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LORD GOWRIE IN NEW GUINEA
Tour of Operational Bases
(From our specia Representative)
SOMEW-HERE IN NEW GUINEA,
June .--His Excellency the Gover
nor-General (Lord Gowrie) has re
turned to Australia after a tour of
Allied operational bases in New
Guinea. In an intensive brief trip
he travelled hundreds of miles on
the island, visiting forward areas
and seeing at first-hand the work
that is being done in building up our
defences against the Japanese He
made few speeches but everywhere
he went chatted informally to mem
bers of the fighting services.
One of his first engagements was
an inspection of members of a
Papuan Infantry unit comprising
natives who have been fighting the
Japanese for the past 9 months.
Among them was Katue, the only
native in New Guinea who has a
military medal.
Lord Gowrie in his speech to the
Papuan soldiers said that he had
heard of their exploits against the
enemy and hoped that when they
went into action again they would
do as well as they had in previous
engagements: He would tell the
King of the splendid work being
done by them. He thanked them
for their help in winning the war
and wished them good luck. His
speech was first translated into
Motuan, the native language of
Papua, and then into "pidgin" Eng
lish.
The officer who translated the
speech into "pidgin" said: "King
belonga Gubmint. Him talk you
good feller, fight good fashion, Buna.
King belonga Gubmint him talk
King Number 1 you good feller. King
talk thank you very much. You
fight good fashion."
Medals to 3 Natives.
At another ceremony 3 native
members of the Royal Papuan Con
-tabulary were presented with
medals. Kondi received a Loyal
Service Medal, Vari Gari was de
corated for having shown great cour
age when with Australian soldiers
he was in a fight against the Japan
ese and Minga received a medal for
having obtained natives to carry
ammunition and supplies to forward
areas, often under fire.
Lord Gowrie visited several hoes
pitals, speaking to the nurses and
soldiers in the wards. At one hos
pital he asked a patient how he had
injured his arm and received the
unexpected reply: "Playing softball,
sir"
A few seconds later Lord Gowrie
asked another patient undergoing
physiotherapy what had happened
to his foot. Again the reply was
unexpected: "I trod on a fish, sir."
Lord Gowrie spent considerable
time at RAAF stations talking to
airmen and asking many questions
about their combat experience. At
an American bomber operations
room he showed much interest in
pictures taken during the Bismarck
Sea battle. At advanced stations he
insisted on seeing every aspect of
the work being done and renewed
acquaintance with men he had met,
at other defence stations.
Entertained by Officers.
During Lord Gowrie's visit he was
entertained at dinner at an oficers'
club and also visited an Americani
air force headquarters, where he was
entertained in the mess. A squadron
of American fighter pilots who had
met Lord Gowrle on a previous oc-?
casion were anxious to meet him
again but when he visited their sta- i
tion they were flying and did not
return until some time after he had
gone.
It is 6 years since Lord Gowrie
was in New Guinea and one of the
things that most impressed him
luring his present tour was the
enormous change that has been
made in many areas by the build
Sing df aerodromes, roads and de
u-nce installations.
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