Story Of "Pard"

Mustar

Airman Who Flew First Plane to Morobe Goldfield

rpHE fascinating, romantic story of how A aeroplanes opened up the pheno menally-rich Morobe Goldfield in N ew Guinea was first told by lon Idriess in Gold-dust and Ashes” seven years ago. In it, two men stood out—C. J.

Levien, whose vision and tireless energy made possible the use of aerial transport and Pilot Ernest (“Pard”) Mustar, who flew the first plane from Rabaul to Lae, from Lae into the mining camp at Wau Now, m “D’Air Devil”, just published, Frank Clune, another Australian “pop ular” author, tells the story of “Pard”

Mustar’s adventure-packed life, from his youthful wireless-tinkering days in Mel bourne right up to the present.

Mustar was among the first contingent of Australian troops to go overseas in October, 1914, and, as a member of a signals unit, took part in the landing at Gallipoli. His war experiences in Egypt, Palestine and other of the Middle East countries, with the Light Horse, make interesting reading. Transferring to the Australian Flying Corps, he soon won the Distinguished Flying Cross for his exploits as observer-gunner with the intrepid Ross Smith.

Returning to Australia after the ar mistice, Ern. Mustar took up farming, but the call of the air was not to be denied; so, with a companion, he bought an old, battered aeroplane and “barn stormed” around the Commonweath From 1922 to 1926, he served again with the AFC as pilot-instructor.

During this period, he made an air survey of the Barrier Reef and marked out aerodromes at Port Moresby (Papua) and Rabaul (New. Guinea), working in association with HMAS “Geranium”.

Late in 1926, while instructing with the Victorian Aero Club, he accepted an offer from Guinea Gold NL, to go to the Mandated Territory and fly a DH37 plane from Rabaul to the mainland coast and thence in to the newly-discovered goldfield at Wau.

AN El Dorado had been found in the interior of New Guinea, but food, equipment, supplies, everything had to be laboriously carried in by natives, over a steamy, tortuous track that climbed the rugged mountains. C. J. Levien, former Administration district officer, who had pegged precious leases for Guinea Gold NL, conceived the idea of using planes to solve the transport problem.

Crated and shipped on the old “Melu sia”, the DH37 left for Rabaul in March, 1927, under the tender care of Mustar and his wizard-mechanic friend, Mullins.

It was a fearful trip from Townsville to New Britain—whipped by a cyclone, the BP vessel (on her last trip) did every thing but stand on her nose! Every minute Mustar expected the aeroplane to break loose and plunge overboard or smash itself against the sides of the well-deck. But the lashings held and the “Melusia” made Rabaul 36 hours late.

On March 30, with the plane assembled and tested, Mustar circled over Rabaul, flew down the northern coast of New Britain, across Dampier Strait and landed at Lae, where Levien’s “boys” had pre pared a make-shift aerodrome. Then came the real test—to find Wau, in the unknown interior.

Three times, between April 16 and 18, Mustar crossed the mountain ranges that fringe the coast and searched for a tiny clearing that would be Wau; and three times he returned without success.

Finally, with a miner named Lewers as passenger, spotting familiar landmarks,

he found the landing-ground. A 45 minutes’ flight against nearly a fort night’s gruelling trek!

With the advent of the aeroplane, freighting goods at 1/- per lb. and pas sengers at £25 a head, a new era dawned on the goldfield. Soon other air com panies appeared on the scene. The men associated with Guinea Gold NL launched the very successful Guinea Airways Ltd., with Mustar as managing director, to handle the aerial freighting service they had pioneered.

Mustar went to Europe and brought back from Germany a huge all-metal, diesel-engined Junkers W 34 machine, capable of lifting a ton. This new mono plane soon enabled Guinea Airways to outstrip their competitors—within three months the company carried 500 tons of cargo and 1,000 passengers to the field.

A second W 34 was flown from Mel bourne to Lae by Mustar, in uneventful easy stages. Two more similar machines arrived in New Guinea in 1929 and GA soon were carrying more freight in one month than the combined commercial air fleets of the world were lifting in a year! Cargo ranged from rice to riffles, from picks to phonographs, from beer to bedsteads —in fact everything needed by a growing mining township that was on good gold.

IN March, 1929, Mustar, suffering from the effects of malaria, resigned from Guinea Airways and returned to Australia', where he joined the Vacuum Oil Co. as aviation representative. Then he married and prepared to settle down and live quietly for a time. But New Guinea had not seen the last of him.

Placer Development Co., an influential mining concern with interests all over the world, took up options over Bulolo Valley leases —and found itself faced with the

problem of transporting enormous dredg ing machinery to the field by air. Mustar was called in and he induced them to purchase two Junkers G3l three-engined planes, each costing £31,000. He himself went to New Guinea to establish a fuel depot for Vacuum and to give Allan Cross, his successor at Guinea Airways a helping hand.

Piece by piece, the mass of machinery to build Dredge No. 1 was flown in with out difficulty—even the biggest part, a tumbler-shaft weighing 3 1 tons.

Then, one warm, sun-lit day in March, 1932, the dredge was started up. Mustar was present at the ceremony, but the other pioneer, C. J. Levien, had not lived to see his life’s ambition fulfilled. His ashes were scattered over the Bulolo Valley from an aeroplane the same day the dredge began to win gold from the rich flats.

Captain Mustar lived in New Guinea with his wife and child until September, 1934, when he came south to Melbourne for good. Now, in 1941, with the Empire again at war, he is in uniform once more —Squadron-Leader Mustar, DFC, of the Royal Australian Air Force.

Throughout “D’Air Devil”, linked with the story of Mustar’s career in New Guinea, are scattered the names of many who played their part in pioneering the Morobe Goldfield—Holdgate, Mackenzie, Wells, Lapthorne, and McGilvery, of Guinea Gold NL and Guinea Airways Ltd ; Prank Griffin, Charles Banks, and Tom Harris, of Placer and Bulolo com panies; Ray Parer, Major Berryman, Medical Assistant Lambert (of Wau); and a host of other men well known in the Territory.

“D’AIR DEVIL”—The Story of “Pard” Mus tar, by Frank Clune. Published by Angus and Robertson Ltd., Sydney. Price, 6/-.