Bougainville

Bulletin

It is one of the encouraging aspects of the academic growth of the Pacific nations that more and more scholarly publications are emanating from within the countries themselves, the universities, institutes, museums and libraries are now beginning to stamp their marks upon the academic scene, often with marked success. There is so much to be researched and recorded about the Pacific and it is to be hoped that less and less in the future will distant universities in North America and Europe be the source of research writings on the Pacific.

The New Guinea Research Unit of the Australian National University is a prime example of the form of co-operation which rightly exists between an island community and a major education institution in one of the larger countries in the Pacific area.

Since 1963 the Unit has produced a series of Bulletins, ranging over a wide gamut of fields of interest concerning Papua New Guinea. A distinguished group of authors have placed their names on these publications and it is to the credit of the Unit that the quality of the Bulletins, in academic content and in technical presen tation has continued to grow.

There can be no gainsaying the fact that today these publications would rank as highly as any others of a similar origin produced anywhere. They are well documented, fully-illustrated and concern ed with topics, which must command the attention of many who are not of the academic frame of mind.

Bulletin No 62 Road and develop ment in Southwest Bougainville, by Marion W. Ward, is the latest of these Bulletins to come to my notice. Apart from :ts undoubted academic merit, Marion Ward’s work is a most useful general information source for anyone who is interested in the history and current

development of Bougainville, particularly

the southwestern region. The Research Unit issues an average of four to five Bulletin No 62 Road and Develop may be purchased for $A 10.00 and at that price they should be the prey of the bargain-hunting Pacific hand, and bibliophile

W. G. Coppell

(Road And Development In Southwest

BOUGAINVILLE. By Mirion W. Ward. New Guinea Research Unit Bulletin No 62. Australian National Universi ty, Port Moresby and Canberra. $2.00).