Te Rapunga In Hobart
p. 107 · Read in the full issue
YACHTSMAN George Dibbern, well known in Rarotonga and other islands of Polynesia, arrived in Hobart, Tasmania, in ketch Te Rapunga, on March 11. He carried a crew of three and was 33 days out from New Zealand.
Considerable interest was taken in his passport, which is home-made. It has, however, been accepted in the United States and Canada as well as New Zea land and the Pacific, and Hobart officials raised no objection to it.
Dibben describes himself as a citizen of the world. In his passport he states that his long residence in many different countries places him outside nationality; he declares himself a friend of all people and promises to respect the laws of all nations.
George Dibbern has been wandering around the Pacific for 40 years but he is a German and during both World Wars was interned in New Zealand.
The full story of his wanderings in his little ship was told in PIM by William Bond in January, 1949.