Deaths Of Islands People

Mathilde Martha Hilder The death occurred in Sydney on August 1, after a long illness, of Mathilde (Tilly) Hilder, wife of Captain Brett Hilder, master of Burns Philp’s Bulolo. She was 58.

Mrs. Hilder was Dutch born, and she and Captain Hilder met in what was then the Netherlands East Indies when he was on the Sydney-Singapore service. They were married in Vila, New Hebrides, in 1933. In 1938-39, when Captain Hilder was master of one of BP’s inter-island vessels, the family lived in Rabaul but returned to Australia at the outbreak of war, Mrs. Hilder is survived by Captain Hilder, three daughters and a son.

Mr. V. B. Pennefather Mr. Victor Bolton Pennefather, New Guinea old-hand and former owner of Tokua Plantation, Kokopo, died in Sydney on July 30, aged 82.

A veteran of the Boer War, Mr.

Pennefather first went to New Guinea in 1914 with the Australian Expe ditionary Forces, and later continued on with the civil administration, serv ing as a District Officer at Morobe, Kavieng and Kokopo. In 1926, he left the Administration and took a property at Kokopo, where he re mained until the Japanese invasion of 1942. He served with ANGAU during the war and afterwards re turned to Kokopo.

Mr. Pennefather retired to Sydney in 1948 but had since made many

return trips to the territory until re cent years.

He leaves a widow, a son and two daughters. Vic Pennefather was a great friend of Gordon Thomas, who died two days after him in Sydney (see p. 9).

Mr. L. M. Davis Mr. L. M. Davis, who served with the Colonial Service in Fiji and the Solomons from 1930 to 1948, died at West Wyalong, NSW, recently, aged 53. He was born in Suva.

Mr. Davis was with the Fiji Posts and Telegraphs Department from 1930 till World War II when he joined the Fiji Defence Force. He transferred to the BSIP in 1941, and remained on war service till 1946.

As the Japanese advanced he . volunteered to stay at Tulagi with the radio operator and others to maintain communications. He eventu ally escaped with 100 Chinese in a small boat.

He leaves a widow, three daughters and a son.

Mr. Damodar Govind Mr. Damodar Govind, formerly a prominent Suva businessman, died recently in India, aged 68.

He went to Fiji from India in 1918, to open a business in Levuka, under the name of Damodar and Co.

Later he moved to Suva and eventu ally ran two shops there.

Mr. Damodar left Fiji in 1956 to return to India, leaving his shops under the management of his sons.

He leaves a widow and five sons.

Inspector David Crawley

Former Papua-New Guinea police inspector David Crawley died in Brisbane on July 11, aged 60. He had retired from New Guinea in 1963, having joined the old New Guinea police force in 1935.

David Crawley’s great interest in life was the Royal Papua-New Guinea Constabulary Band, which oyer many years he brought to the high standard of competence it now holds.

He had begun the work in the thirties with the New Guinea con stabulary, which was then separate from the Papuan service. The war interrupted it, and when the Japanese arrived in Rabaul, where he then was, he was one of those who escaped after hiding some of the band instruments.

He reorganised the band after the war and became bandmaster of the combined constabulary, in Port Moresby. The band and bandsmen— “his bandsmen”, as he called them— gained many honours. At his final departure from Jackson’s Airport in 1963 many of the New Guinean bandsmen wept.

He leaves a widow, a son and two daughters.

Mr. J. F. Byrne Mr. John Francis Byrne, son of an American seaman who was put ashore in Fiji in 1863 after a dis agreement with the captain, died in mid-June, aged 96. (See p. 25), Mr. Albert Atger One of Tahiti’s oldest residents, Mr. Albert Atger, died on the island on June 15 at the age of 92.

Mr. Martial lorss Mr. Martial lorss, well known in French Polynesia for many years died in Tahiti early in May at thi ago of 75.

Mr. lorss served in the Territorial Assembly and on the territory’s Permanent Commission. He also presided over the local racing, yachting and youth organisations at various times. In 1961, he published a Tahitian grammar.

Mr. W. G. McKay Mr. William George McKay, a pro minent Fiji planter, died suddenly on May 23.

He went to Fiji about the turn of the century, and after working for some years for the CSR Co. in their mills and ships, he joined his parents in taking over the Nagasau Estate, at the north of Taveuni.

Mr. McKay spent about 50 years

The late Mr. Dan Crawley and his wife on their departure from New Guinea in 1963.

on the estate, and brought it to a high level of efficiency. He took a keen and practical interest in Taveuni affairs.

At various times he was chairman or president of the road and hospital boards and of the Taveuni Country Club.

He retired to live in Suva about four years ago, and became vice president of Charman’s All Races Club and chairman of the Pearce Home committee.

Mr. McKay is survived by his step-brother, Mr. D. M. Mackenzie, who still works on the Nagasau Estate, and by two step-sisters, Mrs.

Esme Beddows, of Suva, and Mrs.

Claude Pocock, of Sydney.

The Rev. and Mrs. W. Green The Rev. William Green, former chairman of the Methodist Mission in Fiji and who was a missionary at Bwaidoga in Papua for six years, and Mrs. Green died within four hours of each other in Sydney on July 14.

Mr. Green, an Englishman, entered the Australian Methodist ministry in 1914, and his first missionary ap pointment was to Bwaidoga, where he served for six years.

Mr. and Mrs. Green first went to Fiji in 1923, and served in several centres, before returning to Australia in 1931.

They went back to Fiji seven years later, when Mr. Green was recalled to become chairman of the United Synod of the Methodist Church, He served as chairman for 10 years— from 1938 to 1948.

Mrs. Jessie Hatch Mrs. Jessie Hatch, a descendant of an early European pioneer in Fiji, died at Suva in June, aged 58.

Her great-grandfather, Charles Pickering, was in one of the Rewa wars—when Rewa attacked Suva in 1843. Fighting on Rewa’s side, he was in charge of a brass cannon taken from the ship Amiable Josephine. Mrs. Hatch was a grand niece of Ratu Etuate Mataitini, the Vunivalu of Rewa.

She is survived by Mr. Hatch, six sons and five daughters.

Rev. Father L. Chene, SM The Rev, Father Leon Chene, SM, who was attached to the Catholic Mission in Fiji for 27 years, died recently in his native France. He had returned there on sick leave in 1964.

Father Chene was ordained in Belgium in 1935 and went to Fiji in 1937, where he was in charge of several missions.