KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – In 2009, the National Library of Australia sought permission from me to “provide public access in perpetuity” to PNG Attitude.

“The Library aims to build a comprehensive collection of Australian publications to ensure Australians have access to their documentary heritage now and in the future,” said senior librarian, Edgar Crook at the time.

“It is [also] committed to preserving electronic publications of lasting research or cultural value. Since [1996] we have been identifying online publications and archiving those that we consider have national significance.”

Mr Crook said the Library would take the necessary preservation action to keep PNG Attitude accessible down the years even with hardware and software changes over time, adding that its national database is shared by over 1,000 Australian libraries.

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – It all started when Facebook did the dirty on Typepad and made some unconsulted changes which caused the two platforms to stop communicating. I understand FB is known for having that kind of superiority complex.

The worst outcome, perhaps, which has saddened me, is that we’ve lost our Likes feature which enabled readers to offer some kind of applause and writers to get some kind of feedback.

The Likes of every article returned to zero – even those big enchiladas that had over 1,000 (one of Phil Fitzpatrick’s babies was in that elite group).

The most any piece got ever was around 3,000. It was a beautiful but tragic story of a PNGDF soldier killed in the Bougainville civil war.

I had been thinking for some time of making PNG Attitude more smartphone friendly, but knew we would lose the Likes so always resisted the urge. Now it's been done to us. Maybe I'll take the opportunity to look at a new design. Or maybe not.

The first archived issue of PNG Attitude in the National Library of Australia from mid-September 2009

PHIL FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - I like to write. I don’t really know why. Sometimes it’s easier to write than talk. Perhaps it’s because I find writing is a way of mustering and sorting my ideas. Maybe it’s just a way of blowing off steam. Who knows?

I’m nosey and I’ve got a wide range of interests and I write about most of them. I published my first piece in 1970 and haven’t stopped since.

What continues to surprise me is that, despite the demise of many traditional outlets like magazines and journals, I can still find people willing to publish what I write.

These days I like to write books. Writing books, both fiction and non-fiction, is an amazingly leisurely way to explore ideas.

Lately, the emergence of print-on-demand has meant that if I can’t find a publisher I can do it myself. That’s a wonderful freedom.

How you can help restore the ABC’s broadcasting services to PNG & the Pacific

A group of eminent Australian journalists associated with Papua New Guinea and the Pacific have come together to persuade the Australian government to rebuild the ABC’s once great broadcasting services to the region. They include well-known names such as Sean Dorney, Jemima Garrett, Max Uechtritz, Tess Newton-Cain, Sue Ahearn, Peter Marks and Jioji Ravulo. They have the full support of me personally and PNG Attitude with its 5,000 followers.

The Australian government is at present conducting a review of Australian broadcasting in the region. It is taking submissions until Friday 3 August (read about it here). This is a great opportunity to change Australian policy on this important issue. I strongly urge you to make a submission. And, if you need a helping hand, you’ve got three expert journalists to provide it: Sean Dorney (sean_dorney@hotmail.com), Jemima Garrett (garrett.jemima@gmail.com) and Sue Ahearn (srahearn@hotmail.com).

I ask you to act now, wherever you live. Your voice deserves - and needs - to be heard

Editor in country - blog unreliably following me around

Ingrid and I are in PNG for 10 days. Mainly to see family and friends.
And to feel the vibe again. As always when I travel, the blog may be a
bit irregular, but keep those articles & comments flowing

FRANCIS NII

Disabled author Francis Nii and new laptop: 'Without a computer and a reliable mobile phone, I am truly handicapped'

KUNDIAWA - A personal computer can be an important tool for any writer but for a disabled writer like me, composing my words and sentences from the confines of a hospital bed, a laptop and a reliable mobile phone are essential tools of trade.

Without them, I am truly handicapped. With them, I am liberated to access information and to write, write, write.

When the screen of my Asus computer, given to me by my good friend Murray Bladwell in 2016, experienced a major breakdown while I was trying to upload the second edition of my novel ‘Tears’, I knew I had hit a desperate moment. Hopelessness overwhelmed me. Tears indeed!

Luckily I had saved the entire manuscript in a Samsung phone given to me by Patrick Haynes so I emailed the valuable document to Philip Fitzpatrick to upload to my CreateSpace publishing page.

I told Phil that I couldn’t upload it myself because my laptop had encountered a serious problem. I had no idea that the piece of information relayed to Phil would prompt a fundraising effort that would result in me getting a brand new HP laptop and a Canon printer.

The Francis Nii laptop appeal exceeds its target. Francis will keep on writing
TARGET $1,000;  FUNDS RECEIVED $1,230

Thanks to readers, Francis Nii – the noted Papua New Guinean author whose home is the isolation ward of Kundiawa Hospital – will now get a new laptop to continue his important contribution to PNG literature and affairs. In less than 24 hours our appeal passed the targeted $1,000 and we’re beside ourselves with gratitude. Contributions exceeding the cost of the computer will be used to purchase books by PNG authors.

 Thanks to Garry Tongs, Ed Brumby, Donna Harvey-Hall, Kerri Worthington, Lindsay Bond, Murray Bladwell, Chris Overland, Phil Fitzpatrick, Keith Jackson, Toowong Rotary Club, Jim Moore, Paul Flanagan, Joe Herman, Bea & Simon Ellis, Stuart, and Bill Woods.

The National Australia Bank was this morning instructed to transmit the funds to Francis, who responded: "Thank you very much. My laptop will be delivered on Monday if I make the payment today which I will do. I will borrow a machine and send a word of thanks over the weekend to PNG Attitude".

Phil - has survived long-term exposure to grumps reasonably intact

PHIL FITZGRUMPY

GRUMPY BAY - One of the hidden delights of PNG Attitude over the years has been the contributions of articles and comments by a venerable coterie of grumpy old men.

You’ll notice I haven’t mentioned grumpy old women. I’m sure they exist but I’m not sure I really want to go there. Call me sexist or cowardly but there are some possums not worth poking with a stick. So back to the men.

They are, of course, a fairly elite group. You don’t become a grumpy old man unless you’ve earned it. You have to be able to exhibit the scars of battle to gain membership. Not even bribery will get you there.

So what makes this band of brothers so unique?

I think Chris Overland, himself a fine example of the genre, defined it quite well when he said: “Sixty or more years of experience can confer a degree of wisdom and, unless you are truly delusional, you mostly see the world as it is, not as you might wish it to be.

Did you catch them all? PNG Attitude’s top 5 stories of the past week
were especially written for our 4,000 regular readers 

Australia’s response to election displays diplomatic ineptitude
Grotesque comedy as PNGns elect debt-ridden kleptocracy
Enough of this nonsense: frustrated-words from an old friend
A spineless Australia is no good for anyone
Peter O’Neill in box-seat to lead PNG with comfortable majority

MARLENE DEE GRAY POTOURA

To say Marlene Potoura has had a run of bad luck is a terrible understatement. The writer and educator is a single mother who in recent times has seen her pre-school business collapse and been evicted after her flat caught fire and was ransacked by thieves. Marlene has experienced the very worst of what Papua New Guinea can be. A few of her friends have assisted with funds but now I am widening this to include PNG Attitude readers. After you read Marlene’s story, if you feel you can assist, please donate to her at: Marlene Potoura, Account 1006258444, Bank South Pacific, Port Moresby. Marlene’s address is c/- Sylbeez Learning Centre, Lae, Morobe Province. This is an urgent and legitimate plea for help - KJ

AS YOU read this, I take this moment to ask for your kind help.

On 11 October 2016, my son Martin, 12, lit a candle at 9pm during a blackout, went to the toilet, came back, placed the candle on top of a computer CPU in our room and went back to bed. My daughter Darhlia, 8, and I had long gone been asleep.

The candle burned into the CPU and a fire started, giving off thick black smoke and setting alight the curtains and louvres. Luckily the door to the room was open.

PHIL FITZPATRICK

EVERYONE online in Papua New Guinea seems to be currently preoccupied with the elections.

The big question is whether the hugely unpopular government will be able to subvert and bribe enough electoral officials, candidates and voters with the money filched from the public purse to get re-elected.

And, if that happens, what Papua New Guinea is going to do with a likely illegal national government at the helm.

I can hear the lawyers in Port Moresby rubbing their hands in anticipation all the way over here on the west coast of South Australia.

SCOTT HAMILTON | http://readingthemaps.blogspot.com.au

SOMETIMES New Zealand publishers complain to me.

The book market here is so small, this or that publisher says. Grants are inadequate. Bookshops are closing, as internet imperialists like Amazon expand.

All of these complaints are justified. The life of a Kiwi book publisher can be a difficult one.

But if our publishers need some perspective on their plight, and some inspiration, then they ought to read Phil Fitzpatrick's remarkable article 'The Lost Creative Writing Generation of Papua New Guinea', which was published late last year on the popular PNG Attitude blog.

SIMON DAVIDSON

IF THE body is made from the foods we eat, then the beauty of the poems we pen, the elegance of the prose we write and the majesty of the books we author can be said to be derived from the books we read.

The ideas, imagery and anecdotes from books, speeches and newspapers are the raw materials that the brain needs to weave its creative magic to mint ideas to fill the blank page.

The creative soul needs a constant dose of good books for reading, to replenish the mental stock. Reading and writing are symbiotic twins. To write well, one needs to read well from literature’s vast spectrum.

FRANCIS NII

I READ somewhere that our brain can process images 60,000 times faster than it can process words - and that images can convey ideas which stick with us much longer than the words on a page.

I am sure this rings true the moment you see the images accompanying this story.

The two gentlemen you see in this first picture are Hon Glen Elmes MP, the local member for Noosa in the Queensland Parliament, and Tony Wellington, the mayor for Noosa Shire, proudly showing the gifts of sand paintings donated to them and the people of Noosa by Daniel Kumbon and his wife Julie.

During last year’s McKinnon-Paga Hill sponsored study tour of Australia, Daniel, Martyn Namorong and I didn’t discuss bringing PNG arts and crafts for our Aussie friends.

A globe-trotting journalist pays tribute to his own country

FREE DOWNLOAD

I Can See My Country Clearly Now. Much-travelled journalist Daniel Kumbon was born in Enga, university educated and is now back working among his own people. In this book, the award-winning writer tells of his global travels and reflects on how his many experiences revealed Papua New Guinea to him in a new light. Daniel's book joins other excellent works on offer absolutely free through PNG Attitude and all available by clicking the links just below the masthead....

SIMON DAVIDSON

MARKETING plays a vital role to motivate wanna be writers and budding writers and to bring their works to the public view.

Virginia Woolf in the preface to her novel Mrs Dalloway referred to such profile-raising as the “oxygen of publicity” which writers can breathe in and enjoy and benefit from.

The first time I breathed the oxygen of publicity happened when one of my article was published in PNG Attitude in 2014. It was a satirical article I’d written on the Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas project. You can read it here.

At that moment I saw it, I felt I was standing on Mount Everest and breathing the dizzying air at the summit of the earth’s highest peak.

Oxygen at 8,848 metres above sea level might be thin but there it was plenty enough for me to breathe and enjoy.

JULIET ROGERS | CEO, Australian Society of Authors

IN SEPTEMBER, we were fortunate enough to meet with two writers from Papua New Guinea, Martyn Namorong and Daniel Kumbon, who had been brought to Australia for the Brisbane Writer’s Festival and a series of industry meetings.

Martyn is a political activist, award-winning writer and a much-quoted blogger, while Daniel has had a prominent career in journalism, including a number of prestigious international scholarships.

PNG has a national literary award, the Crocodile Prize, which is now in its sixth year and this prize has also established a not-for-profit publisher, Pukpuk Publications.

PNG Attitude's Next Mission

Papua New Guinean books are being written and being published.  
But they are not getting to Papua New Guinea's readers.

Let’s make 2017 the year every major development  project in PNG
is persuaded to get PNG-authored books into PNG hands.

KEITH JACKSON

AT THE Brisbane Writers Festival yesterday, before an audience of over 50 people including Papua New Guinea’s consul-general Maggie Moi-he, four of PNG’s top writers showed they were not only giants of the keyboard but splendid performers on the international stage.

As representatives of their country and interpreters of Melanesian literary expression, Francis Nii, Martyn Namorong, Rashmii Amoah Bell and Daniel Kumbon - with style, intellect and charisma - put in a superb performance at the first ever PNG presentation at an Australian literary festival.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PHIL FITZPATRICK

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

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

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

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

KEITH JACKSON

PAPUA New Guinea will benefit from a privately-funded initiative by PNG Attitude to develop writers associations throughout the country.

A program of annual fellowships has been started to provide the basic management skills required to establish and maintain writers associations at a provincial level.

The McKinnon-Paga Hill Fellowship has been funded by separate gifts from PNG’s pre-independence director of education, Prof Ken McKinnon AO (pictured), and the Paga Hill Development Company.

The first three McKinnon-Paga Hill fellows have been identified and accepted their awards.

They are established authors Daniel Kumbon and Leonard Fong Roka, who have received full fellowships, and Francis Nii, who has received a part fellowship.

24 - KELA KAPKORA SIL BOLKIN

An occasional series of autobiographical memoirs by PNG Attitude's writers

AT KUNDIAWA provincial hospital on 9 August 1973, the morning dawn, as the Simbus say, had stagnated.

The small township was soaked with drizzle. The crystal white clouds had astutely sought refuge on the adjoining peaks of Dee Pek, Argol, Porol Scarp and Tokma.

Seen from the air, the junction of the Simbu and Wahgi Rivers (Murane and Uwai) seemed as if they were in the Antarctic. The four cornered Kundiawa town was soaked and submerged in a cold, hard, white landscape.

In the hospital labour ward, timid but stout Simbu mothers were strolling around anxiously in skirts, laplaps and a couple of grass skirts, awaiting what had turned out to be a marathon delivery.

24 - ROSE KRANZ

I WAS born in Goglme in the Simbu, my birth father being Otto Kuman Omba. He died when I was a baby and my mum married another man, Peter Daka. I owe my life to this man.

Like John Kamasua I had a difficult childhood in Simbu. And I remember the days of Australian kiaps and the excitement of seeing the small planes land on our little airstrip.

As a baby, I was very sick and had scabies, a skin disease. Neighbours told my stepfather that he should leave me under the trees to die. But Peter Daka said, ''No - I will look after her.  God has given her to me". And so he did.

Working as a carpenter (he built several churches in Simbu), he would carry me with him to work in his carpenter’s bag with the hammers and chisels. He fed me on coconut milk and tinpis wara. So I survived and was sent to relatives in Banz where I attended the Catholic Primary School.

23 - FR GARRETT JOSEPH (GARRY) ROCHE

I WAS born on 28 January 1946 in Ballinahown near Fermoy town in County Cork, Ireland; the third born son of Garrett Roche and Margaret O’Toole. I was named Garrett after my father.

I attended Grange National Primary School, a two-teacher country school, from 1951 to 1958. Between 1958 and 1963 I attended the secondary school run by the Christian Brothers in Fermoy town.

After completing the Leaving Certificate examination in 1963 I worked as a laboratory assistant at the nearby Agricultural Research Institute at Moore Park.  However, in September of that year I left and joined the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) at Donamon, Roscommon, Ireland.

22 - JOHN K KAMASUA

I CAN best tell my story by presenting it in sketches. Not that it is a glamorous or significant story, it’s been ordinary; yet, to me, quite spectacular!

My parents were illiterate and were unable to write any of my story, or even have photos of my early life. Now, of course, I do have photos of school, college, and university life.

The life I have now today really when I started school. But I had an earlier life which I can only recollect in patches.

My mother tells me I had a pretty typical childhood. I was born in the former Kundiawa General Hospital and a day later spent the night in Sikewake, near there.

Mother tells me I cried all night and nothing they did could make me go back to sleep. They thought I was going to die that night. And so I was introduced to life on planet earth.

PHIL FITZPATRICK

POSSIBLY the largest two bodies of expatriates in Papua New Guinea prior to independence were the kiaps and the teachers.

They tended to be posted all over the country and often in the remotest areas. They had more contact with Papua New Guinean people at the grassroots level than any other group.

By the time PNG Attitude got going they were all either retired or on the cusp of retirement with time on their hands.

They were also at an age where many had become reflective, and a great deal of that reflection involved their time in Papua New Guinea.

21 - RASHMII BELL

I WAS born in late March 1981 at ANGAU Memorial General Hospital in Lae, Morobe Province.

Twenty-nine years later I returned as a bel mama to give birth to my second child; a beautiful, healthy girl with a crop of loosely curled hair, mixed African-Melanesian and as black as night.

The photographs I’ve seen of how ANGAU hospital was way back then and my own memories of my younger years clash with how it was for the birth of my child in 2010.

It’s an inconsistency that tells of an institution that continues to do what it can despite the abhorrent neglect of the government.

20 - BUSA JEREMIAH WENOGO

MY father arrived in Port Moresby in torn short pants with not a single penny in his pocket but full of hope and determination for what lay ahead of him.

He also came with a dream.

My father came from a line of great dreamers. It was said that both my paternal grandmother and grandfather foretold the time of their passing through their dreams.

My grandfather, I was told, was not particularly fond of the hornbill because it had some sort of connection to his death.

My paternal grandmother told her family that if she gave birth to a male child she would die. But if the baby died, she would live. As it turned out, she died a week after giving birth to my father.

19 - ED BRUMBY

IN 1950, when I was five years old, my family escaped the bleak prospects of post-war England and emigrated to Australia, setting up home in the distinctively parochial and conservative city of Townsville in north Queensland.

My father, a gifted pianist who had left school at 14, took a sales job with a chain of music retailers where he parlayed a highly successful career selling pianos, organs, sheet music and records.

Until my brother came along in 1953, my mother worked as a cook at the local migrant hostel to help make ends meet.

While both of my parents had left school at 14, they were avid readers and interested in the world of ideas so our dinnertime conversations and debates ranged across politics, current affairs and music and the arts. (Unlike me, my father was no fan of contemporary or country and western music, or sport.)

18  -  DANIEL KUMBON

IN 1960 a government patrol post was established in Kandep.

The people were rounded up to clear land and build the new government station and the Kandep-Laiagam road.

My father arose early every morning to walk several kilometres to help build bush material houses for the patrol officer, his servants, policemen, teachers and health workers.

The people also worked on the road and the building of a new primary school and clinic.

The government had ordered that this be done and every man had to obey. Those who did not turn up were rounded up and beaten or put in jail.

From time to time I joined my mother, who went to barter bags of sweet potatoes for salt, cooking oil, bars of soap, beads and other goodies at the government station.

17 - RAYMOND SIGIMET

MY full name is Raymond Muso Sigimet. I am now in my mid-thirties and I grew up away from my province and village. Half of my life was spent in the New Guinea Islands.

I am the third born in my family of nine siblings. Five blood sisters, two blood brothers and one adopted brother. We were a crowded lot and very close when growing up.

We fought, argued, got punished, rebelled, forgave, and did all those stuff that families and siblings do. And we still do some of these things today.

16 - CHRIS OVERLAND

On 15 March 2013, PNG Attitude began publishing autobiographical profiles of its leading contributors with ‘Arresting cannibals sure beat banking’ by Phil Fitzpatrick. The series eventually ended many months later with the publication of its fifteenth profile. Since then, the blog has benefited from the memoirs, views and knowledge of many new writers, who have joined the ‘old guard’ in keeping this forum topical and lively. Today we resume this occasional series with Chris Overland’s story….

I WAS born in a small Australian country town in 1951. My parents had been born and raised in the country and neither liked the city nor felt comfortable in it.

Dad had been in the RAAF during World War II, flying a full operational tour in Beaufort Bombers. He was based in Papua New Guinea, mainly at Vivigani on Goodenough Island.

He had several terrifying experiences, surviving three crash landings, but counted himself lucky because 20% of RAAF aircrew died in training or operations. The war changed him but did not break him.

PHIL FITZPATRICK

A couple of months ago, Keith Jackson asked me to write a history of PNG Attitude and the Crocodile Prize.

After considering a number of possible scenarios and formats, I decided that the best way to do it was to let the blog and the prize tell their own story.

Right now the project has reached a point where I’m compiling a collection of what I think are the significant articles that have appeared on the blog and linking them with explanatory notes and some extra discourse.

PHIL FITZPATRICK

SINCE its inception PNG Attitude had scoured a wide range of publications for material of interest to readers. Relevant articles were largely republished on the blog without comment.

Among all of those articles, two types tended to attract vigorous comment. The first were those from the tabloid presses that saw subjects like primitiveness, sorcery and cannibalism as attractive to its sensation-seeking readers.

The second was akin to this but decidedly more sinister. It came from missionaries, particularly those involved in fundamentalist causes.

PHIL FITZPATRICK

DURING 2010 ‘Big Pat’ Levo, editor of the Post-Courier’s Independence Day supplement, asked several regular PNG Attitude contributors to provide articles for that year’s edition.

When he asked me to write something I cast around for a suitable subject. I thought the state of Papua New Guinean literature from those early days to the present might be a good topic, so I started doing a bit of research.

What I found was truly appalling. Papua New Guinean literature seemed to have died shortly after independence.

KEITH JACKSON

MY early December statement, PNG Attitude – A long journey & a short goodbye, had proven painful to write.

But your consequent comments were even more painful to read. To paraphrase the Song of Solomon, “They captured my heart / They held it hostage.”

I was moved by the kind and generous words. There were many of them; some written with an anguish that greatly discomfited me.

Raymond Sigimet - Thank you Keith, with your family, for selflessly giving and sharing 10 years of your life in fostering people to people dialogue through the PNG Attitude. Your blog inspired me to put pen to paper and I believe many others as well. Yu stap long longpela resis na yu win tru / na nau yu kamap long mak bilong yu / yu strongpela man stret / stori bilong yu bai stap longpela taim yet. 

PHIL FITZPATRICK

I’VE been thinking about the future of literature in Papua New Guinea for a while now.

It’s a frustrating thing to contemplate. As Ed Brumby has pointed out, there is a lack of inertia and an all-pervading ennui in Papua New Guinea that seems to permeate and frustrate not just literature but most worthwhile endeavours.

ED BRUMBY

I’VE refrained from commenting on the demise of PNG Attitude and Pukpuk Publishing until now for two reasons: to come to terms with how my daily routine will change and to observe the responses from PNG Attitude readers, Papua New Guinean readers especially.

I’ve been getting my PNG Attitude fix straight after breakfast for so long now it has become embedded in my early morning routine.

It was nostalgia that drove my early engagement with Attitude (and I suspect was a key factor in Keith’s decision to establish it in the first place).

In its infancy, Attitude provided me and other expats who served in PNG with a vicarious reconnection with friends and former colleagues. It was a forum for shared experiences and reflections on what happened back then and what might have been.

PHIL FITZPATRICK

I CAN’T remember when I first started reading PNG Attitude.

I recall dipping into its predecessor, the ASOPA Files, occasionally but not too often because it seemed to be mainly run by old chalkies who were drinking mates and was of limited interest.

How it transmogrified into PNG Attitude I’m not quite sure.

Much of what has happened with PNG Attitude seems to have been serendipitous; that is unplanned, although upon reflection some it it has been anticipated and guided. Most good things develop that way for some reason.

From my own perspective there have been some significant events along the way.

PHIL FITZPATRICK

AS I’ve gotten older and my short-term memory weakens I find it increasingly difficult to multitask, that is, do more than one thing at a time.

To combat this inevitable development I somewhat reluctantly adopted the need for a routine to manage it.

Routine doesn’t come easily because until recently I operated on the principle of spontaneity. I do things based on my gut feeling rather than logic. When I write I don’t worry about grammar, for instance. If it looks right and sounds right I’m happy. This attitude, I think, adds spice to life.

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA - PNG Attitude first appeared (under the masthead ASOPA People) in February 2006 and its mission soon evolved to be the creation of a dialogue between Papua New Guineans and Australians who were interested in the well-being of Australia’s former colony.

Over its 10 years of publication it has not only presented news, information and commentary but offered insights into the colonial period and PNG's history and heritage; all of this material preserved in the archives of the National Library of Australia.

I'm in transit back to Australia and, after some finagling around the central west of NSW, Noosa. There will be a few disruptions to the usual publication of articles and processing of comments over the next 48 hours. Stick with us.... - KJ

KEITH JACKSON

TONIGHT Ingrid and I depart these sun-drenched Queensland shores for Dubai, where we will meet up with MV Nautica for a long cruise along India’s coast across to my old Maldives stamping ground and on to Africa.

The five-week voyage will conclude with a few days in Cape Town from where an arduous string of flights will, 35 hours later, deposit us in Orange NSW for the wedding of Ingrid’s first son, Evan, a medical student.

This period away from my desk will, of course, have an impact on the production of PNG Attitude although, on previous sojourns afloat or in hospital or on long treks, I have somehow managed to produce the blog regularly and, as usual, my email remains open to you.

KEITH JACKSON

PARDON my indulgence, but we must surely mark this milestone – the 10,000th piece to be published by PNG Attitude since this blog kicked off in February 2006.

And I’ve grabbed the space.

Each of those 10,000 articles, essays, poems, stories, reviews and other writings has been duly archived both here (lower left hand column if you’re interested) and by the National Library of Australia.

Along the way, PNG Attitude has had some great successes and a few failures. Perhaps the highlight has been the achievement of the Crocodile Prize national literary contest, which has just concluded its fifth year.

KEITH JACKSON

AUGUST was a month when a big bunch of new readers came to the blog and decided there were a lot of pieces published that they liked.

Hal Holman’s inside story of the tumult behind the design of the Papua New Guinea national flag in the early 1970s was much approved by readers, attracting a record 635 likes.

(Coincidentally, Hal's big format memoir, The Phoenix Rises Eternal - including this story - has just been published in a limited edition.)

And my piece on the Paga Hill Development Company’s gift which will provide a special collection of Crocodile Prize kids’ books for PNG schools scored the second highest approval rating ever with 482 likes.

Raymond Sigimet is a new writer to PNG Attitude but his open letter to the Theo Zurenuoc, Dear Mister Speaker, with 187 likes made an excellent connection with readers.

And there were other stories that were not far behind. It’s a great feeling to kick goals like that for our readers.

KEITH JACKSON

AT the request of a group of four former kiaps, the honour roll of patrol officers and related district administration personnel who died in the course of their duties has been removed from PNG Attitude.

The more eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed its absence.

Paul Oates, Ross Wilkinson, Bill Brown MBE and Peter Turner ML BEM were concerned that some of the comments from readers were “sullying the real importance of the Roll” by including, for example, claims of paternity and disputes about historical incidents involving kiaps.

“Could we accord the Roll, and those who names have been entered on it, more dignity, respect and recognition?” asked one ex-kiap, and it was proposed that comments made subsequent to the Honour Roll be relocated to a new section of the blog.

KEITH JACKSON

EARLY next month Jimmy Drekore will leave Simbu’s misty mountains and jet down to Queensland to attend the annual Brisbane Writers Festival. Bob Cleland and I arranged the trip, which turns out to be very timely indeed.

In addition to meeting BWF organisers to determine whether linkages can be established between writers in the Land of the Unexpected and the Sunshine State, Jimmy will be sitting down with Bob, Phil Fitzpatrick and me to discuss the future of the Crocodile Prize and the extension of the successful Simbu Writers Association model to other parts of Papua New Guinea.

As regular readers of PNG Attitude will know, Phil and I have decided to take a step back from organising the Prize and its many related activities in a determined effort to get a PNG takeover going.

Having taken five years to establish a literary template that is seen to work effectively in PNG, and with it a good funding base, it is time to pass on total control of the administration to Papua New Guineans.

KEITH JACKSON

SO the time for entries came to a close in this year’s Crocodile Prize national literary contest and, after a flood of contributions arrived in June, there were 827 pieces of creative work on the table – 200 more than the previous record in 2014.

These came from 132 writers & illustrators, another record, representing 19 of the 22 provinces in Papua New Guinea.

You can download the profile of every author and illustrator here: download profiles (if you're not mentioned, it's because we haven't received your entry form).

Once again Simbu excelled itself with one in five of all entries coming from the highlands province, home to the only writers association in PNG and host of this year’s awards event in September.