AUSTRALIAN FORESTERS in PAPUA NEW GUINEA 1922-1975 Peter Shanahan 1with Ross Wylie Wau, 1968. Photo credit Ross Lockyer. Name Peter Shanahan Date joined Forestry PNG 1972 1974 Occupation Zoologist Work Localities Bulolo Forest research Editor R B McCarthy 2022. 1 Obituary Peter Shanahan PNGAA PNG Kundu Vol 1 No 2 June 2020 p 59 2 Dick McCarthy District Forester TPNG Forests 1963 1975. PNGAF MAGAZINE ISSUE # 9B-5B4S3 of 22nd Aug 2022 FOREST MANAGEMENT. Eminent TPNG Forest Zoologist Peter Shanahan TPNG Forests 1972-1974.
Aged 79, Peter died peacefully in Cairns on the 13th of November 2020. He was born on 9 December 1940 He and his mother, an American Samoan descendent of New Britain’s Queen Emma, were evacuated from New Guinea in 1942. Tom, his New Zealand born father, stayed on to fight the Japanese.
He also became a fauna collector for the Bishop Museum, Honolulu and gained a degree in biology in the United States.
Ross Wylie3 recalls that one of his early acquaintances and best mates in PNG was Peter Shanahan, whose family owned a coffee plantation in Wau. Peter was third generation New Guinean descended from German stock and boasting a connection to Queen Salote of Tonga. He was the font of all knowledge on the birds, animals and insects of New Guinea and had his own private zoo, including birds of paradise and tree climbing kangaroos plus eclectus parrots and various snakes. Ross learnt an incredible amount from him in those early days.
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.
Peter Shanahan.
The 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 who was another great friend and colleague and Ross Wylie volunteered 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 Shanahan 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. Ross does not think the weight was ever recorded.
Educated in Sydney private schools Peter forgave further studies to expand his parents’ copra and cacao plantation. Gaining experience in land surveying and plantation operations in Rabaul, he was recalled to manage the Wau Coffee Estates.
Peter joined our forest entomology unit in 1972.
3 Personal communication Ross Wylie 4 John Davidson personal communication 24/10/18
At that field station Ross Wylie 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.
John Davidson4 reported that Peter went off in 1974 to do a higher degree in the US. After a protracted period in USA, he graduated in marine biology and returned to Australia at the end of 1981.
Peter Shanahan Wau 1968. Photo credit Ross Lockyer.
5 Martin Kerr PNGAA 6 Ross Lockyer personal communication 13 April 2020 7 Neville Howcroft 15 April 2020
Neville Howcroft7 advised that he and Barry Gray recalled Peter as a good allrounder in insect collecting and an authority on PNG fauna and reptiles and fish He probably was a citizen of PNG as his family owned a plantation near little Wau Creek at Wau. Neville liked him a lot as Peter was always entertaining to listen to and got on well with all staff that I can recall. He ended up as one of the staff at the Flecker Botanic Gardens at Cairns.
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Peter joined the Queensland Department of Forestry. He then took a position in the inaugural team raised for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. A former lecturer and interpretive officer for the Cairns Botanic Gardens, he was elected President of Friends of the InGardens.recentyears he wrote two unpublished memoirs, Jungle Shan: Growing up in New Guinea and The Birdman of Wau. Peter’s grandparents were Juanita and Carl Wilde of Emira. Juanita was the daughter of Franz and Caroline Stehr of Manuan plantation in the Duke of York Islands. Peter enjoyed a menagerie of ‘friends’ at his rainforest retreat in Kuranda, Queensland. He is survived by his sister Gail who also lives in Kuranda5
Ross Lockyer6 reported that he and Jim Riley knew Peter well when he was the small animal collector for the Bishop Museum collecting station at Wau in 1967 71 or thereabouts. He lived with another collector, Phil Colman who was the malacologist (snail and shells man) also at the Bishop Museum.
Peter Shanahan on left; Joe Sedlacek, Ross Lockyer; Phil Coleman, Ross Wylie Wau 1968. Photo credit Ross Lockyer
ACRONYMSACT Australian Capital Territory ACIAR Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research ACLMP AusAid funded World Bank Land Mobilisation program. AEC Administrators Executive Committee AFS Australian Forestry School AFPNG Association of Foresters of PNG AIF Australian Infantry Forces AMF Australian Military Forces ANBG Australian National Botanical Gardens ANGAU Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit ANU Australian National University APMF Australian Paper Manufacturers Forestry Pty Ltd APPM Australia Paper and Pulp Manufacturers ASIO Australian Security Intelligence Organisation ASOPA Australian School of Pacific Administration AusAID Australian Aid Agency BA basal area BCOF British Commonwealth Occupational Force 1945 52 “Beer Time” Any time. BFC Bulolo Forestry College BGD Bulolo Gold Dredging Company BUC Bulolo University College C Commonwealth cm Centimetre CALM Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management CFA Commonwealth Forestry Association CNGT Commonwealth New Guinea Timbers Bulolo CRE Commander Royal Engineers CRE CRE is a term inherited by RAE from RE and is the term for the Commanding Officer of a RAE unit which is headed by a Lt Col. Although the officer is called the CRE the name is also used for the name of his unit. E.g., CRE Aust Forestry Group or 1(NG Forests). CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation CHAH Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria DASF Dept of Agriculture, Stock and Fisheries DBH/ dbh Diameter at breast height DEPT Department DPI Department of Primary Industry DOF Department of Forests e.g. For example Etc et cetera (more of the same) FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation F &TB Forest and Timber Bureau Canberra FIM Forest Information System FPRC Forest Products Research Centre Hohola
FRG Forest Red Gum FRI Forest Research Institute Lae Forkol Bulolo Forestry College GAB Girth above buttress Gbhob Girth breast height over bark Gubab Girth under bark above buttress GIS Geographic Information Systems ha Hectare IBRD International Bank for Reconstruction and Development IFA Institute of Foresters of Australia IFY International Year of the Forest ITTO International Tropical Timber Organization JICA Japanese International Cooperation Agency L of N League of Nations LRRS Land Resource Soils Survey (branch of CSIRO) m3 cubic metre MM Military Medal NAA National Archives Australia NARI National Agriculture Research Institute NB New Britain NFCAP PNG National Forestry and Conservation Action Plan no. Number NG New Guinea NGF New Guinea Forces (relates to plant collection of Lae Herbarium) NGIB New Guinea Infantry Battalion NGO Non Government Organisation NGVR New Guinea Volunteer Rifles NZ New Zealand NSW New South Wales NTSC National Tree Seed Centre PNG Bulolo OISCA Organisation for Industrial, Spiritual and Cultural Advancement International Japan. P or p page PIB Papuan Infantry Battalion PIR Pacific Islands Regiment PNG Papua New Guinea PNGAA Papua New Guinea Australia Association PNGAF Papua New Guinea Australian Foresters Magazine Series PNGFA Papua New Guinea Forest Authority PNGFIA PNG Forest Industries Association PNGRIS Papua New Guinea Resource Information System PNGUT PNG University of Technology POM Port Moresby Q Queensland QF Queensland Forestry RAE Royal Australian Engineers/Australian Army RPC Royal Papuan Constabulary RRA Rapid Resource Appraisal SFM Sustainable Forest Management
SP South Pacific UK United Kingdom UN United Nations Unasylva Journal of FAO of UN UNE University of New England Armidale NSW UNEP United Nations Environment Program UNI University UNITECH University of Technology Lae PNG UNRE University of Natural Resources and Environment UPNG University of Papua New Guinea UQ University of Queensland US United States USA United States of America TPNG Territory of Papua and New Guinea TUBL Territory United Brewery Ltd TA Timber Area TA Timber Authority TRP Timber Rights Purchase Vol volume VSF Victorian School of Forestry WA Western Australia WB World Bank