Australia woman trekker dies on the Kokoda Trail

A sad story from the Kokoda Trail in the lead-up to ANZAC Day next Saturday…

 

A WOMAN from Victoria, Australia has died during a family pilgrimage along the Kokoda Trail ahead of ANZAC Day, The National  reports.

Samantha Killen, 36, of Hamilton in the state’s southwest, was just one day into the arduous trek with her father, brother and a friend when she collapsed last Friday morning.

It was believed she was suffering from dehydration, but the cause of death remained unclear yesterday.

Ms Killen, who worked at the ANZ Bank in Hamilton, had a daughter and son aged under five. They are with her husband Deon.

A relative yesterday declined to comment because the family was still too traumatised.

Like many other Australians, the Killen family was attempting the 96km walk to commemorate the loss of more than 600 Australian soldiers in some of the fiercest fighting of World War II.

Ms Killen’s group reportedly hoped to finish the walk in time for Anzac Day this Saturday.

A spokesman from the Australian foreign affairs and trade department confirmed that a Victorian woman had died while walking the trail.

“Consular officers from the High Commission in Port Moresby are providing consular assistance to the woman’s relatives and a friend who were accompanying her on the track,” he said.

Former executive officer of the Kokoda Track Authority Warren Bartlett had heard from one tour guide, Dik Knight, that the woman was one of about half a dozen hikers seen to be struggling last Friday morning.

“Everyone was in really bad condition,” Mr Bartlett said.

“Apparently, the woman while having breakfast, complained that she felt dizzy when she got up.

“She sat down but she got up again and continued walking but collapsed and died along the track.”

Mr Knight, who was walking in the opposite direction, believed he had been talking to Ms Killen at the Va’ Ule Creek campsite and her group the night before she died and they seemed in good spirits.

When Mr Knight last saw Ms Killen’s group, they were preparing for the eight-hour trek up the demanding Ioribaiwa Ridge.

Black Cat Trail war relics

WW11 plane wreck at Skin Diwai

Live bombs at Skin Diwai

Live ammunition at Skin Diwai

Australian WW11 soldier's boot found at a dump at Skin Diwai

The old Black Cat Trail between Salamaua and Wau, Morobe province, is one of the history of the gold rush days as well as WW11. War relics, including live bombs, abound to this day. In thus series of articles on WW11 icons in Papua New Guinea in the lead-up to ANZAC Day, we look at the war relics of the Black Cat Trail...

The thick jungle between Salamaua and Wau, Morobe Province, is littered with relics from World War 11.
Students of history as well as WW11 enthusiasts would not be disappointed at what is there to be seen.
Live bombs from 1942 and 1943 are prolific along the old Black Cat Trail between Salamaua and Wau.
Villagers told me of huge unexploded bombs in the jungles and rivers that they avoid like the plague.
Australian and PNG bomb experts have yet to defuse these bombs.
In 1997, during the El Nino, bushfires sparked off by dry bushes detonated WW11 bombs as terrified villagers fled.
Huge bomb craters from WW11 testify to the ferocity of the battles along the trail between Salamaua and Wau.
At Skin Diwai – a major Australian base during WW11 - locals showed me unexploded bombs, live ammunition, Australian army boots, as well as the bush covered wreck of a DC3 supply plane.
All along the Black Cat Trail, you can see the helmets of Australian, US, and Japanese forces that fought here in WW11.
Those dark days of WW11 are well and truly over but their legacy lives on in the jungles between Salamaua and Wau.
The jungle also conceals many secrets of the gold mining days of the 1920s and 1930s.
Local lore has it that somewhere between Wau and Salamaua lays the wreck of a gold – laden plane.
Whether true or not, the fact is that locals avoid the thick jungle, saying that it is masalai (spirit) place where dark forces await unwary human beings.

Salamaua

Salamaua Point
Salamaua isthmus

Salamaua as seen from the hill overlooking it

A Japanese WW11 gun at Salamaua

In the build-up to ANZAC Day, we continue to feature WW11 icons of Papua New Guinea, and this time shift to Salamaua, Morobe province, one of the most-famous places in Papua New Guinea because of its colonial, gold rush, and WW11 history...

Salamaua, Morobe Province, played a pivotal role in the history of Papua New Guinea.
World-famous Salamaua Point, scene of some of the bloodiest fighting of World War 11 in PNG, on September 11 in 2003 marked the 60th anniversary of its recapture from the Japanese.
This jewel in Morobe’s crown, an icon that time has forgotten, is now more or less a forgotten ghost town.
In 2002, Kokoda celebrated its 60th anniversary with commemorative ceremonies in both PNG and Australia, which rekindled interest in its history.
What many do not know is that the Japanese launched their attack on Port Moresby over the Kokoda Trail from Salamaua, and when the attack failed, turned the port into a major supply base.
It was eventually attacked by Australian troops flown into Wau.
Japanese reinforcements failed to arrive and the town was taken in September 1943 in what has become known as the Battle of Salamaua.
Salamaua – the “town of gold”- has never regained its shine.
The Australians recaptured Salamaua in September 1943 but by then, it was too late, as places like Lae and Port Moresby had taken its glory.
Veterans in both Australia and PNG have called for similar recognition to be accorded the battlefield of Salamaua as it marked the 60th anniversary of its recapture in September 2003.
It was the main port and airstrip for the goldfields of Wau and Bulolo during the gold rush days of the 1920s and 1930s.
It was headquarters for the all-powerful New Guinea Goldfields Ltd, had its own shops liked the famed Burns Philp, New South Wales and Commonwealth banks, named streets, hospital, bakery, theatre, bars where characters like the legendary Errol Flynn once strutted his stuff before becoming a Hollywood legend, and was a famed port of call for swashbuckling gold miners from all over the world.
It was here that expeditions into the undiscovered hinterland – including the famous exploration into the Highlands of New Guinea by the Leahy brothers and Jim Taylor – were launched.
Rivalry between Salamaua and Lae for the capital of New Guinea following the demise of Rabaul in the 1937 volcanic eruption was legendary.
But for all that Salamaua has contributed to the development of PNG and the world – through the millions in gold that was taken out - it is one of the greatest ironies that it is now a forgotten backwater, left to the mercy of the vast Huon Gulf which threatens to swamp its narrow isthmus any moment, despite repeated calls for a seawall to be built.
Development is limited despite efforts by the Morobe Provincial Government, there is little economic activity, and the price of outboard motor zoom has skyrocketed recently contributing to massive inflation.
The people, to this day, are resentful at the mining companies that made millions from their land and left them with nothing, and at both being made victims of a war that was not their doing.
Never mind that these days its beautiful bathing beach and coral reefs are havens for people from Lae – mainly the expatriate community - who have built weekend houses on the peninsula to get away from the traffic, phones, and bustle of the city.
The discovery of gold at Edie Creek above Wau in 1926 sparked off a gold rush of massive proportions, which led to the development of Salamaua as capital of the Morobe District.
The rigorous walk between Salamaua and Wau took up to a week, the flamboyant Errol Flynn writing of how the gold fields had to be approached from Salamaua by 10 days’ march 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 board razorback…I have seen Central Africa, but it was never anything like the jungle of New Guinea”.
Lae was but a “company” town and was very much a satellite of Salamaua.
Salamaua sprang up before Lae and because it was the administrative and commercial centre of the District and also the port for the goldfields, it continued to dominate its sister across the Huon Gulf right up till WW11.
Shipping interests refused Lae as a port, probably because they had already established themselves at Salamaua before Lae developed.
The powerful New Guinea Goldfields Ltd – following a dispute with Guinea Airways – purchased its own plane and established its own aerodrome on Salamaua in 1929.
The government also resisted pressure to have Lae built up as the chief town of Morobe District, and at times, even affirmed its preference for Salamaua by stubbornly refusing to use either the aviation or shopping facilities at Lae.
Following the disastrous volcanic eruption in Rabaul in May 1937, a protracted and bitter debate over the merits of Salamaua and Lae ensued, when Australian minister for territories W.M. Hughes – who in his days as prime minister had been responsible for New Guinea coming under Australia’s mandate - chose Salamaua as both port and capital.
Hughes was accused of being bribed by Burns Philp and New Guinea Goldfields, the Australian government was accused of apathy and irresponsibility in its attitude towards New Guinea affairs, and the Pacific Islands Monthly and Rabaul Times led the anti-Hughes and anti-government debate.
It became a matter of great controversy that that Canberra press corps, which had been faithfully reporting new developments for six months, in December 1938 produced a satirical newspaper Hangover containing a parody of the controversy under the title “Lae off Salamaua: Capital crisis causes crater cabinet confusion”.

The article reads: “A new crisis has arisen overshadowing the budget, the coal strike, and Hitler. Alarming tensions were created when the Prime Minister received the following urgent message from Mr Hairbrain, M.H.R: ‘Lae off Salamaua, Joe! Natives hostile!’Mr Hairbrain’s message has created the profoundest sensations in Federal political circles. It is feared that the natives may try to make capital out of it. The situation is fraught with grave possibilities and impossibilities. Mr Lyons summoned cabinet immediately. ‘Wow!’ said the Prime Minister as he staggered from the cabinet room after the tenth day with the problem apparently nearer no solution. ‘That’s it!’ yelled a chorus of weary ministers. ‘Why the hell didn’t we think of Wau before?’ Mr Hughes collapsed. The crisis had passed.”
Rabaul, however, continued to remain as capital of New Guinea until 1941 when renewed volcanic forced the transfer to Lae in October 1941 right up to the Japanese invasion in January 1942.
War, however, had begun in the Pacific with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941.
Rabaul was bombed on January 4, 1942 followed by Lae, Salamaua, and Bulolo on January 21.
This was the beginning of the end of Salamaua’s ephemeral reign as the “town of gold”.
To go into detail about the long and bitter fighting that took place between Salamaua and Wau in 1942 and 1943 would fill pages.
Many hundreds of Japanese, Australians, as well as Papua New Guineans were killed in the two years of fighting.
To this day battlefields like Salamaua Point itself, Mubo along the famed Black Cat Trail between Salamaua and Wau, The Pimple, Green Hill, Observation Hill, Bobdubi Ridge, Komiatum Ridge, Nassau Bay, Tambu, Mount Tambu, Ambush Knoll, Orodubi, Salus Lake, Lababia, Davidson Ridge, and Roosevelt’s Ridge bear the scars of those bloody battles.
Briefly, the Japanese landed at Lae and Salamaua on March 8, 1942.
The New Guinea Volunteer Rifles and survivors of the 2/22nd Battalion from Rabaul destroyed all military supplies and withdraw into the hinterland where they observed the Japanese build-up.
In May, Kanga Force, which included the 2/5th Independent Company, was airlifted into Wau to operate as a guerrilla force against the Japanese in the Markham Valley.
On June 29, Kanga Force raided Salamaua inflicting heavy casualties and capturing the first Japanese equipment and documents taken by the Australian Army.
On August 31, a strong Japanese group arrived at Mubo but with the Japanese on the offensive along the Kokoda Trail and at Milne Bay, reinforcements were not available for Kanga Force until October when 2/7th Independent Company joined.
The 3rd Australian Division slowly fought its way towards Salamaua in a series of exacting and grim battles from April to August 1943 in a campaign largely overshadowed by the Papuan campaign the preceded it and by the capture of Lae that followed.
The Salamaua campaign was designed to screen the preparations for the Lae offensive and to act as a magnet to draw reinforcements from Lae to Salamaua.
The capture of Lae, the centre of the Japanese defensive line in New Guinea, was the allied target after the defeat of the Japanese in Papua.
General Sir Thomas Blamey, the Australian Commander-in-Chief, directed that Salamaua be starved out after Lae was captured.
On August 26, 1943, Major General Savige and his 3rd Division headquarters were relieved by General Milford and his 5th Division headquarters.
The 5th Division conducted the final operations around Salamaua, which was occupied by the 42nd Battalion on September 11, a week after the Lae offensive opened and five days before the 7th and 9th Australian Divisions entered Lae.
The legendary Australian cinematographer, Damien Parer, captured some of these dramatic moments for posterity in his famous works “Assault On Salamaua” and “Frontline At Salamaua”. Following Kokoda’s 60th anniversary, many Australian veterans of Salamaua also want their battlefield to be accorded the same recognition, as it too had its 60th anniversary in September 2003.
The same call has been echoed by old men in the Salamaua villagers – many of whom have died without being justly compensated – who served as carriers for both Australians and Japanese during WW11.
Maybe then, at least for a day, Salamaua will rise again.

Port Moresby's building boom

Captions:  1. Rimbunan Hijau's Vision City Waigani. 2. NASFUND's Harbour City. 3. Nambawan Super's commercial property in Downtown Port Moresby. 4. Steamships Trading Company's commercial property in Downtown Port Moresby. Pictures by AURI EVA.

Buildings are springing up everywhere in Port Moresby – and other cities in Papua New Guinea such as Lae -  as demands for high quality accommodation, in anticipation of the country’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, soar.
Many recently-completed high rise buildings have given the capital a new look, as if reaching out for the skies.
There is an ever-increasing need for accommodation and business space stimulated by a steady economic growth in the last four years.
The forecast boom is anticipated to involve major commercial and residential construction and is expected to continue for a number of years.
Building projects will comprise upmarket apartments and residential complexes, office and embassy refurbishments, as well as new schools and hotel renovations.
High security fence systems are also in big demand in Papua New Guinea.
In recognition of the growing building sector, The National newspaper will run a Building and Construction Supplement on Thursday, April 23, 2009,   to showcase building, construction and hardware products from participating companies to key industry decision makers.
Don’t miss Thursday’s paper.

Air Niugini clarifies Falcon jet buy

NATIONAL flag carrier Air Niugini has defended its decision to enter into a commercial arrangement with the National Government over its acquisition of a French-made Falcon regional jet, The National reports.

Air Niugini chief executive officer Wasantha Kumarasiri said in a statement last week that the decision to buy the aircraft was a commercial opportunity to provide the Government with an executive jet charter service of the highest standard.

The jet, which is currently going through final equipment installation in the United States, is being financed through a five-year loan re-payment arrangement through French Export Finance.

It will be repaid at an attractive interest rate, contrary to media reports of an immediate full payment in cash.

While pricing remained a matter of “commercial confidentiality” under the purchase agreement, Air Niugini regarded it as “an excellent value”, Mr Kumarasiri said.

He said Air Niugini would operate the small pressurised regional jet aircraft, not an ultra-long range jet, under its registration, with its pilots flying the plane to several of the country’s ports and all its international destinations.

“The aircraft can make direct flights from Port Moresby to Perth (Australia), Auckland (New Zealand), Nadi (Fiji), Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Japan, China and several other countries within the region.

“Flying far is also possible with several technical stops to refuel the aircraft,” he added.

“Domestically, the aircraft is able to fly to several ports, either unrestricted or twice a month, to those that are currently being serviced by the Fokker 100,” Mr Kumarasiri said.

Meanwhile, on the domestic front, Air Niugini has also clarified that there will be four additional flights between Madang and Wewak, making a total 15 flights a week.

The additional flights started last Friday with others scheduled for every Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

 

NARI Agricultural Innovations Show 2009

The National Agricultural Research Institute is preparing the annual Agricultural Innovations Show for 2009 to be staged at its Sir Alkan Tololo Research Centre at Bubia, Morobe, on May 5.

This will be the third year of this ‘information exchange and knowledge sharing’ event in which partner and collaborating organisations in agricultural and rural development will be invited to display and exhibit their innovations and improved technologies and interact with farmers and the general public.

The theme for this year’s occasion will be ‘Adapting PNG Agriculture to Climate Change’.

All NARI research programmes throughout PNG will demonstrate and disseminate many of their new and improved research innovations, technologies and information.

Among them will be research activities and outputs on food crops, emerging food and cash crops, stallholder livestock and resource management issues.

Farmers will have the opportunity to see live plant specimens and learn from posters and other publications.

For more information contact Seniorl Anzu on email seniorl.anzu@nari.org.pg .

 

National Small Scale Mining Training Centre to be opened in Wau

The Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) and the European Union (EU) will officially open the National Small Scale Mining Training Center (NSSMTC) in Wau, Morobe province on May 7, 2009.

The establishment of the NSSMTC is an important initiative of the MRA/EU, to train and equip small scale miners nationwide with skills and knowledge on all aspects of small scale mining.

These include laws governing artisanal mining, simple mining and processing techniques, health and safety issues, and business and investment advice.

The opening of the facility is an important event to support the small scale mining industry and rural communities that rely on this multi-million Kina sector.

There are over 60, 000 small scale miners throughout Papua New Guinea who collectively generate more than K250 million annually.

 This money goes directly into the pockets of small scale miners.

Undoubtedly, this facility will contribute towards wealth generation amongst our small scale miners which will improve their livelihoods.

Pacific Freedom Forum Media Alert

Members of PFF Pacific Freedom Forum and PIJO Pacific Islands Journalism Online are urged to sign our petition supporting freedoms of speech in Fiji.

 

Signing the petition is open to members of the media - and anyone else who supports freedoms of speech in Fiji - a hub for 20 island states and territories across the Pacific.

 

As announced last week by PFF, the petition "Support Free Speech for a Prosperous Fiji" is aimed at all Pacific Islands leaders, not just those in Fiji.

 

Signing the petition is a reminder for regional leaders when debating options for the troubled republic - that freedoms of speech are fundamental to futures of any successful society - not an optional extra.

 

PETITION BACKGROUND:

 

"Information is power. Gagging, censorship and detention of the Fiji news media by the interim regime in Fiji robs all citizens of feedback surrounding debate on national futures; and leaves the leadership itself uninformed about how to best achieve its goals of ending racist laws and corruption."

 

PETITION:

 

"We, undersigned, support free speech for a prosperous and free Fiji. We come from all walks of life and all regions of the world to call on Pacific leaders at all levels to stand up for the front-line role of news media when warning of threats to human rights, suggesting options, and negotiating outcomes with peoples of Fiji."

 

FURTHER INFO ON PFF

 

www.pacificfreedomforum.blogspot.com

 

PETITION LINK

 

http://www.gopetition.com/online/26992.html

...

Lae War Cemetery

Continuing our series on WW11 icons in Papua New Guinea as ANZAC Day falls next Saturday. This time we visit the Lae War Cemetery...

The Lae War Cemetery is one of the major WW11 cemeteries in the country apart from Bomana (Port Moresby) and Bitapaka (Rabaul).
Immaculately maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Lae War Cemetery contains 2,818 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 444 of them unidentified.
The majority, over 2000, are from Australia with others from Great Britain, India, and Papua New Guinea.
They now rest peacefully in a picture of tranquility in the tropical greenery of the Botanical Gardens.
At dawn on ANZAC Day each year, the Lae community comes together to remember the many men who gave up their lives, to protect their countries and their people.
A visit to Lae would not be complete without a visit to the cemetery, which is located next to the Botanical Gardens in the centre of Lae.
It is also a very emotional and moving experience.
In the early months of 1942, Japan enjoyed a crushing superiority in the air, and it was Lae and its neighboring airfields that were the objects of the first Japanese attack on New Guinea.
Lae and Salamaua were bombed on January 21, 1942, by 100 planes, but the land forces did not enter the territory until March 7, when 3,000 Japanese landed at Lae.
There were landings too at Salamaua, followed on July 21 by further landings at Buna and Gona on the east coast in preparation for a drive through the Owen Stanley Mountains across the Papuan peninsula to Port Moresby.
The vital stage of the New Guinea campaign dates from that time.
Lae became one of the bases from which the southward drive was launched and maintained until it was stopped at loribaiwa Ridge, a point within 60 kilometres of Port Moresby.
Lae War Cemetery was commenced in 1944 by the Australian Army Graves Service and handed over to the Commission in 1947.
It contains the graves of men who lost their lives during the New Guinea campaign whose graves were brought here from the temporary military cemeteries in areas where the fighting took place.
The Indian casualties were soldiers of the army of undivided India who had been taken prisoner during the fighting in Malaya and Hong Kong.
The great majority of the unidentified were recovered between But airfield and Wewak, where they had died while employed in working parties.
Of the two men belonging to the army of the United Kingdom, one was attached to 219th Australian Infantry Battalion and the other was a member of the Hong Kong-Singapore Royal Artillery.
The naval casualties were killed, or died of injuries received, on H.M. Ships King George V, Glenearn and Empire Arquebus, and the four men of the Merchant Navy were killed when the S.S. Gorgon was bombed and damaged in Milne Bay in April 1943.
Before the First World War, north-eastern New Guinea and certain adjacent islands were German possessions, and were occupied by Australian Forces on September 12, 1914.
Several cemeteries in New Guinea contain the graves of men who died during that war.
There is one such grave in Lae War Cemetery, brought in from a burial ground where permanent maintenance could not be assured.
The Lae War Memorial, which stands in the cemetery, commemorates more than 300 officers and men of the Australian Army, the Australian Merchant Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force who lost their lives in these operations and have no known grave.
Casualties of the Royal Australian Navy who lost their lives in the south-western Pacific region, and have no known grave but the sea, are commemorated on Plymouth Naval Memorial in England along with many of their comrades of the Royal Navy and of other Commonwealth Naval Forces.

Location Information :
Lae is a town and port at the mouth of the Markham River on the Huon Gulf. Lae War Cemetery is located adjacent to the Botanical Gardens in the centre of Lae.

Historical Information:
In the early months of 1942, Japan enjoyed a crushing superiority in the air, and it was Lae and its neighbouring airfields that were the objects of the first Japanese attack on New Guinea. Lae and Salamaua were bombed on 21 January 1942 by 100 planes, but the land forces did not enter the territory until 7 March, when 3,000 Japanese landed at Lae. There were landings too at Salamaua, followed on 21 July by further landings at Buna and Gona on the east coast in preparation for a drive through the Owen Stanley Mountains across the Papuan peninsula to Port Moresby. The vital stage of the New Guinea campaign dates from that time. Lae became one of the bases from which the southward drive was launched and maintained until it was stopped at loribaiwa Ridge, a point within 60 kilometres of Port Moresby.

LAE WAR CEMETERY was commenced in 1944 by the Australian Army Graves Service and handed over to the Commission in 1947. It contains the graves of men who lost their lives during the New Guinea campaign whose graves were brought here from the temporary military cemeteries in areas where the fighting took place. The Indian casualties were soldiers of the army of undivided India who had been taken prisoner during the fighting in Malaya and Hong Kong.
The great majority of the unidentified were recovered between But airfield and Wewak, where they had died while employed in working parties. Of the two men belonging to the army of the United Kingdom, one was attached to 219th Australian Infantry Battalion and the other was a member of the Hong Kong-Singapore Royal Artillery.
The naval casualties were killed, or died of injuries received, on H.M. Ships King George V, Glenearn and Empire Arquebus, and the four men of the Merchant Navy were killed when the S.S. Gorgon was bombed and damaged in Milne Bay in April 1943.
The cemetery contains 2,818 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 444 of them unidentified.
Prior to the First World War, north-eastern New Guinea and certain adjacent islands were German possessions, and were occupied by Australian Forces on 12 September 1914. Several cemeteries in New Guinea contain the graves of men who died during that war. There is one such grave in Lae War Cemetery, brought in from a burial ground where permanent maintenance could not be assured.

The end of an era? PINA drops iconic convention title and goes with Pacific Media Summit.

Be part of one of the biggest media event in the Pacific, the Pacific Media Summit 2009, and tap the unparalleled opportunities for learning, knowledge sharing and networking the two-day conference and pre-summit workshops provide.

The first Pacific Media Summit in 2009, which has been scheduled on 26-30 July in Port Vila, Vanuatu, will promote a dynamic mix of content and format to enhance knowledge sharing and participation.

The Pacific Media Summit will gather some of the best minds and emerging media leaders to examine the issues of the conference theme, “Breaking Barriers- Access to Information”.

Expected to converge at the Summit are more than 200 CEOs from public and private media networks, media experts, consultants and academics as well as senior officials of development institutions representing over 25 countries worldwide.

The Pacific Media Summit will feature plenary sessions covering a wide spectrum of topics and issues such as the challenges facing media freedom in the region, battle to recruit and attract the right people.

Other topics include Climate Change and food security, new media, future plans for media assistance, Freedom of Information and how the Pacific is faring with the MDGs and the ripple effect from Global Financial meltdown.

There will be pre-summit workshops as well.

Another highlight of the Summit is a CEO roundtable discussion on recruiting, attracting and retaining qualified people amidst the fast changing and competitive media landscape within and outside Asia-Pacific.

The full Summit content and other conference details are available at www.pina.com.fj

Be among the media professionals and leaders at the Pacific Media Summit 2009, which embarks on another milestone, as it will be held in Vanuatu.

A popular Pacific destination, Port Vila offers a special city with a mix of Pacific tradition, particularly Melanesian history and culture that will enrich the Pacific Media Summit 2009.

Registration with the PINA Secretariat by contact Matai Akauola pina@connect.com.fj

The programme will be posted soon on this site.

The scourge of sorcery in Papua New Guinea

It is one of the greatest paradoxes that in this day and age, supposedly the ‘Computer Age’, Papua New Guineans are still living in the ‘Stone Age’.

A paradox too, when Papua New Guineans like to call ourselves “Christians”, however, cannot shake off the ancient and satanic obsession with sorcery.

Papua New Guinea cannot take its place in today’s modern world if this primitive belief continues.

The numerous sorcery-related killings in Papua New Guinea where innocent men, women and children are killed is even worse than the Salem witch trials of 1692 and 1693, where the suspected witches were hanged.

Viewed by many to be the result of a period of factional infighting and religious hysteria, the witch trials of Puritanical Salem Village, Massachusetts, led to the executions of 20 people—15 women and five men—and the imprisonment of approximately 150 accused witches.

The witch hunts of Papua New Guinea in 2010 make the Salem witch trials look like something out of a child’s fairy tale story.

Here, suspected sorcerers – mainly old men and women – have their heads chopped off, are burned alive, tied to and dragged behind moving vehicles, tortured with hot metal rods, pushed off cliffs, drowned in rivers, shot, buried alive, and worse.

And yet, the silence of the government and the churches on this issue, has been deafening.

Papua New Guineans do not openly want to talk about sorcery with outsiders, however, the reality is that the belief is prevalent.

And it is getting worse by the day!

Just pick up a newspaper any day and you’ll find a shock-and-horror story of some gruesome sorcery-related killing.

I have had numerous experiences with beliefs in sorcery all over the country (but do not want to go into the details), and sad to say, many university-educated so-called “Christians” still hang on to this pagan belief.

Last Friday, The National reported of members of a clan living near Mt Hagen, Western Highlands province, admitting they were wrong to murder a father and his son whom they suspected of sorcery.

Members of the Moge Kimnika clan, peace mediators and relatives of the deceased met in Mt Hagen as members of the clan expressed remorse for last February’s killing of two of their own.

Plak Doa and his son Anis were attacked and tied up, placed inside their own house and burnt to death last Feb 8 at Ban village.

Clansmen had accused them for the death of community leader Pora Mel through sorcery.

Police said the clansmen had tied them up and burnt them because that was the only way to remove the “evil spirit” in them.

At the time, police were prevented from entering the village by heavily-armed men.

More than two months after the gruesome killing, the Moge Kimnika clansmen admitted they were wrong, and publicly apologised to the relatives of the deceased.

Police estimate that half of all murder cases in 2008 were sorcery-related.

Police spokesman Superintendent Dominic Kakas says police are voicing their support of any initiative to try to curb the rising number of sorcery-related murders in the country.

He says at the moment, sorcery-related killings are difficult to prove, under the country’s current British Common Law system.

“The number of killings related to sorcery is quite high,” Mr Kakas said.

“And in fact, last April, prompted the commissioner Gari Baki to actually initiate moves to bring about a collective effort towards addressing this issue.

“Now he made a number of suggestions perhaps one would be to look at a court specifically for sorcery and related issues.”

Supt Kakas says many people are superstitious in PNG, which also makes it difficult to collect evidence in such cases.

A lack of faith in Western medicine is also fuelling this resurgence in sorcery and witchcraft in PNG.

Age-old beliefs in black magic and evil curses are back with a vengeance in jungle-clad mountain valleys which were unknown to the outside world until the 1930s.

The revival is being fuelled by the spiralling HIV/AIDS crisis and the collapse of health services, sapping villagers’ faith in Western medicine.

Barely-educated villagers living in remote mountain valleys are blaming the increasing number of AIDS deaths not on promiscuity or a lack of condom use but on malign spirits.

A report by Amnesty International last September found there was a “conspiracy of silence” surrounding the murders.

 “The police do little to penetrate this silence. Very few sorcery-related deaths are investigated and the perpetrators are rarely brought to justice,” the report concluded.

Belief in magic is ubiquitous throughout Papua New Guinea, where more than 850 languages are spoken by 5.5 million people.

In the highlands they are known as sangumas and can assume the form not only of humans, but animals such as dogs, pigs, rats and snakes.

When Papua and New Guinea were separate Australian colonies, colonial patrol officers known as “kiaps” and their native auxiliaries suppressed sorcery killings.

 But since independence in 1975, the old ways have gradually undergone a gruesome renaissance along the spine of saw-toothed peaks which divides PNG in two.

And the frightening thing is that children are now witnessing these things, with the belief in sorcery and witchcraft being passed on to the next generation.

Authorities appear helpless to intervene although the Government has ordered a parliamentary commission to spend a year investigating ways to prevent witch-hunts, which arise from a tragic combination of tribalism, underdevelopment and superstition.

“When dozens of people have been killed, it's clear that the Government is not doing enough to protect its own citizens and maintain the rule of law,” said Apolosi Bose, of Amnesty International.

The objective existence of black magic is enshrined in Papua New Guinea's 1976 Sorcery Act, which permits white magic but punishes the black variety with up to two years in jail.

The country's police force is poorly-trained, poorly-resourced and riddled with corruption, so witch-hunters have a good chance of escaping punishment.

“People often don't trust the police or the judiciary and instead blame events on supernatural causes and punish suspected sorcerers,” Mr Bose said.

The Constitutional Review and  Law Reform Commission (CLRC) and the Public Prosecutor’s office have pointed out that there is no effective enforcement of the Sorcery Act 1991, resulting in a good number of people brutally murdered in sorcery-related cases.

Commission chairman Joe Mek Teine and acting public prosecutor Jack Pambel separately said there was a need to immediately review and amend the Act.

“Sorcery accusations and killings is a very serious issue facing our society, where innocent lives have been lost,” he said.

“Reviewing the Sorcery Act is on the agenda of my commission.”

He said sorcery-related killings were not serious in the colonial days, however, sorcery accusations and killings had become worse today.

“The situation warrants us to immediately make amendments to the Sorcery Act and implement it,” Mr Mek Teine said.

Mr Pambel said there was no effective implementation of the Sorcery Act.

“Whether the Act is being implemented or not is a question that has to be looked at,” he said.

A couple of weeks ago, I talked with former kiap, John Fowke, about the numerous social problems – including sorcery - facing PNG.

“Look at life and the future straight in the eye, and begin to keep pace with the rest of the world, PNG,” he said.

“Social history and ancient customs belong in the school curriculum, in museums and story-books, not in the management methodology of a modern nation.”

 

WW11 relics of Wewak

This is the third in a series of articles on WW11 icons in Papua New Guinea in the build-up to ANZAC Day next Saturday. This time we look as WW11 relics of Wewak (Wom War Memorial pictured), a place of major fighting during WW11...

Wewak, apart from being one of the best places in Papua New Guinea to holiday or live in, is also significant for its World War 11 history.
Japanese and Allied war memorials in and around Wewak, and remnant Japanese war bunkers, tunnels and wrecks are of particular interest to war veterans and their descendents and to historians.
The Wom War Memorial Park, war relics at But village, and the Japanese look out at Mission Hill (Boy's Town) are the most prominent WW11 attractions.
The lush tropical vegetation on the foothills to the south both provides a magnificent backdrop to the town.
The Australian portion of the Aitape-Wewak campaign took place in northern New Guinea between November 1944 and August 1945.
Aitape had been occupied by the Japanese in 1942.
Recaptured by an American landing on April 22, 1944, it was developed as a base area to support the continuing drive towards the Philippines.
In order to free American troops for the Philippine operations, defence of the area was passed to Australian forces.
Troops of the 3rd Base Sub Area and the 6th Division began progressively relieving the Americans from early October 1944. Although their primary role was the defence of the base facilities at Aitape, Australian commanders opted to advance to the east of Aitape, towards Wewak, to destroy the remnants of the Japanese 18th Army.
The 18th Army had sustained heavy losses as a result of Australian operations in the Salamaua hinterland, on the Huon Peninsula, and in the Finisterre Mountains.
After preliminary patrolling by the 2/6th Cavalry (Commando) Regiment, the Australian advance by the brigades of the 6th Division began in December 1944.
It had two axes - one along the coast towards the Japanese base at Wewak, and the other into the Torricelli Mountains, aimed at the area around Maprik used for the gardening and foraging upon which the Japanese force depended for its sustenance. The resulting operations were characterised by prolonged small-scale patrolling, often in particularly arduous conditions.
Assaults, when they occurred, were similarly small-scale - company attacks being the largest conducted in most instances.
Constrained by supply difficulties, progress was slow but steady.
But, on the coast was occupied on March 16, 1945, and Maprik was secured on April 23.
Wewak fell on May 10.
The remaining Japanese bastion in the area remained the Prince Alexander Mountains to the south of Wewak.
Operations there were still continuing there when the war ended in August.
Australian casualties in the campaign amounted to 442 killed and 1,141 wounded.

Over 9,000 Japanese were killed and 269 became prisoners of war. The Aitape-Wewak campaign is one of several of those fought in 1945 that has been subsequently branded an "unnecessary campaign".
While there is no doubt that the Japanese troops, bypassed and isolated, were strategically irrelevant, there was also a political imperative that Australia should be seen to be clearing the Japanese from what was, at the time, Australian territory.
Additionally, not knowing that the end of the war was just months away, Australia's military leadership was under pressure to reduce the size of the army, but also wished to have troops available for further operations towards Japan.
To realise these goals, existing operational commitments needed to be reduced, which entailed clearing Japanese from areas such as Aitape-Wewak.
Japanese Lieutenant General Adachi then kept his approximately 13,000 survivors together in the hills and surrendered only in September 1945.
Adachi himself was tried at Rabaul for war crimes, but beat the hangman by committing suicide in September 1947
In the last days of the war, Adachi surrendered near Yangoru.
He was so weak from starvation that he had to be carried on a chair.
The formal surrender took place a few days later on September 13, 1945 at Cape Wom near Wewak.
A war memorial and peace park, flanked by flag poles, is located on the spot where Adachi signed the official surrender documents for his troops, and handed his sword over to Australian Major General Robertson on September 13, 1945.
Of the 100,000 Japanese troops only 13,000 survived to surrender.
The Wewak area was the largest concentration of Japanese Army troops on mainland New Guinea.
The area near Wewak has a number of important topographical features.
The coastline is irregular, with capes jutting out from the shoreline, and the Japanese had prepared extensive defensive positions on these headlands.
It was an ideal strong hold, and was avoided by Allied ground forces until the very end of the war, and instead was neutralized by air attacks and isolated from resupply by other operations.
There are an enormous number of bits and pieces from the war scattered around Wewak.
These include unexploded bombs, and every now and then someone burning the bush sets one off.
The replacement of Wewak's water drainage project frequently turns up munitions or aerial bombs.
Mission Hill, located south of the Catholic Mission headquarters, also has a significant history.
The first Catholic missionaries settled on Mission Hill in 1912.
They, however, were forced to leave when the Japanese arrived during WW11 and occupied the hill as one of the strategic posts of the Japanese army after the fall of Wewak Point.
The area created a good defensive ground due to its high grounds facing Wewak Point and the harbour.
On May 16, 1945, Australian soldier Edward Kenna – of the 2/11 Battalion – with much bravery and sacrifice made it possible for the capture of the hill from the Japanese.
The Catholic Mission owns this area behind Wewak town.
This area was the site of one of the final Japanese strongholds assaulted before surrender in September 1945.
During the war, this area was heavily fortified and the site of heavy fighting in which a Victoria Cross was won.
Trenches, caves, old gun emplacements and tunnels are still in the area.
Since the church owned the property, relics there were not scrapped like in other part of town during the post war years.
Area is also known as "Boy's Town".
There is a Japanese War Memorial; the remains of many troops were buried here in a large mass grave.
These were later exhumed and returned to Japan.

Brandi High School - East of Cape Moem, students had discovered many Japanese relics hidden in the jungle. Equipment includes Japanese military trucks, search light, heavy machine gun, rangefinder, and propeller.

But Airfield - But has remains of Toyota trucks, Nissan rollers and Kato artillery tractors. Once, a cache of experimental 40mm caseless ammunition was discovered for the Nakajima Ki 44 Shoki fighter.

Cape Moem - Located past Wewak's Boram airport. PNG Defence Force Army base is located at Cape Moem.

Cape Wom Memorial Park - War memorial and peace park. The memorial is flanked by flagpoles, and is located on the spot where Japanese Lieutenant General Adachi signed the official surrender documents for his troops, and handed his sword over to Australian Major General Robertson on September 13, 1945. There are also a number of artefacts in the park - several Japanese Type 88 (1928) 75 mm anti-aircraft guns, and smaller field guns.

Kairiru Island - Japanese Naval forces occupied this island until the end of the war. There are two large naval guns on the northeast end of the island. Also, several caves used by the Japanese.

Muschu Island - This flat island was used by Japanese Naval forces, who occupied it until the end of the war. After surrender, this island was used to detain Japanese POW from all over New Guinea, until they were repatriated back to Japan. Today, it is a beautiful and peaceful tropical island.

Today at the farm

Captions: 1. Brushtail 2. Brushtail 3. Galah 4. Galahs feeding 5. Noisy minor

 

By Paul Oates

We had 6mm of rain recently and the mouse plague has possibly started to abate. Probably drowned a few of them in their holes. I've gone through my third bucket of rat blocks at $60 a pop and the baits still keep disappearing however and there's a strong smell of mice in the shed.

I looked up in the sky yesterday and saw a couple of pelicans circling as they investigated the ever decreasing levels in the local dams. As the water levels go down, the pelicans arrive to find the fish and crayfish easy morsels to catch. They land in the water and circle in the dam and then pounce of what gets swept up in the middle of the whirlpool they create. There mustn't have been much on offer today as they slowly flew away. Not long after the pelicans moved on, a lone wedgetail eagle was seen circling with an eye on what was available in the paddocks. The hares have bred up over the last few moths and at night are scampering everywhere.

I looked out of the window just now and saw a Brushtail possum starting out on his rounds. Some galahs were investigating the 'leftovers' in the cattlepens and a noisy minor kept an eye on me.

Port Moresby skyline continues to change

Captions: 1.  Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane unveils a plaque commemorating the opening of the new Tango Department Store assisted by Malaysian High Commissioner 2. Tango Department Store owner Teetee Wong takes Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane on a tour of the new Tango Department Store 3. Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane cuts a ribbon to official open the new Tango Department Store as Sir Brian Bell and shop owner Nellie Tan

Port Moresby’s changing skyline continued yesterday with the opening of the three-storey Tango Department Store by Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane.
The shop, which will be open seven days a week, features an in-house playground for children on the third floor.
The day had been a long time in coming since the previous shop, in the very same location next to the Brian Bell Plaza at Boroko, caught fire in 2005.
Since then, the company has been continuing operations as TST Shopping Centre, on the third floor of Ori Lavi Haus within a 500 square metre space.
“We have been busy building what you see in front of you today – a three level department store with 6, 000 square metres floor space,” said Tango spokesperson Cindy Tan at the opening.
“Many of these interior furnishings are proudly Papua New Guinean-made.
“For example our show cases, clothing racks, gift shop and flower display shelves, material stands, accessory display racks and cashier counters are all proudly produced by our carpenters.
“From the rubbles of TST Shopping Centre to the newly-finished Tango Department Store, this has been a highly-anticipated moment for our company.”
Sir Paulias commended the company for making use of local companies.
“I am pleased to note that the brainchild and expertise behind the design, and the building itself, is that of our very own local construction and engineering companies,” he said.
“I am told that over 65% of the materials used in the construction of the building were either produced or found within Papua New Guinea, utilising local expertise and know how.
“Also, over 90% of the employees here are Papua New Guineans.
“Investment of such, I must say, is very much appreciated and welcomed.
“It is commendable to see foreign investors utilising our local expertise and at the same time, providing majority of the employment opportunities to Papua New Guineans.
“For this I commend Kuntila No. 4 Company Ltd, and Mr TeeTee Wong, for having confidence in, and supporting, our locally-based companies.
“Such undertakings, and the outcomes, further demonstrates confidence that, as Papua New Guineans, we too have the ability to achieve outstanding results in whatever professions we are in.
“This act alone, to engage local expertise, has saved the company millions of Kina, which could easily have gone overseas, but was retained within our local companies and within the country.”
The first floor has a wide range of household items and some furniture, a hardware section together with gardening and fishing supplies, an electronics section, a small supermarket for shoppers on the go, an airconditioned foodbar and a bakery/
The second floor has clothing for the whole family and for all lifestyles, hair and body care products, perfumes, shoes and sandals, bags and suitcases, towels and sheets, tailoring supplies and a broad range of materials.
The third floor has school uniforms, stationery, flowers, a local craft gift shop, an in-house playground, toys, big boy push toys, bicycles, baby prams and cots.
A Nike and Puma shop will be located next to the craft shop and, besides the retail unit, Tango’s wholesale unit operates from the third floor as well.

InterOil denies cheap gas deal

PORT MORESBY, Sunday, April 19: INTEROIL Corporation has denied claims it has agreed to sell cheap gas to China.

A statement issued by the company said this suggestion published by a local daily newspaper on its front page last Friday is without basis and therefore “totally untrue”.

Chief executive Phil Mulacek described the claims as ‘absolute nonsense” and insulting to the government and companies of China that confirmed LNG would be expected to be purchased at market Prices.

“We regret that allegations regarding agreements signed in Beijing this week have been misrepresented in the media,” he said.

“It is a shame that so many misleading and untrue statements were published without the basic facts first being confirmed with InterOil”. 

The facts were told to Minister Arthur Somare while in China and that the InterOil LNG pricing would not cause harm to the Exxon- Oil Search project.

“Those behind this rumor have no understanding of the process we are currently involved in to finance the development of the Elk and Antelope gas fields”, Mr Mulacek said.

“The truth is no ‘cheap gas’ deal has been done nor do we intend being party so such an arrangement”.

Mr Mulacek said that an historic deal had recently been signed in Beijing with the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, the nation’s largest offshore petroleum explorer.

The initial accord commits the Chinese company, InterOil and the PNG-owned Petromin Holdings to agreeing to commercial terms for the financing of the government’s stake in the $US5-billion project.

“At the moment we are seeking strategic partners from throughout the world to help underwrite and develop the project,” he said.

“The recent China deal is just one part of that process.

“Any suggestion the Beijing accord is about the sale of cheap gas is far wide of the mark”.

 “It is fiction - a fantasy devoid of reality.” 

Mr Mulacek said, on a positive note, the proposed development of the Elk/Antelope gas reserves would be a major windfall for the entire nation and underpinned the first train of LNG production.

“This project would create jobs and generate substantial wealth for Papua New Guinea, its government and people for many years to come,” he said.

“It has the potential to make a significant contribution to GDP and the balance of payments”.

The project involves the laying of a pipeline from the gas fields in the Gulf province and construction of a gas processing plant on land adjacent to the InterOil’s Port Moresby refinery.

It is expected that gas would begin flowing from the new facility in 2014.

“We are enormously proud of the part InterOil has played in the Liquid Niugini Limited’s LNG project so far”, Mr Mulacek said.

“That is why we are extremely disappointed when erroneous and damaging false reports about it receive currency”. 

 

For further information and to arrange media interviews contact:

Susuve Laumaea

Senior Manager Media Relations InterOil Corporation

Ph: (675) 321 7040

Mobile: (675) 684 5168

Email: susuve.laumaea@interoil.com  

 

 

Bitapaka War Cemetery

This is the second in a series of articles about WW11 icons in Papua New Guinea as we approach ANZAC Day next Saturday. This time we visit the beautiful Bitapaka War Cemetery outside Rabaul, East New Britain province...

I visited Bitapaka War Cemetery, not far from Rabaul, East New Britain province, recently.
This peaceful and beautiful cemetery contains the graves of over 1, 000 Allied war dead and the Rabaul Memorial commemorates those who have no known grave.
The cemetery is maintained by the Office of Australian War Graves, Department of Veterans' Affairs, on behalf of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
It is located near the site of the first Australian action of World War I when the Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) captured a German wireless station on September 11, 1914.
Each grave is marked by a bronze plaque set on a low concrete pedestal with 500 marked 'Known to God'.
As well as Australians, the cemetery contains the graves of Indian and British prisoners of war who were transported to New Britain by the Japanese as a labour force.
The peace of the setting and the enormous number of white crosses shocked me with the contrast.
It was here that I began to grasp the sacrifice made by those who give their lives for their country.
Bitapaka War Cemetery respects and honors those who made the supreme sacrifice for their people.
It also serves as a reminder that war kills, not just a few, but many hundreds of thousands, and on both sides.
Bitapaka – like other war cemeteries in Papua New Guinea – offers an opportunity to create goodwill amongst all the living so that the same tragedies may not be repeated.
It creates strong feelings of sacredness, tranquility, spaciousness, peace and beauty, and is immaculately maintained by devoted staff.
Bitapaka is a village in East New Britain which, in 1914, was the site of a German radio station and thus a target for the troops of the AN&MEF.
After landing at Kabakaul on the morning of September 11, 1914, troops from the AN&MEF were involved in a series of skirmishes with German forces, mostly local Melanesian troops, along the track to Bitapaka.
The radio station was finally secured at 7pm at a cost of seven Australians killed and five wounded.
One German and 30 Melanesians had died in the effort to defend it.
Bitapaka War Cemetery contains 1, 111 burials of WW11: 12 from the Navy, 1,042 from the Navy, 55 from the Air Force and two civilians.
Of these, 35 are British, 420 are Australians, one is a New Zealander, 614 are Indians, 34 are Fijians, two are Western Solomon Islanders, and five are Allies.
The memorial commemorates 1,113 Australian soldiers, 104 airmen and eight Papua New Guineans who have no known grave.
The Indian soldiers were prisoners of war from the Malayan Campaign, while the remainder of the burials and all the names on the memorial are of men who died in New Britain and New Ireland.
The cemetery also contains 28 burials of WW1: 27 Australian and one British.
The cemetery and memorial were constructed and are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.