Third Waigani (or Vaigana?) seminar

“Waigani” is commonly accepted as the Papuan name of the area on the outskirts of Port Moresby on which the P-NG University is rising out of (very literally) the dust. Each May, a “Waigani Seminar” is organised jointly by the P-NG University, the P-NG Administrative College, the Australian National University and the Council on New Guinea Affairs.

These seminars attract a large and distinguished list of speakers, and difficulty has been found in fitting all the papers and discussions into the five days over which the seminars extend. So this year the seminar, from May 26-30, will be divided into two sections meeting concurrently. One will deal with land tenure, and the other with the problems of indigenous business enterprise.

Speakers from Polynesia, Australia, Britain, the United States and the UN will take part.

Incidentally, should “Waigani” be Waigani? Some time ago, when a young Motuan told me that it ought to be “Vaigana”, I thought that he was just being pernicketty. But the other day I found it spelt Vaigana in print, and, believe it or not, it was in the British New Guinea Annual Report for 1886-87. It would be difficult to find an earlier authority than that!