I've got the BCL Blues ...

 

Hi. I was on Bougainville with BCL in 1986-87....and loved it. The BCL Blues was written to capture and celebrate as much of that experience as possible. Kent Quigley brought recording gear down to the Yacht Club on August 28th 1987 and we recorded it. Here is that recording, set to a selection of Bougainville pics that hopefully captures the atmosphere and feelings of the time.

 

A short and shaky blast from the past ...
a drive to Kieta Sailing and Cruising Club...1986.

 

Alan Smith
smiffs.as@gmail.com

Carmen Letton emailed:

Hi there,

I was trying to look up someone from PNG to see if there is any internet news of them and accidentally came across your website. It was great to read some of the stories and to look at the photos.

I lived and worked at the Lihir Gold Mine for six years (2000-2005 inc.) where I was the Chief Engineer in the Mine. During my time in PNG I worked with many people who had spent time at Bouganville, all having wonderful memories of the time and the place. Many of the Papua New Guineans that I worked with in the mine were trained and gained their experience with/at BCL and they were an amazing team of workers with diverse and very high levels of skills/competence.

Some of the people that I knew and worked with are Ian and Jenny White, Colin Vale, Thomas Tomputu, Steve Beno (Tom and Steve worked in the mine as operator Supervisors and they are the best that there were) and there are many others who tell stories of the wonderful place it was but equally they tell of the horror of the uprising and the emergency evacuation from Bouganville when “the crisis” hit.

Thomas Tomputu brought me some photos of the mine as it is today, in about 2004, and I was amazed to see that the haul roads are still in near-perfect condition and the pit still looks great (no collapse or failures anywhere to be seen). All of the facilities and equipment are burnt, salvaged or just “gone into the ground” but there is still evidence of the magnificent place it once was. Thomas lives in a village at the top of where the pit is, so I asked him if I could go on field break with him and get him to take me to have a look. He said….”NO WAY, you are a mining engineer. They will shoot you”. The wounds are still raw. I would love to be part of a team that goes back in there to have another go at Bougainville. There are some wonderful examples of how to successfully integrate mining into a local traditional community in a sustainable fashion. (Lihir Gold Mine and the Anitua Story is one of those where local landowners, under the tutorship of Colin Vale (Ex-Bougainville), have made an enormous success of the opportunities afforded out of mining.)

Once again, lovely to read your stories. I too loved my time in PNG and would go back there to live permanently if I could but with kids in high school and plenty happening here at home in Brisbane, my place is here for the time being.

Bye for now.

Carmen Letton
T: + 61 7 32061496
M: +61 437 795 876
E: CarmenLetton@bigpond.com

Annette Embery emailed from Canada:

When we left Bougainville after twenty plus years in Panguna,we decided to settle in Canada and purchased a very busy,17 unit motel on a large lake in Rocky Mountain country, British Columbia.

One daughter, Caroline and her husband, Terry now manage Kaslo Motel and thus Bougainville Lodge was created,a log home in the woods overlooking Kootenay Lake,a tranquil B&B where wantoks are especially welcome.

Check out both places on the website www.kaslomotel.ca for the motel and for Bougainville Lodge,
www.kaslomotel.ca/bougainville

Lukim yupela behain,
Annette Embery

Michele Sare emailed from Montana:

Hi - thanks for your website! My brother and I snorkeled most days, watched Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid sitting on a fallen coconut tree - in the rain - because the projectionist wanted to see it too in what had been a coconut plantation. We lived in Arawa in '71-2 - just a string of houses. My dad, Del Sare, was a construction boss w/ Bechtel. He arrived in '69 over a year ahead of our family. I remember the squishy crunching of all the frogs on the roads at night under the tires of the little blue Toyota truck. The commissary grew from a small shop to a large metal bldg., the hospital w/ purple doors was completed, but empty for lack of medical personnel, a tennis court sat next to the fuselage of a B52,Tony Dianamighty (I have no idea if that was his real name) - a dynamite expert working on the road to Kieta - taught Mike & I how to eat spaghetti 'properly', there was a couple next to us form England - he had been an organist at Westminster, I worked for Les Cosh - the dentist across the 'street' and down 2 houses from us - making amalgam with too much mercury (I thought it stuck together better...sorry if I poisoned any of you), and the only other folks I recall were the Bowlings and a young Aussie couple w/ 2 adorable little kids. We went to Arovo Island - what a great adventure! I fell against the boat's exhaust pipe - 3rd degree burns - so skin grafts in Towoomba when I went there for my senior yr. of high school. I remember Joe Tac Long's store in Kieta, a small clinic that sat up on the hill - above Joe's - with a screen door to their little surgery, and when the big new Kieta grocery went in...lobster for $5 USD and Cowuna (sp.??) who cut our grass w/ a machete. There had been a 'jungle' market just past our houses where we would get the best ever oranges with green peel and little banana leaf packets of roasted nuts of some sort. One week my dad's crew had no jobs lined-up, so he had them build a palm drive beginning and ending nowhere - just outside of what was the 'town' of Arawa. I have fond memories of when the first Euclids arrived - dad was so excited - my brother and I went with him to see the new earth movers w/ the mammoth tires. Those pioneers are gone...my dad, Del Sare, passed away in 2005...he had built dams in Afghanistan, roads and ports in Borneo, Peru, Venezuela, Greenland and Saudi Arabia...our home movies and our family's friends were of a breed of adventurous men and women who took on tremendous challenge and hardship - and gave people like me a magnificent life...and as w/ so many, Bougainvillitis is indeed a welcome affliction! Thanks for for the place to remember...
Michele Sare..Montana
sare.michele@gmail.com
http://nursesfornursesinternational.com

John Esling emailed:

Hi Peter,
I’m trying to locate a few of the old faces from Bougainville 1968. I’ve seen some of the photos on your site, but they don’t reproduce all that well. I am trying to locate anyone who may remember and have taken any pics of the concert we put on at the Pan Flat Canteen for Miss PNG 1968. We made up a troupe of cancan dancers under the guidance of one of the wives, to whom my boys referred as ‘raba susu’ because of her padded bra!! She was a relatively petite blond school teacher, married either to the HR officer or one of the accounting staff – but can’t remember any names.
I have finally found Barry Rees, a best mate of mine at the time, and he has sent me a few slides which I will be digitizing shortly.
Cheers for now,

John Esling - 1968 Assistant Surveyor to Gunther Froemel
johnesling@clear.net.nz

Wendy Rigney emailed:

Gary Rigney at centre of photograph; next to him in blue shirt Kerry Bond

 

I would like to have my father's name listed. He was Gary Rigney, and he was the workshop manager for CCS & SHRM, responsible for all of the maintenance of the transport fleet and catering operations. I am his daughter Wendy, email wendyrigney59[AT]gmail.com.

We came home to Melbourne in 1976. Dad worked on Bougainville from 1970 -1977 (?) He unfortunately passed away in 1989, aged 50. He was a friendly person and would help anyone who needed it; he was also a gentleman who unfortunately died too young. Any memories you have of dad, I would love to hear them anytime.

He enjoyed photography and had his own dark room in Panguna and developed his own photos. He won the top prize at an exhibition with this photo of a little Bougainville girl, Louisa Kariko, cuddling with my sister Karen.

 

Karen Rigney and Louisa Kariko

 

Karen and l went over to Port Moresby in 2011 and stayed in Louisa's village of Hanuabada for ten days. It was a fantastic time and they are very poor but the way they group together as family and help each other is amazing. They couldn't do enough for us, looking after us and of course laugh at us at times because there were rats the size of cats, but according to them they are pets, we were living in houses in the ocean; sounds like a resort l know but far from it! They don't even have a rubbish removal truck; the rubbish goes in the ocean. It's terrible the way they have to live.

The wooden bridge you walked on had so many holes and broken pieces that l was sure l was going to fall into the water but they showed us where to step. All l wanted to do was go and buy some wood to fix this bridge so that they could walk on it with safety. Louisa's house happened to be the last house which was at least 1km out on the water, l think it took me 15 minutes or more to get there, but looking back now l would do it all again. We will always stay in contact with them, they are part of our family!

 

Phil Billerwell emailed:

Hi,

I had forwarded to me yesterday, a copy of an email to you advising that I was the first Manager of Arovo Island.

I was in fact the assistant Manager of the Gateway in Moresby at the time and I went to Arovo for a short period as relief Manager in 1972.

In the photo on 'Arovo Island' on your website, I only recognise one person. The person on the (miss Legs) and the man sitting at the bar COULD BE? Tony and Romley Uren, who at that time were the Managers of the Davara in Kieta. Not sure about this though.

I had a friend who worked at Panguna, a Richard Russell, now deceased....I don't know what years he was there, but later he got a job flying in PNG, and in about 1984/5 he was flying BN2s had a fatal crash somewhere in the Highlands.

I don't think I can help with anything else, but please feel free to contact me if you think I can.

Best Regards
Phil Billerwell
pbillerwell@gmail.com

P.S. I think there is a bit missing from this email.......my apologies....don't know how it got deleted.....
The only face I know is the Person standing on the right side of the bar and it is Wally Smith. Wally was the first manager of Arovo and this would have been in 1971/2 when they were still doing some development of the resort.

Maurie Thwaite emailed:

Seen you site

Just to let you know , i worked in Bougainville from late 1971 to 1974 employed by Hastings Deering , now live in Darwin

Maurie Thwaite
mauriet1@bigpond.net.au

Werner Seifert emailed:

Hi Peter, habe schon bemerkt, das Du nicht daheim warst. Bei mir war vor kurzem Alf Bird aus Townsville, zusammen mit seiner Frau auf Besuch. Leider nur zwei Tage, aber wir haben uns alte Dias angeschaut und in vergangenen Tagen auf Bougo geschwelgt. Ohne Deine Site hätte er mich nicht gefunden und wir haben Dir mehrmals in Deiner Abwesenheit dafüt gedankt. Keep it up Peter.

Cheers Werner Seifert
waseifert@web.de

Paul Hoskins emailed:

Hi Peter,

My name is Paul Hoskins & my Hash Name / Alias was 'Silver' A lot of the later people from 89 onwards never knew my real name.

I arrived on Bougainville on 07/09/79 and worked in 3 separate areas

Sept 79 to June 82
I worked in the Pit Lube Bay as the Oil Analysis Foreman reporting to Harry Rehtla.

July 82 to Jan 84
I worked with Mahuta Kariko in a 2 person Security Task force responsible for the coordination of security improvements to BCL's Housing facilities and Security system, coordinated between BCL Security, the North Solomon's Provincial Government and the Papua New Guinea Police Force. This was the result of an incident to a Power Station worker's wife. Mahuta and I reported directly to Vic McCartin (GM Commercial). I was nicknamed the Sheriff of Arawa.

Jan 84 to nov 84
I worked as a Systems & Procedures Officer, responsible for the design and implementation of the computerised Towns' Administration & Maintenance System for BCL's Towns' Department. The Towns Dept was created as a direct result of the Security Task force implementation and I reported to the Manager Mike Smith (ret Lt. Colonel & previous BCL Supply Dept Mgr).

I left the island in 84 and commenced working in the BCL Brisbane Office reporting to Owen Sykes assisting in the development & implementation of BCL Computing systems.
Between Feb 87 to Sept 89 I went back to Bougainville 10 times, implementing
computer systems.

My last visit back was September 89 and I was dubbed "The Supreme Optimist" as I was going back to assist Willy Streeter compile the IT Department's 5 Year Plan. Landing at Aropa there was a battle going on at Aropa Plantation and Horst (Allman) can down in the chopper and took me up to Panguna.

After 3 weeks myself, Geoff Bruce (ex BCL Auditor, deceased), Brian Bennett and others were evacuated from Arawa in a PMV to the Wakunai grass airstrip and flown to Port Moresby in a chartered Dash 7. We overnighted in Moresby and dined with Bob Cornelius, related to him our thoughts of the current Bougainville situation, and flew back to Brisbane.

In viewing your website I saw the names of many friends from the past. In January 1990 I went to Jakarta and joined KPC, along with many of the names in your honour roll.

Regards
Paul Hoskins
paulhoskins1@bigpond.com