September 2010

Scanning the Minutes of a meeting of my local Council—admittedly a pursuit largely confined to Grumpy Old Men with time on their hands—I learned that street names for a new suburb had been under consideration. Names of RAN warships derived from WW2 battle sites such as Tobruk, Balikpapan and Wewak had been put forward and these were approved with the exception of the latter. The 'suitability' of Wewak was to be investigated ...?

Experience told me that an approach to Council would be a wasted exercise so I wrote to the local paper pointing out that it was Wewak where Ted Kenna, who until last year was Australia's oldest living holder of the VC, had earned his decoration. Also that it was where the 13000 remnants of a huge Japanese Army had formally surrendered in 1945. Two signal events, so where lay a problem?

The day after publication a 79-year-old lady phoned me to enquire further. She said that her father had been one of the 3000 Diggers on parade at Cape Wom and that he had treasured the well-known photo of the Japanese general handing over his sword at the ceremony. "Dad said they made the Jap walk all the way up the airstrip" she chuckled "but as he was a bit of a 'hoppy' they gave him a ride back after he surrendered".

Next day she rang again to say that she had been giving the Mayor an ear-bashing and he had theorised that if the street sign was painted as HMAS Wewak no one should complain. "I am woman. Watch me show you how to run this country".

The late Ron Neville, MBE, kiap, parliamentarian and entrepreneur, would have been proud that Peter, one of his five sons, was also made MBE in this year's Birthday Honours. Peter has spent most of his life in PNG and has businesses in Milne Bay. When I last heard from Ron's widow, Colleen, she was to attend a gathering of some 25 members of the Neville clan at Alotau. To those of us who have read Colleen's book The Power of Love which gives an account of her married life, 23 years of which were spent in Mendi, and details the lengthy series of traumatic events afflicting herself and family this could have presented a problem. It certainly gave me pause. How could 25 Nevilles possibly congregate for a weekend together without suffering some broken legs, cars driven off cliffs, or at the very least setting fire to the premises. However Colleen assures me that everyone departed unscathed. Phew!

Like Ron, Graham Pople, once a kiap, then parliamentarian, now publican, "stayed on". He has produced a book of anecdotes from his half-century in PNG. It does mention Ron amongst well remembered kiaps who have since passed away but still lively members of the kiap fraternity such as John Pasquarelli and Patrick Dwyer may look forward with some interest to reading what Graham calls his Popleography. Whenever it is published any complaints should be sent to the Weigh Inn Hotel at Konedobu where Graham , now aged 75, is the affable Mine Host.

Jann King who was married in Madang by the DC, the late Des Clifton-Bassett, returned there recently. It had been a 39-year absence and an objective was to show her adult daughter where she was born. One result was disappointment at the upkeep of the town today (uncollected garbage and potholed roads) but Jann was amused to find a roadside stall which sold betel nut exactly where it had previously stood. However it now sported a sign "Recharge your phone here". PNG is moving forward?

The NT has a new Shire system which incorporates Aboriginal communities and these require well qualified CEOs. Lajamanu, once known as Hooker Creek, is on the edge of the Tanami desert 900 km from Darwin and with a population of 750 is not particularly attractive to local government high-flyers. Fortunately when such officials depart, sometimes suddenly, the NT government can call on a hardened kiap in Mike Press. He has just resumed his retirement in Darwin after a few months administering Lajamanu.