"West N. Guinea Belongs To Us!"

Some Secret History, by “One of the Three”, Now Living in NG.

Why all this controversy over the ownership of Dutch New Guinea? After all, legally it belongs to Papua-New Guinea, the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles having captured it in 1942.

I know, I helped, and this is how it happened: The Japs landed at Hollandia in April, 1942, removed the Dutch officials, and after a short stay left two Jap political officials to introduce the new “Co-Prosperity Era”.

Because of all this, Hollandia went off the air, and it was no trouble at all for Army HQ at Port Moresby to send a signal to the NGVR platoon (a whole 15 of us) who held the fort at Madang, with instructions to “go west, young man” and investigate the reason for Hollandia’s silence.

The result was that the NGVR unit provisioned our Naval Branch —the Edith (capable of a full four knots with a following sea) manned by three NGVR units, with Sgt. Gordon Russel in command, and ventured forth.

En route. District Officer H. C. Jones, of Wewak, was collected to see that we behaved ourselves and to give us Government authority. A couple of Police boys were also brought along to add to the protocol.

In due course we arrived in Hollandia, ten days after the Jap naval units had returned to Manus—thank God!

We looked everywhere for a Dutch flag, but never a one to be seen; there were only Jap flags, mostly paper ones.

We decided, therefore, to run up the good old Aussie flag.

As DO Jones stepped ashore, we broke the flag at the masthead.

The “occupying Army”, plus a large crowd of locals who were present, came to the salute.

So there you are. No one can dispute our ownership. West New Guinea is ours!

But did you say that was tough? It sure was; as the local pub was the first place we visited, only to find that the Japs had drunk it dry!