PNGAA Library

Major-General Michael Jeffery speaking at the "Sharing Histories: Kiap Tribute" Event

Senator Kate Lundy, His Excellency Mr Charles Lepani, PNG High Commissioner, Mr Ross Gibbs, Director General National Archives of Australia; Ladies and Gentlemen: 

Good afternoon everyone and what a pleasure it is to be here to take part in this long overdue recognition process of the sterling work done by our Kiaps in Papua New Guinea prior to Independence.

I am an avid reader of the Journal of the Papua New Guinea Association of Australia Una Voce, which invariably contains moving reminiscences of Kiap life.

As an Army officer I was posted to Papua New Guinea on two occasions and indeed Marlena and I were married in the tiny Haus Lotu, a bush church in Taurama Barracks in Port Moresby in February 1967, when I was a Company Commander with the 1st Battalion, The Pacific Islands Regiment.

It was whilst on various six week patrols into the Bosavi, Rabaul and Hagen areas that I first became acquainted with the work of our kiaps and District office staffs.  Indeed, a very fine former District Commissioner in Mr J.K. McCarthy was the Administrator of PNG at the time and his book Patrol Into Yesterday, about his kiap/patrolling experiences, remains riveting reading even today.

A few years later and after a stint of operational service in Vietnam I was posted back to PNG where I was privileged to command 700 very fine soldiers of the Second Battalion in Wewak, and further privileged to be there for Independence on 16 September 1975, when the then PNG Minister for Defence, if I recall correctly, noted that unlike in many other former colonies overseas, the Australian Flag was being lowered with dignity, rather than torn down.

When Marlena and I returned to Wewak in 2008 as Governor-General some 10,000 village people lined the streets to welcome us back — dressed in tribal dress, throwing flowers at us and with wonderful smiles: a truly joyful occasion.

Two years ago, I was honoured to be invested as a Grand Companion of the Order of the Logohu by Sir Michael Somare. The 'Logohu' bird of paradise is PNG's national symbol, and a very beautiful one too. It comes with the honorific title of "Chief".

I subsequently bought a small fishing boat and named it the Logohu, just to remind everyone who is the Chief when we are out on the water, and in particular those retired admiral friends of mine who might volunteer as deck hands and who also might think they know something about boats!

So it is with a strong affiliation to, and some understanding of, PNG that I can appreciate the tremendous work of the Kiap or patrol officer and the significant role they played in the post-war development of New Guinea up until Independence.

With limited support, the Kiap was often the first contact with remote tribes and the roles expected of him required great resourcefulness, cultural understanding, perseverance and courage. One of the duties of the patrol officer was to establish a patrol post that may have required jungle clearing, the building of huts and an air strip for resupply.

From the Patrol Post the Kiap would conduct walking or perhaps canoe patrols in largely unmapped country to the villages in his area.

Having established contact with the various villages the Kiap would carry out numerous administrative duties including policing, census taking, education in local government practices and tax collection among others.

Patrols lasted from two weeks to three months and were mostly conducted without support or communication with the outside world. The Kiap had to be self-reliant and carry his own food, medical supplies, and paperwork. The Kiap would be accompanied by local native carriers and native policemen who were trained by him. And what a wonderful job those native policemen did.

The role of Kiap was not without peril. Numerous lives were lost through aircraft accidents: some, even more tragically, included family members. Patrol officers died in the Mt Lamington eruption of 1951, while others were murdered or died from illnesses caught on patrol. Drownings and motor boat accidents as well as direct attacks on patrols all led to a number of Kiap deaths.

It was this tremendous work of the Patrol Officers and District Commissioners in developing PNG, from in many cases a primitive tribal regime, to a fully democratised nation, which although it has its problems, unlike many other former colonial countries, has not suffered civil war or a military coup.

Without the Patrol Officers performing their policing, legal, agricultural, governance and administrative functions, PNG would simply not have been prepared for nationhood in 1975. 

Thus it is fitting that there is public recognition of the role of the Australian Patrol Officer in PNG and I hope that this event goes some way towards demonstrating the Nation’s appreciation to the former Kiap community for a magnificent contribution to nation building in a country that all of us who have served there, feel a close and enduring affection.

Thank you.