Last flight: Bob Cleland
As related by Julia Lesley Cleland Our second daughter Kathryn was born at home at Balimo in the remote Western District of PNG on my birthday, 8 February 1959. I had planned to go...
Author: president
MIVA in North Bougainville 1934: Chris Diercke
Rigu strip, N Bougainville 1934 L – R Johnny Sanson, Dr Kroning (of Toberoi Plantation) talking to Fr Tonjes, Rudi Diercke (of Woskawitz Plantation), Peter Berkenheier (camera man). By the 1930s the Catholic...
The day the horizon disappeared: Graham Egan
In 1976 I was teaching at Mt Hagen Technical College. My three years at Kerema had ended in December 1969 and I was curious to see what the old town looked like. So, during...
Horses on patrol: Chips MacKellar
(Published Una Voce, June 1997, page 6) Malcolm (Chips) MacKellar 1953-1955 CPO Daru and Lake Murray (Western District) 1955-1956 P.O. Mount Hagen (Western Highlands District) 1957 ASOPA Long Course 1958-1964 PO at Madang and...
A Mexican writes Rugby League in Port Moresby: Richard Jones
Rugby League has long been the pre-eminent sport in Papua New Guinea, a fact rugby union, Aussie Rules and soccer fans have just had to stomach. So it should come as no surprise to...
The history of judo in PNG: Charles Betteridge
It was a beautiful Sunday morning in June 1961 and I was at Ela Beach in Port Moresby having my usual dip in the ocean and admiring the surrounding beauty (especially the two-legged female...
Village cricket, Hood Peninsula, 1965: Robert Grieve
It seemed like a good idea at the time. The teaching staff at Hula Primary ‘T’ School reasoned that the benefits of a village cricket competition far outweighed the problems it might create. We...
Kevin Murphy—PNGRFL stalwart: Ephaya DSamuel
Kevin came to PNG in the late 1960s as a young kiap and served in the West Sepik Province. He was a contemporary of the late Sir Barry Holloway. He left the kiap service...
The Hagen Country Club: Chips MacKellar
(Published in Una Voce, September 1998, page 5) Malcolm (Chips) MacKellar 1953-1955 CPO Daru and Lake Murray (Western District) 1955-1956 P.O. Mount Hagen (Western Highlands District) 1957 ASOPA Long Course 1958-1964 PO at Madang...
The beginnings of Rugby Union in PNG: Dennis Bradney, MBE
Dennis Bradney was educated in Sydney and Brisbane (Sydney Grammar, Sydney Technical College and Brisbane Central Technical College) and worked for several Australian architectural firms before joining Comworks Port Moresby in 1964. He later...
The last road I built (Wanpela mo bladi rot na pinis olgera), Garry McKellar-James
The last road I built was an appropriate swansong. Road-building was an occupational disease; a recurring health hazard. Kiaps did it because all District Commisioners and Assistant District Commisioners loved comfortable day-drives along new...
The night Cinemascope came to Kerema: Graham Egan
Every Monday I would post my freezer order to Steamships and then rejoice in the arrival of that order, by faithful “K” boat, the following Thursday week. Thus I marked the days of my...
Some notes on the traditional shell money (and other currencies) of the Gazelle Peninsula: Maxell R Hayes
On arriving in Rabaul in 1959 my wife and I were quickly introduced to the local currency, particularly at the native markets, and found it to be known as ‘tambu’ or sometimes as ‘tabu’....
The die was cast! Peter Goerman
Perhaps it is the result of having read Coral Island and Somerset Maugham at an impressionable age, but the South Pacific islands have always evoked a powerfully romantic image with me. Mention the South...
First Land Rover to Mendi: Chips MacKellar
During 1955 and 1956 I was stationed in the Western Highlands District of Papua New Guinea. It was a wild frontier: tribal fights, freezing nights and development fever, as planters vied for the best...
