Eve
AKERMAN (11 December 2003, aged 83 years)
Eve went with her husband John, an Australian Government doctor,
to Rabaul in 1947. Her second son, Kim, was born in Rabaul that
year however soon afterwards the family was transferred to
Goroka in the Highlands. From Goroka, John carried out numerous
medical patrols on foot through difficult mountainous terrain to
various remote locations such as Mt. Hagen, frequently
accompanied by Eve for up to a fortnight at a time. In early
1950 the family was transferred again, to Wewak on the North
Coast where Piers was born. They took with them Kuyeba and
Ongwan who were recruited from highland villages to help in the
house and with whom Eve had an emotional reunion when travelling
with her friend Dame Rachel Cleland in the highlands in 1993.
Eve accompanied John on more medical patrols by launch up the
Sepik and to the island Wacheo where they were marooned for some
weeks by the stranding of the schooner which had delivered them
there, until rescued by the mission vessel Gabriel.
The family left PNG for India in 1951; however their time in the
Territory remained a vital part of family lore from then on. Eve
wrote and lectured extensively on her life and the atmosphere in
PNG in the forties until shortly before her death. Eve’s
husband, John, predeceased her however she is survived by her
three sons and daughter, Felicity. Jonathan C Akerman
June
ANTILL (28 June 2004, aged 88 years)
June was born at Guyra NSW in 1916, later moving with her family
to Sydney. She went to Rabaul in 1947 to marry Dan, a Burns
Philp plantation manager then stationed in the remote Witu
Islands, and always looked on the hardships and primitive,
isolated, life there as a meaningful and rewarding experience.
In 1950 the Antill’s moved to a plantation near Kokopo. Always a
very popular, cheerful and capable person, June involved herself
in many Gazelle Peninsula community affairs, notably the Kokopo
Show and CWA. In 1962, when her two daughters had gone off to
secondary school in Australia, June took a position at the
sub-district office, Kokopo, looking after the Post Office and
Commonwealth Bank agency. At Independence in 1975 she was asked
to set up a Training School for PNG clerks and clerical
assistants to enable them to be appointed to Administrative
positions. June remained in charge of this school until 1980
when, along with Dan, she retired to Cremorne and finally to the
NSW Central Coast 15 years ago. June is survived by her
daughters Alison and Anna and their families. Betty Benson
Index
Marjorie Hawnt Ross BLAKE
(18 April 2004 aged 91 years)
Born in Sydney, Marjorie travelled to Rabaul when her father
became the telephone mechanic foreman for the Australian
Occupation Forces who took control of the Territory of New
Guinea at the end of WWI. Edmund Martin Hawnt was later
appointed Postmaster and Telephone Director for the Civil
Administration. The Hawnt children were the first Australian
children in Rabaul and enjoyed a carefree existence until Edmund
took his family on a furlough to England where the girls were
installed at a boarding school in Warwick near Edmund’s family.
Eventually returning to Rabaul, Marjorie got a job with the
Department of Native Affairs. She loved riding horses and whilst
riding track met and married Harold Jo Ross. Marjorie, with
three children under the age of four, was evacuated with
nursemaid Annie Lundin on the MacDhui in December 1941 when it
was expected that Japan would invade Rabaul. She lost both her
husband and father during the fall of Rabaul. Marjie supported
the family in Sydney by working in the Department of External
Territories (earning about 10 shillings a week) and embroidering
baby clothes for sale.
In 1947 she returned to Rabaul where she purchased a plantation,
‘Vunaraken, and planted cocoa, also working at Posts and
Telegraphs during the week. Then Captain Charles Blake arrived –
courting Marjie with a crate containing four ducks and a drake.
They were married in Rabaul. Charles had two trawlers which were
used for taking supplies down to their three plantations,
Kabakon, Lolobau and Iboki. Two children were born to this
marriage, Belinda and Charles. After the previous experience of
evacuation it was decided to buy a house at Roseville in 1957.
Marjie and Charles later developed Mauga Plantation before
moving to Ascot in 1979. Her husband, Charles pre-deceased her
in 1988 and son Michael in 1991. Marjie is survived by Prudence,
Janet, Belinda and Charles, her 18 grandchildren and 8 great
grandchildren.
Index
Ian Fairley Graham DOWNS
- (24 August 2004, aged 89 yrs)
Ian Downs died at
the John Flynn Hospital on 24 August at the age of 89 and his
funeral was to take place at 1 pm on Monday 30 August. Ian's
death removes from the scene a man who played a significant part
in the development of Papua New Guinea, shining in the roles of
kiap, politician and planter, and finally as writer and
historian.
It is for his long and notable record as a kiap that he will be
most remembered by many throughout Australia.
Born
in Edinburgh, Scotland, in June 1915, he arrived in Melbourne
with his family as a schoolboy, but at 13 won a place at the
Royal Naval College, Jervis Bay, as a midshipman, and completed
a four-year-course there. But there were no appointments
available for him and others, so in 1935 he accepted a post as a
cadet patrol officer with the old New Guinea administration. He
arrived at headquarters in Rabaul in January 1936, and took to
his new career with enthusiasm, and soon, he later wrote, with
great satisfaction at working with such talented, dedicated
people.
By 1938 he was in charge of the Chimbu sub-district, and was
involved with the Hagen-Sepik patrol, but with the advent of war
in Europe he was contacted by the Navy and accepted a naval
post, becoming a commander of smallships in New Guinea waters.
In the war with Japan he was for one period on loan as a
Coastwatcher behind enemy lines in Morobe.
He rejoined the Administration in October 1945 as a patrol
officer and in the next seven years was variously DO New
Ireland, Stipendiary Magistrate in Rabaul, acting DC Madang,
Assistant Director of Native Affairs in Port Moresby and,
finally, his last posting, DC Eastern Highlands in 1952.
He was the Territory's youngest DC and tackled the task with his
typical energy, imagination and impatience with red tape. He
took the view that the highlands had to be developed speedily to
occupy idle native hands, and Goroka soon became a bustling town
as he and his dedicated officers extended roads and built
bridges to the coast at Lae, and directed them far west into the
highlands. They supervised large gangs of Highlanders who
provided their labour for cash or kind or simple enthusiasm, and
thus the Highlands Highway was built, opening up the country for
economic development. Coffee became king, and a great debt was
owed to Downs for his part in its development.
In 1956, 20 years after first joining the pre-war
Administration, he resigned as DC to become a planter and
politician, and thus began an important and effective new phase
in his PNG career. In 1957 he became an elected member for the
New Guinea Mainland in PNG's Legislative Council, and the same
year President of the Highlands Farmers and Settlers Association
and a member of the Eastern Highlands Advisory Council. He held
both these positions unbroken for more than 10 years.
From 1961-69 he was a member of the Administrator's Council, and
in 1964 Foundation Chairman of the PNG Coffee Marketing board.
He had even wider influence on national affairs during his four
years as an elected member (on a common roll) of the First House
of Assembly, 1964-68. He was appointed OBE in 1963.
Downs was always a writer - his reports were models of clarity -
and for many years during these later activities he also found
time to be managing-editor and chief writer for the New Guinea
Highlands Bulletin, an agricultural journal which pushed
development in the Highlands. In 1970 he published a novel based
on New Guinea, The Stolen Land. More writing followed after he
and his wife Judith, and son Graham, left PNG in 1972 to run
cattle in NSW.
The most important was an acclaimed official history written for
the Commonwealth Government, "Australian Trusteeship: Papua New
Guinea 1945-75", but also an autobiography in 1986, "The Last
Mountain", and a military history in 1999, "The New Guinea
Volunteer Rifles, 1939-1943". Deakin University conferred on him
an honorary Doctor of Letters.
Judith died of cancer in 1974, and he married Robin George and
they had a son, Michael. That marriage was later dissolved. From
the Gold Coast, where he lived in his later years, he kept in
touch with old friends.
Vale old friend - Stuart Inder.
Index
Helene Isabel EAST (nee THOMSON, 1 August 2004, aged 65
years)
Helene was a Cadet Education Officer at ASOPA with the 1962
intake and despite the disabilities accumulated in her later
life greatly enjoyed meeting wantoks at their 40th anniversary
reunion in Port Macquarie two years ago. Until PNG Independence
Helene was a lecturer at Ward Strip Teachers College.
Subsequently widowed in Australia she moved to Darwin where she
spent the past 23 years. She had three brothers. J.B. Toner
Vilma
ENDERS (14 May 2004, aged 79 years)
Vilma was born in South Tirol, now part of Italy, and traces her
ancestry back to Johann Coleto who was Knighted by Matthias,
King of Bavaria (now Chekoslovakia) in 1612. In 1947 she married
Paul in Innsbruck, Austria. They were from ‘different countries,
different backgrounds and different religions’ and migrated to
Australia in 1949. In 1950 Paul was recruited by Dr (later Sir)
John Gunther to work as a medical officer in PNG. First posting
was Namatanai – very different, very raw, but fascinating and
enjoyable. Such was the condition of the roads in those days
that it took two days to travel from Kavieng. From 1953 to 1957
the Enders were in Wau and Bulolo, then Paul went to Wewak as
District Medical Officer before moving on to be Regional Medical
Officer in Rabaul in 1964 and finally to Moresby in 1969 as
Assistant Director of Medical Services till retirement in 1974.
It was then plenty of space to enjoy the garden, tennis court
and swimming pool at leafy Terry Hills till 1991, when the
Enders moved to the convenience of harbourside Neutral Bay.
Always supportive of Paul, Vilma enjoyed sailing, tennis,
swimming, her beloved orchids and her many friends. She is
survived by Paul, son Tony and daughter-in-law, Jane. Harry West
Index
Gabiam Mombu GWARE (02 July 2004 in Lae)
Gabi is survived by husband, Muttu Gware OBE, children Rebecca,
Paul, Minna, John and grandchildren. Gabi was the sister of
well-known Parliamentarian Bart Philemon.
Bert Speer
Brenda HAMMERSLEY (February 2004, aged 73 years)
Brenda lived first in Mt Hagen and then the Baiyer Valley in the
1970s. As Brenda Paine, an esteemed Melbourne paediatrician, her
contribution to the medical welfare of children from all over
the Western Highlands will never be forgotten. Her work load
intensified after she married Tas Hammersley and went to live at
Trauna Valley Farm, still working part-time in Mt Hagen.
Amazingly resourceful, I recall the time when Brenda interrupted
Christmas festivities to pin the broken leg of their boxer dog
with one of the heavy-duty barbecue skewers I had given her for
Christmas.
When it was time to leave the PNG highlands Brenda began the
development of a sheep property they had bought near Denmark in
Western Australia while waiting for Tas to sell Trauna and join
her. Later, and after an upgrade of her medical skills in Perth,
she became the itinerant paediatrician for the south west coast
of WA.
After her "retirement" she became absorbed with what had been a
long-time hobby: the collection and documentation of wildflowers
from the Denmark area which later extended to mosses and
lichens. She was rewarded with several wildflower ‘finds’, two
of which she felt very privileged to have named after her:
Andersonia Hammersleyana and Laxmannia grandiflora brendae. On
Australia Day last year she was presented with a community
service award and named as one of two Denmark citizens of the
year
Brenda lived out her life at Denmark, at the home she designed,
with never-failing interest, enthusiasm and a big place in her
heart for her community. She is survived by her four brothers
and step-mother Peg Paine. Judith Blogg
Index
Richard James (Jim) HUXLEY
(15 May 2004, aged 81 years)
At 17 Jim went to New Guinea in 1939 to join his father Richard
(‘Dahlia Dick’, as he was known for his care of flowers,) a
carpenter with Bulolo Gold Dredging. When the Japanese invaded
nearby Wau, Jim joined the NGVR and became an ANGAU Medical
Assistant, initially with Dr Hugh Marsden, until the end of the
war.
After marrying Lee in Sydney in 1948, he resumed work with BGD
before moving on to Lae to work as a journalist with the South
Pacific Post and then the New Guinea Times- Courier, to later
become its Managing Editor. He also started the first New Guinea
pidgin newspaper TokTok. He was constructively involved in
community and sporting affairs in Lae, especially football,
until he and Lee, and four of their five sons (born in Lae)
returned to Sydney in 1965. He continued his career in
journalism with Country Life, then the Australian and finally
the Daily Telegraph. He is survived by Lee and sons Edwin,
Nicholas, James and Quentin. Son Adrian died in infancy.
Lee Huxley
A tribute in the Post Courier of 4 June 2004 by Abby Yadi
highlighted Jim’s friendship with, and encouragement of, Muttu
Gware as PNG’s first national newspaper (print) journalist.
Written by Muttu and edited by Jim, the first edition of
‘Niugini Toktok’, in pidgin, was published in October 1962.
William ‘Bill’ JENKIN
(30 May 2004, aged 76 years)
Bill, born in Sydney, arrived in PNG in October 1949 after four
years serving with BCOF Occupation Force in Japan. He joined the
PNG Administration as a Tractor Operator/Mechanic with the
Forestry Department until 1951 when he left to serve in Korea.
In 1953 he returned to PNG, working as ‘Bush Boss’, Forest
Ranger, Surveyor and eventually graduating to District Forest
Officer III. He worked in a number of regions but the places he
spoke of with great fondness were Lae, Rabaul and Madang –
especially Madang.
Bill eventually gravitated to Headquarters in Port Moresby as
Harvesting and Marketing Officer – collecting Royalties in
excess of $1 million. He married Mary, a teacher on secondment
from Canberra and their two boys were born in Port Moresby. At
this time also, Bill studied Accountancy, graduating as a Member
of the Australian Society of Accountants. In 1968 Bill joined
the Transport Department and became Executive Officer, Road
Planning, for the Territory. In December 1975 the Jenkin family
reluctantly left PNG to make a new life in Hobart, Tasmania.
Bill worked first with a firm of Chartered Accountants and later
with the State Audit Department as a Senior Audit Manager. He
retired in 1994, his main interests now being overseas and
Australian travel, bowls – regular and petanque, University of
the 3rd Age, cooking and wining and dining. Bill is survived by
his wife Mary, his sons Williams and James and his grandson,
Raif. Mary Jenkin
Index
Lyn LARKIN
(30 June 2004, aged 62 years)
Born in Sydney several weeks after her mother was evacuated from
Port Moresby, Lyn returned to Port Moresby with her family after
the war. Lyn joined the PNG Administration as a teenager and for
a number of years was an integral member of Joe Lynch’s
Legislative Drafting Unit of the Crown Law Dept. In 1967 Lyn
married Dr Kerry Larkin in Port Moresby. Lyn was heavily
involved in community and voluntary work. She became a trained
cancer carer and this was considered one of her special talents
as she possessed great moral strength, empathy and compassion.
In 1995 Lyn and Kerry spent two years in Malawi, Lyn continuing
her volunteer work looking after babies born of mothers who had
died of AIDS. They retired to Yeppoon where Lyn continued her
active commitment to cancer sufferers; a commitment recognized
by the Queensland Cancer Fund. Lyn and Kerry moved to the Gold
Coast in 2003 to be closer to family. Lyn is survived by Kerry,
her four children Nicola, Justine, Melissa and Michael, her
grandchildren, sister Maureen and brothers Kevin and Geoffrey.
Maureen O’Rourke
Brien
McMAHON (26 June 2004 aged 69 years)
Brien was born in South Melbourne, the eldest son of former
South Melbourne footballer, national handball champion and
president of the South Melbourne Past Players Association, Tom
McMahon. Brien himself became a respected athlete and footballer
from a young age. He married Bernice Murray in 1955 and they
moved to Port Moresby where he became a valued member of the
Public Service Board responsible for determining staffing levels
for PNG. A particular responsibility was setting up government
at a provincial level. In 1964 Brien was the prime instigator in
creating the first Papuan based Australian Rules football team,
which became known as ‘Koboni’. In 1974 he also arranged a PNG
footy team tour of Australia. In 1976 the family, with nine
children, moved back to Melbourne. Brien was then with the
Department of Social Security followed by the Department of
Community Services. Retiring in 1992 he became more involved
with the Box Hill Football Club where he was a board member from
1991 and general manager in 1993. He maintained an active role
in compiling the monthly club newsletter and acting as
groundsman among a variety of other roles. Brien is survived by
his nine children and their families and two sisters. Bernice
predeceased him in late April. Info from the Melbourne Age 9
July 2004.
Index
Stanley Francis TYLER
(14 May 2004, aged 80 years)
Stan, or ‘Skinny-ribs’ as he was affectionately known to his
many PNG friends, was born at Wardell in northern NSW, grew up
at Mallanganee in the same region and died in Ellenbrook WA. The
tragic death of his elder son Steve in 1995 and the death of his
beloved Olive in 2001 precipitated failing health in the last
two years of his life.
Stan was at Merauke as a sapper with the 27th Field Company of
the 6th Division during WWII. New Guinea then apparently got
into his blood and he first went to Port Moresby as a civilian
carpenter in 1952. He later joined PWD, working firstly in Port
Moresby, then in Mt Hagen and finally retiring from Madang in
1974.
The family settled in Lennox Head where Stan became unofficial
chauffeur and handyman to all who needed his friendly and
unstinting assistance. His often irreverent and always
politically incorrect humour is legendary. While his family was
undoubtedly central to his life, his mates were also ‘mates for
life’.
A Memorial Service was held at Mullumbimby on 29 May where his
ashes were interred with Olive’s. Stan is survived by his sons,
Jim and Kim and their families, by his brother Patrick, sister
Mary and their families. Brian Davis
Marjorie Kathleen VIAL
(13 May 2004, aged 93 years)
Marjorie was the widow of Leigh Grant Vial DSC (US), a pre-War
kiap and later coastwatcher, whom she met when he was aged 14
and she 13. Born in Melbourne, Marjorie went on to obtain a BA
degree from Melbourne University, enjoying sport at university
as well as study. Leigh was selected as a cadet patrol officer
in 1933. After a strung-out engagement because a patrol officer
in the Mandated Territory had to wait for seniority to secure
married accommodation, they married at Salamaua in November
1936. Leigh returned to his post at Buki, south of Finschhafen,
with Marjorie but he was often away patrolling in the mountains.
Marjorie sometimes went with him on patrol. After postings to
Salamaua in 1937 and to Madang in 1938, during which Leigh
patrolled in the Chimbu and became the first European to climb
Mt Wilhelm, Leigh was appointed ADO Rabaul in 1940. Marjorie,
pregnant with her third child, was evacuated with her children
from Rabaul just ahead of the Japanese invasion in January 1942
and Leigh became a coastwatcher. He was killed on a supply drop
in April 1943 and Marjorie was faced with raising three children
as a war widow. She returned to teaching Latin and English at
Korowa Girls' School. Following retirement she travelled
extensively and was devoted to her grandchildren, her friends,
her garden and her little dog Pierre. "Courageous, loving,
gentle, wise and generous in all ways", her family summed up.
Marjorie is survived by her three children and five
grandchildren. David Skinner and Lindy Gilham
Index
John Andrew WALLIS (29 June 2004 aged 70 years)
John grew up in Newcastle NSW and then graduated from Hawkesbury
Agricultural College. In 1953 he joined the Dept of Agriculture,
Stock and Fisheries in PNG which he served for 29 years. His
postings included Samarai, Yangoru, Finschhafen, Kapogere and
Mendi where he was the Provincial Agricultural Officer for 13
years.
‘He approached his work in agriculture with a consuming passion
and gained the respect of many Papua New Guineans whose life he
touched in a very practical way by assisting them to improve
agricultural production – both in traditional subsistence
farming and in economic development by introducing the concept
of cash cropping of exotic crops. John was an expert in coffee
production but also was well versed in tea, cocoa and coconut
cultivation. Life in PNG was not all work and no play however:
John’s love of fun was legendary….and there are many who can
ruefully attest to that, not least of all Heather. It’s said
that ‘there’s one in every crowd’ – that ‘one’ was John Wallis!
He maintained contact with many of his PNG friends over the
years, for once John made a friend there was little he would not
do for them, and his friendships were made to last.’
He left PNG in 1982, returning to Nelson Bay on the coast from
Newcastle. There he qualified and joined the Port Stephens
Strata Management Organisation. He is survived by his wife
Heather and their children Sharne, Iain and Heidi.
Douglas P Franklin and extract from eulogy
Late notifications
received - details in next issue (December 2004) of Una
Voce:
-
Michael (Mick) GALLEN
- 17 August 2004 - late of Malanda, Qld.
-
Albert Ernest (Ernie)
WILKINSON - 13 August 2004, aged 101 years - late of
Collaroy, NSW.
-
Reginald Williams COLLINS
-13 July 2004 - late of Dalby, Qld.
-
Robert George STEWART,
aged 82 years – late of Westlake, Qld.
-
Robert (Bob) Leonard
PULSFORD - 22 July 2004, aged 88 years.
-
Douglas (Gray) WATKINS
- 26 July 2004, aged 78 yrs.
-
Index
