Islands People

Deaths of Islands People

Mr M. Christian Mr Melville Christian, fifth genera tion descendant of Fletcher Christian, leader of the Bounty mutineers, died on Pitcairn Island in June, aged 77.

He had been ill for some months.

He is survived by his wife.

The entire population of Pitcairn attended Mr Christian’s funeral at the SDA Church, the only church on the island, and the subsequent grave side service. Seventy-two of them were direct descendants of the muti neers. The remaining nine “out siders” were the island pastor and his wife, the schoolteacher, his wife and three children, and two RAF “monitors” who were on the island to check for possible fallout from the French nuclear tests.

Mr L. W. Harwood A well-known former resident of Fiji, Mr Leonard William Harwood, died in NSW on June 2, aged 68.

Graduating from Hawkesbury Agri

cultural College, NSW, he joined the CSR Co and served in Fiji for 11 years. In 1935 he began dairy farming on Viwa estate at Tailevu. He was recruited into the Agriculture Dept in 1936 as a specialist in rice, bananas and copra. In 1952 Mr Harwood went to the Imperial College of Tropical

Agriculture, Trinidad, and gained his DTA. He returned to Fiji with cocoa cuttings from Trinidad and Kew (UK) and in the following six years did much to foster the infant cocoa-grow ing industry. He retired to Australia in 1959. He is survived by his widow and daughter, Caroline.

Mr A. R. Rourke Mr A. R. (Barney) Rourke, a former chief manager of the CSR Co Ltd in Fiji, died in Sydney on May 28. He joined the company in 1918 as a junior chemist and went to Fiji in 1923. In the next 34 years he served at all the company’s mills in Fiji and in January, 1957, became chief manager. He returned to Aus tralia in December, 1957, as Fiji inspector, and held that position till he retired in 1960. Mr Rourke leaves a widow and two daughters.

Mr Tsang Yan Fatt A respected member of the Chinese community of Madang, Mr Tsang Yan Fatt has died at the age of 51.

He was known simply to local people as Tam Yan. He came first to PNG in 1938 and settled with his family in Rabaul.

Mrs H. S. Evans Mrs Helen Susan Evans died re cently on Norfolk Island, where she was born in 1898. She spent all her life on the island, apart from a few years in Australia. She was the daughter of Fletcher Christian Nobbs and Gertrude Emily Nobbs. Mrs Evans is survived by her husband and a daughter.