Book reviews: March 2014

Fire mountains of the islands: A history of volcanic eruptions and disaster management in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands by Wally Johnson
Needed—but not wanted: Chinese in Rabaul 1884-1960 by Peter Cahill
Nomad: One man's struggle for survival in Nuigini by Winston Brown
The lost tail by Patricia Bernard and Tricia Oktober

Nomad: One man's struggle for survival in Nuigini by Winston Brown
2013 (second edition), $25, PWB Publishing, 4 Cornish Close, Atherton Queensland 4883 Tel: 0415 362 007
417 pp PB printed through Creative Space, Amazon USA (Made USA Charleston, SC 29 October 2013)

A reviewer of Winston Brown’s Nomad: One Man’s Struggle for Survival in Niugini says, “Nomad is a novel of many parts”. But there is also a sense of awe and anticipation due largely to the manner in which the author has constructed the novel.

Love and devotion shines through in the generous thoughts of Maree, the wife of the hero, whose husband lies stricken with head injuries from an assault by highland warriors. As a counterbalance to these noble sentiments come the competitive, jealous, envious, and sometimes offhand actions of pilots, engineers, business persons and the suspicions felt by Hairy Richards. Hairy is the centre of the story, a pilot and businessman with skills waiting to be launched into a business world adapting to the fast moving cultural changes resulting from the Independence of Papua New Guinea in 1975. As the plot thickens and pilots take risks and work out their indiscretions, Hairy, with the help Maree handles these situations with growing confidence.

There are named and recognisable persons in the novel including trader Jim McKinnon and the Leahy brothers of Mt Hagen. This makes the novel lifelike but may well put players in embarrassing situations. Truth may not be far from fiction and in this fiction damming accusations are made or implied which may or may not be directed to people alive or recently deceased. In this novel the plot appears to be cut off, leaving unresolved the possible capture and conviction of Hairy’s attackers and who, if anyone, put them up to it.

For those with an interest in aircraft, the technical side is sufficient and never intrudes on the story which includes breakdowns, overloading, heavy landings and near misses with the rugged terrain. There are few, if any, Nomad aircraft (wholly developed and built in Australia) flying today. Rather, the confident author and pilot is free to develop characters mainly through competent dialogue which also supports the action forward.

Unfortunately the book needs a little more editing to sort out the misplaced quotation marks and consistency with PNG or P.N.G.. There is an apparent howler in the epilogue when a Trislander aircraft crashed on a wet strip on the banks of the Sepik River: obviously at Ambunti (in fact at Annenberg in Madang Province), not Amanab, which is near the Indonesian border.

This is an ambitious but most readable and exciting novel. As a reviewer with some experience of PNG and in particular the Sepik area, the author’s ability to bring in towns, rivers, valleys, the seafronts, clouds and general weather conditions with apparent little exertion makes the book suitable for the general reader looking for romance, excitement and exotic locations.

Martin Kerr www.maskimedia.com.au

Fire mountains of the islands: A history of volcanic eruptions and disaster management in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands by Wally Johnson was published late last year by ANU E Press.  It is now available as a free on-line download for anyone by using http://epress.anu.edu.au/titles/fire-mountains-of-the-islands  
Hard-copy off-prints are available too and can be ordered at cost from the same website.

Needed—but not wanted: Chinese in Rabaul 1884-1960 by Peter Cahill

Peter has the last 10 copies available to sell as his house is being re-decorated and extra space is needed for PNGGA donations. He won't be re-printing or up-dating it, but is thinking about volume 2 1961- 1975.  E: or 7 Wynyard Street, Indooroopilly QLD 4068) for $35.00 plus postage.

The lost tail by Patricia Bernard and Tricia Oktober
ISBN 9781921665868 Published 2013, Hardback, 32 pp, illustrated picture storybook; Available from Ford Street Publishing or from Patricia Bernard (E: Patricia Bernard )

A story about a group of Bundy Tribe boys who walk from their village to Goroka Show in the hope of winning some money to buy a water tank. Their dance is the snake dance, and their mothers have made a 5 metre long material snake stuffed with grass, and one of the men has carved a wooden head for it. On arriving Nura is so tired he goes to sleep immediately. (He is the youngest. Six years old. And he dances with the tail.) On awaking he discovers the other boys have gone and the snake is gone. This where I come in. I met him crying his eyes out! So I followed him around photographing him as he searched and caused chaos while searching for the snake. When he found it, he poked his tongue out at me. Great photo. So on returning to Australia I wrote the story and sold it to Ford Publishing, Clifton Hill, Melbourne. The book has been illustrated by Trish Oktober, prize winning artist who lives in Katoomba.