Deaths

of Islands People

Fredrick Rodney Fowler In Sydney, Australia, on January 2, aged 68.

Rod Fowler was widely re spected as a pioneer in medical education in postwar Papua New Guinea.

Canadian-born, he went with his family to Melbourne in 1925. After leaving school he did art studies and then a course in nursing from which he gradu

ated in 1940. In ’4l he went to Papua New Guinea as an ad ministration medical orderly, working first in Rabaul and then Lae.

He was in Lae when Japanese bombers attacked the town, and was responsible for the evacu ation of the administrator, who happened to be there at the lime. For the rest of the war he served in the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU), running emergency hospitals and conducting evacu ations of civilians (such as those trapped in Madang). He was mentioned in despatches in 1944.

The war over, he set up the first Native Medical School,

and also for a time ran the hospital at Malahang, near Lae.

From 1952 he was based for 10 years at the Aid Post Train ing School in Goroka. While there he wrote, in Pidgin, The Aid Post Book, the basic refer ence work for aid post orderlies PNG’s ‘barefoot doctors’.

From 1962 he ran the art section of the Department of Information and Extension Ser vices, Port Moresby.

Rod Fowler retired to Sydney in 1967, after 26 years in PNG, and, among other things in his last years, did illustrating work for a Peoples of the Pacific series of school readers.

His son Martin stayed on in Port Moresby until 1978, and was project architect for the PNG National Museum and the National Arts School.

Superintendent Mike

Thomas At Mount Gravatl, Brisbane, Australia, of a heart attack on January 26, Howard Swinford (Mike) Thomas, 62, a former chief superintendent of police in Papua New Guinea.

Mike Thomas was one of a

number of experienced police brought from Britain to PNG in the early 19505, and he served in Madang and in the newly opening Highlands region.

He became widely known in the 1960 s when he conducted a series of nationally-broadcast radio programmes teaching Melanesian Pidgin to English speakers. His bright presen tation, coupled with colourful translations of well-known stories, soon drew a huge listen ing audience. His spoken trans lations of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and ‘The Three Little Pigs’ became so popular that they were issued as records and sold widely. (But the advertis ing for the records misfired on one occasion when a letter was received which said ‘We are having a feast in the village next week. 1 have enclosed the money and please send the three pigs as soon as possible’.) Superintendent Thomas left PNG in 1970 and became a lecturer at the Queensland Police Academy, but ill-health forced him to retire early. He took a quieter job as a civilian employee at the Mount Gravatt police station and was doing the daily banking when he col lapsed and died.

Su’a Aloese In Apia, in January, aged 72.

A former member of the Western Samoa parliament, Su’a Aloese represented Faasaleleaga constituency No 3 from 1967-73. He was educated at Malifa School, and became a trader in 1932. In 1956 he joined the Agricultural Depart ment where he worked until 1966.

While in parliament, he was a member of the Bills Committee, and attended several overseas conferences.

Vili (Willie) Matamua In Auckland, New Zealand, in January, aged 51.

A prominent member of the Samoan community, Mr Matamua came to New Zea land from Samoa in 1953. He became a chief orator and lay preacher at the Pitt Street Methodist Church where he was a trustee.

Mrs Nenkatamma Reddy In Auckland, New Zealand, on November 5, 1981, of septi caemia, aged 63.

Mrs Reddy was the wife of Jai Ram Reddy, opposition leader in the Fiji Parliament.

She scratched her hand while walking in dense bush and was admitted to Lautoka Hospital when it became infected. Mrs Reddy later developed septi caemia and was flown urgently to Auckland.

Patrick John In Vanuatu, on January 13, aged 12, from a shark attack.

Patrick John, of Liro village, Paama Island, was swimming with a group of children when a shark attacked, severing both his legs.

William Henry (Bill)

Johns On the Queensland Gold Coast, Australia, late in January, William Henry (Bill) Johns, 69, a former general manager of South Pacific Brewery Ltd in Papua New Guinea, and one of PNG’s best-known business men.

Bill Johns was born in the Australian mining city of Broken Hill, and was one of the many Australians who went to the PNG goldfields in the early 19305. He became a sectional manager for Bulolo Gold Dredging Ltd until the Pacific War ended production there, and he spent the war as a lieutenant in the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU). He returned to Broken Hill for several years after the war, then managed a Burns Philp subsidiary com pany in Port Moresby, and was appointed general manager of South Pacific Brewery in 1957, a position he held for more than 15 years.

He formed a number of successful companies of his own, was active in community affairs, and was awarded an OBE for community service.