DEATHS of Islands People

Bishop Sir Louis Vangeke At Bereina, Papua New Guinea, on December 15, from heart fai lure at the age of 87.

Louis Vangeke was the first Papua New Guinean to be or dained a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. His ordination it took place in 1937 outside PNG was significant historic ally because it was initiated by a group of French-influenced church-men. The mainstream of the church in 1937 in Papua and New Guinea was under Aust ralian, German and U.S. influ ence, and had shown little move ment towards absorbing Papua New Guineans into higher positions.

Louis Vangeke was bom in 1904 at Veifaa, a village in the Mekeo area of the PNG Central Province. His primary education was on Yule Island, the historic French-linked missionary and teaching station which has be come known more recently as the birth-place of the PNG national flag.

He became a teacher in his home village, but after a few

years joined the Roman Catholic mission. He was a lay worker and later a brother and worked on a number of projects which es tablished churches and schools in central Papua in the early 19205.

Two French missionary priests, Father J. Pineau and Bishop Alian de Boismenu, encouraged him to become increasingly in volved in the work of the church, leading to his selection in 1928 to train for the priesthood.

He was sent to a French semi nary on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, and in the nine years he spent there he extended his general education, became a fluent French speaker and suc cessfully completed his theolog ical studies. He returned to PNG in 1937 to a big welcome from the Papuan coastal people, and celebrated his first Mass in the cathedral at Port Moresby.

He was then 32 years old and at the start of a career which made him one of the most widely known and respected native-born churchmen in PNG. As an MSC priest he spent the next 35 years working in parishes in many parts of the Papuan side of PNG.

Some of his postings were to areas where lawlessness and trib al fighting flourished.

He became well known for his practical approach to the priest hood, helping to establish ag riculture and trade contacts in the interests of the communities where he worked. He also wrote the words and music for many of the hymns now sung in the parishes of southeast Papua.

He was made a bishop in 1973 and knighted in 1980.

Nearly 4000 people attended his funeral at Veiffa.

George Starr Christian On Norfolk Island on November 13, aged 76.

Bom and educated on Nor folk, George Christian worked in Queensland and Solomon Islands before joining the Austral Bronze Co. in Sydney, where he re mained for 42 years. On his retirement he returned to Norfolk with his wife Hagar.

Iroijlaplap Manini Kabua On Ebeye, Marshall Islands, on November 11, in his 80s.

One of the major Iroij of the

Ralik chain of islands, Manini Kabua was the uncle of President Amata Kabua of the Marshall Islands.

His own sons and daughters were active in the restructuring of the military use agreements for Kwajalein Atoll.

He was buried in Buoj, Ailinglaplap.

Ratu Napolione Natadra Of a heart attack in Natogo, Tavua, Fiji, on December 20, aged 73.

Ratu Napolione Natadra own ed the land where the Monasavu hydro-electric scheme is being constructed, and was responsible for persuading his people to sign the agreement which made the project possible. Ratu Napolione Natadra was in the colonial police force before returning to his people. He was installed as Tui Nadrau in 1973.

Stan Brown Jr.

At Monasavu on Viti Levu, Fiji, on December 17, aged 29.

A professional diver, Stan Brown was working underwater in the Monasavu hydro-lake when it is believed his breathing apparatus failed and he was drowned. Stan Brown was a for mer student at Suva Grammar School. He later studied in Auck land, obtaining a certificate in civil engineering. He was mar ried with a year-old son.

Stan Brown was the son of Commander Stan Brown, com mander of Fiji’s Naval Squadron.

Leslie Henry Corbett In Brisbane, Queensland, on November 27.

Les Corbett was one of the Australians trapped in Rabaul when World War II came to Papua New Guinea in 1942, but he was also one of the much smaller group of people who returned to live in Rabaul after the war. He walked out of Rabaul ahead of the advancing Japanese, and described later how he wore out three pairs of shoes in his long trek to safety through the forests and along the beaches of New Britain.

He became one of Rabaul’s best known businessmen during the period of vigorous recon

stmction which followed the war, and played a part in the redevelopment of Rabaul. He was assistant manager and later general manager of Colyer Wat son (NG) Ltd., a widely diver sified company later bought by Steamships Trading Company Ltd. He was one of the business and civic leaders whose lobbying resulted in Rabaul being rebuilt.

The then Australian administra tion of PNG had favored building a new town near Kokopo 30 kilometres away because of the potential volcanic activity on the old Rabaul site.

Mr Corbett had been living in retirement in Brisbane at the time of his death.

Chief Nataniela On Rotuma, Fiji, on December 18.

Chief Nataniela was the Gagaj Maraf of Rotuma, a chiefly title held by the head of the Noatau district, one of the seven tradi tional districts of the island. He had held the title for about 14 years. It is believed he was suf fering from kidney trouble at the time of his death.

John Haycraft

In a mining accident at Vatukou la, Fiji, in December, aged about 50.

John Haycraft was an Aust ralian geologist working with Western Mining Corporation Holdings Ltd. He was killed when an underground chute col lapsed, burying him in mud and rock. His wife was in Fiji with him, although his family was in Australia.

Harry Wiltshire-Webb

In Brisbane, Queensland, on De cember 20, aged 76.

The first British solicitor to set up in private practice in Port- Vila, Harry Webb came to the then New Hebrides with his wife Jean in the mid-19605.

Harry always lent a sym pathetic ear to the troubles of his fellow man, and his purse was always open for those in dire straits. He seldom sent out ac counts, and then only to those he knew could afford to pay.

Harry Webb was probably the first lawyer to question many of

the legal rulings in the courts of Vila, and he fought strenuously for justice for people of all races.

He became aQC during his time in Vila.

Those who knew him and his wife remember them with admi ration for their integrity and the help they were always ready to give to the underdog, and with affection for their generosity and

good humor.

Katherine Paul.

Paul Sandblom In the USA in mid-December.

An American, Paul Sandblom first went to Fiji in December 1979. He and his U.S.-based company, United Marketing Corporation, became involved in a scheme to harvest Fiji’s pine forests which developed into a row between the Fiji Govern ment on the one hand and the pine landowners on the other. A decision taken by the govern ment to ban Paul Sandblom from Fiji on the grounds of previous convictions for fraud led to de monstrations on behalf of the landowners, and to mass arrests.

Eventually contracts for the harvesting of the pine forests were given to British Petroleum (SWP) Ltd. in a joint venture with the Fiji Pine Commission.

However, as a direct result of Sandblom’s connections with Fi

ji, the Fijian landowners’ De laniyavu Pine Agency, and the controversial political group, the Western United Front, were formed.

Ivy Karen Buffett On Norfolk Island on December 6, aged 63.

Bom on Norfolk Island, Ivy Buffett (nee Evans) went to Syd ney in 1938, returning to Norfolk in 1965. She worked at Norfolk Island Hospital for many years, and was a keen singer and pianist.

Father Dionne In Boston, Mass., USA, on Sep tember 14, 1982, after a long illness, aged 75.

An American of French- Canadian extraction, Father Dionne went to Papua New Guinea in 1939 with the Marist Brothers to pioneer missionary work among the Keriaka people of Bougainville Island. His fre quent journeys into the largely unexplored interior made him the first white man most of his future parishioners were to see.

He was evacuated in Decem ber 1942 by submarine after the Japanese invasion but returned after the war to remain in PNG until the mid-1960s when he re turned to America.

Father Dionne took an active interest in the culture and lore of the people of Bougainville and was a leading authority on the area at the time of his death.

Rick Giddings.

Captain Gordon Fenton In Whangarei, New Zealand, on November 3, aged 93.

Captain Fenton could claim two “firsts” in the history of aviation in Fiji: in 1930 he be came the first pilot to register a commercial aircraft a Sim monds Spartan biplane in Fiji, and on July 14 of that year he made the first airmail delivery flight the country had ever known.

The Depression thwarted his two attempts in 1930 and 1932 to start an airline of his own, and when Fiji Airways was formed in 1933 he joined it as a pilot.

His aerobatic displays over Suva aroused great public interest.