Peter Skinner

The chance discovery by Derek Baldwin of a small black and white school photograph in an old suitcase makes one wonder what other historic Papua New Guinea images are buried in family collections.

Derek, whose connections with PNG go back several generations on both sides of his family, came across the photograph in a suitcase left by his late mother, Mary Baldwin (née Grahamslaw).

Now retired at Pelican Waters, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Derek was born in Port Moresby in 1933 and lived and worked in PNG for many years, leaving shortly after independence.

At first glance, it was a typical school group photograph—children and their teacher—but in the annals of PNG history, this school photograph is far from ordinary. Fortunately, Mary, one of the children in the photograph, had typed a caption so all the subjects are named. And even a cursory glance at those names reveals what a collection of legendary characters attended that small primary school in Port Moresby. The image is not dated but given the years, 1911–14, that one of the children, Ivan Champion, attended the Port Moresby European School, Derek thinks the photograph was probably taken in 1914.

Browse the children’s names in the photograph and legendary family names leap out: Hides, Cowley, Champion and Grahamslaw, for example. It is likely others in the image also went on to contribute to Australia’s involvement in Papua New Guinea’s path to independence. Hopefully among the readers of PNG Kundu there will be some who knew them and that the photograph triggers wonderful memories.

Whilst he’s not in this school photograph, Archibald ‘Archie’ Herbert Baldwin, Derek’s father, was an important personality during the early to mid-1900s in PNG. Archie Baldwin’s father, a master mariner, had arrived in Port Moresby in about 1893, establishing a successful trading

(Standing L-R) Bill Bruce, Bob Bruce, Vivian Hides, Cecil Cowley, Evan Herbert, Claude Champion,
Ivan Champion; (Sitting Middle Row L-R) Mary Grahamslaw, Marjorie Cowley, Miss Winifred Penny (teacher), Jessie Hart, Ada Budd; (Front Row L-R) Billy Perkins, Noel Hides, Vera Perkins, Maisie Budd, Elaine Hart, Alan Champion, Alma Perkins, Freddie Smith, Jack Hides (and Jack’s dog). (Photo courtesy Derek Baldwin)

store. Archie was born in Randwick Hospital, Sydney, in August 1903, his mother having travelled from Port Moresby for the birth.

As a young man in Papua, Archie established a wonderful rapport with the indigenous population and became completely fluent in Motu—skills which were to play an important role during World War II. For a short time, around 1914–15, he attended boarding school at Trinity College in Sydney before returning to Port Moresby.

When Archie Baldwin married Mary Grahamslaw in October 1927, his best man was Ivan Champion, one of Archie’s oldest and best friends.

When Japan entered World War II, all the European women, children and elderly, were evacuated from Port Moresby and Derek’s mother, Mary (née Grahamslaw) and her four children travelled to Australia aboard the SS Katoomba. By coincidence, Derek’s future bride, Patricia, and her parents from Edie Creek, were also on SS Katoomba, although Derek and Patricia didn’t meet until 1959.

Archie remained in Port Moresby and in February 1942 was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) and promoted to Acting Lieutenant Colonel in August 1944. As a senior officer with ANGAU Archie oversaw all native labour and associated army personnel. Among other responsibilities Archie played a key role in organising labour support and equipment for the Kokoda Campaign for which he was twice mentioned in despatches.

When he died in Port Moresby, September 1956 at age 53, Archie’s funeral was attended by 800 Papuans, indicative of the esteem in which he was held by the local people.

There’s not the space here to recount all the exploits of men such as the Champions, the Hides, Cecil Cowley or Tom Grahamslaw (Mary’s older brother), but in times of peace and war their contribution and feats are truly the stuff of legend.

Cecil Cowley and his sister, Marjorie, were among the first of 12 children to enrol at the European School on Hunter Street, Port Moresby in 1911. Described in some accounts as a ‘true Empire builder’, Cowley had an outstanding career with the administration and was District Commissioner, Northern District, when Mount Lamington erupted on 21 January 1951. Cecil Cowley was among the 13,000 or more who died in that disaster. He was 47.

Ivan Champion was born in Port Moresby in 1904, where he attended school until 1914 before travelling to Australia, enrolling in Manly Public School, Sydney, until 1915. He completed his education at The Southport School (TSS), Queensland from 1916 to 1922.

Ivan began his career in the Papuan civil service as a cadet clerk following a 1923 meeting with Papua’s Lieutenant-Governor Sir Hubert Murray.

Reputed to be one of New Guinea’s greatest explorers, Ivan was on the historic patrols with Charles Karius to cross New Guinea in 1926–28, discovering the sources of the Fly and Sepik Rivers. Later, wartime service with the Royal Australian Navy included the command of HMAS Laurabada and, postwar, Claude was officer-in-charge of relief operations following the eruption of Mount Lamington—ironically the same natural disaster that claimed the life of his former school mate, Cecil Cowley. Awarded the OBE in 1953, Ivan and his brother, Claude, both served on the Legislative Council at various times.

Claude Champion, who became a patrol officer in 1928, was with ANGAU from 1942–46, rising to the rank of major, and in the postwar period served twice on the Legislative Council, 1951–52 and 1959–61.

On the bottom right of the photo is a young Jack Hides (holding his pet dog) who went on to serve as a patrol officer from 1931–36. Jack was chosen by Hubert Murray to lead what Murray later described as ‘the most difficult and dangerous patrol ever carried out in Papua’ in the then unexplored Great Papuan Plateau between the Strickland and Purari Rivers. Following this, Jack left the Papuan public service to prospect for gold in the Strickland River area, but the venture did not fare well and he returned to Sydney where he died from pneumonia in 1938.

Jack Hides wrote of his Papuan adventures in his book, Papuan Wonderland. It was a very successful publication, as were several other of his books and public presentations.⁽¹⁾

The Grahamslaw name is also well etched in New Guinea history. Tom Grahamslaw, who, in all likelihood, attended the same primary school as those in the photograph, was born in Townsville in 1901 and went to Port Moresby with his parents, James and Annie Grahamslaw, in 1911.

Tom left school at 14 to work for the British New Guinea Development Company as a grocer’s boy. In 1916 he joined the territory’s civil service as a cadet clerk, a move that started a career in a variety of government roles. During World War II, as a district officer with ANGAU, Tom helped prepare Australian soldiers for the Kokoda Campaign. His knowledge of the area and the terrain reached back to when, following the Japanese invasion, he had walked alone from the north to the south coast of New Guinea. Tom was temporarily promoted to major and awarded the OBE in 1943 for his efforts during the Battle of Buna-Gona.

After WWII, Tom Grahamslaw rejoined the civil service working in several senior positions in Customs and serving in the Legislative Council. He retired from PNG in 1961.

This is just a sampling of the extraordinary amount of PNG history associated with the group of children in this old photograph. And it’s hoped that their teacher, Winifred Penny, was able to take some of the credit for helping launch their careers.

Author’s Note (1): Jack Hides and Papuan Wonderland were catalysts in my father, Major Ian Skinner, MC, going to PNG. Interested in applying to be a cadet patrol officer, after reading his book, my father contacted Hides, who encouraged him to pursue his aspirations, which he did. My father joined the Territory of Papua and New Guinea public service in September 1937, and was appointed as a district commissioner in 1954, retiring as Director of Civil Defence in 1971, after 35 years’ service.