PNG can grow anything. Humorous Trivia

36Humorous Trivia

Photo credit Dick McCarthy.

Paul Ryan -The TO who was handy with a chain saw during the Wau/Bulolo survey (1967)who, with a little help from me carved out a canoe with a chain saw by lamp light while we were camped by some lake at the back of Wau doing defect and decay felling and analysis, he also carved a metre and a half long wooden spoon which was presented to Neil Brightwell as chief stirrer during our Morobe survey (1967).

Paul Ryan - the kiap at Ioma (1967) who considered himself a little tin god. Our base camp was adjacent to his office and in the morning, he would line up his police and others on parade. So, one morning, Bill Wallace, our ex-RAF Canberra bomber pilot cum helicopter pilot, decided as we were finishing breakfast to hold our own parade. All of us present then lined up and Wallace proceeded in true British swagger stick style to inspect us, much to the chagrin of the kiap, and the mirth of local bystanders.

Paul Ryan - the same base camp, I think it was Tony who decided to clean out/sanitize the pit toilet, which was located next to the kiap’s office. He got together a gallon or so of av gas dregs from used drums, poured it down the hole, lit a taper and threw it in. There was a bit too much av gas as a mighty roar erupted, blew the roof of the dunny and sent shit everywhere.

Paul Ryan with Jimi Valley people on the road constructed by

them to allow “the cargo” to come. Photo credit Paul Ryan.

Paul Ryan - On the Mt Giluwe inventory, we had, as usual, ordered our beer and spirits to be delivered by charter aircraft. This was a Caribou coming from Madang and for the first time that I know some Treasury officer went out to check on how the chartered aircraft was being used. He objected to some100 cases of beer and liquor going on such a flight despite my explaining it was part of our food ration requirement without which we would not survive. It took severe persuasion from higher up to allow it to happen.

Paul Ryan - On that inventory, I left all the field books behind by the runway, after the Caribou, which came in to take out much of the gear and personnel closed the airstrip after heavy rain. Those of us left got out on empty return charter flights for the station or mission, using baggage allowance or freight vouchers that I had, but there was no room for the tin box

36 Cartoon from Bob Brown’s Grass Roots Guide to PNG Pidgin South Pacific Post

with the survey books. I was given a thick ear back in Moresby by Eric, though, thankfully, we got the books back on a charter a day or two later.

Paul Ryan/Dick McCarthy - Sagari and Milne bay is that the plantation manager was ex RAAF. He had crashed one of their good fighter planes and when he got out of hospital he walked out on the RAAF and ended up in PNG managing the Sagari plantation. The other thing was all the silver ware at the plantation so that when you had a meal, he (the manager) would call for the potatoes Boi then the carrot Boi then the steak Boi etc. who brought each dish on separate silver platters.

Chris Borough. - The funniest occurrence at Keravat was when a new trainee typist was being appointed. She duly typed up the material given her. About 4 months later a huge truck full of chairs, desks, bookshelves, bush knives etc all appeared. We worked out that the trainees’ typing test had worked its way through to Gov. Stores and lo and behold we had a wonderful office full of all the latest gear – and it was new bush knives all around.

Chris witnessing signature of Traditional owners with Bob Willis Open Bay TRP Matanakunai Sept/Oct 1967.Photo credit Chris Borough.

Chris Borough recalled a funny experience with Dave Num. He came to our place in Gordons to go to a Ball. He was dressed in a dinner suit –black of course. Our dog “Saturday” had been regularly taunted by local squatters to the point when he became vicious to anyone black. Poor D Num was attacked when he turned up at our back door dressed in black. We had to re-home “Saturday” to a Chinese Trade Store owner who wanted a guard dog – perfect match.

“Brighteyes.” Neil Brightwell - Dick, I’m not sure what you are up to. It seems to me to be a plan for severe self-flagellation. Did the military teach you nothing? NEVER VOLUNTEER|||

John Davison - Toilet Instructions which once graced a PNG Forests Noticeboard

John Davidson crack shot seed collection NB.

A 3½-inch (about 90 mm) diameter branch brought down with three shots.

Chris Done/Alan White - the Port Moresby Motor Sport Club, into the “wilds” of Papua. During our celebrated careers, Alan and I swapped roles, he became the ultimate navigator, and I tried to point the car in the right direction as much as possible.

Alan and Chris enjoying a quiet coldie, after the presentation for the Papuan Rally 1973. Photo credit Chris Done.

If we take this shortcut here, we should be able to get ahead of the field. Photo credit Chris Done.

Perhaps that short cut was not a good idea after all.

Ross Lockyer - We would often sit on the steps of the old house in the Museum compound (Wau Ecology Institute) where they lived, drinking SP, and catching up on the local gossip.

Bulolo Department of Forests’ lik-lik doctor, Peter Woolcott, and his pet kokomo. Bulolo. Photo credit Ross Lockyer. 1968.

The kokomo would hear us from somewhere in the depths of the house and come hopping out in its most peculiar way, which was a bit like a wallaby leaping along. It would park itself on the top step and stare at us with one beady red eye and its head cocked to one side and wait. Peter usually had a big jar of ripe red coffee beans at hand, and he would throw one up to the bird, which would catch it neatly with the tip of its long beak, flick it back, and swallow it.

Then we would start the count-down, and before we could count to a hundred—plop—the coffee bean, minus its outer red coating, would drop out of the bird’s rear-end onto the floor.

This trick would be repeated ad nauseam until either the bird got bored and hopped off somewhere else or we ran out of beer or coffee beans. This, of course, was all done in the cause of science. We concluded that the kokomo had a straight pipe with no baffles.

Ross Wylie - Near Wau was a Bernice P. Bishop Museum (BPBM) field station whose parent body was in Hawaii and had the charter of collecting, documenting, and storing the biodiversity, culture, and history of the Pacific.

16-foot python at the Bishop Museum compound at Wau. L-R. Peter Shanahan, Museum scientist, Ross Lockyer, Phil Colman, Ross Wylie. 1968. Photo credit Ross Lockyer.

At that field station I met giants of the field in their day, people like Lindsey Gressitt, Joe Szent-Ivany, Joe Sedlacek and Al Samuelson, all world experts in entomology or zoology. It was heady stuff for a new biology graduate. Apart from having their own collectors, the Museum also paid money for specimens brought in by local villagers. For snakes, it was at that time a dollar per foot (length) of snake. Our Forestry Research Station at Bulolo was a sort of branch office of the BPBM and we often received all sorts of specimens from locals looking to make some money. On one such occasion, a large amethystine python in a box turned up on our doorstep; it had apparently been taking chickens at a local village. These pythons are one of the sixth largest snakes in the world and can measure up to 8 m. This one was on the larger end of the scale. Brenton Peters (great friend and colleague) volunteered with me to take the snake to the Museum, and we set off for Wau in Brenton’s VW. En route the snake decided to void its stomach contents and there was this horrendous stench in the car; we drove with the windows open the rest of the way. At the Museum, the usual practice was to weigh such specimens and Peter volunteered. He stood on the scales to establish his weight and then the python was draped around his shoulders while he held its head. The idea of course was that he would then step back on the scales and by subtracting his weight, the weight of the snake could be established. The snake had other ideas. It is a constrictor so of course it began tightening its coils and Peter began to go red and struggled for air. Four of us rushed to grab the tail of the snake and gradually began to unwind it from Peter and eventually returned it to a holding pen. I do not think the weight was ever recorded.

Ken Granger recalls at Fulleborn in 1965 John (Puddles) Lake, caught a large python that had recently devoured a small pig or a sikau (wallaby). He took it with him when they moved on to Awul and then to Rabaul where Puddles stayed at the Comworks mess. Puddles released the python in the ablutions block. All was well until one of the other residents was taking a shower and looked up to come eye to eye with the snake. It was said that he streaked back to his room with a rapidly diminishing foam of soap as his only covering!

Alan Cameron - McAdam had offered anyone who found a Hoop pine greater than 307 feet high a box of expensive whiskey. A couple of us carefully measured a felled Hoop and got to 298 feet, but the top was missing as it was broken off and caught in the crown of the forest. The diameter at the break point was about 8 inches and we were sure the full height would have exceeded 307 feet. However, without real proof we decided not to make a claim.

Alan Cameron - Hoop and Klinkii pine seed collection was interesting, as people from Buka Island were incredible climbers. At a height of about 200 feet one climber jumped from one tree to one nearby so he did not have to climb the next one. I think I nearly had a heart attack. It was interesting that they are classed as the darkest skinned people in the world.

Climber going up a small tree before crossing to klinkii. Photo credit Chris Borough. 1963.

Alan Cameron - Kerevat was an interesting place as there were frequent “gurias.” On one occasion I saw “guria waves” approaching me as I drove a land cruiser along the road north of Kerevat. I just drove on carefully, riding the waves. We were instructed that if a guria hit the house it was essential to hold the refrigerator to make sure the kerosene system was not turned over as it would probably result in the house burning down. Alan Cameron - Returned to PNG in January 1961. Based at the Brown River forest station. Controlled forest plantation operations and logging. One interesting experience was a visit by men who claimed to be missionaries. A full sun eclipse was predicted, and they called and told the workforce that it was the end of the world. If they donated any money, they had to the missionaries they would go the heaven, failure to do so they would go to hell. The “Bossboi” told me about it, and I organized a reception. The “bois” held spears and I had a rifle, and I told the fake “missionaries” to get out or I would have them attacked. It worked. Later I met a plantation owner near Rabaul who had similar experience. He ordered the conmen off his property. They went outside the fence and continued to ask for money, and they refused to leave. He flattened one of them. They reported that to the police and he was tried for assault by a magistrate (ex-Kiap) who had no option but to find him guilty. He was sentenced to jail until the “rising of the court.” The magistrate banged the gavel about a second later and the court rose. Shortest sentence I have ever heard about.

Alan Cameron Brown River burn, October 1967.Photo credit Ken

Granger. - Late 1961 I had first ride in a “flying boat” to gain appreciation of a forest area I was to assess in 1962. Went along the south coast and up the Fly River, over the area later turned into a major mining operation. Landed in a couple of places in the river.

Alan Cameron - Went to West Papua for forest assessment. The team consisted of Forestry, Agricultural and Native Affairs officers. We were to assess forest, agricultural potential and

the land use and value. We had been told not to go to the Great Papuan Plateau as we could be killed and eaten. No “expat” had been in that area since 1937. The Kiap was killed and eaten before he got to the Plateau. That happened about 200 miles NW of where we were going. The program was scheduled to last nearly 6 months. We had been given very old wirelesses to enable communication with our head offices but could not contact anyone. Oddly one of the crew found we could listen to a news session at night. It was spoken in English but was sent from China. At least we did have some idea of what was happening in the world even if the opinions were biased. Initially we camped near an old oil/gas exploration site on a river east of the Fly. The forest looked very promising. After a while part of the crew went up the river and left the Ag officer and me to finish our job where we were. One of the labour crew had a medical problem and we considered that he needed a penicillin injection. The medical equipment had been split up and we only had very small diameter needles. It took about an hour to apply the injection and I think my hand was tight for a long time. The injection worked after a couple of days. We then went up the river. We spent some months in that area, including canoe trips about 100 miles up the river. In the area up to the base of the steep land in the north I assessed forest areas and we drilled soil to assess its condition.

Late in the period the Agricultural officer and I moved up towards the Great Papuan Plateau. We did not know where the “boundary” was, so we may have gone too far. I suspect we did. One morning we were closing our camp when I thought some people were in the forest looking at us. We sat down for nearly an hour before 3 men emerged. They had bows and arrows and spears. They slowly came towards us and obviously wondered what we were. Slowly one came up to me. He carefully touched my nose then my cheek, my hair, and my shirt. From the expression on his face, he obviously wondered what we were. I later learned that they probably believed we were returned bodies of locals who had died in the past. I was not worried that they might attack us as I had a loaded and cocked rifle on a table where I had been sitting. I did not plan to kill them, just fire a few shots to confuse them. We finished giving them a few bush knives and showed them how to use them and sharpen them. Of course, they had never seen metal objects before. We were sure they had never seen white people before and were convinced they had never heard of white people. Alan Cameron - In 1964 I had a minor role in organizing better training for local employees. I proposed to an Officer of the Administers Department (who I knew reasonably well) that the rules for technical training of local staff should be revised and better rules prepared. A meeting, involving about 10 government Departments was set up. The Administrator declared that we did not have the authority to write new rules. My response was, “I have not seen the rules written in the Old Testament so do not believe they were the words of God. People had written the rules, so there was no reason that we could not rewrite them.” He called me a heretic and closed the meeting. However, about a week later I got a call from the

Officer who congratulated me for my approach, as it had been decided that we could now rewrite the rules.

Dick McCarthy - my TPNG forest colleagues, led by best friend Rumpole of the Bailey attempted to stop this by dispatching me off to Indonesia in a coffin. AND then at my buck’s night, destroyed my best hat by filling it with wet cow manure from 14 mile.

Chief instigator

Jim Riley - In 1968, I was Fire officer at the Bulolo Forest Station. I took my fire crew and Fire Engine to an area 4-5 kilometres east of Wau, to burn off a plateau area of Themeda grassland in preparation for planting in Pinus species.

There was a deep, steep sided flat-bottomed gully immediately adjacent to the site, on its western side, the side closest to the Wau airstrip. There were some scattered shrub/tree species throughout the area. It became obvious that the area had not been burnt off since the Second World War. The area had a track of sorts around its perimeter. The fire crew were all locals, who as we know are pyromaniacs! Once I set them off ring firing around the edge of the track, there was no stopping them. The fire had not long got underway when small arms ammunition started exploding. I was standing on the edge of the plateau when a cartridge exploded near to me. When something struck my ankle, I realized that because the projectile (bullet) is heavy and the cartridge case much lighter, the case flies and the projectile does not go too far. But standing there feeling very exposed and having heard that unexploded bombs had detonated during cutover burn-offs in preparation for Hoop and Klinkii plantings, I decided to scurry off the edge of the plateau into a more sheltered position, just in case.

I think Neville Howcroft must have been supervising the Pinus planting on the area, as a few days later he told me that bones had been brought to the surface, by the mattocks of the tree planters, so we went up to have a look around.

We found many foxholes dug along the edge of the plateau above the deep gully. There was much Japanese Arisaka 6.5 mm ammunition lying around, some 7.7mm "Woodpecker" (Jap machine gun) ammo in a brass horizontal clip (I still have some in my cartridge collection, along with a Japanese grenade without the guts in it!), a couple of Arisaka rifles with the wood rotted off. Jap helmets full of bullet holes. Aussie/American grenades pushed into the ground with the levers held in place by very crumbly/ rusty pins. Interesting 3-inch diameter

holes going down vertically about 18 inches into the ground where no doubt unexploded mortar bombs resided! By this time, we were tiptoeing around the site! Also, many .303, .45 ACP (Tommy gun) and 9mm (Owen gun) empty cases lying around. There were Japanese graves there as the bones attested. The planting gang's boss-boi was using an unexploded mortar bomb as a pillow in his compound hut!

All this piqued my interest. I endeavored to find out exactly what happened there although the signs made it obvious!

Tom Lega was the BGD/ CNGT town manager at Bulolo. I knew he had been a DredgeMaster before and after the War and had spent the war in the area. Tom was a man of few words. I explained to him what had happened. He only said that there had been a bit of a stoush there during the war. A few evenings later, Tom arrived up at my Donga with an Australian War Bulletin that explained all about the "Battle for Wau". He opened a bit then and I found his story combined with the War Bulletin fascinating. So, with the fear of boring you all I will tell what I learned!

Tom was in the 2/3rd independent Co., which seemed to be a Commando type unit. He was stationed at Salamaua when the Japs landed there. Salamaua is a long narrow isthmus that had a row of houses along it then, where the Aussie troops lived. There was a sentry stationed at a house, at the end farthest from the hills. There was an old Austin car there that was extremely hard to start. Someone in this house went outside for a pee and pointed out to the sentry some shadowy shapes out on the water. They ascertained it was Japanese ships unloading troops. The old Austin started first go and they barreled along the road raising the alarm. As the first Jap came in the front door of the last house, the last Aussie went out the back door and they all took to the hills. They set up Observation Posts and had ambushes set on both the "Black Cat" and "Skin Diwai" tracks, which were used for the 3-day trek to the Wau goldfields. Tom said that he and another chap captured a Jap who was working in a quarry there and took him to Wau for interrogation. Tom was a big man that I would not argue with!

The Japs sent troops inland along the tracks and were ambushed. The Aussie troops counted 161 Japanese killed and wounded being carried back to Salamaua. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation kindly broadcast this information on the radio, "by troops from inland bases"! So, the Japs decided they should wipe out these inland bases.

They sent 5,000 troops in along the two tracks but knew there would be ambushes set on them somewhere. They had an old German map of the area and nearing Wau, it showed a survey line running down a ridge and through the village of Wandumi, so took this route. (There is a monument situated at the northeastern corner of the Wau airstrip, commemorating the troops that died at Wandumi.) The army knew these 5,000 troops were on their way but had minimal troops at Wau. The army had all its men and equipment and planes at Port Moresby, but the weather had been clogged in for 3 days and could not get them across. There was an Australian Company of 100 troops dug in, in ambush at Wandumi. This company held up the Japanese advance for a day, before they were surrounded and wiped out to the last man.

The next day, the Japanese attacked the Wau airstrip on two sides. (They had intended to surround it completely) They opened the attack at 9 am. The weather was still clogged in, but at 9:20 the weather lifted and the DC3's started landing and kept taxing as the troops jumped out and ran to the edge of the field, then took off for more troops.

(In 1975 or 1976, an AusAid Representative to PNG executive was at the Forestry College. He asked to be taken up to Wau. I ran him up and as we drove up the road on the eastern side of the strip, he said he was there during the battle, pointed out where he jumped out of the DC3 and where he ran to and started shooting at the Japs! Interesting.)

At 1:30 in the afternoon, DC3's brought in 25 pounder artillery pieces, the Engineers assembled them while under fire, wheeled them to the perimeter and they started shelling the Japs over open sights at 200 yards! These turned the tide of the battle, and the japs were pushed back to the plateau and dug in for a last stand, where I burnt the area off. The War Bulletin mentioned an area they called "The slaughter yards". The 25 pounders zeroed in on a concentration of troops, which may have been a field hospital. As far as I could determine it may have been in the deep gully adjacent to the burn-off area.

Some interesting facts were that 254 DC3's landed at Wau over 4 days and there were 28 parked on the strip at one time! For those that know the strip, where the hell would you put 28 of them? For those that do not know the strip, it is on a considerable slope. I never measured the angle or took the percentage slope, but I know you must be in 2nd gear in a Series 2A Land Rover to drive up the road beside it.

Jim Riley BFC. Photo Credit Philip Pope. In PNG one used to get little "happening" that piqued one's interest!

In 1975 an Australian Aid to PNG executive visited BFC and before he left, asked to be taken up to Wau. I took him up in a Toyota and as we drove up the road beside the strip, he suddenly pointed and said, "That’s where the DC3 I was in landed and I ran over to that spot there, and stared shooting at the Japs over there”. Was quite interesting.

In 1973 I was working for Groome and Associates, Forestry Consultants, looking at the Kumusi Export Logging area. I met Chris Done at Popondetta and we took a party of Japs in two vehicles around the Kumusi forest area. We ended up at Kokoda and had a look at the Museum, etc. As usual with Jap parties only one appeared to speak English. Coming down the road from Kokoda, one old fellow in the back suddenly said; "This is a lot different to the last time I came down this Road!"

In Madang I cannot recall when, asked a Jap Forestry type if he had been to Madang before? There was a long pause before he said "once, many years ago!" Enough said, but interesting at the time.

Jim Riley - For something to do while there and because of my interest in sawmilling I did a mill study on Wewak Timber's mill that had been recently set up there and was milling only Kwila. The operation was so new the skidder was pulling directly to the mill!

I know someone in the Survey team one day said, "I've found it, the only big tree in the valley that we did the TRP for." Everyone may know this, but I'll reiterate what I found out.

Both times in 1897 and 1937, after 3-year droughts, when the Gogol River completely dried up (normally 180-200 inches a year) and the locals had to shift to the hills for water. That's "Believe it or not " territory, bush fires ravaged most of the valley, killing the forests. So, at

the time of the 1970 Survey the regenerated forest trees were only 33 years old. No wonder most trees were of a smaller diameter.

The skidder was not just pulling in freshly felled trees. It was also pulling in Kwila logs that had been on the ground for at least 33 years, (if not 73 years!)

The interesting thing was that the sapwood had completely rotted off the logs that had been on the ground all those years. The heartwood was as sound as the day they died. These logs had less "shake" in them than the freshly felled trees. The main factor of interest was without the sapwood there was no "tension" in the flitches as they came off the horizontal breakdown chainsaw. The first flitches to come off freshly felled, complete sapwood logs with tension, imitated bananas, with the remaining baulks moving in the opposite direction. The net result was about 50% recovery from the "old dead logs" and an average of about 33% off freshly felled ones!

Jim Riley - In 1982, Wewak Timbers engaged Fletcher Consulting Services to do a Harvesting Plan for their North Coast Export Logging Operation. I did the Consultancy for them. I stayed at a motel near the lighthouse in Madang. Cannot recall the motel name. (Maybe Lighthouse Motel.) They also took diving charters to a shot down American plane that was accessible to divers on a reef at 100 feet. The plane still had the skeleton of the pilot at the controls, with his Thermos and other gear with him. The site was by then whatever they call what is prohibited to touch in PNG. The plane's identification Number. was visible and I presume the American Military had been notified of its existence and location. They told me they had recently had an American guest who wished to visit the site. After the dive he thanked them very much and said he had always wondered where his father had ended up! Must have been an emotional experience!

Jim Riley - Huxley Street Bulolo was named after a man Huxley, in a tent, killed by the only bomb dropped on Bulolo. Did you ever see the RSJ power pole, near the bakery 50 yards or so from where it landed, where the shrapnel from the bomb went through it? Several holes through the 1/2-inch steel. The smallest is about 1/16th of an inch diameter. I always wondered how such a small bit of metal could go through such a thick piece of steel! Was not till Hermann Kloeti and I joined an explosive course the Diploma students did that I found out why. Cortex and TNT burn (explode) at a rate of 23,500 feet a second, 10 times faster than a.303 bullet travels! As the Ministry of Transport says. Speed kills!

Ross Lockyer – Bob Lyons and I sunk many beers together and "Master Kunda" as he was known by the locals, while he was a Kiap in the Highlands, was an interesting bloke to talk to. He was a master at cooking rice, as I guess he lived on it as a Kiap for four years. He obviously got sick of the soggy rice mess I would serve up and after a visit or two he said, "I'll cook the rice"! I was extremely impressed. Did not wash the rice. Put it in a pot, put water up to the first finger joint, put it on the stove with the lid on. When he heard it boil, he tuned the stove down and we retied to the veranda and sunk another SP or two. He suddenly said, "the rice is cooked" and took it off the stove without looking at it. Of course, it tumbled out of the pot in individual cooked grains!

Bob Lyons camped out in the jungle somewhere north of Bulolo in 1969 for about a week wandering about through miles of bush surveying for klinkii pine and other hardwood resources. He was Forestry Dept from Lae. Photo credit Ross Lockyer Bush Boss at CNGT

Bob Thistlethwaite - But in all the travel I did during my time there and subsequently as a consultant, only once when I was really concerned on a flight from Moresby to Madang on a Fokker, when in the Okapa area the pilot realised he was flying up the wrong valley for his approach to Goroka. A cliff appeared ahead and disturbingly close. He stood the plane almost on its tail, hung on the props and side-slipped out of danger. We exited the aircraft at Goroka a bit white around the gills, decided we would stay in Goroka for the night and forget flying on to Madang. I did not know that the Fokker was so versatile but subsequently learned that it was originally designed for military operations. The pilot was of course feted by all but fit enough to fly on to Madang in the morning.

Bob Thistlethwaite - There was a pilot strike, and we were stranded on Daru Island and lucky to get a small room at the Daru Hotel which was adequate, with good plain food and a congenial host. There was not much to see on Daru then except it is massive tarmac, and after a morning sampling liquid refreshment we searched for the plug which in our state we were told existed to keep Daru Island afloat. But no luck! Our publican had a strong focus on the till during this bonanza for him as many people were trapped. The influx was such that the stock in the private bar was rapidly depleted, and when all the beer was gone, we gradually worked our way through all other offerings on the bar shelves. Rum and Scotch disappeared quickly, and anything else, with one lone survivor on Sunday, a bottle of Tullamore Dew, which delighted KJ as an emblem of Ireland. We cuddled that for as long as a small bottle takes and then were forced to turn to the wine collection in the public bar, and a most impressive collection of wine labels were displayed. Wine, at least the cheaper variety, was not really our tipple, but when in Rome…!

The Daru Pub was locally called the Cerberus Arms, because all the crockery and cutlery were branded with “HMAS Cerberus.” How, we did not ask. I decided to do a little exploration of the hotel and in a shed tucked away under a couple of trees at the back I found a hotel employee beavering away filling bottle. He had two huge casks from which to choose, both branded with Portuguese markings, one containing red wine and the other white –perhaps emulating Mateusz Rose and Casals Inhos – but unfortunately not the same calibre. The bottles were already labelled with what they had originally contained, and it was interesting to see a white wine in a bottle labelled Beaujolais. To feed the thirsty throng in the public bar, waiters moved through selling fried fish heads, some with backbones attached. A roaring trade and the kina were rolling in. Tuesday came, the strike was off, and we gratefully boarded the flight to Moresby.

Ross Wylie - Every trip I made in New Guinea was a bit of an adventure but none with so many twists and turns as the work trip to Kui on the Morobe coast in 1970. Part of my job was to conduct surveys of timber borers at various logging areas in forests and at sawmills around the country. In February 1970, Brenton who had joined our forest entomology unit the previous December, Neil Gough who was working at the Bishop Museum Field Station at Wau, Teng Arang a labourer with our section, and myself set out on a trip to Kui to collect insects in a logging area there. We took a lugger out of Lae and set off. All went well until we were just off Salamaua and then the rudder seized, and the boat began to go around in circles. A couple of the crew went below to make repairs but after a few hours of hammering and banging there was no progress, and we began to make escape plans. One was to use the foamfilled seat cushions to float and paddle our way to the beach at Salamaua which seemed so close. What gave us pause was when a crewman who was fishing to while away the time pulled in an exceptionally large fish but the head only – the rest had been taken by a shark. So, we waited. Eventually, repairs were made, and we resumed our journey with no further drama. Kui was a great success in terms of insects caught. The most spectacular find was a fallen tree with scores of the giant longicorn Batocera wallacei crawling on its surface. We filled all our collecting jars and containers and then wrapped up more of the beetles in our handkerchiefs and Brenton’s terry-towelling hat. Most of these beetles made it back to the lab intact and I still have a few in my personal collection at Kenmore.

Then came the return journey from Kui to Lae. Given our experience on the lugger down, we decided to get a speedboat back and made the booking via the logging company’s radio at Kui. The speedboat duly arrived complete with captain and mate who both looked a little worse for wear; they had been partying the night before in Lae apparently. We loaded our gear and set off. The waves were larger than usual, and the captain informed us there was a cyclone heading our way. The speedboat was meant to plane over the water and the captain tried to get it to lift but we kept slapping into the waves not over them. We were all hanging on for grim death with our arms nearly jolting out of their sockets every time we hit a wave. I remember my feet left the floor of the boat several times as I was jerked upward. Mercifully, it stopped when the motor gave up the ghost, with something shaken loose or broken. The mate opened a hatch under one of the seats, crawled beneath and started tinkering with the motor. All we could see of him was the lower half of his body protruding from beneath a seat. The boat bobbed around at the mercy of the waves, a recipe for seasickness. Sure enough, the captain ran to the side and was extremely ill, no doubt a hangover from yesterday’s big night out. He took no further part in proceedings until towards the end. So, we bobbed around in the boat, trying not to be seasick and endeavouring to protect ourselves from sunburn as well by putting our shirts over our heads. We were constantly scanning for other boats and saw a freighter in the distance; we signalled frantically, waving shirts and white insect nets but it sailed serenely by. Bummer, to say the least.

In the meantime, the mate was still under the seat and there had been no movement for quite a while. We prodded him gently but no reaction, like the captain he was sleeping it off. So, here we were, drifting in the Huon Gulf and a cyclone on the way and no help in sight. It was 12th February 1970, my 25th birthday. Then we saw a timber barge, making its way to Lae and not too far away from us. Neil dipped a rag into the petrol tank and draped it around his rubber foot thong, attached it to the pole of a long-handle insect net and set it alight. It sent up a plume of smoke which thankfully was seen, and the barge altered its course. Our captain at this stage suddenly woke up and decided to take charge. When the barge got close, he threw over a tow rope and then tied it to the transom of our boat. Big mistake. When the barge took up the slack it tore off the transom and then the tow had to be re-established. Prudently, we transferred across to the barge and completed our journey back to Lae with no further drama.

Ross Wylie - Prior to the establishment of the forest entomology research unit at Bulolo in 1966, only five species of pinhole and shot hole borers (Platypodinae and Scolytidae), which are important pests of trees and log timber, had been named in the Bulolo area. Since then, another 403 species have been discovered during studies by those in the unit. In 1973-1974 alone, 201 species were recorded in the Sticky trap No.3 and billet study at Upper Manki Logging Area, Bulolo by Barry, Peter, and me. When combined, the number of Platypodinae and Scolytinae species (408) in the Bulolo area probably makes it the richest for such a small area on earth.

A very youthful Ross Wylie at a “sticky trap” flying insect sampling site in a hoop pine plantation at Bulolo. There were four panels oriented in cardinal directions, the ones on the left and right are edge on and the one at the rear is hidden in shadow and foliage. Photo credit

John Davidson.

Gary Archer - While working as a Technical Assistant in 1964 I had noticed that in steep country the actual number of trees planted per hectare was often more than prescribed. This was because planting crews often laid their measuring rods along the slope rather than holding them horizontally when spacing the seedlings. While working on the Bulolo plantation inventory I compared results calculated from the tree counts along the rows with results calculated from the known-area sample plots alone. I discovered that applying tree counts based on the assumed rather than actual tree spacing led to an overall 5 percent underestimate in stocking. The Bulolo District Forest Officer John Godlee was very happy to adjust the inventory results upwards by 5 percent based on this finding.

Jim Riley - My first visit to the Gogol valley was in 1970. At the BFC, I had trained a group of Technical Assistants in Forest Mensuration specifically for the Gogol TRP Forest Survey. I accompanied them to the base camp.

While there, I flew up the valley by helicopter, where survey crews were operating to check on the effectiveness of the personnel I had trained. We overflew a twin-engine American bomber (a Boston?), that appeared to be in perfect condition. The stars were faded but still visible on the wings. We flew low over it but did not find a suitable landing place. It looked in perfect condition and appeared to have landed on a flat area that must have been recently burnt off by the locals at the time. I discussed it with the Madang DFO Docca Reid. He visited it during the Timber Rights Purchase and said the Guns were all still cocked, and it was completely undamaged. He said a local mission had recently (then) taken the wheels off it.

WW 2 Bomber NW Gogol in Gogol TA. 1972/ Photo credit Ian Whyte.

John Davidson (RAAF historian) provided the following information re the above wreck. It is a Douglas A-200G-DO Havoc.

Below is an RAAF photograph of the wreck taken not long after it force-landed. The aircraft with wheels up remained intact and the crew of three survived and escaped through the open hatches (two hatches - pilot and navigator from the long front hatch, and gunner from the hatch behind the gun turret).

It was a Douglas A-20G-20-DO Havoc serial 42-86786 of the US 312th Bomb Group, 388th Bomb Squadron with nose art “The Hell’n Pelican II” that was forced down due to bad weather on 16 April 1944 during a raid mounted from Nadzab to Japanese targets in Hollandia (now Jayapura in the Indonesian Province of Papua).

It was one of 37 USAAF aircraft lost or crashed that one Sunday afternoon during a severe New Guinea weather front as they tried to return from Hollandia to Nadzab. None was lost to enemy action during the raid! The story has been told only relatively recently in a book “Black Sunday” (Michael Claringbould 2000).

Though not an RAAF aircraft, Douglas A20-G Havoc 42-86786 was among several wrecks recovered from PNG in 1984 and restored at RAAF Amberly, Queensland. Although owned by PNG (by agreement reached to allow its recovery, and eventually to be returned to PNG) it is currently on display at the RAAF Amberly Aviation Heritage Centre.

The restoration was completed in 1996. This is the restored aircraft at the RAAF Amberly

Aviation Heritage Centre. (Photograph RAAF).

Douglas Havoc 42-86786 was separated into manageable parts (engines, horizontal tailplanes, outer wing panels, nose) and lifted out in several flights by RAAF Chinook A15-005 on 1 October 1984. This was the final lift of the remaining stripped fuselage section. (Photograph RAAF).

Ken Granger Aircraft Wreck on a Coral Reef near Arawe 1965.

Photo credit Ken Granger.

John Davidson (RAAF historian) The aircraft in your photograph is an A-20G-10-DO Havoc tail serial no 42-54088 (the first and last digit are missing; the 4 (first digit of year of manufacture “42") because it was on the fabric covering of the rudder and long since decayed, which is unlikely, as tail serials were usually not painted on the moveable surfaces because these were often replaced in service, or more usually not painted on at the aircraft at all, and the 8 towards the leading edge may have been cut off by souvenir hunters). Only “54088 (89th BS, 3rd BG) shot down Jan 7, 1944, Arawe” fits your location given for the wreck pictured. From the diary of Sgt Adrian S. Bottge, 3rd BG, 89th SQ: “Friday - 7 January 1944 … One of our planes crash-landed in the sea up north. At first it was reported that our Navy shot him down, but actually he lost his bearings in the smoke screen that indicated the area to be strafed and hit a treetop.;” PNG Museum Aircraft Status Card - A20G Havoc 7 January 1944 (date matches but does not mention pilot or serial number).

Joe Havel - Not all my second term was equally exciting. I combined the supervision of work in the plantations with research into the early stages of klinkii silviculture and made good progress. It was during this term that the Director Jim McAdam died of a heart attack. His replacement was Bill Suttie, who was a Queenslander of similar vintage to McAdam, but of different management style. He had a strong belief in the “in vino veritas” (there is truth in the vine) Roman style of management, that is that when drunk, people say things they would not say when sober. As a non-drinker I had nothing to fear from it, as I was still sober at the end of the parties when he was not, but I used to be quizzed by him the next morning as to

what he had said. Towards the end of the term, Mr Suttie informed me that I would be sent for a limited period to Rabaul as acting Regional Officer for the Islands Region.

Joe Havel with students studying botanical specimens at the PNG

Forestry College Bulolo. Photograph 1964 TPNG Forests. On one occasion I dined on pork and sauerkraut at a Roman Catholic mission’s Ulamona sawmill at the foot of the Father Volcano whilst solving the mysteries of negative log volumes caused by the high degree of utilisation of hollow kamarere logs.

The net volume was arrived at by deducting the squared volume of the hollow from the round volume of the log.so that if the hollow was big enough, the net volume was negative. We agreed to ignore such logs. Because I would not share the German monks’ homebrew beer brew, I was suspected of being an Irishman, which did not match up with Irishmen’s reputation in Australia. Another stress source was a major lease proposed for the Cape Hoskins area. Because of its size and international potential, it was largely dealt with by the Head Office, but I did inspect the area briefly with the assessment crew. I mentioned to the Director my experience with hollow logs utilised by the Ulamona sawmill, because like that area, the kamarere stands at Cape Hoskins were also on volcanic ashes and likely to have the same problems. The director replied that he worked in the area during the war and did not share my fears. The Deputy Director did share those fears and when he took over the project during the Director’s long service leave, he sent a utilisation crew that felled a lot of the kamarere trees and found them hollow. The project was downgraded.

Joe Havel - On another occasion, after having inspected a lease on Bairiman River, on the south coast of New Britain I slept in a house kiap built on the banks of the river. It had extremely high posts and difficult access via a precarious ladder. I was woken up at dawn by a yelp under the house and a big splash in the river. I later found out from the lululai (village headman) that a man had come to get water from the river and ran into a crocodile that was coming to feast on village pigs. They both turned back to where they came from. The evening before I had cooked my meal right on the banks of the river where the croc came out of the water. Until then, I believed that crocs did not like running rivers with clear water. The high house posts and steep ladders made a lot more sense in the morning.

Ken Granger advised that life was never dull in the survey camp. John (Puddles) Lake was fond of catching snakes and anything else that he could get a reaction from us with. He had caught a small snake that he put in the empty 44-gallon drum we used for catching rainwater and the next day he caught a baby crocodile that also went into the drum. It was said that there were no venomous snakes on Bougainville, and it was a bit of a surprise the next morning when both reptiles were found dead. Gerd did a fine job of skinning the little croc and when he got back to Port Moresby taxidermizing it in a very realistic way. Puddles liklik pukpuk, Jaba River September 1964.Photo credit Ken

Granger.

John Lake thanks Ken Granger for his fantastic photos and his still more incredible memory. John has similar recollections to the fishing at that camp. John caught a bigger fish than the Butbut. It was a 4 to 5 ft Barracuda. Not only did John have to contend with the fish but he had to argue with his companion (Keith Pearson) who did not want him to bring it into the boat. Da

Fish in question. Photo credit Ken Granger.

Ken Granger described the Arawe camp was very well set up for the shower and fishing. L to R. Granger’s mackerel.

Puddles butbu, the flash shower. Photo credit K Granger.

Ken Granger recalls being told that Puddles was in the cohort at the Forestry College in Canberra that substituted the street sign for Constitution Avenue to “Constipation Avenue.” It was still in place a week later until someone tipped off the “Canberra Times.”

Some plantings worked.

E deglupta (kamarere) Kerevat. A. hunsteinii (klinkii) Bulolo.