Islands People

Deaths of Islands People

Mrs. Alice Frost Long-time Rabaul resident, Mrs.

Alice Frost, died in Brisbane on October 8, aged 84. After housekeep ing at Lae Hospital and Wau Hotel she opened a store in Wau, later mov ing to Rabaul.

After World War II Mrs, Frost was in Port Moresby, and then at the Cosmopolitan Hotel, Rabaul. She settled in Australia in 1963. Her son, Fred, and family live in Brisbane.

Boga Peri

Mr. Boga Peri, well-known district court interpreter in Port Moresby for the past 20 years, died in mid-Septem ber, at the age of 50.

Born at Lalaura village in the Abau area of the Central District, Mr. Peri was educated at the Yule Island school and joined the public service in June, 1938. He served in the Army from 1942 to 1945 and joined the Law Department as a court inter preter in 1950.

Leonard J. Brass Widely respected authority on the plants of New Guinea, Dr. Leonard J. Brass, died at Cairns, Queensland, on August 29, at the age of 71. He was most noted for the field botanical work which he did in New Guinea, particularly as leader of several Archbold Expeditions from the Museum of Natural History.

Dr. Brass was born and educated in Queensland, and had retired there, after completing 33 years’ service with the American Museum, in 1966.

He had been curator of the Archbold Collections of the Museum at that time, and was recognised as curator emeritus thereafter. In recent times he has been honorary curator of the Flecker Herbarium of the North Queensland Naturalists’ Club.

During World War 11, Dr. Brass served in the Canadian Army, and was consultant to the US Forces on matters related to the vegetation and ecology of the Islands. Information he supplied enabled the spectacular glider-rescue of three US airmen from the Baliem River Valley.

An honorary doctorate was con ferred on Dr. Brass by Florida State University in 1962. He was naturalised as a US citizen in 1947. His wife, Marie, died in 1954. His closest sur viving relative is his sister, Mrs. Edna Henderson, of Brisbane.