AUSTRALIAN FORESTERS in PAPUA NEW GUINEA 1922-1975
PNGAF MAGAZINE ISSUE # 9B-5B4W4 of 5th August 2024. lik-lik Docca, Peter Dalton Woolcott, and Olga Woolcott.
Editor R B McCarthy1 2024
Bulolo Department of Forests, lik-lik Docca, Peter Woolcott and his pet kokomo. Bulolo 1968.
Photo credit Ross Lockyer 2018. Ref Cannibals, Crocodiles and Cassowaries. Author Ross Lockyer 2018 page 57.
1 District Forester TPNG 1963-1975
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FORWOOD page 3
Kerevat 1954 page 4
Bulolo 1958 page 4
Olga Woolcott page 11
Return ENB 1969 page 12
Retirement Ramanda Plantation page 12
Ross Lockyer buys one of Peter’s boats page 16
National Recognition of Peter’s Efforts page 17 Acronyms page 18
The Papuan Hornbill (Kokomo in Tok Pidgin) is the only hornbill species native to New Guinea. It is one of the largest flying birds of the region. It nests in rainforest tree hollows as least eighteen metres above ground.
The female is restricted to the nest cavity throughout the incubation and nestling period, being largely sealed inside by plastering up the entrance with a mixture of fruit pulp and rotten wood, leaving only a narrow aperture through which the male feeds her. The clutch size is about two eggs. Its diet consists mainly of fruits, especially figs occasionally supplemented with insects and other small animals. However, it is subject to hunting pressure by some tribal groups, who use its feathers in headdresses, its bill as a personal adornment, and the lower mandible as a spear point.
In flight the sound of its wings is loud and distinctive, a rushing noise that has been compared to the sound of steam escaping from a steam locomotive. It has a range of far-reaching, guttural grunting and laughing calls.
The adult male is up to 91 cm (36 in) in length, mainly black plumage with a golden or orange-buff head, white throat and a white tail. Its irises are reddish brown, and the eye is surrounded by naked pale blue skin.
The female is a smaller, mainly black bird with a white throat and tail. Both sexes have a very large horn-coloured bill and casque. Young birds of both sexes resemble the male. Adults have up to eight folds on the pale casque, depending on age, while young birds have none.
FORWOOD
Daughter Vera recalls that their dad Peter was a very conscientious ‘lik lik docca’ for Forestry, who would go above and beyond to look after the Forestry bois and their families. Many times, he would work after hours and on weekends tending to the very sick and delivering babies. Every Friday he visited all twelve compounds administering malaria tablets. The roads were rough and hard and always getting home in the dark.
In 2006, Peter, in reviewing his life’s accomplishments, now at 80 years of age and in retirement with Olga at Mapleton, looked back at what has been accomplished in their life knowing that helping others in need gave him and his family great satisfaction. That was their greatest reward.
They felt it was humbling and an honour to be awarded the following recognition for years of his chosen path of services to the people of Papua New Guinea and New Britain Gazelle Peninsula:
• 1985 PNG Independence Medal 1975-1985 from the East New Britain Provincial Government.
• 2000. Silver Jubilee Medal of Independence 1975-2000 from the Papua New Guinea National Government.
• 2001 Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE)
Postscript:
Peter Woolcott 11 January 1926 – 21 August 2014
Olga Woolcott 3 November 1928 - 8 November 2021
OBITUARY
Woolcott Peter Dalton of Mapleton, formerly of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea, passed away peacefully on Thursday 21st August 2014 aged 88 years.
Dearly loved Husband of Olga and much-loved Father of Wally (deceased), Peter, Bert, Ann, Vera and Leigh and Father-in-law of Jeff, Steve, Marie, and Lyn. Cherished Pop to his 17 Grandchildren and 9 Great-grandchildren.
Peter is fondly remembered by the people of Ramandu and Kilinwata Plantations, the North Bainings and Rabaul areas of East New Britain, Papua New Guinea.
Source. Range News 28th August 2014.
LIK LIK DOCCA (Peter Daltron Woolcott)
Kerevat 1954
In 19542 , Peter joined the Department of Forestry, Rabaul as a Medical Assistant. He was stationed at Keravat, a small town approximately 23 miles out of Rabaul.
Bulolo 1958
In 1958, he was transferred to Bulolo, Eastern Highlands of New Guinea to take up the position of Medical and Hygiene Officer with responsibilities to manage the health and wellbeing of the local forestry employees.
Peter’s time in Bulolo was very rewarding. Besides his normal work responsibilities, he regularly assisted the local town doctor with minor and difficult operations, and more than often, undertook a supportive role of administering anaesthetic.
Known as the ‘lik lik Docca’ in the area, he willingly extended his services to all members of the community. Many people came to him, confidentially, for a second opinion and/or treatments. On a particular occasion, this allowed him to successfully save a patient’s leg from being amputated after a doctor in a large provincial town had prescribed this measure as the only outcome to protect the person’s life.
Treatments of severe cases of tropical ulcers rather than being airlifted for treatment either in Port Moresby or Australia were commonplace.
Jim Riley3 recalls a few stories about Peter’s work at Bulolo, as his clinic was next to the fire store, when he was the Fire Officer Bulolo.
Being a medical assistant, Peter looked after the health of eight hundred indentured labourers and their families. CNGT provided Bulolo's hospital building, and the Government supplied the staff.All company personnel and their families got free medical attention at the hospital. Jim understood Peter's father had been a doctor, so that's probably where Peter's incredible knowledge of tropical diseases had come from.
Peter’svastmedicalknowledgewasacquiredthroughhismedicaltrainingvia PrinceHenryHospitalSydneyandgreatlyenhancedbyPeterbeingself-taughtby readingeverymedicaljournal/bookhecouldlayhishandson,workingwith doctorsandtreatingpatients.
One day when Jim returned to the fire store after lunch there were seven CNGT men lined up waiting for Peter to return. Jim knew one of them, so he said, "you get free medical treatment
2 Personal Communication daughter Ann Prosser 2/6/2024. Extract from Peter Daltron Woolcott’s autobiography period 1954-2006.
3 Personal Communication Jim Riley 18/3/2024. DaughterAnnadvisedthatPeter’sfatherHarryWoolcott,wasnotadoctorbutan earlyplanterandownerofKabangaPlantation.
at the hospital, so what are you doing here?" The CNGT employee said, "I've had a tropical ulcer for 5 months and I want to be cured”! Peter cured the man’s tropical ulcer in 5 days! He used to store the residue from the Procaine Penicillin vials he injected and mix them with something to make an ointment. He would then scrape the scab off the ulcer (warning it was going to hurt) then use his ointment. He said the scab had to be removed before it would work!
. Not only did Peter cure Jim Riley’s malaria, he advised him it was Vivax, a bad re-occurring one, so also gave me a new drug called ER1 which knocked it on the head permanently.
Any Bulolo hospital patients with malaria had a blood sample sent up to Peter who stained it on a slide and under his Microscope he determined the type of Malaria it was (there are many) and what Phyto phase it was in
One day Peter called Jim into his clinic to look at hookworm eggs under the microscope. Jim is sure Bulolo’s population suffered from Peter moving on!
As a further contribution to the Bulolo community, Peter volunteered each Saturday as the Medico at the football games in Bulolo.
Due to the unavailability of a veterinary surgeon in Bulolo, Peter often operated on and cared for injured or sick pets.
Ross Lockyer 4 described some of the antics that Kokomo’s get up to. (Page one photo of Peter’s kokomo).
Jim Riley and Ross Lockyer often drove up the Bulolo Valley to Wau. It was only thirty kilometres, but it took over an hour to get there as the road was badly gravelled, pot-holed, windy, and narrow. The world-renowned Bernice P. Bishop Natural History Museum headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, had a collection and research station based in Wau. They became friends with two of the resident scientists, Phil Colman, and Peter Shanahan5 who were bothAussies, were good blokes.
Phil was a malacologist (snails and shells specialist) from Sydney, and Peter was a small animal expert. They had a team of local New Guineans working for them on the collection side, and other scientists from Honolulu would visit on short-term projects. Phil and Peter had a collection of live animals and birds that they were studying. They had this huge pet python, which we used to carry about and wrap around ourselves. It was sixteen feet long, weighed sixty pounds, and was as thick as a man’s leg.
There was also a pygmy possum, sugar gliders, a cuscus (a tree climbing kangaroo, which looks like a large golden possum), and a big Papuan hornbill known locally as a “wooshwoosh bird” or kokomo.
4 Ross Lockyer publication Jungles of Papua New Guinea. Website: rosslockyer.co.nz ISBN 9780473436186. Extract page 44-45 “FIREWORKS AT WAU”.
5 Peter Shanahan PNGAF mag Issue # 9B-5B4S3 OF 22/8/2022. TPNG Forests 1972-1974.
16-foot python at the Bishop Museum compound at Wau. L-R. Peter Shanahan, Museum scientist, Ross Lockyer, Phil Colman, Ross Wylie.
Photo credit Ross Lockyer 1968.
The woosh-woosh bird’s name denotes the sound made by its wings as it flies through the jungle among the treetops. The one at Phil and Peter’s house was a pet they had raised from a chick. It was about 130 centimetres long, with a 150-centimetre wingspan, and it had an enormous, hooked beak. It was the most comical looking bird they had ever seen.
Bulolo Department of Forests’ lik-lik Docca, Peter Woolcott, and his pet kokomo. Bulolo.
Photo credit Ross Lockyer 1968.
When sitting on the steps of the old house in the Museum compound, catching up on the local gossip, the kokomo would hear them from somewhere in the depths of the house. It would 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 them 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. 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 they would start the count-down. Before they 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 they 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.
Peter, because of a lack of a regular dentist in town, sought training from a close friend and missionary dentist at New Tribes Watut Mission, so he could undertake routine procedures including fillings, extractions and denture repairs to lessen the load of the visiting dentist and during times when dental services were unavailable.
During Peter’s spare time in Bulolo and for many years, with a good friend he ventured into establishing a large market garden that enabled them to supply the Forestry folks with locally grown, fresh vegetables which were delivered to their homes each Saturday for a small price sufficiently only to cover their costs.
Peter undertook several medical patrols, especially in the Watut Valley, whilst in Bulolo in the 1960’s. One such patrol was with forester Chris Borough, forester Gary Archer, Greg O’Hara (lecturer at BFC) and a visiting doctor.
Olga Woolcott
Olga Woolcott was employed as kitchen manager and supervisor responsible for preparation of menus and meals, ordering of food stock, kitchen hygiene, supervision, and training of staff at the newly opened Bulolo Forestry College at Bulolo from around 1965 to 1969.
Return to East New Britain 1969.
After eleven wonderful years in Bulolo, Peter and his family returned to Rabaul in 1969 where he was able to secure a transfer to the Department of Forestry, Keravat. During this time, expatriate forestry officers usually stationed at Keravat who had returned to Australia, were not replaced so forestry duties were added to Peter’s role description
Retirement Ramandu Plantation North Baining Coast ENB
Source Ryan P. Encyclopedia of PNG. Page 291.
Peter retired in 1976 Olga and he settled on Ramandu Plantation on the North Baining Coast of East New Britain.
Together with Olga’s committed support, Peter set up the plantation health centre with capabilities to care for patients needing over-night treatment and observation for plantation workers, their families as well as local village folks. Daily treatments included sores, tropical ulcers, testing & medicating of malaria, cold & flu, stitching, dressing of wounds etc. Although his patients were aware that a very small nominal fee for each adult was charged, children received free treatments. More often than not, these fees remained unpaid.
As a practice, no patient was ever refused treatment and primarily the plantation covered funding of the clinic. Donations from Vunapope Catholic Mission, Kokopo and Department of Health, Keravat were much appreciated particularly considering the exorbitant costs of imported medication, dressings and equipment. Continuation of this medical outpost extending treatments to non-plantation employees has been dependent on this generosity.
It needs to be emphasized here, that if any medical treatment was unable to be administered for serious medical conditions and for lengthy hospitalization, every effort was made to transport patients to hospitals at Nonga or Vunapope by boat, private vehicle or helicopter at plantation cost.
In conjunction to normal responsibilities of running the plantation, Peter was able to continue this work with ongoing, devoted support from his wife Olga She, on a daily basis, attended to many patients herself, kept the medical centre clean and tidy, ensured dressings, medication and sterilized equipment were on hand and ready to use.
During Peter’s life in PNG, he had seen two volcano eruptions in 1934 and 1994. After the latter, his wife Olga and he assisted with accommodation, food, medical services and transport to many of the town folks who lost everything in the disaster.
Peter and Olga beachside East New Britain. Photo credit Woolcott family archives.
Ross Lockyer buys one of Peter’s Boat’s
Ross Lockyer6 recalls that after leaving CNGT at the end 1970, he had enough of NZ by the end of 1971. He applied to return to PNG as a District Forest Officer (DFO) with the PNG Department of Forests. He was posted to New Britain but had trouble getting to the other seven logging operations without his own transport.
The Forestry Department did not have any funds available at the time to supply me with transport, so he did a deal with them whereby he would buy a boat with an outboard motor, and a small motorbike, and the Forestry Department would pay him a monthly hire rate for them. He bought a little Yamaha 100cc motor bike in Rabaul and rode it out to the Bainings some thirty-two kilometres further down the north coast to see his old mate Peter Woolcott who used to live at Bulolo. Since he had departed Bulolo, Peter had left the Forestry Department and retired with his wife to their coconut plantation in the Bainings.
Ross figured if Peter did not have a spare boat of some sort, then he would surely know someone who did. Fortunately, he did have spares among his half a dozen vessels, and he was happy to part with one. The one that suited Ross best was a 14-foot fibreglass dinghy, which
6 6 Ross Lockyer publication Jungles of Papua New Guinea. Website: rosslockyer.co.nz ISBN 9780473436186. Extract page 143-144 “The Perils of getting Around.
had started life as a centre-board yacht. The centre-board hole was glassed over, and the boat had a 28 hp Evinrude outboard hanging off it. It looked a good, sound, solid vessel, although a bit on the narrow side. Peter also had a big, old, hand-operated winch, suitable for hauling a boat out of the water, which he offered to Ross.A deal was done, and Peter delivered the winch and dinghy up to Rabaul for Ross where they were loaded with the motorbike on the government supply boat for transport to Bialla.
National Recognition of Peter’s Efforts
Peter and Olga 2012. Photo credit Woolcott Family Archives.
ACRONYMS
ACT
Australian Capital Territory
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
ASOPA Australian School of Pacific Administration
BCOF British Commonwealth Occupational Force 1945-52
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
DEPT Department
DIES Dept of Information and extension Services.
FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation
F &TB Forest and Timber Bureau Canberra
FPRC Forest Products Research Centre Hohola
Forkol Bulolo Forestry College
ha Hectare
IFA Institute of Foresters of Australia
L of N League of Nations
m3 cubic metre
MBE Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE)
MM Military Medal
NAA National Archives Australia
NB New Britain
no. Number
NG New Guinea
NGF New Guinea Forces (relates to plant collection of Lae Herbarium)
NGIB New Guinea Infantry Battalion
NZ New Zealand
NSW New South Wales
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
PNGFIA PNG Forest Industries Association
PNGUT
PNG University of Technology
POM Port Moresby
Q Queensland
QF Queensland Forestry
RAE Royal Australian Engineers/Australian Army
RPC Royal Papuan Constabulary
UK United Kingdom
UN United Nations
UNE University of New England Armidale NSW
UNI University
UNITECH University of Technology Lae PNG
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
TA Timber Area
TRP Timber Rights Purchase
VSF Victorian School of Forestry
WA Western Australia
WB World Bank
WW2 WORLD WAR 2