Five Killed in N.G.

Plane Crash Father Kirschbaum, Noted German Missionary, a Victim

THREE German Mission priests, a pilot, and a native were killed on August 6 when a Fokker aeroplane, recently purchased in Adelaide by the Catholic Mission of the Divine Word, crashed near Sek aerodrome (Alexishafen), New Guinea.

The white men killed were:—Father Joseph Kirschbaum, who had spent 25 years in the Territory; Father Superior J.

Weyer, vicar to Bishop Wolf at Alex ishafen; Father Otto Bader; and Pilot W.

Schaufhausen.

The machine took off perfectly, but failed to clear some trees 200 yards be yond the aerodrome. It was completely wrecked. According to the official report, the Fokker was overloaded by 50 per cent, with freight.

Missionary, anthropologist, explorer and author, Father Kirschbaum was one of the best known men in New Guinea, and his knowledge of the country and natives in the Sepik region was unrivalled. In 1926, on one of his journeys near the head waters of the Ramu, he found a race of dwarfs living in the mountains. Both in his missionary work and through his first-hand and scientific knowledge of the Territory Father Kirschbaum was of great assistance at various times to the N.G. Administration.