George Aumuller

Dead

Lifetime of Good Service With BP

THE death occurred in Sydney on March 10 of Mr. George Aumuller, who was best known as a Burns Philp manager in Papua, and a member of the Papuan Legislative Council.

He was 70 years old, and most of his working life had been spent in the BP service. He was in North Queensland, Papua and in Fiji (under Burns Philp SS Co. Ltd.); and finally he settled down in Papua as manager of the Samarai branch. There he did very good work for the Big Firm, and he acquired vari-

ous interests, and was a close friend and business associate of the well-known Buntine family. While he was with the South Seas company, he met and married the present Mrs. Aumuller, who was a hospital nurse in the Solomons. Her charming, gracious personality helped him much in his successful career.

Mr. Aumuller, a quietly-spoken, kindly man. whom everyone instinctively liked, became well-known to Australian Terri tories people during his long term of managership at Samarai. Scores of people passing backwards and forwards through China Straits, enjoyed the hos pitality of Mr. and Mrs. Aumuller in tlieir delightful bungalow on the top of Samarai island. In the ’thirties, Mr.

Aumuller was nominated as a member of the Papua Legislative Council, and in that capacity, right up until the Jap invasion, he served the Territory well.

During the invasion, the Samarai busi ness quarter was destroyed, - but the Aumuller bungalow on the hilltop sur vived. , During those black years, Mr. Aumul ler filled a oost in the service of the Aus tralian Government; but his heart re mained in Papua, and as soon as the war was over he was very happy to re turn to the Territory as Papuan man ager and a director of the newly-regis tered Burns Philp (New Guinea) Ltd.

Jle had not been well for some years, however, and in less than a year he had to relinquish his managership at Port Moresby and go to Sydney for hos pital treatment. He was operated on, and apparently made a good recovery; but about the end of February he suf fered a relapse and died.

The attendance of old Territorians at the funeral service at St. Thomas’s

Church, North Sydney, on March 11, and the number of floral tributes, were evidence of the esteem in which he was held.

He is survived by Mrs. Aumuller and two grown-up daughters.

The Rev. Dr. C. E. Fox of the Melan esian Mission, who went to Sydney from BSI, in November, for a major operation, has made a successful recovery and is now recuperating in New Zealand.

Mr. Geo. Aumuller.

Four Commodores of the Club —three past and one present, from left to right: Mr. H. A.

Ragg (1946), Mr. D. A. Butler (1939-1944), Mr. Noel Levy (1945), Commander J. P.

Mullins (1947).

(See also cover photograph.) —Photo by Stinson Studios.