Schwimmer Field, Port Moresby

I've just received this message from one Bruce Buchan regarding the WW11 14-Mile Drome, Schwimmer Field, and am posting the pictures that he send. Above is an article I write regarding Port Moresby's fascinating WW11 history, including Schwimmer Field.

"Dear Sir,I am interested in locating the 13th Bomb Squadron USAAF Honour Roll at 14 mile drome, Schwimmer Field, that was erected by the unit in honour to the airmen that were killed in the war.

" I have attached photos of it and the of the airstripo as it was and is today.

"Have you ever located this memorial.

"Probably made of concrete with a flag pole in the middle?

"I believe that a Mr Henry Mayer may have also searched this air field however I am unable to locate his direct email address.

"Any information would assist."

Ian Downs

Many of those legendary Australian kiaps (patrol officers) who helped develop Papua New Guinea into what it is today are sadly not be around today.

Such a man was Ian Downs, who died on Tuesday August 24, 2004, in the Gold Coast, aged 89, one of the greatest and most legendary men who walked this country.

Downs is remembered as the principal facilitator of the contruction of the Highlands Highway – linking the Highlands, Lae and Madang - as well as being a powerful influence in the founding of PNG’s great coffee industry.

He was also a member of the first House of Assembly in 1964, when he collected a record majority of over 100,000 votes – which goes to show the respect he commanded – to win the Seat of the New Guinea Highlands, a constituency in the Central Highlands region with a population of over half a million people.

In the face of an increasingly nationalist style of politics he decided not to stand for re-election in 1968, and retired from parliament to take up private interests.

“He’s the one who got the road (Highlands Highway) through,” pioneer Highlands explorer Mick Leahy once said of Downs.

“He’s a man and a half this Downs.

“A few more like him and New Guinea would really get somewhere.”

A man of intellect and a great strength of character, Downs was also a writer of note.

A former patrol officer who rose to the position of Deputy Administrator in the mid-1950s, Downs was a prominent figure in PNG in the last years of the Australian trusteeship, and possibly the only person who combined the roles of administrator, politician, planter and historian.

Ian Fairley Graham Downs was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1915 and was educated at Brighton and Geelong Grammar Schools between 1926 and 1928.

He entered the Royal Australian Naval College as a midshipman in 1929, and in 1935, joined the New Guinea administration as a cadet patrol officer.

Downs took up his appointment to New Guinea in 1936 and was one of the first patrol officers assigned to the Western Highlands.

He accompanied John Black and Jim Taylor on part of their famous Hagen-Sepik patrol in 1938-39.

From 1942 to 1945, Downs was a Coastwatcher with the Royal Australian Navy in New Guinea waters.

Downs returned to New Guinea after World War II and by 1951 was the youngest District Commissioner in the administration, based in Madang.

Between 1952-56 he held the position of District Commissioner in Goroka, before resigning to take up coffee farming and to enter politics.

Succeeding the late George Greathead as District Commissioner to the then Central Highlands, a huge “middle kingdom” of more than a million people stretching from Kassam in the East to the then Dutch New Guinea border in the West.

Disillusioned with official policy, Downs resigned from his post as District Commissioner in 1956 and in the following year gained election as Member for the New Guinea Mainland in the Legislative Council.

As a parliamentarian he was further elected in 1961 to the Administrator's Advisory Council (later known as the Administrator's Executive Council), a board set up to advise the Administrator on policy issues.

Downs resigned from the Government, where he had long been a member of the Legislative Council, to contest this country’s first national elections.

Downs was elected to the first House of Assembly in 1964 with a record majority of over 100, 000 votes.

For the next four years he held the Seat of the New Guinea Highlands, a constituency in the Central Highlands region with a population of over half a million people.

In the face of an increasingly nationalist style of politics he decided not to stand for re-election in 1968, and retired from parliament to take up private interests.

He involved himself deeply in the infant coffee industry, being instrumental in the creating of the original Coffee Marketing Board in 1964, of the coffee exporting company Coffee International Ltd, of the Highlands Farmers & Settlers Association and its trading arm Farmset Ltd, and was active in many areas of PNG’s early political and social development.

It was during these years that Downs pioneered what became known as Korfena Plantations, a group of coffee plantations centred in the Upper Asaro Valley, as well as one of the first village-based coffee marketing groups known as Upper Asaro Coffee Community Ltd.

His novel The Stolen Land was published in 1970, and he returned to Australian in 1970 after 35 years in the country.

His widely respected publication The Australian Trusteeship: Papua NewGuinea, 1945-75 was published in 1980, followed by his autobiography The Last Mountain in 1986.

Ian Downs’ contribution to the founding of modern-day Papua New Guinea was immense, and thousands who knew him well have mourned his passing.

The Bully Beef Club

Caption: Pangu Pati members outside the House of Assembly after its formation in June 1967 :Left-right are Albert Maori Kiki, Tony Voutas, Pita Lus, Barry Holloway, Paul Lapun, Cecil Abel, Michael Somare and Oala-Oala Rarua

Angeline from the University of PNG wrote in asking for more information about the famous Bully Beef Club of the pre-independence era: "I'm Angeline emailing from UPNG and just read your file on the Bully Beef Club members.I was hoping you could help my team on one of our Independence programmes.One of our Independence programmes is to have all (if possible)the PapuaNew Guineans that were heavily involved in the fight for ourIndependence come and talk to us students. We realised that we are a fortunate generation in which we can still see and hear some ofthe 'pillars ' of our nation. It will be history in the making in which these 'pillars' or 'patriots' talk to us, this young generation, the period leading up to Idependence and the Independence Day itself. It will be interesting for all of us to know the passionthat drove them to fight for our Independence and for them, these patriots, to tell us what thay want us to achieve in order for ouryoung country to prosper.I figured you would have some knowledge about ourcountries 'patriots' and where some of them might be now.We really need your help in finding out who they were and where theyare now."

Below is a re-run of the Bully Beef Club story:

The late Cecil Abel (later to become Sir) was one of the many unsung heroes of the infamous Bully Beef Club, Pangu Pati and Independence in 1975.
Sir Cecil (KBE, OBE, DipAnth), who died on June 26, 1994, aged 91, was a son of the famous pioneering London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary Charles Abel of Kwato Island, Milne Bay Province, and was one of those who “stimulated” the minds of members of the Bully Beef Club and Pangu Pati – paving the way for Independence.
He was born on February 1, 1903, on Kwato Island.
Cecil Abel did his primary schooling on Kwato; high school at North Shore Grammar School in Sydney, Australia; and university at Cambridge in England.
He returned to Kwato and was asked by Administrator Sir Hubert Murray to teach political science at the Administrative College in Port Moresby.
Little did Sir Hubert know that the idea of home rule – independence – would be contemplated right under his nose by Cecil Abel and the Bully Beef Club.
He was a member of the second House of Assembly from 1968 to 1972.
In November 1968, Cecil Abel outlined Pangu’s economic policy: “The Pangu Pati believes that we must find the true economic basis for a multiracial society. We must aim for a reasonable equality of wealth between black and white, or rather, between haves and have nots. We are concerned at doubling the national income and we are equally concerned that all groups share in this growth.”
He went on to state that a viable economy depended on five points:
Increasing overseas capital investment;
Raising exports in both primary and secondary sector;
Reducing imports and encouraging import replacement;
Greatly increased secondary industry; and
Movement to subsistence to cash economy.
In 1966, a young man named Michael Somare came to the Administrative College in Port Moresby for studies, met many like-minded men and together they began to plan the future of the country.
Albert Maori Kiki was in his second year at the college, while Joseph Nombri, Sinaka Goava, Gavera Rea, Jack Karakuru, Cromwell Burau, Bill Warren and Lukas Waka were among the students.
Ebia Olewale was president of the Students’ Representative Council at Port Moresby Teachers’ College.
“We talked politics all the time,” recalled Somare (now Sir Michael) in his autobiography Sana.
“Our teachers encouraged us to take a lively interest in current affairs and to freely discuss the political and economic future of our country.
“We had some outstanding teachers to whom all of us owe a great deal.
“David Chenoweth was the principal.
“Tos Barnett, who is now my chief legal advisor in the office of chief minister, Cecil Abel and Ted Wolfers were among those who stimulated our minds.
“I was delighted when Albert Maori Kiki was elected president of the Students’ Representative Council.
“He provided the strong leadership that was needed.”
At night, the group would meet at Kiki’s house in Hohola, and thus was formed the Bully Beef Club.
On June 13, 1967, the Pangu Pati was founded with the support of nine members of the House of Assembly: Paul Lapun, Pita Lus, Nicholas Brokham, Wegra Kenu, Paliau Moloat, Barry Holloway, Tony Voutas, Siwi Kurondo and James Meangarum.
The founding members, in addition to the nine members of the House of Assembly, were: Cecil Abel, Albert Maori Kiki, Joseph Karl Nombri, Elliot Elijah, Sinaka Goava, Ilimo Batton, Reuben Taureka, Kamona Walo, Cromwell Burau, Oala Oala-Rarua, Gerai Asiba, Ebia Olewale, Pen Anakapu, Epel Tito, Basil Koe, Gavera Rea, Vin Tobaining, Thomas Tobunbun and Michael Somare.
A little later two more members of the House of Assembly – John Guise and Edric Eupu – joined the parliamentary wing of Pangu.
“The moment the party was formed,” reflected Somare, “I knew that I would have to give up my career as a civil servant.
“The next years of my life, for better of worse, would be devoted to politics and the struggle for independence.”
Cecil Abel was one of those who laid the groundwork for the Bully Beef Club, the Pangu Pati, and lived to see Papua New Guinea gain independence from Australia on September 16, 1975.
He was awarded an OBE for services to politics and Papua New Guinea at the age of 72 and at aged 79 was awarded his Knighthood.

My Dad’s memories of Michael Somare

Caption: Mathias Nalu (second from right, standing), with fellow trainee teachers at Sogeri Education Centre in 1956 including Michael Somare, (third from left, sitting), Paulias Matane (sitting far right) and Alkan Tololo (standing far right).

My father, the late Mathias Nalu, until the day he died in 1993, remained committed to the ideals of his former school mate and Pangu Pati founder Michael Somare.
Dad went to school with Somare, first at Dregerhaffen in Finschhafen, and then at Sogeri outside Port Moresby.
But unlike his mates like Somare, Paulias Matane and Alkan Tololo who would one day figure in the formation of this country, Dad remained a simple school teacher, and later a primary school inspector, until the day he died so prematurely of a stroke after 35 years of distinguished service to his country.
We, his children, were born and grew up all over the country in the pre-independence days as Dad excelled as a member of the highly-disciplined and efficient ‘shorts and socks brigade’ public service under the colonial administration.
We grew up listening in fascination as Dad told us one story after another of his mates like Somare, Matane and Tololo.
Many years later, after Dad died and I was working as a journalist, I often bumped into Somare, Matane and Tololo and they always extolled the virtues of my ‘Old Man’, which left me with a great deal of pride.
One thing that is forever etched in my memory was of growing up on Sohano, a small island off Buka, in the halcyonic days of the early 1970’s, when I would have been about five or six years of age.
Papua New Guinea’s Chief Minister visited Sohano, and while reminiscing with Dad about their old days, a Bouganville Copper employee named Bill, who lived next door to us, said something that offended Somare.
Somare ordered him out of the country immediately!
I can remember as Bill, with tears, handed all his worldly possessions to Mum and Dad and left.
Independence came and I remember Dad, as we listened to the radio at 12am on September 16, 1975, celebrating as his former school mate became the first Prime Minister of the newly-independent State of Papua New Guinea.
Later, in 1976, when my youngest sister Anna was born, the Papua New Guinea Prime Minister personally visited our house while in Goroka, gave Mum K100, and said that Anna’s second name was ‘Moaso’ after his mother.
As Somare celebrates 40 years in politics, I know that somewhere over the rainbow way up high, Dad will also celebrating.

Use 100% Papua New Guinea companies for walking the Kokoda Trail

Trekkers, particularly Australians wanting to walk the Kokoda Trail, are advised to use 100% nationally-owned companies.
It is common knowledge that many Australian companies use Papua New Guineans as mere fronts, with most of the money heading back to Australia.
If you want to really support Papua New Guinea, use a 100%nationally-owned company.
Robin Yates, 57, a successful import/export businessman in Queensland who recently walked the Kokoda Trail, cast his vote-of-confidence in Fuzzy Wuzzy Expeditions, especially at a time when it is common knowledge that many Australian companies use Papua New Guineans as mere fronts, with most of the money heading back south.
“We want the money to come to New Guinea, not Australia,” Mr Yates explains.
“We want the money to come to New Guinea, that’s why we used a local company.
“And I’m very pleased that we did because we did a great trek and enjoyed all the people from Fuzzy Wuzzy.
“I’m sure that many more people will want to come and do the same.”
Fuzzy Wuzzy Expeditions is the new kid on the block that’s taking the Kokoda Trail by storm through the Internet.
It’s a far cry from early 2004 when I first met an enterprising young man named Defol Jabbar.
He had just set up his new trekking company and the next three years would be a steep learning curve.
Mr Jabbar has slowly, but steadily, been building up his client base since 2004, albeit, without a professionally-designed website.
His website http://www.fuzzywuzzy.com.pg/ was properly designed and uploaded last November and the sky is now the limit.
Mr Jabbar, as far as I know, is the first Papua New Guinean owner of a trekking company to have a proper website.
Many overseas trekkers and tourists prefer to use 100% locally-owned companies; however, the catch is that few of these companies are Internet-savvy.
The lucrative Kokoda Trail market is dominated by foreign-owned companies, many of whom use Papua New Guineans as fronts, and Fuzzy Wuzzy Expeditions is indeed a breath of fresh air.
Mr Jabbar has been able to pull in an extra buck or two into the country, provide employment, as well as promote tourism in this beautiful country of ours.
Mr Jabbar can be contacted on email defol@fuzzywuzzy.com.pg or info@fuzzywuzzy.com.pg and mobile (675) 6883231.

2000 hits and growing

The number of hits on this Blog has surpassed the 2000 mark since I installed a counter two weeks ago on Monday, July 14th, 2008.

This, to me, is a great achievement and shows the interest in Papua New Guinea from all corners of the world, as can be verified by the country of visitors, and the emails I've been receiving.

This Blog is my little contribution to my beloved country, Papua New Guinea, a developing third-world country which is beset by problems of good governance.

I will continue to post positive articles and photographs on this Blog to promote Papua New Guinea.

I am looking at improving this Blog and provide even better things for you, my faithful readers.

Thank you and God Bless You All Real Good!

Malum

Want your own Blog or website

I have been inundated with querries from all over the country from people wanting to build their own Blog or website.

If you need any assistance in this regards, email me on malumnalu@gmail.com or phone (675) 3446734 or mobile (675) 6849763.

Malum