Charles Duchatel
p. 11 · Read in the full issue
Untimely Death in New Guinea
THE death occurred in New Guinea in November, while on active service, of Major Charles Duchatel, well-known mining man and successful soldier. The cause of death was pneumonia.
Charles Duchatel was a mining en gineer. He served in World War I; and, when peace came, he turned to New Guinea, a new and unknown country, rather than to the staider life of the older countries. He did important work on the Morobe field in the early days; and he finally settled down on a good mining property near Sunshine. He ex plored and prospected in the then un-
Calendars are in short supply this year. Readers may there fore find use for the calendar we have printed inside the back cover. It may be cut out with out interfering with the rest of the journal.
known country west and south of the Upper Watut; and, long years ago, he found a way through the Central Moun tains on to the Lakekamu. in Papua.
The maps show “Duchatel's Drome”— built by him and named after him.
When war came, Mr. Duchatel, like several other well-known New Guinea miners, was eager to serve; but, like them, he was rejected again and again—they said he was too old. However, he got in, eventually; and, ever since, he had been doing invaluable work of a secret char acter. He had a unique knowledge of the country and the natives.
The passing of Major Duchatel adds another to the list of prominent Morobe men who have been lost since 1939 —Cliff Judd, Eric Chater, Bob Gurney, Nobby Clarke (WRC Airlines), Russ Wylde, Bill Grose, are some of the names which come to mind.