EX-KIAP NETWORK FORUM

Just finished this book by ex-kiap Phil Fitzpatrick, good read - you can almost smell the mud in the Western District.
He's a bit more circumspect than I like about naming names but nevertheless very worthwhile.
Published by Pandanus books:

http://www.pandanusbooks.com.au/item.ph ... term=PB55B

Soon after Iain's post I sent for the book and it arrived post free (amazing!) last week. I've just finished reading it and it really is a very good read. Phillip brings the realities of patrolling and one-man patrol posts very much to life. Climbing/scrambling up and down steep mountain sides in the rain/fog/cloud, wading through swamps on the look out for pukpuks and so on and so forth. I did think the "romantic" bits were a bit like a CPO's wet dream, but maybe it was different on the Papuan side.
Anyway, I throughly enjoyed it and recommend it to all ex-kiaps for whom, like me, the details are starting to get a little blurry. It jogged a few memories that had become forgotten with the passage of time (and/or early onset Alzheimer's disease!).

Ves,
Don't worry about getting "Oldtimers Disease" for when you get it you wont remember you got it.

The breaker

I enjoyed Bamahuta and yes, it does bring back into focus what it was like. I thought the book was more interesting in the first part where the author captures the essence of what patrolling was all about.

The second part on the buildup to Independence seemed to rush it a bit and concentrated on how the the new PNG elite were taking over and being resisted by the 'old guard' of the B 4's.

It is an interesting point the author makes about field officers still contacting previously uncontacted people and trying to educate them in modern life, right at the time when Whitlam and the elite were trumpeting for Independence. What chance did anyone who had not had the opportunities of the elite, (given to them by Australia) in competing for power. That is exactly why the elite grabbed power and have kept it to themselves. e.g. The Somare clan looks like trying to become an hereditary dynasty.

I agree with the author. I certainly wouldn't and didn't mind working for local, senior officers, including at the time, Somare.

The problem I fear was that the local officers didn't want us working for them.

Now why was that I wonder and has anything changed in 30 years? (i.e. ECP)

Yup I joined the readers group and read Bamahuta.
Some bloody good laughs, well crafted I thought.
Curious re his episode in " Security" service.
Who the hell were those pipe smoking gentlemen.
I think I recognised Number 2 who was Number 1 and Number 3.
Any one got any ideas.
The breaker.

I wonder how they would go in this age of anti passive smoking mentality.

Have just read Phil's book, I suppose what is fundamentally attractive to "ex-kiaps" as well as other "ex-territorians" to books like this is that we can usually find parts that we can personally relate to and in addition to this "hook" the book is "readable" and the "BS" meter didn't go off. I wonder how books like this read to those who have no knowledge of PNG?

I googled "Bamahuta" so see how the book is working its' way through cyberspace and it ranks quite well but I noticed that some of the reviews kick off with the introduction "A fictionalised account of the adventure and ..." whereas Phil's comment in the preface to the book: "Most of this story is true ..." is a more apt description of the comments.

I was a little intrigued by the sandwiching of most of the book's circa 1967/73 content within a more recent experience, the hold-up coming out of Waro (chapters 1 and 15) but it does provide a neat start and finish to the book and alludes to a few other issues that are also of interest to us i.e. contrasting PNG before and after, what is the contemporary PNG memory of the kiap, etc.

In case some readers may think that this "hold-up" incident is fiction then rest assured that it isn't and the following picture is of the truck in question (I can't remember if I took this photograph or whether I obtained it from someone else but anyway).



By the way on page 7 reference is made to "the shot from the gun had hit the stone shield in front of the windscreen first ...." readers please note, a PNG vehicular "stone shield" is not meant to primarily protect the windscreen from stones being flicked up by vehicles, a "stone shield" is there to protect the occupants from being stoned. Same with the heavy tinting of vehicle windows, nobody is worried about sun cancer.

The beauty of the book like this is that we (ex-kiaps) can all find something within it that we can personnally relate to. In my case I think of recent work in PNG (sometimes with Phil), Masta Paka, those pork buns in Rabaul, mmmmmm ......

Good book Phil now I'm going to pass it onto my mate John McGregor to sort out some of those names ....

Purchase from: http://www.pandanusbooks.com.au/item.ph ... term=PB55B

A good read. Phil put pen to paper and achieved what most of us would like to do but for various reasons, (including the ability of stringing an interesting sentence together - or lack thereof), never do. “Bamahuta” accurately portrays that intermediate period between outright colonial attitudes and independence seen through the eyes of a young man. He also gives you a jolt of modern day PNG reality as Peter Salmon comments above !

Peter said, “read Phil Fitzpatrick’s book, you will probable recognize a few people”. I should have read the Preface first. There were a remarkably familiar descriptions of people, places and experiences that improved the neural connections ... I had been allocated the name Johnson. Olsobip prior to Kennecott was a posting that required traditional patrolling – limestone karst country – spectacular stuff. Patrol airdrops were supervised by the Kiunga ADC, Barry Creedy. After washing sago for a week in bad weather, Barry booting out the double bagged sacks of rice to freefall to the ridge was a wonderful sight to the Patrol.

Nomad on the Strickland River, looked after the fringe dwellers below the Southern Highlands. During my time at Obeimi Base Camp, personnel at Nomad consisted of ADC Robin Barclay and his wife Sandra, Craig McConaghy , Geoff Smith, Col Middleton and SDA Missionaries Tom Hoey and his wife

I also did time as a cipher clerk in 1967 whilst Admin decided where to post me as a CPO. When I joined PNGSIO full time to look after Bougainville, the Director was Peter Sheekey, Andrew Brohovski and Peter Wilkins was number three. Louis Varo took over and was a delight to work for.

Buy Phil’s book and put it together


Phil's AR10 at the end of the Olsobip Airstrip


Kwermin Villagers - past Gum Gorge in the Blucher ranges


Hindenburg Wall in the background - limestone karst and 'guria' country.
Tectonic movements north by the Australian Plate.

Good day.
Nice to see you guys filling in the real time details of yesteryears.
John believe Tom and Salome abhorred SDAs, as do many mainstream Christians. (I'm married into Adventism and see many very good aspects of their church.) Both were APCM which became ECPand now Pioneers I think. They were original builders of strip at Mogulu and last I heard are still there.
Cheers
Arthur

Recall is a problem and evangelism in particular is not a strong point. Thanks for clarifying the brand !

John

Being a devout "I_dunno" I was particularly disturbed by many aspects of "Christianity" as practised by even mainstream churches.
Particularly abhorrent was the practice of refusing children education unless their parents were baptised and became tithe-donating members of the church.
The one group which imo had exemplary behaviour were relative latecomers, the Salvo's, and although I disagree with some of their Australian antics, in TPNG they were commendable and all their staff set a good example of true Christian generosity and humility.

This is getting a bit away from Phil's book but aggressive evangelism can be bad for your health ....

http://exkiap.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p ... light=#426

I'm reading a great biography of Rudyard Kipling at the moment called "The Long Reccessional".
When asked what did he believe in, he replied, "I'm a god-fearing christian atheist".
After my own experiences of the "First Church of Christ the Economist" (huge mission owned plantations) I'm inclined to agree with him.

Considering the difficulty to try an create fictitious characters that cannot be recognised is a work of art, I thought Phils book was a good read.javascript:emoticon('8)')


I am reminded of other authors who have used their past experiences to make the leap, notably Joseph Heller in Catch 22 and Joseph Wambaugh who wrote the Choir Boys and the Onion Field.javascript:emoticon(':twisted:')

Both drew heavily on their chaotic pasts but in moments of sheer genius transcended their past into black humour.
Not that I am drawing parallels, PNG experiences are no comparison but all share the the same experiences of being "Outside Men" .

The subject of works of fiction with a PNG background has got me rather intrigued.
I dug out an old book that has been sitting around for 30 years.
Titled "Bilong Boi" and written by Keith Pickard it was set in the Highlands with it's central character a gold miner.
It was a romantic yarn but courageous in that it tried to examine the interracial relationships between europeans and the locals that existed in the early 1960's/.
It was regarded as being quite controversial at the time.

I would be interested to find out a bit more about Keith Pickard and whether he wrote any other works of fiction set in PNG.

I also remember a book written by an ex chalkie about a fictitious Kiap, again based in the highlands, who eventually made his nest egg by selling some exotic artifacts and went on eventually to open a book shop in Sydney.

Anyone have any ideas?

P.S Joseph Heller did not write any further books for 25 years after Catch 22, I hope Phil will be not quite as reticent.
Harry

On the strength of your various critiques I purchased my copy and was immediately immersed. Wandering the environs of Gumine Chuave na SinaSina as a poor and destitute APO 72-74 didn’t present quite as many challenges but Phil’s wordsmithing certainly unlocked some long atrophied neural paths and for a while there I was back in the bomai.