2014 promises to be an exciting year for the PNGAA.

Our Western Australia regional PNGAA group, coordinated with much energy by Murray Day, is going from strength to strength. The first PNGAA event this year will be a luncheon in Perth on Friday 11 April 2014. The PNG Consul-General in Sydney, who is responsible for Western Australia, will be attending, and I look forward to being there and meeting members and their friends too.

Our AGM and luncheon will now be held on 4 May 2014 at Killara Golf Club in Sydney. Memories of the wonderful 2013 Christmas lunch there, full of much joy and camaraderie, will, I am sure, ensure a good attendance.

We appreciated PNG High Commissioner to Australia, His Excellency Charles Lepani, attending with his wife, Kathy, and also the PNG Consul-General, Mr Sumasy Singin, and his wife, Mary. Their support and cooperation in being interviewed for the film Kiap: The Stories Behind the Medal being produced by PNGAA member Greg Harris was greatly appreciated, as is Greg’s own contribution.

On the note of the Kiap film we were also grateful to Bob Fayle and those interviewed for their support during the Kiap Reunion in November and the annual PNGAA lunch in December. We are also appreciative to those kiaps who have assisted by contributing to the costs of filming.

We continue to welcome donations! Please email our treasurer for a form or look on our website! The interviews were very successful, providing a valuable historical resource for the association. Now begins the long post-production process. We anticipate the DVD will be available in time for the PNGAA Symposium in September.

Much focus will be on the 2014 PNGAA Symposium scheduled for 17 and 18 September 2014 to be held at NSW Parliament House in Sydney with the assistance of PNGAA member, The Hon Charlie Lynn, MLC.

Many younger Australians have no idea of the long and close connections Australia has had with Papua New Guinea. Few Australians realise that the first Australians killed in WW1 were not killed at Gallipoli but on our doorstep. It was a small but significant battle at Bitapaka on 11 September 1914: a victory ahead of some terrible defeats.

On 17 September 2014, there will be a dinner in The Strangers Dining Room at NSW Parliament House in Sydney, followed by a one day Symposium on 18 September. Dr Jonathon Ritchie will be our Master of Ceremonies and letters have gone to both the Australian and Papua New Guinea Prime Ministers inviting them to be guest speakers at the dinner on 17 September.

It will be a full day on the 18th: we hope our Patron, Major-General Michael Jeffery, will speak at the Symposium. Other speakers will include those knowledgeable about Bitapaka, AE1 and the Pacific War. The Hon. Julie Bishop has also been approached and we intend to have other speakers providing a contemporary update.

The Symposium will be held in conjunction with the beginning of the Anzac Centenary, which marks 100 years since Australia’s involvement in the First World War and the anniversary of the centenary of the Australian conflict at Bitapaka, East New Britain Province, New Guinea, on 11 September 1914. This largely unknown event preceded Gallipoli by seven months.

The Battle of Bitapaka will be the first commemorative event of the ANZAC Centenary. Australian troops, the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (ANMEF), were landed to capture the wireless station at Bitapaka. Six Australians died. A further 35 Australians died when the submarine, AE1, disappeared off the coast of Rabaul on 14 September 1914.

The first conflict of WW1 at Rabaul, PNG, highlights:

• The first Australian action of WW1 and first decisive battle as a nation
• The first Australian casualties including six killed in action
• The first action under the full command of Australia
• The first combined operation: a seaborne invasion of army and navy called ANMEF
• Rabaul harbour was strategically important: there was a German fleet active in the Pacific threatening the sea lanes; Bitapaka had one of four high powered wireless stations in the Pacific communicating with its fleet
• Centenary of relationship between Australia and PNG

At this time New Guinea was controlled by three nations—the Dutch controlled western New Guinea, Papua was a territory of Australia and Germany controlled New Guinea on the northern half—so the act of German New Guinea being surrendered to Australia in 1914 meant the unification of Papua and New Guinea.

If you can help us spread the word about the Symposium it would greatly assist us. Please feel free to pass on the information to any associations, clubs, schools, tour companies—particularly any newsletters—anyone who might be interested! Information will be updated on the website as we progress or email: .

The PNGVR Ex Members Association, based in Queensland, will be holding an Anzac Centenary Celebration and Dedication Service at the PNGVR Military Museum, Wacol, in Brisbane between 10 am and 3.30 pm on 6 September 2014. All are welcome to attend. For further information check their website, www.pngvr.com, or contact John Holland on mobile 0449 504 058 or email .

Rabaul township is also preparing for the centenary on 11 September with a Dawn Service at the recently restored Rabaul Cenotaph, a Gunfire Breakfast at the Rabaul Yacht Club, a service at Bitapaka followed by a dusk service, hosted by the Rabaul District Administration, on the Rabaul foreshore at the Montevideo Maru/2/22nd Memorial. There will also be functions at the Ralum Club and the New Guinea Club. All are welcome. For further information please contact Susie Alexander at Rabaul Hotel, Email: .

On a final note, for those who listen to Macca on a Sunday Morning: the PNGAA had a good ‘wrap’ on 10 February!

Andrea Williams