Ted Kenna, VC: Reg Yates
Rob and Alan Kenna, sons of the late Ted Kenna, VC, and their brother-in-law Ian Day visited Wewak, Dagua and the Sepik River during 28 March-8 April 2012 with Reg Yates of “Kokoda Historical”...
Author: president
Merry Christmas be blowed: The lorry is calling for you in an hour: Pat Murray (neé Stanfield)
This long letter that Patricia Murray (neé Stanfield) wrote from Sydney in February 1942 to her older brother, Jim Stanfield, then serving with the RAF in Britain, recalls the hardships faced by very many...
The story behind the picture: John Phillips
Eric Johns writes about ‘that’ photograph: I thought I knew something about that iconic photograph of Raphael Oimbari and George Whittington, until I met fellow PNGAA member John Phillips on 28 April at the...
The evacuation of Samarai, Boxing Day 1941: Rosalie Thacker (neé Skelly)
This is a record of the last days our family (mother Lillian, sisters Zelma, Dawn, Leonie and myself and others) experienced prior to, and after, the evacuation. My father, Clarence, remained in Samarai with...
When the Japanese bombed Magang: Bob Emery
(As recorded on tape on 1 May 1996 and published Una Voce, September 1996, page 13. An edited version is contained in Tales of Papua New Guinea, page 56). Bob Emery, a long-time member...
Ballarat memorials to the Australian POWs and the Montevideo Maru
The commemoration of both the Australian Prisoner-of War Memorial (6 February 2004) and the Memorial for those who died on board the Montevideo Maru (7 February 2004) was attended by a number of PNGAA...
World War II in the Pacific—The closing stages: Charles Betteridge
As World War II in New Guinea progressed, the noose around the Japanese was tightening further. By March 1944, the Americans were in possession of the Admiralty Islands and Madang, where the Japanese were...
Telefomin plaque and glider: Bruce O’Reilly
Bruce O’Reilly sent in these photos of the plaque (above) and frame of the Glider flown into Telefomin to mark Telefomin’s dependence on air transport and the first flight there by Stuart Campbell in...
The journey home: Rod Noble
One day you’re walking down George Street in Sydney. Next day you’re stranded with a landslide on Daulo Pass on the way to Kundiawa. The stark and sudden contrast is never easy to reconcile....
Epic voyage 2013: Jacky Lawes
Jacqueline (“Jacky”) Lawes is a great granddaughter of the Reverend Dr William Lawes, of the London Missionary Society We were 32 passengers in all on two ships (the MV Miss Rankin and the Surveyor)1...
Tropical force and the Kavieng graves: Greg Knight
Kavieng is the principal town of Papua New Guinea’s New Ireland and less than three degrees south of the equator. Present day Nusa Parade runs along Kavieng’s sleepy waterfront with large tropical trees forming...
Cruising in Papua New Guinea waters: Don Hook
In May-June this year I spent 28 days with the Collins Brothers as a paying passenger on what was billed as an ‘epic voyage’ from Kiunga on the Fly River to Wewak in East...
An inadeqquate force: Neville Threlfall
Much has been written lately about the fall of Rabaul in January 1942 and the consequent tragic loss of life when over a thousand prisoners went down in the prison ship Montevideo Maru. These...
Going back for a look: Graham Egan
Graham Egan served in PNG from 1967-81 at Kerema High School, Maprik High School, Mt Hagen Technical College, Administrative College, Rabaul Secretarial College, Goroka Technical College and High School. We had been thinking about...
Read, Mason, Tashiro and the Bougainville mystery: Ken Wright
During World War 2, two groups of Australian Coast Watchers operating independently of each other played a decisive part in the battle for Guadalcanal and the subsequent Allied advance through the South Pacific. The...
