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

Carol Allen emailed:

Hi, My name is carol allen and my husband is jerry allen, he was the manager of the tire facility and I was the bougainville copper photographer we were on the island from 1974 to 1981 and loved every minute ofthat time, we have never lived anywhere where the comraderiie wqas so great and we miss everyone and the island, weare now retired and have moved back home after several years in the dominican republic and two more in Florida and two in bangkok thailand all wonderful places but not like bougainville. a fond hello to all we knew and all who knew us. I am a rel novice on the computer and have been unable to post anything on your sit so will you post this for me. email is carolallen560@gmail .com. thanks, carol

Bill Loughlin emailed from New Guinea:

Hello



Bill. Loughlin here I was in Bougainville from 1979 to 1984 with my wife Pamela, our last child was born in Arawa hospital. We still regard our four years on Bougainville as some of the best years of our life.

I worked in several sections of BCL starting off in the mine workshop then down to the power station and finishing of in the crushing department. In Bougainville we enjoyed a very special social life with great parties, great fishing, great surfing, great boating with the kids and most of all great friends. Pam also had a very special time with her friends from the church.

At the moment I’m working in Oktedi and enjoying my job here, I get do some exciting and dangerous work and again enjoying the much slower social life to what we had in Bougainville. I’ve been visiting other parts of PNG surfing with my son and I’m a very keen photographer & love photographing the people the landscape.

Some of the x Bougainville people might remember me as the Boomtown Rat yes I was a young party lad over there but now slowed down heaps, age yes it catches up with all of us. Pam and myself have three wonderful grandson and we live on the NSW Central coast just north of Sydney

Well to everyone who’s spent time on Bougainville all I can say is what a very special place, special people and I’m planning to get back there in 2012 for a visit.



Kind Regards
Bill. Loughlin
Team Leader Engineering & Construction Mill, Mine
Ok Tedi Mining Limited
PO Box 1, Tabubil, Western Province
Papua New Guinea
( +675 649 3578

Ê +675 649 3916
* bill.loughlin@oktedi.com

New guesthouse at Sohano

Urs Christen's son Ralph is building a guest house on Sohano island in the Buka passage (Bougainville). Ralph also has a bakery which bakes between 1200-2000 loaves of bread a day.

Peter Trattner who stayed there right through the crisis is also working for Ralph. Peter used to be the mechanical foreman for Arawa town council and is married in Buka.

Freddie has just come back from there and has taken the photos shown below. The people in the boat are Freddie and his wife Elizabeth and the guy facing the camera is Peter Trattner!

If you want more information on this new guesthouse or want to book into it to dream your "Bougainville Dreams", email Ralph at Sohano on

ralphychristen@gmail.com

Bougainville on SBS

 

Hello

I'm the Online Producer for the Dateline current affairs program on SBS TV in Australia. We've just run a story on the Panguna mine in Bougainville, and new claims over Rio Tinto's involvement in the war.

I know it's a subject you're interested in, so I thought you might be interested in seeing it. You can watch it on our website.

We're keen for as many people to see the story as possible, so please also feel free to post it on your facebook, twitter or website, and pass the link on to anyone else who may be interested.

Thanks in advance for your help. Regards,

Andrew Sainsbury
Online Producer
SBS Dateline

From James Fleming:

I lived in kieta from 73 to 74 and then moved to arawa till 77,miss these years and would love to revisit them with like minded people.am living in melbourne now with my family and they are curious,because i always spoke so fondly of these times. we would love to get in contact and reminisce.

email info@jamesfleming.com.au

From Patsy Moppett

Peter



Stumbling across your website I recall that my father, Graham Ross Dalitz, was once involved in the Project. He flew a helicopter (Bell - VH UTJ) for Helicopter Utilities P/L at the time, ferrying geologists around. His pilot log book lists that he was there in 1965 from 20 April to 12 August. Places he lists include Kieta, Barapina, Aropa River, Tonalei, Wakunai, Sesivi, Jaba and Paguna Rivers, Torokina, Buin, and Bhoku.



He took many slide photographs over the years, but as yet I have found none which relate to the time, although I know I have seen some.



My father is currently dying of cancer and is really beyond giving us any further information, unfortunately. Just thought you may want to add his name to the list of previous workers up there.

His daughter,

Kind regards,

Patsy Moppett
email pmoppett@barnson.com.au

From John Esling:

Hi there,

I was up at Panguna for most of 1968. As one of the CRA surveyors under Gunther Froemell.

At the time I was 24/25 and spent most of my time setting out drilling sites and doing topographical surveys.

We established the geodetic control survey on the hills surrounding Panguna and established azimuth control by carrying out Astronomical observations from control points above the old playing field.

I do remember a couple of names;
Barry ? – a geologist about the same age as me.
? Williams, from Auckland who was related to the Corbans family – I think his work was more office orientated.
Bill ? An Aussie surveyor who spent most of his time in the Adit on alignment surveys. He paired up with one of the nurses whom we referred to as YapYap, because of her rather raucous voice!!

We did put on a concert in the wet canteen for a visit by Miss PNG 1968 and six of us performed the cancan in grass skirts. Our dance teacher was a blonde school teacher to whom my boys referred as ‘raba susu’ because of her padded bras!! She was married to ‘wan bikpela cuscus’ – either in HR or accounting I think?
I used to spend most evenings with the group of drillers that were always seated at the first or second table nearest to the road side of the bar. We used to play bowls almost every evening until a couple of weeks before I left the project in December 1968.

We stopped playing bowls as a sign of respect after one of the drillers was killed as he and his mate were making there way back to Panguna during one of those heavy rainstorms after their week away deep in the bush. The young man, only 28, was knocked down by a rotting branch and pinned down in the riverbed for only a minute, but that was time enough for the poor bugger to drown. His 56 year old mate tried mouth to mouth to no avail – had to leave him there and walk out to get a recovery team. They had been working as a team for almost ten years – and had a beautiful close bond – like a father and son.

My first responsibility on arriving in Brisbane was to visit his sister and reassure her that he had not suffered an agonizing death, but that the whole event had passed in a matter of seconds, as he had probably already been unconscious even before hitting the ground.

If there are any formal records available I would dearly like to find his name again. And that of his drilling mate too.

On the matter of bowls – it took me a long time to beat one of the older bowlers. But I finally did succeed one night in October by coming back on the final bowl from two down to three up. Only after that win did he let on that he had been a former Queensland Bowls Champion!!

There were so many memories and, after starting to write six years ago, I have only just completed the first chapter of my memories of that year.
Unfortunately, in the course of so many house moves over the last 43 years any and all the slides that I took whilst there have all been lost. So I would love to be able to upload anything available from that period if you have anything that might refresh my memory.
Thanks,
Regards,

John Esling – another Maus Gras
email johnesling@clear.net.nz

From John Tuxworth

email bullocky68@westnet.com.au:

I worked in the pit on a one year contract and came back for a two year contract.Mid to late seventies. Glorious place, wonderful locals and special workmates. Loved every minute.

Absolute waterfront property near Batemans Bay for sale

 

You have to live somewhere - it may as well be Paradise!
Our 7-acre-plus property "Riverbend" with almost 400 metres of absolute waterfront near Batemans Bay on the South Coast of New South Wales is for sale. For more information go to www.nelligennet.com.

It's the sort of property that is usually passed down the family as there are fewer than a handful on the Clyde River. I have been here for 18 years and for me it's time to move on - regrettably! - as we plan to live for part of the year in Kalimantan (Borneo) in Indonesia which makes it impossible to also maintain such a large property this far south.

The price - for those who can afford it - is very realistic as nearby unimproved waterfront blocks just 1500 square metres in size and with as little as 19 metres of waterfront have recently sold for $750,000. A renovated fishing shack on 1700 square metres of land just a few metres up the lane sold six months ago for $950,000.

By contrast, "Riverbend" which consists of eight separate titles and comprises approx. 29,200 square metres - or more than 7 acres - (see map), is on sale for $2 million, lock, stock and barrel! For those who feel a little financially challenged, I can even offer very substantial vendor's finance on below-bank finance terms.

If you're interested, contact me by email to

riverbendnelligen[AT]mail.com