"A special place where many had their golden years"

 

That's the byline Bob Jackson gave his excellent collection of over 450 images of Bougainville Island and what was once Bougainville Copper in the 70s and 80s, many his own and others culled from different sources (including my own website, I noticed).

It's a wonderful labour of love created, as Bob writes, "as an old man's project to give continuing access to these images and maybe a happy memory or two to those who also spent time on this remarkable island".

I enjoyed flicking trough those stunning photographs which brought back many happy memories, Bob! I hope by adding your website to this blog, many more viewers will be introduced to it by clicking here.

And here's more ...

 

Colonists For a Day

From the Film Australia Collection. Made by Film Australia 1993. Directed by Alec Morgan

 

Papua New Guinea was Australia's brief and only attempt at colonisation, lasting from 1906 to 1975. It was marked by the colonists' incompetence and inexperience and the inevitable cultural clashes between the tribal clans and their administrators. This documentary combines eyewitness accounts from both colonists and Papua New Guineans with archival footage that was filmed by the colonists as they ventured into the unknown tribal lands of the interior.

 

Kieta then and now

Kieta in the 70s

 

If the rain, the mud, the dust, the heat, and the sheer boredom didn't get you down, it was the unrelenting routine of working ten hours a day six days a week. Was it any wonder we dreamt of escaping down to Kieta for a scent of the big wide world beyond?

Once we had, by hook or by crook, hitched a ride to Kieta, our first stop was the waterfront shop of Greens, a veritable Aladdin's cave of desirable merchandise, from t-shirts to bilum bags to postcards depicting Highland 'meris' suckling their babies on one side and a pig on the other. Then it was time for liquid refreshments at the Kieta Hotel, the unpretentious yacht club, and, much later, Arovo Island.

Kieta Yacht Club

 

Then, Kieta had a population of just over a thousand. There were thirteen trade stores, a supermarket, cinema shows at the Kieta Club and the nearby high school, two hotels (including the newly opened Davara at Toniva), a deepwater harbour, three banks and enough traffic to cause city-style congestion.

What's left of it today? Nothing! Except for the memories which will stay alive for as long as we stay alive! You know, I'd rather look back on life and say, "I can't believe I did all that" instead of "If only I had".

 

Kieta today

 

We only live once, but we can live in such a way that at the end of the journey, we will feel as though we have lived a hundred lives.

 

 

Scramble for Resources

 

ABC Radio National's Late Night Live looks at mining company behaviour on Bougainville, as everyone jostles to benefit from the rich seams of copper and gold. Click here and wait for the second segment of the show where Phillip Adams discusses Kevin Rudd's report "Scrambles for Resources".

This report outlines how the Autonomous Region of Bougainville has become the target of a scramble for resources. The region, which is pursuing independence from Papua New Guinea, has attracted mining and minerals exploration companies from around the world, drawn by its valuable copper and gold reserves. Over a two-year investigation, Jubilee Australia tracked the companies vying for the right to mine on the island, ranging from one-person outfits to global operations backed by major investors.

To read the full report, click on "Scramble for Resources"

 

Tony Bailey is alive and well and living in Traralgon in Victoria

 

If you've ever done a tour of the portraits of past Australian prime ministers in Parliament House, you would've searched in vain for this portrait of Tony Bailey who was simply too nice a guy to have got his hands dirty in politics. Instead, he was one of Bechtel's timekeepers at Loloho Port who also drove the bus from Kobuan as well as collecting and handing out our much-longed-for mail from home.

Des Hudson, who usually has no opinion about anything or anyone, not even himself, wrote, "I remember Tony well as he was the first person we all met after landing at the airport. Everyone was eager to know what and where and when about all that Tony would tell us and his handling of the mail made him a special person to befriend."

I had found his Incoming Passenger Card from 1972 after he had left Bougainville and returned to Australia, and wanted to know what made him go for the unlikely career choice of accountant as shown on the card under "Usual Occupation". I mean, being a lion tamer, even a timekeeper, would've been so much more exciting!

I eventually tracked him down here, and while his name is not uncommon and half a century had passed since I last had seen him, that little moustache and those piercing eyes were a dead give-away.

Tony Bailey as he is now in Traralgon, Victoria

Tony Bailey (in background) as he was then in 1972 at Loloho, Bougainville

 

His reply was prompt, "Your long shot is spot on target - yep! That’s me… and I’m still going strong, living in Traralgon. I’m still working full time, despite the fact that I turn 74 in a few short weeks, I have a great job and intend to work for another 2 years at least. You are the only person to contact me from those days - I fondly remember my time on Bougainville as the best days of my life."

As for his "Usual Occupation", he replied, "That’s not my writing - I was a timekeeper!" And so you were, Tony, although you also did a really great job reconciling all those Brambles-Kennelly trip dockets.

And, instead of taking up lion-taming, he tells me, "After I left Bougainville I bummed around Australia for about ten years, had a handful of jobs mostly in the plywood, particleboard and timber industry where I became something of an expert in quality control. In 1982 I moved to Traralgon", which is where he still lives today and from where he wrote me his emails.

Welcome to the Bougainville Copper Project blog, Tony, and don't we all agree with your heartfelt words, "I fondly remember my time on Bougainville as the best days of my life." We just didn't know it then!

 

Who remembers Gary Rigney?

Gary Rigney is next to the chap in the blue top

 

It started off with an email from Gary's daughter, Wendy:

"Hi Mr Goerman, My dad, Gary Rigney, used to work for Camp Catering Service and later for SHRM, and Mr Nightingale would come around our place some nights to talk about work with dad and sometimes another gentleman would accompany Mr Nightingale and his name was Mr Robinson. Mr Robinson was a big man and l think his nationality was German (not sure) but I'm also not sure if he worked at CCS or they were just friends, I also can’t recall his first name, but the reason I'm emailing you is because l have been trying to find his daughter Kim for years but to no avail! If you remember a Mr Robinson or could find a employment list of around 1970 to 1974 just to find where they lived prior to coming to Bougainville I would appreciate your time in helping me."

Of course, I remember Gary Rigney: as Maintenance Supervisor he was part of Camp Catering Services' management team - for whom I was office manager and accountant in 1972; click here - that met once a week in Merv Nightingale's office to keep the wheels from falling off what was then the world's biggest catering contract.

Unfortunately, Wendy also has some bad news: "My dad passed of lung cancer in 1989; he was only 50 yrs old. l miss him so much."

Anyone who knew Gary and wants to contact his daughter Wendy through me, please email me at riverbendnelligen[AT]mail.com.

 

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 $10 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!