Grave robbers wreak havoc in Lae cemeteries

There are some things in life that are so hard to comprehend.

These things make you wonder why some people have the audacity to carry out such acts, which include desecrating the memory of loved ones that families and relatives have laid to rest. These people can stoop as low as stealing brass plaques from graveyards to sell to unscrupulous scrap metal dealers for a fast buck.

In my home town of Lae, this practice has been going on ever since these dealers - who prey on Papua New Guinea's massive unemployment problem - set foot.

Today, a visit to cemeteries in Lae, will show you many headstones on graves that are missing brass plaques.

A case in point is the old graveyard up the road from the famous old Lae airport.

This graveyard is the final resting place for many of the pioneers of Lae and Morobe province, mainly expatriates, and was a relic of a bygone era where visitors could learn so much just by reading the plaques and headstones.

Rest In Peace - RIP - those buried here are supposed to be.

However, this has not been the case over the last 10 years or so, as grave robbers without a care in the world have plundered basically all the brass plaques.

In my younger days, as a journalist in Lae, one of my hobbies used to be wandering old graveyards and reading the plaques and headstones as I could learn so much history. Sadly, I can no longer do this, as many of the plaques are gone.

And the irony is that people are not making any noise about this daylight robbery going on in front of their own faces.

The grave robbers are desecrating graveyards at the old Lae airport, Second Seven (Malahang), and even my Butibam village, to name a few.

Heaven knows what would happen to the Lae War Cemetery if there wasn't tight security around to prevent these intruders.

We never thought that this practice would come to Butibam until a few years ago when plaques started disappearing overnight.

In May 2006, while on a working trip to Lae, I visited my father's grave at Butibam and took pictures.

A short time later, I was surprised to receive a call from my mother, who was in tears as she told me that Dad's plaque had disappeared to these unprincipled grave leeches.

The entire family, just like me, was shocked as we wondered what exactly Dad or we had done to deserve this.

The plaque, to this day, has not been replaced as I somehow have to find the exact wording for a replacement.

My father, the late Mathias Nalu, died on September 17, 1993, after more than 35 years of service with the Education Department as a teacher and later a school inspector.

He had just retired and received his final entitlements, however, never got to enjoy the fruits of his labour as he suffered a severe stroke from which he never recovered until his untimely passing.

Dad was one of those old Dregerhafen and Finschhafen boys who was always proud to call Michael Somare, Paulias Matane, the late Alkan Tololo, and many more, "old school mates".

Dad's school mates went on to become great leaders of this country while he chose to take the backseat as a humble teacher and school inspector.

Hundreds of teachers and public servants packed the St Andrew's Lutheran Church at Ampo in Lae for his funeral service.

The Nalu family was humbled by this show of respect from so many people from all over Lae, Morobe province, and PNG.

I realise that times are hard, but to steal brass plaques from graves to sell to some dodgy scrap metal dealer for a quick buck is unforgivable.

The government should put in place tough legislation to combat those who steal plaques from graves and those who buy them.

These offenders, as part of their rehabilitation, could be sent to Salamaua where the villagers there will teach them how to look after and respect old graveyards.

The old Salamaua cemetery is a relic of a bygone era of the 1920s and 1930s when fevered gold miners from all over the world converged on this idyllic part of the world.

To visit the old Salamaua cemetery is to step back in time, to a rip-roaring period when gold fever struck men from around the globe.

Today the old Salamaua cemetery, or what remains of it, is well tended to by the local villagers.

The graves are mute testimony to the days when European man, running a high gold fever, was claimed by a fever of a different kind.

I have a very simple message for those who removed my father's plaque and those who bought it.

"May God forgive you.

"I find it very hard to do so."

History being rewritten with Bulolo Airport

Many people who have been long fascinated by the story of the gold rush days of the 1930’s feel that history is being rewritten with the re-opening of the Bulolo Airport.
The greatest airlift the world had ever known started from Lae to the Bulolo goldfields in the 1930s.
Built in June 1930, originally the Bulolo strip was 1,150 yards by 120 yards.
Later it was expanded to 1,300 yards in length, covered with grass.
This airstrip was used in conjunction with flying supplies and equipment for gold dredging at Wau and Bulolo.
On January 21, 1942, Japanese Zeros and bombers attacked Bulolo.
At Bulolo, they set fire to three of the Junkers G31 tri-motors on the ground, destroying them.
Gold dredging work ceased as most of the men employed entered military service.
Five days, later, on February 5, 1942, Bulolo was bombed at 11am by five twin-engine bombers.
The discovery of gold at Edie Creek above Wau in 1926 sparked off a gold rush which led to the exploitation of the rich deposits of the Bulolo-Watut river system by large-scale mechanised mining.
The rigours and cost of the eight-day walk into the goldfields and the difficulty of building a road from the coast led to the early introduction of an aviation service.
The driving force behind the development of the goldfields was Cecil J. Levien, a former Morobe District Officer, who has been described as a “rare and formidable combination of opportunist, practical man and visionary”.
Levien persuaded the directors of Guinea Gold N.L. that startling profits would be made by any aviation company that could provide a service to eliminate the arduous walk between Salamaua and Wau.
He secured an option on a small DH-37 plane in Melbourne and engaged a pilot, E. A. “Pard” Mustar, to bring it to New Guinea.
The aviation service was a success from the start.
After two unsuccessful flights around the mountains south of the Markham no one knew exactly how to find Wau from the air.
Mustar landed at Wau for the first time on April 16, 1937.
He began the service the next day with a shipment of six 100 lb bags of rice, charging a shilling a 16, and, making two trips a day, five days a week, carried 84 passengers and 27, 000 lbs of cargo in the first three months.
Rival aviation companies were not long in arriving to share the profits.
Ray Parer, the proprietor of Bulolo Goldfields Air Service who had been competing keenly with Mustar to be the first to land at Lae, came from Rabaul after many delays, and A. “Jerry” Pentland and P. “Skip” Moody soon joined them.
There was ample business for all, and by April 1928, a year after the service began, Guinea Airways (the aviation company that grew from Guinea Gold N.L.) had acquired two extra planes and was employing three further pilots and two more mechanics.
Then in March 1929 a new company, Morlae Airlines, began a weekly Lae-Port Moresby run, meeting ships from Australia and bringing passengers and frozen foods across to Wau, Bulolo, Salamaua and Lae.
At first Bulolo Gold Dredging Ltd and its parent company, Placer Development Ltd, had thought of building a road to the goldfields, but the length of time it would take and the high cost of construction and maintenance persuaded the companies to accept Guinea Airways' proposition that “skyways are the cheapest highways”.
On the advice of Mustar, Bulolo Gold Dredging purchased three all-metal, tri-motored Junkers G-31 aircraft from Germany, which Guinea Airways was to operate under licence for the gold mining company.
Guinea Airways also purchased a Junkers G-31 of its own.
They were huge planes, each capable of carrying a payload of 7100 lbs or 14 short tons together.
The airlift began in April 1931 and continued for eight years: the first dredge began work in March 1932, the eighth in November, 1939.
Another crane at the airstrip lifted the heavy machinery into the planes and a rail crane unloaded them at Bulolo.
Eventually operations became so efficient that nine round trips a day were possible.
The airlift was a remarkable undertaking.
It pioneered the use of aviation in the transport of heavy cargo and, in the words of one writer, “in every respect it constituted a world record”.

Amelia Earhart and Papua New Guinea

Last year 2007 marks the 70th anniversary of one of the greatest unsolved aviation mysteries of all time. ]

The mystery – that of American aviatrix Amelia Earhart – intimately involves Papua New Guinea as Lae was her last port of call before she disappeared somewhere over the vast Pacific Ocean.

Amelia Earhart, darling of American aviation, went missing in July 1937, after leaving Lae for the longest stretch of her around-the-world flight.

The mystery and a long fruitless search –costing many millions of US dollars - had begun. Today, 70 years after her final takeoff – from Lae in Papua New Guinea’s Morobe Province – the mystery is still to be solved.

World attention was focused on Lae in 1937, and continues to this day, when it was the last port of called for Earhart before she disappeared.

Old Lae residents used to recall entertaining the couple in the Hotel Cecil the night before their departure, and then seeing them off the next morning.

Their plane was so overloaded with its eight tonnes of fuel that it was still barely clearing the waves as it disappeared from sight, flying east along the Huon Gulf coast on its way to Howland Island, 4600 kilometres to the north.

On such occasions Lae-ites, regardless of class or social position, felt they were part of history.

Today, a plaque to her memory stands at the Amelia Earhart Park, opposite the famous old Lae airport.

Up the hill from the park, at the Melanesian Hotel, the bar is named Amelia’s after this great woman.

For the last 69 years, hundreds of rumours and theories – some practical but most the products of over fertile imaginations – have kept the memories of Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, alive for millions of Americans.

One of the popular crank theories is that Earhart and Noonan were on a spy flight for the US government and were captured by the Japanese and executed, something that has been vehemently disclaimed by the Japanese to this day.

Some have searched the sea, believing the plane ran out of fuel.

Others think she survived a crash landing but died on a deserted island.

The conspiracy-minded claim Earhart survived and lived out her life under an assumed name as a New Jersey housewife.

There are even bizarre, out-of-this-world urban legends that she was captured by aliens on a UFO.

To US aviation buffs, she is still ‘Amelia’ and they talk about her as though she only went missing yesterday.

The 39-year-old pilot took off from Oakland, California, on June 1, 1937, on what was reported to be her last record flight.

Slim, almost boyish, reminding one of Katherine Hepburn, Amelia Earhart had been setting records for 10 years.

In 1932, she had set a solo record for her Atlantic crossing and earned the nickname of ‘Lady Lindy’, because her slim build and facial features resembled that of Charles Lindbergh.

A year later, she married New York publishing magnate, George Palmer Putnam.

A university graduate, Earhart spoke five languages.

When not flying, she spent most of her time on welfare work in the Boston slums.

Never satisfied with her records, she was always planning something greater.

This was to be IT – the ultimate in long distance flying! She wanted to be the first woman to fly around the world!

Navigator Fred Noonan, senior navigator of Pan American World Airlines, was considered as good as any in the United States.

He had already crossed the Pacific 18 times, directing the flight of the company’s famed China Clipper.

Their aircraft, a twin-engined Lockheed Electra, fast and sophisticated for its day, was well suited to the task.

They had reached Darwin, Northern Australia, 40 days after leaving Oakland.

Possibly to save weight for the long over-water legs to come, they had then unloaded their parachutes.

From Darwin, it was a short trip over to Lae.

New Guinea was the departing point for the most grueling leg of the flight – near 4600 kilometres over water to Howland Island, the longest ocean crossing ever attempted. Their destination was a speck of sand and coral in the mid-Pacific 2.5 kilometres long and just under a kilometer wide.

The Lockheed was to be the first aircraft to land on its newly-constructed airstrip. “Even with a first class navigator on board, it would be an incredible feat to find the island by celestial navigation and dead reckoning alone,” wrote Australian aviator and Earhart researcher Terry Gwynn-Jones in 1977.

“With an error of only one degree in reading, they would miss the island by 72 kilometres.

“Thus it was that the US government stationed the fleet tug Ontario half way along the route and the Coast Guard cutter Itasca at Howland.

“Besides voice communication radios, the Itasca had a radio direction finder and a radio beacon that could be picked up by the aircraft’s Bendix radio compass.

“Once the Lockheed got to within a few hundred kilometers of the island, the Itasca could guide them in.

“Or so it seemed!”

Earhart maintained radio contact with New Guinea, and then later the Itasca and Ontario, until this was lost.

Her last words were: “We are in a line of position 157-337. Will repeat this message on 6210. We are running north and south. We have only a half hour’s fuel and cannot see land.”

The message blasted through loud and clear over the radio of the United States Coast Guard ship Itasca.

The woman’s voice betrayed anxiety.

Quickly, the operator switched to the 6210 kilocycle band and waited for her call.

It never came.

Her silence was shrouded by the crackling of static interference out over the vast Pacific Ocean.

Amelia Earhart, darling of American aviation, was missing

The old Lae Airport

The old Lae airport has played a significant role in the history of the town, Papua New Guinea, and the whole world for that matter.
Mordern day Lae and PNG grew because of the airport (picture above shows the old Lae airport in its heyday in the 1970s).
The greatest airlift the world had ever known started from Lae to the Bulolo goldfields in the 1930s.
World attention was focused on Lae in 1937, and continues to this day, when it was the last port of called for the famed American aviatrix Amelia Earhart before she disappeared somewhere over the deep-blue South Pacific ocean.
Lae airstrip was bombed out by the Japanese on January 21, 1942, however, recovered to become a major player in the development of post-war PNG.
I still have unforgettable memories – as a child - of flying to Wewak, Rabaul, Buka, Kavieng, Goroka and many other places in that trusty old Ansett, TAA and later Air Niugini DC3s and F27s.
The old Lae airport started losing its thunder in 1977 when Nadzab, an American World War 11 strip, became operational.
Fierce political squabbling over the pros and cons of Lae and Nadzab continued until 1982, when, in an unsolved mystery (just like Amelia Earhhart), the Lae airport terminal was burned down.
Nadzab had taken away its glory; however, Lae continued to be used by Air Niugini and other third-level airlines until 1987.
Lae continued to be used as the base for the PNG Defence Force Air Transport Squadron until it was transferred to Port Moresby in 1992.
After that, one of the greatest icons of PNG history was literally left to the dogs, and became covered by bushes.
It was only recently that the land was sub-divided for commercial purposes as well as given back to the traditional landowners.
The story of the old Lae airport is a fascinating one, and is well-documented in the book Lae: Village and City, written by pioneer University of Technology lecturer Ian Willis.
The discovery of gold at Edie Creek above Wau in 1926 sparked off a gold rush which led to the exploitation of the rich deposits of the Bulolo-Watut river system by large-scale mechanised mining.
The rigours and cost of the eight-day walk into the goldfields and the difficulty of building a road from the coast led to the early introduction of an aviation service.
The driving force behind the development of the goldfields was Cecil J. Levien, a former Morobe District Officer who has been described as a “rare and formidable combina­tion of opportunist, practical man and visionary”.
Levien persuaded the directors of Guinea Gold N.L. that startling profits would be made by any aviation company that could provide a service to eliminate the arduous walk between Salamaua and Wau.
He secured an option on a small DH-37 plane in Melbourne and engaged a pilot, E. A. “Pard” Mustar, to bring it to New Guinea.

He then selected Lae as the best place for the coastal airstrip and without bothering to obtain official permission, took on about 250 labourers to clear and level a landing ground under the supervision of Tommy Wright, the foreman of the agricultural station.
The construction of the airfield was perhaps the biggest enterprise ever undertaken at Lae and greatly perturbed the local villagers, who watched amazed as a vast area of bush was torn down and gardens were flattened.
They were in for further surprises when Mustar and his mechanic, A. W. D. Mullins, flew in from Rabaul, where they had been assembling and testing the plane.
Their arrival brought the full power of Western technology home to the villagers with a shock.
Mustar's account of his landing in Lae on 30 March 1927 gives a sharp sense of their mixed excitement and confusion: “Our staff welcomed the machine . . . And the Kanakas! Good Lord! They came in droves to see the `big feller pidgeon'. My engineer, Mullins, was over six feet tall, while I am only 5ft. bins. short, and the Kanakas couldn't understand why the little man was `Number one masta longa pidgeon'. They examined the machine and decided it was `strong feller too much. Me no savvy this feller fashion belong white master'. Some of these natives had travelled for days down the mountains to see the 'pidgeon' .. . They took full measurements of the wings and all parts of the machine with lengths of cane to carry back to wondering villagers.”
The mastery of Europeans, previously seen in their goods and possessions, was now indisputable.
The aviation service was a success from the start.
After two unsuccessful flights around the mountains south of the Markham ­no one knew exactly how to find Wau from the air.
Mustar landed at Wau for the first time on 16 April.
He began the service the next day with a shipment of six 100 lb bags of rice, charging a shilling a 16, and, making two trips a day, five days a week, carried 84 passen­gers and 27, 000 lbs of cargo in the first three months.
Rival aviation companies were not long in arriving to share the profits.
Ray Parer, the proprietor of Bulolo Goldfields Air Service who had been com­peting keenly with Mustar to be the first to land at Lae, came from Rabaul after many delays, and A. “Jerry” Pentland and P. “Skip” Moody soon joined them.
There was ample business for all, and by April 1928, a year after the service began, Guinea Airways (the aviation company that grew from Guinea Gold N.L.) had acquired two extra planes and was employing three further pilots and two more mechanics.
Then in March 1929 a new company, Morlae Air­lines, began a weekly Lae-Port Moresby run, meeting ships from Australia and bringing passengers and frozen foods across to Wau, Bulolo, Salamaua and Lae.
This service cut the time needed to get from Port Moresby to the goldfields from six days to one.
The town developed quickly as the volume of traffic increased.
What had been a rough clearing in the bush in early 1927 soon acquired workshops, hangars, storage sheds, offices, houses and barracks.

At first the growth was unsupervised and chaotic.
Guinea Gold N.L. had built the airstrip without permission and had no power to prevent other operators from using the land or erecting buildings.
As a result early Lae grew as a large European squatter camp.
Each new arrival simply set himself up wherever he pleased without concern for ownership.
Levien in particular was concerned at the uncontrolled building, which he believed was becoming a hazard to aircraft.
No one was sure who owned the land, but that the local villagers may have had rightful claims does not seem to have been considered.
The question of ownership was finally settled in favour of the administration.
The government, with might on its side, ended the squabbling between the various contenders by resuming a large area including the airstrip in August 1927.
Earlier the land had been put up for sale by tender by the Custodian of Expropriated Properties, who had control of it because it was the property that had been expropriated from the Neu Guinea Compagnie.
The administration had been a tenderer, but concerned that it might be outbid by an ambitious, go-getting company like Guinea Gold N.L., it withdrew its tender and resumed the land instead.
The government took a huge slice-the entire 11721 acres of the Compagnie's holding­ stating that it needed the land for an aerodrome, a shipping depot, an agricultural station, and native reserves.
Those wanting to build now had to arrange a lease with the government.
The administration was strongly influenced by an officer of the Department of Civil Aviation, W. J. Duncan, who had been seconded by the Australian government to the New Guinea administration to report on and supervise the founding of aviation services in New Guinea.
Duncan's report, which he submitted in late 1927, recommended that the administration should take responsibility for airport construction and maintenance, that it should sub-divide the area around the airstrip into a series of blocks, each three chains wide and five chains long with a roadway between them and lease each for £20 a year.
Lae thus became the prototype for New Guinean towns built around airstrips.
In such places the airstrip dominates the shape and form of the town, usually occupying the central position. (Later air­port towns were Goroka, Mount Hagen, Kainantu and most sub­district headquarters opened since World War I1).
The airstrip in New Guinea is perhaps analogous to the railway station of an earlier era in America and Australia, because it has generally decided the shape and the settlement pattern of the town.
In early Lae this was obvious: the workshops and hangars clustered between the end of the airstrip and the wharf, the Europeans lived to the east of the strip, near the river terrace, while the New Guinean labourers generally lived on the far or western side.
An important impetus to the growth of Lae was the decision of the gold mining interests to airlift in sections the heavy mining machinery they used for treating the Bulolo and Watut River gravels.

At first Bulolo Gold Dredging Ltd and its parent company, Placer Development Ltd, had thought of building a road to the goldfields, but the length of time it would take and the high cost of construction and maintenance persuaded the companies to accept Guinea Air­ways' proposition that “skyways are the cheapest highways”.
On the advice of Mustar, Bulolo Gold Dredging purchased three all-metal, tri-motored Junkers G-31 aircraft from Germany, which Guinea Airways was to operate under licence for the gold mining company.
Guinea Airways also purchased a Junkers G-31 of its own.
They were huge planes, each capable of carrying a payload of 7100 lbs or 14 short tons together.
The airlift began in April 1931 and continued for eight years: the first dredge began work in March 1932, the eighth in November, 1939.
It proceeded smoothly because of the spirit of co-operation existing between Bulolo Gold Dredging and Guinea Airways, and because of their streamlined operation.
At Lae they had a wharf 75 feet long, with half a mile of railway running around the foreshore to the storage sheds at the airport.
Because of the unsatisfactory harbour facilities at Lae-unstable foreshore, open anchorage and steeply sloping seafloor-all cargo had to be lightened ashore in barges, which were then unloaded by steam crane.
Another crane at the airstrip lifted the heavy machinery into the planes and a rail crane unloaded them at Bulolo.
Eventually operations became so efficient that nine round trips a day were possible.
The airlift was a remarkable undertaking. It pioneered the use of aviation in the transport of heavy cargo and, in the words of one writer, “in every respect it constituted a world record”.
While it lasted the power of Western technology was daily impressed on the local people, who stood by bemused as the town grew around them.
The airlift stimulated the steady development of the town and by 1942, when it was destroyed by Japanese bombing; it had about 120 European residents, about sixty Chinese and perhaps several hundred New Guineans.
It became a bustling, busy place, and though it remained chiefly a centre of the aviation industry, it developed a distinctive town life of its own.
Something of its busyness can be seen in a 1935 report in the Pacific Islands Monthly:
“Lae is now a township ranking high in the Mandated Territory of New Guinea. It is a centre of great activity . . . and one of the biggest (if not the biggest) aircraft centres in the southern hemi­sphere. The European population is now around the hundred mark and is increasing with each steamer. Accommodation is being taxed; so much so that a new hotel has been commenced and is expected to be completed in a month or two."
A death that momentarily focused world attention on Lae was that of the American aviatrix, Amelia Earhart Putnam, who vanished with her navigator, Fred Noonan, after leaving Lae in June 1937 on the longest leg of their trip around the world.
Old Lae residents used to recall entertaining the couple in the Hotel Cecil the night before their departure, and then seeing them off the next morning.

Their plane was so overloaded with its eight tons of fuel that it was still barely clearing the waves as it disappeared from sight, flying east along the Huon Gulf coast on its way to Howland Island 2600 miles to the north.
On such occasions Laeites, regardless of class or social position, felt they were part of history.

Old Lae pictures (point cursor to picture for caption)

Feedback to the Errol Flynn story

I received this comment from one Dianne Gibson in regards to the Errol story below (which has been used previously in this Blog): "I was fascinated to read the article you posted on Errol Flynn. So much of what you write is known to me as my father owned a copra plantation on the Edie Creek during the time Errol Flynn was in PNG. In fact he "borrowed" 5 pounds from dad and (as you say in the article) when dad wrote to him in Hollywood asking for the money, he was sent an autographed photo. Dad also told me the story about the dentist. However, my father didn't like Flynn at all, mainly because of his womanising and brawling. He later refused to watch any film that featured Flynn due to his intense dislike of the man.

"Dad spent 17 years in PNG and then came to Sydney. Prior to that he served with the 8th Light Horse in Egypt during WWI and after his stint in PNG came to Sydney. Like Flynn, my father also wrote for "The Bulletin". His pen name was "Maliesh" but his name was Leonard Wignall. Unfortunately he died in 1961 when I was only 16 and I'm sure he had many untold stories.

"Thank you for your article, it brought back memories of my father.

"With kind regards
Dianne Gibson"

Come in like Errol Flynn

Papua New Guinea's rich and colorful history is littered with the names of likewise gaudy characters that have carved a niche for themselves.

Few, however, have made more of an impact than the flamboyant and swashbuckling Errol Flynn.

With the discovery of very good paying gold in 1926 at Edie Creek above Wau - six days walk from Salamaua - a gold rush of massive proportions started, not only from Australia but from beyond.

With the major discovery of gold came the last two categories of what the White population of New Guinea was divided into: Missionaries, Moneymakers, and Misfits or Fools, Freaks, and Failures.

Not least among the Misfits was the one who became a Hollywood star - Errol Flynn.And none, probably, has done more to promote PNG than this lovable rogue who went on to become the world's top sex symbol.

The superb scenery, glorious hills and harbours, white beaches, and shady copra plantations are still today as Flynn describes them in his famous autobiography, My Wicked, Wicked Ways.

Even though Flynn is long dead- through excessive drinking and womanising - he still lives on in PNG.

Places like Salamaua, Wau, Bulolo, Lae, Finschhafen, Port Moresby, Laloki, Rabaul, Kavieng, Madang, and the Sepik River have become famous because of My Wicked, Wicked Ways.

His book remains a bestseller to this day and, in places like Salamaua or Wau - just to name two - people still talk about him."Flynn used to drink here,"they'll tell you in Salamaua, or, "this is where he went mining for gold", they'll reminisce in Wau.

Legendary Australian patrol officer, JK McCarthy, recalls in his book, Patrol Into Yesterday, how Flynn stepped in once to protect a small man from a bully: "It was done in the most dramatic style and all of us should have foreseen that he had a movie career ahead of him. There was the noisy bar, the crowd of onlookers, the challenge and the hero knocking the loud-mouthed one cold, right on cue."

Flynn has been called many names: adventurer, thief, lover, liar, murderer, and Hollywood legend.

He probably didn't do much good while he was here, but nevertheless, he placed PNG on the world map as a place where a young man can find himself.

The true-life story of movie superstar Errol Flynn was more dramatic and incredible than even the wildest of his many Hollywood-starring roles.

He may have more swashes then anyone before or since, but Flynn was also a liar and a thief, an incurable seducer of women (and men), a fraudster, hustler, and even murderer... all before the age of 21!

Before the age of 21, Flynn was tried for murder.

He was a thief, a liar, a bad boy in every instance,he was a gigolo, a hustler, and was even accused of being a spy - then he conquered Hollywood.

Wildly promiscuous from an early age, his teenage years were a frantic roller coaster ride of sex, adventure, ill-gotten riches, drink, sex, fighting... and more sex.

Panoramic portrayals of his amazing past have brought the true legend of Flynn explosively to life, blowing the lid off his rabble-rousing time in the gutters of Sydney, and his death-defying escapades searching for gold in the jungles of New Guinea.

Flynn was simply the sexiest, most charismatic star of the Golden Era of Hollywood.

The epitome of a lusty, virile hero, Flynn turned the World into his stage as millions fell for his wicked, wicked ways.

Superstar and legend, Errol Flynn was Hollywood's symbol of male virility during the Golden Era of moviemaking.

He was adored by fans worldwide, admired by millions, despised by many.

Flynn was the quintessence of the swashbuckling hero, but his on-screen exploits were pale echoes of his real life adventures.

Flynn's prowess with women was so infamous that the expression "Come In like Flynn" became a common phrase used to describe the ease with which a man might conquer a woman.

In fact, after a life rocked by success and scandal, Errol Flynn died under dubious circumstances aged 50, supposedly while having sex with a woman.

As an actor, Flynn built the foundation for characters later elaborated by Mel Gibson, Arnold Schwarznegger, Harrison Ford, and Kevin Costner.

He died at age 50 of a heart attack, having had a good run in Hollywood with 53 films - some for Jack Warner, others contracted out to MGM - across from great female players such as Olivia De Haviland, Maureen O'Hara, Bette Davis, Greer Garson and others.

Errol Flynn was born Errol Leslie Thompson Flynn on June 20, 1909 in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.His parents were Professor Theodore Thompson Flynn and Lily Mary Young.

Professor Flynn was a well-known marine biologist and zoologist who later went on to receive an MBE for his work at Queens University, Belfast.Errol also was a direct descendant - on his mothers' side - of Midshipman Young from the infamous HMS Bounty Mutiny of 1789.

The 18-year-old Errol Flynn - with an already shady background - arrived in New Guinea in October 1927 to make his fortune on the newly discovered goldfields at Edie Creek, Wau.

From his arrival he tried unsuccessfully to bluff himself into money as a cadet patrol officer, gold prospector, slave recruiter, dynamiter of fish, trapper of birds, manager of coconut and tobacco plantations, air cargo clerk, copra trader, charter boat captain, pearl diver and diamond smuggler.

He was also a prolific writer and contributed regularly to Australian newspapers and magazines with absorbing tales about the untamed jungles of New Guinea.

Flynn soon discovered that the Australian government had a severe shortage of patrol officers, and he hoped to bluff his way through in Rabaul, but this colonial career was short-lived when his background was discovered.

He moved restlessly from one job to another, acquiring many different skills but no great competence.

Hoping to get rich fast, he lived by his wits and ran up many debts.

In Rabaul, although considered a likeable and capable young man, his reputation for roguery quickly spread and he ceased to be with the Administration.

His best memory of Rabaul was of "a wonderful saloon where you encountered everything the world could yield up - miners, recruiters, con men, thieves, beachcombers, prospectors - cubicles both downstairs and upstairs, several phonographs playing, cards".

Long after Flynn had left he was remembered around Rabaul, mostly for the unpaid bills he left behind.

Even after he became famous as a film star, he never paid any of those bills.If people wrote asking him to pay, he would send them autographed photographs of himself, saying these were much more than what he owed them.

The story is told of the famous occasion when a film of Flynn's was showing in Rabaul, and at the end of the credits, a dentist to whom Flynn owned a large account jumped up and shouted: "And teeth by Eric Wein."

In 1928, with money from his work on a coconut plantation and a loan from a shipping company in Sydney, Flynn bought a schooner and took an American film company to make a documentary about headhunters on the Sepik River.

He recalls: "The last place in the world I wanted to go was the Sepik River, a human graveyard. I cruised to the north-east coast, where the red, muddy Sepik River flowed into the sea.

"We moved into the broad stream, running against a strong current.

"The Sepik is a monster waterway 600 miles long.

"No white man has been up the river more than 200 or 300 miles and the nature of the river or the land beyond that was practically unknown and remains little known to this very day.

"The waterway was heavily populated with mosquitoes, kanakas, and pukpuks (crocodiles).

"As we traveled the garamuts, tomtoms made of crocodile skins, kept up a steady communication: 'Outsiders, big magic on the water, beware'.

"When we came in close to shore and tried to get film of the natives, we got arrows instead, real ones, and poisoned.

"In 1929, Flynn sailed from the offshore islands to Salamaua, to fulfill his original ambition.

He hired eight men, bought marching gear and gold-digging equipment, and set out for the goldfields at Edie Creek.

The tough march from Salamaua to Wau - through a region filled with blackwater fever and poisoned arrows - tested men's limitations.

The rigorous walk between Salamaua and Wau took up to a week, Flynn writing of how the gold fields had to be approached from Salamaua by 10 days'smarch through leech-infested jungle, in constant fear of ambush, and at night wondering 'whether that crawly sound you heard a few feet away might be a snake, a cassowary or maybe only a wild boar razorback...I have seen Central Africa, but it was never anything like the jungle of New Guinea'.

At Edie Creek, temperatures were high during the day and fell steeply at night.

There was an epidemic of dysentery and malaria, with no trained doctors to attend to the sick.

His men left, and Flynn quickly realised that, "I had neither the provisions, nor the money, nor the necessary men to work a claim properly. The competition with other prospectors who were better set up was too much".

He lost everything he owned and was forced to take a job as manager of a tobacco plantation in Laloki, near Port Moresby.

Six months later, Jack Hides, a flamboyant patrol officer and old Papua hand, turned up at Flynn's place and noted in his diary that Flynn was doing a creditable job.

Flynn had criticised the Australian administration in a letter to his father in Tasmania.

Writing to The Bulletin soon after his arrival, he protested against a government policy that affected his own plantation, the high import taxes imposed on tobacco: "Papua is one of the natural homes of the tobacco plant, and, as Papua is part of the Commonwealth and is in receipt of a yearly subsidy of £40,000 from the federal government, the obvious market for its tobacco is Australia. But the market is closed by a prohibitive tariff."

At Laloki, the man who was to become the world's top sex symbol, wrote about his affair with Tuperselai, a beautiful Papuan girl: "We let ourselves be carried down by the current of the stream and, on the shores, in a secluded nook of shade, at last we made love.

"I can only say that I don't know when again my heart pounded so.

"I was less alone and soft-aired Laloki River is one of my most precious, poetic memories."

In January 1933, in the bush near Finschhafen, Morobe District, Flynn began to 'blackbird' local labourers.

His diary recorded that enslaving human beings also involved an element of trust - which was frequently betrayed - and described his conversation with a tribal chief who said he "had given me all their young men and I must look after them well. He enjoined me that I must not sell any of them and when their time had finished must bring them back myself".

Flynn later observed that, "If you spend more than five years in New Guinea you were done for, you'd never be able to get out, your energy would be gone, and you'd rot there like an aged palm".

In April 1933, he sold his property and suddenly left the island with some smuggled diamonds and a case of malaria that would plague him for the rest of his life.

During his years in New Guinea, from the age of 18 to 24, Flynn came to maturity and formed his adult personality.New Guinea brought out the worst and the best in him.

He was willing to try anything, but wouldn't work at anything for very long.

He said, "There is no thrill like making a dishonest buck" and always expected others to support him when he had no money of his own.

He lived by his wits, bluffed his way through crises, and used his fists when he had to.

One of Errol Flynn's greatest loves was writing.

Apart from his autobiography My Wicked, Wicked Ways, he wrote two semi-autobiographical novels Beam Ends and Showdown and in addition wrote articles for the Sydney Bulletin whilst in PNG under the pen-name "Laloki"; for the magazine Photoplay during his first years in Hollywood and his "holiday" in Spain during the Civil War; and then in 1959 he wrote about the Cuban Revolution during which time he was present alongside Fidel Castro.

These writings are compiled in a book called From a Life of Adventure: The Writings of Errol Flynn ed. by Tony Thomas.

Errol Flynn loved many women, but he is said to have once confided to a close friend that two of his greatest loves were New Guinea, and writing.

Two top PNG bloggers share their secrets

I have been inundated with queries from all over the country about Blogging since I started writing on the subject last fortnight and again last week.
For the benefit of these people, I have asked two of Papua New Guinea’s esteemed Bloggers, Emmanuel Narakobi and Robert Schilt, to share their thoughts on Blogging - one of the fastest-growing means of mass communication.
Emmanuel runs the Masalai Blog (http://masalai.wordpress.com/) while Robert runs http://www.trupela.com/ out of Goroka.
“I had been hearing allot about it in the media and on the Internet throughout 2006 and after seeing the beautiful writing on one of my own friend’s Blog, http://islandbaby.blogspot.com/, I decided I’d give it a go,” Emmanuel recalls.
“The initial purpose was to provide a medium other than my company website where I could be less formal in discussing what was going on at my business.
“In a way I saw it as an alternative way of advertising.
“After getting started, like any website, I was now asking myself how I get people to see my writing and to leave comments.
“So I started visiting PNG Scape, the popular PNG forum.
“I would leave comments on there in the IT section and then I would have links back to my Blog so people could come and comment.
“After employing this trick for a while I noticed that it started to work and so my hits then began to increase.
“But then I ran in to some issues with the owners of the PNG Scape Forum, who after a while, stopped me from posting anything on the Forum because they believed that it was taking people away from the forum, especially in their IT section.
“After some discussions with them we compromised that as long as I put up their link on my Blog and if I kept most of the articles on their website then they would allow me again to post comments on their forum.”
The rest, as they say, is history and the hits began to climb, as can be verified by http://masalai.wordpress.com/2008/07/01/masalai-blog-statistics/, from 442 hits a month in December 2006 to 5,205 hits in June this year.
“I guess, after all that, the hits began to climb quickly each month,” Emmanuel continues.
“So I now average between 4,500-5,000 hits a month, which has been absolutely amazing to me.
“A lot of what I write about is ICT-related, but I try not to get too technical and to keep it fun so as to keep the attention of the readers.
“As many active bloggers like Malum Nalu can tell you, it’s wonderful how many different and like-minded people you meet through the Blog.
“I now have a growing list of contacts in my industry that actually relate to my work and it has even led to a new article in the Pacific Islands Business magazine, which is published in Fiji for the South Pacific.
“Blogging isn’t for everyone, because you have to update it frequently.
“So you have to have a passion for what you are writing about and a keen interest in it.
“Because obviously, the more you update it, the more people keep coming back to read what you have to say.
“From a business perspective, it can be one of the best ways to advertise online.
“Tourism companies in PNG would be a great example of a perfect use for a Blog to tell people about travels and places to stay when you are in PNG.
“It’s been 19 months now since I stared and I’m up to 70,837 hits, so to anyone who wants to give it go, start right now.
“It’s free and all it will cost is your time to share your thoughts with the world.”
Schilt, an expatriate IT manager at the Goroka Base Hospital, is another of the keen Bloggers in PNG.
“I have been an avid blogger since early 2005 and although I have never attracted thousands of regular readers nor created layouts to blow your mind, I have thoroughly enjoyed the process and have remained reasonably consistent as far as the frequency and the content that I publish,” he says.
“What triggered the whole blogging thing for me was when I decided to come and work as a volunteer in Papua New Guinea back in early 2005, I was seeking a means to share the adventure with the family and friends back at home.
“A so-called Blog, or Weblog, seemed like the perfect medium for achieving this need and so this is when blogging for me got off to a flying start.
“There are currently thousands of online articles, news feeds, websites, and of course blogs available for the Blogger, just ask Google! - from tips and techniques, to customisation guides and of course a myriad on the esoteric topic of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
“Blogging can be as simple or as complex, as fun or as serious, as little work or as time consuming as you want.
“In the end and if you decide to start your own Blog - you and only you can decide the what, the when and the how’s - the means, the guidance and resources to do it are generally widely available.
“Believe it or not but there are folks around that have found a way to make a comfortable living out of blogging.
“Whether it’s designing blogs for another people, writing stories, or even those that have found a way of creating an unattended blog - one that is capable of automatically ‘pinching’ stories/posts from other websites/blogs/newsfeeds and then re-publishing them as their own, these blogs normally carry adverts which of course make money for the owner.”
Robert adds: “There are times I wished that I was in a position to immerse myself into blogging full-time - then again I’m glad that I have other responsibilities in my life which drag me away from the potentially addictive nature of this cyber past-time.
“Although my basic reason for blogging remains the same as it was back in early 2005 when I started out, the interest and curiosity in the incredibly-diverse selection of tools available to bloggers has really caught my fancy.
“There are many times when I can see how caught up I have become in the periphery tasks associated with blogging such as customisation, SEO and function.
“In the end it’s the quality and content that attracts the readers plus it has always been my intention to preserve uniqueness and individuality of my web presence.
“When I reflect on this I always end up making a decision to drop the nerdy/techo stuff and refocus on my primary reason for blogging: the writing and the sharing.”

How Voco Point, Lae, got its name

Point of history

Voco Point, Lae, is one of the busiest coastal trading points in the country!

On any given day, coastal vessels from throughout the country – from Alotau to Manus, from Lihir to Vanimo – line up at the wharves.

The passenger boats ferry people to Finschhafen, the Siassi islands, Kimbe, Rabaul, New Ireland, Oro Bay, Alotau, Madang, and Wewak.

The local shops make fortunes every day and the roads are chock-a-block with humans and vehicles.

In a nutshell, Voco Point is one of the busiest coastal trading points in the country.

It continues a great tradition started by Morobeans of long ago.

The pre-World War 11Vacuum Oil Company – Mobil – had a depot at the site of Voco Point; hence, Voco is short for Vacuum Oil Company.

Mobil Oil Australia was established in Australia in 1895 and traded as Vacuum Oil Company.

It was the first oil company to operate in Australia, New Guinea, and of course Lae.

As Lae boomed with the Wau and Bulolo goldfields in the 1920s, a shipping depot connected by railway to the airstrip was established at Vacuum Oil Company (Voco) Point, and remained as the main wharf until after the war.

The local Lae villages call Voco Point Asiawi, and in days of yore, it was a traditional trading ground that bustled with activity.

They came from as far away as the Siassi and Tami Islands, Bukawa, Salamaua, and Labu to meet and exchange goods in this ancient market place.

Researchers know that around the Huon Gulf, a complex and extensive trading system – dependent on canoe voyages – had existed long before contact with Europeans.

The greatest mariners were the Siassi and Tami Islanders, whose boats sailed up the Rai Coast towards Madang, plied the coast of New Britain, and penetrated far to the south in the Huon Gulf.

The Lae, unlike their Labu neighbors, were not great mariners but did build two types of canoes: a small dugout for local fishing and the larger Kasali (sailing canoe) for longer trips.

Supply lines stretched across the Vitiaz Strait to New Britain, up the Rai Coast towards Madang, and deep into the Upper Markham and the high valley of the Huon Peninsula.

According to one researcher, the distinctive feature of this trade was specialisation in the production of certain goods.

The Lae produced taro and fruits; the Labu specialised in woven handbags and baskets; the Bukawa produced taro, fruit, rain capes and mats of pandanus leaves sewn together; the Tami Islanders carved a variety of wooden bowls; while Siassi Islanders acted as middlemen, trading Huon Gulf products into New Britain and bringing back obsidian for knife blades and ochre for paints.

The inlanders and mountain people brought to the beach produce that the coast did not grow so well: yams, sweet potato, and tobacco.

They also brought with them items of wealth such as birds of paradise plumes, dog’s teeth, and cockatoo feathers.In return, they took shells and shells ornaments, pigs, fish, and salt.

The inland trade route at Lae ran through Yalu to the Markham Valley and through Musom to the highlands of the Huon Peninsula.

Trading was carried out through a system of partnership with certain individuals and families at different ports.

This may explain how traces of the old Ahi – Wampar language are said to exist as far away as the coast of West New Britain.

It may also explain the undercurrent of friendship and co-operation between the people of the Huon Gulf coast, from Salamaua to the Siassi islands.

In 1979, a strange phenomenon occurred when a whirlpool came and tore away a large chunk of land and destroyed part of the Yacht Club.

This surprised many people, but not the local landowners, who said it was an evil spirit called Yaayaa.

According to the traditions of the Gwatu clan of Butibam Village, their original village, Ankuapoc, was near Asiawi.

Asiawi, according to mythology, used to be a long point which went out much further than today but was eaten by the evil spirit called Yaayaa which comes in a whirlpool and takes away chunks of land, the last of which was in 1979.

As Lae boomed with the Wau and Bulolo goldfields in the 1920s, a shipping depot connected by railway to the airstrip was established at Voco Point and remained as the main wharf until after the war.

Voco Point is now the terminal for local shipping and small boats, second to the Lae Port.

But it has made an indelible mark on the history of Lae, Morobe Province, and Papua New Guinea, and continues in the same vein.

Where once ancient mariners braved the rough seas, with only the moon and stars to guide them, now modern coastal vessels load machinery for the new gold mine on Lihir.

This is Voco Point, also known as Asiawi.

Feedback to the Nadzab Airport story

I received this comment from one Larry Kasperek in regards to the Nadzab Airport story below (which has been used previously in this Blog): "The airstrip at Nadzab was built by the 836th Aviation Engineer Battalion.

"They arrived from Lae on Dec. 17, 1943 and spent their first Christmas in the Pacific there.

"In addition to the airstrip, they built a control tower, access roads, laid water pipe to the hospital area and the largest playhouse in thousands of miles, complete with a sound system.
"The John Wayne Show entertained them there.

"Of note in their history was a tea house run by the Australians.

"They departed in March of 1944.

"My father was a member, and they still hold annual reunions."

The story of Nadzab Airport

Longtime Lae resident, the late Horace Niall, once predicted that Nadazab would one day become the main international airport for Papua New Guinea (Picture above showsNadzab, just before it was opened in late 1977)

It hasn’t, as yet, however, is capable of receiving international flights and remains one of the busiest airports in the country.

Niall was one of those who helped to build Nadzab back in 1943 into one of the busiest airstrips of World War 11.

And he fondly recalls that Nadzab was almost in every respect an “international airport” in those days, with loudspeakers calling for passengers to Honolulu, Los Angeles, Australia and many other faraway places.

Nadzab fell into disuse after WW11, however, rose from the ashes of the war to be reopened in 1977 and eventually took over from Lae as the main airport.

“Having had so much to do with Nadzab, I was happy to hear in 1973 that it was to be made operational again,” Niall wrote in 1978.

“I doubt that it will ever be as busy as it was from late 1943 to 1945, but I have a feeling in my bones that one day it will become the main international airport for Papua New Guinea.”

The first airfield in the Nadzab area of the Morobe Province’s Markham Valley was established by the Lutheran Mission for use by small planes serving the mission station at Gabmatzung.

It was not used very often and, after the outbreak of the Pacific War, it soon became overgrown with dense kunai grass.

It was with the capture of Japanese-occupied Lae in mind that the Allied forces decided to use the Nadzab area as a landing craft for Dakota and other aircraft.

On September 5, 1943, about 1600 men of the 503rd American Parachute Infantry Regiment, with an Australian battery of 25-pounders, were dropped at Nadzab.

The Americans were in 82 Dakota transports, the Australian gunners in five.

Before the attack, part of the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion, with a Papuan Infantry Battalion (PIB) company and an Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) detachment with almost 1000 Papua New Guineans as carriers and labourers, had been assembled at Tsili Tsili airstrip in the Lower Watut area, to the southwest of Nadzab.

“The ANGAU detachment was under my command,” Niall takes up the story.

“All of us made a three-day march from Tsili Tsili to a point overlooking the Markham River and almost opposite the area where the paratroopers were to land.

“Before the drop, the site was heavily strafed by Mitchell bombers and fighter planes.

“At the same time the Lae airstrip was also coming under heavy bombardment.

“During the strafing, large areas of kunai grass were set alight.

“The paratroopers landed with no opposition.

“The overland troops and carriers crossed the Markham River just west of the junction with the Erap River but their progress to the drop area was held up because a track had to be cut through the tall pitpit (a wild sugarcane).

“By dark, Lieutenant Colonel J.T. Lang, CO of the Pioneers, and myself had reached the site of the proposed new airstrip.

“Word was sent back along the track for all to sleep where they could and to be at the old airstrip site by first light.

“This happened and by 7.30am I was able to report that, by a superhuman effort on the part of the Papua New Guinea labourers, the old strip was cleared and ready for planes to land on it.

“On hearing this, the 5th Air Force headquarters began moving troops of the Australian 7th Division, the first arrivals landing about 11.30am.

“Cover for the incoming aircraft was provided by the US paratroopers.

“The next day I was told to report to Colonel Price of the US Army engineers, who instructed me to accompany him to a site, marked on aerial photograph of the area, which appeared suitable for a large airstrip.

“We travelled at breakneck speed across country to the site of the present Nadzab airstrip.

“After driving up and down the proposed site a few times the colonel said he was satisfied it would be suitable.

“We then arranged for 50 labourers to be put to work clearing the kunai and other rubbish.

“A camp site, which is still recognisable, was selected for ANGAU personnel near the present turn-off from the Highlands Highway to the airport.”

Grass knives and machetes were dropped and some large tractor drawn mowers were sent from Port Moresby.

However, they could not be used until large stones and bush covering the area had been cleared.

Then six bulldozers were flown in.

They cleared a track as they drove to the site of the planned strip.

That track was almost in the same position as the track which today leads from the airport to the racecourse.

“The ‘dozers quickly leveled the area but in doing so they raised a pall of black dust, caused by the kunai being set alight, which made working conditions unpleasant, especially since drinking water had to be carried several miles,” Niall recalls.

“Another danger was the death adders which turned up by the score.

“Most were large and angry at being disturbed and each had to be caught and killed before work could proceed.

“Luckily no one was bitten and I think the adders helped augment the meat rations of some workers!”

Next came the Marsden steel matting which was laid on the new strip by the US engineers.

Two days after work had begun, the first flight of Mitchell bombers landed.

The strip had already been tested by a few Dakota landings and a makeshift control tower, made from poles cut from the nearby bushes and tied with wire and kunai vines, had been erected.

In the days that followed Lae was recaptured and the US 5th Air Force headquarters was moved from Port Moresby to Nadzab.

Two more strips were prepared plus an emergency landing ground.

Dispersal bays were made and connecting roads, most of which were sealed with bitumen flown from Port Moresby, were laid.

An Australian Construction Squadron also built two strips near the entrance to the present-day Nadzab airport for use by RAAF aircraft.

The main airstrip was, at first, used mostly by medium and heavy bombers such as Liberators and Flying Fortresses which were attacking Madang, Wewak, Rabaul and Hollandia (now Jayapura in West Irian).

They came and went from dawn till dark.

This went on until Hollandia was captured by US troops.

The heavy aircraft were then moved to Hollandia, and to Morotai in the northern Moluccas.

Nadazab then became home to the Combat Replacement Training Centre (CRTC).

Planes were flown in from Australia and the United States and the crews were given their final training before combat.

“Nadzab was almost in every respect an international airport,” Niall remembers.

“All day long, one could hear loudspeakers calling for passengers to Honolulu, Los Angeles, Australia and many other faraway places.

“Most air operations for the transport aircraft were controlled by civilians in uniform.

“One told me they were getting ready for the period after the war when they would be traffic controllers for US civil airlines.

“It must have been excellent training for them!

“We were hoping to have the use of a lot of the army-built huts at Nadzab after the 5th Air Force moved on but to our disappointment nearly all were dismantled and flown to Hollandia.

“Only the concrete floors were left, many of which can be seen at Nadzab today.”

The war over, Nadzab fell into disuse, nearly all air movements being made from Lae.

“Two years later, the only sign of activity was the ‘graveyard’ of dozens of wrecked Liberators and Fortress bombers plus a few Dakotas and fighter planes,” Niall continues.

“These were bought by an enterprising group who set up a furnace, smelted down the pieces into ingots and shipped them from Lae at what was said to have been a very handsome profit.

“It was sad to see the old bombers being chopped up.

“On their sides were a great selection of humourous paintwork – fancy names, markings signifying the number of missions, numbers of ships hit or sunk and other aircraft shot down in combat.

“Practically nothing is left today of the ‘graveyard’ which was at the western end of the present airstrip.”

In 1962, the main strip at Nadzab was resealed by the Australian Commonwealth Department of

Works and lengthened to make it suitable for Mirage fighters, even though they never materialised.

However, it was always maintained by the Australian Department of Civil Aviation as an alternative to Lae in poor weather conditions.

Likes its predecessor in Lae, Nadzab has made an indelible impact on the history of Lae, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea and the world.

Storm Boy brings back memories of another day

It was while searching a second-hand shop in Port Moresby for books that I found a real gem.

That book was Storm Boy, written by Australian Colin Theile, and which was later made into a classic Australian film of the same name in 1976.

I immediately pounced on the book as Storm Boy was a movie that touched my heart – and those of so many other children - so many years ago as a child in Lae.

And, indeed, my children enjoyed every minute of me reading the book to them, which just goes to show the timelessness of Storm Boy.

It also brought back so many memories of another day, particularly of the now-extinct movie theatres, which once abounded all over Papua New Guinea.

A whole generation in Papua New Guinea has sadly grown up without knowing the experience of watching movies in a cinema.

In the “happy days” of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, cinemas were commonplace all over the country.

Those of us who grew up in that roaring and memorable period will know the joy of watching films on the big screen.

These days, with the advance of television, video, VCDs, and the Internet, the movie projector has become as antiquated as the time-honored typewriter.

Anyway, it was in 1978, when I was 10, that my father brought my elder brother David and I to the Huon Theatre in Lae one rainy night to watch Storm Boy.

I remember sitting with my eyes glued to the big screen, following Storm Boy’s every move, until I broke down and wept with him when his pet pelican Mr Percival was shot by hunters along a lonely, windswept Australian shore.

Every once in a while there is a special film, a film that appeals to all ages, a classic family entertainment that celebrates life and joyfully touches the heart.Storm Boy is that film.

Storm Boy (Mike) lives with his recluse father, Hide-Away Tom, on South Australia's lonely and beautiful coast.

Years before, when Storm Boy’s mother had died, Hide-Away Tom had left Adelaide and gone to live like a hermit by the sea.

Here his Storm Boy’s spirit roams with his pet pelican, Mr Percival, and his secret Aboriginal friend, Fingerbone Bill.

He knows no other world.

Suddenly there are intruders: the local school teacher who wants him to take lessons, a resentful wildlife ranger, duck shooters, hooligans with loud music.

Storm Boy, growing up, is forced to choose between a life of continued isolation and the challenges of the outside world.

One time the hunters are in the area, Mr Percival is shot down and Mike does a mad search through the long grass to find him.

The search is unsuccessful and Mike cries as he walks along the beach remembering times they spent together.

Fingerbone eventually finds Mr. Percival and buries him.

He shows Storm Boy the grave he dug, and there are a few moments of sadness, but this is turned to hope when Fingerbone shows Storm Boy a nest with a freshly hatched pelican in it: "Mr. Percival all over again, a bird like him never dies."

The film was one of the first Australian feature films made for children to become well-known and both the book and film are still widely used in school English programmes.

Fundraising Dance

Click to enlarge image

First University of Goroka debate and panel discussion launched

Last Tuesday night (10th July 2008), the University of Goroka launched its first-ever student debate and panel discussion about events currently in the media.

The topic of the debate was centred on the controversial issues of mining and exploration.

Two teams of students competed in the debate, presenting their arguments for and against the topic, to win the approval of the adjudicators.

Some poignant ideas were presented throughout the debate, which ensured an interesting and entertaining event witnessed by staff and students.

Strong competition from each competing side meant a tough decision was reached to award one team the winner on the night.

Chief organiser of the event, Associate Professor Dr Michael Mel, commented: “Great societies can discuss things if they can articulate their points of view [and] it’s very important today as we look at these kinds of issues…affecting our pockets and our levels of survival”.

He also quoted Vanuatu orator Jean-Maree Tjibaou: “As long as talk remains hidden in our minds we will never develop a common conscience”.

The debate was followed by an open discussion on the Prime Minister’s actions to intervene into certain commissions of inquiry about matters of national interest.

The discussion raised several important points made by staff and students relating to the topic regarding transparency, good governance, democracy, unbiased information from the media and justice for crimes committed against the state.

Dr Mel commented: “We live in a world where information is constructed…[and yet] the truth is only relative”.

The evening proved to be popular with staff and students alike and was deemed a success, enjoyed by all.

Similar events are planned to be held later in the year.

University of Goroka Open Day a success

Last Friday (11 July 2008) saw the University of Goroka successfully host its annual Open Day celebrations.

The day attracted many visitors from the general public, tourists, and students from local and outlying schools to attend and participate in all attractions at the event.

Displays by each university faculty and partner institutions proved to be very popular.

Some highlights on the day included: displays from each faculty of student projects; blind students demonstrating how they learn by Braille computers and typewriters; Science faculty demonstrations on the uses and capabilities of the electron microscope; cooking and sewing demonstrations by the Home Economics department; displays of sculpture and artworks by Expressive Arts students (fine arts); student poetry recitals by the Humanities faculty Language and Literature staff; interactive demonstrations by the university’s IT staff; methods of teaching and learning by Education students; and HIV/AIDS and STI awareness displays by Health section staff and students.

Vice Chancellor Dr Gairo Onagi welcomed all attendees to the Open Day.

“This university is for you…this University is made by people who join it.

“Feel welcome to come and join us,” he invitingly said.

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and UOG Open Day Committee Chairman, Associate Professor Dr Michael Mel, thanked all who attended and told students how important education was to their lives and reminded them that university study was for all.

“Dispela universiti em i ples tru bilong yumi”, he said.

He also acknowledged and thanked all students and staff who prepared for and participated in the event.

The open day came to an end with contemporary dance and music performances by Expressive Arts students.

The event was seen as progressing better each year and unanimously declared a success by all involved

10 Tips for the newcomer to Blogging

By Goroka Bogger, Robert Schilt (http://www.trupela.com/)

(This is a follow-up to the story I posted a couple of days back on: “Blogging in Papua New Guinea“)

Wikipedia defines a Blog as: A blog (an abridgment of the term web log) is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

First of all some basic terms…

A Blog is the same as a Weblog (Web Log).
A Blog is a type of website.
All Blog’s are websites but not all websites are Blog’s.
People that write Blogs are called Bloggers.
The collection of all Blogs is called the Blogoshere.
Blogs have a certain type of software running in the background.
Blogs make it easy to frequently add content to your website.
To publish a story or article is to post a story or article to your Blog.
If you already have access to the Internet - a Blog can be setup for little or no cost.
Blogging is easy and it’s fun.

OK - here’s that list of 10 tips on how to get started:

1. You must have a reasonable level of computer literacy.
2. Regular and easy access to the Internet is a must.
3. Ask yourself: Why do I want to start a Blog and what subject will I be writing about?.
4. Do a little bit of research and reading (google) on the subject. There’s a great book for the novice called (you guessed it!) : “Blogging for Dummies” by Brad Hill.
5. Decide on a Blogging Host - these are currently the most popular:
LiveJournal.
Yahoo! 360.
My Space.
Blogger.
Blogspot.
Facebook.
Typepad.
Wordpress.
6. Once you have decided on a Blogging Host then take the time to familiarise yourself with the blogging tools and administration software available.
7. Design and configure the style of your Blog. Consider incorporating one or more of the following:
A Photo Album.
Reader comments.
Links to other Blogs or websites.
RSS or Atom news feed.
Page header graphic.
Include a list of your recent posts.
Collect visitor/reader statistics.
Categories and keywords (tags).
A Contact form.
About the author.
8. Time to start writing and posting! Aim to post something on a daily basis. Better to post short stories regularly rather than longer stories intermittently.
9. Tell as many people as possible about your new Blog!!
10. Start reading and interacting with other blogs (social networking) that have similar topics.

Finally, if you do get stuck… you can always put up your hand and ask for some help. Most bloggers are only too willing to share their experiences with others.

Thought for today…
The greatest achievement is selflessness. The greatest worth is self-mastery. The greatest quality is seeking to serve others. The greatest precept is continual awareness. The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything. The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways. The greatest magic is transmuting the passions. The greatest generosity is non-attachment. The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind. The greatest patience is humility. The greatest effort is not concerned with results. The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go. The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances. - Atisha ...

University of Goroka Open Day

These are pictures from the University of Goroka Open Day last Friday, July 11, supplied by UOG's ICT Manager Russell Deka Harada.

This Blog was showcased at the open day as an example of how Papua New Guinea can promote itself on the Internet.

According to Mr Harada, there was overwhelming excitments about Blogs, and how individuals could upload stories and pictures on to the Internet.

Judging by these pictures, yes, indeed, there needs to be a lot more education on IT and the benefits it can bring about to our beloved country.

Statistics

I've received hundreds of hits over the last two years but have not installed a proper counter until today, Monday July 14, 2008, which is indeed a momentous occasion in the history of this Blog.

I'm looking forward to building a more-interractive Blog by the end of this year which will bring you news, views, entertainment and more.

It will also bring Papua New Guinea to the world.

I need your thoughts and views to help me make this become a reality.

Happy Blogging!

Malum