Frank Trimmer’s unique wartime sketches shed light on hardships of life in PNG

Herald Sun

A greeting card by Frank Trimmer while he was in Papua New Guinea. Source: News Limited

FRANK Trimmer would not speak of the hardships he experienced in Papua New Guinea during WWII but his unique drawings and letters are a window into the life of an Australian soldier.

His daughter, Bev Sard, of Hamstead Gardens, has hundreds of letters that Warrant Officer Trimmer send home to his wife, and her mother, Mary, during his 275 days in the jungle.
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In between Japanese bombing raids, Frank drew dozens of images of everyday life and his letters home provide a priceless, first-hand account of the conditions under which Aussie soldiers fought against the Japanese from 1942.
Australian and US troops pushed the Japanese out of PNG by early 1943 but fighting continued in New Guinea until 1945.
Frank often decorated his letters to Mary with a caricature of a soldier to give his new wife special cheer during the dark times.
BeV has cherished the sketches and letters since 1973 when he died of a heart attack in the driveway of the Hamstead Gardens house he designed and built himself.

Frank Trimmer served in Papua New Guine during World War 2. Source: News Limited

She now wants the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, to have the valuable time capsule of Australians at war and his medals, including the Pacific Star and 1939-1945 service medal.
“I thought that if anything happened to me, I don’t want these to get lost in the system,’’ Bev said. “I think they’d be better off in the war museum and I think dad would want that too.
“I don’t want all this to be lost or undervalued.’’

Diggers’ joyful sketches

His diary tells of daily contact with giant rats, snakes, sharks, insects, disease and enemy fire.Frank grew up at St Peters and enlisted in the army in September 1941, aged 25. He first saw New Guinea in January 1944 and soon the daily Japanese bombing raids began.A diary entry on February 7 said: “Nearly asleep when Tojo (Japanese) sneaked in very low and caught us with all our light on. Bombed all around and got wet again. Thank goodness for good slit trench ... expect plenty for the next few nights, full moon approaching.’’

April 11: “Got back into bed and nearly asleep when a rat crawled over my face.’’

April 15: “Terrible weather now, sticky as hell. I’ll b glad to get out of this place and never see it again.’’

 

Bev Sard at her Hampstead Gardens home with her father Frank Trimmer’s drawings while he was in Papua New Guinea during World War 2. Picture: Calum Robertson Source: News Limited

That did not happen until October and after he contracted chronic dermatitis, malaria and dengue fever.
If not for the help of his “Fuzzy-Wuzzy’’ New Guinea native friend, he said he might not have survived. Frank would send money to him for about 20 years after the war.
When he returned, Frank bought a smallgoods delivery business on Regency Rd.
“For the last six years of his life he had to employ a bloke because he couldn’t do the work,’’ Bev said. “Dad kept getting reoccurrences of malaria and dermatitis, he had it real bad.
“He just wouldn’t talk about (the war) but he was a father in a million and a husband in a million, too. I had such wonderful parents.’’
Frank was scarred by the war and he did not march on Anzac Day but Bev will tomorrow for personal reasons.
“It means so much to me because all I can think of is my dad,’’ she said.
An Austrailan War Memorial spokeswoman said she would contact Bev.

The robot is ready - when will deep sea mining start?

The News

 

  LONDON: The world´s first deep sea mining robot sits idle on a British factory floor, waiting to claw up high grade copper and gold from the seabed off Papua New Guinea (PNG) - when a wrangle over terms is solved.
Beyond PNG, in international waters, regulation and royalty terms for mining the planet´s subsea wealth have also yet to be finalised. The world waits for the judgment of a United Nations agency based in Jamaica.

“If we can take care of the environment we have a brand new day ahead of us. The marine area beyond national jurisdiction is 50 percent of the Ocean,” said Nii Odunton, secretary general of the UN´s International Seabed Authority (ISA).

“I believe the grades look good, the abundance looks good, I believe that money will be made,” Odunton said from the ISA offices in Kingston.

High-tech advances, depleted easy-to-reach minerals onshore and historically high prices have boosted the idea of mining offshore, where metals can be fifteen times the quality of land deposits.

In Newcastle, the “beasty”, as engineer Keith Franklin calls his machine, lies in wait, resembling a submersible tank with four metre wide cutting blades.

Built by Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD), it will put Canadian listed Nautilus Minerals on course to become the first company to commercially mine in deep water.

Nautilus´ primary resource, Solwara 1, about 1,500 metres underwater, is a Seafloor Massive Sulphide (SMS) deposit, which forms along hydrothermal vents where mineral-rich fluids spurt from cracks in the ocean crust.

How Asia's LNG sector will drive Exxon Mobil's growth

BY Sarfaraz A. Khan

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Exxon Mobil (XOM_), America's biggest energy company, is expanding its footprint in Asia's liquefied natural gas, or LNG, market.
The oil behemoth's LNG project in Papua New Guinea, or PNG, is nearing completion in June, four months before originally planned. Exxon Mobil has already contracted more than 95% of the supplies to four Asian buyers. Moreover, the Asian market-focused Gorgon LNG project in Australia, in which Exxon Mobil holds a minority stake, could also come online by 2015.
Through these projects, Exxon Mobil will increase its supplies to Asia, where LNG commands a higher price  compared to other regions, of more than $14 per million British thermal units (MMBtu). An increase in supplies to Asian markets can, therefore, drive the company's earnings growth.

Moreover, Exxon Mobil's initial deliveries from PNG will likely be spot cargoes. Although LNG spot prices have recently shown weakness, they are still above $15 per MMBtu. Moreover, the spot prices could increase in the next couple of months ahead of the uptake in demand in the summer season.
Exxon Mobil's shares, currently around $100, are up 12.7% over the last 12 months.
Exxon Mobil has a significant global position in LNG projects around the world, particularly in Qatar and Indonesia where the company has 65 million tons of annual liquefaction capacity. Its portfolio includes four of the world's largest LNG trains, each with capacity of 7.8 million tons per year.
The global LNG demand will be driven by the energy-hungry Asian economies where, analysts believe, the rising levels of pollution and income has created a healthy business environment. China and India will emerge as the new demand centers, as opposed to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan that have traditionally been the largest importers of LNG.
Last year, China unveiled a new natural gas policy that prioritized the use of LNG in the transport sector due to pollution concerns. LNG is the cleaner alternative to diesel, which is normally used to fuel the vehicles in the country. Moreover, when natural gas is used for electricity generation, it emits 60% less carbon than coal.
In 2013, China's LNG imports climbed 23% to its highest ever level of 18 million tons. By 2020, the country's demand for natural gas could triple. Since half of its gas imports consist of LNG, therefore, China's demand for LNG will remain robust.

Newcrest axes PNG jobs in austerity drive

The Australian

GOLD miner Newcrest Mining will cut hundreds of jobs in Papua New Guinea in a push towards austerity.

The decision comes after the company launched a raft of cost-cutting projects across its operations last quarter.
The Melbourne-based gold miner, one of the world’s biggest, said it cut 208 jobs across a range of roles at its Lihir site from January to March. Newcrest said it also eliminated another 32 vacant roles at the site, its most expensive to operate.
Newcrest pinned its 11 per cent drop in third-quarter gold production on maintenance work at sites including Lihir and Cadia East in eastern Australia.
Newcrest’s priority is now on bolstering cash flow, “not maximising production ounces,” chief executive Greg Robinson said.
Some of the world’s largest resources companies, including BHP Billiton and Anglo American, have been cutting spending, shelving major projects and looking to run existing operations harder after pledging better capital discipline after years of heavy investment in new mines. This has resulted in hefty job cuts across the industry.
Commodity prices from coal to gold slumped as mine supply increased, the US moved to tighten monetary policy and economic growth in China cooled.
Newcrest has curbed spending over the past 18 months, which included closing its Brisbane office. This came after a sudden halt to a more-than-decadelong bull run for the gold market. Spot gold prices are currently down about 25 per cent from 2013’s highs.
In February, Newcrest reported a slide in first-half net profit — to $40 million from the $323 million in the same period a year earlier — as it posted write downs against exploration assets and extra tax charges tied to research and development.
“I think there is more room for us to move,” said Mr Robinson of the company’s ability to cut costs further, on a call today with analysts and investors. He said the Lihir mine would be a focus for cash savings and productivity improvements in the period ahead.
It costs the company $1344 an ounce to sustain operations at Lihir, compared with $875 an ounce at its Telfer mine in Australia, and $381 an ounce at its Cadia Valley site.
Newcrest separately confirmed Mr Robinson would stand down in early July, and will be replaced by Sandeep Biswas. The former Rio Tinto executive joined Newcrest as chief operating officer in January with the expectation he would take over Mr Robinson’s role in the latter half of 2014.
Shares in the company were recently up 1.5 per cent, outperforming a 0.5 per cent rise in the broader S&P/ASX 200. While third-quarter gold output fell to 551,590 ounces from 621,125 last quarter, production was still up 7 per cent compared with a year earlier.
The company also stuck to earlier estimates that gold output would reach the higher end of its 2.0-million ounce to 2.3 million-ounce guidance range this fiscal year.
Still, some fund managers are cautious. “Its balance sheet remains quite constrained, burdened by too much debt, and some of its major assets are simply being run for cash generation, which I believe is a very short-term approach,” said Ben Lyons, a Sydney-based portfolio manager at ATI Asset Management, who sold his fund’s holdings in Newcrest about 18 months ago.
In its half-year report in February, Newcrest said its operational cash flow had nearly halved, while debt-to-equity level jumped above 30 per cent from 17 per cent in the same period a year earlier.

Strong quake hits off Papua New Guinea

Reuters

 

An earthquake with a magnitude 7.5 struck off Papua New Guinea yesterday and a tsunami warning was briefly issued for the Pacific Island nation and neighbouring Solomon Islands, but there were no immediate reports of damage.
The quake, at a depth of 10 km, struck 68 km southwest of Panguna on the island of Bougainville, the US Geological Survey said, revising down the magnitude from an initial 7.8.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center later cancelled a tsunami warning for Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and there was no threat to neighbouring Australia or across the Pacific Ocean.
At least six strong tremors have hit near Bougainville in the past week or so, including a magnitude 7.3 on April 11, but there have been no reports of major damage.
“Certainly it has been very active, more active than usual,” said Jonathan Bathgate, a seismologist at Geoscience Australia.
“(The spate of earthquakes) is relieving some pressure on this faultline, but we can’t rule out another large earthquake.”

Death notice for Alison Nalu

Family and friends of ALISON NALU, wife of GOROMP NAWATZ , mother of TONY and LEPUNG  and grandmother of STEVEN, are advised of her sudden death in Lae on Friday, Feb 7, 2014, after a sudden stroke.

Haus krai is at the family residence at Butibam village, Lae.

Funeral service will be at St Andrew’s Lutheran Church, Ampo, on Thursday, Feb 13, 2014, starting at 12pm followed by her burial at Butibam Village Cemetery.

Further information can be obtained from DAVID NALU on 71908604 or LEPUNG NALU on 70313333.

Sylvester Pokajam steps down as PNG fisheries boss

From Mariannas Variety News
Mon 03 Feb 2014

MAJURO, Marshall Islands — A long-serving Papua New Guinea fisheries chief who is expected to step down this week was recognised Wednesday for “transforming fisheries” in his country and for his regional advocacy on behalf of island nations’ fishing interests.
Sylvester Pokajam, managing director of PNG’s National Fisheries Authority or NFA, is being replaced by deputy John Kasu in a move by the government’s cabinet, according to reports.

Pokajam during his term as PNG fisheries chief.

Pokajam has headed PNG’s fisheries office during a time of unprecedented expansion of domestic fish processing plants and played a key role in the development of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement or PNA fisheries bloc. He is reportedly the longest serving head of a government department, having held the NFA post for about 10 years through several governments.
“He ran a good organisation, which is reflected in the huge fisheries investments in PNG,” said Dr. Transform Aqorau on Wednesday.
Aqorau is the CEO of PNA, based in the Marshall Islands. “Sylvester deserves credit for transforming PNG fisheries.”
Aqorau, who is from the Solomon Islands, has worked in national fisheries in the Solomons, for the Forum Fisheries Agency and in recent years for PNA. “When I started in fisheries, there were no on-shore investments in PNG,” he said. But PNG now leverages the issuance of fishing licenses with investment requirements for distant water fishing nations. “He created an environment encouraging on-shore investments,” said Aqorau.
But Pokajam was also keenly focused on fisheries work in the region, and put up NFA money to support regional stock assessments.
PNG fisheries’ money was crucial to fully establishing the Majuro-based PNA office that has helped quadruple revenue from fishing fees to the eight PNA member nations over the past four years. “In 2009, PNG put up $1 million to support establishment of the PNA office,” Aqorau said, adding Pokajam was outspoken in support of Pacific interests at international fisheries meetings. “We will miss his great advocacy for the Pacific islands,” said Aqorau. “He made his mark.”
Pokajam’s departure “will leave a big gap in the region,” said colleague Maurice Brownjohn, a founding member of the NFA board established in 1995 who continues on that board while currently working as commercial manager for the PNA, based in Majuro.