Vale September 2011

CALCUTT, Robin Alexander (7 January 2011) | DWYER, Terence  (21 Feb 2011) | DYER, Gwendoline (Gwen) Alice (12 July 2011) FREEMAN, Colin  (28 May 2011) | HENDERSON, Jean  (1 July 2011) | KOLLMORGEN, Fred (24 July 2011)  | MOODIE, Mollie (19 May 2011) | MORRISON, James Bryan (21 April 2011) | SCHOFIELD, Frank Donal (5 February 2011) | SPENCER, Margaret, OAM | (6 January 2011)

 

Terence DWYER (21 Feb 2011, aged 85)

Terry was born in Liverpool, England and arrived in Melbourne in October 1949. He went to PNG as a Cadet Patrol Officer in June 1950. His first posting was to the Western Highlands where he patrolled and established the airstrip and first base camp at Laiagam and patrolled around the Wabag area. He then moved to New Britain (Rabaul, Kandrian). He met and married Joan in 1956 and they returned to Sydney in 1957, where Terry attended the long course at ASOPA. In 1958-59 he was stationed at Kundiawa, Goroka and Kerowagi. Their first son (David) was born in Goroka in 1959. Stationed at Chuave 1960-61 and Goroka 1962, in 1963 Terry trained local officers at the Finschhafen Training School. Their second son, Colin, was born in Lae 1963. After another term in Goroka (1965-68) Terry transferred to Port Moresby where he rose to be the Director of Bureau of Industrial Organisations.

He and his family left Port Moresby in May 1974 and settled in Queensland. Terry will be sadly missed by his wife Joan, sons David & Colin and his 6 grandchildren. David Dwyer

 

Robin Alexander CALCUTT (7 January 2011, aged 78)

Robin was born in Camberwell, Melbourne, in 1932. He was educated at Xavier College where he showed a keen and life long interest in sport and academics. Robin went to PNG as a cadet patrol officer in 1953. His first posting to New Ireland always held a special place in his heart and he was thrilled to return in 2002 to revisit the people and outstation of Konos. Robin served for some years in the Sepik River area. In 1961 he was posted to Telefomin, where he met Marie Tierney and they were married in Melbourne the following year. Marie, Robin and their family lived in a number of areas of PNG including Angoram, Kerowagi, Daru and then Port Moresby. They relocated to Brisbane in 1973.

Robin held the position of Ceremonies Officer at the University of Queensland until his retirement in 1997. He was very active in various community services including local school committees, Neighbourhood Watch and in his role as a Justice of the Peace. Robin moved to the RSL Fairview Retirement Village at Pinjarra Hills following the death of his wife Marie and he held the community there in very high regard. A devoted and proud family man, Robin immersed himself in the lives of his six children and eleven grandchildren until his death from cancer in January. Belinda Calcutt

 

Margaret SPENCER, OAM (6 January 2011)

Dora graduated MSc in Entomology in 1939 and lectured in Biology at New England University College, 1940 to 1945. She then tutored in Zoology at the University of Sydney. Her association with PNG extended for 25 years from 1953. In 1954 she was appointed as entomologist-instructor at the Malaria Control School at Minj in the Western Highlands of New Guinea. During the next two years she and her husband, Dr Terrence Spencer, documented the epidemiology of Highlands malaria, and published the first record of a Highlands malaria epidemic.

From 1956 she carried out a detailed study into anopheline fauna of the D’Entrecasteaux Islands and, as part of a Malaria Control Assessment Team, extended that study over a wide range of PNG islands, working closely with her husband in epidemiological studies. She was awarded a WHO research grant to study enlargement of the ovarioles and development of eggs in PNG anopheline. A further special investigation was her study of the malaria potential for the work force of the Bougainville Copper Project and make recommendations for its control. In addition to published scientific papers and unpublished reports Dr Spencer has written a history of malaria control in the south west Pacific region, a book on the Australian experience of malaria, and three books describing experiences on field patrol and on outstations in PNG. In 1998 she graduated PhD in the Tropical Health Program of the University of Queensland. Her thesis described the development of health services in PNG from 1870 till the outbreak of World War II. With thanks to: PAMBU Index for PMB 1146

 

Gwendoline (Gwen) Alice DYER (12 July 2011, aged 83)

Gwen was the youngest of 12 children in the Rabjohns family at Wynnum. She married Keith Dyer in 1948 and they sailed to Taskul, Papua New Guinea, where he was a Patrol Officer in Charge. Gwen learned to speak and write Pidgin English fluently and enjoyed the respect of the indigenous people. She excelled in multiple sports and represented PNG in the South Pacific Games.

Their children Lynette, John, Peter and Mark, were all born in the PNG and home schooled by Gwen with Correspondence lessons. She entered fully into community life, and made lasting friendships in twelve coastal and highland station employment locations. When the Dyer family returned to Victoria Point, Gwen was active in service for Blue Care, Lifeline, the Victoria Point Uniting Church, Meals on Wheels and Neighbourhood Watch. Gwen’s welcoming hugs, good humour and smile will be long remembered. Gwen will be greatly missed by her husband Keith, the extended family and her many friends.

See also the Rev. Barry Dangerfield’s Eulogy in the Journal HERE.

 

HENDERSON, Jean (1 July 2011)

Extract from St Peter’s Eastern Hills Victoria website

“This year, our commemorations coincide fittingly with the book launch of Susan Sherson’s biography A Daring Woman: The Story of Sister Jean Henderson, MBE (Melbourne: Morning Star, 2018). Jean Henderson, a long-time parishioner of St Peter’s, had dreamt as a girl of becoming a mission nurse in PNG. The ‘War in the Pacific’ formed the backdrop to Jean’s training as a nurse, and the martyrdom of the two mission nurses, May Hayman and Margery Brenchley, and the others had a profound impact on her. At the 1945-46 ABM Summer School Jean was commissioned for service in PNG, where she was to minister tirelessly for the next thirty years. Around the time of her return to Australia, Jean struck up a friendship with another nurse and St Peterite, Joyce Newton, and in 1992 the two famously established the ministry we now call The Lazarus Centre, which serves 50-80 breakfasts each day of the year to those experiencing homelessness. Jean died on 1st July 2011, and after a Requiem Mass at St Peter’s her ashes were laid to rest beneath the High Altar.”

 

Mollie MOODIE (19 May 2011, aged 92)

Mollie was born on 28 April 1919 in Bankstown, Sydney. The family lived in Dungog NSW before moving to Corowa down on the Murray River, where she grew up. She met and married Don Moodie on 8 June 1940 and went to live on a farm at Dandongadale, Buffalo River. In December 1953 she travelled up to Port Moresby to join her husband who had gone there previously. She spent many happy years at Laloki Plant Quarantine Station, then Moitaka and finally in Port Moresby proper. During her time in Moresby she worked for BP’s on the kitchenware department for about 12 months and then went to Steamships Trading Co. She finished her working career at the local Electricity Commission operating the Check machine.

Mollie and Don left Moresby in November 1965 and retired to Margate in Qld where she worked as a nurse in an Aged Care Facility. After her husband Don died in November 1971 she moved to Ocean Shores the following year to be near her youngest son Jim. Mollie was a valued member of the Ocean Shores Bowling community and won a no less than 10 major championships.

She will be missed by all who knew her, particularly by her family. Mollie is survived by her own three children and their families: Ron – Hervey Bay, Lyn (McGowran) – Ocean Shores, Jim – Brunswick Heads, 10 grandchildren, 10 great grandchildren and 1 great great grandchild. Lyn (McGowran)

 

James Bryan MORRISON (21 April 2011, aged 77)

Jim was born in Leicester, England and emigrated with his family to Wellington, New Zealand, at the age of 18 years.

He married Dianne and had 56 happy years together and 5 children.

His training was in printing and he worked in New Zealand and then Fiji, setting up the School of Printing under the Colombo Plan. He later went to Port Moresby and worked as the Assistant Government Printer in Konedobu for 10 years.

During his time in Port Moresby he was involved with the PNG Orchid Society where he was made a Life Member for his wonderful contribution working as Treasurer and committee Member. Jim and Dianne were always ready to open their home to hold meetings and they took part in all the various excursions to the outstations to rescue orchids from logging camps. He was always willing to give of his time for others and joined choirs, Scottish dancing and The Masonic Lodge, and was a member of the Board of Governors of the Port Moresby Technical College.

Jim later went to the Solomons, Samoa and the Philippines with the Australian Business Volunteers. After returning from Manila in 2004 the first signs of his illness appeared. Jim lived in Whangarei New Zealand. He is survived by Dianne, five children and grandchildren. Glenda and John Schofield

 

Fred KOLLMORGEN (24 July 2011, aged 94)

It’s nearly 70 years since Bandsman Fred Kollmorgen was abruptly separated from his mates in the Band of the 2/22nd Battalion at Rabaul. Fred was the only survivor out of the 25 bandsmen; his indomitable spirit sustained him through a hazardous four-month trek of some 1,000 kilometres through fetid, disease-ridden, enemy-patrolled jungle to eventual safety at Port Moresby.

After the war, Fred farmed down in Gippsland until retiring, selling up and moving to Ringwood, where he continued his Salvation Army service, particularly as a member of the Ringwood Citadel Band. Frederick William Kollmorgen was born at Oakleigh on 10 May 1915. As a 23-year-old truck-driver and tenor-horn player with the Springvale Salvation Army Band, he enlisted in the AIF at Caulfield on 24 June 1940. He was assigned the number VX29061 and posted to the 10th Training Depot at Bendigo. Private Kollmorgen transferred into the 2/22nd Battalion Band on 6 December 1940 to be part of the Band (of which all but two were Salvation Army Bandsmen) under Arthur Gullidge, and sailed for Rabaul aboard the Zealandier on 10 April 1941.

On Sunday afternoon, 24 July 2011, within hours of the Ringwood Salvation Army Band visiting and playing some of his favourite music, Fred passed away. The link remains, for as long as we remember Fred and his mates they are still with us. Fred is survived by his son, Jim. Info from Memorial News, No. 29 August 2011

 

Frank Donal SCHOFIELD (5 February 2011, 89 years)

Frank Schofield was born in England in 1921 and undertook medical studies there. He was a Regimental Medical Officer with the British Army serving in Greece, Egypt and Palestine, and later as a RAMC Medical Specialist, from 1945-48. He was involved in medical research in East and West Africa, and later joined the staff of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Frank Schofield was one of the most outstanding medical researchers to work in PNG, starting with Robert Koch, discoverer of the Tuberculosis germ at the end of the 19th century. He has left a rare legacy. While he was based at Maprik he demonstrated that by immunizing pregnant women with tetanus toxoid you could prevent their babies developing tetanus of the newborn. This form of tetanus resulted from contamination of the baby’s umbilical cord at birth by cutting it with a dirty knife or piece of bamboo or by rubbing dirt or ash onto the cord stump. This immunization measure was rapidly incorporated into the international programme of immunization. As a result, between one and two million children are saved annually and some twenty to forty thousand women are saved from puerperal tetanus. It is estimated that some 40 million children have survived as a result of his discovery.

Frank came to the Territory in 1958 to take up an appointment as Assistant Director (Medical Research) in the Public Health Department, one which he held until 1964 when he joined WHO (the World Health Organization) taking up a post as Professor of Public Health in Ethiopia and then Kenya. He moved to Geneva in 1973 where he was the inaugural head of the Expanded Programme on Immunization: the global programme for immunizing children and pregnant women. At the commencement of the program less than five per cent of the world’s children were immunized—it is now over 80 per cent with 3-5 million lives saved annually.

Frank Schofield held many consultancies in several developing countries, and with WHO and other international organizations in the areas of immunization and other aspects of Primary Health Care and medical education. In 1980 he was appointed Professor of Social and Preventive Medicine and later established the Tropical Health Program, the forerunner of the Australian Centre for International Health and Tropical Medicine—the ACIHTM—at the University of Queensland. On his retirement in 1987, the university bestowed on him the title of Emeritus Professor.

Frank was a naturalist and loved the wildlife of the countries he worked in be they jungles, steppes, savannahs or deserts. He was a humble man who sought neither wealth nor fame. Louis, his son, in his eulogy of his father, summarised his life as: “he loved nature, he loved his work, he loved his family, and he loved life.”

Professor Schofield died on 5 February 2011 at St Andrew’s Private Hospital in Brisbane and was buried at Pinnaroo Lawn Cemetery. He is survived by his wife Lorna June, their three sons, and five grandchildren. Anthony Radford

 

Colin FREEMAN, BSc, MSc, AALIA (28 May 2011, aged 73)

Born in Harrogate England, Colin, then aged 15, and his family, migrated to Australia in 1951. They finally settled in Adelaide. He married Marion née Klemm in Woodville on 7 November 1959.

In 1963, he took up Scuba Diving and was appointed Captain of the University of Adelaide (UoA) Rugby team. Colin graduated UoA in 1965 with a Bachelor of Science degree. In 1966 he became the President of the South Australian Museum of Underwater Research, and was active in the establishment of Marine Reserves on the South Australian Coast. He undertook many dives including ice diving in the Canadian Arctic at age 60.

In 1967, after completing his library training, he took up a position at the newly formed University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) as the Foundation Librarian, bibliographer of two hundred years of writings known as the “New Guinea Collection”. Writers like Jack Hides, and the Leahy and Fox brothers left lasting impressions. He found “it was almost inevitable…that I would read a fair proportion of the materials that came into the collection and in the reading, fall under the spell of an earlier New Guinea as others have before me…it would be essential for me to enter the high and wild country of the islands and taste something of this exciting world for myself.”

In March of that year, Colin, and a group of other academics, undertook his first Kokoda Track walk to Imita Ridge the site of the legendary ‘Golden Stairs’, a track rising 1,200 feet in the first three miles. In September 1968, he walked the Kokoda again crossing thirty kilometres of the section from Efogi to Owen’s Corner, Sogeri. In 1969, Colin participated in an expedition led by Professor Rhodes Fairbridge of Columbia University to the Louisiade Archipelago. And in July 1970, he and several other lecturers and librarians from the (UPNG) set out to reach the top (unsuccessfully due to poor conditions) of Mount Albert Edward.

In September 1972, influenced heavily by an account of the area by Osmar White’s Green Armour, 1945, Colin embarked on a walk from Wau to Bulldog on a project led by the Australian Army Education Corps to survey the road through the Eloa Valley, built by the Royal Australian Engineers during World War Two. Colin also coached the Territory Papua and New Guinea Rugby Touring side in 1968 and the UPNG Rugby Club from 1967-1969, including a young Sir Anthony Siaguru, a leading PNG statesman, and Bart Philemon, former PNG Minister for Finance and Treasury.

During his time in Papua New Guinea he co-authored two books on native arts and crafts and wrote a number of professional Academic Papers. He was also actively involved in gathering an oral archive for PNG. In later life he also wrote extensively about his time in New Guinea, particularly the crossing from Wau to Bulldog (2008), and the Louisiade Archipelago (2011 unfinished).

In 1972, he became a Principal Librarian of the National Library of Australia (NLA). Following this he was posted to Washington DC in 1978 as the Australian Liaison Librarian for North America and First Secretary of the Australian Embassy until 1981. Colin’s constant thirst for knowledge and ability to master new techniques led him more and more into the growing field of Information Technology. In 1981, after leaving the NLA, he worked as a Business Analyst, designing various IT systems for major Government Departments including tax evasion tracking systems for the ATO and CLIRS (Computerised Legal Information Retrieval System). Towards the late 1980s he also worked for the United Nations on Development projects in Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and Tajikistan. Finally, between 1989 and 2006, Colin began his last career as a University Lecturer in Information Systems positions at various Australian Universities as a Senior Lecturer including the University of New South Wales, the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) and the Australian National University.

Survived and much missed by his wife of 51 years, Marion, their two daughters, Melissa and Cassandra and his three grandchildren Elena, Dylan and Callum. Melissa Freeman