Silent Six
p. 90 · Read in the full issue
Member Of The Silent Six
IT’S not for nothing that J. A.
Johnstone, MBE, one of the BSIP’s most respected and popular citizens, was a member of the pre-war gold prospecting syndicate called the Silent Six — although it is toss-up whether the syndicate got its name from him, or whether he borrowed the idea of silence from it.
It is a fact, however, that he carries his silence into other realms besides gold mining—to such effect that this Brett Milder sketch of him has been held up for months, awaiting a “story”. It is now pub lished without a story, but with the few biographical details which we know.
Mr. Johnstone is an Englishman, was an original ANZAC, and arrived in the Solomons in the early '20s. He was one of the party that went to Malaita to restore order after the Lillies and Bell murders in 1925, and was interested in various pre-war business enterprises including prospecting in Guadal canal with the Silent Six.
In 1942 he escaped from the Japs to the New Hebrides, and later be came a Major in the BSIP Labour Corps. In 1953 he was one of BSPs two representatives at the Corona tion of Queen Elizabeth in London.
After the war, the Silent Six be came the Balasuna Syndicate, which owns the prospecting rights at Gold Ridge, Guadalcanal, where in 1955 interesting lodes were dis covered. Mr. Johnstone, for the syndicate, and the BSIP Govern ment both have spent a lot of time in recent years trying to interest mining companies in the deposits— and Clutha tested the area thoroughly a couple of years ago before withdrawing.
We suspect—but do not know for sure—that that MBE was awarded for all-round excellence as a citizen.