NG Natives Murder
p. 16 · Read in the full issue
Patrol Officers
Port Moresby, Nov. 14.
rJO Patrol Officers in Papua- New Guinea District Services have been killed in the Tele fomin area of New Guinea. The officers are Cadet Patrol-Officer G. B. Harris and Patrol Officer Gerald Leo Szarka.
Telefomin is in the mountains not far from where the borders of Papua, New Guinea and Dutch New Guinea meet; it is one of the most isolated patrol-posts in Papua-New Guinea and has been established only since 1948. Natives around the station are regarded as being “under control” but further out they are still hostile.
Telefomin was mentioned in the records of some of the earlier patrols from Papua, notably by Karius and Champion. It was also a point on the route of some re sidents of Wewak, New Guinea, who escaped from the Japs in 1942 by walking from the Sepik River over land to the Fly, in Papua. Their journey took about eight months. (Following news of these tragedies, there has been considerable critic ism of the Minister for Territories, and his policy of bringing all of New Guinea under control within a specified period; and of District Services for sending young, inex perienced men to isolated areas like Telefomin).