Expatriate Staff at Wau

eastern bank of Sandy Creek until a crossing could be made upstream of the water-race. The road location then ran down-stream above the water-race on the western bank.

The problem of construction of the road bench was exasperated by the fact that the location ran into granitic rock. This required extensive pneumatic drilling and blasting.

Expatriate Staff at Wau

With its Sub-district status, Wau office and its operations depended extensively on the resources of the Bulolo office. This resulted in considerable interaction of staff, and this increased in the early 1960s.

The roadwork program, with a large component of maintenance and repair work, relied for some years on one Wau based tractor operator until late 1960 when he returned to Australia. This was Alan (Red) Harrison. There was regular support from Bulolo based tractor operators Bob Cattanach and Bill Jenkins. Then with the relocation of the Lae Sawmill staff, Peter Woolcot was transferred to Wau.

On the silviculture side, support came from short term stays by Cadet Forest Officers, firstly Evan Shield followed by Neil Brightwell.

The Fraser brothers, Ken and Alan moved up from the Lae Sawmill and took over roles in supervising the labour lines involved in plantation establishment. To provide support in the office, Mrs. Best, a resident of Wau was engaged. The fact that the forest office was located five miles out of town placed an additional burden on motor vehicles held at Wau, with Mrs. Best, Alan Fraser and Peter Woolcot requiring transport to and from the office each day.

Without the expatriate residence constructed at the Forest Station, which had been a contentious issue at the start, operations at Wau would have been calamitous, because so much had to be organized early each morning at the Forest Station.

TAA Domestic Service, Wau. Photo credit Des Harries.