Fred Evenett, of Samorai Killed

Samorai Killed by Premature Dynamite Explosion

From a Special Correspondent

Samarai, June 21.

THE death, by a premature explosion of dynamite, of Mr. Fred (Brassey) Evenett, one of the best known and most popular residents of Eastern Papua, has saddened the community. He was killed at the anchorage of Taleba, Good enough Island; and his injuries were so severe that it is certain that his “pass ing” was instantaneous.

Brassey (as he was affectionately known to most of us) was one of a fast dwindling band of pioneers associated

with the beginning of things in this country. He was a planter, recruiter, and owner of a considerable amount of property in and around Sama rai; generous to the ’nth degree (no one sincerely in need failed to get his kindly sympathy and help); a good “mixer"; an incomparable host; in short, the type of settler whose death is an irre parable loss to us all.

Mr. Evenett would have been a mine of information to any writer desiring details of Papua’s early history. He had a keen and retentive memory and was an interesting and witty raconteur. It is to be regretted that his knowledge of the early history of white settlement in Eastern Papua was not placed on record.

As a lad in his ’teens he visited Sudest, in a schooner from Cooktown, as long ago as 1884. The vessel was trepang fish ing, and eventually got back to Queens land. Some years later, Brassey came back and settled in Samarai.

From Daru to the Mambare, and from the Trobriands to Rossel, this tragic death of one of our best known men will be felt as a personal loss.