March 2014

Members currently resident in the Top End have dwindled to 8.* Gone are the days when nearly 40 wantoks formed a club and affiliated itself to Darwin’s Ski Club. That gave us drinking rights in a fairly primitive hut but pleasant beer garden right on the beach. It was all very reminiscent of socialising scenes on mid-century TPNG stations.

Mike Press (kiap) has been on the loose in Cambodia, Korea and Japan presumably spending pocket money received from the Electoral Commission last September for acting as Returning Officer in rural Katherine (very familiar to him from his time with Aboriginal Affairs). He insists no votes went ‘missing’ in his district.

Pat DwerR (kiap and Co-ops officer) visited Darwin once when his daughter Theresa lived here and I recently returned the favour with a flight to Perth. It had been 4 years since the feet of my wife and I had left terra firma and I sensibly installed the Bundi bride in a hotel within spitting distance of David Jones and Myers. “Retail therapy” they call it these days. Pat, who I first met 55 years ago at Mendi, where he then seemed an unlikely candidate to become grandfather to 9 children, was in good form and polishing his POSM presented at Canberra mid-year. Pat’s wife, the former Margaret McKenna, ASOPA chalkie (1962-63), and totally ignoring the passing years, was still teaching and looking marvellous.

Another Perth lady, Margaret Clancy, teacher and the well-remembered kiap’s widow, once visited Darwin at the time Des was Regional Administrator (Super-DC ?) for the WA Govt at Kununurra. Like her namesake above-mentioned she has not lapsed into retirement mode and is still creating text books for junior readers which are being marketed in 13 languages.

Another member now officially retired, Ed Brumby, Education Dept, who shared his post-PNG life between tedious driving from Melbourne to Geelong for work at Deakin University and then rather more comfortable (front end of the plane) flying back and forth to China when he headed the ANZ Institute of Insurance and Finance came north to join ASOPA contemporaries (1964-65) for a Darwin reunion. It was great to meet a contributor to all the intellectual discourse at the Bottom Pub once again.

In a previous issue I mentioned spotting the licence plate ’ROKROK’ on a car and identifying the owner. Recently at Woollies’ car park I observed another Pidgin plate.   ‘KAKARUK’. Wusat istap? I shall find out.

* In fact, the PNGAA membership database shows that there are 16 members in the Territory.