exkiap web site main page

31st Jan 2005 - short note from the Editor, I've not forsaken this site it's just that I'm back in PNG working and on my breaks back in aussie I'm usually feeling too drained (shattered may be a better word) to do anything with the web site. Perhaps next break I may be able to extract the proverbial ... in the meanwhile the Forum provides the opportunity for colleagues and friends to inter-act.

For those who have forwarded material for publishing, particularly photographs, these have not been lost and will be published once I overcome my malaise which has also been compounded by dissatisfaction with the way I've been presenting these photographs to date, mainly the issue relating to download speed, an issue which is under review with my mate, John McGregor.

Prompted by the success of the Melbourne reunion, a group of Canberra ex-kiaps is organising a reunion lunch in Canberra between 11am and 3pm on Sunday 3rd October (the Sunday of the NSW/ACT long weekend) in the Members Dining Room at Old Parliament House. Lunch will be a traditional roast lunch, with orange juice, tea/coffee and fruit, and the all up cost of $35 also covers room hire. There is ample free parking and wheelchair access, and the venue is on bus routes.

The venue is an easy walk from Floriade, New Parliament House, the National Gallery, the National Library, and so on, and long wei liklik from the National Museum and the War Memorial. As the October long weekend is in the middle of Floriade, accommodation bookings should be made sooner, rather than later. Further information on Canberra is at www.visitcanberra.com.au.

John Wearne, 25 Brunswick Circuit, Kaleen ACT 2617, please jpwearne@homemail.com.au (02) 6241 5265, and payment must accompany the booking, which should be made by 31 August 2004.

27/8/04 - IAN DOWNS - RIP

IAN DOWN'S DIED 1.OOPM TUESDAY 24TH AUGUST 2004 AGED 89 (DOB 6 JUNE,1915) AT JOHN FLYNN HOSPITAL GOLD COAST. FUNERAL AT 1.OO PM MONDAY 30TH AUGUST METROPOLITAN FUNERAL PARLOUR, 44 NIND STREET (CNR DAVENPORT ST) SOUTHPORT, QUEENSLAND (07) 5531 1722 THEN AFTERWARDS AT THE DEL PLAZA HOTEL SCARBOROUGH ST (OPPOSITE).

14/6/04 - ROSS JOHNSON (Treasurer and Membership Officer, PNGAA):

The ABC has re-released the Taim Bilong Masta series in both CD and MP3 formats. The CD series comprises 24 disks at a RRP of $150, plus postage and packing. The MP3 series comprises two disks with a RRP of $50, plus postage and packing. MP3 disks can be played on most new CD and DVD players and all computers, provided you have a CD drive and the relevant software (ie Windows Media Player or RealPlayer) installed.

The old cassette tapes of the series (released in the 70's) are now, in many cases, suspect - I tried to play mine and found that all were unplayable (tape sticking inside cassette) and no amount of fast forwarding or rewinding would free the tape. So if you have the series, try a few in your cassette player to see if they are still playable!

Negotiations with the ABC have given PNGAA the opportunity to provide this series, in either of the above formats, to our members at a considerable discount. In other words, PNGAA can supply at a price to you which is significantly below the recommended retail price and which will include postage and packing. Full details will be in our June Una Voce journal.

This is an opportunity to preserve for our future generations a 24-program social history based on the administration of Papua New Guinea up to self government and independence in 1975. Told by Australian men and women who spent so many years living and working in PNG. The series was produced by Tim Bowden.

It costs just $15 a year to join the Papua New Guinea Association of Australia (PNGAA) and receive the excellent quarterly publication, Una Voce. Send your cheque, bank draft or postal order made out to the PNGAA at PNGAA, P0 Box 452, Roseville NSW 2069.