Stephen Swan

Hi. My wife Lee and I arrived in Bougainville from Rabaul in 1983 when I was posted there with Talair. Left in 1987. It has been a real buzz finding this site as, like so many others, we had the greatest time of our lives on the island. So many memories - the Bougainville Island Sub Aqua Club. Dive lessons with Jackie Shaw and Mike Crowe.

Would love to hear from any of our friends from those days. email stephen@swan.com.au

Bougainville's Coconut Revolution

This is just a preview. The full documentary can be viewed at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1192286025577999101.

This is a documentary about the fight of the people of Bougainville against New Guinea and imperialistic mining corporations that only want to exploit Bougainville and its people leaving the environment of the island totally devastated. This is the modern-day story of a native peoples' remarkable victory over Western Colonial power. A Pacific island rose up in arms against giant mining corporation Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ) - and won despite a military occupation and blockade. When RTZ decided to step up production at the Panguna Mine on the island of Bougainville, they got more than they bargained for. The island's people had enough of seeing their environment ruined and being treated as pawns by RTZ. RTZ refused to compensate them, so the people decided it was time to put an end to outside interference in the island's affairs. To do this they forcibly closed down the mine. The Papua New Guinea Army (PNGDF) were mobilised in an attempt to put down the rebellion. The newly formed Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) began the fight with bows & arrows, and sticks & stones. Against a heavily armed adversary they still managed to retain control of most of their island. Realising they were beaten on the ground, the PNGDF imposed a gunboat blockade around Bougainville, in an attempt to strangle the BRA into submission. But the blockade seemed to of had little or no effect. With no shipments getting in or out of the island, how did new electricity networks spring up in BRA held territory? How were BRA troops able to drive around the island without any source of petrol or diesel? What was happening within the blockade was an environmental and spiritual revolution. The ruins of the old Panguna mine where being recycled to supply the raw materials for the world's first eco-revolution.

And here is an ABC interview just days after the sudden death of Bougainville's President Joseph Kabui in June 2008: [click here].

"Walk into Paradise"

Walk Into Paradise is a fascinating film, perhaps more for its choice of location than its dramatic qualities. The location, of course, is the Australian-administered territories of Papua and New Guinea (before the country gained independence). The film indulges in some pro-colonial romanticism, in which Chips Rafferty shoulders the white man’s burden to bring civilisation to the savage heart of New Guinea which, says the introductory narration, is an island where 'today a gallant band of young Australian administrators are bringing civilisation to the most primitive people left on the face of the earth’.

The film was shot on location in several inhospitable locations, and it has some remarkable footage to show for it: Sepik River long canoes paddled exclusively by women, and a full-scale highlands sing-sing, with hundreds of warriors in traditional dress trampling down grass to make an airstrip. Much of the story mirrors incidents in the pioneering expeditions of the Leahy brothers, the first white men to reach the New Guinea highlands, in the early 1930s.

 

 

The DVD is sold by the Papua New Guinea Association of Australia
(the full-length movie is available for online viewing at archive.org)

Gerhard Heinemann

Hallo Peter,

Ich dachte mir da ist etwas deutsch im Namen Goerman, kein doppell n? Mit meinen deutsch hapert es etwas, ich bin in November 2003 genau 50 Jahre von Deutschland weg. Ich gebe Dir also etwas ueber Comtrade.

The firm does not exist anymore as the proprietor Dick France died quite a few years ago. We supplied tradesmen to BCL and quite a few other firms throughout PNG , Northern Australia and the South Pacific. I spent 3 years on Bougainville , had my family there for a while , two of my boys went to Bovo School. We did some house sitting , lived for quite some time at the hotel in Toniva and eventually rented a house on top of Kobuan Hill. From there we could watch the arrival of the supply ships , one was the Globe Trader, the other name escapes me, whose captains Hermann and Erich were great friends of ours.

This is just a short note for you by way of intro. I shall write in more detail with names of people I remember for the Bougainville Project.

In a letter under comments written by Denise Arnold mentioning a NZ girl and the great fun they had on the Island together. The girl is my daughter Cathy White nee' Heinemann. If you should have Denise's address could you pass it on please.

So, bis bald Peter, demnaecht kommt der Beitrag fuer die Bougainville Seite.

Gruesse, Kurt H. ambidrextwo@clear.net.nz

John Mason

A great site Peter.
Gives us all chance to ponder on how lucky we were to have been there, plus it should bring back a plethora of many very happy memories. I was with BCL at Loloho Maintenance from 1978. From memory John (Geo) Gretton was in charge at Loloho, also working there were Joe Gogot (carpentry), Dick Lukosec, Peter Maleckas (electrical), Steve Waller, Brian Smith (refrigeration)....... I went out fishing down by Cottesloe Beach on Smithy's boat just last week........... I got transferred to Coastal Operations for a while working under Joe Stevens still down at Loloho. (saw Joe at a Bougainville reunion albeit many years ago at Kings Park here in Perth........... not sure if they still have them?)
One of the plumbing apprentices at Loloho was Bernard Waketsi who had a huge future ahead of him as a pro rugby player, don't know if he made it or not ? Other locals who come to mind were Valentine, Camilus, Andrew Supin, Mathew Karabus, Paulus Iwokuko ............. hope they are all well and they made it through the troubles that were to follow. I left Bougainville in 1987 when I was fortunate enough to score a job with the nearby Solomon Islands Government based in Honiara, but with frequent travel to the outer islands.
I consider myself very lucky indeed to have spent 9-1/2 magic years on Bougainville followed by an equally fantastic 3-1/2 year spell in the Solomons. Unfortunately those good old days are seemingly long gone by now, the expatriate work-force is becoming a thing of the past. Don't hear too much re what is happening these days to our neighbours in the pacific region, hope everything works out for the best for them long-term.
We relocated back to Perth in 1990, Les Whitcombe from the Panguna tunnel project got me a job on a seismic vessel the MV Mag Creek based out of Darwen. From there I got a fly-in fly-out posting up in Singapore on the oil rigs which was great. I did a year at Edith Cowen Uni, I had a regular sports column in a couple of local newspapers, I wrote for British Football Weekly for several seasons, then I decided to give Real Estate a go. Best move I ever made. I've been with Prime Realty at Joondalup in Perth's northern suburbs for six years now.
Vilma and I have been married almost 20 years, Scotty is 18 (going on 30!), Sean is 17 and awaiting TEE results, Glen at 15 is still at school.
If any ex-Bougainville people in WA need any help re their Real Estate/Investment needs.............. sing out, I'll look after your best interests.
All the best to everyone, regards to all who remember us.
Maso & family

perry@tower.net.au

John Gretton

I was with BCL started at Loloho Maintenance under Norm Fielding and Bob Staines also a Phil Baker who died a few years ago in Bowen Qld, I reached Superintendent level at Loloho Maintenace and finished up the last 18 months as the Rectification Superintendent at Panguna Maintenance also did a stint at Arawa Maintenace. We keep in touch with many ex Bougainville people had Joe and Maureen Stevens stay with us over Xmas they are travelling around Ausie with a caravan was great to see them. After Bougainville I spent 5 years at Parraburdoo WA initially working for Spike Milligan at Hamersley iron Spike is an ex Bougainvillian as well. Yvonne and myself are recently grand parents for the first time with a baby granddaughter from my son Glenn and wife Fiona they live in Emerald Qld, we have just recently moved to Townsville and am working for Wmc Resources at Phosphate Hill Fly in Fly out something different.

Ivan Bell

I was in the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary on Bougainville from 1970 to November 1975. I met my wife (Anne Manning) on Bougainville. She was working as a Statistical typist for MKF at camp 5. We came to Aus and got married in January 1972. Both our kids were born on Bougainville. We returned to Bundaberg, my wife's home town, and lived there until 1994 when we moved to our present address at Jindalee one of Brisbane's Western suburbs.

I was at camp 5 for a start. We called it Nairovi back then, Later was known as Birempa. I then went down to Loloho for a while and then after we got married I was stationed at Arawa.

I have stacks of stuff on Bougainville, but half of it is on slides. Will have to put on a show one night and get the daughter to use their new fangled digital camera and capture them for the web site. Meanwhile I will dig out the other stuff and scan some of it and send it to you to put what you want on the web site.

Ralph Byles

Thanks for a great web site. We were on Bougainville from start 1980 to end 1986. Six wonderful years. I was in the Mining Division, first as Superintendent of production Control, the Drilling and Blasting Superintendent and finally Project Manager for the "Automatic Truck Dispatch System". Currently I am Business Manager for a private school in Adelaide.

Don and Llane Hadden

We lived in Panguna from 1976-1980. Don taught at Panguna International School when it was located opposite the police station. We returned to Bougainville in 1999 as volunteers, Don teaching at Arawa High School and Llane as nurse educator at Arawa Health Centre. We lived in Arawa in Section 15 until June 2002.
Update received in August 2008: We are now living in the Northern Territory at Finke (Aputula). Haven't lived in NZ for 9 years. Finke is 200 odd kms as the crow flies, south of Alice Springs and is an Aboriginal Community. Llane is a Remote Area Nurse and so we have lived in a number of Aboriginal Communities around Australia. I retired from teaching when we left Bougainville in mid 2002 and I now work full time as a Wildlife Photographer and Writer and from time to time work as a Guest Lecturer on luxury cruise ships that travel the Kimberley coast from Darwin to Broome. I have a couple of cruises coming up at the end of next week. If they want to pay a Kiwi to tell Australians about Australian birds that's OK by me.

Bob Hamilton

It appears now that everything can be found on the Internet. On a lark, I decided to search with "google" for "Bougainville Copper" and I found your site. I worked in the Bechtel Electrical Engineering Group for Jim Gillin up at the mine site. I mostly worked in the Concentrator. The group was headed up by John Boland. I recall also working with Chris Sinka. The instrument group included Chuck Laferney and John Moller. I also remember Jim and Wendy Murren. Although it was April through December 1971 that I worked there, it does not seem so long ago. The work was good and fast paced. I recall many Sundays when we went down to the beach and snorkelled around, had a few South Pacific Lagers and then went back up the hill. I usually had a short nap on Sunday afternoons as we were on 60 hour work schedules Mon-Sat. I lived for a short time at Camp 3 then over to the dormitory type housing down from the family housing. There I shared a room with a guy named Bob Nelson and I remember his small refrigerator which he kept filled with good Australian Beer which he always shared. Since leaving and returning to the US, I have come across several of those that were at Bougainville. There were the two Australians, Allan Fitzpatrick and Lindsay Boyd who turned up on a startup team in Northern Minnesota where I was working on a Taconite Plant. That job was headed up by Glen Fuson who also had been at Bougainville. About 20 years later, I was at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond, CA building a Cogeneration Powere Plant. We were looking at subcontracting a short 115 kV transmission line and across the table was a guy named Alex Takahashi. We both thought we had met before and it turned out it was at Bougainville where he had been at the port site. Small world and it is amazing when people turn up after long times. At this time, I am working again at Chevron Richmond in their Electrical Engineering Group. I enjoyed the pictures posted on your site. I may have some slides somewhere, but I do not have an easy way to convert to digital. I have not viewed the slides in many years and wonder if they are still OK. I am considering a scanner so perhaps if I get to it and you are still wanting input, I may send some contributions.

I recalled some more names. There was Lyle Cantwell with Bechtel at the mine and I recall a fellow name Kevin Torpy with FMIC-ODG (Fischbach Moore -- O'Donnell Griffin) the Electrical Contractor. Two Electrical Superintendents with Bechtel were Artie Lookingbill and Carl Poglagen. There was also Tom Robles. I also remember a New Zealander, Peter ? his surname still escapes me. I recall Bob Vernon and a Russian named Alex Shasnev (SP?) at the port site. It is interesting how the brain starts to link these memories once it gets going.