To George Whittaker

/Captain Gavin Greenlees, Editor Of

“Guinea Gold,” recently found that his neighbour in Ward 9, of the 118th Australian General Hospital, in Rabaul, was Captain George K. Whittaker, MBE, MID, one-time officer of the New Guinea Administration, and later a plan tation owner in the Nadzab district, near Lae, New Guinea. Whittaker was a member of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles and, later, as a member of the Australian Military Forces, he fought the Japs in many parts of New Guinea.

On one occasion, he was sent up the Markham Valley; and he arrived on the scene of a famous action two days after it had commenced. In that battle, Private Richard Kellaher, of the 25th Battalion, A IF, won the Victoria Cross, and Corporal William Richards the Military Medal.

Action was still proceeding; and Captain Whit taker found that the battleground actually was his own war-torn plantation!

“The following poor verses,” writes Gavin Greenlees, “are my tribute to a man who has given 20 good years to this tough land, fought for it, and risked his health and life for it.”

I penned a poem to my love In a place of fever’d pain, And as the melody I wove Palms bent to tropic rain.

My heart flew out across the sea To you, in cooler clime; My neighbour, tossing restlessly, Unsettled was my rhyme.

The sea beat on a troubled shore — A young land this, and rude: A land of beauty, raucous, raw, Bright, savage, garish, crude.

Where once a young man beauty found Beneath the palm trees’ frond There’s scarce an unscathed inch of ground Out there the bay beyond.

Where once kind Vulcan’s islet reigned Ere belching lava, fire; A sneaking filthy foe ordained More death than Nature’s ire.

Where once he strolled at Sabbath dawn By peaceful, sunlit sea Sky bombings desecrate the lawn — Man kills man’s phantasy.

Where ships of peace once rode the bay, Ships’ graveyards stir the tide; Gaunt sterns and twisted railings say A dirge where men have died.

Dreams Whittaker a bitter dream Of Lae, where boys once cried: They scrambled by the planter’s stream, The planter’s home beside.

A VC in a cocoa grove Was won where bullets hit: Bloodstains in a hallowed cove Where native fires were lit.

The captain also thinks of days In isles he knew the best, Where other men, and other ways, Have faced the terror test.

A peaceful man—a fighter, too — He mourns all those who passed— The sorrow that so many knew In war’s grim, stormy blast.

And now he’ll turn towards the south Another land to woo — Gnarled gum-trees there defy the drouth George! your homeland’s calling you.

Mr. Norman Nelson, of the well-known Islands firm of Nelson & Robertson Pty., Ltd., accompanied by Mrs. Nelson, left Sydney for a trip to the South Pacific in April. They were passengers on the “Matua,” which left Auckland, NZ, on May 2.