John Hewitt from Sheffield in the U.K. who had emailed me some time ago - click here - was kind enough to mail me a CD full of old photos and clippings which I am right now downsizing a bit to facilitate easier viewing on this blog. Here is the first crop (but there are more to come!)
Stumbled on your great website, thanks for your effort setting it up. It was like stepping into a time machine reading through it. I was at Loloho from Jan 76 to Jan 77, just one year but it had an influence on the rest of my life, great memories.
I worked on electrical & instrument maintenance of the copper concentrator & ship loading section. I didn’t get far after leaving there, I spent a few years in Singapore, then Lhokseumawe Indonesia, then Kuala Terengganu Malaysia. Then drifted around Africa; Zambia, Skikda & Secunda. I have now lived in Rawai Phuket Thailand for the last 34 years with my wife Sunee, maybe because it’s similar to Bougainville, hot, jungle & lots of coconut trees.
Names I remember from Loloho are Kevin Lynch, Ralph Burger, Peter Jones, Luigi & Stuart Sherratt. I travelled with Stuart Sherratt from London when we first went to work there; we went on safari in Peters land cruiser & did the volcano trip. Stuart’s daughter Catherine made an entry to your site - click here - ; she was born in Bougainville & also has happy memories.
I’ve got a stash of photo’s of Bougainville back in Wales, next time I’m there I’ll send them off to you, they might be a good addition to the website.
Love to hear from anyone who remembers me.
Chok dee.
Roger Arnold.
Roger.sunee[AT]gmail.com
The Papua New Guinea Government wants to buy Rio Tinto's shares in the Australian company Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL), according to Bougainville's President.
Such a move would be "completely unacceptable" to Bougainvilleans and would be "potentially a source of conflict", according to a series of leaked letters obtained by the ABC.
BCL once operated the Panguna mine, which sparked a decade-long civil war in 1989 and remains a source of tension between the autonomous island of Bougainville and the PNG mainland.
Rio Tinto holds 53 per cent of shares in BCL and the company still holds an exploration licence for the now-derelict mine area.
The ABC has obtained correspondence between the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) President, the PNG Government and Rio Tinto regarding BCL's future.
"I refer to the Monday 8 December discussion in Kokopo with you [PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill], and other ministers concerning proposals for National Government to purchase Rio Tinto's equity in BCL," Bougainville President John Momis wrote to Mr O'Neill, two days after the meeting.
"You emphasised a need for urgent purchase for fear Rio Tinto might otherwise sell the equity to some other entity."
He also voiced concerns in a separate letter to Rio Tinto's managing director Sam Walsh.
"[PNG State Enterprises] Minister Ben Micah has advised that following a series of meetings with Rio Tinto, PNG wishes to purchase Rio's equity in BCL and is seeking ABG agreement," Dr Momis wrote on December 4.
It is no secret the mining giant is considering its options, launching a review of its stake in BCL in mid-2014.
On December 10, Rio Tinto's chief development officer Craig Kinnell assured Dr Momis that no deal had been done.
"The review has not reached any final conclusions, but as you would expect Rio Tinto has engaged further with interested parties since we met earlier this year," Mr Kinnell wrote to Dr Momis.
The PNG Government said its main priority was to rebuild Bougainville's broken infrastructure and deliver services, but confirmed it was involved in talks about a sell-off.
"There has been some discussion between the ABG, the National Government and Rio Tinto about the possible divestment of Rio Tinto's interest in Bougainville," Mr O'Neill told the ABC.
"But again this is a decision on which the land owners and the people of Bougainville will have to guide the National Government.
"We have no interest in owning the mine or reopening the mine."
Dr Momis has warned Mr O'Neill of the possible consequences of a deal that was perceived to favour the mainland.
"Given the tortured history of the Panguna mine it would be completely unacceptable to virtually all Bougainvilleans if that 53 per cent equity were to be transferred to the National Government," he said in a letter to Mr O'Neill.
"It would be political suicide for the ABG, and potentially a source of conflict, if the ABG were to agree to the National Government becoming the majority shareholder in BCL."
The suggestion of conflict is a serious one, considering the large number of weapons still on the island and the highly factionalised population.
The once-lucrative open cut mine has been abandoned for more than two decades and will need an estimated $8 billion to $10 billion investment to restart operations.
Some commentators, including Matt Morris, an associate with the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre, have questioned PNG Government's interest in Panguna, given the nation's current financial state and its poor track record managing other mines.
"I think the main questions are why does the Government want to buy the mine, what is the value added that the PNG Government would bring to a shareholding in BCL and thirdly what would be the political implications?" Mr Morris told the ABC.
"The last year has been a pretty awful year for the PNG Government's finances with the collapse of the commodity prices and that's led to rising debt levels and the PNG Government's had to cut back on expenditure for things like health and education and infrastructure.
"So it's not really clear how the Government would go about finding the funds to purchase the company or where it would find or borrow the billions of dollars that would be required to reopen the Panguna mine."
In addition to operational costs, any restart at Panguna would have to deal with demands for compensation from locals and expectations of an environmental clean-up around the mine site.
But the potential revenue it could bring is central to Bougainville's political future.
As part of the peace agreement that ended the civil war in 2001, Bougainville will hold a referendum on independence from PNG some time in the next five years.
Dr Momis told Bougainville's Parliament in December that "real autonomy" would only come when the island became financially stable and that would probably mean a large-scale mining project.
"If Rio's decision is to divest itself of the equity then the ABG's considered view is that it is most unlikely that any potential responsible developer will be able to find the $US6 billion to $US7 billion needed to reopen the mine," he said.
"It is therefore most unlikely the mine will reopen in the foreseeable future."
I have about 100 photos of our time on Bougainville, which you may be interested in seeing and/or putting on your Bougainville website.
They include some aerial shots I took when I flew down into the bush to pick up Paul Scott from one if his school inspection visits. You may remember Paul, he was the Headmaster at Tupukas Primary School School and then went on to be the schools inspector for Bougainville and some of the islands. His wife Anne was also a teacher at the Arawa Primary school. Paul, Anne and their children were our next-door neighbours in Arawa, and we are still in touch.
The photos include some decent shots of the Queen's visit accompanying Princess Anne and her 1st husband on their honeymoon, along with Prince Philip and Earl Mountbatten. We were lucky enough to get seats in the grandstand and watched the SingSing. There are some of the mine etc as well.
The photos are taken from slides and are too big to send more than 2 or 3 per email, so I wondered if you would like me to put them on CDs and post them? If so please let me have your postal address and I'll get on to it.
Kind regards
John Hewitt
Ex Maintenance Controller (Crushing) 1973/74.
Sheffield
England.
Footnote from the Webmaster: Yes, please, John, mail your CDs to my address at PO Box 233, Batemans Bay, N.S.W. 2536, Australia as I would be very happy to add those photos to the website. ... and here they are!
The world has never seen an in-flight magazine quite like it. Seat pockets were empty after every flight and AIR NIUGINI could not meet the written requests for back copies from those who had seen and heard about it.
So, they put together the handsome hard cover volume "Best of Paradise" comprising what they thought were the top stories from the first two years of publication. It sold like a bestseller and soon a second volume, "Paradise Plus", was published.
I have a copy of both and whenever I feel a bit "homesick" for New Guinea, I page through them and look at the pictures and read the stories. If you are lucky, you may be able to find a preloved copy on ebay.com.
We have outsourced this year's Christmas Greetings to keep costs down.
To all those ex-Bougies who are still hanging out in Kalimantan "Selamat Hari Natal dan Tahun Baru"; to all our friends in Papua New Guinea "Hepi Krismas na Hepi Niu Yia"; to everyone else a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Christmas Party on Loloho Beach more than 40 years ago:
Please take some time out from all the merry-making and reflect on the many things you can be grateful for! And ponder again the age-old question,
"Why is a Christmas tree better than a man?"
Here at last is the answer:
Your webmaster
Peter Goerman
And here's one for all you hopeless romantics out there to get you into the Christmas spirit of things:
A couple were Christmas shopping. The shopping centre was packed, and as the wife walked through one of the malls she was surprised when she looked around to find that her husband was nowhere to be seen. She was quite upset because they had a lot to do and she became so worried that she called him on her mobile phone to ask him where he was.
In a quiet voice he said, "Do you remember the jewellers we went into about five years ago where you fell in love with that diamond necklace that we couldn't afford, and I told you that I would get it for you one day?"
The wife choked up and started to cry and said, "Yes, I do remember that shop."
He replied, "Well, I'm in the pub next door."
What an amazing site. I have got goose bumps. I worked for M.K.F @ Camp 5 1969/70 as a welder fitter, just a mere callow youth of 21.
Looking forward to your reply.
Kind Regards
Paul Wilcock
email barbarawilcock[AT]yahoo.com.au
I've just come across this blog. As the Project Manager for EGLO Engineering, I was responsible for the underground piping and mechanical installations (Jan 1971 to mid 1972) at the Panguna mine site.
Marianne, my wife, and I have fond memories of the project that determined my career in the engineering & construction, and naval (submarine) shipbuilding industry.
I’ll jot down some of the memorable Bougainville episodes over Christmas.
Regards,
Hans Ohff
email hans-j.ohff[AT]adelaide.edu.au
Peter,
I have had a look at your Bougainville website a couple of times now; well laid out, well done.
Could you please add my name to the “Honour Roll”? I worked for Hastings Deering 1969/1970 and ran the parts sales counter.
Originally our facility was part of the Morrison-Knudsen workshop/office complex at Camp 5 - incredibly cramped & untidy.
We later built a large warehouse further down the road on the way to Loloho where we lived. From memory ours was the first building at that site. Morgan Equipment & I think Goodyear or a tyre facility followed soon after.
All the best
Alan Lymbery
10 Eyre St. Lake Albert.
Wagga Wagga, N.S.W.
Australia. 2650.
Tel. Home : 61-2-69264192.
Mobile :61- 0412 380339.
or 61-0450 389737
Skype: lymbery001
email lymbery001[AT]bigpond.com
PS. I see on your property-for-sale ad - click here - that you intended to spend some time in Kalimantan. Did you make it? I spent 27 years in Indonesia. I have been from Aceh to Timor and most places in between; some islands were not even on the map. I have been all over Borneo, lived in Balikpapan a few times where I was married and my daughter was born there. Lots of memories.