Keith Jackson & Friends: PNG ATTITUDE

Let me introduce you to Writeatoullie: Anyone can write

ARNOLD MUNDUA

An entry in the 2016 Crocodile Prize

PEOPLE who see the title of this article for the first time will wonder if there is any such word as Writeatoullie in any of the world’s languages.

Indeed the word is not to be found in any modern dictionary for it is a word I created after watching Brad Bird’s 2007 Academy Award winning animated film, Ratatoullie.

Ratatoullie is a French dish prepared by expert chefs and the movie tells the story of how a colony of rats in Paris could cook Ratatoullie too, proving restaurant critic Anton Ego wrong when he disagreed with the title of a cookbook, ‘Anyone Can Cook’.

The critic was adamant until, when he finally tasted what the rats cooked, he had to concede that anyone can cook.

Book distribution & second-hand clothes. Is there a connection?

PHIL FITZPATRICK

DO YOU remember the anecdote, much quoted by United Nations personnel in days of yore, that you can give a man a fish and feed him for a day; but if you teach him how to fish you’ll feed the village for a lifetime?

Unlike many gratuitous adages, there’s a lot of wisdom in that one.

There was a hint of it in author Daniel Kumbon’s recent suggestion that Australia send English teachers to Papua New Guinea to promote literacy rather than giving the government aid funds to squander or boomerang back to Australia.

Reputation, can’t see it, eat it or buy it; but it’s vital

PHIL FITZPATRICK

Reputation at Risk by Alex Harris, $30 incl postage (or $10 digital version emailed to you), 152 pp, paperback, ISBN 9780980620603. Available here from Alex Harris

SEVERAL years ago, occasional PNG Attitude commentator, Alex Harris, born in Papua New Guinea and supporter of all things Papua New Guinean, published a short book called Reputation at Risk.

In the book, Alex (pictured here with Martyn Namorong in Noosa recently) pointed out the value and necessity of corporations maintaining a good reputation.

In many respects what she said is equally applicable to government.

The Aussie chalkies who educated an army for independence

TERRY EDWINSMITH

The Chalkies: Educating an Army for Independence by Darryl R Dymock, Australian Scholarly Publishing, $35.00, paperback, ISBN: 9781925333770. Available here from Avid Reader

THE shared history of our two nations – Papua New Guinea and Australia - is a wonderful thing, especially when it is positive and two cultures meet with satisfactory outcomes for both.

This wonderful event should be celebrated and embraced by everyone but unfortunately few people from either culture know the story and the benefits that were derived.

It came about during the Vietnam War period. A ballot was held on 10 March 1965 to select Australian 20 year old males as conscripts to boost Australian Forces at home and overseas.

Holman Book Fund will get PNG books to PNG readers

KEITH JACKSON

IT’S been a while since PNG Attitude asked readers to kick in for a worthwhile cause, but Phil Fitzpatrick came up with a good idea and now Jo Holman, wife of the late Hal Holman, has come up with the means.

The idea, which Phil brought to life in a piece last week, is simple: funds are provided to buy books which are sent to their Papua New Guinean authors to sell, hopefully retaining the proceeds to buy more books.

More PNG authors are stepping up to the plate to publish books, thanks to the CreateSpace innovation which enable free publication.

Want to help a PNG writer? Send them their own books

PHIL FITZPATRICK

UNLESS you are extremely lucky there is very little financial reward attached to being a writer.

In Australia the average annual income of a full-time writer is currently $12,900, well below the poverty line in our money driven society.

In Papua New Guinea, it’s fair to say writers’ incomes are not far above zero. That doesn’t help Papua New Guinean literature.

This is one of the hardest truths to convey to new writers when they approach Pukpuk Publications for help in getting their books to market.

Preaching to those who will not listen, & who pay the price for it

PHIL FITZPATRICK

Two Sides to Every Story: A short guide to cross cultural awareness in Papua New Guinea, Philip Fitzpatrick, Pukpuk Publications, 2016, ISBN: 978-1537118406, 114 pages, US$5.53 plus postage from Amazon Books

SEVERAL years ago I wrote a paper about cultural awareness. It was based on my experiences working in Papua New Guinea, with indigenous communities in Australia and in some South Pacific islands, including Vanuatu and the Cook Islands.

My target audience was resource and project developers in Papua New Guinea. With that in mind I consulted many sources including a number of Papua New Guineans working in the field - geologists, camp managers and anthropologists.

I was prompted to write the paper, which finds a new life in this book, after watching the unnecessary problems that development workers and project managers seem to experience in Papua New Guinea because of their lack of cultural awareness.

At last a book by a chalkie, and it’s a good one too

PHIL FITZPATRICK

Land of the Unexpected: short stories, anecdotes and memoirs of Papua New Guinea, Peter Comerford, APM Publishing Services, 2016, ISBN: 978-0994447425, 360 pages, $25 plus postage from Peter. Email him here

WHEN Peter Comerford’s book arrived in the mail a few weeks ago I looked at the title and cover and thought, ‘Oh dear, not another one’, and put the book at the bottom of my stack of unread books.

When I eventually worked my way down to it I discovered a note inside from Peter that explained his own trepidation about the title,

“My original idea for a title was ‘Tingting Bek …’ but in the end I went with the highly ‘original’ title of ‘Land of the Unexpected’”.

I’ve never been very good with book titles and headlines either. That’s more in the line of an expert journalist like Keith Jackson and I can sympathise with Peter.

New internet laws: free speech suppressor or debate enhancer?

KEITH JACKSON

WHEN prime minister Peter O’Neill welcomed the passing of Papua New Guinea’s cybercrime legislation this week, he said the internet must be a place where "human rights are respected and cowards not misuse technology to hurt people and incite violence.”

Commentator Martyn Namorong’s immediate response was to say he was quitting his long-running and respected blog, The Namorong Report.

He said the new laws had elements that caused him concern, including a section with vague references to "defamation" and "undermining the state"which could potentially be used to quash criticism of the government.

New PNG cyber law forces Namorong out of blogging

KEITH JACKSON

ON THE eve of his visit to Australia to attend the Brisbane Writers Festival, award winning writer and political commentator Martyn Namorong has decided to shut down his blog to, as he put it, “avoid the risk of being charged under ‪‎PNG's new cybercrime laws”.

Namorong announced to his readers yesterday that “in light of ‪‎PNG's new draconian cybercrime legislation, I regret to inform you all that my blog is no longer available for public viewing.”

He says he is concerned that the new legislation, passed by parliament last week, could lead to a crackdown on freedom of expression in Papua New Guinea although officially the Cybercrime Bill seeks to control things like spam, hacking, forgery and computer fraud.

Peter Kinjap – freelance newsman with a cultural mission

KEITH JACKSON

REGULAR readers of PNG Attitude may have noticed a new byline on a number of stories we’ve recently published on this blog, mostly focusing on current news events.

Peter Kinjap, 36, is the writer and he comes with an excellent pedigree in both academic achievement, heritage writing and journalism.

“I’m a freelance journalist not because I want extra bucks but because writing became my hobby at UPNG 14 years back,” Peter says.

Since that time he has written regularly for newspapers like the Post-Courier, The National Weekender The Independent and the Sunday Chronicle, where he’s a columnist, as well as New Age women’s magazine and his own content-rich blog, The Melanesian Way, which you can link to here.

Government warns online media for airing 'false information'

KEITH JACKSON

PAPUA New Guinea’s Communication Minister, Jimmy Miringtoro, has said that legal action must be taken against online news sources that the government considers have published false and misleading information.

Miringtoro targeted online news sites Loop PNG, EMTV and the ABC for mention, and told PNG Today that this reporting “costs millions of kina in lost national investment, income and employment.”

He said recent reports by the news organisations "were completely inaccurate but went viral through global news sources and social media.

"As our country prepares to host the most significant trade and investment forum in our history, we have these online news reporters sending information around the world that is false," he said.

Jordan Dean – bridging the written & the declaimed

PHIL FITZPATRICK

Tattooed Face: A Collection of Poems by Jordan Dean, JDT Desktop Publishing, 2016, 70 pages, ISBN: 978-1535348713, US$4.00 plus postage from Amazon Books

I’VE COMMENTED before on the link between Papua New Guinea’s traditional oral literature and the work of its modern writers, especially its poets.

In these observations I’ve expressed the view that there is a logical continuity from the old to the new that gives Papua New Guinean poetry a unique and distinct regional flavour.

As proof of this hypothesis is the popularity of poetry ‘slams’ in the country.

A ‘slam’ is poetry as performance rather than a reading experience. A ‘slam’ poem is a cross between folk song and formal poetry. Unlike the latter, it comes with a degree of theatre – poetry as showbiz.

Attacks on journalists a national embarrassment says Polye

PETER S KINJAP

THE attacks on and verbal abuse of media workers as they perform their public duties is an embarrassment to Papua New Guinea’s democracy, says opposition leader Don Polye.

Polye was commenting on journalists and a photographer who narrowly escaped harm while covering the imprisonment of a politician in Port Moresby last week.

“When we are in government, we will fund insurance cover for media personnel and pass laws to protect them from abuses and assaults from public,” he said.

Polye called on the people to understand the roles and responsibilities of the media.

'Cannibal Crusade': A bloody disgusting load of nonsense

PETER KRANZ

SORRY to have to say this, but I have just seen the most egregious piece of pseudo-anthropological nonsense ever shown on Australian television.

It is entitled Cannibal Crusade and has just been screened on Channel 7; a sham perpetrated by Greg Grainger who should know better. Its very title says all that needs to be said.

The mockumentary purports to be an exciting trek into the untouched wilds of West Papua, in the Baliem Valley and amongst the Dani and Asmat peoples.

Grainger relentlessly portrays the timeworn western stereotypes about the Melanesian people.

A much needed firelight in PNG’s starless night

MICHAEL DOM

ABCDreams by WD Barry-Igivisa, Pukpuk Publications, 2016, ISBN: 978-1535429733, 221 pages. Available from Amazon Books for US$10 plus postage

AS PAPUA New Guinean writers and poets GO from strength to strength, this book of poems is yet another example of a young poet taking his work into the public forum with confidence and passion.

Wardley D Barry-Igivisa represents a second wave of poets emerging through the Crocodile Prize, although he has been honing his skills elsewhere for some years now.

In this book, we find selected poems that provide a kaleidoscope of our young poet’s vision.

We can say with great pride that, since the rekindling of PNG’s literary flame in 2010, a small spark has grown into a steady blaze and its cinders, carried by the winds of change, now flutter and flicker into dark Melanesian skies.

‘That day I saw the power of media, and how it can be tragic’

DAVID ROBIE | Café Pacific

SURPRISING that a conference involving some of the brightest minds in journalism education from around the world should be ignored by New Zealand’s local media.

Some 220 people from 43 countries were at the Fourth World Journalism Education Congress conference in Auckland.

The range of diversity alone at the Auckland University of Technology hosted event was appealing, but it was the heady mix of ideas and contributions that offered an inspiring backdrop.

Topics included strategies for teaching journalism for mobile platforms; 'dewesternising' journalism education; transmedia storytelling; digital media under the periscope; new views on distance learning, and ethical issues in journalism were just a representative sample of what was on offer.

Two new books from the prolific keyboard of Marlene Potoura

PHIL FITZPATRICK

Emotionally Famished by Marlene Dee Gray Potoura, Pukpuk Publications, 2016, 123 pages, ISBN: 978-1535268714, US$6.03 plus postage from Amazon Books.

My Brother Warrollu by Marlene Dee Gray Potoura, Pukpuk Publications, 2016, 134 pages, ISBN: 978-1535268738, US$6.33 plus postage from Amazon Books.

AMONG the final new Pukpuk Publications books for this year are two by one of my favourite Papua New Guinean writers, the prolific Marlene Dee Gray Potoura.

One is a second book of 21 short stories and the other is the first in a series of books for children, something we must pay more attention to in 2017.

Marlene’s stories have always landed on the short list for the Crocodile Prize but she has always been pipped at the post by something else that catches the judge’s eyes.

Academic calls for probe of media coverage of student protests

DAVID ROBIE

A PAPUA New Guinea media educator has called for an investigation into coverage of the two months of protest at the nation’s universities, including last month’s incident when police opened fire on peaceful students.

Emily Matasorosoro, leader of the journalism strand at the University of Papua New Guinea, was critical of students protesting against the media earlier in the period of unrest for burning the two national newspapers, PNG Post-Courier and The National, on campus.

But, she added, they did this to “show their frustrations” over how they viewed the media as taking sides in the dispute.

Enga’s obscure poets & authors emerge on a bigger stage

PHIL FITZPATRICK

Can’t Sleep: Poems, First Impressions, Satire & Essays on Cultural Aspects of Enga Province, Papua New Guinea, Compiled by Daniel Kumbon, Enga Writer’s Association, ISBN: 978-1535133845, US$6.38 plus postage from Amazon Books

THE people of Papua New Guinea have a long traditional history of oral literature.

Like many societies that have always lived close to the earth, there are many natural story tellers and poets among them.

This is especially so in Enga Province in the central highlands where resides the largest cultural group in Papua New Guinea.

Order your copy from Amazon now: Fighting for a Voice by Phil Fitzpatrick

The inside story of PNG Attitude's first 10 years, the Crocodile Prize and Pukpuk Publications.
How a non profit, voluntary enterprise got off the ground and grew into a formidable voice.
The dramas, the setbacks & the personalities. The story of a project that led to an historic
collaboration between Papua New Guineans and Australians who care.

Order your copy from Amazon here: $US10.66 plus postage 

Pukpuk Publications has a dedicated website – check it out

PHIL FITZPATRICK

TO A large extent digital publishing through Amazon’s CreateSpace solved the problem of producing the Crocodile Prize anthologies at a reasonable cost.

It also led to the creation of Pukpuk Publications to publish books by Papua New Guinean writers. We have 37 titles now and still more in the pipeline.

There are still a few annoying problems however. The biggest is finding an efficient distribution system.

There are no wholesale networks for books in Papua New Guinea that we can easily tap into and we have had to fall back on direct deliveries using the unreliable postal service and a couple of freight companies.

Living in two worlds: the beguiling craftmanship of Randolph Stow

PHIL FITZPATRICK

The Girl Green as Elderflower by Randolph Stow, 1980, Text Classics, Melbourne, 184 pages, ISBN: 978-1925240283. Amazon Books: hard Cover $US9.14. Kindle $US6.95

I HAVE just finished reading Randolph Stow’s 1980 novel, The Girl Green as Elderflower.

It is a wonderfully crafted text that evokes both the idiosyncrasies of its setting and a kind of magical realism that is beguiling and enchanting.

The setting has a particular resonance for me because it is based in Suffolk in England where I lived as a child, not too many years before the period described by Stow. Among other things he evokes the curious Suffolk dialect perfectly – it was the language I spoke when I arrived in Australia in 1956.

There are deeper meanings in the book however, and it follows directly from his earlier Papua New Guinea-based novel, Visitants.

Now on sale: The inside story of a tumultuous 10 years

Fighting for a Voice: The Inside Story of PNG Attitude and the Crocodile Prize, Philip Fitzpatrick, Pukpuk Publications, 2016, 374 pages, ISBN: 978-1533616906, Available from Amazon Books (US&UK), Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository, US13.33, £7.40, €8.47, AU$18.00, K42.20 plus postage

FOR most Australians, Papua New Guinea is a mysterious place somewhere north of Cape York and roughly between Bali in Indonesia and the resorts in Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. As a place it sits at the bottom of their consciousness.

Papua New Guineans, on the other hand, know a lot about Australia. Many of their goods and media come from there and the big companies exploiting their resources are often Australian.

There are, however, a small band of Australians who worked or served in Papua New Guinea before independence in 1975. For these people it sits permanently and warmly in their memory and consciousness.

Now for the book: The candid story of PNG Attitude is on the way

PHIL FITZPATRICK

‘Fighting for a Voice: The Inside Story of PNG Attitude & the Crocodile Prize’, scheduled for publication within the next few weeks, is Phil Fitzpatrick's no-holds barred account of the first 10 years of this pioneering blog. The book of nearly 400 pages weaves into its story the fascinating and sometimes dramatic events of Papua New Guinea over the same period. To give you a taste, here’s an extract from Chapter 8, ‘Problems of transition, 2013’ - KJ

FOR the superstitious, the number thirteen is particularly ominous. Some hotels skip the number in sequencing their rooms, even floors. Linked with a Friday it is said to become highly dangerous.

Fear of the number thirteen has a name - triskaidekaphobia. For the Crocodile Prize, 2013 nearly proved disastrous. How Keith and I escaped catching triskaidekaphobia was a minor miracle.

The year began well enough. Keith noted that many of the articles written by people awarded writing fellowships were being picked up by other media. Pat Levo of the Post Courier was using them in his weekend literary section and Amanda Donigi was doing the same in her new women’s magazine, Stella. We were not concerned by the thought they were exploiting PNG Attitude as source of free copy; we were just happy to see some good writers getting further exposure.

Splendid images revealed from PNG’s post-war colonial period

KEITH JACKSON

PERCY Cochrane (1907-80) and his wife Renata Cochrane (1919-83) lived in Papua New Guinea for 17 years from 1949-66.

Percy, a talented media professional, was to become Deputy Director (Broadcasts) in the Department of Information and Extension Services where Renata was a Publications Officer.

The Cochranes' work roles and private interests converged in their efforts to photograph, record and document facets of PNG’s cultural life, the work of the colonial Administration and the Catholic Missions.

After leaving PNG they continued to write and make films at the request of media organisations.

The Cochrane Collection was assembled by Renata Cochrane and her daughter Susan in 1981-82 and was given to the University of Wollongong in New South Wales in 1985.

Randolph Stow reconsidered – haunted kiap, dedicated writer

PHIL FITZPATRICK

Mick: A Life of Randolph Stow by Suzanne Falkiner, $50, 890 pages. UWA Publishing, February 2016, ISBN: 9781742586601

I WAS never a great fan of Randolph Stow. To me his prose and poetry epitomised the over-intellectualisation of Australian literature that prevailed in the 1960s and 1970s.

Like others, I thought this was a reaction of sorts to the realist tradition and an attempt to divert Australian literature away from its traditional roots – look at us now, we are just as sophisticated as you English writers.

This intellectualisation meant that the poor old reader had to spend time bogged down sifting through obscurities and subtleties and looking under rocks and between bedsheets to work out what the hell the writer was on about.

In contrast, the Americans were publishing good, clean and honest work by the likes of John Steinbeck, Harper Lee and many others.

Perhaps with the difficulties and limited appeal of Stow’s work in mind, Suzanne Falkiner opted to tell us about Mick Stow the man, rather than Randolph Stow the writer. It was a wise choice because Mick Stow was a fascinating man.

A must-read poetry collection: Francis delivers a powerful message

PHIL FITZPATRICK

Walk My Song by Francis Nii, Pukpuk Publications in association with the Simbu Writer’s Association, ISBN: 978-1533091604, 94 pages. Available here from Amazon

FRANCIS Nii has been associated with PNG Attitude for many years and the Crocodile Prize since its inception in 2011.

He is also one of the main driving forces behind the Simbu Writer’s Association, the only writers’ organisation to so far operate successfully in Papua New Guinea.

Francis has previously published a novel, a collection of essays and several educational texts, including anthologies of student writing in Simbu.

‘Wonderfully written’ new book from veteran Engan journalist

POLLY WIESSNER

I Can See My Country Clearly Now by Daniel Kumbon, Pukpuk Publications, 2016, ISBN: 978-1530843954, 266 pages plus photographs, US$10.10 plus postage or contact Daniel on kondowaon@gmail.com.

For people who enjoyed Daniel’s first compilation of writing from a variety of Engan authors, Remember Me, another treat is in store. He has now published a work entirely in his own right. We hope this will help Enga Province along the road to developing its own literary heritage in much the same way that Simbu writers have put their province on the literary map. Anthropologist Polly Wiessner, who for many years has worked extensively in Enga, wrote this foreword – PF.

THERE are few societies that have travelled from the Stone Age into the global economy of today as rapidly as the inhabitants of Enga Province in Papua New Guinea. 

Prospectors and explorers first moved through the area in the early 1930s, followed the Taylor-Black Hagen-Sepik patrol in 1938-9 and the establishment of a patrol post at Wabag.  Isolated by World War II, most of Enga did not come under control of the Australian Administration until the 1950s and 60s.

Julius Chan – the hapkas prime minister

PHIL FITZPATRICK

Playing the Game: Life and Politics in Papua New Guinea by Julius Chan, University of Queensland Press, 2016, ISBN: 9780702253973

WE haven’t seen too many memoirs from past Papua New Guinean prime ministers and politicians recently.

There is a good reason for this: most of them have got a lot to hide and airing their dirty laundry in public would not be a very smart; among other things they might end up in jail.

Julius Chan, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have anything to hide; he is one of the few cleanskins in Papua New Guinean politics. He made mistakes, that’s for sure, but they were all above board and he is happy to own them and doesn’t make excuses.

There have been several reviews of this memoir, mostly by Australian writers. As is their wont, and in the tradition of Australian political memoir, they concentrate on the big issues, the defining issues. And since most of those Australian political memoirs now usually involve carefully crafted spin, it is a fertile ground.

Reader seeks to buy copy of old PNG land purchase manual

ARTHUR SMEDLEY

I’M WANTING to purchase a copy of a land investigation and acquisition manual written by Bill McGrath in 1964.

Through the Ex-Kiap website I have been able to locate two copies that I have the opportunity to photocopy.

However they are not for sale and I would like to purchase my own copy if anyone has one they no longer wish to keep.

I understand Bill McGrath had worked with Ivan Champion when he was Land Titles Commissioner and may have written the manual about that time. Bill also did most if not all the investigations for the purchase of land for the Sirinumu Dam (pictured).

National broadcaster said to be headed for collapse

KEITH JACKSON

PAPUA New Guinea’s national broadcaster – which has continued to struggle for stability and effectiveness despite being a significant recipient of aid and assistance for the past 40 years – is reported to be on the verge of collapse.

According to PNG Blogs the writing has been on the wall for the National Broadcasting Corporation for some time but it has worsened since the end of the tenure of previous managing director Memafu Kapera.

Referring to the NBC as “the most abused and politicised of all the government entities”, PNG Blogs says the latest crisis was triggered by the chairman and acting managing director attempting to remove members of the current executive management despite them having valid employment contracts.

Sir Julius Chan's take on a life in PNG politics

BILL STANDISH

THE Rt Hon Sir Julius Chan MP was Papua New Guinea’s prime minister from 1980-82 and 1994-97. He is the first PNG politician to have written a memoir, Playing the Game, since Michael Somare’s Sana, published in 1975.

After giving us his family and village childhood memories of the colonial era and those of his enjoyable secondary schooling in Australia, Chan’s book changes gear.

This is the first book covering politics from his first election in 1968 to his current position as Governor of New Ireland Province. It is very much his story, not claiming objectivity or comprehensiveness.

Chan thanks his ‘writer and editor’, journalist Lucy Palmer, and the book reads easily, rather like the spoken word. This book joins the current project of writing personal histories as a part of nation building, and is in fact the only book covering PNG’s last 48 years.

It’s a thriller! First book is a case study in great writing

PHIL FITZPATRICK

The Master Marksman by James Smith, Pukpuk Publications, 2016. 322 pages. ISBN: 978-1523450282. US$14 plus postage from Amazon or AU$24.95 plus postage from the author at ferret44707@gmail.com

PUKPUK Publications was originally established to produce the annual Crocodile Prize anthologies but branched out to publish books by both Papua New Guinean and Australian writers.

In doing so it utilised new print-on-demand technologies provided, in our case, by Amazon’s Createspace facility.

Pukpuk Publications now has over 30 titles on its book list, most of which have been written by Papua New Guinean authors.

Until recently all the titles had Papua New Guinean themes. But from time to time manuscripts of a more general nature have been submitted for consideration. Previously, I referred them to other publishers.

Chan has no regrets over handling of Sandline affair

JEMIMA GARRETT & ADAM CONNORS | Pacific Beat | ABC | Extract

PAPUA New Guinea's former prime minister Sir Julius Chan says that if he had been allowed to continue with the infamous Sandline operation to put down the Bougainville civil war in 1997, he would have been able to bring the island under control.

In his newly released autobiography, Sir Julius has revealed details about his harsh words with then prime minister John Howard over the hiring of Sandline mercenaries, and how he blamed the Australian media for inflaming opinion in PNG.

"I attended a private lunch with prime minister John Howard at Kirribilli House in Sydney shortly after the engagement of Sandline was revealed," wrote Sir Julius in the book, Playing the Game: Life and Politics in PNG.

"His attitude was 'Just get rid of these people. They should not be there.' He did not give me any reason for it.

Literature & politics: a potent combination in the right hands

PHIL FITZPATRICK

IT seems to be standard practise in most western countries for retired or ousted politicians to write books and ‘memoirs’. Many of them see it as an opportunity to ‘set the record straight’.

In reality it is more likely to be an attempt to blame other people for the mistakes or misdemeanours the politicians themselves made while in office. Either that or it is an attempt to secure a tiny spot in their country’s history.

Two of the most recent cases in Australia have been books by ex-prime ministers John Howard and Julia Gillard. Howard was interested in glory but Gillard was interested in putting the boot into the hapless Kevin Rudd, in the nicest possible way of course.

Other politicians write books on their way up the ladder. These manifestos are often much more interesting after the fact when the politicians have peaked, crashed and burned. The standout is Tony Abbott’s Battlelines.

Randolph Stow’s Trobriand Islands

SUZANNE FALKINER | Sydney Review of Books | Extract

IN EARLY March 1959, Randolph—‘Mick’—Stow, with two dozen other young cadet patrol officers, took off from Sydney’s Mascot airport after midnight to fly up the Queensland coast to Port Moresby.

The trip, delayed by an outbreak of flu among the trainees, was a noisy and uncomfortable fourteen-hour grind in a chartered DC-4 with hour-long stops at Townsville and Cairns.

Stow, at 23, was four or five years older than most of his fellow recruits, and already a published poet and novelist: a fact of which they were almost certainly unaware.

Five weeks later it would be announced that his third novel, To the Islands, had won the second-ever Miles Franklin Award, after Patrick White’s Voss had taken out the inaugural prize the previous year.

Back to Joeys bearing books – couldn’t have been a better return

LAPIEH LANDU

ST JOSEPH’S was one of my favourite learning spaces. Many of my most enduring memories were created there.

As a child, school plays and sports days, excursions and swimming lessons tickled my desire to never find an excuse to be at home.

Not to mention the musical production. I never had a starring role in any of them, I was always a figurine or backstage instrument, but I loved the rehearsals and the imitations and the fantasy. It was fun.

As I walked back into the school grounds of St Joseph’s International Catholic School in Port Moresby last Wednesday, the school that I had once found to be massive now appeared to me as a small, quite compact place. 

Plenty of great stories still to be mined in PNG

MAX UECHTRITZ

SEAN Dorney’s The Embarrassed Colonialist should be mandatory reading for every influential Australian media executive and newsroom leader.

Because when it comes to Papua New Guinea, we are the myopic media.

Historical blindness and ignorance is an underlying theme of Dorney’s excellent treatise of what is an emblematic tropical sore for Australia and Australians.

Overcoming this ignorance is the healing balm solution he proffers – and the media, pardon the image, is the bleeding obvious place to start.

There are wonderful individual exceptions, of course: Journalists who would swim the four kilometres from our most northern Torres Strait islands to PNG to report on this vibrant and vexed nation of eight million, so inextricably linked to our past and so critical to our future. And editors and news directors who would, and do, battle internal obstacles to ensure coverage of our biggest, nearest neighbour.

A journalist’s insights into the war that ravaged her people

ADAM ELLIOTT

I THOUGHT readers would be interested to know that Veronica Hatutasi has just published a book on the Bougainville crisis, Behind the Blockade.

Veronica is based in Port Moresby and has worked for a long time as senior reporter for Word Publishing's Wantok newspaper.

The book starts in Toniva, just south of Kieta, as the conflict builds and follows Veronica’s story from there back to Monoitu in the Siwai District of south Bougainville.

Here Veronica stayed with her family until late 1992 when, in August of that year, she was able to get herself and her family to Port Moresby.

Australia's ignorance about PNG is a loss for both nations

SEAN DORNEY | ‘The Embarrassed Colonialist’ | Extract

AUSTRALIA never spent a great deal of money on Port Moresby when it was the headquarters of Australia’s colonial administration.

Indeed, the contrast between what the British had built in Suva during its colonial governance of Fiji and what Australia constructed in Port Moresby for its administration of Papua New Guinea is revealing.

The stone and concrete Suva buildings are majestic examples of colonial architecture. In Konedobu, on the shores of the Port Moresby harbour, the Australian administration consisted of a collection of unimpressive wooden buildings, some quite ramshackle.

Michael Dom’s poetic gifts to the people of PNG

KEITH JACKSON

MICHAEL Dom has given the people of Papua New Guinea – and, more recently, people around the world – the great gift of his poetry.

During my consulting years in Asia, I was once informed by a proud Bangladeshi that each one of his countrymen was a poet. I have concluded that in every Papua New Guinean there also lies the music and lyricism of poetry – and increasingly the rest of us are recognising this and appreciating it.

And we are learning that things can be said, matters can be raised, through the incisive stiletto of poetry that are more difficult to achieve in prose. Melanesians seem to understand this and are great exponents of it.

Who reads books in PNG? Village people of course

PHIL FITZPATRICK

BY all accounts the e-book revolution is running out of steam.

At one stage Amazon, the biggest bookseller in the world, was reporting that its e-books were outselling its hardcover books. As you may know many big publishers put out hardcover books before later transferring the title to paperback.

It’s possible that Amazon may have shot itself in the foot by marketing its Kindle e-book reader only for titles it sells itself. The computer geeks managed to crack this barrier pretty quickly of course.

It may have contributed to the downturn in its e-book sales but other e-book reader brands are also suffering declining sales and it seems that readers are finally coming back to hard copy paper books.

Sending words as gifts: Michael Dom at his poetic peak

KEITH JACKSON & PHIL FITZPATRICK

Send words as gifts: Selected & new poems, 1995-2015, by Michael Dom, publication details to be advised

SOMEHOW, through forces not evident or apparent, in Michael Dom Papua New Guinea produced a world class poet.

He is a poet equally capable of devious nuance, spiralling metaphor and rock-crushing bellicosity; sometimes in the one piece of writing and always with a message.

Words as Gifts reminds us that Michael Dom has been writing poetry for 20 years, plenty of time to hone a style and a purpose. And that purpose has been frequently political, keeping a weather eye on those who seek to exercise power and especially those who exercise it in their own rather than in the common interest.

A New Guinea initiation story told with humour & verve

PHIL FITZPATRICK

Saidor Story: A Memoir of New Guinea by Norma Griffin, edited by Anne Griffin, Pukpuk Publications, 228 pages, including maps and photographs, 2016, ISBN-13: 978-1522721987, Paperback US$10 plus postage from Amazon Books.

AN interesting situation awaits the bride from Ballarat as she sails to the Territory of New Guinea in 1947 to begin married life with her patrol officer husband.

The Pacific war has left much of her new land in ruins; much of the country is still unmapped or uncontrolled.

Japanese soldiers remain in the mountains. Sorcerers and spirits rule the native people, and a cargo cult is creating unrest in her husband’s district on the Rai Coast.

With colonialism just a memory, revitalising a friendship

KEITH JACKSON

The Embarrassed Colonialist by Sean Dorney, Penguin, 96 pages, $9.99. ISBN-13:9780143573951, ISBN-10:0143573950. To be published on 15 February

WITH the intriguing title The Embarrassed Colonialist, respected Pacific journalist Sean Dorney’s latest book is looking like a good read

Sean and I have known each other for well over 40 years and share many views in common, so it comes as no surprise to me that one of the strongest arguments of the book is that too many Australians know too little about Papua New Guinea.

Indeed, that was one of the factors that motivated the establishment of this blog 10 years ago.

Sean says we need to start learning more about PNG and treating it as an equal – not as our unfortunate illegitimate child.

Peter O’Neill’s book of dreams finally sees the light of day

MICHAEL DOM

His Dream is Our Dream, A collection of speeches by Prime Minister Peter O'Neill CMG, MP, by David Angalapu Roape, Soko Enterprises, 156 pp, 2014, K50.  ISBN 978-9980-87-891-5. It dates back to 2014. Available from PO Box 1205, Vision City, National Capital District, Papua New Guinea. E: hisdreambook@gmail.com

WHILE passing through Port Moresby on my way back to postgraduate studies in Adelaide, I went shopping for second-hand jeans.

Imagine my surprise when I found a book in City Pharmacy on Waigani Drive featuring no less a figure than the prime minister of Papua New Guinea.

I immediately wondered whether I could be the last person to learn about the existence of this book. How did I come to miss the launch?

I've not read anything about it on PNG Attitude, that's for sure, and I'm a compulsive addict of that particular blog site.

A bumpy ride: Feminism and development in PNG

CLEO FLEMING | Dev Policy Blog

INEZ Baranay’s 1994 account of her experience as a volunteer in Papua New Guinea was re-released in 2014 by Local Time Publishing.

Rascal Rain is a difficult book to categorise, and at times a difficult book to read. While the book is a record of Baranay’s personal observations of the country and the people she came to know, it is not truly a memoir.

It is rather the product of her coming to terms with the anxieties and disappointments that characterised much of her time as a volunteer, with what was then Australian Volunteers Abroad (AVA).

Baranay is a novelist and, to date, Rascal Rain is her only work of non-fiction. She had not planned to write about her experience, and from comments she makes early on in the book, she had not entirely planned to go to PNG as a volunteer.

2015 in review – a good & big year for Bougainville 24

BEN JACKSON | Bougainville 24

WE’VE just finished a good year at Bougainville 24, the BCL-sponsored blog on happenings around the autonomous region which also encourages Bougainvilleans to write on matters of interest to them.

More than 300 articles were published in 2015, a majority being original work by Bougainvillean contributors.

These people included Gideon Davika, Anastasia Hagai, Maryanne Hanette, Veronica Hannette, Liza Kabui, Pauline Karalus, Peter Karatapi Jnr, Eleanor Maineke, Zilpah Maurua, Jennifer Nkui, Benjamin Heriberth Noibio, Ishmael Palipal, Alice Peter, Timothy Poroda, Leonard Fong Roka, Ancitha Semoso, Tevu Tenasi and Winterford Toreas.

Pukpuk Publications to join PNG Attitude in a last farewell

PHIL FITZPATRICK

Includes the complete list of all 33 Pukpuk titles

PUKPUK Publications was one of the unforeseen spin-offs of the Crocodile Prize.

In 2011 and 2012, in line with our desire to make the competition a Papua New Guinean affair, we organised a local publisher in Port Moresby to print the Crocodile Prize Anthology.

This turned out to be extremely expensive and the end product, especially the 2011 anthology, turned out to be below par. On top of that, and on both occasions, the publisher only just managed to get copies delivered in time for the awards night.

Clearly, the expense, uncertainty of delivery and lack of control over the quality of the end product was not sustainable, especially given that we had limited funds and absolutely no help from the Papua New Guinean government.

Around that time I had begun experimenting with Amazon’s relatively new self-publishing program called Createspace. I used it to publish the first Inspector Metau book.