Independence Road

Books

The huffing and the puffing on PNG’s Independence Road

Don Woolford spent five years as AAP/Reuters correspondent in Papua New Guinea from January, 1968, to December, 1972, and was a part-time student at, and later a gra duate of, the University of Papua New Guinea. So he is well qualified to write on Papua New Guinea’s progress to self-government and in dependence Papua New Guinea: Initiation and Independence.

He begins his story with the estab lishment of the House of Assembly in 1964, and carries it through with clarity and meticulous accuracy to Independence Day on September 16,1975.

Having been personally involved in these events as a member of the House from 1964 to 1972, I found this book fascinating reading, re minding me as it did of the political battles in which I once took part.

All who are interested in the politi cal development of Papua New Guinea will find it equally fascinat ing, while future historians will be able to rely on it as an accurate source book.

The book confines itself pretty ex clusively to politics, though it has a good chapter on the economy. The general reader with no specific in terest in politics may find some of the huffing and puffing a bit tiresome; and we all need to remind ourselves that, while all this argy bargying was going on, some two million Papua New Guinean villagers were quietly getting on with planting their yams, taro and sweet potatoes, collecting their pro tein from sea and bush, gathering materials for and building their houses, and procreating children for future Papua New Guinean politi cians to push around.

It’s a pity that Don Woolford had to talk so much about blacks and whites. In today’s world these are emotive words; and in this case they are not really very descriptive. Only a few of Papua New Guinea’s

‘blacks’ are really black; most of them come in varying shades of brown. And most ‘whites’ who have been in the tropics for any length of time have been either tanned to an attractive brown or burnt to a rather less attractive pink.

But I appreciate Don Woolford’s difficulty. He couldn’t keep talking about indigenes and expatriates.

Papua New Guineans is a dreadful mouthful. And I’m told that quite a lot of white Australians object to being called Europeans.

Don Woolford’s final chapter on Independence and Beyond is first rate, and I would have liked it to have been twice as long. Among the many good things in it I will quote two short passages.

On the Public Service: ‘‘Black public servants seem as adept as their white predecessors at entrenching themselves and build ing their own little empires. A good case could be made for a country like Papua New Guinea having a large public service, provided the bulk of its members were engaged in public service teachers, health

workers, agricultural extension of ficers, public works tradesmen, foresters and the like. But it is ap parently necessary to have, in sup port of such people, an army of white-shirted blacks, sitting in air conditioned offices reading the Government Gazette and writing in ter-office memos.”

And on egalitarianism; “Most people may wish to retain at least part of their traditional society, but they still seem keen to acquire the material wealth of the Western world. This is perhaps even more true of the men of influence the national politicians and senior civil servants. Good homes, cars, and re staurants figure prominently in the life-styles of most of them; even some of those who fervently espouse the spiritual superiority of the an cient Melanesian virtues. . . . Those with the power and influence will get richer. Those without will lag further behind. It is a very familiar story.”

To write a book of this kind with out a single footnote is quite an achievement, and one of which I whole-heartedly approve. Don Woolford compensates for their ab sence by seven pages of chapter by chapter Notes on Sources at the end of his book. An admirable ar rangement!

The paperback edition of this book will cost you $8.95, but it’s worth it, and its Hong Kong printers have given it an attractive format and a good stout binding. It will not fall to pieces in your hands as so many Australian-produced paper backs do in the tropics.

For the libraries and the wealthy there is a hardback edition at $18.95. I would expect tooled pigskin at that price! Percy Chat terton

(Papua New Guinea: Initiation And Indepen

DENCE. By Don Woolford. Published by University of Queenslend Press, P.O. Box 42, St Lucia, Queens land 4067. >18.95 cloth, >8.95 paper.)