deaths

Joseph Detsimea Audoa In Melbourne on April 18, aged 62.

Trained before World War II as an X-ray technician, Mr Audoa and his family were deported to Truk by the Japan ese during the war.

In 1955, he was elected to the Nauru Local Government Council, representing the dis trict of Yaren, and continued in that capacity until his death. As a member of the Nauru delega tion representing the Nauru Lo cal Government Council, Councillor Audoa participated in the pre-independence de liberations with the Australian Government in Canberra.

He was a member of the Transitional Council of State from January 1968 to May 1968, and a member of parlia ment from January 31, 1968, until his death. He was minister for justice, which portfolio he held from January 31, 1968, the day of independence of the republic to December 20, 1976, and from May 1978 to December 5, 1983, from which date he ceased to be a minister, due to ill-health.

In his career with the Nauru General Hospital, Mr Audoa often acted as a dispenser and pathologist. He was appointed a magistrate in the district and central courts of Nauru and made his mark as an impartial and just adjudicator.

As a cabinet minister, he acted as president of the repub lic on many occasions in the absence of President Hammer Deßoburt.

David Ramarui In Koror, Palau, on April 7, aged 59.

Educated in the period of Japanese administration of his country, Mr Ramarui attended the famous “Mokko” vocatio nal school set up by the Japan ese in Palau.

After World War II he be came a school teacher and worked in various capacities in the educational field for the rest of his life. In the words of the local bi-weekly Rengel Belau, “he championed Western education spiced with an

awareness of one’s cultural roots as the key to the Microne sian’s ability to succeed in the modem world.”

At the time of his death he held the position of minister of social services in the govern ment of the republic.

Rengel Belau said in its obituary tribute: “The late edu cator was a well-known patron of the Micronesian arts and was an accomplished craftsman in his own right, devoting his spare time to architecture, house-building and cabinet making.

“Foreign authors, anthropologists and journalists often sought him out for his breadth of experience, and his ability to clearly discourse on the historical and contemporary setting of Palau and Micronesia.

“Many will remember him for his gentle manner, keen wit and his well-developed and typically Micronesian use of metaphor to help his listeners conceptualise the Micronesian world view.

“Mr Ramarui was accorded a state funeral on April 8 and flags throughout the Republic are being flown at half-mast in his honor.”

Moses Bila At Pangi, South Pentecost, Vanuatu, on April 25, aged 13.

Moses was swimming with friends in the sea when a shark struck. It was the second shark attack to take place in Vanuatu waters this year, and the second for Pentecost in less than five years. The first attack this year was at Paama when an 18year-old girl was seriously in jured.

Sister Jane Sinclair In Suva on May 14, aged 87.

Sister Sinclair served in both Suva and Lautoka as a nursing sister. She was appointed mat ron of Lautoka Hospital in 1928 and deputy matron of Colonial War Memorial Hospi tal in 1935.

In 1945 she became matron of CWM and in 1950 she was appointed Nursing Superin tendent for the Colony as Fiji was then.

She retired in 1954 but con

tinued serving as a health sister from 1956-1960.

She was awarded an MBE in 1950 and received the Corona tion Medal in 1953 for her services to the colony.

Sister Sinclair was a serving sister in the St John Ambulance Brigade from 1950-1953 and was appointed district superin tendent of the brigade in 1962.

She was active in golf, tennis, bowls and swimming and was a member of the Fiji Golf Club and Tamavua Bowling Club.

William Halstead In Suva, on May 21, aged 89.

Bill Halstead, soldier, engineer, and one of the nicest men in the Islands, died peacefully in his sleep at the Pearce Home, where he had been in declining health for some time.

He was bom in Fiji and his father, who had come from the Kermadec Islands, was one of the engineers who worked, 70 years ago, on the reclamation and construction of the present Suva Wharf. Bill served his engineering apprenticeship in Sydney, returning in time to join the second contingent of volunteers from Fiji who served in British regiments in World War I. He was attached to the famous Ming’s Royal Rifles.

After the war he took up land at Tailevu under the returned soldiers’ dairying scheme, then opened an engineering shop where he serviced and repaired motor cycles. In 1952 he moved with his wife to Taveuni where they bought the Waita vala Plantation. They worked it for ten years before selling out to Burns Philp and coming to Suva for retirement.

Len Usher, who spoke the eulogy at the funeral, and who knew Bill Halstead for many years, said: ”He was one who set a splendid example of in tegrity and consistently high standards in his public and private life.”

Parbhu Jamnadas In Suva, on May 22, aged 63.

Parbhu Jamnadas was one of the best-known tailors in Fiji.

He was born in Navsari, India, and came to Fiji in 1936 to continue the tailoring work he had begun in Bombay when he was nine.

He worked for several Fiji companies in Suva and Levuka before becoming manager of G.B.Hari’s tailoring depart ment. In 1957 he started his own business which is still operating at its original premis es in Victoria Arcade.