signed by Colonel Murray, representing the civil administration, and Lieutenant-General Sir Horace Robertson and Major-General Basil Morris, commanding the respective territories. Colonel Murray waited at Salamaua for Robertson and Morris, but transport difficulties intervened. So Lieutenants Harry West and Bert Wickham, the only ANGAU officers available, signed these important historical documents on the generals’ behalf.

Mr West took his Army discharge in Lae in March 1946 and was soon in the Highlands where, with Assistant District Officer Jack Costelloe and medical assistant Gray Hartley, he was responsible what is now the Simbu Province, at that time mostly classified as ‘uncontrolled’ and the scene of rampant tribal fighting.

In 1948-49, he undertook further training at ASOPA before being posted as Assistant District Officer at the remote outpost of Telefomin in the Sepik District. Here he led contact patrols to bring the rule of law to the fierce tribes in the Oksapmin and the May River areas, involving long and dangerous expeditions across mountainous terrain, out of radio contact and beyond airdrops.

Mr West was subsequently transferred to Aitape in 1951 and in 1952 to Kainantu in the Eastern Highlands District. Here he argued for the route – which remains to this day – for the vital road through the Kassam Pass linking the Highlands to the coast. He assessed that the route chosen by his predecessor was impractical and decided on an alternative. Thus the first motor track into the Highlands, now a highway, became a reality.

In 1956 Mr West, by then a District Officer in Goroka, assisted the Eastern Highlands District Commissioner, Bill Seale, inaugurate the now celebrated Goroka Show. In the following year he was promoted to Acting District Commissioner of the Southern Highlands. In 1958-59, he served as the first Australian liaison officer in Netherlands New Guinea, based in Hollandia at a time of serious conflict between the Indonesians and the Dutch, whose administration was collapsing.

Mr West was transferred to Rabaul as Deputy District Commissioner (later District Commissioner) in 1959. He remained there for over ten years, his period of office encompassing a time of tension over land that culminated in the Mataungan uprising, during which he was regarded as a cool and competent administrator in an extremely difficult period of civil unrest. His period in Rabaul was marked by his deep-seated understanding and sympathy for the problems being experienced by the Tolai people.

For two months in 1967, Mr West was assigned to United Nations headquarters in New York as Australia’s Special Representative at the Trusteeship Council’s 34th Session during the review of Australia’s administration of the Trust Territory.

Towards the end of his career in PNG Mr West was promoted to First Assistant Secretary for Native Affairs in the Department of the Administrator, later the Department of the Chief Minister, before leaving PNG in 1973.

Comments

[Judith Taylor (nee Robertson)]

I have just contacted Harry West, who fought with my dad William Robertson in New Guinea.

I was only three when Dad joined the army, being the youngest of four children. I didn't ask much about the war when I was growing up.

I am now doing my family tree and wanted more information. I contacted Colin Hamby in Melbourne who, in turn, sent my letter to Mr West.

I have received a letter from him and his phone number and now hope to find out more. I googled him and found he has turned out to be a very impressive person. I have some photos of him and my Dad along with the whole regiment.

[Robin Mead]

A true gentleman, dignified in approach, restrained but powerful and always fair and mindful of others in response to challenges, reflective, articulate, disciplined, inclusive, a unifier - a true leader. A true servant of principle and of people, not a shred of ego.

Harry, we are lucky to have had your involvement. All the very best to you.

[Brian Darcey]

A well deserved honour for the man who successfully steered Rabaul through several dangerous and difficult years.

Brian Darcey
former Chairman. Rabaul Town Advisory Council.

[Phil Charley OAM]

Congratulations to Harry West on his well-deserved Order of Australia Medal Award. He achieved a great deal in PNG and also as President of the PNGAA for so many years. It's good to see this recognition of a dedicated man.