AUSTRALIAN FORESTERS in PAPUANEW GUINEA1922-1975
PNGAF MAGAZINE ISSUE # 9B-5B4P4 of 3rd April 2024
FOREST MANAGEMENT.
Eminent Friend PNGAF Forestry, Michael Pearson
Editor Dick McCarthy
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Bibliography Michael Pearson. Page 3
End of the Line. A History of Railways in Papua New Guinea. Page 4
Cutch in PNG (One of Michael Pearson’s Train Stories.) Page 5
Crises Tree 1990’s Bougainville. Page 8
Dr Pearson I presume? Page 9
3 Personal communication Michael Pearson 12th March 2024.
NAME
Michael Pearson
YEAR OF BIRTH Old enough
PNG SERVICE DATE 1969 Cadet Education Officer
WHAT WAS YOUR OCCUPATION Educationist, Author, PNG Historian WORK LOCALITIES Throughout PNG
WHAT DATE DID YOU LEAVE PNG Still there
Bibliography Michael Pearson.
Michael’s professional and personal background, specific knowledge, and extensive experience in Bougainville, in the Teaching Service, Teaching Service Commission, Department of Education and Department of Personnel, as well as consultancy work with the National Executive Council, Commission of Higher Education and private companies is recognized nationally especially his knowledge and expertise, particularly relating to the problems associated with the power, ownership, and operation of PNG Government Departments etc.
Dick McCarthy and Michael Pearson have worked closely over many years on the PNGAF forestry social history project. Michael as a longtime resident of Bougainville and his Papua New Guinea contribution has been invaluable, especially as all his work has been voluntarily.
Michael Pearson is the retired Chair of the PNG Teaching Services Commission; a besotted PNG train buff and co- author of the book “End of the Line” – a History of Railways in Papua New Guinea with Bob McKillop. He is a recognised PNG Historian especially on PNG heritage.
Currently Michael is a Board member of the University of Technology (UNITECH) Lae.
Michael’s background is an interesting history of PNG Education
• 1969 Cadet Education Officer
• 1971-1975 High School Teacher PNG Hutjena High School Bougainville.
• 1976-1978 Daru High School
• 1979-1982 Deputy Headmaster PNG Hutjena High School Bougainville.
• 1984-1987 Headmaster PNG Buin High School Bougainville
• 1988 to 1997 Principal Staff Development Officer National Department of Education POM
• 1997-1998 Department of Personnel Management Port Moresby.
• 1998-2007 Commissioner PNG Teaching Service Commission
• 2007-2012 Chair PNG Teaching Service Commission.
• 2012 to present – Private consultancies PNG wide re PNG education institutions including PNG Office of Higher Education, NEC, PNG Teaching Commission, and various PNG private education initiatives. Currently a Board member of the University of Technology (UNITECH) Lae and Chair of the Bougainville Education Board and member of the Bougainville Technical College Governing Council.
Cutch in PNG4. (One of Michael Pearson’s Train Stories.)
The potential of tropical hardwoods as a source of raw material for cellulose fibre has been recognised for many years. Commercial utilisation has been low in development especially for the technical problems involved with pulping such a mixture of tropical woods given the range of diverse properties which is characteristic of the tropical hardwood forest.
Efforts to evaluate this type of forest resource for pulp and paper manufacture commenced in 1949. The impetus at this time was given by the commencement of a tannin extracting industry based on the mangrove forests of the Gulf of Papua, which threatened to lead to waste, vast quantities of timber following commercial stripping of the bark.
The bark extract, which is called cutch It is used to dye materials khaki and to preserve fishing nets. The bark extract, then made from a type of wattle in India, was used to colour British military uniforms khaki last century after the War Office had decided that the resplendent redcoats were too easily spotted by the enemy.
Perome is a small village near Aird Hills on the Delta of the Kikori River. Most of the Delta area is a flood plain largely supporting Sago Palm. Aird Hills is close to the Gulf of Papua and deep-water access to the volcanic hills. It is these conditions that allow mangroves to flourish.
Narani was build by E Wright Tuncurry NSW. It was used as a auxilary minesweeper during WW2. (deleted from Lloyd’s register in 1955). In 1951 Narani was sold to the New Guinea Borneo Mangrove Company and taken to Aird Hills in the Kikori River Delta, Papua. Her role was to transport cutch (bark harvested and processed) from mangrove trees Port Moresby. The cutch factory had a railway line to transport bark to the processing plant and
5 https://www.flickr.com/photos/glmrsnsw/albums/72157653133586474/
processed cutch back to the Narani. In 1951 the Narani was purchased by the New Guinea Borneo Mangrove Co., Port Moresby.
The Australian Women's Weekly Wednesday 27 June 1951 published this account: "English couple Charles and Phyllis Cook left Sydney in the old N.S.W. coaster Narani recently, counting the days till they are back in the jungle. Mr. and Mrs. Cook are on their way to a river delta at Perome, 300 miles from Port Moresby, in Papua, where they will establish a factory to make a bark extract from native trees. The Cooks like jungle life. Before coming to Sydney, where their ship took on six months' supplies and equipment, they lived in Borneo. In Borneo Mr. Cook was managing a factory producing bark extract, which is called cutch, and is used to dye materials khaki and to preserve fishing nets. The bark extract, then made from a type of wattle in India, was used to colour British military uniforms khaki last century after the War Office had decided that the resplendent redcoats were too easily spotted by the enemy. Mr. Cook will use mangrove bark to make the extract in his Papuan factory. It is claimed that this type of bark produces the best dye."
Michael Pearson6 described PNG’s Great Railway Robbery: "The Borneo New Guinea Mangrove Company established a pioneer factory in the swamps of the Kikori River Delta at Aird Hills to extract cutch (a tanning fluid from mangrove bark). A short tramline (about 1300 metres) was built from the wharf to the factory. It carried firewood and the bark inwards, and cutch out for shipment. There was a small IC-engined locomotive which hauled flat trucks and hopper wagons over the line. By 1958 the venture had failed, and the equipment was abandoned. Mr. Keith Tetley, a local trader, collected rails to build a wharf and copra drier.
Steamships Trading Company (STC) eventually purchased the assets of the Borneo New Guinea Mangrove Company from receivers with the intention of using them at their Baimuru Sawmill. On arrival to collect their bounty, STC crews discovered the disappearance of the railway equipment.
The company (STC) took Mr Keith Tetley (local trader, crocodile hunter and later member of the early House of Assembly) to court, thus commencing the case of PNG's Great Railway Robbery. Mr Tetley eventually won the case as there was no caretaker at the site and the rails were not on land belonging to the company, and therefore, they could be considered abandoned.
Keith Tetley is reported to have arrived at the Kerema Hall for the annual Christmas party pulling a toy train, much to the delight of those present. STC lost out badly, not only losing the rails and the money paid for them but also having to pay court costs.
Crises Tree 1990’s Bougainville7 .
The sawn timber is from a Crises tree. It grew up in the cocoa blocks since the start of the Bougainville Crisis in 1990 - one of the few upsides of the crisis was the regrowth of the forest that it now being utilized. The portable Lucas sawmill belongs to the Teop people. They came To Michael for financial assistance as they needed money to get the mill running.
Dr Pearson I presume?Author Chris Borough.8 , 9
With heavy heart, I left the Territory of Papua and New Guinea in late 1971. I had so many experiences in the seven years I lived in PNG and wrote a few short stories of my adventures for Richard McCarthy’s series of magazines onAustralian Foresters in Papua New Guinea. At age 79 I figured it would be quite an experience for my wife Robyn to re-visit PNG – this time as pidgin speaking tourists. I booked on the French cruise ship Le Soléal as I worked out that the ship would at least visit one place where we had lived in 1966 (Rabaul and nearby Kerevat on New Britain). What I hadn’t quite understood when I booked this cruise was that it was going to be much more than I could ever imagine.
https://postcourier.com.pg/french-cruise-ship-visits-taiof-island/ Photo credit Borough Family.
Robyn and I thought it might be good to invite our daughter, Janet (who spent 6 years in PNG) and our son Tim (who was born in Port Moresby) to join us. In an instant both accepted the invite.
Step one was to contact Richard (Alias Dick) McCarthy about our trip, and he suggested I contact one Michael Pearson from Buka on Bougainville.
8 Eminent TPNG Forester Chris Borrough 1960-1971.
9 Published PNGAA- PNG Kundu March 2023 pages 32-33.
The only thing I knew about Michael was his friendship with Dick and his interest in railways –in fact he had no connection with forestry and coauthored “End of the Line: a history of Railways in Papua New Guinea”.10
We had to monitor the progress of COVID as cruise ships were not permitted until 2022. Finally, COVID restrictions were eased, and we were ready to undertake our adventure in PNG. Armed with Vaccination Certificates and a wealth of paperwork, we flew to Honiara to join the ship. We were suddenly exposed to view a very decrepit town with a lot of evidence of burnt-out buildings as a result of past riots. The dominant feature, however, was the framework of the huge stadium being built by the Chinese in preparation for the South Pacific Games.
We soon found out that travelling with PONANT is very “French” and, with around 150 crew and 98 passengers, we were going to be well looked after. What we hadn’t appreciated was the huge amount of effort that had gone into planning an itinerary that would showcase so many cultures and give us the opportunity to meet with such beautiful people. I started to teach my son and daughter some key pidgin words and the pitfalls of using words such as pok pok (the first village we visited), puk puk (crocodile) and pek pek (use your imagination).
Pok Pok, the first village we visited on Bougainville, welcomed us in the traditional way – a humbling experience. Imagine all the tourists wearing masks (wearing face masks was a key part of PONANT’s desire to keep the villagers COVID free) and a huge number of welcoming villagers in traditional dress. We began to see that tourism was such an important part in providing some income to these remote villages that still lived their traditional way of life.
After numerous email exchanges, I kept wondering how Michael would meet us at our next location – Taiof Island only accessible by a 20-minute speedboat ride from Buka town. Yet again we were warmly welcomed at Taiof – in fact this was the first cruise ship to have ever visited the island. As I could not see Michael in the crowd (not that I had ever seen a picture of him), I asked one of the villagers wearing a HAZVEST (he was one of a number of locals who were to act as guides) to take Janet and me for a tour of the village. It was only when Janet asked our guide about Michael that his eyes lit up – “he is on the island, and I shall take you to him”!
Finally, a white man was seen talking to the last of the passengers boarding the Zodiac to return to the ship; the mysterious M. Pearson was in sight. Meeting him, dressed in long pants, long sleeved shirt, hat, and black leather shoes was reminiscent of the event when
African journalist/explorer Stanley met Dr Livingstone with “Dr Livingstone I presume”. Michael proceeded to walk through the ankle-deep water (in his black leather shoes) together with the chap who had taken him to Taiof.
(Michael reported that trying to meet the ship was a challenge but as they included Taiof as a stopover, it changed from nigh impossible to an hour+ car trip and just under an hour dinghy (banana boat) ride from Buka to Taiof. Michael was accompanied by Anthony (Tony) Tsora, who also had a distinguished education career as a teacher, School inspector, Bougainville Education Secretary during the restoration period, National Education Board Chairman. TSC Regional Advisor, and now Chairman of Bougainville Technical College and Advisor on Bougainville Education.)
Michael and I hit it off immediately and soon I was introduced to obviously key people in Bougainville society. I found that he had been the Inspector of Schools for Bougainville and was very highly respected; in fact, the Taiof schoolteacher was apparently very concerned that Michael had come to inspect his school unannounced!
(Michael informed the teachers that they must apply for leave without pay or record it down as cultural activities. They opted to put it down as cultural activities).
Michael told me that he was a PNG citizen and had sons living inAustralia. Finally, it was time to go and suddenly Michael presented me with a magnificent necklace made from local shells. Janet joined me and we got into the last Zodiac and bade farewell knowing that we were unlikely to ever meet again. With pride, I wore the necklace to dinner throughout the rest of this remarkable voyage.
Taiof Island. Photo credit Chris Borough.
PS. Michael Pearson’s meeting with Chris Borough has inspired Bougainville to try to arrange for their college Tourism and Hospitality students to visit the next cruise ship and maybe in the future get some work on such.
Chris Borough.
Footnote11
School building Cloudy Bay TA.
Photo credit Dick McCarthy.