Tracing family and friends

Go to www.naa.gov.au

 

The National Archives of Australia keep all public records and, as determined by the Public Records Act 1967, make them available to the public under what used to be the 50-year rule but now seems to be the 30-year rule.

At present, all those Incoming Passenger cards that visitors and returning residents completed when they entered Australia from 1898 to 1972 are now available to the public. If you or someone you are trying to trace arrived in Australia during that period, you are likely to find their immigration record under "Passenger arrivals":

 

Go to www.naa.gov.au Then "Explore the Collection", then "RecordSearch" In the new window, click on "Passenger arrivals" Type in the "Family name" and hit "Search" Having found the right person, click on "Digital copy"   It is sometimes better to try and find someone by simply typing in the "Family Name" and then scrolling through the displayed listing. For example, trying to find someone known to you as John Finch by typing in "Finch" and "John" will not find him if the Archives recorded him under his full name John Charles Paton Finch. If the displayed listing is very long, change the display window from the default setting of 20 records to 100 or 150 or even 200, and click through it, one page at a time.

 

What a great way to spend a rainy afternoon finding your own or some old friend's arrival card as they came to Australia, either by ship or by air, from Papua New Guinea or elsewhere.

Here's my own card when I first arrived in Australia in 1965:

And the next one after I had returned from a trip to the (c)old country:

And there would be countless more but I will have to wait for them until the National Archives release them to the public.

Why not build up your own story? Don't wait for a rainy afternoon!

 

 

Who hasn't watched the movie "Walk into Paradise"?

If YouTube havde (again) removed the movie, click here instead
To buy your own copy, click here

 

It starred Chips Rafferty, but did you know that one of the supporting actors, Fred Kaad, had been a real District Commissioner in Papua New Guinea? This tribute reads like something out of "Boy's Own":

 

Click on images to enlarge

 

By the way, while the full-length feature film "Walk into Paradise" is on YouTube now, it may not last, so why not buy yourself your own copy on DVD? At $15 it's the cheapest PNG-souvenir you can buy!

Click here.

 

Here's to you, Bill Brown

 

"Hi Peter

I was wandering through your blog this morning and I noticed the caption on pic 3, page 5 has a minor booboo that you might wish to amend, viz. "The Royal Yacht in Kieta Harbour in March 1971 with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh aboard". The Queen did not visit Bougainville in 1971; the Duke of Edinburgh came on his own.

Also the caption for pic 2 on page 10 might be suspect. Perhaps "Catres Island, somewhere north of Buka, near Nissan Island" is a reference to the Carterets.

I have attached a couple of photos of Philip at Panguna on Thursday, 18 March 1971.

I really enjoy your blog.

Best Wishes
Bill Brown"

 

 

Bill Brown MBE, now 92, was a kiap in Papua New Guinea. In 1969 he was appointed District Commissioner for the CRA project area and was given responsibility for the entire Bougainville District in 1971.

While Bill and I have never met, after several email exchanges a certain image emerged in my mind which I had trouble to put into words. I've just found them after reading about him in another blog: "Where there is precision, there is always Bill Brown". Precisely!!! :-)

His blogs at https://www.pngattitude.com/a-kiaps-chronicle.html make for compelling - and precise - reading.

Email received from Kay Harbert: "I was browsing your site last night and came across the May 2022 post 'Here’s to you Bill Brown'. Our family was living on Bougainville Island at the time of Prince Philip’s visit in 1971. My father, Keith Widt, took quite a few pics that day and we were all very excited as Prince Philip spoke to my mother, Marion; however, Dad did not have a photograph of that moment. You can hardly imagine my joy last night, when scrolling through Bill Brown’s photographs of that visit, and I saw a photograph of Prince Philip talking to my mother!!! My younger sister Helen is also in the photograph. My sister and I vividly remember our three years living in the jungle and our favourite place on earth is Loloho Beach. Dad would take us swimming there when he came home from work. Dad worked on Bougainville from about 1969 to 1977. Returned to Bundaberg for a year, then began working in Indonesia in 1978. He finally returned to Australia about 2004. Sadly, both Dad and Mum have passed away. "

All photos courtesy of Bill Brown

 

Freeport Indonesia - a worthy successor to Bougainville Copper

 

At 14,000 feet, in the remote jungles of New Guinea is the largest gold and copper deposit in the world. Getting to that deposit and building a profitable mine was one of the biggest engineering challenges ever. In 1975 an American mining company took up the challenge and using the most sophisticated technology available, conquered the jungle and built the Grasberg Mine!