A Kiap's Chronicle
BILL BROWN MBE
INTRODUCTION
Bill (William Thomas) Brown was born on 6 December 1929 and educated at Sydney Technical High School. He was selected to attend the Australian School of Pacific Administration (ASOPA) before being transferred to the Territory of Papua and New Guinea as a Cadet Patrol Officer in December 1949. Between 1966 and 1973, he completed a Commerce degree by external study from the University of Queensland.
In 1950, he was posted to Kairuku on Yule Island in Papua as his initial assignment and the following year became officer-in-charge of the one-man Urun Patrol Post in the Goilala area, three days walk from Tapini government station. Then followed a period in Kainantu in the Eastern Highlands, during which he led patrols into the remote and uncontrolled Lamari and Aziana River areas.
In 1955, Bill began an 11-year stint in the Sepik District, where he was in charge of patrol posts at Vanimo and Dreikikir and then sub-districts at Aitape, Ambunti, Telefomin, Wewak and Maprik. In June 1966, he was transferred to Bougainville for field duties associated with CRA's problems in prospecting for gold and copper. His assiduous work was recognised in 1968 when he was made a Member of the British Empire in the New Year's Honours list. The award was described as "a rare honour never before granted to a DDA (Department of District Administration) officer of Brown's rank."
In 1969, he was appointed District Commissioner for the CRA project area and was given responsibility for the entire Bougainville District in 1971. His PNG career finished in 1975 and he was variously Head of Administration of the Australian Film and Television School and, for six years, Director of Programmes and sometime Secretary-General of the South Pacific Commission.
Bill is a former Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and lives with his wife Pamela at Bilgola Beach in Sydney.
1 – ASOPA
Becoming a kiap: I get to serve in Papua New Guinea
2 – Port Moresby
Port Moresby landing: My New Guinea adventure begins
3 – Kairuku
Papua 1950: I settle into outstation life
4 - Malcolm Wright
My first patrol: Under the command of a real hero
5 - Going solo
Some unexpected twists on my first independent patrol
6 - Goilala
I begin to settle into my role in this wild, unpredictable place
7 - Urun
Foregoing scheduled leave, I'm tasked to build a remote mountain airstrip
8 - Kainantu
Things get pretty willing as I patrol restricted territory south of Kainantu
9 - Settling into Kainantu
In Kainantu I become familiar with the highlands & road building
10 - Incident at Obura
Fights on patrol & fights with my headquarters both turn out OK
11 - Vanimo
I'm despatched to the Sepik - but is it an escape or a punishment?
12 - Aitape
Including a frustrating attempt to map the border with Dutch New Guinea
13 - Dreikikir
Now I really run into bureaucracy, still trying to work it out 60 years later
14 - Ambunti
Reposted where I want to be, the Sepik: full of big characters & big adventures
15 - Around the Sepik
Troubled & colourful personalities, promotion & marriage come my way
16 - Telefomin
The murders of kiaps & police pose problems in the field & for Pax Australiana
17 - Chapter to come
18 - Chapter to come
19 - Chapter to come
20 - Bougainville landfall
21 - Coming to grips with Bougainville
I get out amongst the Bougainville people to better understand their grievances about mining
22 - Trapped between landowners & bureaucrats
23 - Anti-mining tensions escalate at Barapina
24 - An unwelcome call to Canberra
25 - The Administration versus the People
26 - The plot against Bougainville
27 - The UN visiting mission
28 - In defence of the people's land
29 - CRA, you're unwelcome
30 - Tightening the screw
31 - Propaganda & confrontation
32 - A prime ministerial intervention
33 - Construction & dislocation
NOTES & COMMENTS
Chapter 1 – ASOPA
From Phil Fitzpatrick
Given your scrupulous attention to detail and insistence on getting the facts right I'm surprised you didn't top your class at ASOPA, Bill.
From Bill Brown
Phil, I had no ambition to excel at ASOPA. As I wrote, I did enough study to pass the exams. I had no intention of staying in PNG. I intended to stay there for just six months, see the country, and move on. It did not work out that way; the country and the people ensnared me.
At the end of the first term (21 months), instead of going on leave, I deferred it. I took a bush posting, and went to Urun - three days walk from Tapini, and spent almost a year there alone, except for five policemen, a couple of donkeys and a mule. I enjoyed my time amongst the Fuyuge people just as much as I had enjoyed the time with the Roro and Mekeo. I think the die was cast in the second term, again extended - but only by six months, when Ian Downs gave me the sub-district while Harry West was on long leave. It was heady stuff - taking over Kainantu Sub District in my second term.
From Chris Overland
Here's a photo of that bus that carried so many new kiaps....
From Barbara Short
Great story. Keep writing!
From Arthur Williams
I enjoyed it too Bill. The thing about the bus which I recall, is the amount of dust which covered us by the end of our trip to Kwikila's old kalabus [gaol] where we were housed for the few months orientation. We married guys had left our wives behind in Sydney to join us after the course. We got a room at Madang until flying out via a stopover in Rabaul ('due to weather in New Ireland') to Kavieng. I arrived at my posting in New Hanover on Christmas Eve. Those 45 years have flown.
From Phil Fitzpatrick
Looking forward to the next episode, Bill. Your frank and detailed style is most engrossing. I hope there's a book on the way. PS - They were still using the same bus to pick up new cadets in 1967 when I arrived - except maybe they'd painted it dark blue.
From Chips Mackellar
Terrific story Bill, just as I remember my arrival in PNG four years later. But where can we buy your book?
From Philip G Kaupa
I need to read this book. I can get a glimpse of a beautiful past.
From Keith Jackson
Not a book yet, Philip, but Bill Brown is preparing more articles for PNG Attitude taken from his unpublished memoir, which I hope won't stay unpublished for long.
From Gordon Barry Shirley
Excellent please carry on. Many of us chalkies had similar experiences.
From Paul Oates
It sure brings back the memories. Thanks Bill. Our arrival was also through that corrugated iron shed in 40+ degrees and that comment about the 'bus' that took us to our field training at Kwikila in '69.
From Noel Pascoe
Down to earth writing.
From Munro Kennedy
What a great story. And told in a style that matches the scene perfectly. No connection with PNG, an interested observer only.
From Chris Overland
Great piece Bill. What surprises me is how little out station life had changed when I arrived in TPNG in 1969. The same kero lights, fridges and freezers were still the standard household items at Baimuru in 1970, while my house was only marginally better equipped than yours at Kairuku. Even as a latecomer, it seems that I had an "authentic" experience, for which I am extremely grateful.
From Phil Fitzpatrick
I agree with Chris - it all has a curious familiarity to it. I arrived in 1967. There's nothing in there much different, except maybe we had Coleman lanterns and not Tilleys. Although I bought a superior Petromax for personal use. Bera Baupa must be Leo Bera's father. I knew Leo when he arrived at Ningerum as an Assistant Patrol Officer. I later worked with him doing social mapping when he was with InterOil - he died not so long ago.
From Tony Wright
Bill, Your memoirs are always detailed, well written and interesting. Please consolidate all your service into a book for the benefit of us all.
From Arthur Williams
Wonderful detailed picture of your arrival at first posting, Bill. I was sent to Taskul an isolated Petrol Post on a small peninsula so nearest village was several miles away. One of my first memories is of my first Saturday....Silence! It was as if the world had passed us by. As it was in the middle of Cold War I recall thinking perhaps we on Lavongai would survive while the outside world went crazy. 30 years later when I was living on the by then rundown station again it was still the same...silence! A benefit missed by billions today.
From Chips Mackellar
Superbly written, Bill. I agree with Tony. Can't wait to see these stories consolidated into a book.
From Ed Brumby
I think we all remember the silence of the weekends and, at night, only the hiss of the Tilley/Coleman/Butterfly. Or did we not hear the sounds of the bush and the birds and the binatangs ....
From Munro Kennedy
What a great article. Loved every bit of it. Thanks Bill.
From Bill Brown MBE
Greetings Guba Nou, I should have responded to your query about Philo Parau much earlier, but I thought a family member might pick up the thread. My apologies. Firstly, Philo’s surname was not Bera; she was a Parau. Her father was Leo Parau. Philo (Philomena) - born in August 1924 - was a single mother with a young son named Tony - probably baptised Anthony. He was said to be four years old.
Philo’s father, Leo Parau, had a long, distinguished career. He was one of Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Hubert Murray’s most valued official interpreters for many years before the Pacific War, and during the war years at Kairuku – he was the District Officer, Major W H H Thompson’s right hand man. That loyalty cost him immediately after the war. Someone accused him of stealing, possibly a relative of one the murderers he pursued, or one of the men he had ‘encouraged’ to carry on the Bulldog or Kokoda trail. He was found innocent of the charge.
Some of the people in my era who spoke with admiration of Leo Parau included Bishop André Sorin MSC, Judge Ralph (RT) Gore, and J K McCarthy. Leo died in 1970. The only person that I knew named Bera was Bera Baupua. He worked in the Sub-district Officer at Kairuku when I was stationed there in 1950 -1951, but Philo was not there for all that time. Bera’s younger sister married an expat kiap. Kiap Leo Bera may well have been his son.
From Donald Ian Woollard
During my early thirties in the early 1980s, I worked at Yule Island for two years as a VSO volunteer. My title was Director of St Peter’s Youth Training Centre - a project aimed at imparting practical skills (and teaching English) to young men who hailed from communities (mainly Guari, Tapini, Kosipe, Woitape) in the Central Province mountains.
The guiding light, instigator and driving force behind the project (and ostensibly my, if not boss then certainly guide and mentor) was Sister Joseph Mary of the OLSH Convent. Sister at that time ran the health clinic. The training centre occupied many of the old buildings/facilities from the old government station.
Many of the anecdotes shared by correspondents to this page bring back similar memories. Although electricity had been installed by that time, supply was at best erratic, and Coleman lamps and kerosene fridges were a necessary stand-by if not essential items. We maintained many of the former staff houses and used them to house weekend (paying) guests as an income-generating activity.
During my time there I married (by Fr Pierre Didier) and my wife taught briefly at the high school. At the end of my two-year contract on Yule Island, I worked for the next two years at the Kaiap Orchid Lodge in Enga Province. To bring my Melanesian experience to a close, I worked as Director of the Plantation Support Association, based in Luganville, Vanuatu. I would be happy to share anecdotes and memories of my time at Kairuku with any of your correspondents.
From Nelly Parau (Pouna)
Reading through your article, I came across names of people I am related to. Firstly, Bera Baupua is my father, Joseph Abiri Baupua's eldest brother. Their sister's name is Matilda Aiwa Baupua, now Heuston, after she married the kiap Terry Heuston. Philo Parau is also my aunt, and yes she had a son, Tony Parau (now deceased). Bera Baupua's eldest son is Leo Aisi Bera. Wow, this article is so interesting.
From Norah Abau
Thank you Bill, Interesting article and great to know my immediate family members were part of the history of Yule Island, Kairuku. Bera Baupua was my mother's father (Anne Marie Bera) and I call Philo Parau my grandmother as she was a cousin sister to my grandfather.
From Samantha Mary Baker
Hi Bill, very interesting article. I'm surprised that Tom Baker, my great-grandfather, was mentioned. I am currently conducting research to find out about his journey from London UK to Yule Island and also about how and why he came to be buried near the LMS United Church in Delena. By the way, Tom originated from Norway not Sweden. I'd like to know if anyone may have stories about him.
From Helen Bure
There is really nothing much about the history of the island and its inhabitants. Would be nice if this was covered.
From Arthur Williams
Bill another great chapter. Is this all from memory or did you keep diaries? I smiled at Sydney Morning Herald being most desirable smoking paper. I too found this out and imported 2 x 20 kg bundles every month for sale in my Metekavil store in the 1970s. Sold it for a handsome 10 toea for full double page. Some ripped that in half for same price. If I ever ran out between ships my customers were very unhappy with the Post Courier. Apparently SMH did run a story about there newspaper's 'readership' in rural PNG.
Perhaps stirred by demand for newsprint smoking paper the local cigarette company agent once came to see me and ask my opinion about a new idea they had to increase sales. It was for the company to produce ready made tobacco in 5 or 6 inch sticks but pre-wrapped in their factory in what appeared to be newsprint. “Looks very marketable” I told him. So was born the Mutrus branded tobacco stick. Incidentally it brought to an end the once favourite block of black tobacco that held about 48 twists stuck together in molasses or something like that. This had been a stalwart favourite for over hundred year with all sorts of traders.
In the 1970s and 80s every smoker would have a small sharp knife in his coconut bag with which to pare off a few pieces of black stuff to roll his own. Also in his bag would normally be an Asian cheap trade store cigarette lighter with its renewable wick and tiny flint which we tradestore owners stocked too. The old men took a lot of persuading in the 90s to buy the new disposable type. Couldn't believe it when I told one old-timer he just had to throw his old one away and buy another. Muttered under his breath and said, “Masta giaman - Bai mi painim wei bilong sitreitim gen!” In fact did see a few that had been refilled with fuel and seemed to work.
Thanks Bill your stories rekindle some good memories. Even your 'pert bare breast' ones but inap pastaim, that can wait for another day.
From Bill Brown
Arthur, You ask “Is this all from memory or did you keep diaries?” I wrote the first draft of this memoir in 1985, 31 years ago. So long ago, I can hardly remember. I jest! I wrote chapters and chapters and chapters, and they were sourced from material I had accumulated: letters of appointment, letters written to my parents, files, photographs, and a patrol box full of documents that I brought back in 1975. (I know that my personal file and my confidential file are not in the Australian National Archives; they are safely in my keeping.)
For the Bougainville years, there were even more detailed records: a few reports in 1964, many more in 1966, and weekly telegraphed situation reports 1967 to 1969, until August, when Prime Minister Gorton demanded daily reports. The Field Officers Journals and other personal papers that I have borrowed have augmented the reservoir.
I learnt to distrust memories, mine and other peoples, when writing about Bougainville and the early days of CRA. I discovered that I had absolutely no recall of my involvement in some specific events; an involvement that was irrefutably established by the archives. My memory was at fault, again, when I said that the LTC had not been involved in the registration of titles at Panguna. (The hundreds of digitised records proved me to be wrong.)
I asked the people, with whom I worked, for their stories, and I queried one or two of their responses. I did not think some incidents had happened as they were described. And the guys, themselves, were amazed when they checked those stories against the records—their own Field Officers Journals. Even though one or two of guys had been dining out on those flawed stories for years, those anecdotes did not make the cut.
The scientists, the neurologists, tell us there is a simple explanation. They say that using your memory is like dragging something from the hard disk; you look at it, add into it—maybe a new photo or conversation—then rewrite it to the hard disk—your memory. Piu says: “If you want to grab a specific memory you have to get down into the cell level. Every time we think we remember something, we could also be making changes to that memory - sometimes we realise, sometimes we do not." … "Our memory changes every single time it is being 'recorded'. That's why we can incorporate new information into old memories and this is how a false memory can form without us realising it."
From Phil Fitzpatrick
I've had similar experiences with my memory Bill. If you tell a lie enough times people will start to believe it, don't know who said that but if you dredge up an incorrect memory enough times you end up believing it too. Sometimes the memory is the way you would have liked something to happen rather than how it actually happened. That's why Clive James called his memoirs "unreliable". I'm putting together a memoir of coming to Australia as a ten pound pom in 1956 and growing up in Elizabeth in SA - checking facts is dispelling a lot of treasured memories. Funny thing the mind.
From Chris Overland
This is another interesting part of Bill's story of his time in PNG. Happily, it is also another useful contribution to the documentation of a period in history that is fast fading from memory in Australia and has probably entirely disappeared in PNG. Future historians will be very grateful for Bill's anecdotes and observations.
From Raymond Sigimet
Thank you Bill Brown MBE for this historical piece (both writing and photographs).
From Ross Wilkinson
Another tale, Bill, where you stir the memories including a name that leapt out at me. In late 1968, after 4 months at ASOPA and then 5 weeks orientation at Kwikila, I was posted to the Morobe Province and then out to Finschhafen under ADC Rick Hill. Finschhafen was one of the first sub-districts in PNG to have a separate courthouse built, one of those (then) modern inverted butterfly types, and to have a magistrate appointed.
The very first task that I recall being given by Rick was to attend the court on a specific date and undertake the prosecution of a villager who had been caught using old explosives for fishing. He was being prosecuted under the Labour Act for using explosives without having a permit. The facts were that he had been caught smacking open M36 hand grenades (Mills Bombs) with a hammer and using the explosive to sprinkle on the water which apparently stunned the fish. He had not been detonating the grenades.
Our evidence that he had been apprehended with was a complete undamaged but rusted grenade and one in various pieces that he had allegedly hit and broken open with a hammer. This was shown to me by Rick in the office and I was expected to take it to court and present it during the hearing. I took one look at it and promptly said we have to destroy that bit immediately, pointing to one of the broken pieces.
I had spent two years in the CMF before becoming a kiap and whilst the Australian Army was equipped with the American M26 grenade and was using it in Vietnam, we poor sods in the CMF were still using the WW2 surplus M36 grenades at the grenade range in Puckapunyal. There is a totally different way of arming each of these types so I was able to recognise that the evidence was an armed grenade and the piece I asked to be destroyed was the segment with the detonator set in it. I also requested that the second complete grenade be disposed of because we were unable to remove the corroded base plug to ascertain whether or not the ignitor set had been inserted. The remaining pieces were sufficient evidence of explosives.
So, off to court we go. Defendant attends dressed in his finest with war medals attached as a former policeman and war veteran. Magistrate enters and we all stand. Upon sitting he introduces himself - Andrew Maino. Defendant is identified and then the magistrate turns to me and asks who is prosecuting and by what authority. First and only time I have ever produced my Police Warrant Card. Case proceeds and the charge is read to the defendant and is asked "How do you plead?" Defendant looks nonplussed and looks around for help. The magistrate turns to me and says, "Mr Wilkinson, the defendant doesn't appear to understand the charge."
I responded, "Your Worship, the laws of the Territory of Papua New Guinea require that any person using explosives must have a permit to do that. Ask him if he has a permit." The magistrate put the question to the defendant in tok pisin and which, in my limited knowledge to that date, I managed to understand. And the reply, which was "No."
“Your Worship, ask the defendant if he had the hand grenades in his possession.” Again the magistrate put the question to the defendant and to which he answered, “Yes, I had the bombs.” The magistrate turned to me and stated that the defendant did not have a permit to use explosives and that he agreed he had possession of the hand grenades to which I quickly responded, "Then he's guilty isn't he?"
Gavel is banged and the magistrate says "Yes, sentenced to one month's detention with hard labour." For the next month the prisoner cut grass on the station including my house and pumped my water tank every morning and I was his best friend despite the short cut in his court hearing.
On return to PNG from leave in July 1975 I was transferred into the newly formed Village Courts Secretariat in the Department of Justice under Ian Holmes. It was essentially a kiap unit because we were magistrates who knew the village and local government scene well and could speak either or both Tok Pisin and Police Motu. After a number of months Ian retired and his number two, Trevor Bergin took over for a short period. We then had our first National Secretary, Andrew Maino, who remembered me from the Finschhafen days but I never spoke to him about our first court case all those years before.
From Phil Fitzpatrick
I think I might have just taken his hand grenades away Ross and threatened him with action if he did it again. All that court rigmarole seems like a bit of overkill.
From Ross Wilkinson
Hindsight is 20/20 vision as they say. Unfortunately, when a SPOS of some six month's seniority is told to do something by his ADC he does what he's told as he doesn't know any better! Perhaps if I'd related the story to Andrew when he came to Village Courts those years later, perhaps we both would have had a bloody good laugh over it.
From Bill Brown
That acronym you use may be an unfamiliar one in today's world, so by way of explanation: The acronym for a Cadet Patrol Officer was CPO, and the plural was CPOs. Neither acronym rolled off the tongue, whereas SPOS, even though it was offensive did. And it could be used in the singular or plural. SPOS was the acronym for a Small Piece of Excreta (Shit - Ed). I do not who introduced the term. I first heard it used by C E (Tim) Terrell in the 1960s, and even then, I thought it was a bit 'off'.
From Arthur Williams
Bill - What incredible experiences you are sharing with us and providing meat for historians at the same time. Enjoyable reads all of them. Already waiting for the next episode.
From Chris Overland
45 years ago, when I was a very junior kiap, I was posted to Baimuru in the Gulf of Papua. There I made the acquaintance of a couple of "old timers", Col Ryman and Adrian Van Pelt, who jointly ran the splendidly named but distinctly down market Gulf Hotel. Naturally, this was the favoured destination for a well deserved after work or after patrol beer. It was from Col that I first learned of the infamous Clarry Healy. Col evidently knew Clarry from the time when he was ADO at Beara, by then a long abandoned patrol post. Despite my close interrogation, Col would never tell me why Clarry, obviously a very experienced kiap, had been consigned to a place like Beara, buried as it was in the vast sago swamps of the Gulf.
Now, Bill has revealed the truth about Clarry's demotion. It seems to me a rather minor offence to give alcohol to someone so I suspect that Clarry's own heavy drinking may have played no small part in the thinking of those who decided to demote him. While heavy drinking amongst Europeans was common in PNG (and probably still is), a kiap with a serious drinking problem may have been judged to constitute an unacceptable risk to good order and governance in remote areas. Trying to divine what the powers that be were thinking 65 years ago is, of course, mere speculation on my part. But I reckon my surmising is at least plausible. In any event, Clarry Healy's various doings while under the influence of alcohol have long since entered the realms of legend, so divining what the truth may be is probably a task beyond even the most diligent historian.
From Arthur Williams
I was reading about rural airstrips still operating in Goilala today and came across the following website which has some very good colour pics of events in the area and plenty of isolated airstrips etc. Well worth a visit at https://goilala.wordpress.com/archives
From Richard Jones
I agree with the description of Tapini's scary airstrip. It's the closest thing to involuntary wetting-of-the-pants take-offs and landings I've ever experienced. And that includes Damascus airport in early May 2011 - 5-6 weeks into the Syrian 'revolt' against Bashar al-Assad with machine guns pointing every which way.
As Bill describes, pilots had to make a steep turn between mountains just to align the aircraft with the Tapini landing strip on the way in. Departure was just as fraught. There we were huddled in this little twin-engined light plane - I don't think it was a push me-pull you Piaggio, but it might have been - as the pilot gunned the motors to full throttle.
Off down the bumpy strip we roared and just cleared the end of the runway to make the reverse sweeping turn into the valley for the flight home. Not for the faint-hearted or those with a fear of flying. I think it was 1966 or 1967 when we were in Tapini. A bloke called Anderson was the kiap in charge at the time. He was super keen on a cold drink at the end of the day, and well into the evening as well.
From Diane Bohlen
Another great episode and very interesting to read about Tapini and your trek to get there. My brother was CPO there for a while after you in the late 1950's. We have some great photos of the place. I remember him describing the airplane landings and take offs.
From Arthur Williams
Bill, Thanks for another interesting yarn about those earlier days. I really hope that future generations in Papua New Guinea can read about their places long before they were born.
From Diane Bohlen
An amazing story and I guess there are many more like this that are still untold.
From Peter Turner
I hope that there are another 30 chapters of this stuff. Fascinating to us 'insiders', especially to those that 'walked the walk and trudged the track' - leeches, rain, mud, saksak swamps, spiny vines, mosquito's, 'tin mit na rais', tropical ulcers, malaria, mountains and rivers that claimed quite a few lives, and terrifyingly dangerous aeroplane rides - and we were not just 'Petrol Officers'. The attrition rate was always high, and no wonder.
The Kiaps Honour Roll records reveal an extraordinary high number of casualties, including a number of families, lost in plane crashes. An inordinate number of early Kiaps died on their stations from disease or soon after evacuation. An unknowable lost world to anyone else, that Bill brings back to life through personalities and events described not only with clarity but with insight.
I visit places I lived 45 (or even 25) years ago and nothing is the same. Nearly everyone I knew is dead. My tireless, patient 'tanim tok' at Koroba in 1971 is still kicking, but, only a few years older than me, Hetawi is ancient. (And how come my grandfather is looking back at me in the shaving mirror every morning?) Everything changes.
The younger generation in PNG know nothing about pre-independence PNG and it is only well crafted, historically accurate and with plenty of human interest stories like these that they will ever get a 'taste' of how this nation was built.
Cities and towns have grown exponentially and unremarked. Both sides of the road from Mt Hagen town to Kagamuga are built up industrial, commercial and residential and soon to have a four-lane highway the same as from Moresby to Bomana (though the Okuk Highway between Hagen and Kundiawa is a goat track). Much of the road out to Nadzab is the same (built up), but a lot of the old outstations are nearly all gone. Road networks have proliferated, most rural airstrips are closed for many years. When the reason for them being there disappeared, so did they.
All those untreated timber, fibro and 'kapa' houses and buildings are gone to rust and dust (or have burnt down) or been 're-occupied' by 'landowners' or anyone brazen enough to exert themselves. It is hard to recognize most outstations, either from development or through the jungle overgrowth. And yet many other places are the picture of modernity, hustle and bustle, construction and development. The outstations may be disappearing but the 'development' along the main arteries in every province is very evident.
As I keep pointing out to 'disappointed with progress' and 'poor social indicators' mob, we don't have any fighter bombers parked out at Jackson's Airport, not one tank in the whole country, no armoured cars, no secret police or 'special forces' no political disappearances, and if it isn't exactly 'Westminster' it's not an awful long way behind Queensland (you trust that mob with safeguarding the Barrier Reef? They voted for 'Joh', Clive Palmer!). I am always struck by how far the country has come and how little many people do not understand just how far it has advanced.
Bill Brown's chronicles are masterful in their ability to recreate and reveal the lost world of where PNG came from, and establishes to the PNG audience the reality of those 'earlier times'. Magnificent Bill. You should post these chronicles on the Ex Kiap website, but I am afraid that Gary Luhrs episodes of the 'Adventures of Patrol Officer Thrustbuttock' will still be accepted as the 'way it really was'.
From Diane Bohlen
Gosh you deserved that leave.
I’m still in the process of digesting the remarkable saga, A Kiap’s Chronicle, by Bill Brown. The unfathomable fleeting aspect of time never ceases to intrigue me, more than ever, as old age advances. I was just getting to high school when you started the first two years of a most remarkable adventures life in PNG. Had you been born just a bit earlier it may not have been your own free will to “have just a look for 6 months at PNG”. Chances would have been that you had to start an unpleasant hike at Ower’s Corner on to the trail to Kokoda.
How different, in so many ways, has the world of today become? Wherever one travels, he or she is constantly connected to the outside world and vice versa. If I hadn’t had the chance to do things like chasing crocodiles while travelling 500 km up the Fly River without any contact to civilisation, I may, like some youngsters of today, have considered bungee jumping off high bridges, if not wing suit flying from the top of the Matterhorn. Of course there are many things I would not want to go back to, like making carbon copies on non-electrical typewriters.
First question: Is there more captivating reading about the time following your first years as kiap? I approve of your not incorrect rubbishing the quality of human memory, but I doubt that you should rightly complain much about suffering from this weakness. Reflecting on how I always appreciated Bill Brown, it surprised me out of the blue to read in your memoirs that you were once but a little insignificant Cadet Patrol Officer; I always thought that you must have come, seen and stepped into a top position from the word go (that obviously only happened when you came across a beautiful girl named Pamela).
Some names on the well-made geographical maps as well as some of the blokes you described so pointedly rang bells. You weren’t the slightest bit off the mark about the disposition of a Percy Chatterton, who, during my time was running the LMS Mission at Koki. His particularly peculiar kind of aloofness seems to have accumulated when later in life he wanted to be considered an absolute genuine Papuan. In regard to the sins of the church against Papuan culture, he once quoted: “We were accused to having eaten quite a substantial number of missionaries. That was wrong. We should have eaten the lot.” (Not that I disagree).
In my book Titbits. I wrote that the Manu Manu people brought us by canoe to a plantation in Galley Reach that was run by an Australian. When I read about your activities in Kanosia it hit me: that was the plantation’s name I had forgotten. Apart from some boobs hanging over the fence of your vegetable garden and the following short question, you complain astonishing little about the hardships of living long periods alone with Stone Age people in most remote places. That made reading about the sad end of your Dalmatian friend all the more heartrending.
I often thought that the job done in PNG by Australia generally, and by many individual Australians in particular, has, along the way and later, never been appropriately commended; by and large, not even by the Papuans themselves. I find it surprising that no resentment of any kind from those people that did the sweating was ever noticeable to me, not even now as the fruits of much of those sacrificial efforts are sliding down the drain. I personally find the philosophical assumption helpful that reaching any objective is of less importance than the way to reach the goal, which in my experience hardly ever lasts.
From Bill Barclay
Wonderful to hear from the redoubtable Kurt Pfund - a brilliant colourful painting of his still hangs on our wall, and I recall the wonderful hospitality he provided up the Rouna Road. His exhibitions were renowned, and and I suspect that likewise his love life was decidedly more colourful than mine.
From Kurt Pfund
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence! If Bill Barclay had mentioned what subject is on the painting he owns, circumstances around the selling may have rung a bell. However, without any further thought about his past love life, I gladly return his best wishes.
Some of the older Australians who comment on PNG Attitude but haven't been in PNG for a long time don't realise that the country has been taken over by people they wouldn't now recognise. And I don't mean that in the sense that those older people we knew were nice because they were compliant or Uncle Toms. Among other things they were honest, happy with their lot in life and mostly friendly and a whole swag of other positive things.
From Harry Topham
As each chapter of Bill’s memoirs unfurls his writing seems, like a flower unfolding, to blossom forth with just the right amount a fact tinged with his inimical whimsical touch of irony makes for pleasant reflection. In this world we currently inhabit beset with doom and gloom it is refreshing to travel back in time when things were so much simpler remembering of course that the hardship endured by kiap pioneers of those days were overshadowed by the true sense of adventure on offer.
As one of the latter short haul kiaps I certainly feel quite humbled by the achievements of my kiap predecessors. Makes one wonder how many other similar stories of other Kiaps chronicles remain untold? Can’t wait until I read the next chapter of Bill’s remarkable life in PNG.
From David Tierney
Bill - What a great account of your experiences as a Kiap. Great to see this documented. Not only interesting, but an important part of PNG/Australian history. Looking forward to the following chapters.
From Mathias Kin
Mr Brown, this is a very interesting story of taim bipo tru...and you have some excellent pictures too of life then. I look forward to reading the next chapter. Thank you tru.
From Nana Kume
A very good inside story about how Kainantu was settled. Really appreciate reading the information. And thanks for the pictures.
Chapter 9 – Settling into Kainantu
From Mathias Kin
Another brilliant piece from Mr Brown. Some wonderful pictures too. That early in the early 1950s Chimbus were already employed so far from their homes! I very much look forward to next chapter.
From Raymond Sigimet
First hand historical recounts from the days of the Kiaps, with outstanding colour photos and informative captions too. Again, a continuation of important historical colonial records of PNG. Thank you, Mr Brown.
From Arthur Williams
In 2007 I was flown into Purossa by Governor Kela Smith in one of his helicopters. An attempt at making a fixed wing airstrip having failed. Ex Kiap Craig McConaghy's Coffee Connections was showing two Hollywood Coffee buyers where their organic, freetrade coffee was grown. I was a possible recruit to his operation there. At Purossa we were greeted with small welcome singsing and then, after a look around, overnighted there.
The next day I was awoken by 'bush mechanic' making a wooden spring for one of the Hilux vehicles. Amazingly it lasted all the way over 'the road to hell' as one writer has described the Purossa – Okapa road. Craig has a video still online of that trip on the website Coffeeconnections.biz and the link is the 'Vournas Coffee visits PNG 2007' and there is a similar earlier trip too.
A memorable trip but nothing like your post of the 1950s patrols. Really enjoy your tales and the history you have reordered for PNG. Always look forward to next.
From Peter Sandery
If you are still musing about your Vanimo sojourn, Bill, might I suggest that you were banished there for earlier transgressions - much the same way the I was banished to Woodlark Island in 1968 for insisting on marrying a Papuan -my senior officers made their point by "posting" me to the only station in the District that did not have a double bed!
From Chris Overland
Another lovely piece Bill. You are conjuring up a vibrant and colourful image of a place and time now long gone. Your story is unique to you yet, from an historic standpoint, an important contribution to the all too thin supply of first person accounts of how TPNG was explored and administered.
From Phil Fitzpatrick
Agree with Chris, Bill - fascinating stuff, especially for us later kiaps.
From Tony Wright
Another fascinating episode, Bill. It brought back some memories - Dick White was my first DC at Mendi in 1962. In 1969 I was posted to Vanimo and John Wakeford was DC there.
From Bill Brown
A response to an email enquiry about oysters, and to comments by Phil Fitzpatrick and Peter Sandery.
The Vanimo ladies collected the oysters at watasiton (water stone), a rock outcrop roughly half an hour’s walk away, eastwards down the beach towards Leitre. I never got there, but I was told that the ladies harvested the oysters with a hammer; smashed the shells while still attached to the rock; plucked the oysters from them, gave them a swirl in the sea, and dropped them into the bottle. Any small pieces of unseparated shell added to the flavour.
There was no weekly aircraft the day Neville Jenkins, a recruiter from Wewak, walked into to catch the plane back to home. There had been no aircraft for over a week. Jenkins stayed with me while waiting for the next plane to arrive, and I was almost out of food. Finally we were reduced to oysters. We ate them for breakfast; we ate them for lunch, and we ate them in the evening—three courses—oyster soup, oysters and veg, and oysters dobbed with tinned cream for dessert.
Jenkins may have been revitalized by those oysters, and more appreciated, when he eventually got back home to his wife. The delightful, “Oh là là” Josette, worked part time behind the bar at the Wewak Point Hotel, and beguiled us all with her French chic.
Phil, I did not think that the letter was a practical joke. I suspected the gobbledygook—especially the phrase “due to exigencies of the service.” I thought the statement that I would be replacing Tom Ellis was a subterfuge, but nothing more than that.
Ellis was probably only in his second term as a kiap then. He had been a Medical Assistant pre-war, served in the RAAF from 1941 to 1946, and had re-joined the Public Health Department post-war. He did not stay for long, leaving to try his had as a gold-miner, joining Jack Thurston at Yamil, outside of Maprik.
As a new kiap, posted to Madang, he had carried out long, thirty-day patrols in the then uncontrolled Adelberg Ranges with CPO Brian Proctor. District Officer C. D. Bates appreciated Ellis’s ability, but the starchy, upper echelon at Headquarters were less forgiving of his earlier career.
Recalled from the Sepik to Madang (when I replaced him?) Ellis was assigned to Bam Island which was rumbling, smoking, and threatening to erupt. Ellis spent two to three months on Bam, and hated it. Which one of us had been banished?
Peter, I never thought that I was not being banished “for earlier transgressions.” The letter, written to DC Elliott-Smith by DC Ian Downs, was a very clear indication that Downs was attempting to rescue me from, what he mistakenly saw, as my own folly.
That I had not been banished was probably further confirmed when, six weeks after arriving in the Sepik, I was transferred from Vanimo to Aitape, to take over the Aitape Sub-district. At the time, three POs, more senior than I—of immediate post-war vintage—were readily available in the District: Mert Brightwell, PO at Ambunti; Ken Brown, PO at Maprik; and Brian Copely, PO at Yangoru.
I remained at Aitape for a year, but more of that anon.
From Tony Wright
Re fresh rock oysters. We were regularly buying them in the early 70's. Can't remember the price but very reasonable and they came in the same packaging, longnecks or wine bottles.
From Fr Garrick Roche SVD
I seem to remember a Bert Carra in the health system in Hagen. Probably the same person mentioned in this blog?
From Rob Parer CMG MBE
Bill, your amazing kanda bridge had everyone stunned and was great for me as I could go from our house at Tadji Plantation to St Anna Plantation on my small BSA motorbike every day. Then when you commenced to build the permanent bridge and after you had driven the 18-inch wide RSJs (girders) way down to bedrock we all watched as your workers from Ali and Tomleo Island built the formwork all around and poured 50 tons of concrete.
We knew this massive block would be there for a hundred years. Until one morning I was going across the kanda bridge on my motor bike after a big storm and thought I was seeing things as the block was gone! Even though there were many huge RSJs driven deep, the concrete block was undermined with the raging current and the weight of the block just bent the RSJs. Mad but true.
So as you know it was many years before we got a bridge.
In those days we would never know exactly when MV Meklon (from CPL Rabaul) would be coming to pick up our copra but one morning somehow we heard that MV Meklon was at Aitape loading area. We lived at Tadji and it was imperative to get to the loading area as it required about 150 workers to do the loading on our large 45ft canoes. Unfortunately the wonderful kanda bridge had been washed away a few weeks before when a branch of a tree being washed down stream caught the bridge.
And this day the Raihu was raging we couldn't go across on the canoe ferry so had to go across hand over hand on the few strands of kanda that were left. The Captain was Laurie Thomas (The Screaming Skull) and, if we had failed to organise the unloading, he would have made sure MV Meklon would never come to Aitape again.
From Rob Parer CMG MBE
The same dedicated Medical Assistant, Bert Carra, put me through a Medical Assistant Certificate. As as we employed over 150 workers on the plantation we were not allowed to send our staff to the Aitape Health Centre. We had a small clinic at each of Tadji, Tepier & St Anna. As there was no Health Centre in the Nuku area, Bert would accompany the Patrol Officer & treat villagers on the way. When the patrol came back, there would be many bad cases carried. Also I would see walking through Tadji Plantation, a long line of villagers who would take the opportunity to come to the coast to sell their tobacco leaves & purchase salt.
When I got there in 1954, at St Anna Plantation just near the present Catholic Mission office, there was a heap of large beer bottles left over from the war. It was about 50 metres long and 3 metres high by 3 metres.The bottles were a treasure for the Nuku people to fill with salt & take back home. Of course the bottles could also be broken to use for shaving.The massive heap didn't last long!
We would buy the tobacco as it was good quality. We would put it in a 44 gallon drum & press it down with a timber jack between the floor beams of our house.This way it would last up to 6 months. By the Territory of PNG workers' law, we had to provide stick tobacco or tobacco leaves every week with newspaper for rolling it. The crazy rules made by bureaucrats in Canberra! The blankets we had to provide were wool & a Labour Inspector would check the weight of them.
From Arnold Mundua
Interesting read, Bill. Thank you. Looking forward to the next chapter.
From Barbara Short
Thank you so much for that, Bill. It has now gone viral on Facebook. I'm sure you wouldn't mind. Have a few Sepiks who love history, and that really sets the scene. Have a few dopey ones up in the west these days. Been upsetting a few. Sad but the west still has a long way to go. Some great people up there too but they don't seem to be in charge. Best wishes long yu.
From Patrick Carra
Well written. My dad, Bert Carra, was still in Aitape in 1957 as I was conceived there, and my mum Patricia was flown to Wewak where I was born. Dad and mum went South to Melbourne in 1955 so my older sister could be born in Australia. We moved from Aitape to Kompian, then to Wabag and then Mt Hagen. Bert retired from New Guinea in 1974, returned to Australia and worked as a manager for the Ford catering stores before retiring aged 65. He passed away aged 81 and his memorial is in Canberra for those who served in World War II. Dad was a Coastwatcher in New Guinea during the war.
From Philip Fitzpatrick
Dave Wren was ADC at Balimo while I was there around 1972. I was curious about him still being an ADC at his age but didn't enquire further. My biggest problem was avoiding his invitations to drink Rhum Negrita into the early hours at his house after work. I was an ADO and he left the running of the sub-district to me and the LGO (local government officer) Peter Hawke. Dave was clearly a broken man. Your explanation helps understand that a bit more.
From Rob Parer
Our house was at St Anna Plantation about 4 km east of town. I had never heard the story about Dad (Bob) and the back-flip until last year from Bill Brown himself. Dad never did it at any party I attended as he was probably scared I would kill myself trying to emulate him. Mum did mention that Dad did a party trick of a back-flip sitting in a chair when they travelled by ship to Australia prewar. But she never elaborated so we were not sure what it was and Dad wasn't there when she told it. We just thought Mum was dreaming as it sounded ridiculous.
From Rob Parer
When Dave Wren arrived as ADO at Aitape he did not speak Pidgin and it was hilarious listening to his court cases as everything had to be translated into English and the policeman doing it could not speak English very well. (This was when the clerk, Kalel, was not available.) One day a court case was due to start and I heard Dave say to the policeman bringing the charge: "Police bring the guilty person in please". He did not drive so used one of our drivers, who was in jail, as his driver. One morning we saw about six policemen running in front of the government LandRover with Dave standing up urging them on. I was not sure if this was a punishment or just an exercise run. With all his unusual ways, Dave was an officer and a gentleman as the saying goes.
From Des Martin
Bill Brown’s reports in PNG Attitude are read with interest by all of us old kiaps and the latest chapter on Dreikikir brought back memories of my time there. I don’t know if, when Bill were at Dreik, he saw my Patrol Report 1/51 when I ventured well down south of Mai Mai following reports of tribal murders. I found that the occasional patrols pre- and post-war had only penetrated the main tracks and villages and discovered I was well into uncontrolled territory where no previous contact had been made.
The main characters doing the killing were from a Yilui group paying back attacks made weeks earlier by another group from Eismala. I was a bit late, a day or so behind the Yilui, then bumped into them when the raiding group was resting. Arrows were fired before they fled. I assumed at the time the Yilui were returning from a raid but found later they were on their way to attack the Eismala group. When I arrived at Eismala the next day, I found a number of bodies on the track obviously killed while fleeing the scene and many more with arrow wounds with the shafts broken off. Others who had fled the attackers came back when I arrived but were suffering PTSD and were no danger to the patrol. A number were badly wounded and could not have survived but there was nothing I could do to prevent their suffering.
I also found that the Yiluis had been accompanied by warriors from other local groups. When I moved on and arrived in the Yilui area after seven or eight hours walk, the patrol was attacked by a large group. As one of the police later told his mate, “Spia bilong benarra pundaun olsem rain” [the arrows fell like rain].
I ordered the police not to open fire and Sergeant Nemo and I rushed forward and tackled the fight leader dodging arrows as we did so. I fired my pistol into the ground which startled the fight leader who was attempting to fire at Nemo and me. We handcuffed him and his mates ran off probably because they had not seen a kiap or police before. When we entered the area and set up camp, friendly relations were established particularly as the fight leader found we were not going to kill him.
The area was actually in the Aitape Sub-District but, as I had received the report of tribal fighting, I followed it up. As I reported to headquarters via Rup Haviland, the Assistant District Officer at Maprik, I was unable to make arrests as too many scattered groups were involved and there was no way the area could be controlled until a patrol post was established. Headquarters agreed as it was policy not to try to prevent tribal fighting unless the locality was under government influence. No departmental staff were available at the time so the status quo remained until Nuku was opened a couple of years later.
I might add that the police, carriers and I were totally exhausted after three weeks of wallowing around in swampy ground. Those were the days.
From Arthur Williams
Bill, an excellent tale of Sepik life 'bipo'. This latest story is almost like a lifetime of experience. Thanks for your efforts in letting us read your Kiap's Chronicle.
From Tony Wright
Thanks Bill for another detailed and interesting chapter. I was particularly interested as my brother, Peter, spent a few years as a PO at Ambunti under Des Martin.
From Alan McLay
Bill that is another great read. I didn't want to come to the end!
From Norah Omen
I was searching for information to tell the children of Ambunti the history of Ambunti which interested me. Thanks very much.
From Chips Mackellar
Terrific story Bill. Thank you for your memories. In 1957 I shared a unit with Jock MacGregor when we were both doing the ASOPA long course that year. It was from here at ASOPA that Jock was summonsed to return to PNG to face trial over the Tapini incident. Although he emerged from the trial relatively unscathed his forced departure from the kiap service left him bitter and twisted, and he never really adjusted to life beyond the service. Like all of us, he had dedicated himself to serve the people of PNG for the remainder of his working life, and I guess his unhappiness following the trial contributed to his untimely death. You were a good kiap, Jock. May you rest in peace.
From Arthur Williams
From Bill Brown
Hi Bob - I assume that you are aware that all the post-war Patrol Reports held by the PNG National Archives have been digitised and can be freely accessed on line. If you have not caught up with them, it would be worth your while to do. You will not only be able to read what your father wrote, what he thought at the beginning and how his knowledge and appreciation developed over time. You will also see the comments and commendations that the people at Sub-district, District and Headquarters made.
It may take some digging, but if you have not done I think it would be worthwhile to do so. The list below may help you get started. The first url will take you the overall list, the remainder are self-explanatory, and each contain at least one of your father’s reports.
Patrol Reports P&NG
http://library.ucsd.edu/dc/collection/bb30391860
Maprik 1958 - 1959
https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb9490012w
Ambunti 1960 - 1962
https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb94558760
Ambunti 1961 - 1962
https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb94558760
Ambunti 1962 -1963
https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb8807408v
From Bob Wright
Many thanks, Bill, for your response and for providing that information. That is very kind of you. In fact I already obtained all my father's surviving patrol reports some years ago, read them, and absorbed them. They are indeed a valuable and insightful written record. My father's dedication to his job and to the betterment of the people of PNG, as well as his character, shine through.
What I was really hoping for, Bill, since you obviously knew my dad and supervised him in New Guinea, if briefly, was any personal memories of him that you might be able to share. I am writing a short book about my dad, with a focus on his time in New Guinea, so any small memory of him or anecdote about him would really help me and would be greatly appreciated. Your own descriptions of Ambunti and the Sepik are very well written, by the way. I actually visited Ambunti myself as a tourist and took a canoeing trip from there down the Sepik River to Angoram back in 1996 because I was interested to see some of the area where dad once worked.
From Bill Brown
I have been asked why I made such a mess of my explanation of some events in Chapter 16. Was it a factor of old age? Maybe, and maybe the paragraph below will clarify some of the confusion.
The long-held plan to eradicate all outsiders was activated the previous day during a meeting at Ankavip village. Purely by chance, part of that plan was derailed by two unrelated events: Baptist missionary Norm Draper had woken bright and early on the day of the murders and walked from the mission to the government station to use the teleradio to order some stores from Wewak. A little while later a Norseman aircraft landed on the airstrip.
To avert any suspicions or forebodings, the Telefomin villagers had visited the station with food for sale earlier that morning. But after those two events they did not follow through on their other allocated tasks. They did not kill the government station personnel. They did not place logs across the airstrip to prevent aircraft from landing. And they did not kill Draper.
Now to the query of how Draper became aware that the patrol led by Harris had been attacked.
Tegori, Harris’s mankimasta carried the news from Terapdavip to Telefomin. He had discarded his shirt and shorts to avoid detection and was wearing the traditional phalocrypt when he reported to Lance Corporal Sauweni, who was already on the alert. Constable Yendabari’s wife had told Sauweni she had been warned of an impending attack and that groups of armed men had been seen near the station.
Sauweni organized Draper to transmit the news to Wewak and despatched Constables Yendabari and Lego with four rifles and spare ammunition to relieve the Harris party. He then bluffed 50 or so armed Telefomin men into surrendering. Those men were later flown to Wewak, convicted of minor charges and gaoled.
In the investigations over the following months, it became clear that practically everyone could have been arrested, because everyone was involved. The kiaps involved - Crellin, Jones, Nolen, Wearne and Zweck - only apprehended the 135 most culpable and, of them, only 37 were committed to stand trial.
From Rob Parer
Bill, you mentioned that the famous Tom Ellis had gone to Bam Island as it was going to erupt. Be interesting to look at Tom's patrol report to see what he wrote as the people were evacuated to the mainland in 1954 & stayed there for some years. Now on 15 January 2018 they are being evacuated again.
From Barbara Short
Thanks Bill. It made me tired just reading it all. What an extraordinary time for TPNG. I have posted your account on various Sepik Facebook forums, including the Telefomin forum, so will wait to see what sort of comments we get. I collected various great photos from the region, usually taken by geologists or other mining people but my computer crashed and I may have lost them. Will have to go and see if they are still there.
Chris Overland
Just great Bill. The nominal restrictions on what CPO's or APO's were allowed to do were of interest to me. My first two patrols as a brand new APO in 1969/70 were in the Kukukuku country north of Kerema. This area had been officially declared "controlled' only a couple of years earlier, but that control was still fairly tenuous at best.
On neither of those patrols was I accompanied by a senior officer, other than by ADO John Mundell for the first week of a 32 day patrol surveying a road between Kaintiba Patrol Post and Murua Agricultural Station. John was recalled for some reason and I was left to my own devices under the wise guidance of the redoubtable Father Alex Michelod, who was helping survey the road.
The second time I was dropped off by helicopter at a remote mountain village in the same area to coordinate efforts to deal with the Hong Kong influenza epidemic of 1969/70. On that occasion I was accompanied by two very capable Medical Assistants and two experienced RPNGC constables. The patrol was threatened at one point, being accused of working black magic and causing the epidemic which, in a way, was partially true. After all, if PNG had been left undisturbed, maybe the flu would never have got there.
Anyway, that was the only time I felt obliged to carry a loaded revolver (a very inaccurate .38 Smith and Wesson) and a much more dangerous .303 Lee Enfield Carbine. Happily, the threats amounted to nothing but it was, I think, an act of faith by DC Bob Bell to hope and believe that a very inexperienced officer would not get into strife.
With the benefit of hindsight, I can see that he was scraping the bottom of the proverbial staffing barrel to get the job done and an 18 year old novice was the only resource available to do it. There seem to me to be echoes of the situation at Telefomin in the mid 1950's in what happened to me, although perhaps I am drawing too long a bow in saying this. In any event, it must have been contrary to policy to send me off alone, so Bob was taking a risk on me both surviving and not managing to do any harm as well. So, I guess not as much had changed since the opening up of Telefomin even 15 years later.
From Phil Fitzpatrick
I was never accompanied on any patrol by a senior officer, neither my first or last. Some of those were contact patrols. I had a vague idea of how patrols should be run and made up the rest myself. I think this was a lot more common than people think.
From Martin Kaalund
Dear Bill - I have some photos of the men’s house at Telefol village, Taken in 1979. I will post these on Tony Friend's obituary and a photo of Siune the interpreter who was still at Telefomin. Your photos are very clear. Maria Friend advises the memorial trust she set up has operated well and Rod Owens is putting this information with the photos.
Do you have a reference you could guide me to as to Niall's situation reports for Aitape, 1942/45, as commander of the Northern intelligence zone. Stay strong, live long.
From Ross Wilkinson
Martin - Niall's reports would be most likely found in the ANGAU War Diary which is digitised and available through the Australian War Memorial website.
From Peta Colebatch
Thanks for all of this writing. And am looking forward to the next instalment of the story. Most of us still miss PNG, so it's great to be taken back there again by you.
Chapter 20 - Bougainville landfall
From Chris Overland
In reading Bill's account of happenings on and around Bougainville circa 1966, it seems that senior figures in the administration chose to ignore obvious warning signs that the Panguna mine was likely to generate serious discontent amongst the landowners and other key stakeholders. The wishes, desires and interests of the local people seem to have been largely ignored or down played, with the distant authorities collectively mesmerised by the prospect of the uncommonly large profits to be made, both for BCL and the nascent PNG government. We all know what happened next.
Now, many years later, it seems to me that the risk of a similar disaster occurring remains undiminished. I struggle to persuade myself that any PNG government will willingly let go of an opportunity to benefit from the reopening of the mine in favour of an autonomous or even independent Bougainville. Also, I struggle to see how any prospective operator of the mine will be willing and able to offer the landowners a sufficiently large share of any profits made that can simultaneously satisfy their aspirations and those of the other shareholders.
It is going to take some exceptional negotiating skills on all sides, combined with a generous dose insight, mutual understanding and compromise, for a viable deal to be struck. Whether this is possible is a matter of conjecture at the moment, but history does not offer much cause of optimism that such an outcome will be achieved.
From Paul Oates
Wait till the full potential largess in a latent agreement with, say, Chinese miners is digested by both the PNG and the nascent Bougainville governments. Take the previous example of the Madang mining situation and impose that on the local Bougainvilleans. What will it take to settle the potential disputes? Another RAMSI? Don't think so. Promise of millions for someone. Yep! But for who?
From Bill Brown
I had intended to leave discussion of former Papua New Guinea public solicitor Peter (William Andrew) Lalor’s vital role in the Bougainville story until a later chapter of my Kiap’s Chronicle, but a comment from Peter Salmon suggests I should include Lalor’s view now. Salmon noted, “It's interesting to ponder that our Aussie enslavement to British law and the concept of crown mineral rights led to this tragic situation in Bougainville”. Lalor had expressed his views on this unequivocally in a long letter to the editor of the South Pacific Post (now the PNG Post-Courier) in October 1966:
“The common law of England always was and is that the owner of land is entitled to all minerals beneath and within it with the exception of the royal metals, gold and silver, which belong by ancient prerogative to the Sovereign… Copper is owned by the landowner.… If he is unable or unwilling to work it or to allow others to work it application may be made to the High Court for the right to work it … which will be granted … if in the national interest and for public benefit.
“The common law principle of the ownership of minerals is equally part of the law of Australia as of England. Both State and Commonwealth Governments have relied on it to assert their title to minerals. In Australia however [according to the law at the time] all land was owned by the Crown and hence all minerals belonged to the Crown… It is true that when Australia was given the Mandate over New Guinea in 1921 the Common Law of England was introduced…. Hence the landowner could claim under common law to be entitled to the minerals other than gold and silver in his land. However, those property rights in minerals were taken away without compensation on 1 January 1923 when the Mining Ordinance 1922 came into force.”
Despite the objections of the Australian government, the Australian Administration in PNG and Bougainville Copper Ltd, Lalor mounted an unsuccessful challenge against the mining law in the High Court of Australia in 1969. All going well, I will get around to Peter Lalor’s magnificent contributions in chapters of Kiap’s Chronicle to come.
From Phil Fitzpatrick
Thanks for this information, Bill. As I've been reading your account of the Panguna history I've been wondering how the experience can be applied to the present situation. This idea of gold and silver belonging to the monarch of the day is a bit confusing when you consider that in just about every copper mine ever dug gold has always been a profitable little byproduct. The PNG government has effectively gazumped the monarch by giving mineral rights to landowners but whether this is a workable solution is questionable.
I'm coming round to the view that expectations of money has to be taken out of the equation. As long as landowners expect a big payout there are going to be problems like those experienced by the PNG LNG Project. How you do that and deliver benefits to the landowners is very problematic however.
Chapter 21 - Coming to grips with Bougainville
From Peter Salmon
I love these factualised (yes, I know it’s not a word), unembellished chronicles especially bearing in mind my personal interest in Bougainville. Thanks Bill for the effort. I can’t wait for the next one. I’d better get this link to Mike Bell.
From Chips Mackellar
Superb background briefing on the Bougainville situation, Bill. Like Peter, I can't wait for the next instalment, especially up to the time when I was sent to Bougainville.
From Chris Overland
A marvellous article Bill. I look forward to the next instalment. It strikes me that your first hand account of the lead up to the establishment of the Panguna mine is a message from history for those who are seeking to reopen the mine. Surely the same forces are at work now as those that were identified by you, Max Denehy and others who had an intimate knowledge of the situation on the ground.
From Rae Smart
These chronicles tell a story from a specific perspective which I believe to be accurate. I was there in Kieta from April Fools Day 1967 and was witness to many events outside the government offices. Thank you Bill, for recording this time. I only hope that my own story will be interesting enough to count as worth the time to read. Dare I say there may be a few humorous incidents you may have chosen to forget! Anyone in Bougainville at that time will not have forgotten who Bill Brown was, nor should they. I have wonderful memories sharing time with Pam and the children during that era.
Chapter 22 - Trapped amid landowners & bureaucrats
From Paul Oates
An article in today's on line news mentions Australia's new 'Assistant Minister' for the Pacific, Ms Anne Ruston making a brief tour of some Pacific nations and claiming; 'this is our region'.
Yet Bill's report here typifies the disconnection between the perceptions of those in Canberra and those at the kunai roots. The Assistant Minister talks about the threat of China. The leaders of Pacific island nations however keep raising the issue of climate change and rising seas.
At the risk of yet again pointing out where the problem lies, no one can get a good grounding in Pacific Island issues without first putting oneself in the shoes of those who live there. This takes times and the inclination to do it. Therein lies the credibility gap and one that in a brief window of history, many Field Officers in PNG and elsewhere took the trouble to do so with varying levels of success.
No one with the political perspective of the Canberra bureaucracy or the short term, arm's length engagement of a brief Ministerial tenancy can possibly bridge this credibility chasm. It can't be understood because it hasn't been experienced first hand. Therein lies the biggest travesty of our time in PNG, no one knew or cared about what Field Officers had in the way of experience or advice to offer to try and help sort out this obvious (to some), disconnection.
Perhaps the only way this gap could be breached is to ensure those who make the policy must first experience the effects first hand. I can't see that happening any time soon due to political considerations, time scales and a distinct aversion to discomfort after having attained an air conditioned office, nice house, vehicle and public service status.
From Chris Overland
Reading Bill's account, you can only marvel at the number of red flags fluttering in the breeze about Panguna. Clearly, the great and the good in Moresby and Canberra had decided that the mine would proceed come what may, leaving Bill et al in a hopeless position.
Fast forward to today and it is abundantly clear that many of those same red flags are still flying, yet the same old script appears to be playing out, this time with another lot of players, most of whom are even less well equipped to know what is going on than their predecessors. The Canberra based politicians and bureaucrats are, as Paul observes, wildly ill equipped to properly understand the truth about what is going on at the grassroots level in PNG and elsewhere in the Pacific.
Our gross underinvestment in developing a genuinely deep and profound relationship with these countries for the last several decades is going to cost us dearly. I hope that our people in DFAT have the good sense to liaise closely with their NZ counterparts. The Kiwi's seem likely to be more clued up because they apparently have maintained much stronger relations for much longer. We are just playing catch up, as evidenced by our Prime Minister's recent foray into the Pacific to announce that we are back in town, so to speak.
I hope that someone in DFAT is paying attention to Bill's narrative, at least to the extent of recognising that what the current mob in Moresby may be saying about Bougainville and much else besides is unlikely to accurately reflect what is going on at village level. Sadly, they no longer have any Bill Brown's to give them the unalloyed truth, assuming that they want to hear it.
From Philip Fitzpatrick
That seems to be the way DFAT and the Australian government operates. It arrives at a predetermined position on a matter and then closes its ears to any advice that might contradict that position. There must be a name for this sort of pig-headed approach.
All the angst about China in the Pacific is consistent with the approach. Big, bad China is invading our patch, must boost our military presence and chuck more money at the natives. No thought about cooperation whatsoever.
From Paul Oates
It's not as if this situation hasn't happened before. The human species keeps endlessly making the same mistakes due to the inability to break out of the paradigm so called leaders find themselves.
In order to lead a successful initiative to fix a human problem there has to be intelligence, inspiration and initiative. As soon as someone with any combination of these attributes rears their head, they immediately threaten those who are quite happy with the status quo. Usually this leads to a concerted effort to 'white ant' the one who wants to effect change.
Unfortunately, even when someone is able to break through the intransitive levels of sloth and ignorance and actually achieve something worthwhile, there does not seem to be any way these abilities can be passed on via the gene pool due to each set of circumstances being slightly different and the the population at large being too self-interested to care until it's too late.
In the case of Bougainville and PNG for that matter, the players are never going to ask or listen to advice or even suggestions as this would indicate an obvious public show of weakness when in fact they want to project power.
The really strong people don't care about asking for advice or help since they know that no one can possibly know everything and therefore don't feel diminished in any way by listening to those who might know something about the issues involved rather than simply putting mouth into gear before engaging brain.
There will be the inevitable blast of hyperbole from each perspective involved and a public wringing of hands when nothing seems to work the way everyone hoped it would. Aiya! Traipla mauswara inap lo kapsaitim na mumutim gutpla toksave altaim, altaim. [Ah, bullshit is always capable of stealing from the truth.]
Chapter 23 - Anti-mining tensions escalate at Barapina
From Chris Overland
Thank you once again Bill for a marvellously detailed explanation of what was really happening at this critical time in Bougainville's history. Once again, you are pointing to some obvious lessons from history for those now advocating to restart mining at Panguna. Whether they can or will be heeded is likely to have profound implications for any nascent independent state and PNG more generally.
From Chips Mackellar
Superb story, Bill. With reference to your description of the 500-strong CRA workforce who flocked to the bar each Saturday with nothing else to do except get drunk and brawl. When I was the District Court Magistrate at Kieta one Sunday morning I was strolling around town when a police Landrover stopped beside me and an Australian uniformed police officer asked if I could hear a bail application.
As it was a Sunday, I was dressed like most Aussies off duty on such a day: tee shirt, stubbies and thongs. I told the officer, "I am not properly dressed for a court appearance." The officer said, "You are not properly dressed, sir? You should see the defendants. They were all covered in vomit and piss and shit till we hosed them down."
He explained the cell was so overcrowded with CRA drunks that they had all rolled around on the floor covered in each other’s vomit and urine and faeces and, to prepare them for their court appearance, the police had to use fire hoses to spray and soak the now sober drunks clean. "Then we lined them up in the sun to dry them off, sir," the officer continued, "so if you are ready we will bring them up to the court house now."
With as much decorum as I could muster clad only in tee shirt, stubbies and thongs, I presided over a solemn bail application by the most motley collection of disreputable defendants you might ever see at one sitting. But at least they were clean.
From Mark Davis
What a magnificent and important rendition.
From John Dagge
The timing of these particular chronicles is exquisite. Set for October with "your man" Bertie [Ahern] at the head of the [Bougainville referendum] task force. Hopefully the present day locals will get to read this. As always the detail and the captured mood is flawless. Memories and the anti-bureaucratic angst are surging - I’ll have a red and settle down.
Phlegmatic indeed - after a rain soaked visit to Gregory Korpa's hamlet and rebuttal of anything we had to offer, we trudged back down followed by a few women who were haranguing us. Sepik Senior Constable Yimbin in his broken English remarked, “Black bastards”.
From Myriam Olivier, Paris
Mr Bill Brown, you do not know me. But after months during the last two years trying to contact Kurt Pfund by his phone without answer through your note on the internet now I know why he did not pick up the phone as he always used to do during more than 20 years, neither answering my emails and letters. I was sure something happened but since I did not know who to contact to learn what happened, I just tried to find call him again and again. And today I got the answer reading your post 'Last letter from Kurt Pfund'. It is so sad to learn that I had lost the best friend I ever had.
My name is Myriam, I was born in Brésil and I met for the first time Kurt at Paraty in Brésil, and during all these years we always keep the contact between us. Today I live in between France and Caribbean and all the changes in my life, the good and the sad things that came into my life, I could share with him. I remember him playing piano, joking, making magic numbers, talking with everybody and smiling, talking about his dog Laila, the wolf, life in PNG and his paintings during his several trips. I got some of his books and he sent me his last one. The last email I received from him was when he had been in a hospital at the end of November 2017. Today unfortunately I know he will not answer any more of my calls, my emails, my letters and a very important part of me is now on the other side of the Milky Way as he mentioned.
I had also the opportunity to meet Marlies in Paraty, maybe she does not remember me anymore. But I know also all the love he felt for her, and you can share this email with her if you wish, and my email address. For a while I’m staying in France, but as nomadic as I am, I will probably move to go to work in the Pacific or Indian Ocean in the future.
We never met, Mr Bill Brown, but I’m grateful to finally find the answer why Kurt did not answer my calls, and I read your post wonderfully well written in tribute to a great artist and great friend Kurt Pfund was a more sweet way to learn it. Many thanks and best regards.
Chapter 24 - An unwelcome call to Canberra
From Chips Mackellar
From Paul Oates
There appears to be a clear and consistent message in Bill's report that seems to echo down through the ages: no matter what is happening at the coal face or, in this case, the kunai roots, those in senior departmental positions in Canberra are hopelessly out of touch. Secondly, no credence is given to those who might have some knowledge and understanding of what the real issues are unless it suits those in top positions in the 'Canberra Bubble'. There does not therefore appear to have been any change in this ongoing impasse in the last 50 - 60 years.
Those Canberra mandarins who steadfastly refuse to accept any relevant knowledge and experience as a source of intelligence upon which to base decisions are those who unfortunately, are also in charge of advising their political masters of the day. There also does not appear to have been too many political leaders in history who have exhibited the perspicacity and intelligence to overlook the Canberra logjam and actually seek out for themselves what the true situation is.
It's obviously just easier to accept the advice given on the day since ministerial positions these days are of a very temporary nature. Unfortunately, most political careers are also a poor preparation for understanding or wanting to understand reality, or so it seems.
From Rob Parer
In the West Sepik in 1966 District Commissioner John Wakeford was stated as being a fossilised obstructionist by a progressive medium aged Kiap Harry Roach who was ADC Aitape and soon to be upgraded to a bigger position in Bougainville and wonder how he worked beside Mr Wakeford.
From Bill Brown
Rob - Maybe you have the wrong year. For the first six months of 1966, Ted (EG) Hicks was acting District Commissioner of the Sepik District. John Wakeford was Deputy District Commissioner of what was styled the North Sepik Division and Kerry (BK) Leen was Deputy District Commissioner of the South Sepik Division.
Harry Roach was transferred to Bougainville from Aitape – arriving 17 April 1971. Des (DN) Ashton was District Commissioner, Bougainville at that time. (Wakeford was District Commissioner, West Sepik.)
I worked for Wakeford in various roles between 1961 and 1967 - 1966 excluded. In my view, he had many facets and idiosyncrasies, but he was never obstructionist or fossilised, as will be seen in subsequent chapters of this chronicle.
Chapter 25 - The Administration versus the People
From Chips Mackellar
Still, in 2019 we have the example of the proposed Adani coal mine in Queensland where both State and Federal governments are determined to press ahead with development despite widespread public opposition and dire warnings about potential environmental and financial consequences. What could possibly go wrong?
No doubt Bill's next chapter will illustrate all too clearly just what can, in fact, go wrong when the expressed will of the people is ignored.
From Arthur Williams
Thank you Bill for your informative report on life at the ‘coalface’ in the terrible Panguna mine saga. Sadly it only reinforces my negative gut feeling towards mining companies and their continuing efforts to suborn governments of putative democracies in often mildly or badly corrupt developing nations.
Perhaps it is in my DNA as a son of South Wales where nearly every family was nastily impacted by mining. I had a grandfather who died of ‘The Dust’ while the other was involved with providing sustenance to rescuers at the Senghenydd disaster that killed 493 miners. Two others died from events connected to mining. How green were the valleys.
Chapter 26 - The plot against Bougainville
From Peter Sandery
I have often wondered why CRA needed a special act for its Panguna development and am now suitably enlightened. Thanks Bill, for this chapter and all the others that contain gems of wisdom from the past which would have been lost had you not documented them. I know this might sound terribly less than correct but, in my opinion, it is accounts like yours rather those of the likes of Jim Sinclair that will contribute more to the history of PNG/Australian relations.
From Phil Fitzpatrick
You might have a point there, Peter. Jim's stuff is pretty anodyne. I'm looking forward to the next episode when Tom Ellis get's involved. I suspect that's the point where bad gets worse. Bill must publish his chronicle in some form or another.
From Bill Brown MBE
Thank you for your comment Peter, but please do not knock Jim Sinclair. Without his meticulous research and many magnificent tomes the younger generations of PNG would not know their history an d Australia would not have heard much at all about kiaps and their role.
From Michael Lorenz
"Warrillow expressed the view that the young geologists and field assistants 'deserved praise for their fortitude and trust in us. They were either very naive or very brave to come pretty fresh from the south and be thrown into some testing situations'.” Thanks very much.
From Diane Bohlen
Another great page. So interesting knowing this is what my brother went through but maybe not so primitive as it was seven years later. Enjoying your story.
From Philip Kai Morre
The pioneer kiaps in Bougainville did a tremendous job in consultation with the people, trying to explain mining and its impact. It's only if Canberra and Port Moresby had listened to them and the concerns of the people that there would not be any problems - like the Bougainville crisis. Canberra's approach was paternalistic, imposing their plans on a people they thought were still backward and would not understand anything. However, the Bougainville people, much smarter, opposed the Panguna mine from the beginning.
From Bill Brown MBE
Greetings Diane Bohlen, and thank you for your comments on Chapters 1 and 2. They are greatly appreciated. I knew your brother, David Speakman. Our paths did not cross until the 1970s but in his various roles as a kiap, and as deputy clerk of House of Assembly, he was respected and known as a great guy.
From Chris Warrilow
As with earlier chapters it makes compelling reading, enhanced by your writing style. I hope your history will serve useful to balance up earlier writings of second and third hand accounts and views of history by the likes of some members of academia.
Of great interest to me is the insight into the conspiracy between Canberra and CRA and the bloody-mindedness of politicians, bureaucrats and large-company executives. This is particularly galling to me having experienced the frustrations of lessons not learnt and continuing similar attitudes when involved with Ok Tedi and later the Chevrons and Exxons etc. In the case of Ok Tedi it was particularly frustrating in so far as the Independent State of PNG carried on in the same way - both at national level and at provincial level. Have you ever read Richard Jackson's 'Ok Tedi The Pot of Gold'?
I was wondering therefore if you intended to continue your very reasonable 'attacks' on CRA to further expose the arrogance of its top men and down to some of its lower ranks such as geologists whom you, not unreasonably, accuse of believing it their god-given right to go and trespass on others' property in the pursuit of mineral wealth.
I had in mind my memories of Wakunai and Red River. After all the 'troubles' around Pangua, Mainoki, Karato, Atamo etc the bastards still went ahead and conducted that sneaky operation from offshore and used the MV Craestar to insert its geos behind the backs of both the Administration and the local people. A disgraceful affair but, I suggest, a proud moment for you when you succeeded in ordering the Craestar to return to face the music after it snuck off and was half-way back to Rabaul!
From Max Heggen
You may remember that when I first arrived in Kieta, you sent me off to Lonsiro where Chris Warrillow had already been camped for a few days. I think your instruction was for me to "make friends" with the people there. After two or three days of wandering the village with Chris and talking to the residents (who seemed a little suspicious of me and my presence) Chris decided that there was nothing further to be gained by staying any longer, and a message was sent via the sked for a vehicle to meet us at the roadhead the following day.
The next morning we packed up, arranged the necessary carriers, and set off. During all of my patrolling experience to that date, my usual practise was to let the carriers lead the way, thus ensuring that both the cargo and the carriers arrived safely at our destination. I was therefore a little surprised when Chris "bolted" ahead of the carriers, setting a cracking pace. I made no comment, but stayed on his heels right to the roadhead, which, to my failing memory, was only 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour's walk, adding further to my confusion as to why there was such a hurry. I was convinced that Chris was determined to 'try out' this new chum to see what he was made of.
Imagine my surprise when I read your latest chapter containing the description of Chris' walking style!
From John Gordon-Kirkby
54 years later I still enjoy re-reading Kiaps Chronicle 26 once in a while. I remember the events described so well by Bill Brown with nostalgic clarity. There were tense moments, yet the good people of Karato and surrounds were almost always friendly, and generous with fresh fruit and vegetables. They understood my predicament for I too was concerned for their land and the impact of mining on the Yaba Lambalamb rivers and the Empress Augusta Bay.
I note an absence of reference to the influence of the Roman Catholic missionaries for some of the tensions. The the message from pulpit was perhaps more influential than from the kiaps. I was never bored or lonely. We played board games, went hunting and I pursued my painting. Some of these paintings are on my Facebook page.
Warrillow was right! I omitted lots of details and simplified others. I used his Field Officers Journal to recount the facts but I condensed and cut and pruned. I was conscious of Barbara Short's comment on Chapter 16, "It made me tired just reading it all." What I regarded as a welcome occurred at Parau, a little more than an hour’s walk away from Mainoki if you wore boots. Less if you did not and took short cuts. Maybe I should have written "the Mainoki area."
As to whether it was a welcome. Warrillow flew into Pad 3 by helicopter on 12 March 1967, two subsequent flights delivering a police constable and Warrillow’s domestic. Pad 3, located at the head of the valley above Mainoki, was built and used during an earlier incursion. When the first helicopter arrived the next day, Warrillow and Constable Narokai flew to the school near Sirowai village and then on to Parau village. There he received an "enthusiastic welcome by some 15 adult males and two adult females [with] handshakes all round and much talking and laughter."
When he told the people about the United Nations Mission meeting and the transport arrangements, all were enthusiastic about attending. Warrillow left Parau with fresh vegetables and a guide for the two-hour walk back to Pad 3. Four aspiring workers followed him a few hours later. I think it was a warm welcome. There was a lot of other stuff that I passed over or omitted.
Ross Henderson's Journal was already brief and concise. Still, I cherry-picked it for what I needed, as I did with Warrillow's, and Jim Wellington's report of four typed pages disappeared into one sentence. Radio Bougainville was the most significant omission. It came on air during the early months of 1968. You can read about that here. https://www.pngattitude.com/2017/03/the-kiaps-radio-bougainville-revisited-reviewed.html
CRA's research vessel, Craestar, sailed from Vanimo near the West Irian border and took station off Kunua on the north coast of Bougainville at the beginning of April 1968. Within hours, the geologists were using the vessel's helicopter to sample streams along the west coast foothills. Geologists had already operated by helicopter from the ship to the foothills in New Britain, New Ireland, the Sepik, Madang, Morobe and Papua. Those operations were without incident, but things would not go so well in Bougainville
Another event of note was Chris Warrillow's visit to Father Alexis Holyweek at the Catholic Mission at Koromira on 30 March. Later, as Dr Alexis Sarei, Father Alexis joined prime minister Somare's staff in 1972. He was appointed Bougainville District Commissioner in 1973, the beginning of a tumultuous career. Father John Momis’s appointment as Mission Education Officer was another significant event in 1968, a stepping stone to politics and his election to the PNG House of Assembly in 1972, and ultimately to the presidency of Bougainville.
John Dagge and Chris Warrillow's names should have been on my MBE in the 1968 New Year's Honours. They did as much or more than me. But none of us did as much as the great explorers: kiaps like Bill (CTJ) Adamson, John (JR) Black, Des (DJ) Clancy, Syd (SS) Smith, Jim (JL) Taylor and others. I do not think the government of Australia recognised them - ever.
Chapter 28 - In defence of the people's land
From Phil Fitzpatrick
Ken Brown was indeed moved to Papua, the Western District to be specific. When he arrived he instituted a program to visit all of the remaining pockets of uncontacted people. He was a 'people' person and got on well with his staff, including his understudy District Commissioner, Benson Gegeyo. I wonder, what did Ken do to warrant such a transfer to the arse-end of PNG?
From Bill Brown
Thank you for the comment, Phil, but I think you have the wrong year. Allen Benstead was District Commissioner of the Western District for the first half of 1968. When he went on leave in July, Ian Holmes took over as acting DC.
When Benstead returned from leave in March 1969, Holmes lapsed back to Deputy District Commissioner. While Holmes was acting DC, District Officers Gus (AM) Bottrill and Robin (RA) Calcutt filled in as DDCs at various times. Ken Brown loved Papua and would not have been concerned if he had been posted to Daru. I think he went to the Central District where Galloway was the DC as Ken was there in 1970.
Whatever the reason for the transfer, it would not have been because of something he had done. Ken Brown had an unblemished reputation and was held in high regard.
From Phil Fitzpatrick
Thanks Bill. Yes, Ian Holmes was still there when I arrived in 1970 and Ken came later. Not to disparage Benstead or Holmes, who were good old-fashioned DCs, but Ken was a bit of fresh air and a nice change. He kept in touch with the small Western District fraternity when we were all back in Australia right up until he died. I couldn't imagine him being other than highly regarded, which was why I wondered why he had been dropped amongst the scruffy and disreputable ruffians of the Western District.
From Arthur Williams
Bill - I always enjoy your eyewitness reports which are a valuable asset for today's administrators as they deal with mining companies. Ian Holmes became new DC for New Ireland in 1971 or early 1972. I don’t know his service history but the locals laughed at his Pidgin. Was he always a Papuan hand and so a Motu speaker? He came in July 1972 to open one of the very few infrastructure projects during my 30 years on Lavongai. It was the low level ford at Narimlaua village a few miles west of Taskul on a track that I managed to extend to Magam just past the United Church HQ on the island at Ranmalek. Now long reverted to bush.
Until today governor Sir Julius Chan refuses to countenance a ring road for the island preferring his Unity Highway that cuts across the middle of the island and which is very useful for the clear felling loggers of the illegal SABLs. The German administration constructed a ring road, and some into the centre, over 100 years ago.
From David H Pennefather
Very interesting essay on Bougainville Copper.
From John Ross
Really enjoying reading your reports, Bill. I'm not related to any of these people but I was a teacher in ESP over four years in the 1970's - Brandi High School, Wewak. I know the area well - from Dagua to Pagwi, Kambot to Angoram. Just looking back at my time there, recollections for my kids.
I had a request 1976 or 1977 to visit the calaboose in Wewak and pick up the last convicted "cannibal" (imprisoned for 12 years, I think, after his village murdered (and ate?) a kiap. I cannot remember his name. I took him up to Maprik in my LandRover and passed him over to an ex-kiap - returning to the Wosera, I think. Memories are a bit shaky but more or less as above. Any comments best directed to [email protected]
From Elizabeth MacIlwain
I am Bob Macilwain's daughter, and I was interested to read your account. Dad was sent to Daru, and we grew up there. It was great for children, but my mother didn't like life on the tiny island. Dad rarely spoke of his war years or his work as a Lands Title Commissioner, but his war effort was considerable.
After enlisting in August 1940 while living in Rabaul, he became a member of a Bren Gun Carrier Platoon in HQ Company of the 2/25th Battalion AIF and in 1941 sailed from Australia on the RMS Queen Mary to Port Taufiq at the southern end of the Suez Canal. The 2/25 th manned the defences at Mersa Matruh on the Egypt-Lybia against an expected German attack throughout April and May 1941. Sent to Palestine on 28 May, Dad was involved in the five-week campaign against the Vichy French forces in Syria. The battalion fought its only major battle of the campaign at the inland town of Merdjayoun on 19 June.
Recalled to Australia in March 1942, the 2/25th was sent to Port Moresby disembarking on 9 September. Two days later, Dad’s HQ Company became a Rifle Company, marched past Owers’ Corner, Uberi, and Imita Ridge. He fought on the Kokoda Track through September and November. The Japanese's overnight withdrawal from Imita Ridge on 27 September marked the turning point of the Kokoda campaign.
It was a shame he spoke so little about his experiences, and I look forward to reading more in the chapters yet to come.
From Ross Wilkinson
Elizabeth - Our fathers had similar war experiences in some respects as you will see from my father’s story that I posted on this site earlier this year. However, there are some aspects that I need to clarify for you based on my study of these events. <a href="https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/05/a-soldier-story.html">https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/05/a-soldier-story.html</a>
My father’s battalion, 2/14th, was part of the 7th Division like your father’s. And, like your father, he was in the Carrier Platoon of his battalion. They served in the fortress town of Mersa Matruh to protect Egypt against the German advance across North Africa. The 7th Division then assisted the British Army to invade Syria and Lebanon and occupy it to deny the Germans an alternative route to Cairo and the Middle East oilfields.
Of course we know that whilst the 7th Division was occupying Syria after the truce was signed, the Pacific War erupted and the Australian government sought the release of Australian troops to return to Australia to meet this more direct threat. The 7th Division was the first of the Australians released and progressively arrived back home in March-April of 1942. The 21st Brigade was the first group to then move to Port Moresby arriving in mid-August and the 2/14 Battalion was the first to then move up the Kokoda Track to relieve the Militia troops that had first met and held the Japanese advance. However, a reorganisation of Army resources occurred as a result of an assessment of how battalion resources could be used in mountainous jungle terrain.
To understand this we need to know what those resources were and how they were redeployed. The standard Australian infantry battalion of 1942 comprised 4 infantry companies and a Headquarters company totalling 770 men. Each infantry company had three platoons each of which had three sections. The Headquarters company was made up of six functional support platoons being Transport, Signals, Mortar, Carriers, Anti-Aircraft and Pioneer.
Based on the very early fighting it was considered that it was too difficult to manhandle the Vickers medium machineguns and mortars along the Kokoda Track. It was also realised that the transport lorries and weapons carriers could not be used along jungle tracks so these elements were detached from each battalion. The transport units were attached to the service unit of New Guinea Force Headquarters and the carriers, mortars and machineguns attached to a new formation designated as the 7th Division Carrier Group whose role was to become a mobile fighting force around Port Moresby and the foothills. It was based at what was the 4 Mile Army Camp which was to become known as Murray Barracks.
Once the Kokoda threat was removed this force was then airlifted to perform a similar role around Wau. 25 Brigade, of which 2/25 Battalion was an element, arrived in Port Moresby in early September 1942 and was immediately transported to the Sogeri Plateau. By this stage the Australians were at the nearest point to Port Moresby of their fighting withdrawal that had exhausted the Japanese resources. The 2/25th moved forward to relieve the seriously depleted 2/14 Battalion.
As explained above, because of the nature of the specialist functions of the various platoons of each battalion’s HQ Company, it is not supported in the War Diary of the 2/25 Battalion that the company function became a rifle company for this stage of its active service. There is no doubt that because of the nature of jungle fighting that these men were required to act as infantrymen on occasions but they were never designated as that in battle orders.
Also, as explained, the War Diary states that the troops on arrival at Port Moresby were transported direct to the Sogeri Plateau whereas you state that your father went to Murray Barracks. As this was the HQ of the 7th Division Carrier Group it is most likely that he was part of the detached group from the 2/25th Battalion. But the Battalion War Diary states that 12 men from HQ Company transferred to rifle companies and it is most likely he was amongst these.
However his memory is to you, Elizabeth, it is men like him and my father who have my utmost admiration and, as explained in my previous post, the reason why I went to PNG. I had several occasions to undertake land titles investigations and meet with commissioners in the subsequent hearings. Unfortunately my FOJs do not record the names of the commissioners I had dealings with and I do not recall meeting your father. From all accounts that is my loss as I understand he was a very fine officer and person.
Please contact me direct if you would like to discuss further.
Chapter 29 - 'CRA, you're unwelcome'
From Chips Mackellar
Superb story, Bill. Can't wait to see if I get a mention in the next episode.
From Philip Fitzpatrick
Bill's attention to detail is stunning and a lesson for us lazy writers. Even down to the hat Chris Warrillow was wearing! Ian Sloan was on my 1967 ASOPA course - I often wondered why he dropped out. Bougainville must have been a traumatic introduction for him.
"In December 1969, Teori’s case went to the High Court of Australia. Teiori maintained a close dialogue over the next four tears and he supported the kiaps working in his area." I think "tears" should be "years" but it does sum up the whole affair.
From Keith Jackson
Years has now replaced tears but, yes, tears would also have been apposite.
From Arthur Williams
What an incredible part of Bougainville history Bill presents to us and the world. My take from his Chronicle 29 report is the sheer arrogance of the CRA mining company which thought it OK to 'test' sending 75,000 cubic metres of overburden into someone's environment.
Yet 52 years later in 2020 saw CRA's successor, Rio Tinto, get its comeuppance over destroying an Aboriginal site in Western Australia. No learning from bloody history by these arrogant miners. No wonder PNG prime minister Marape is right in digging his heels in with the Sino-Canadian mobsters in Porgera, something his predecessors were afraid to do. Woodlark Islanders you have been warned.
From Bernard Corden
I can vaguely recall Sir Frank Espie's son, Paul Espie, being involved in some drunken behaviour at the Cabbage Tree Club on Sydney's Palm Beach back in the late 1980s with a media mogul's son. It involved the burning of some Aboriginal artefacts at a barbecue in the grounds of the club. It was reported in the local newspaper but did not gain any further significant coverage.
From Chris Warrillow
I am grateful to Bill Brown for attempting to set straight the record in relation to field officers’ involvement in the lead-up to the establishment of CRA’s copper mine on Bougainville in the 1960s. However, it still disappoints me that the records of academics will probably be the ones most relied on by researchers in the future and whose accounts will remain permanently impressed in the minds of most of their readers. In PNG Attitude's article, 'As it really was: Straightening the record', I have had my say and corrected some mistruths. At least now my wife, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will have the opportunity to read about me in perhaps a kinder light.
Link here to Chris's rebuttal of references about him in a book by Donald Denoon https://www.pngattitude.com/2021/01/as-it-really-was-straightening-the-record.html
Chapter 30 - Tightening the screw
From Phil Fitzpatrick
I can't help thinking about all those administration resources tied up in this mine at such a crucial point of PNG's development. Just the personnel (kiaps) involved must have been a huge chunk out of DDA's resources.
From Chris Overland
This is a dismal tale indeed. It shows neo-liberal capitalism unmasked in all its rapaciousness and indifference towards the human cost of its insatiable appetite for what Manning Clark termed "uncommonly large profit". So far as I can tell, beyond TV adverts suggesting that big corporations are actually cute, soft and cuddly and composed of very nice people, the underlying process has not really altered at all.
This is how mining executives can decide that it is fine to blow up Aboriginal artefacts and historic sites in pursuit of more money. All this took place when these people were supposed to have understood and been sensitised to the significance of such sites to the Aboriginal people and there are, in fact, laws designed to protect them as well. God knows what they do or might do in PNG.
From Bernard Corden
The apple does not fall far from the tree:
https://au.linkedin.com/in/paul-espie-43b41550
Pacific Road is located in Palm Beach on Sydney's northern beaches and there is little evidence of the legacy of CRA at Bougainville:
https://pacroad.com
https://www.hrlc.org.au/rio-tinto-deadly-legacy
https://www.thebensontoorak.com.au
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/john-ralph-develops-ritzy-toorak-retirement-village-20181121-p50hhg.html
From Mark Hitchcock
General Manager and Company Secretary, Bougainville Copper Limited
Rio Tinto has re-engaged with the Autonomous Bougainville Government, Bougainville Copper Limited, Theonila Roka Matbob MP and the human rights lawyers in discussions on what Rio Tinto needs to and can do in Bougainville to address the historic environment and social issues. The re engagement is in response to the Australian enquiry and the action taken by human rights lawyers on behalf of Theonila Roka Matbob MP and some residents (not necessarily landowners) affected by the mine.
From William Dunlop
Rio (ex CRA) and BCL re-engaged with Bougainville? Only because you have been dragged there by Madam Roka Matbob and her compatriots. I was on site in Panguna in 1969 and saw the defoliant being sprayed by Bechtel Corp employees prior to the sluicing down the river system of the massive overburden. On a Ghan rail trip from Darwin to Adelaide in 2016 I ran into a former Bechtel civil engineer from Melbourne who answered in the positive, when I queried him on the brand name of defoliant used. It was manufactured by Monsanto.
CRA's treatment of the Bougainvilleans was of the nature of the Scottish 'Clearances' and the centuries of pillage in Ireland. We can but be thankful Bill Brown was a great mentoring factor or they would have been left at the hands of the Canberra turkeys. Gobble, gobble.
From Bill Brown MBE
Phil Fitzpatrick commented on the administration resources, the kiaps, tied up in the mine at such a crucial period of PNG's development. PNG's looming independence was precisely why they were there, and why so many were involved. Panguna was about to contribute a whopping 40% of PNG's first budget, and PNG would own 20% of Bougainville Copper.
And that was only part of the story. A training program was already being developed: apprentices for all the trades associated with mining, on-site training for drivers, scholarship to universities and technical institutions - the list seemed endless. What amazed me most was how the Bougainville reacted to us kiaps. In 1966-1967, I roamed around all the villages in the Panguna area with two unarmed cops, and the people put up with me even though I was telling them about the dreadful mining law.
Councillor Teori Tau went to gaol - misguidedly, I think - for obstructing CRA. Released on bail, he demanded I transfer PO Russell-Pell to his village “to be on hand for day-to-day discussions and to handle their CRA-related problems.”
I gave Chapter 30 to KJ the night before a sawbones hacked out my right shoulder and replaced it with titanium. Chapter 30 was a mess, and so was I; at 91, I wasn't sure I'd make it. Keith tidied up some of the confusion, but he could not read my mind or add the details I omitted. Keith has taken my corrections on board and added some important details that I left out of the earlier piece. If you have a second look, be sure to cast your eyes over footnote 8. That is where I buried the brief comment, "ADC/DDC Max Denehy, involved with CRA from 1964 to 1966, is mentioned ten times in CRA's history of the development of the mine. None of the other 24 plus kiaps who facilitated the Bougainville operation seemingly existed according to CRA."
From Phil Fitzpatrick
Thanks for putting the human resources aspect into context Bill. Your comments on Oliver are interesting, or rather his comments on the ability of kiaps to decide land ownership issues are interesting. I spent several years doing social mapping studies and I found my previous experience as a kiap very useful and in many ways superior to an anthropological approach.
Anthropologists with a long history working with a specific group of people obviously were the best choice for such work (i.e. such as Laurence Goldman at Kutubu) but the experience gained by kiaps over their working lives shouldn't have been dismissed so arbitarily by Oliver. I don't think having a bunch of PhD students come in for a couple of months would have been any better than what the kiaps could do.
From Paul Oates
Revisiting this situation after 50 years of reflection could and perhaps should reveal some lessons for those who might have to deal with this type situation in the future. It seems strange that governments on both sides of the Torres Strait now seem very quiet about what transpired in their dealings with a large and determined multi-national mining company. Normally governments are very quick to sheet home any blame if they can make political capital out of doing so.
Reflecting on Bill’s narrative, there are a number of very important issues that should have been considered then and still exist today. Primarily, there is the obvious disconnection between the wishes of the local land owners and what transpired in history. The carve up of the world in the nineteenth Century mostly ignored any consideration of what local people might want in favour of those who held the reigns of power but never in their wildest dreams visited the area and the people concerned. Can we really say that anything has changed in 150 years?
The reality was that that the Bougainville people were not ethnically part of the collection of ethnicities that became PNG. They were in fact clearly aligned with the people of the Solomons. Only now after a civil war and a force of foreign peacekeepers is there any political action to recognise that factor. The fact that there still is an ore body that could be redeveloped, might soon create very similar temptations with an independent, provincial government, especially if funds are tight. How will that play out with local landowners who will no doubt have similar concerns about their land?
Rapacious mining companies, owned and operated by both corporate and foreign national governments have scarce concern for what their actions might cause at the proverbial ‘coal face’. Other ore bodies and resources in the same region have already proved tempting opportunities for those who have control over government actions and decisions.
The biggest lesson that should be learnt from this one example is that as soon as any community owned resource is discovered and recognised and a wish expressed by someone that the resource could and should be developed, there comes about an inevitable debate on what might be a fair carve up of wealth by those who feel they have some claims to the generated profits.
At this point, most ‘developers’ make themselves scare and slope their shoulders in favour of any official or government that can be found to accept responsibility ‘for whatever reason’, but usually through the principle of someone’s short-term gain for someone else’s long-term pain. Similarly, when resources like these are developed or more likely ‘over developed’, there comes the inevitable finger pointing over who will either own the result or pay for the clean-up and/or compensation. Can anyone suggest what this might mean for PNG as a nation, the potentially new nation of Bougainville or perhaps a new Solomons province?
From Gus Goetz Schweinfurth OBE
I was appointed restoration coordinator on Bougainville under the Paius Wingti - Julius Chan cabinet. I was living at Sohano. Sam Tulo was the administrator at the time. I went all over the island working on water supplies, schools and general restoration projects and working very closely with the people and the army. Jerry Singirok was the defence force commander and a close friend. I would go to the outstations and have meetings.
Spent three years there again and with Tony Reagan [Anthony Regan? - Ed] stayed at Arawa and worked on the peace agreement. Only Tony and I stayed on as everyone else took off. I stayed and worked with the UN peacekeepers doing a lot of liaison, kiap way of course. Was heavily involved in the coup as it was getting crazy and the PNGDF had had enough. Even direct talks with the PM at the time did not register so that's another story.
Have all this time been working on projects in Bougainville and am currently working with the new President Ishmael Toroama. Am getting tourism into Bougainville also with European agencies especially the German connections. I spent 10 years as the provincial secretary of Morobe Province. We had a very efficient administration with a team of good kiaps. Take care. Great stuff.
From Ian Oxenford
Many thanks to Bill Brown for such an informative piece of history. I worked for Bougainville Copper for 18 months from 1972, a brief but life changing experience for me. My best mate was the late Brian Dodd, the kiap at Moratana in the tailings area. Also knew Mike Bell quite well. I returned to PNG in 1979 as a didiman with the PNG Development Bank, a far more rewarding contribution than mining.
From Archie Thompson
I worked in Bougainville from 1972 to 1974, befriended Mike Bell, sailed a lot with him and Mr Dunlop at the Kieta Yacht Club. In fact they taught me how to sail, something I appreciate to this day. If anyone knows of Mike Bell's whereabouts, it would be appreciated if you could let me know, if possible on this forum.
Chapter 31 - Propaganda & confrontation
From Chris Overland
Reading Bill Brown's latest article I was once again struck by Canberra's determination to impose CRA's mine upon the people of Bougainville regardless of their emphatic opposition. It seems to me that a combination of almost wilful ignorance about Bougainville and PNG generally, combined with complete indifference towards the expressed needs and wishes of its peoples, was the hallmark of attitudes in Canberra. There was a stubborn refusal to accept any outcome other than the imposition of the mine upon people living far away of whom they knew nothing and cared less. Of course, given my experience with bureaucracies, I should not really be too surprised. There are endless examples of remote bureaucrats making decisions in their ivory towers that make no operational sense at all.
To be an effective leader or manager it was often necessary to ignore or otherwise subvert directions from above so as to enable the system to actually work. Unfortunately, this option was not available to Bill and his colleagues although they certainly tried hard to insert reality and sanity into the conversation.I wonder if anyone within the Canberra bureaucracy is reading Bill's Chronicle and, perhaps, nodding their head in silent acknowledgement that not a lot may have changed?
From Ross Wilkinson
I reckon that those Canberra bureaucrats who are still with us are retired old farts contemplating their navels and gazing at their OBEs. My thought is that Canberra was pushing the development of a mineral industry to create a self-supporting economy to lessen the impost on the Australian taxpayer.
Working in Moresby just prior to Independence, I can recall a lead article in the Post Courier that one third of the PNG economy at that time was from local production, one third was the Australian government grant and one third was the Bougainville Copper mine. This indicated why the PNG government has been desperate to retain Bougainville within the nation and the rapid development of Provincial Government as a fob-off to the Bougainville people. When that failed why not rebadge it using the words 'autonomous region'. Sounds impressive - give that man an OBE.
From Phil Fitzpatrick
Thanks very much for the latest article, Bill. I agree wholeheartedly with Chris Overland’s comment.
Bill was privileged in a way because he had a front row seat from which to observe the machinations going on in the upper echelons of the administration and their interactions with the mandarins in Canberra in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I'm not sure he would now regard that experience as a privilege, more of a trial perhaps?
In any event his recounting of those experiences is very enlightening for many of us who were out in the sticks and wondering what the hell was going on in Moresby and Canberra as we received yet another incomprehensible or impossible direction from on high in the mail. Like a lot of old kiaps I can't wait for the next episode.
From Jim Fenton
I read your latest chapter with interest. That is a good photo of Ross Allen and Phil Bouraga. I liked Phil.Phil came to Minj as a cadet when I was there, and we were both presented to Sir Robert Menzies when he visited.
Terry White came to see me in Rabaul in 1973 and conned me into a job with him as S nior Government Liaison Officer with the promise that I would rise to Deputy District Commissioner level in a forthcoming reorganisation. That never happened. In my opinion, he was a bit of a feather duster. Good to see you are still firing on all six.
From Malcolm (Chips) Mackellar
I enjoyed Chapter 31 of your Chronicle. Your attention to detail is amazing, especially after all these years. By the time it is finished it will be the masterpiece of all time. Congratulations for producing it.
From Fr Garrett Roche
Bill Brown writes that he does not know much about John Kup-Ogut. I would have met John Kup many times in Mt Hagen and knew several of his brothers and sisters as well. The man referred to as John Kup-Ogut was the son of Jacob Kup and Josefina Rok. The name ‘Ogut’ or ‘Ugits’ was the name of an ancestor who was connected to the Penambi tribe.
John Kup’s father Jacob was one of the first students in the school established by Fr Ross at Wilya, Mt Hagen, circa 1935. The Kup family lived at Palimrui, near Newtown, Mt Hagen. Akai Kup, Paul and Marcus were all brothers of John Kup. Their father Jacob also had a block of land at Kindeng or Avi.
Bill Brown also refers to an officer named ‘Andrew Smare’ - I wonder if this was not in fact ‘Arnold Smare’ who was a kiap, and who later married Josephine, a sister of John Kup, and whose son Anthony Smare is today well known in business circles in PNG. Or it could be there were two ‘Smare’ brothers.
Bill also mentions Ross Allen who I remember as a well respected kiap in Mt Hagen. I remember him giving us a very positive talk about Hagen and its people.
From Phil Fitzpatrick
I knew John Kup quite well too, Garry. I met him while doing a land survey in 1968 outside Hagen. He had been in the army, I believe trained in Australia. I next met him when he was a commissioner on the 1972 Commission of Enquiry Into Land Matters.
Ross Allen was Assistant District Commissioner in Hagen when I arrived there in 1967. He later disappeared while sailing a yacht from, I think, South America to Australia and was never found. It is suspected pirates were to blame.
From Bill Brown MBE
Thank you Garry for picking up the mistake in Arnold Smare's name. I knew it was Arnold not Andrew but somehow it slipped by. I had stacks of bio details for Peter Barber and Smare but they were bit players and I did not want to cloud the story. Although, on reflection, Smare being born in Rabaul with Aitape and Wewak parents could have added to the 'redskin' paragraph.
From Harry Topham
Very elucidating bit of old news that maybe should have been penned at the time the events took place. Nevertheless this detailed essay should be read by any of the aspiring leader for an autonomous independent Bougainville to hopefully prevent history repeating itself. Over to you, Leonard! [Leonard Roka is a prominent Bougainvillean entrepreneur and writer, whose books have laid out a future path for independence - KJ]
From Bill Brown MBE
I neglected to record that Assistant Director Bill (WR) Dishon had vague recollections of his five-month stint as a Patrol Officer on Bougainville before the Japanese invasion in 1942. Following District Officer Merrylees' contentious decision to evacuate Kieta on 22 January, Dishon sailed with him and thirteen other males to Woodlark Island and then to Port Moresby on the Methodist Mission Society's Auxiliary Schooner "Bilua". Dishon enlisted on arrival.
Chapter 32 - A prime ministerial intervention
From Bernard Corden
The photo of Bill Conroy was quite interesting. He had a fascinating career and ended up living at Avalon on Sydney's northern beaches and often gave lectures at the community centre on handling tick infestation. You can link to Bill's obituary here https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/conroy-wilfred-lawrence-bill-16741
From Frank Darcey
Thank you. A great article and information that is good to know. I grew up in Toniva and knew the children of a lot of the people mentioned, but had no real understanding of what their parents did and what they had to deal with. I do remember the sense of anger of the Indigenous landowners, their frustration and resolve.
From Arthur Williams
Oh Bill, your efforts and professionalism are so enjoyable. As an involved eyewitness backstory it surely will be used for many years to come by anyone interested in finding the truth of the history of the mine.
In 1971 (or ‘72), when I was at Taskul, I went on a so-called 'Council tax patrol’ around Lavongai Island when the vice president of Baunung, Peter Passingan, one of the few non-TIA Councillors, would give a talk on his government sponsored trip to Panguna (always in Tunag tokples) at every village we visited. I even learnt some of the language due to those backside aching long talks.
Often wondered if it was not paid for by the Administration but by the copper company as there had been and continues to be much exploration of Lavongai - 'Ailan Lukluk' as Walla Gukguk, then the concurrent president of the Council and Tutukuvul Isukul Association, once called his homeland. I'm looking forward to #33 already.
Chapter 33 - Construction & dislocation
From Keith Jackson AM
Another action-packed chapter on the complex development of the Panguna mine, Loloho port, Arawa town and the precipitous access road through the Crown Prince Range linking coast to mine while administering a population far from convinced of the changes that are taking place.
Land is purchased at prices regarded as unbelievable in the north and south of the island. The people of central Bougainville demand a referendum on secession and are aggrieved when Australian prime minister John Gorton won't even discuss it.
Meanwhile Bill Brown is appointed conjoint District Commissioner over both the mining zone and the district: while his predecessor as District Commissioner, Des Ashton, is transferred to Manus. The Duke of Edinburgh visits and the murder of District Commissioner Jack Emanuel in the Gazelle Peninsula sends a chill through the entire Territory of PNG - things will never be the same again.
All this and more provides another riveting episode of Bill Brown's masterful inside story of the project that gave PNG the revenue it needed to make independence viable - but was also to lead to a bloody civil war.
From Philip Fitzpatrick
I always look forward to the next episode in this masterful series, especially now that it is building up to the final stages. Bill's meticulous attention to detail has changed the way I research and write, I'm a lot more careful than I used to be. The end result is going to be a fine historical document and a gift to the people of Bougainville.
From Chris Overland
Bill has once again described the intricate machinations and politics that surrounded the establishment of the Panguna mine. It is notable that it was the kiaps who were most committed to protecting the interests of the local people yet, paradoxically, they were in the forefront of the administration's efforts to win their 'hearts and minds'.
This was an invidious position to be in for the kiaps, one of whose primary tasks was to protect and promote the interests of the local people for whom they were the public face of a distant colonial authority. I wonder if the PNG government has people on the ground in Bougainville now who have a similar task or, at the very least, serve as their 'eyes and ears' at village level? I somehow doubt it.
Well done Bill. I look forward to the continuing story.
From Bernard Corden
Back in 2020, Frank Espie's son, Paul Espie AO, sold his Darling Point trophy home for approximately $25 million and a weekender on Pacific Road, overlooking Palm Beach on Pittwater Peninsula. He wished to spend more time at the family's cattle grazing property in Dungog, several hours north of Sydney. I expect the local river is uncontaminated and unlikely to contain any mining waste.
From Bill Brown MBE
I made an error in identification in the Arawa village photos in Kiap's Chronicle chapters 32 and 33. The error has now been corrected thanks to Therese Jaintong, daughter of Raphael Niniku, and Pokpok Chief Peter Garuai, facilitated by Greg McPhee of BCL, Port Moresby.
I worked in Bougainvile from 1972 to 1974, befriended Mike Bell, sailed a lot with him and Mr Dunlop at the Kieta Yacht Club.
In fact they taught me how to sail, something I appreciate to this day.
If anyone knows of Mike Bell's whereabouts, it would be appreciated if you could let me know, if possible on this forum.
Posted by: Archie Thompson | 01 February 2022 at 08:54 AM
Hi BIll - I was appointed restoration coordinator on Bougainville under the Paius Wingti - Julius Chan cabinet. I was living at Sohano. Sam Tulo was the administrator at the time.
I went all over the island working on water supplies, schools and general restoration projects and working very closely with the people and the army. Jerry Singirok was the defence force commander and a close friend. I would go to the outstations and have meetings.
Spent three years there again and with Tony Reagan [Anthony Regan? - Ed] stayed at Arawa and worked on the peace agreement. Only Tony and I stayed on as everyone else took off.
I stayed and worked with the UN peacekeepers doing a lot of liaison, kiap way of course.
Was heavily involved in the coup as it was getting crazy and the PNGDF had had enough. Even direct talks with the PM at the time did not register so that's another story.
Have all this time been working on projects in Bougainville and am currently working with the new President Ishmael Toroama. Am getting tourism into Bougainville also with European agencies especially the German connections.
I spent 10 years as the provincial secretary of Morobe Province. We had a very efficient administration with a team of good kiaps.
Take care. Great stuff.
Posted by: Gus Goetz Schweinfurth OBE | 18 May 2021 at 07:54 PM
These chronicles tell a story from a specific perspective which I believe to be accurate. I was there in Kieta from April Fools Day 1967 and was witness to many events outside the government offices.
Thank you Bill, for recording this time. I only hope that my own story will be interesting enough to count as worth the time to read. Dare I say there may be a few humorous incidents you may have chosen to forget!
Anyone in Bougainville at that time will not have forgotten who Bill Brown was, nor should they. I have wonderful memories sharing time with Pam and the children during that era.
Posted by: Rae Smart | 06 December 2018 at 02:03 PM
Hi Anthony - I knew both your parents but I did not attend a course in Sydney with your father in 1967.
I was transferred from the Sepik to Bougainville in June 1966 and, apart from periods of leave, remained there until June 1973.
Your father was ADO (Assistant District Officer) Lumi during 1961-1962. I was at Wewak and Maprik during that time. We were together at meetings, conferences etc and met socially at weddings etc.
Posted by: Bill Brown | 11 June 2018 at 09:46 AM
Hi Bill - I am enquiring if you did a six month refresher course in Sydney in the latter half of 1967 along with my father, Brian McCabe?
Posted by: Anthony McCabe | 09 June 2018 at 01:43 PM
This is a most interesting site.
I came across it while trying to find & locate my boyhood friend, Lawrence Ashley Meintjies. Last trace of him is that he was an Assistant District Officer in New Ireland during 1971. He seems to have been known as Laurie.
Does anyone know his present whereabouts or where I might look next.
Any help would be much appreciated.
________
I have advised James of Laurie's email - KJ
Posted by: James Edmund Henning | 17 December 2017 at 09:59 PM
Wonderful to hear from the redoubtable Kurt Pfund - a brilliant colourful painting of his still hangs on our wall, and I recall the wonderful hospitality he provided up the Rouna Road.
His exhibitions were renowned, and and I suspect that likewise his love life was decidedly more colourful than mine.
Posted by: Bill Barclay | 08 July 2016 at 11:51 AM