Interesting inscription in “Somewhere in New Guinea”
Frank Clune, of course, was a distinguished Australian author and Goya Henry was a famous Australian aviator and master of small ships in PNG.
I recently purchased Somewhere in New Guinea with this remarkable dedication from Frank to Goya inside the book.
Clune, Francis Patrick (Frank) (1893 – 1971)
Birth:
27 November 1893,Darlinghurst, Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
Death:
11 March 1971,Darlinghurst, Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
Cultural Heritage:
Religious Influence:
Occupation:
- accountant
- autobiographer/memoirist
- defence forces personnel (other countries)
- historian (general)
- journalist
- radio entertainer
- soldier
- travel writer
Francis Patrick (Frank) Clune (1893 – 1971), by unknown photographer, 1930-33, courtesy of State Library of New South Wales. Original : P1/C (BM) . .
Image Details
CLUNE, FRANCIS PATRICK (1893-1971), author, journalist and accountant, was born on 27 November 1893 at Darlinghurst, Sydney, son of George Clune, a labourer from Ireland, and his Victorian-born wife Theresa Cullen. Educated in Sydney at St Colombkille’s and St Benedict’s Catholic schools, Frank grew up at Redfern and took a job as a newsboy. He left school at 14, and claimed to have worked as a messenger-boy in the government printer’s office, to have run away to become an itinerant bush labourer and to have had twenty-five different jobs by the age of 17. After joining the United States Army in Kansas on 26 October 1911, he subsequently deserted and was a seaman when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 10 May 1915. Serving with the 16th Battalion at Gallipoli from 2 August, he was wounded in both legs five days later and evacuated to a hospital in Cairo; he returned to Sydney in November and was discharged on 29 March 1916. At Woollahra in a civil ceremony on 31 October that year he married a tailoress Maud Elizabeth Roy; they were divorced in 1920.
Employed as a commercial traveller, Clune married a 21-year-old saleswoman Thelma Cecily Smith on 9 May 1923 at the district registrar’s office, Waverley; she was to appear in his columns as ‘Brown Eyes’ and to become the proprietor of an art gallery. At night he studied accountancy and in 1924 established a tax consultancy, registering Clune Accounting Systems Ltd in 1928. He lived at Vaucluse from 1930 and belonged to the New South Wales Golf Club. His adventures at sea, as a trooper in the American cavalry, at Gallipoli, bootlegging in Canada, touring Queensland in the chorus of an opera company, and as a mouse-trap salesman provided the basis of his first book, Try Anything Once (1933). It was an immediate success and sold tens of thousands of copies.
From 1933 to 1936 Clune developed the formula which he was to use for many other books: Rolling Down the Lachlan(1935) and Roaming Round the Darling (1936) were speedily-written accounts of his travels as a tax-consultant in western New South Wales and of an expedition to Coopers Creek, Queensland. His combination of historical detail, narratives of explorers and contemporary political observations found an eager market. Following the example of Ion Idriess, Clune used a rough-and-ready prose style and expressed his sense of nationalism. His travel books, again employing his trusted formula, covered Europe, the Pacific, the Middle East, Asia and North America. By 1952 he estimated that his twenty-three books had sold over a half a million copies.
Clune (and his supporters) took his writing seriously, seeing it as an expression of simple Australian virtues and unvarnished Australian speech. Others were more sceptical. Kenneth Slessor met him in Cairo in 1942 and wryly noted that Clune, although an honorary commissioner of the Australian Comforts Fund, spent most of his time arranging free travel and collecting guide books as sources for Tobruk to Turkey (1943); Clune donated the royalties (£750) to the fund. He ‘left a very bad impression’ on General Sir Thomas Blamey—as much for his self-conferred rank of major as for his ‘irregular methods and indiscreet utterances’ about the British ‘only playing at war’. Blamey ensured that Clune was subject to military censorship and, when Clune managed to get to New Guinea in 1943 through the help of the U.S. Army, had him smartly returned to Australia.
With a strong sense of his public, Clune did not confine his enthusiasm for travel, adventure and history to books. When he had been auditioned, officials of the Australian Broadcasting Commission found that his ‘voice is not all good’, but from 1936 he badgered (Sir) Charles Moses (on a golf course) to arrange for him to give a series of radio talks. Clune wrote for newspapers and magazines, including Smith’s Weekly and the A.B.C. Weekly, and continued to broadcast; his regular show on the A.B.C., ‘Roaming Round Australia’ (1945-57), boasted an audience of one million.
There were more critical responses to Clune’s apparent insouciance with evidence when he wrote what purported to be orthodox history rather than travelogue. Starting with Dig (1937), an account of Burke and Wills, he worked his way through Australian history, writing accounts of bushrangers, ‘crooks’ and other romantic figures. The Viking of Van Diemen’s Land (1954), its narrative full of action and dialogue, was thought to have more in common with historical novels than history; Clune and his collaborator P. R. Stephensen were taken to task for passing off conjecture as fact in the life of Jorgen Jorgenson. The book had come from notes which Clune had made over eighteen years and from the work of researchers employed on contract, and was written up in a dramatic manner. With its impressive bibliography, it illustrates Clune’s strengths and weaknesses: an ability to ferret out information, but a desire to embroider it. Nevertheless, in books such as Dig and Wild Colonial Boys (1948), where he took care, he handled complex narrative and evidence comparatively well.
While his defects as a historian and a literary stylist are obvious, Clune’s readability and his capacity to sound like an enthusiastic representative of the ordinary traveller brought him wide popularity. He wrote in a pre-television era when men, in particular, read for entertainment and vicarious adventure. As he said in the first number of his short-lived Frank Clune’s Adventure Magazine (1948), ‘We don’t want stories of snoopy sex, written by anaemic lounge lizards and pub-crawlers. Action is the password to these pages. This is reading for men with red blood in their arteries’.
Although his fifty-ninth (and last) book appeared in 1968, he had continued to practise as a tax consultant, in partnership with his elder son from about 1959. (Sir) William Dargie and (Sir) William Dobell painted portraits of Frank Clune and he bought examples of their work, as well as paintings by other artists. Dobell’s portrait emphasizes the bluff, steel-coloured, short-cropped hair, and the energy, confidence and humour in his eyes. Clune was appointed O.B.E. in 1967. Survived by his wife and two sons, he died on 11 March 1971 at St Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst, and was buried with Catholic rites in South Head cemetery. The travel books remain valuable social records and the histories, although contentious, gave rise to some Australian mythologizing; Jimmy Governor (1959) was the inspiration for Thomas Keneally’s novel, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1972). The portraits of Clune are held by the family.
Select Bibliography
B. Adamson, Frank Clune (Melb, 1943); K. Slessor, The War Diaries of Kenneth Slessor (Brisb, 1985); ABC Weekly, 23 Dec 1939, p 8; People (Sydney), 12 Apr 1950, p 21; Walkabout, 1 Mar 1953, p 40; Papers and Proceedings (Tasmanian Historical Research Association), 3, nos 2 and 3, 1954, pp 28, 52; Biblionews, 8, no 2, Feb 1955, p 4, no 4, Apr 1955, p 11, no 7, July 1955, p 22; Clune papers (National Library of Australia); Clune files, especially SP 1558/2/0 box 36 and 244/1/463 (National Archives of Australia); F. Clune, manuscripts and working papers of several unfinished books (University of New South Wales Library); private information. More on the resources
Author: Julian Croft
Print Publication Details: Julian Croft, ‘Clune, Francis Patrick (Frank) (1893 – 1971)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 13, Melbourne University Press, 1993, pp 447-448.
Henry, Henry Goya (1901 – 1974)
Birth:
17 June 1901, Grafton,New South Wales,Australia
Death:
14 July 1974, Manly, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation:
HENRY, HENRY GOYA (1901-1974), aviator and shipmaster, was born on 17 June 1901 at Grafton, New South Wales, third son of Thomas James Henry, medical practitioner, and his wife Emily, née Stephen, a great-granddaughter of John Stephen. Known as Goya, Henry was educated at Grafton High School. He made one voyage in a sailing ship; hoping to transfer later to medicine, he studied science at the University of Sydney in 1922-23. At St Matthew’s Church, Windsor, on 11 April 1925 he married Marjory Alison Pursehouse, schoolteacher. He worked as a clerk.
Qualifying for a private flying licence on 28 January 1928, Henry was issued with a commercial licence on 6 June 1929, which he used principally in a barnstorming venture. On 6 July 1930, flying a Junkers Junior monoplane, he was caught in bad weather and crashed at Manly, killing his passenger and losing much of one leg. With a successful artificial leg, he eventually regained his commercial licence in 1932 and was employed by Air Taxi Ltd. About 1934 he bought a Genairco biplane, decorated it with a ‘Jolly Roger’ and used it for joy-rides.
In September 1934 Henry’s licence was suspended for a fortnight for breaches of the air navigation regulations. Considering the sentence unjust, he defied the order: his licence was suspended indefinitely and he was prosecuted. Henry’s brother Alfred Stephen, a solicitor, launched proceedings in the High Court of Australia in October 1934 for an order nisi. While judgment was pending Henry was charged with further offences, his licence was suspended again and he was forbidden to enter any aerodrome. The Henry brothers appealed again to the High Court for an injunction. In 1936 the High Court ruled in respect of the action of October 1934 that the Commonwealth had a right to regulate flights but only in conformity with international conventions on the subject; the court considered that the regulations in dispute did not accord with those conventions. The parties then agreed out of court that on the payment of damages by the Commonwealth, the injunction application would be struck out. Charged by a flight controller at Mascot during the ensuing temporary confusion with flying below the prescribed height, Henry appealed, this time unsuccessfully to the High Court.
After a verdict against him in the District Court, arising from a collision while taking off from Mascot, Henry was bankrupted in October 1938 and was not discharged until September 1940. Debarred by his artificial leg from the Royal Australian Air Force at the start of World War II, he joined the small ships unit of the United States Army in 1943 and sailed a small work boat around New Guinea. After the war he worked for the Papua-New Guinea division of the Directorate of Shipping as mate on the Kelanoa plying between Rabaul and Kavieng, and as master of the Matoko in 1950-51. When the shipping service was taken over by the administration of Papua-New Guinea, he became master of the Thetis sailing up and down the Sepik River. He retired about 1963 and returned to Sydney; although his flying licence had lapsed he tried to revive contact with aviation. He died childless at Manly of arteriosclerosis on 14 July 1974 and was cremated.
Short, fair, straight-backed and nimble in spite of his disability, Henry became a New Guinea character. He had collected and sold snakes for many years, thereby reinforcing his reputation as a daredevil. In later years he suffered from some alcoholic excess.
Select Bibliography
Pacific Islands Monthly, Sept 1966, p 130; Aircraft (Melbourne), Dec 1936, p 8, 1 Apr 1937, p 17; Commonwealth Law Reports, 1955, p 608, 695, 1961, p 634; Australian Flying, Sept 1974; Sydney Morning Herald, 7 July 1930, 11 Nov 1936, 17, 18 Sept 1940, 21 July 1974; Smith’s Weekly (Sydney), 21 Nov 1936; bankruptcy file 249/1938, Federal Court of Australia (State Records New South Wales); service record, (National Personnel Records Center, St Louis, Mo, USA); A518 DB112/5, A432 34/1802, MP274/6 FL3918 (National Archives of Australia).
Author: H. J. Gibbney
Print Publication Details: H. J. Gibbney, ‘Henry, Henry Goya (1901 – 1974)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9, Melbourne University Press, 1983, pp 265-266.
We are no longer all British!
Today a couple of young Englishmen called in doing a survey for GOGREEN, and I got talking to them. First saying I detected their Southern English accents and they told me they were from London.
I asked them were they visitors or residents and they said they were here for a year and hoped to stay longer but there could be difficulties. I mentioned that my forebears come from Shepherd’s Bush in London and one said that was where he came from. I then went on to say that when I first visited England in the fifties, we were all considered to be British and went through the barriers as such, but alas, the Empire is no longer and as Australians coming to the UK now we are considered aliens, the same as the poor old Brits coming into Australia.
I then went on to tell them about a friend, a Battle of Britain pilot with a DFC, upon entering Britain he was told that he had to go through the barrier at customs for aliens, and he refused, and made such a fuss along the lines that he fought for this country and there was no way he was going to enter as an alien. Eventually the authorities relinquished and let hin through the citizens’ gate.
I must admit that I did embellish the story a bit. The pilot was not actually a friend, and whether he had a DFC or not, I don’t know, but I did hear this story from someone as being something that did actually happen to a Battle of Britain pilot and his reaction.
The point of this little tale is that some of us might feel we are British, and like St Paul of old be proud of Roman Citizenship, but a fat lot of good this will do Englishmen or Australians. On reflection I suppose it didn’t do St Paul much good, but then again, I suppose it’s better to have your head cut off than to be crucified.
Yangtze Sepik Swim
“At the start of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, the Chinese press reported that Chairman Mao Zedong (then age 73) swam across the Yangtze River at Wuhan. The story was intended to quash rumors that Mao was either gravely ill or dead.” WuhanTravel Guide
When did the Birdman swim across the Sepik?
“Now the Birdman, it was when Trueman was building the club toilets etc. I can’t recall the year, but I distinctly remember that it was between smokes!”
Peter Johnson (Former Secretary of the Angoram Club)
I would say from memory that Adrian Birb swam the Sepik River in 1969.
The Chairman’s swim, in a sense, ushered in the Cultural Revolution and the Birdman’s swim coincided with revolutionary changes in the social and political life in Angoram.
Adrian Bird, the Birdman, was a master builder who was initially employed by Geoff King, the Manager of the Angoram Hotel, to carry out hotel renovations. When these were finished, Kevin Trueman, entrepreneur and builder, decided to retain the Birdman to start and complete a contract he had with the Angoram Club.
The swim was a perilous achievement as the current of the mighty river almost carried him away. On reaching the bank he was heard to say: “I need a smoke.”
I think the dangers that Adrian faced were greater than those faced by the Chairman. Whether, of course, the enormous political implications were as great for the Birdman as for Mao is a matter for debate.
Both were significant revolutionary figures.
The Sepik Solution
Keram River
It has come to my notice that a prominent East Sepik Province businessman, Mr Peter Johnson, C.B.E., has approached the Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, for authorization to offer his estate, Yip, on the Keram River, to the Australian Prime Minister, Mr Kevin Rudd as a haven for asylum seekers on their way to Australia.
He is just awaiting Sir Michael’s approval and the OK from Mr Rudd to embark on a massive building program to accommodate the refugees.
It has been further speculated that Mr John Pasquarelli is considering a return to the Sepik to manage the Yip establishment. Senator Barnaby Joyce is said to be enthusiastic about the Yip idea and of Mr Pasquarelli running it.
Mr Pasquarelli sees himself as an Australian with courage “to become [a flag-bearer] in these challenging times.”
In this brilliant concept there would be winners everywhere: Christmas Island will not become overcrowded. The Australian navy would benefit by improving their navigational skills by collecting refugees wherever and shipping them up the Sepik and Keram Rivers. The asylum seekers would be well-housed in the palatial accommodation planned by Mr Johnson and managed by Mr Pasquarelli. PNG would get wanted revenue. Mr Rudd would stop the boats coming to Australia and would not be embarrassed by adopting a Pacific Solution, for this would be the Sepik Solution. In accordance with United Nations regulations, Mr Pasquarelli promises a quick turnover of the bona fides of the asylum seekers – good looking females, of course – will be given preferential treatment, which is only fair, given we are thinking of future generations in Australia.
So, my advice to you, Mr Rudd, would be “take it,” for: On such a full sea are we now afloat, And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures.
A fortune so tantalizingly close
Sam Bell sat on the verandah of his house in Angoram on Tobacco Road facing the Sepik River and he contemplated the future and the past. He had reason to be reflective as he was, just now, recovering from a rather virulent dose of clap thanks to the penicillin injections given by Jamie Ward, but life went on, and a man had to make a bob and the future offered interesting possibilities in this respect.
Angoram in the 1960s had its fair share of dreamers and schemers with little to sustain them but the hope of better things to come. Sam, who arrived in New Guinea shortly after the Second World War had put his hand to most things from Airways employee to gold mining and trading but never had he been so hopeful of making a fortune than he was just now.
When he first arrived in Angoram he could see that there was money in running a trade store and in buying crocodile skins, and with his partner, Bill Clayton, a pretty penny had been made. But Sam wanted big money and the events of the last couple of days held out the prospect of this.
A couple of weeks previously Sam had sent Carlos Ruiz, a mixed-race employee, to the Amboin area up the Karawari River to check out the kwila or ironwood stands. In this endeavour, his information was of little value. All he could really say was that he had seen the occasional kwila and that the people would cut them down and float them down the river to Angoram, but they wanted axes, saws and an outboard motor to do this as well as an exorbitant amount of money for each tree.
Sam thought to himself that Carlos was a bit of a useless bastard, he’d been up the river on good wages and this is all he can come back with. He knew that he was a bit of a piss-pot and he had become more so after some of those do-gooders had allowed him to become a member of the Angoram Club, as Sam said: “A man’s got to work with them I can’t see any reason why you have to relax with them.” These words of precaution were offered in the soft tones of Sam’s Scottish brogue and became more meaningful in observing the expressive Hemingway look-alike face of his.
But then life is full of surprises, for the good Carlos went on to reveal and show Sam something of earth-shattering importance. Sam, an inveterate art fancier, was all ears after Carlos showed him a piece of woodcarving he had collected while in the upper reaches of the Karawari River.
Carlos could detect that Sam was not too impressed with what he had to tell him about the timber and its availability. As an afterthought he said: “Sam, I did get as far up the river as Inyai, ol yangpela there kept on talking about some caves they wanted to show me. I could tell that the old blokes were not too keen to show me where these caves were. This made me think that there might be something good to see there. Well, I did go to the caves and all I saw was a whole lot of old junky carvings. I bought this one for $10 from the young blokes. A bit of rubbish as far as I’m concerned but I thought you might be interested.”
To say that Sam might be interested was the understatement of the century. What Carlos produced was a wooden carved female figure standing at about 5 1/2 feet and made, as far as Sam could tell, from ironwood. The figure was in the frontal position with upraised arms and the head was crowned with a spiked elevated adornment. Sam, who had been collecting on the river for years, had never seen anything quite like it. It appeared to be very old with an indefinable quality about it.
An appreciation of so called primitive art is an intangible quality that grows on some expatriates without them necessarily being very knowledgeable about the culture that produces such art. What is the difference between a curio and a piece of carving that radiates and gleams to the aware? Sam knew, but could probably not give you an answer. In his years on the Sepik River, Sam had seen piles of good and bad carvings and he had a very good idea what was an artifact and what was just fairly good carving. He had no doubt that what he was looking at now was important aesthetically and financially. Or in Sam’s terminology, “there’s a bob to be made here.”
He knew he had to conceal and disguise from Carlos how impressed he was with the carving. Otherwise, the whole town would hear about it and what was left in the Karawari would be collected by others. He thought to himself, “that bloody Pietro will be up there like a shot and as for that German doctor this would be just the excuse he needs to go on a medical patrol up the river and get as many carvings as he can.” John Pietro was a trader very often in competition with Sam for a good carving. Jan Speer, the German doctor, Sam accused him of building up his own museum and selling artefacts in Europe, all at government expense by collecting on so- called medical patrols.
If there were more like this piece, Sam thought to himself, then I’ve struck it. He could talk of gold, heavy yellow gold. Of course, the very thing he intended not to do was talk about it. He would imply to Bill Clayton, his business partner that he was on a good thing.
“OK Carlos here’s the $10 for this piece and what you’ve found out about timber in the Karawari could be useful. I think I might check it out for myself in the next few days.” He got the carving back to his house pronto, and got his houseboy to brew a very strong pot of coffee. While drinking, he reflected, and tried to suppress his excitement and he decided to share and show Bill Clayton the carving. After all, Bill and I are partners, he figured. But the truth was that he couldn’t help but tell someone of what he considered his good fortune.
Bill when he saw the piece was equally blown away by it. Together they made plans to get up the Karawari River as soon as possible. “We’ll not take that blabbermouth, Carlos, with us.” The lure of gold was now firmly planted in Sam’s psyche and he saw his El Dorado on the horizon. “Bill, we’ve got to get to those caves as soon as possible.”
Sam and Bill made to the caves. Up the Karawari past Amboin to the headwaters of the Arfundi River to Inyai and Awim village territory and beyond to limestone escarpments, where caves were discovered full of the most extraordinary artifacts. Sam nearly had a heart attack on the trip as the going was so hard; tramping through swamps and bush tracks to finally reach the treasure.
The pieces consisted of hooks in a complex style and female figures like the one that Carlos had shown Sam. Sam managed to persuade the locals to sell ten pieces to them and they were up and out of there as soon as they could leave. When they arrived back in Angoram Sam had no trouble getting an export permit from the Assistant District Commissioner.
He decided he would send them off to a contact he had in the Museum of Primitive Art in New York, merely to get them priced. This is what was done but alas, alas, they never got to New York. According to Sam, “some rotten bastard in Madang nicked the lot of them.” For years after Sam and Bill scanned museum catalogues and displays and talked to private collectors, but had no success in tracing their pieces. All that Sam knew was that similar pieces had come on the market and were conservatively priced in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Sam and other collectors did subsequently collect from the caves much to their personal profit. But the ones that were taken were always a source of grief to Sam.
Education and Environment by Ralf Stüttgen
The views from Ralf's property in the Wewak Hills
Ralf discusses Sepik carvings with US Ambassador, Leslie Rowe
Proper education not only teaches people to understand and protect the environment, but also frees them of the need to destroy it in order to survive.
Little Malachai, aged 10, near Wewak, roams his tribal grounds with his catapult, shooting at every wild bird that comes in sight. Often he hits one from forty or fifty metres away. Told that wild birds could be wiped out if he continues this practice, he angrily replies: “This is our bush and our wildlife, we can do this, we have to do it. This is the only way for us to get meat.”
Thirty years ago this jungle had a lot of cassowaries. Today there are none left in a five-mile radius around most of the villages. Similarly, the numbers of tree kangaroos or cuscuses, and large fruit bats have dropped to a fraction of what they were a generation ago. “My father used to come home with a whole bag of bats from a hunt. Now we only catch three or four in one night”, laments a young man.
A hundred years ago, a typical New Guinean mother might have given birth to ten children in her lifetime, but only one or two of her children would have survived to adulthood. Today, with hospitals and medical care most survive. The population of PNG has doubled since the introduction of Western medical facilities, and everybody lusts and needs to be fed from gardens. At present only a small percent of the population live in towns and eat canned meat and imported food.
Logging companies come into the country, and destroy it. “Do you know that if loggers give you K100000 , their company makes a million on your timber on the overseas market.” “I don’t care what you say”, a local leader told me, “we need the money”.
Scientists worldwide do valuable research on endangered species. But good advice to locals and even politicians remains ineffective. To protect elephants or primates, the poachers would have to be educated to a level where they can make better money than from tusks or monkey meat.
To provide good quality education, the annual budget of a primary school, grades one to six, requires up to one million dollars, secondary and tertiary education costs more. Would well-meaning scientists be able to organise such sums? I think not, so governments need to be approached.
An idea in this context would be for governments to require companies to pay more or less the same rate of taxation, but that this money must be paid directly to provide education to the people in the areas where the companies operate. Taxation imposed and collected by central governments in undeveloped countries inevitably leads to education being poorly resourced, resulting in inferior physical infrastructure and teachers. Taxation legislation requiring this direct local commercial input into education would result in education being given the high priority that it needs.
Did Chairman Mao Visit Angoram in 1966?
Poster source: Flickr
Sixty years ago Mao Zedong declared the beginning of the People’s Republic of China.
For years it has been rumoured and gossiped that Mao visited Angoram in 1966. The Angoram Club’s visitors’ book did bear the name of the illustrious Chairman – a record that alas is no longer with us, being cast to the wind with many other relics and vestiges of that fine institution at its demise after independence.
Mao’s visit is a question among many others: Was there a Maoist cell in Angoram? Did the Postmaster in Angoram at the time alert Special Branch to a letter posted from Angoram to the Chairman? Was a prominent expatriate resident contemplating marriage to the daughter of a Nationalist Chinese Army General? Did a Patrol Officer at Angoram join the Special Branch, the intelligence unit of colonial PNG, some years after the supposed visit? Was the health of Mao proposed and drunk to in the Angoram Club? Did a senior Administrative Officer in Angoram have a connection with the Hong Kong police, and was he a person of interest to the People’s Republic of China? Did an entrepreneur, and fine art dealer of Scottish lineage present to Mao a priceless piece of cave sculpture from the Karawari River area – an artefact that can now be seen in China? Was Mao’s love of peasant rustic women pandered to by a fair Kambaramba lady of the night? A final question is, was Mao borne on the crest of a tidal wave up the Sepik River and deposited at Angoram in 1966?
A known fact is, that at the time, the Malaria Control Officer at Angoram was the proud owner of the “Little Red Book”, Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, and was apt to freely quote from this work when in his cups at the Club.
Mr Donald Bosgard, the then venerable President of the Angoram Club, was reported as saying that any visiting head of State would be accorded the respect of his or her office should a visit be made to the Club.
It is recorded that Mao was most impressed with Norm Liddle’s rendition of The Court of King Caractacus on the accordion, and he even invited him to visit China, and play with the Military Band of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
Mao was particularly interested in Bob Mackie’s fool-proof method of venereal disease prevention. As Bob said to Mao, “it always works.”
We get back to the basic question, did Mao visit Angoram? Of course he did. You may as well ask me, did George Mallory summit Everest? Of course he did. It is even said that the Chairman sent Michael Somare a letter about his visit to Angoram.
Bill Eichhorn, MBE
Bill Eichhorn, successful entrepreneur and politician in his home ground on the Keram River
Do Atheists Exist? by Ralf Stüttgen
Three sages: Dave, Ralf, Pete, in a reflective disposition
- Ralf Stüttgen
People who call themselves atheists say, “God does not exist.” But, do atheists exist? – a matter of definition. If you define God as existence, the reality in which we live, as truth, love, justice, helpfulness, honesty, logic, as a set of general concepts, then there are probably no atheists. Not many people doubt the reality around themselves. However, if you imagine God as a picture-book god, with a white beard and long robes, parked above the clouds, you are right in rejecting such an image. It is the same as not believing in Santa Claus.
Yet, there is a meaning of atheist, that is very real. This is, in traditional terminology, the sinner , the person who objects to the truth, who opposes love, who does not want to obey his or her conscience, who would like to insist on a lie. And this type of atheist is everyone of us.
See: http://deberigny.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/ralf-stuttgen/#respond
The Reverend John Spender and the Rapture
Last month I was fortunate to run into the Reverend John Spender at Mascot Airport prior to him catching a plane to New York. John is the esteemed brother of Sir Ernest Spender, a person well known to the readers of this blog.
The Reverend John Spender ministers to a small congregation of members of the Free Independent Apostolic Baptist Church in Bridgeport, Jackson County, Alabama, and is on a world-wide mission preaching the Second Coming and Rapture of the Lord to all willing to hear him.
In appearance John is not unlike his brother, and like Ernest, he is an old boy of Charterhouse, however, with the years he has lived in the States, he has largely lost his public school accent and now speaks in tones distinctly Southern States American. Reverend John is a man of middle height, thick set and energetic, all in all a formidable and impressive person.
I was anxious to get as much as I could from John about his Second Coming beliefs, but given the extreme limitations of time we both realized that my interview would only allow a superficial discussion. I had only about twenty minutes with him before he had to catch his plane.
David Wall: Rev. John, do you mind if I call you John?
Rev. John : Call me anything as long as you don’t forget to call me when you hear the trumpet of the Lord.
David: What makes you think I’ll hear it and not you?
John: Very true, David, all believers shall hear it and I can see that you are a believer.
David: Thank you, John. But are the Rapture and the Second Coming biblical? I guess they are one and the same.
John: Yes. It is true that the Bible does not mention the word Rapture but the word Parousia or catch up is there. The sounds of the Parousia are clearly mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, “The Lord will descend with a shout.” The first sound is directed to the saints. In the second sound we hear the voice of the archangel and old Satan will know this. The third sound will be that of a trumpet, a summons for all sinners.
David: No doubt you would call yourself a Premillennialist and what I want to know in particular is do you follow the dispensationalist interpretation of scripture?
John: David, I won’t be labelled but what I will say is that the Rapture is a doctrine of the early Church fathers and the New Testament. The eschatology of the early Church held that the coming of the Lord precedes and introduces the millennium. Irenaeus taught this years before Origen and Augustine put forward their amillennialism. In John 14:20-21 the Lord tells us that He will come again.
David: John, can you put a timing on the Rapture and the Coming of the Lord?
John: As I said earlier, I won’t be labelled. The time factors are unimportant. Questions about if it is imminent or not can only be answered with reference to scripture, while taking into account the Pre-Tribulation. I’ll give you two references, Ezekiel 38 and Thessalonians 2 as pre-conditional circumstances that must occur before the Lord returns. There will be peace in Israel and a great falling away with the coming of the AntiChrist.
We know that there is not peace in Israel yet, but think about the amillennial position of all the major churches. Their eschatology is fundamentally false, so you can imagine what this does to their doctrine. In this very city of Sydney, Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen, claims to be a biblical Christian while holding an amillennial position, and of course, an amillennial eschatology is the doctrine of the Roman Church upheld by Cardinal George Pell. From this false eschatological stance the mainline churches have all gone on to support the false theory of evolution. You might well see this as a great falling away.
(As we were talking there was a call for all passengers on United Airways flight 702 to New York to go to customs. This was John’s plane, so he had to leave.)
David: John, thank you so much but just two last questions: do you have any contact with Sir Ernest, your brother, and I’ve often wondered why you, who anyone can see, is a healthy red-blooded male is still living in the single state?
John; Ernest, as you know has chosen a New-Age philosophy, and way of life, essentially a luciferian path to darkness. I don’t know if you have been to Berlin but if you go there just ask where the Seat of Satan is. I pray for Ernest. You ask why I’m still unmarried. Well the short answer is that I’ve dedicated my life to the Lord in expectation of His Second Coming. A union with a good Christian woman is a holy state for most believers, but like the Lord Himself I have chosen his way. David, it’s been great our little chat, but I must away.
David: John, Godspeed.
(With this John bounded off and I couldn’t help thinking how lucky the parishioners of his church back in Alabama were to have such a pastor.)
Oh, for an intentional community!
What I’m looking for is an intentional community of the Roman and Catholic persuasion in the inner city of Sydney, where I can worship and be a part of a community of faithful who exemplifies the defining aspects of a dynamic church: the church militant, the church suffering and the church triumphant.
I want a parish church where there is an open conflict between the parish priest and the congregation, with no clear guidelines as to, who is actually conducting the weekly Mass. Let there be long-winded dissertations and outpourings by congregation members when the time comes for prayers of the faithful; and as for the sign of peace, anything less than chaos, as people move around the church, kissing, hugging and shaking hands would be unacceptable. The pastor must wait patiently while these expressions of love are taking place. With a bit of luck, he might not even turn up for next week’s Mass and leave the faithful entirely to their own devices.
The community I want is one dedicated to the first Australians; be they functional or dysfunctional, the more dysfunctional the better. The call for “any change brother” would be like music to the ears of the parishioners, especially if the hard word is put on one during the consecration at Mass. The advisability of keeping one’s possessions close especially when going to communion need not be stated. The spirituality of those moving about the church must be a known fact and not open to question.
I like the idea of putting items of supposed sacredness on the altar without reference to the pastor; what would he know anyhow?
I want a priest who says very little about social justice and a lot about sin and damnation. I want a parish that has a fierce and ongoing memory of a past charismatic pastor and wants to preserve this at all costs; one that moves with the times but is stuck in time. It would be energizing if during Mass someone jumps up and informs all about a television service that impressed him or her and is far better than the present one.
The parish that I want must be militant, triumphant and suffering and I put to my readers, is there such a parish?
One might accuse me of looking for drama rather than spirituality, and this might be right, but please protect me from the insipid and dull and let me grow in the excitement and exuberance of a truly intentional community.
The phone rings!
The phone rang at four in the morning and I thought to myself, ‘who the hell is that? Maybe it will stop ringing and I can go back to sleep.’ But it didn’t and I had to answer it:
Hello and a vaguely familiar voice answered: James here, I thought I’d better get in touch. I’ve been away for a while and I want to catch up. In my still sleepy half conscious state it came to me that I’d not heard James’s voice for years. Well he went on: I’ve been about quite a bit since I left and I’ve run into some interesting people. Dad and Mum are fine. Joan said that if I meet you to say she is thinking about you.
By this time I was wide-awake and I was starting to think that the voice sounds just like James or Fells as we used to call him; but could it be? Fells, where are you now? He answered: I’m half way to Canberra from Melbourne; Uncle and Auntie asked me to check on something they left in Merton. Which I’ve done and I now want to get to Canberra and fill Geraldine in about a few things. What was it you had to check on in Merton? I asked him. Oh, it was just a pigskin sidesaddle that Em was worried about.
Em was our great-aunt and the toast of Melbourne as a horsewoman but when was this, I wondered. Merton, the family house in Brighton had long since gone. So I said: Fells, you’re not making any sense. Oh, yes, I am, it’s all in the poetry of essence, which you’ll know about eventually.
By this time the conversation with my brother, James, was taking on a surreal character and I didn’t know why. I said to him: Where exactly have you been and how is it that you saw Mum and Dad? He answered: Well, I’ll tell you. When you are completely free you can see and meet whom you like. You know our great grandfather, Thomas Mason, the one who lost his finger, he wasn’t too pleased when he heard about the photo of him being burnt. Mum’s brother, Reg, is still into growth and he told me he has more money than he knows what to do with.
You can’t tell me, James, that you have spoken to all these people. The next thing you’ll be telling me is that you have spoken to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Without any hesitation he answered: Yes, I have. You can’t avoid them! To which I said: So, there are three of them? No, he said. But I can’t expect you to understand that. To help you, I can tell you that the power is as one.
By this time I was inclined to agree that the moon was made of cheese and that pigs can fly, but then James came out with a long dissertation-like flow of rhetoric:
David, imagine you are in a state where you don’t need to know anything. Every question you may care to ask has been answered. You know that almost everything you been told before is at best incomplete. You remember my book? What do we know, what can we believe? Well I can now tell you, sweet bugger all. It’s not that everything is wrong but all people with their closed minds can’t see the forest for the trees and they can’t see the trees for the woods. You’re not on the red? I asked. No way! There’s no time. I’ve met hundreds of people who have come into their own. Like poor little kids from the slums of the world, the aborted and the mistreated, and many others.
Was Fells some sort of an oracle? Before he left I always thought that he was the most intelligent one in the family and his years away could have only improved his mind, or that is what I figured. I asked him had he spoken to our father lately. Oh, yes, I saw him speaking to Hilaire Belloc recently. Belloc seems more than ever convinced that he was right many years ago when he wrote:”The Faith is Europe. And Europe is the Faith.” The Faith is, of course, the Catholic Church. And Europe must return to it or “perish” You can imagine that Dad would have been in complete agreement with this though their ideas on the Faith are not so defined these days. Oh, I almost forgot to tell that your houseboy, Kami, from Papua New Guinea wondered how you were. He was telling me he had received a lot of credit for the thousands of cups of tea he had made for you. Anyhow, he’s doing well now. But he is a bit worried about his family in Torembi, a village in the Sepik. While talking about the Sepik; our brother-in-law, Kevin was telling me about those Indian prisoners of the Japanese that he rescued in 1945. He has run into most of them around here and they were very pleased to see him.
James, what do you mean by around here’? He answered: Here is here and there is there and around here is something of little importance.
He might think that but to me it was very important as I was trying to focus on a context of persons and places in the drift of our conversation. I left this as it were and went on talking: I suppose you’ve heard about Caitilin getting a PhD. Caitilin is James’s daughter. You don’t say, David. I knew she always had it in her to do well. Talking about degrees; Reg Morrison, you know the brother of Morrison of Peking, told me that he was most upset when he heard in the twenties that Melbourne University had not granted Dad an MD. Fortune does not always favour the deserved.
James asked me about his sons, Dominic and Jamie and I was able to tell him that they are doing well. I then mentioned that, Geraldine, his wife had been missing him over the past years. He then said: We’ll all be together eventually. I then went on to tell him that at least he could have made a greater effort to keep contact but I suppose he had his reasons:
I certainly have my reasons. You be interested to hear what our sister Madie’s husband, Knut, had to say about the family situation. According to him he didn’t want any split in the family but for him things were so hard to handle s0 he more or less left it to Madie. The truth of the matter or otherwise no longer seemed to count. And it seemed easier not to talk about it. Sufficient to say on the matter is that he now regrets many things and is very sorry.
I told James about my family, sons, Andrei and David Augustus. Andrei teaching in Kuwait and Augustus writing a fancy story that has great promise. Deborah, my wife, is still very interested in social research into race and identify, especially of Aboriginal and Filipino people. James then told me that he had recently spoken to Charlie Perkins and exchanged stories about the old days in Canberra. Charlie said that he knows that a lot more work needs to be done for his brothers and sisters and by them but some good things had happened. He was heartened by the election of a black president in the USA.
Do you have any regrets about leaving, James? He answered: I didn’t have much choice about it, if you will recall. But as things have worked out it was all for the best. That film, “The Passion”, we saw together, you know Mel Gibson’s, in a funny way prepared me to leave. John Henry Newman and Augustine were quite complimentary about it. The Lord just smiled when it was mentioned.
Now I knew that James must have lost it. One does not just run into Newman, Augustine and the Lord. Fells, if you’re not on the red, you must be stoned. He came back and said: In a funny way you are right if stoned explains a heightened sense of awareness. You are limited by time and space, so all that has been is out of your reach. Why do you think it strange for me to meet people? I let this pass and just went on listening and talking.
I have to tell you about something great. Joan, our sister, Kevin, her husband and Adrienne are so happy together. They no longer get headaches. They want to be remembered to all their loved ones: Sarah, Becky, and Elaine’s family. Thienette de Berigny,our great grandfather, has a homoeopathic remedy for Sarah’s medical problem. He hopes to visit her soon and dispense some sort of mixture. Mum and all of us around here know that ‘The price of wisdom is above rubies.” Even Aunt Connie agrees with this.
By this time the Bard’s thoughts came to me: “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” By the way, James, while you’ve been away I wrote a novel: “Sepik Blu Longpela Muruk”. Not much really but I enjoyed writing it. Some expats from PNG like it. Well, that’s good, David. You always liked PNG.
I looked at the clock, it was 4:30. We had been speaking for half an hour. I was reluctant to put the phone down. James when can we meet up? You say you are on your way to Canberra. Sydney isn’t far from from Canberra. And then he said a strange thing: Distance has nothing to do with time and space. It’s really important to give your heart to others. By helping others, you help yourself. We’ll meet up soon enough, maybe sooner than you think. A lot of my friends regret not living better lives while they had the chance.
James, you’ve been away for over four years; have you given your heart away and have you seen any women you fancy? David, life begins in your seventies but the answer is no. But I did recently talk with Margaret More, you know Thomas More’s daughter.
Now wait a minute, James, what are you on about? Do you mean Henry VIII and all that? Yes, yes, yes, that’s what I mean. All right, I suppose the next thing you’ll tell is that she gave her father’s side of the story. He than went on to say what Margaret had said. Her father really had no choice in the matter. He understood the dictates of his conscience. But his conscience was formed by considering the whole of Christendom; The King’s good servant, but God’s first. We don’t see much of Henry or Rich around here. He said.
I thought to myself; let him go on there is a bit of sense here but he is the first person I know who has spoken the Thomas More’s daughter.
Suddenly I became aware that I was watching television; someone was talking about Hillary Clinton and a new diplomacy on the Middle East. I realized that I must have been sleeping and on the table near me I noticed some writing in a journal: “James de Berigny Wall (1929-2004) The editor wishes to apologise that this important obituary was overlooked in 2004.”
The Reverend John Spender makes himself available to anxious intentional communities
It recently came to my notice that Rev John can be called on by needy intentional religious communities. To ascertain the qualities of this man, I dug up an interview he gave me sometime ago. (See the previous post)
Overseas recipients of the pension bonus
Some even felt stimulated enough to spend it here
Not all foreigners splurged overseas with their pension bonus (“Thousands of foreigners splurge stimulus overseas,” March 12). My friend, a New Zealander, had a holiday in Sydney and Canberra with his part of the stimulus package and also spent considerably more while here. Maybe many thousands of other overseas recipients did the same thing.
David Wall Newtown
If Barbara Tokley of New Zealand knew she wasn’t entitled to the $1400 she received by mistake as part of the Australian Government stimulus package, why didn’t she return the money? It’s called stealing where I come from.
Trish Wiltshire Worrigee
I don’t care how much the Kiwis have been receiving from us in pensions. Ruth Park, originally from New Zealand, her husband D’Arcy Niland and their warm, talented family have repaid in spades! Vale, Kilmeny Niland.
Robyn Cashman Fernhill
Sydney Morning Herald 13/03/09
Monsignor Quixote – DVD
” Sir Alec Guiness stars with Leo McKern in the story of a friendship between a Catholic priest and a Communist Mayor. Together they travel from their remote village to Madrid and back exploring their friendship. the demands of belief and constancy of faith.
“This lavish production filmed entirely on location captures the wit, warmth and vitality that make the original novel by Graham Greene a unique work of literature.” (Blurb on DVD cover)
This review is from: Monsignor Quixote [DVD] [1985] (DVD) “Simply one of the most enjoyable and beautiful films you will see. Its very simple, two actors Alec Guiness and Leo McKern, showing you what they can do. It’s one of the last pieces of work completed by Guiness before his death. I saw this gentle, simple film some 20 years ago and loved every minute and finally decided to buy it on DVD.
“They don’t seem to make films like this any more unless its an independent production. Its one of the last films which focuses on the talent and makes the best of it on a wonderful Graham Greene novel.”
By Frank Bierbrauer
I can’t recommend this production too strongly!
See:
http://www.westcoastcompanions.org/jgc/2.1/rami_porta.engtext.htm
Dr A.D. Parkinson
Photos from David Parkinson’s Collection
Arthur David Parkinson 1935-2009
Always known as David rather than Arthur, his untimely death ends a life of service and dedication. He first came to Papua New Guinea in 1956 as a Medical Assistant or in the terminology of the time an EMA – European Medical Assistant. These young men and some not so young were the frontline medical providers in much of PNG in those days.
David did extensive medical patrols in the Sepik and the Highlands. He subsequently attended the University of Adelaide qualifying in Medicine and Surgery, and he returned to PNG working as a Medical Officer and eventually Assistant Director, Malaria Control.
After leaving PNG in the late 1970s, he did post-graduate studies in the UK and afterwards worked for WHO in the Solomon Islands and Samoa. In Australia, he joined the army and worked in a Malaria Research Unit with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. For the last years of his life, he was in general practice in the Western Suburbs of Sydney.
At his funeral service, Michael, his son, spoke of his father’s humanity in a varied career of service to others. Over the years, David’s contribution to the health of others has been immense. The people of PNG have particularly lost a true friend and benefactor.
David’s first wife, Ruth, predeceased him and he is survived by their children, Michael, Fiona and Jamie. His wife, Vaiola and their children, Nathan, Ricky, Tanya, Corian and two grandchildren, Charley and Georgie survive him.
Mr Alwyn Davies Weds Miss Barbara Wilson, Angoram, 1956
Barbara’s daughter, Tanya, wrote: “I was talking to my mother… she said the jeep was built by a man in Angoram by salvaging scraps left in the jungle by the war, and then he spray painted it silver. My mom … was a real adventurer for a woman of her day. She has the most fantastic stories about being out on the Sepik for days at a time. One of the ministers who came to Angoram for the service apparently never made it back. He fell overboard and never surfaced.”
Barbara mentioned that it was Sepik Robbie who put the jeep together.
Mr Peter Johnson Reports on the Deplorable Financial Situation at the Wewak Yacht Club
PLUNDER OF PM’S CLUB
At an annual general meeting of the Wewak Yacht Club on 28 March, the Commodore, Mr Jack Matthews, told members that theft and irregularities had been reported to the police, and that “police would investigate after the arrival of a new PPC.”
It has been claimed that up to K1.2 million has been lost or stolen from the Wewak Yacht Club of which Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare is patron, and at which he frequently entertains visiting dignitaries. Sir Michael is said to be much distressed with the current situation.
In his report to members, Mr Matthews said “some members owe the club money…and have behaved in a deceitful manner!” We have no records to pursue this matter, as the former manager, Mr Christopher Liversidge, had reported the club’s two computers recently stolen, he said, the Club Honorary Treasurer, Mr Glen Williamson, resigned from his position after only two or three months service. He cited “difference of opinion with some senior committee members” as reason for his early departure.
One long-time member told Post-Courier that the club had annual takings of approximately K1 million. Gross profits over the past three years had been 14%, 4% and a loss in 2008/09. This was indicative of annual cash deficiencies of K260,000, K360,000 and perhaps K500,000. (Greater losses than last year’s big bank robberies!)
The Commodore said the Wewak Yacht Club owes the Internal Revenue Commission K56,000 and K57,000 to local traders… the Club has K2,117.09 cash on hand! “I have no financial report, no treasurer’s report or auditor’s report to present to you!” said Mr. Matthews.
Stunned members voted to return an unchanged committee for a further three month period to allow for investigations, administrative and management upgrades and proper reporting to members on 27 June, 2009…a “bar-fly” is said to have retorted, “and by that time someone should be in Boram kalabus!”
Ralf Stuttgen’s Views and Perceptions
On my recent visit to Papua New Guinea I had some far-reaching discussions with my friend, Ralf Stuttgen. Ralf has many interesting and discerning points of view which are worth airing in the hope that they can be commented on and further discussed by others.
Our conversations ranged over theological, philosophical, educational and environmental questions and were tackled uniquely and insightfully by Ralf.
Here are his views:
Who and what is God? Any definition of God cannot be divorced from our material existence and humanity’s system of values. Fundamentally God is love and with this concept in mind no one with values is essentially an atheistic according to Ralf. By a stretch of the imagination most, I guess, could accept a principal power and reality in the universe named God or something else. Theological definitions must continually be refined and explained in modern terms. Objective truth is not just a question of what is right and what is wrong.
Symbol and myth reveal and divulge theological and ethical truths. Virginity is a symbol of divine wisdom and life is like the rising dawn. There is no doubt in Ralf’s mind that the essence of the Christian message is fundamentally sound, but the interpretation of the message needs to be refined and updated.
Ralf looks at sin and an appropriate definition; Sin is any act where the damage is greater than the advantages. I suppose in a sense the end justifies the means. All acts have good and bad potentials. Untruths and lies are always involved with sin and the suppression of information. An ill-informed conscience cannot be an arbitrator of good and evil.
Science fiction can be a useful tool for awakening future generations to development possibilities for in this genre humankind looks at the desirable and the possible.
On the broad question of the economy, education and development Ralf continually stresses the primary importance of quality education. Any country without an educated population is doomed to a state of undevelopment. Even a state without abundant natural resources but with an educated population has the capacity for significant economic development, look at the South Korean economic miracle and compare this with Papua New Guinea, a country with vast natural resources and a seemingly inability to lift the standard of living for its population. Over the past thirty years or so South Korea has put in place a vibrant education and training programme throughout the country, whereas in PNG the state of education at all levels: primary, secondary, tertiary and technical training is at best poor and only available to a small percent of the population. The result being that South Korea exports the products of a technically advanced economy with vast returns to its educated and well governed population, whereas PNG is increasingly becoming a land that is largely being exploited for its resources by others. The country is plagued with inappropriate and destructive resource exploitation with little return to its people in general. One need only look at the logging and mining industries and the environmental hazards they are creating. Corrupt officials and politicians and overseas companies get their rewards but the uneducated masses get comparatively nothing. One example of poor governance and supervision in PNG is that 60% of the gold extracted from the country is exported illegally. This means that the state gets nothing for this valuable resource.
Ralf is emphatic in his assertion that education is the solution to all the world’s problems.
Doing it right – Success Doing it wrong – No Success
Education will improve public health. The most common cause of death is stupidity.
Education will protect the environment, stupidity leads to the killing of wildlife and even over-population. Governments must improve their education systems before they improve their health services. In British India the health services were better than the education services; result over-population.
Education, Research and the Future
Our biological, genetic and evolutionary future is tied up with education and new ideas.Let us look at some problems with new insights: Is Western Agriculture appropriate in undeveloped countries? Not always as it requires deforestation; more research is needed into methods of growing food. Humankind should be able to live off trees. The whole world could be covered with trees. Trees are a great source of starch and more research is needed to fully utilize them as food. Sensible conservation will protect the jungles of the world. In the past in PNG when the kunai grasslands were protected from burning it was noticed that the jungle trees come back. It is true to say our scientists need a broader education.
General reflections
Who does the Development Bank develop? Answer: The Development Bank. Only take out a loan when land and labour are there with future prospects to guarantee success. Look at the bind the West New Britain oil palm small holders are in trying to repay the Development Bank.
Indigenous people at least should be guaranteed health, fresh air and natural conditions.The reality is that indigenous people must adapt or vanish.The laws of evolution are there. In North America some indigenous people were known as little heads because of their small brain size. Presumably the evolutionary process had past them by. We must face the fact that some genes become outdated Will we in the future condone and allow some form of genetic engineering?
What was the principal cause of the fall of the Roman Empire? The Roman State did not have a Department of Education as an institution preserving and passing on knowledge to future generations.
Global warming has been going on for years, markedly since AD 400. Development and education are historically intertwined with changes of climate.
We must all learn to manage our health. Sleep is the most important anti-malarial. In the future humankind must learn to eat different foods.
The attempt to commercialize the production of sago in the Sepik will be a disaster. The keeping of cattle and wet rice growing are inappropriate as agricultural ventures in PNG as tasks associated with these endeavours are foreign to the people.
Managing rubbish is a problem for PNG towns and cities.
What is a Jew? Ralf looks at this broadly: There are ethnic Jews and theological Jews. Ethic Jews are those with a racial connection to Israel and theological Jews are all people of good will. This is in accord with God’s promise to Abraham:
Your descendants shall be as numerous as the stars in heaven. Your descendants will be as numerous as the sand on the seashore.
The ideas of a better world are not exclusively Jewish but also come from other ancient people such as the Persians and Egyptians. The big question was and is just how to achieve a better world? The answer will come from the chosen people who are all people of good will.
Visual Memories
Dave Wall at Kekten Village
Bill Eichhorn at home on the banks of the Keram River
Michael Somare at the start of the Sepik Ironman Events
Peter Johnson at Ralf's Place
Eva Waramapi, formerly Ipa, Angoram, 2009
“A language of Papua New Guinea”
Angoram
A language of Papua New Guinea
| Population | 8,220 (2003 SIL). |
| Region | East Sepik Province, lower Sepik River area, Angoram District. |
| Language map | Papua New Guinea, Map 4, reference number 161 |
| Alternate names | Olem, Pondo, Tjimundo |
| Classification | Ramu-Lower Sepik, Lower Sepik, Angoram |
| Language use | Also use Tok Pisin [tpi]. |
Ion L. Idriess, c. 1940-1941 / by unknown photographer
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Ion L. Idriess, c. 1940-1941 / by unknown photographer,
originally uploaded by State Library of New South Wales collection.
The author of Gold-dust and ashes, a tale of pre-war mining in New Guinea.
2nd Lieutenant Charles Etienne de Berigny, Royal Flying Corps
My late brother, Frank de B Wall, collected a lot of material on our mother’s first cousin, Charles de Berigny, and arranged with an artist to paint a picture of the aerial dogfight in which he was able to get a burst of bullets into the Red Baron’s plane. This operation took place on April 2, 1917. Charles was killed on April 29, 1917, aged 19 years.
Souvenir, Westminister Cathedral, Published by the Cathedral Authorities, Date ?
Westminister Cathedral
Westminister Cathedral
Westminister Cathedral
Westminister Cathedral
Westminister Cathedral
Westminister Cathedral
Westminister Cathedral
Westminister Cathedral
Westminister Cathedral
Westminister Cathedral
- Westminister Cathedral
Westminister Cathedral
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel: A comment
November 9, 2009 at 8:51 am (Commentary)
Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall is a great and entertaining read, as long as you are aware that you are not reading history but a construction of the writer’s imagination.
Thomas Cromwell, the benign and loving family man who merely reads the signs of the times and went with the sociological and theological spirit prevailing, and facilitated the policies of his master, Henry VIII to my mind is a little over the top.
There is very little evidence that the Reformation in England was a popular movement. It was a policy of the King’s imposed on the English people by a monarch to get a divorce and acquire church property. This is borne out by many historians such as James Gairdner, Eamon Duffy.
The false impression is given that significant numbers of the population were hungry for Tyndale’s Bible and were questioning traditional Catholic doctrine and practices. The young boy denying the real presence in the Eucharist is a colourful but unlikely event at the time.
History has painted Thomas Cromwell as a self-serving and efficient administrator but still a complete bastard. Whereas in Mantel’s novel, Thomas More is the objectionable bastard in spite of the positive assessment of scholars like Erasmus and the modern day Anglican and Catholic Churches.
Given all this, I must say, I enjoyed reading the book, so you too also enjoy it, but don’t delude yourself that it’s history.
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