'Asalu Ngayam' from Salamaua

Big Pat in Busamang village, Salamaua

Lae expats returning after an unsuccessful hunt for the submarine tunnel

Salamaua at dawn

The narrow Salamaua isthmus showing signs of severe erosion

Big Pat (second from left) and friends at Busamang village, Salamaua

Big Pat (left) and friends at a Japanese WW11 machine gun at Salamaua Point

By PATRICK LEVO

New Year Greetings from Salamaua Point. As they say in the local Gawac lingo – ‘Asalu ngayam’ or ‘good day’ which is the same as ‘sare lareva’ in my Toaripi of Gulf, ‘jobe’ in Garaina, ‘awinje’ in Menyamya and ‘zoang biang’ in Kote of Swit Finsch.

From Malalaua to Salamaua is a long, long way. There are many rivers to cross and many more mountains to climb and an ocean to swim. But after many years of wondering in amazement and wandering around in circles, I finally set foot on the narrow isthmus that joins Salamaua peninsula to the mainland.

I fulfilled my childhood dream of visiting this legendary place on Boxing Day last year in the company of another first timer Dadarae Logona and his son Titus. The Logonas are from Tubusereia in Central Province.

They say Salamaua is magical. I say it is still salacious and I will be going back. In its heydays, it was the place to be. Even now, it still has that magnetism.

Lae expats have holiday homes here and they say the fishing is good, so good they always keep coming back for more refreshing Huon Gulf sea breezes and to test their angling skills where once warships zigzagged to test the accuracy of allied bombers in WWII.

Sadly the isthmus that connects Salamaua is slowly being washed away. Where once a road connected Salamaua point to the mainland, rising sea levels have eroded much of the land and the point is in danger of being cut off from the mainland.

Valiant attempts have been made to save the isthmus including dumping huge tyres and rocks as a sea wall but to no avail as nature carves a future for the peninsula.

Will Salamaua point, original home of the Buakap people become an island as a result of global warming and rising sea levels? I don’t know but if it does, one piece of history and my footprints will be washed away forever.

My old man was a colonial era teacher. One fine day, he brought a text book home which had pictures of Salamaua, Rabaul, Wewak and Goroka. It was post card perfect, the coconut palms dancing in the breeze, a boat in Salamaua harbor and locals walking along the isthmus carrying coconuts.

I asked the old chalk: “Where is this beautiful place?” He replied: “Son, Salamaua is near Lae. And Salamaua is very far from Malalaua.”

From then on, even as a little kid back in the early 70s, I promised myself that one day I would walk on that same isthmus. I left my Kerema footprints there on the morning of Dec 26.

When you stroll through that former colonial outpost, there are certain reminders of the past; a history steeped in affluent times gone by where the tapestry of the New Guinea coast and its inland growth was once weaved forlornly, fluently and feverishly through here.

Salamaua was the one time staging post for the gold rush into Wau Bulolo in the 1920-30s and a wartime foothold captured by the Japanese on March 8, 1942 and then retaken by the allies a year later after much fierce aerial bombardment and ground offensive.

The town was recaptured by Australian and United States forces lead by the fearless General Douglas MacArthur on September 11, 1943 during the Salamaua-Lae campaign. During reoccupation the town was destroyed.

Salamaua was originally built by the Germans and given the exotic south seas name Samoahafen just as Dregerhafen and Finschhafen up the north east coast remain today as reminders of the Kaiser’s influence in New Guinea of the 1800s.

When gold was discovered at Wau, miners came from all over the world and made for the goldfields through Salamaua via the rough Black Cat Track which is today a major tourist attraction and an epic test of endurance for those foolish enough to retrace history.

Today the villages of Kela and Laugwi still occupy the site as well as well as a variety of holiday homes, mainly for Lae based expatriates eager to escape the potholed city.

Walking through the narrow strip, I could not help noticing adventurous names such as ‘Gilligans’ where you can get a cold drink, and ‘Margaritaville’ where they say the food is exceptional.

Even the nearby Salamaua Guest House, owned by the Morobe Provincial Government offers a self contained room for K44 per night and you can always find the friendly caretaker manager Mathew Gomuna from Garaina ready to help you.

Local legend has it that when the Japanese captured the town, they built an underwater tunnel under Salamaua Point to save their submarines and light landing craft.

Our hunt for this piece of history turned up fruitless as our guides could not agree to the exact location. So we turned our attention to just enjoying the Huon Gulf cool breezes.

According to the online free encyclopedia, Wikipedia, early in 2007, a video production company from California explored the rain forests of Salamaua.

The "Destination Truth" expedition team was looking for the ropen, a cryptid that is described in terms suggesting a Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur, whatever lareva that is!

The explorers, including the leader Joshua Gates, videotaped a glowing flying object that seemed to correspond to local native ideas about the glowing ropen.

I did not see one such prehistoric creature but I came away happy at having fulfilled my childhood dream.

On the dinghy back to Busamang village, we passed the villages of Asini, the mission station of Malalo perched high on a hillock and the village of Buakap and the beautiful Buki Lakes.

I have a sentimental attachment to Asini but I know that I may never get to set foot on its beach. Perhaps, I will try one fine day.

Finally, farewell to sportswoman Florence ‘Floss’ Bundu, who was a team mate at the Stars Club in the 1980s at Hohola basketball courts, and to Ovia ‘OT’ Toua of HB, who was the first PNG Chief of Staff of this paper and to my good mate the late Henry ‘HK’ Kila, who was never ever short of jokes! Thanks for the happy memories.

Join me next week as we attempt to reel in the big one in one big fishing misadventure in Busama Bay. bigpatpng@gmail.com for more.

Patrick Levo is Post-Courier Bureau Chief in Lae

Port Moresby transforms into a farming city

A green thumb...Me and my beloved late wife Hula surrounded by brocolli and tomato in our vegetable garden at our home in Goroka, 1999

FPDA study shows that capital produces bulk of fresh vegetables

Port Moresby’s looking so green and pretty after all that rain over Christmas and New Year and is going to be like that for at least the next three months.
During the brief respite during the December to March period, rain comes down in buckets and vegetables – especially corn – abound all over the capital city.
These create queues at many gardening shops in Port Moresby, such as major agricultural supplier Brian Bell.
As early as 7am, a long line of people gather in front of the Brian Bell Plaza at Boroko to buy their supplies of seeds.
During this period, vegetable gardens can be seen all over the city, including precarious hillsides.
Vegetable gardens are sprouting up all over the city and its perimeters and markets are chock-a-block with green leafy vegetables, complemented by fresh fish and other seafood, wallaby, deer and bandicoot.
It reminds so much of my late wife Hula, someone who was so passionate about being self-reliant, about growing our own food.
In Goroka, where we lived for almost five years from 1998 to 2002, my wife and I grew our own potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cabbages, tomatoes, and a whole range of other highlands vegetables.
All we need to buy was some steak or pork (or in real Highlands style, lamb flaps) and coleslaw for a salad, and that’s all that we needed for a delicious meal.
Moresby and its at times hard and rocky soil didn’t deter Hula when we moved to Port Moresby in 2002.
Wherever we lived, she somehow managed to grow our own vegetables such as tomatoes, silverbeet, Chinese cabbage, cabbage and chillies.
Hula also grew local favorites such as aibika, aupa, peanuts, cassava and bananas.
Regular watering and compost, and after about three months, we started to reap the fruits of what we sowed: tubs of tomatoes, silverbeet, Chinese cabbage, chillies, cucumbers and other garden-fresh produce.
We would have made a killing had we gone to market, but this was strictly for family consumption and for distribution among close friends.
All forms of gardening are rewarding and satisfying.
But vegetable gardening, largely because the gardener can be in charge of the whole operation from seed collection to consumption, is possibly the most-rewarding.
In addition, well-grown home-produced vegetables cannot be matched for flavour and nutritional value.
With care, considerable savings – especially in a city like Port Moresby – in the family’s food budget are possible.
The point of all this is that, contrary to what many people think, the majority of fresh produce in Port Moresby is supplied by local sources and do not come from the Highlands
This includes those from the many hillside gardens popping up everywhere, settlements and surrounding areas such as Laloki, Bomana and Sogeri.
The Fresh Produce Development Agency dropped this bombshell recently with its recently-released ‘Feeding Port Moresby Study’, which shows that Port Moresby supplies most of its fresh produce.
Other key findings were:
- The volume of fresh produce being supplied from the Highlands into Port Moresby appeared to be decreasing while supplies from Central Province and NCD are increasing;
- Increasing amounts of fresh produce marketed into Port Moresby were handled through middlemen, rather than by grower-vendors themselves and their wantok networks. However, some farmers still preferred to sell their produce themselves at the open market;
- The annual volume of fresh produce imported into Port Moresby in 2007 was estimated to be just under 7, 500 tonnes, comprising 2,500 tonnes from international air and sea arrivals; 3, 500 tonnes from domestic sea arrivals; and 1, 430 tonnes from domestic air arrivals;
- Fresh produce production in the peri-urban areas was approximately 8, 500 tonnes during the dry season from the six surveyed settlement areas, which translated into a total production of 50,000 tonnes per year from all settlements;
- Most fresh produce was sourced from Central province and the NCD and very little was sourced from overseas or the Highlands. The total supply of fresh produce to Port Moresby was estimated at 57, 780 tonnes, with 7, 430 tonnes (15%) coming from overseas and rest of PNG, and 50, 350 tonnes (85%) from peri-urban production;
- Annual demand for fresh produce in Port Moresby was estimated to be around 140, 500 tonnes;
- Shortfalls between estimated demand and supplies were significant in volume and likely to come from Central province and home gardens;
- Facilities in the six open markets in Port Moresby are of poor quality, with common complaints from the vendors being lack of shade; poor water and sanitation facilitation facilities; and the need for benches to better look after their produce during wet days;
- Temperate vegetables continue to be supplied from the Highlands, however, green leafy vegetables and perishable fruit vegetables were supplied from NCD. Hardier crops such as sweet potato, banana, taro and yams come from Central province;
- Buyers and re-sellers stated that graded products (even if only by appearance) sell better;
Buyers tended to buy on short notice and formal supply arrangements were rare, Buyers prefer carton packaging for leafy vegetables and bags for sweet potato and potato, with some limit on size/weight; and
- Imported produce were only relied upon by retailers but not to wholesalers or hotels and restaurants except in the case of some fruit produce.
“The increase in peri-urban production has vastly improved Port Moresby’s capacity to feed itself,” according to the study.
“There are several reasons for the increase.
“Firstly, there is emigration of more-experienced and innovative farmers, especially from the Highlands, into Port Moresby.
“Secondly, horticultural techniques have vastly improved and the use of fertilisers, herbicides and insecticides has allowed huge increases in productivity.
“Finally, in recent years, weak PNG currency, which increases the price of imports, has also increased the demand for cheaper, locally-grown food and has helped to spur local production.
“Peri-urban producers have several advantages over their Highlands and rural counterparts in supplying the Port Moresby market.
“Firstly, peri-urban producers tend to be better informed and better linked to the market than farmers in the rural and more-remote areas.
“Seeds and other farm inputs are cheaper, fresher, of higher quality and more-accessible.
“Peri-urban producers are better equipped, as the cash flow from off-farm incomes enables purchase of agro-chemicals and better equipment.
“Proximity to the market and the city enables farmers to spot and respond to price signals.
“However, there are concerns over land tenure and food safety associated with the use of contaminated water and soil for food production.”

Paintings by John Pasquarelli

Paintings by former Papua New Guinea crocodile hunter and politician John Pasquarelli, who is now an artist and political commentator based in Australia.

 

White tribesman at home in a wild world

By ROWAN CALLICK in The Australian

 

THE hunger-striking NSW farmer Peter Spencer (pictured) is also an initiated member of Papua New Guinea's Jiga tribe and was the chief of staff for Paias Wingti during his second term as prime minister from 1992-94.

Spencer was the dazzling star of PNG's embryonic tourism industry in the 1980s, when he developed his Plumes and Arrows Inn -- nicknamed the "Sticks and Feathers" - at Kagamuga airport just outside Mount Hagen.

He would cordially greet groups of American or Japanese tourists in the hotel lounge in his Aussie persona, organise refreshments for them, and then return triumphantly in traditional Highlands dress - “arse grass" hanging off a belt around his waist, wooden shield, bow and arrows, and brightly painted face.

As his piece de resistance, the wirily built Spencer would insert a bone through his nose, which had been pierced as part of the painful and onerous initiation rites he had undergone.

He was a popular and well-informed guide for the mostly well-heeled visitors.

This was a colourful haven in a colourful era. In 1988, PNG was the scene of the world's then biggest gold rush, at its helter-skelter height, with 10,000 Highlanders clawing nuggets worth overall more than $100 million.

Australian accountant Ron Mealing, who had flown up from Sydney to become a gold buyer on the muddy slopes of Mount Kare, said at the time he had given up.

"It's very, very wild up there," he said, shaking his head.

"I realised Western rules do not apply here."

It was a wild world where Spencer, however, felt very much at home.

He became close to Jiga tribesman Wingti whose power base was in Mount Hagen, and who used his hotel as a base for plotting his comeback as prime minister.

Wingti brought Spencer with him to his office in Port Moresby when he swept back to power.

Spencer exercised close control over media access, and also pursued some of his favourite big-picture themes, drafting documents positing solutions for PNG's many challenges -- just as he has been doing more recently, in his struggles over the constraints on Australian farmers.

Spencer has since said he left PNG about 15 years ago after a group of men invaded his house and tried three times to shoot him but the rifle misfired on each occasion.

They burned down his home and he flew back "down south" to Australia.

He told then Courier-Mail columnist Michael Duffy "his efforts to reform PNG had cost him his marriage, his job and his house".

When Wingti was displaced by Julius Chan in 1994, Chan ordered a review of the visas of some expatriates associated with the Wingti administration, including Spencer.

During the turmoil of the next election, in 1997, when Wingti lost his seat, an attempt was made to burn down the Plumes and Arrows, which survives but no longer attracts the tourist parties of the Spencer years.

 Like many of the Australians working in the Highlands in the years immediately before and after independence in 1975, Spencer felt that PNG had been short-changed.

 

 

A tribute to Henry Kila

From JOHN FOWKE

 

All that has been said in tribute to the late and lamented Henry Kila is true.

Both as a man and as a business-executive, he was a credit to his family and his nation.

As it is expressed in Hiri Motu, Henry was "tauna mai manada momokani".

 He was a true gentleman.

I first met Henry in 1985, and what got us interested in each other's stories was the fact that I had known Henry's father, the late Kila Kone, a leading light in the co-operative movement in the '50s and '60's.

I worked for a short time with Kila, and travelled with him on the co-op coaster mv Hiri where I remember hilarious yarn-swapping between Kila and the Hiri's skipper, Frank Gorohu, another very well-respected identity along the Papuan coast in those days.

Henry's father was closely associated with the late and also very well-known Mahuru Rarua Rarua, a founding figure in the co-op movement, and both an MLC, before- and an MP- after,  self-government and full independence.

Both men were talented musicians, Henry once told me, recalling wonderful private "gigs" played by his father, Mahuru, and other musical friends at the Kila Kone residence.

Here the young Henry, a schoolboy at the time, would be sent off to visit a known "bootlegger" who would provide the necessary lubrication for the musicians in those far-off "dry" days of discriminatory prohibition.

 And of course, Henry himself became a top musician and formed his own band, becoming as well-known for this facet of his early life as he was later to become known for his leadership in the insurance industry, as a sporting administrator and as a quietly-achieving, respected communal leader.

Turagu, bamahuta.Emu toana ai do lalotau elabona aiemai lamepa danu bodo.

 

John Fowke

24 Monterey Avenue

Thornlands Q. 4164

Australia

Tel: 05617 34882178

Breaking News - Hundreds Gather to Protest Global Warming

From PAUL OATES 


                     
               

                             

       

Turubu oil palm project seeks government funding assistance

Mr Malijiwi (second from left) and Mr Daink (third from left) holding copies of the project funding submission, flanked by officials from Limawo, East Sepik administration and DAL outside DAL headquarters in Port Moresby

By SOLDIER BURUKA of DAL

Executives of a landowner company behind a major oil palm project in the East Sepik province say they are happy with the progress made so far.
Limawo Holdings Ltd officials said that infrastructure development in the initial stages of the Turubu oil palm project in the Wewak district was on the right track.
The 120,000 ha oil palm project will include major oil palm planting, a wharf, oil mill, township and other related infrastructure development.
It is expected to provide a wide range of opportunities for the resource owners and rural communities in Wewak and surrounding areas.
A major road network built by the landowner company’s joint venture partner linking Turubu Bay on the coast with Sepik Plains is nearing completion and will open up access to Wewak town and other communities.
Work on preparing the oil palm nursery sites is in progress.
Limawo chairman Aron Malijiwi, secretary Willie Nilmo and public relations officers Paul Bina and Francis Yaba made the observations during a presentation to the Department of Agriculture and Livestock in Port Moresby before Christmas.
With them were officials from East Sepik provincial administration who spoke highly of the oil palm project and its impact in the province.
Limawo officials said they were primarily seeking further funding assistance from the National Government to support the landowner company meet its obligations in the joint venture arrangement.
Mr Malijiwi said the project developers had followed all the required processes in getting the project off the ground, however, the landowner company was now calling on the government to ensure that the project was successful and provided benefits to resource owners.
“We are aware that there are many challenges to face with a major agricultural project such as Turubu oil palm, and we need understanding and co-operation from resource owners and all stakeholders,” Mr Malijiwi said.
“Our main objective is to ensure that the project becomes very successful and benefits the resource owners and rural communities.
“We are therefore seeking National Government’s assistance to provide continued funding in the next stages of development.”
Mr Malijiwi, who has been involved in oil palm development in West New Britain for over 24 years, said such large-scale development brought disadvantages as well but the people and developers were confident that there would be positive changes in East Sepik in the long-term.
Mr Nilmoh said there had been overwhelming support from resource owners, provincial government and politicians since the concept was initiated several years ago.
He said the resource owners and all stakeholders realised that such an impact project would bring benefits and boost the economy.
Road access will open up opportunities for people to take their produce to market and bring in basic services such as health, commerce and schools.
People can also look at growing other cash crops such as cocoa, rubber, coffee and vanilla.
“This is a win-win situation – our joint venture partner is aware that our objective is to bring changes and improve the well-being of the community,” Mr Nilmoh said.
“We don’t want to repeat the same mistakes that have happened to oil palm projects in West New Britain, Oro and Milne Bay provinces.”
East Sepik provincial administration officials said Turubu was the first of several impact projects planned for Sepik Plains that would open up opportunities for infrastructure development and other economic activities.
It is important therefore that the national government works in partnership with the provincial government to move the province forward.
DAL’s deputy secretary for provincial and technical services Francis Daink, who received a formal submission from the delegation, said DAL would study the document and consider how best it could assist.