PNG ATTITUDE

1962 – historical turning point for PNG

The Blatchford Collection for 1962 is now on PNG ATTITUDE (see ASOPA People Extra) and Loch Blatchford’s summaries offer the usual absorbing reading for people interested in the development of the PNG education system.

In his memoir ‘A Time For Building’, then Territories Minister Paul Hasluck wrote: “The year 1962 seemed to me at the time to be a turning point in the history of PNG. Hard work below the ground had been done and progress seemed to quicken.” And Hasluck was putting his money where his mouth was. Ian Downs recorded in ‘Australian Trusteeship’ that, when three senior PNG officials traveled to Canberra for pre-budget discussions, Hasluck refused to reduce the budget for primary education and said he wanted it extended by a further 100 schools. Sid Pearsall recalled, “Hasluck told us that if money was the problem we could leave it to him. On the same day he attended a Cabinet meeting and two hours later we were advised that £500,000 had been added to the grant to provide for 100 more primary schools.”

As all this was happening, long serving Director of Education Geoffrey Roscoe was preparing to hand over to the newly appointed Les Johnson. Roscoe wrote to the District Education Officer at Kerema, Neville Dachs: “Please accept my very best wishes for the future happiness of yourself and your wife. I have no doubt that you have told her of some of the drawbacks of life in the Territory. I do not think that the Territory is such an attractive place as it was when I first came to it in 1947. It was a kind of wild west country then. We didn’t have many laws and regulations; we had no Public Service Commissioner; and many of the present restrictions had not yet been invented. In some respects I feel now that the Territory is altogether too civilised, but I still think it has attractions to offer for young and energetic people.”

Some of those young and energetic people – my Class of 1962-63 – had just entered ASOPA and were beginning to train to teach in a country described by PNG education veteran Dick Ralph, whose daughter Margaret was one of our number: “The word ‘emergent’ certainly applies to us: we are emerging from the Dark Ages, from a Stone Age civilization, and are being forced to try and do in decades what other civilizations have taken many centuries to evolve. The Territory education system did not emerge, it was imposed by the Minister for Territories, who laid down in hard and decisive terms what were to be our aims. The first Director believed in the Blending of Cultures. (He) strove for the emphasis to be on the native and believed in gradual change. The second was concerned more with a political catchcry – Universal Primary Education. We are now facing the problem of secondary education, with tertiary education just around the corner.”

Meanwhile, an article in the left wing Nation magazine, for which I later freelanced in PNG, criticised Hasluck for “weakening the intellect of ASOPA”, accusing the School’s teaching staff of being “seldom entirely frank, authoritarian and paternalistic.”

Footnote: In 1962 the estimated population of PNG was just under 2 million. In 1960-61 the PNG Administration had spent £2.6 million ($5.2 million) on education. The missions spent an additional £580,000. In 1961 there were 186,000 primary students, 2,300 secondary students and one university student, Henry To Robert, who we met when he visited ASOPA early in 1962.

Now how about the Montevideo Maru?

 

Today’s 67^th anniversary of the sinking of HMAS Sydney by the German raider HSK Kormoran has been commemorated at ceremonies throughout Australia. The loss of all Sydney's 645 crew was one of the great tragedies of World War II and remained largely a mystery until the wreck was found last year - resting upright on the seabed 2,500 metres below the surface 200 km north-west of Geraldton in Western Australia. More than 280 family members of the crew this morning visited the site of the sinking aboard HMAS Manoora.

All this activity, and some of the misleading media coverage of it as ‘Australia’s biggest maritime disaster’, provided grim reading for people associated with the sinking of the Montevideo Maru [above] on 1 July 1942 – which cost the lives of 1,053 men and boys, prisoners of the Japanese who had been interned in Rabaul, and which was truly our greatest maritime tragedy.

“These families [of the Sydney victims] are truly fortunate to be able to finally acknowledge the resting place of their loved ones,” Andrea Williams, editor of the PNGAA journal, Una Voce, has told AAP. “I am the grand-daughter of one of the men, apparently sunk on the Montevideo Maru. The sinking of the Montevideo Maru and the loss of those 1053 men was Australia’s greatest maritime disaster.

“I find this erroneous reporting disrespectful to men who suffered unknown cruelties for many months before drowning by allied fire because their Japanese prisoner ship was unmarked as carrying prisoners of war. Sadly, their final resting place has never been found. I would love for our families to have the same opportunity that these families have and for our men to have their fates recognised in our Australian history too.”

Along with other organisations the PNGAA has been asking the Federal Government for many months now to do something meaningful recognise the enormous tragedy of the sinking of the Montevideo Maru by mounting a search for the wreck, which is located somewhere off Subic Bay in the Philippines. And let’s hope AAP gets the message that the loss of the Montevideo Maru was as immense a tragedy as the sinking of HMAS Sydney.

PNG education '62: Foot’s kick in arse

By Loch Blatchford

It's 1962 in the Territory of Papua New Guinea. Concern about events in West New Guinea, where Indonesia is easing the Dutch out, increases the number teacher resignations and reduces recruitment from Australia. There is a shortage of teachers and teacher trainees. Class sizes grow, some have no teachers and new enrolments are postponed. The possibility of shift teaching and payment of overtime is explored for urban areas.

The new Deputy Director Les Johnson arrives in February 1962 and undertakes a familiarisation tour of the Territory. Meanwhile, Director Graham Roscoe prepares for retirement at the end of June. The United Nations Visiting Mission under Sir Hugh Foot tours New Guinea (Papua is Australian, and out of bounds) in April and May and its June report recommends the World Bank carry out an economic survey to prepare a development plan for the Territory.

The Foot Report is very critical of Australia’s administration. It criticises the lack of provision for university education and the failure to produce people capable of exercising responsibility in commerce and industry. It finds fault in the failure to replace Australians in senior administrative and professional positions, and to generate political confidence and leadership. The report does have a positive influence, though. It adds stimulus to what is already evolving in the Territory.

The emphasis in education shifts to higher education, education for economic development, indigenous leadership and urbanisation. Johnson prepares to cut the ASOPA intake in order to train more ‘E’ Course teachers and to recruit more trained Australian teachers.

The Education Department seeks to identify and train indigenous teachers with leadership potential, and it moves to concentrate education in urban areas where best use can be made of the output of well educated young Papua New Guineans. A five year plan is produced to achieve the change in emphasis. This includes the consolidation of existing schools rather than opening new schools, identifying students with academic potential (placing them in special high schools) and planning for a university.

The full story of the turbulence in PNG’s education system in 1962 will be published on PNG ATTITUDE soon.

An opinion on ‘Recognise Aussie Kiaps’

From Theodore Mawe in Goroka

I was very much impressed by an article entitled ‘Recognise Aussie Kiaps’ by Ilya Gridneff of AAP which appeared in the ‘The National’ dated 31 October 2008. A Mr Viner-Smith, a former patrol officer expressed his concern for the neglected  recognition given by Australia for the efforts and hardships kiaps and patrol officers endured in bringing law and order and development services to the remote  peoples of PNG. He expressed his views by comparing the recognition Kokoda war veterans get as opposed to themselves who are never recognized. He says they  endured all the hardships, sufferings and risks of encounter with an alien world and thinks they should be respected and given some kind of recognition as the Kokoda war veterans.

The writer states that the Australian government will be asked to honour the pioneering work of Australian patrol officers who brought development to Papua New Guinea’s tribes between 1949 and 1974. He says that  after WW11 and before PNG Independence in 1975, more than 8,000 Australian public servants administered PNG as an external Australian territory. Among those administrators, 2,500 were kiaps or patrol officers [who endured hardships and risked their lives] to bring development to PNG. Mr. Chris Viner-Smith, a former kiap or patrol officer is quoted as saying,” their efforts are part of a forgotten Australian history that was never officially recognized”. He says,” kiaps brought law and order to PNG’s remote tribal areas and paved way for Australian teachers, agricultural officers and infrastructure and health personnel to go and work for the first time”.

“The work of  kiaps formed a glorious chapter in Australia's history just as the Kokoda campaign has. And both share the remarkable heritage of being Australian and shaping a new future for PNG. I don’t know why we’ve been forgotten,” said Mr Viner-Smith as per quoted by the writer.

The jobs kiaps carried out was not easy. The writer I quote says, “ the work of the kiaps was to trek isolated [and some unknown ] villages to conduct weeks and months of surveys while also providing basic services like law and order”. Mr Viner-Smith is quoted as saying and which depicts a typical scene, “ my first task was to get 40 prisoners to build an airstrip in a swamp. Imagine that as a 21 year old in PNG in 1961, when there were no roads, no radios, no support.”

 “You just had to survive or you would die”. It was not the people, it was the country itself, it was an alien land full of danger”, said Mr Viner-Smith as per quoted by the writer. Here we can imagine the dangers prevalent during those times; in the highlands there could have been prevalance of warfare, fast-flowing rivers and steep mountains; and in the lowlands illness from malaria, snake bites, deep swamps and rivers pested with crocodiles. These sort of environment would not have been favourable and would be seen as dangerous for our pioneer administrators or kiaps.

I sympathise and support Mr Viner-Smith, just as others are doing in Australia. The writer quotes Mr Viner-Smith who said,”he had support from politicians, the PNG Association of Australia, the ex-kiap network and the police federation. And  at least they have got the acknowledgement they deserve”. The writer concludes and I quote, “ The parliamentary secretary of Pacific Islands Affairs  Duncan Kerr said the submission [ for the recognition of Aussie kiaps] would be viewed seriously as kiaps were an integral part of the Australian colonial administration in PNG”.

I support the movement here not in the sense that I am party to it but as someone who values history and have great concern over especially for the destruction and loss of colonial  buildings and property. What are colonial buildings and property? These are things like , for example in Mendi; the former residential house of the first District Commissioner; there is a mountain named after him namely Mr Clancy; there are other old houses which were formerly used by Mr Clancy’s officers; the site of first european settlement which is marked by an erected stone monument on which is a plaque that reads this historical event well and the site of first missionary settlement and buildings.

I feel that these colonial buildings and sites located throughout the country should be preserved and studies on these things be carried out and publications related to these produced. And we may question why bother doing these things when we should be worried about economic things the most. Well here is my opinion. The kiaps whose efforts we now enjoy should be given the recognition they deserve when they are calling out loud for it. The only way PNG can compensate and honor them is by restoring, conserving, preserving and maintaining the actual objects and writing about their achievements in the form of publications.

The kiaps as well as PNG can benefit from doing this. The kiaps can participate in writing their reports and publish these and make money from it. They can also benefit in the sense that they and their descendants can read of their achievements in publication. The other way in which kiaps can benefit is when their descendants visit the sites and see the actual things for themselves and have an appreciation for it.

And for PNG it can benefit in terms of tourism and historical education. The colonial and historic buildings and sites can serve very well as important tourist attractions to generate revenue for PNG. In places like Australia and New Zealand historic buildings, sites and places have served very well as important tourist attractions and have generated much needed revenue. The same can be true in PNG when we develop these things and attract tourists including the former kiaps and their descendants who would visit these sites during their vacation and or holidays. Generally tourism will save PNG when its non-renewable resources like oil, gas and gold run out and when we need to make up for lost income. And the teaching of these things in schools, colleges and universities will benefit our young generation.

An institution to cater for the work of carrying out studies as well as to coordinate the restoration, conservation, and preservation of colonial buildings and sites should be established. Australia in partnership or otherwise with PNG should, if not fund an organisation which will initiate plans to develop and manage a program which will be responsible for the restoration, preservation and conservation of colonial and historical heritage property. I would recommend that this be initially an NGO rather than a government body which have less transparency credibility, and I make note of a certain media publicity concerning the miss-use of funds raised to restore the old parliament house by a certain government agency. The aim of this body will be to reconstruct and preserve damaged buildings and property, conserve sites, and carry out studies related with these and produce publications. 

The writer is Theodore Mawe of the University of Goroka, Goroka. His contact is email mawet@uog.ac.pg and phone 7311796

The bones of the big white horse

When Eora fell to the Australians, Major General Vasey headed for Kokoda while another force pressed east to the village of Oivi. Kokoda fell on 4 November 1942, and on the same day the 2/3 Battalion encountered the main Japanese force at Oivi. The Japanese intended to establish a defensive line there, but were cut off. Japanese casualties were “extremely high” said the general, most occurring in a futile attempt to escape down the swiftly flowing Kumusi River. Among the dead was a senior commander, Major General Tomitaro Horii of the Imperial Japanese South Seas Force. Drowned, like 1,500 of his countrymen.

The Kumusi, where the Japanese troops dug in to make a stand, was more than 100 yards wide at Oivi. They’d made elaborate defences of logs and packed earth and had their backs to the river. They were driven out, leaving stores, weapons, mountain guns, machine guns, mortars, pack horses and hundreds of slave PNG carriers from Rabaul. They tried to escape at night over the flooded Kumusi, using rafts, canoes, even swimming. Many drowned.

Twenty years later, towards the end of 1962, Bill Wilson, a Kokoda-based Medical Assistant, who had left ASOPA mid-term figuring that, for him, a career in health was better than one in education, observed with passing interest an army exercise in which elements of the Pacific Islands regiment chased a team from the Perth SAS up the trail from the coast. One evening the soldiers SAS camped on the flood plain of the Kumusi River.

The next morning, burying their rubbish near the river, the soldiers found some bleached bones, reporting their discovery to the ADO at Kokoda, Reg Bentinck.

Bill got the job of retrieving the bones. Helped by medical orderlies, he dug down finding the complete skeleton of a large horse. Bentinck later said to him: “You’ll get an award from the RSPCA for kindness to dead animals”. It’s the sort of thing a Kiap would say.

Bill now believes that the horse was the big white steed of Major General Tomitaro Horii of the Imperial Japanese South Seas Force.

By the way, there are 40 creek and river crossings between Kumusi and Kokoda. Bill has counted every one of them

Footnote [from Wikipedia]: “In a dramatic and bizarre turn of events, Major-General Horii disappeared, presumed drowned, while withdrawing with his troops across the Kumusi River, towards the beachheads. The fierce current of the river swept away a horse on which he was riding; instead, Horii opted to float down the Kumusi River in a canoe with other senior officers, in order to quickly get back to Buna and organize the beachhead defences. The canoe was floated down to the river mouth, but Horii and his staff were swept out to sea in a freak squall. None was ever seen again.”

Footnote [from our own files]: Bill Wilson went on to have a distinguished career in public health, which extended until his retirement a few years ago. He is a Life Member of the Australian Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs.

20 men could colonise NG: Rev Chalmers

The National Library of Australia’s exciting project to digitise the newspapers of Australia proceeds steadily – although still covering only a relatively small selection of Australian newspapers published between 1800 and 1940.

But the NLA’s project has already emerged as a goldmine for accounts of the early exploration and colonisation of Papua New Guinea. From time to time, as I come across gems that are relevant to these Notes, I will reproduce them. Here’s an item from the Northern Territory Times and Gazette of Saturday 25 May, 1878, quoting that media junkie of the times, Rev James Chalmers, later eaten by cannibals of the Fly River.

It would almost seem in spite of warnings, that a rush will set-in to New Guinea, even providing no gold be discovered. It will open up a large tract of new country of which very little is known. Mr Chester writes from Thursday Island, that Mr Goldie deplores the excitement caused by his discovery of gold in New Guinea, and again warns people against going there.

The Rev Mr Chalmers thinks the time has come for the colonisation of New Guinea; he considers a well organised party of twenty men, well supplied with rations would be quite sufficient to prospect the whole of the island; he strongly deprecates any attempt at getting up a rush until something tangible is discovered.

Mr Chalmers considers New Guinea is suitable for the cultivation of sugar and cotton - an exploring party accompanied with a botanist and naturalist might pay their expenses, providing they did not discover any gold. Already two or three vessels are there, so we shall know shortly what the place shines in.

Amplification of events on B'ville, 1973

Bill Brown

Wednesday 10 January 1973 - I sat just behind then Chief Minister throughout that “fiery four-hour meeting outside Kieta sub-district office”. While there can be no doubt that the invasion of Bougainville by outsiders was an issue, it was not one of the main reasons for the heat of that meeting.

No one could doubt the anguish behind what I, and others, believe to be the first reason; the assassination in Goroka of two highly respected public servants from Bougainville - an event that had occurred on Christmas Eve 1972, just 17 days before the meeting. A vehicle driven by Dr Luke Rovin, with passenger Peter Moini, struck a six-year old girl and killed her near Goroka airstrip. The Bougainvilleans attempted to give aid, were set upon and stoned to death.

In his autobiography, Somare related: “I witnessed the emotional reactions to the killings ... at Kieta. I found many people had painted their bodies and faces with clay as a sign of mourning. They carried bow, arrows and bilums... A weeping woman rushed through the crowd and came right up to me. She fell to the ground in front of me and began to dig the ground with a knife. She was Luke Robin’s (sic) mother...”

The second reason for the heat of that meeting was that the venue was changed from the Council Chambers to outside the sub-district office. The night before the meeting, Barry Middlemiss approached the Chief Minister and secured his approval for the change.

Again from the autobiography: “I will never forget Leo Hannett’s angry performance at the meeting … Leo Hannett burst through the crowd and started hammering his fists on the table. He screamed that it was an insult to the dignity of his people for the venue to be suddenly changed. He and many Bougainvilleans had wanted to demonstrate in front of me… He demanded that the murderers be dealt with immediately…”

Thursday 11 January 1973 - Chief Minister Somare was not flown out of Panguna by helicopter. Paul Lapun and John Momis did not express fears for his safety. There was no cancellation of a meeting at Panguna. I was with the Chief Minister throughout the visit to Panguna. It went according to schedule and the party left in several vehicles to travel by road to Buin. Well to the east of Panguna, we stopped and had a roadside meeting with a large group of armed villagers. It was a rowdy meeting and the Chief Minister apparently decided that the presence of the small police escort was the cause of the hostility. He told me to send the police on ahead, to Buin. The six police constables, who were travelling in their own vehicle, left for Buin.

We had several more stops, and each meeting was more fiery than the last. At each, the villagers were armed with traditional weapons, ignoring earlier requests made to them to leave their weapons at home. I had serious doubts about the Chief Minister’s safety, and I had absolutely no way of protecting him against any violence from a group or from a crazed individual. (Six police were not much protection, but they made a larger party and might have been dissuasive.)

I decided that I had to ensure Mr Somare's safety, and called for the helicopter. The Chief Minister left us by helicopter.

From the Somare autobiography: “Another unfortunate incident occurred when I travelled from the big mining town of Panguna down to the south-east coast of the island. Word came up to Panguna that a group of village people in traditional dress and carrying spears and axes were waiting for me on the roadside. Government officials had asked them to leave their weapons in the village but they had refused. My officials, thinking I was in personal danger, overreacted. So instead of driving, I was taken by company helicopter to the south-east coast. I felt uneasy when this modern machinery lifted me over my own people for ‘safety’ reasons.”

Maybe Sir Michael was being kind when he did not identify me as the ‘official’; maybe it was a deliberate omission.

Bill Brown MBE was District Commissioner on Bougainville when the events in question occurred.

The day Somare ignored a racist taunt

From time to time in Papua New Guinea I kept a work diary that was so obsessively on theme that my only reference to Independence Day, Tuesday 16 September 1975, was ‘Holiday’. But I vividly remember the ceremony at Sir Hubert Murray Stadium, the somewhat incongruous soccer match that preceded it, Prince Charles and the pomp and ceremony, the swearing in of Michael Somare as Prime Minister, the glowing pride of my boss and friend, National Broadcasting Commission chairman Sam Piniau, and the measured lowering of the Australian flag and raising of the PNG kumul/logohu. The NBC expatriate staff gave the chairman a Kawage copper beating as an Independence gift. But, I’m afraid, for us and for the most of the nation from then on, it was business as usual.

So, with my diary for that great day offering so little, to mark PNG Independence Day, to remind us of how things used to be and to provide Kabot from Tavuruvur [see Recent Comments] with more in the way of history, I turn to my diary for early 1973, when I was manager of Radio Bougainville. This short illustration, I hope, offers something of the effervescent flavour of the times.

Wednesday 10 January - With Chief Minister Michael Somare on the island, 2000 people are at a fiery four-hour meeting outside Kieta sub-district office to demonstrate anger at the ‘invasion’ of Bougainville by outsiders. I attend for the duration and phone reports to Moresby from time to time. Write a 68-line story for our local news bulletin. A Wabag man is found murdered near Nairovi. Seems like a payback by Tolais for a killing in Kieta at Christmas.

Thursday 11 January - Jim Leigh [Controller of Broadcasting] rings about the killing of the Wabag man. I inform him we ran facts of story but would not reveal the race of the killer(s) if and when found. We’ve had so many rumours recently that it pays to run factual stories when they’re available but at same time it’s a good policy to ignore rumours except where they pose a threat to public order.

A dramatic afternoon. Somare is flown out of Panguna by helicopter after Paul Lapun and John Momis expressed fears for his safety. I get the story from Gus Smales [Melbourne Herald] and transmit it to our Central Newsroom in time for the afternoon bulletin. Eighty weapons-carrying villagers were resentful at Somare’s departure. They said they intended him no harm and the weapons were symbolic. The feeling is that his departure, and the consequent cancellation of the Panguna meeting, was a mistake.

Friday 12 January - Gravelle from Central Newsroom rings about my Somare-Panguna story yesterday. There’s concern about inconsistencies with the ABC story. These are more apparent than real and the Post-Courier has confirmed my version. Leigh rings and says a Western Highlands District man has told him that Western Highlanders around Arawa are planning a payback for death of a Laiagam man. Check with District Officer but he has heard nothing.

Saturday 13 January – Get to Davara Motel with equipment about 11.15 am preparatory to the arrival of Michael Somare, who turns up two hours late. I lunch with him and record a 12-minute talk reviewing his visit to Bougainville. He invites me to dinner and drinks tonight…

Luke Umbo [Radio Bougainville journalist] and I walk into the Davara dining room just behind the Chief Minister. As we find our table, a European diner, unknown to us, gestures towards Somare and calls out, “Look at that kanaka in a laplap”. Somare is angered, momentarily baulks, but moves on, effectively neutralising the issue – though it easily could have developed into something worse. The Chief Minister shows great poise. Bougainville is volatile enough right now without a high level political firestorm.

Photo: The Australian flag comes down for the last time in Papua New Guinea

An extremely shaky Garden of Eden

I was wandering through Paddington the other morning, with half an hour to kill before seeing my endocrinologist at St Vincent’s Clinic, when I chanced upon Gertrude and Alice’s Café Bookstore. So, naturally, I bought a café and a book. Both were excellent.

SM Lambert was a young American doctor specialising in tropical medicine when, in 1920, he found himself in Papua, later being posted to a Rabaul, newly removed from German control. He subsequently (in 1941) wrote an elegant and intriguing account of his experiences in PNG and the Pacific in a book entitled ‘A Doctor in Paradise’. Here’s an extract…..

“In contrast to Papua’s bleak capital I found Rabaul a picture of tropical delight: regular streets were bordered with poinciana, royal palms, coco-nut palms; betel nut palms raised graceful, slender stems and flaunted their feathery tops just above clusters of fruit that were like hothouse grapes; Indian laurels loomed graciously over thriving fig-trees. The Germans had drained all this land, relieved it of mosquitoes, planted the groves; they had set Government House on a fine eminence overlooking a stretch of water that might have been a Scottish lake.

“Rabaul was an extremely shaky Garden of Eden, geologically and politically. Jolly earthquakes came and went with seismic whimsicality, and were so frequent that every hotel, house and office had its heavy furniture lashed to the walls. Otherwise, one might have waked up any morning and found a large German wardrobe in one’s lap. Right inside Rabaul’s port, Vulcan island was a particularly bad actor.

“The Reverend George Brown, the fighting missionary, records its beginning back in 1878 when it blew the twenty-mile channel full of pumice; thousands of boiled fish were washed ashore, and great sea turtles with their tortoise-shell cooked to a pulp. The next big show was in 1937, when Vulcan covered the town with ashy vomit; after that there was talk of moving the capital, but the colonial becomes a fatalist. He has to be.”

Image: Lambert administers hookworm treatment, New Britain, c 1921

PNG collaborator tragedy still stormy

The hanging of Papuan collaborators by Australian authorities after World War II remains a matter of controversy. Were the executions justified by pro-Japanese treachery or were they an extreme example of the victor’s spoils? John Fowke is convinced that the crimes justified the outcome; others – including the ABC – think otherwise.

Of course, it should not be up to the ABC to cast a vote one way or the other on such issues. But the national broadcaster does act as policeman, judge and jury from time to time, using its corporate weight to support journalism that can be, and let’s be moderate, specious.

You should read John Fowke’s ‘The War in Papua – The Executions at Higaturu’, which you can download below, for a counterpoint view on an ABC program that, whatever its other strengths, seemed to lack a sense of balance.

I can’t get too deeply into the issues in these Notes, so a vicarious extract from John’s article….

Each man was given the chance to speak, and each did so. Grahamslaw recalled that Embogi's speech had a profound effect on all present. He had a sonorous voice and was a gifted orator. He stated he had done wrong, and that he was conscious of this. He said he was an uneducated man, and had not known better. He stated the punishment he was about to receive was just, and urged his people to heed the Government and to obey its laws.

Grahamslaw wrote; "I lay awake most of that night listening to the drums beating and the wailing of the mourners in the village adjacent to Higaturu, and I relived the events of the day. I had seen death in various forms during the preceding 12 months, but nothing affected me as deeply as the hangings of Embogi and his fellow murderers."

As a young man in the then Territory in the fifties I knew the late Bill Gordon, again a scion of an old Port Moresby-based Australian family, for whom the modern-day suburb Gordon’s Estate is named. Bill was the hangman in all but a few of the Northern Division executions, although not in case of the first five executions at Higaturu. An officer of the Royal Papuan Constabulary sent from Port Moresby for the purpose officiated here. Bill Gordon, an alcoholic whose later life was governed by his addiction, once said in his cups “I don’t care about the Japs. I hung lots of them, too. But those natives, bad bastards and all that they were, I still see ‘em. Still see ‘em.”

‘The War in Papua – The Executions at Higaturu’ was originally published in The (PNG) National. You can download the complete article here…..  Download the_higaturu_hangings.pdf

Don’t forget to participate in the PNGAA consultation. Discussion paper and questionnaire here.....  Download pngaa_consultation.pdf

Pardon, Mr Somare, you're being watched

It’s fascinating to read declassified documents that pertain to the era one lived through. They give a whole new meaning to the word ‘paranoia’. And, judging by the classified documents it produced in the years leading up to Independence in 1975,  the Australian Administration in PNG was certifiably paranoid.

Take this Police Special Branch report on Michael Tom Somare, destined to become the father of Independence. “He is an angry young man, overtly anti-European and anti-Australian, who has had numerous brushes with the authorities and is on record as having expressed sympathy with the Communist cause".

Somare had come to ‘prominent notice’ when, in September 1964, he criticised the Public Service Act. "At the same time, he made reference to the House of Assembly as being a 'puppet of the Administration', and added that if students were unable to achieve their demands by negotiation, they must do so by force.”

In December 1965, Somare was transferred to Wewak by his employer the Department of Information and Extension Services. A department officer who knew Somare as a "friendly, personable, cooperative individual" subsequently found him to be "sullen, with a chip on his shoulder and an anti-European attitude.

“Somare has been described by competent observers as being an angry young man. As far as is known, he has not indulged in any subversive activity and his loyalties are in no doubt. He has a propensity towards speaking out on matters concerning the conditions of employment of local officers regardless of the consequences, and could seriously embarrass this Administration by so doing. By virtue of his education and proven ability to speak and organise he could become a formidable force in local affairs in the near future."

Well, at least they got that right.

Where exactly is this WWII monument?

 

This photograph is of a monument erected in Rabaul to commemorate the tragic sinking of the Montevideo Maru in World War 2. The ship was inadvertently torpedoed by a US submarine off the Philippines on its way to Japan on 1 July 1942. The tragedy took the lives of 1,053 soldiers and civilian prisoners of war, mostly Australians, who had been rounded up on the Japanese-occupied islands of New Britain and New Ireland.

This image was sent to PNGAA member Colin Huggins by a collector of WW2 memorabilia with whom he works at Brisbane City Council. The question we’re asking readers is: where exactly on the Gazelle Peninsula is this monument located? If you know post a Comment below.

By the way, you can left click on the image to enlarge it and read the text.

Blatchford Collection for 1961 now on site

The latest addition to The Blatchford Collection is now available in ASOPA People Extra. Loch Blatchford has reached 1961 in his continuing summary of important documents relating to the development of government education in Papua New Guinea.

The summaries make truly fascinating reading. Here’s a taste.

Extracts from March journal, John Paynter, Area Education Officer, Saidor: “13.3.61, 1655. Arrived at the bank of Warop River to find it in flood. This left me in a quandary as I had no food or clothing with me. Saw L/Rover on opposite bank so decided to take a chance and swim the river. The current was far stronger than I thought and I was swept 300 yds downstream before making other side. Sustained bruises to body and lacerations to feet and legs. 1730. Left Sel and set out by L/Rover for Saidor. Arrived at Bidin River to find it in flood and impossible to ford. Decided against swimming. Sunday. I accidentally sustained a gunshot wound to the foot and this will limit my walking considerably.”

Comment from GT Roscoe, Director of Education: “After having survived the perils of these few days it is probable that you will last until retirement if you are duly cautious in your dealings with floods and firearms.”

The August issue of The Mail (No 126) is also now available in ASOPA People Extra.

Tamate: A fellow creature, slowly roasted

Maitland Mercury, 23 June 1883

The Rev Mr Chalmers, who has lived in New Guinea as a missionary for seven years, and is described as probably knowing more about that vast and mysterious island than any other European living, recently spoke on the subject in Brisbane, he is reported by the Brisbane Courier to have said that "Queensland ought to be very proud of their new acquisition”. It was a magnificent island, and inhabited by a fine race of men. He earnestly hoped that the occupation of the island by white men would not mean the extinction of the natives, but would rather tend to teach, instruct, and establish them.

He did not wish to see the people civilised in the usual conventional manner; he did not believe in disguising the blacks, no shirt-and-trousers natives. For his part, he preferred pure, unadulterated savages. Six years ago he landed in Port Moresby, and settled among a cannibal tribe encountering many troubles and difficulties at the outset. Afterwards things became more settled, and they were invited to a cannibal feast, but thought it better to decline the invitation. His wife, however, had made friends with a neighbouring chief, who looked in during the evening with a piece of flesh which he thought would prove an acceptable morsel to his guests. Great was his astonishment at their refusing to eat a portion of a fellow creature, however delicately roasted.

For the last three years there have been great improvements in their habits, and for that period cannibal feasts have been unknown at Port Moresby. Many have joined the Christian church, and have been baptised ; and though, perhaps, they are not great theologians, still their faith is pure and simple. When the gold prospectors visited the island some years ago, one of them shot a native. The natives then became hostile, and threatened the lives of the teachers. He called the natives together and explained that the teachers hud come simply to instruct tbem, and wanted nothing in return. He succeeded in pacifying them for the time, and they agreed to accept their teacher, who, however, became unpopular, and was shortly afterwards murdered when the great massacre of teachers took place.

The missionaries had had a hard struggle ; some had fallen through the unhealthy climate, some had been murdered ; but daylight was now dawning over that island, and he trusted the time not distant when it would be prosperous and enlightened.

Source: ‘New Guinea’, The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser, Saturday 23 June 1883 [National Library of Australia]

Footnote: James ‘Tamate’ Chalmers was described as “a tough, canny Scot of incredible self-assurance and conviction and kindness whose moral interpretation was law on the Papuan Coast; a man of deep and abiding humanity; an honourable man.” On 8 April 1901, Chalmers, another missionary and several Papuan evangelists were surrounded by armed men in the Fly River area. Promised a banquet, the missionaries (who always travelled unarmed) were clubbed and killed, their bodies cooked with sago and eaten.

The National Library has just launched a website reproducing facsimiles of many Australian newspapers dating well back into the 19^th Century. A number include contemporary stories of the early exploration of Papua. You can visit the Library’s excellent newspaper website here.

PNG education 1961: the Roscoe era ends

Loch Blatchford

The attempt to recruit trained teachers from Australia was disappointing. Only 40 of the anticipated 100 teachers arrived in the Territory. The E Course, on the other hand, proved a success with 55 teachers graduating from the first course and 65 from the second. Hasluck had hoped that these teachers would open new schools in remote postings, but a large proportion was used to relieve overcrowding in existing schools.

An investigation into the running of the Department, called for by E Course principal Salt, commenced in January and Roscoe seriously considered resigning. Instead he asked for the immediate appointment of his replacement, first to the position of Deputy Director and then to Director upon Roscoe’s retirement. The position was advertised in April 1961, LW Johnson’s appointment was announced in September and his arrival set for February 1962.

The plan to recruit Training Masters was scrapped. Students coming through the education system were too young to become teachers, while those of a suitable age could be handled adequately by Territory colleges. Approval was given to recruit 150 Cadet Education Officers in 1962. Roscoe wanted them trained at Kerevat but, as it would take at least three years to build a college, he recommended that the Department of Territories recruit the number that could be accommodated at ASOPA plus those who could be trained at State colleges.

Hasluck announced a five-year plan for the Educational, Social and Economic Advancement of Papua and New Guinea in October 1961 and set targets. Funds were scarce; Education was made more accountable and asked to produce specific and detailed plans to achieve the Minister’s objectives.

The Blatchford Collection summaries of official and other documents that track the development of the PNG education system in 1961 will be soon published in ASOPA People Extra. Summaries of each year from 1944 to 1960 are currently available under ‘Blatchford Collection’.

Photo: The Airman’s Memorial School at Ewasse, West New Britain, in the early 1960s [Fred Hargesheimer]

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.”

TPNG education: the 1959 enlightenment

“As a newcomer to the field of native education, I learnt to share Mr Grove’s views. I felt that a place should be kept in native education for the use of the vernacular, and that the people’s old ways of life should not be completely broken down. To some extent I shared Mr Grove’s vision of the Papua and New Guinea of the future, consisting of happy communities of peasants reasonably enlightened and living in modest comfort; but without the complications and frustrations and material paraphernalia of modern civilization. Experience has shown that this pleasant dream is unlikely to come true….

“I was appointed Director of Education on September 1^st 1958, and two weeks later the Minister [Paul Hasluck] discussed educational policy with me. I outlined a plan, already discussed with the Administrator [Donald Cleland], for Universal Primary Education and Universal Literacy in English. This was accepted in principle by the Minister. Later, it was worked out in detail and received his approval in January 1959…

“Our main trouble at the present time is that very few make teachers in Australia are applying for appointment to the Territory service. We can actually recruit young women to the limit of the quota allowed in the Estimates, but what we need most of all are single young men who are qualified teachers and have the spirit of pioneers. A proposal is at present under consideration for the extension of our recruiting campaign to overseas countries….

“Local Government Council areas are prepared to devote a considerable proportion of their revenue from local taxes to the construction of permanent school buildings. In fact they are doing his to such an extent that the Department is embarrassed because we cannot provide them with trained native teachers. The Department plans an emergency programme of teacher-training in 1960 to provide the maximum possible number of “A” certificated teachers to staff such schools.”

Source: ‘The problems of education in Papua-New Guinea’, GT Roscoe, 15 October 1959. Address to the PNG Regional Group of the Royal Institute of Public Administration, Port Moresby. From The Blatchford Collection.

On the trail of Andrew Goldie, collector

Assoc Prof Steve Mullins, a historian at Central Queensland University, is travelling halfway round the world to the Isle of Cumbrae in Scotland to begin unravelling an intriguing piece of PNG’s early colonial history. In the island’s small museum, he will be given access to a 120-page manuscript written by Andrew Goldie in 1881.

Goldie was one of the first Europeans to live in Port Moresby and from about 1875-90 was the most significant collector of PNG natural history specimens and artefacts for Australian museums. Apprenticed as a gardener in Scotland, he migrated to New Zealand in 1862 and spent ten years as a nurseryman. After collecting botanical specimens in the South Seas, he shifted his attention to PNG, collecting until his death in 1891. His possessions, including an unfinished manuscript, were then sent back to Millport on Cumbrae.

Prof Mullins believes the Goldie manuscript may be a unique window on the Papuan past. His aim is to bring Goldie’s manuscript to life by editing a book containing an annotated and illustrated version of the original hand written manuscript. It will also catalogue the 130 or so Goldie items held by the Queensland Museum.

“Until now very little has been written about Goldie [who] is particularly interesting because he was a commercial rather than a scientific collector,” Prof Mullins says. “Because he opened Port Moresby’s first trade store, Goldie knew everyone on the … south coast, and by annotating his manuscript we hope to coherently link up with their histories.”

Source: ‘Rare New Guinea manuscript comes to light’, The National Weekender, 20 June 2008

Musings of a District Commissioner

Andrea Williams, the editor of the excellent journal Una Voce, which you can only obtain by joining the Papua New Guinea Association (just $20 using the membership form here), has sent me the copy of a speech made in Adelaide in 2004 by former PNGAA president Harry West.

The speech sparkles with anecdote, reminiscence and reflection on Harry’s PNG experience, which began in World War II and, it could be argued, continues today. I’ll be incorporating the full document soon in The ASOPA Archives [left], but these extracts will have to suffice for now.

“I was discharged from the army in Lae in March 1946 and was soon back in the highlands where Medical Assistant Gray

Hartley and myself under Assistant District Officer Jack Costelloe looked after the whole of what is now the Chimbu Province. Most of it was classified ‘uncontrolled’ and tribal fighting was rampant.

“Then came two and a half years at ASOPA in Sydney from September 1947 till March 1950, followed by a culture shock posting to Telefomin to take over from Des Clifton-Bassett, who had opened the remote post at the head of the Sepik a year or so earlier. He was evacuated with scrub typhus and Bobby Gibbes flew in the legendary Dr John McInerney just in time to save Clifton-Bassett’s life. Dennis Buchanan, as an 18 year old lad, loaded the Gibbes Sepik Airways plane that took me to Telefomin.  He went on to develop Territory Airlines and later Flight West in Queensland.

“So difficult were flying conditions to Telefomin from Wewak it was costing 24 shillings to fly in one pound weight of rice. The aircraft had no radio and there were numerous aborted flights. Patrols were long and tough without portable radios, airdrops or helicopters. It was more than eight weeks before I found out about the 1951 Mt Lamington disaster.

“I was on the first contact patrol to the Oksapmin people, through the rugged limestone pinnacles at 12,000 feet from Telefomin. My final long Telefomin patrol took many days and reached the headwaters of the May River where, almost by miracle, we rescued an abducted Telefomin girl and persuaded Miamkaling, the headman of the feared Mianmin people, to accompany us back to Telefomin.

“[In the late sixties the Mataungan Association emerged in the Gazelle peninsula.] ‘Mata’ means eye and ‘Ungan’ to look after. The Tolais wanted to handle  their own affairs. With more than 100 years of white domination, it was evident they had gained little and lost a lot. Many of them were landless through the virtual stealing of vast areas of land by the Germans, which had not been rectified, and pressures were rising through the demands of cash cropping as well as subsistence farming and rapid population growth, related to excellent medical services.

“Having lost their land, economically they saw the central government’s move towards multi-racial councils as strangling them politically and socially. There was drama. Police strength was built up in Rabaul to 1,000 – one-third of the Territory’s total force. The Tolais were divided amongst themselves about 50-50 pro and anti multi-racial council, but everywhere was the overwhelming desire to handle their own affairs.

“John Kaputin brought home new ideas from the East-West Center in Hawaii. The Administration tried all sorts of approaches and brought in many local and overseas ‘experts’. When the well-respected Papuan Oala Oala Rarua arrived, his mission was misunderstood and the eminent Tolai leader Nason Tokiala came to me in great secrecy and said: ‘Mr West, watch gud long dispela Oala Oala Rarua. Im I spi bilong Dr Gunther’ [‘Beware of him, he’s (Assistant Administrator) Gunther’s spy’]. Opinions differed at the Rabaul, Moresby and Canberra levels and loyalties were divided.”

Source: Speech by HW West to the PNGAA Adelaide Reunion Lunch, 31 October 2004

 

Of chillies, curfews & universal education

Call me a poor sad former chalkie if you will, but I’m enjoying my crawl through the latest 100 or so page summary that Loch Blatchford has compiled from his pre-Independence PNG education archives – the documents referred to as The Blatchford Collection.

The full summary for 1959, which was a big year for education in PNG, will soon appear in ASOPA PEOPLE. Geoffrey Roscoe had attained the Director’s job with the backing of Territories’ Minister Paul Hasluck and was attempting to force-march the Education Department to the great aspirational goal of universal primary education.

It was an issue much mentioned in the media and discussed widely at teaching conferences, seminars and in-service courses. But, beyond general agreement on policy and a few administrative changes, little progress was made. The same problems remained as had bedevilled the Education Department for ten years: no money, no materials and no men (or women).

But if that wasn’t enough of a problem, a UN visiting mission recommended that priority be given to secondary education and, adding to the pressure, Roscoe himslef informed Administrator Donald Cleland that it was time to start planning for a university.

Among the thousands of documents that comprise The Blatchford Collection, and which Loch Blatchford [seen here safely ensconced in filing cabinet] is painstakingly summarising for us, are many vignettes that – through the policy smoke and bureaucratic fog – shine through and bring alive those distant times of fifty years ago. Here are a few for today.....

 

Secretary for Law WW Watkins tabled regulations to abolish the ban on the beating of drums at night in towns and taking part in a singsing in town, at night without the approval of a District Officer.

The South Pacific Post, Director reported that GT Roscoe, back from a trip to Hollandia, wanted 200 tape recorders to help teach native children English. But the idea was in abeyance because it was realised there was no one to fix them when they broke.

There were echoes of Oliver Twist when Roscoe told Rev Fr Morrison that the Department could not provide further rations for boarding pupils in mission schools. “In Netherlands New Guinea the Dutch authorities have taught the people to grow new plant foods such as chillies and Brazilian cherries”, the Director helpfully added, drawing on his new found experience west of the border.

Finally, on 20 April 1959, Administrator Donald Cleland abolished the 11 pm curfew applying to Papuan and New Guinean inhabitants of the main Territory towns. “This action is being taken as one of the measures to withdraw discriminatory legislation,” he said. The abolition had been considered previously but was withdrawn until the Commissioner of Police confirmed “that the Police Force was adequate to maintain law and order and provide full protection for the general public.”

Notes from an ASOPA diary

Max Hayes came upon this site by accident yesterday when checking a reference for the MV ‘Desikoko’, which conveyed some soldiers and civilians from Rabaul shortly before the Japanese captured the town on 23 January 1942. The capture of Rabaul, the aftermath of the Tol massacre and the sinking of the ‘Montevideo Maru’ are areas of ongoing research for Max. But the notes he provides us with here are about ASOPA. And pay special attention to his wonderfiul run-in with Dr Peter Lawrence. Max writes....

I was an ex RAAF photographer who was selected for the Royal Papua and New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) in 1959 to set up a photographic section for the force. As a prelude, I had a compulsory short sojourn at ASOPA. I arrived there on Monday 8 June 1959 and, in my diary, made the few notes that follow. Others whom I can recall on the course were Grace Cuthbertson (who became a Rabaul welfare officer) and Pat Ayers (a nursing sister).

8 June, introduction and various lectures, some free time to spend in the library, meals and accommodation good, staff lecturers and fellow students all co-operative, one of the chaps has fourth baby so we adjourned to nearly hotel to celebrate.

9 June, interesting medical and law lectures.

10 June, decided to live at home ( parents lived at Kingsgrove).

11 June, leave home at 7.25am and arrive at Mosman 8.40am. Lectures very interesting and I have a feeling that I will like NG very much.

15 June, Queen's birthday so slept in at home.

17 June, guess who incurred Dr Lawrence's wrath by dozing briefly during his anthropology lecture [the lecture was on ‘live egos and dead egos’, which he illustrated by moving small triangles around on a blackboard, and I was bored out of my brain. I have a recollection of him jumping up and down and screaming "Get out, get out" and shaking me violently. That was a short day for me].

18 June, only seven days to go as I set out for NG.

22 June, possibly the most interesting series of lectures in any one day. Lecturers claim that respect from natives is usually not sincere but merely a pretence.

24 June, away from Mosman about 12.30pm.

25 June, final clearances, pack up and leave from Mascot at 8.15pm.

26 June, (Friday) arrive at PM 6.45am and met by an officer and constables. Located at P Moresby hotel, received equipment (including pistol). I am sure I will like PNG.

End of ASOPA recollections. I went back to the old ASOPA campus in 1998 to locate records of any fellow police officers who had attended there, but told all records dumped as no department, organisation, archive or library wanted them. Such a shame.

You may have seen my various articles over the years in Una Voce and elsewhere. My mission to set up the police photographic section didn't last: they were short of officers in Rabaul and I was sent there six weeks after setting foot in PNG. Commissioner Normoyle said, "Just watch what the other fellows do and you will be alright".

My interests are the overseas police officers of British New Guinea, Papua, German New Guinea, the Territory of New Guinea and the RPNGC from 1888 to 1988. I’m also working to get recognition for Australia's first battle against the Germans at Bitapaka on 11 September 1914 and the loss of our first submarine AE1, never seen again. I’m also a student of World War II particularly as it relates to Rabaul, Toll and the ‘Montevideo Maru’.

Max served in the Royal Australian Air Force from 1950-57 and the Royal Papua New GuineaConstabulary from 1959-74 and was a member of the Papua New Guinea Volunteer Rifles from 1961-63. He has been a member of the International Police Association since 1964. Max lives in Box Hill, a suburb of Melbourne.

War graves on Bougainville

The Office of Australian War Graves is trying to find out if there are any official or private war memorials in Bougainville for which the Office could take over maintenance. The Office knows of one substantial Australian memorial on Sohano Island, erected between 1945 and 1954. The memorial features a combined service emblem.

Joe Filippi, president of the PNG RSL, has asked ASOPA PEOPLE readers if they may be able to provide advice on war memorials on Bougainville, or add to knowledge of the Sohano memorial – that is, exactly when it was constructed and by whom? You can contact Joe by email here.

The story of Barthes the Chainer

Prague, Monday - I couldn't  make up my mind about whether to categorise the  bizarre episode recorded in the following documents as Sport, Events or Nostalgia, finally opting for the conservative and safe choice of History. If nothing else, it reminds us that Papua New Guinea offered up some strange characters - and peculiar incidents.

29 January 1958. Speaking at the Summer School of the Australian Institute of Political Science in Canberra, PNG Assistant Administrator Dr John Gunther says: “There are some missions, and I regret they are amidst the bigger, who not only seek the soul but demand secular obedience…” [‘Hell Fire Theology’, South Pacific Post]

26 February 1958. ”Administration cooperation with the Missions in the Madang District was vital because the teaching of the Christian faith to natives was a main protection against communism, Mr I Downs MLC, said here recently”. [‘Christianity Main Protection, MLC Says’, South Pacific Post]

28 August 1958. A missionary from Goilala chains children by the neck for running away. At night they are chained under the house. Children who misbehave have their hair cut off and do road work. [‘Children Wear Chains’, South Pacific Post]

15 September, 1958. Bishop and Vicar Apostolic of Port Moresby Right Reverend Andre Sorin quotes from a 1916 Pastoral Letter to the Teachers of the Mission, which says: “Be strict in obtaining from the Children silence and good behaviour… Be firm but be kind… These little people are exceedingly light and giddy brained, easily distracted, very soon tired of keeping quiet and listening. You must bear patiently with them and never be violent or cruel.”

22 October 1958. Universal Children’s Day. GT Roscoe instructs schools to arrange an appropriate celebration.

5 November 1958. Administrator DM Cleland writes to Right Reverend Andre Sorin concerning a priest who chains truant school children under a house for periods of up to a month. Cleland says he could press charges of assault occasioning bodily harm and illegal deprivation of liberty but will not prosecute at this stage. “There can be no excuse for these practices on small children.”

5 November 1958. Cleland to Father J Barthes saying he will not prosecute at this stage as “I am inclined to believe that you acted under mistaken ideas that what you were doing was for the good of the people and as to the powers and authority of a parent or teacher… and unless I receive your undertakings to abandon these, what I can only describe as barbarous, practices forthwith or if I receive a report of their repetition, I should be failing in my duty if the full force of the law were not invoked.”

25 November 1958. Cleland writes to the Secretary, Department of Territories, in a memo entitled Jongai Mission – Chaining of Children by Missionary. He is replying to a radiogram concerning newspaper allegations. “The punishments included cutting off of hair, placing chains around the necks of a number of boys, imprisonment for periods of up to one month in unpleasant circumstances beneath the Mission house, and compulsory garden labour out of school hours. The local people according to their own statements were either not concerned or in agreement with what was done. Legal proceedings postponed at this stage.”

Source: The Blatchford Collection

Roscoe proposes but Gunther disposes

Around 14 October 1958, the new PNG Director of Education, Geoff [GT] Roscoe, took himself off to Canberra to see Territories Minister Paul Hasluck. He carried with him a detailed outline for a submission to introduce universal primary education in the Territory. Not trusting the Department of Territories, nor the PNG Administration, Roscoe did not show his paper to anyone before the meeting.

Roscoe, determined to impress Hasluck, prepared his submission accordingly. He later wrote to Loch Blatchford: “If you're going to talk to a man like the Minister you put all the important stuff on the top, front page; the supporting materials behind. And the more impressive it looks, the more diagrams and graphs and things there are, the better.”

When Roscoe entered Hasluck’s office, the Minister began to lecture him on universal literacy and universal knowledge of English. Roscoe pushed forward his papers. After reading a few pages, Hasluck said: “Why didn't I get these before?” Roscoe replied: “Because you didn't appoint me Director before.”

Hasluck approved the plan in principle and said funds would be forthcoming subject to a more detailed submission. Roscoe returned to PNG elated. Administrator Donald Cleland, however, was unimpressed, and Roscoe blamed Assistant Administrator John Gunther.

Gunther was a powerful figure in the Administration. Under his directorship the Public Health Department had dominated the budget for years. Roscoe was now asking that Education be given the same priority, but Gunther was not prepared to support it. Roscoe was faced with an unconvinced Administrator, Assistant Administrator and other departmental heads – all intent on promoting their own interests.

Roscoe recalled: “I went back [to PNG] and I tried to do it and I found the same old obstructions. From the Treasury, from the Department of Works, from the Administrators' Department.