Christmas at Malalia, 1934: Jean Brawn – UV Dec 2014
Submitted by George and Edna Oakes “I am afraid we will not have very much Christmas this year.” “No, I am afraid not.” It was the Missionary and his wife who had spoken. They...
Category: Cultural insights
Sialum pig calling: Paul Oates
In 1974, Mum and Dad came to visit my wife and me at Sialum Patrol Post. Sialum Patrol Post was situated on the north eastern tip of the Huon Peninsular of the then Morobe...
Derris: Paul Oates
When I was at Sialum, I remember walking along the beach and seeing a bloke from the village (Kwamkwam) nearby, busily pounding two rocks together. I’ll give the gist of what happened next and translate it...
Parades and Station management: Paul Oates
(This is how I remember the TPNG outstation protocols. Other kiaps may have differing recollections.) On a Patrol Post or Sub District Headquarters, the working day in the late 1960s and early 1970s would...
Trials and tribulations: Nancy Johnston
(Published Una Voce, September 1997, page 19 and in Tales of Papua New Guinea, page 112) Nancy Johnston was wife of the late Bill Johnston who began his career in PNG as a Patrol...
Lynore von der Borch: Variety in a slice of life
(Being an account of one day in the life of a house-wife at Wau, New Guinea) Part One “Whatever do you do all day?” is the question I have so frequently been asked since...
Some encounters with wildlife: Paul Dennett
My first posting away from the coast was at a school about 2 kilometers out of Maprik. An unforgettable feature of the tropical night there was the constant, and for a young expat on...
Christmas, East Cape, Papua, circa 1947: Valerie Allan (Grant)
(Published Una Voce, September 2002, page 24.) Valerie, one of three daughters of Rev. R V Grant, spent her early childhood in the Milne Bay District of Papua (Dobu, Fergusson and Normanby Islands). At...
The beachcombers: Chips MacKellar
(Published Una Voce, December 1996 and in Tales of Papua New Guinea, page 157) Malcolm (Chips) MacKellar 1953-1955 CPO Daru and Lake Murray (Western District) 1955-1956 P.O. Mount Hagen (Western Highlands District) 1957 ASOPA...
Isolation in post-war Papua: Nancy Johnston
(Published Una Voce, March 1997, page 15 and in Tales of Papua New Guinea, page 105) Nancy Johnston was wife of the late Bill Johnston who began his career in PNG as a Patrol...
The ‘Territorian’ Newspaper – Port Moresby 1950: Ray Kelly
Popular sportsman and Magani Rugby Team wingman, Jim Jeffreys, son of Mrs Prue Frank of Rouna Road, 4 Mile, was Publisher-Editor of a newspaper titled the Territorian. It was of foolscap format, produced on...
Those early days had their moments: Jim Eames
Editing a newspaper in Papua New Guinea in the 1960s came with a whole range of challenges to overcome but a massive amount of satisfaction in return. Not long after Melbourne’s Herald and Weekly...
Fun days in PNG broadcasting, Richard Jones
I’ve been broadcasting either from the studio or from outside locations since the mid-1960s. When I started calling amateur boxing tournaments from ringside for the ABC’s 9PA Port Moresby-9RB Rabaul radio network in the...
ABC-9RB Rabaul: Early days by Graham Taylor
In 1958, as an aspiring family oriented young Kiap concerned about our future well-being in Papua New Guinea, I job-hopped into the ABC. It proved to be an inspired decision. This second career as...
The NW Pacific Islands overprint: Neville Threfall
Early in my schoolboy days of stamp-collecting I came across Australian stamps overprinted ‘N.W. Pacific Islands. This was a puzzler: what islands did Australia ever administer in the North-West Pacific? It took years to...
