The Big Day has arrived

 We've had a busy few days and now the official day is here we are happy to watch it all unfold on the television!  I'm too tired to do anything else.  In town there will be crowds which we've been advised to avoid and traffic chaos.  We could hear the jets flying over and the 21 gun salute from here at 11 Mile.  Goodness knows how loud it was at the Stadium.  Yesterday there was a Float Parade - we saw a few of them heading down the Highlands Highway in to town - and the regatta.  Individual organisations have had their own celebrations.  Overall it has been huge!

On Sunday we went to the Morobe Show.  It is normally held on the weekend closest to the full moon in October but this year it was moved to be held alongside the 50th Anniversary Celebrations.  It is a two day event and we went on the second day as that's when the Singsing happens.  Good thing too as Saturday it rained all day. It was a 'buggerup' our guard told us.  Sunday we just had to deal with the resultant mud.  I don't know if the Sunday crowd was bigger because of Saturday's rain but it was certainly crowded.  We have been told that it used to be worse but the price of admission has gone up and numbers have gone down - I think that's a bit of a shame. 

There were all the traditional stands and sideshows of an Australian country show.  Face painting and showbags were very popular with children and adults alike.  We spent a bit of time in the Australian Pavilion - there is so much that happens here that Australia has a hand in.  I was doing 'networking' and was able to connect with a few people who have an interest in agriculture extension and want to be involved in my project.  We also spent time in the NARI stand which was very impressive.  The largest  amount of time was spent watching the singing parade.  Around 50 groups sang and danced their way around the arena in traditional dress.  There was so much variety even within a province.  There were feathers, leaves and shells and fantastical head dresses.  There was body paint, drums and weapons - spears and bows and arrows.  Some groups were warlike in their attitude, some were telling a story, some just looked like they were having a party.  

We were close to the gate when the groups started coming in so could see them parading (and dancing!) through the mud. 

The ceremonies on the main arena started with lots of marching - school groups and armed forces - then the arrival of the Governor General (he'll be having a busy time just now) and lots of speeches, then more marching.  There was the presentation of the awards for Miss Morobe Show and a performance by an Australian Army brass group who were very good!  There was also a tinge of sadness because the Governor of Morobe Province, who is also a local member of parliament, died on Saturday.

Then came the highlight.  The parade of all the singing groups twice around the oval. So much colour, sound and movement.  So many shells and feathers and hours of preparation.  Some of the little ones seemed a bit bewildered but it was an extraordinary show.  Here are just a few of the hundreds of photos I took with my phone.  Steve's blog will have proper camera photos so make sure you look at those too.

Yesterday NARI held a 50th Anniversary celebration.  The program had the event beginning with a flag raising at 8 am so our driver had us there in plenty of time.  As it happened the  start time was quite a bit later but that was fine.  There was plenty of talk, mostly in Tok Pisin but we could get the drift.  The sense of joy and pride in PNG  shines through all the celebrations.  There was a quiz for the children and a parade of the little ones in traditional dress.  

And of course there was birthday cake.

I'm there in 'seasonal wear'

In the afternoon there were games - a treasure hunt, then volleyball for the girls and women and soccer for the boys and men.  The staff and families are divided between four 'houses'.  We were assigned to Red Haus. I put on a red shirt but stuck with a barracking role.  Good thing too as the volleyball players were very skilled!

The treasure hunters are searching for a 20 Kina note wrapped in plastic.  It wasn't found.

Blue Haus were no match for Red Haus in the volleyball.

Last night we went on a sunset cruise courtesy of the Lae City Authority.  It was part of the Lae Yacht Club Regatta.  The Australian Consulate -General in Lae kindly asked that we be invited.  The Chair of the Lae City Authority was an excellent host.  It was a lot of fun.  We were welcomed on board in style.  The MV Ialibu is run by Lutheran Shipping and runs a service between Lae and Rabaul calling at several other island ports.  The deck, where usually cars are parked on this roll on roll off ferry,  was a fine place for a party.  The band was excellent as was the food and drink.  The guests were a real mix - local and visitor.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Hon. John Rosso, was on board.  He is also the member for Lae.  He was very relaxed and chatty.  The Mayor of Cairns was on board.  She and some of her staff are visiting for the Golden Jubilee celebrations as Cairns has a sister city relationship with Lae.  There were many local business people.  There were some visitors from Germany who had grown up in PNG where their father was a Lutheran missionary.  Their jiving skills were amazing considering the fake grass dance floor and the rocking of the boat!

There were many other boats forming the regatta, covered of course in PNG flags.  The mood was very happy.  

A highlight of the night was a performance by a troupe of Melanesian Knife dancers from Bougainville.  (I admit to being slightly concerned when a group of youths with machetes came on board.)  They were so skilled!  Sparks literally flew when they clashed knives.  They spun the machetes around their heads and legs and then caught them again by the handle.  I didn't see any fingers lost.

The night ended with a wonderful fireworks display.

It has been a hectic couple of days but a lot of fun.  We have today and tomorrow off then back to work on Thursday.  Now everything (I hope) should settle down and I can get seriously into my Grand Plan for agricultural extension in PNG.  More on that next time.

Leave a comment if you can, Jenny

50th Anniversary of Independence

 

We've noticed the excitement has been building over the past few weeks as we head towards September 16th.  Everywhere you look people are dressed in red, black and yellow.  Cars buses and trucks are flying flags of all sizes and there are hats, bags and scarves with the Bird of Paradise and Southern Cross motifs every where you look.  The receptionist at NARI has been wearing the colours proudly.  She says it is her 'seasonal wear' for September and that she buys one new Independence dress each year.  At the moment she is wearing a little flag tucked into her hair for extra impact. 

The office is decked out with flags as well and each day something new is added.  Yesterday it was the 'independence tree' swathed in flags near the front door and blow up golden number 50.

Today we noticed all the school children were in flag and independence themed garb.  All the schools were having a special cultural day with an independence theme.  The children at the school 

next to NARI had the choice of flagwear or traditional dress.  These two youngsters chose to come in the dress of their family tribes - there are almost a thousand separate tribal groups in PNG so in the mixing pot of Lae there would have been many different variations adorned with feathers and shells. 

Along with the excitement of the anniversary has come a darker side to the occasion.  Quite often Excitement + Alcohol = Trouble.  The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary is warning of unrest and plans for violence from disaffected and unemployed youth and other disadvantaged and marginalised groups that are feeling they've missed out on the prosperity that others have.  We've been warned to stay away from crowds as they can turn without warning.  We are still hoping to get to the Morobe Show but won't be at the official Independence celebration which is a disappointment.

I have taken this poem from the Facebook page of the Papua New Guinea Association of Australia.  It is by a PNG journalist named Malum Nalu.  It is quite beautiful and very moving.

PNG AT 50 | We Are the Children of the 1960s – A Bridge Between Worlds

By Malum Nalu

We were born in the late 1960s — into a world still under the shadow of colonialism, but stirring with the promise of freedom.

The Queen was on our coins. English had just arrived in our classrooms. Roads were few, yet our imaginations ran wild.

Papua New Guinea was not yet a nation — but we were already its sons and daughters.

We grew up in the 1970s, as the flag of black, red, and gold was raised to the skies.

We were children during independence — wide-eyed, barefoot, and full of wonder.

We remember the kundu drums beating, the school choirs singing, the joy in our parents’ voices as the nation found its name.

We drank Fanta from glass bottles, bought twisties at trade stores, and danced to music played on vinyl records, cassette tapes, and later, CDs.

Life was raw, real, and full of hope.

We studied in the 70s and 80s, when education meant chalkboards, school uniforms, and strict teachers.

We memorised multiplication tables and sang hymns during assembly.

We passed notes in class, walked miles to school, and came home to gardens, laughter, and storytelling around the fire.

We came of age in the 80s and 90s, a time of nation-building.

We fell in love, got married (or didn’t), raised families, found jobs in a growing PNG.

We saved for box cameras, took photos which were developed at the pharmacy, and sent letters through Post PNG.

We queued at public phones, dropped in 20 toea coins, and remembered numbers by heart.

Some of us became teachers, nurses, carpenters, soldiers, police officers, journalists, or small business owners.

We helped carry the weight of a new nation on our shoulders — with pride.

We entered the 2000s a little older, a little wiser.

We watched our children embrace mobile phones, computers, Facebook, and the world beyond.

We didn’t always understand it — but we adapted. We endured.

We continued to give — from our wisdom, our work, our hearts.

By the 2010s, we had become “elders.”

Our children began asking:

“Did you really grow up without TV?”

“Did you walk to school every day?”

“Did you use those big black phones on the wall?”

And now, in the 2020s, we stand as the living memory of a young nation turning 50.

We have lived through:

• Seven decades

• Two centuries

• Two millennia

From slates to smartphones, typewriters to AI — we have witnessed it all.

We’ve gone from:

• Letter-writing to WhatsApp

• Shortwave radios to YouTube livestreams

• PMVs and Land Rovers to sealed highways and Air Niugini jets

• We’ve travelled by canoe, dinghy, PMV, LandCruiser — and sometimes, just on foot 

• From vinyl and cassettes to streaming music

• From marbles and slingshots to mobile games

We remember when rugby league lived on the radio.

We cheered for John Wagambie in 1977 as he led the PNG Kumuls to a 37–6 victory over France.

We cried when John Aba fought valiantly but lost to Eusebio Pedroza in the 1979 World Featherweight Boxing Title.

We roared as Marcus Bai hoisted the NRL Premiership trophy with the Melbourne Storm in 1999, and again in 2004, as he lifted the English Super League title with Leeds Rhinos.

We waved flags and sang together during the Pacific Games — in 1969, 1991, and 2015, right here on home soil.

And we sang “Islands and Mountains” — not just with our voices, but with our hearts.

We’ve lived through:

• The Bougainville Crisis

• The Rabaul volcanic eruption of 1994

• The global panic of Y2K in 1999

• Cyclones, volcanic eruptions, fuel shortages

• The pain and silence of COVID-19 lockdowns

And yet — we are still here.

Still standing.

Still believing.

Still proud to call this land — this blessed land of a thousand tribes — home.

We are the generation born in the 1960s —

We are the bridge between the old world and the new.

We are the last of the handwritten letters and the first to hold a mobile phone.

We are the keepers of PNG’s stories — the eyewitnesses to its birth, its struggles, its triumphs.

We are rare.

We are resilient.

We are Papua New Guinea.

I thought Malum Nalu really captured what every one is feeling - the pride, the hope, and the joy.  In other works he has written he also addresses the challenges this nation faces.

On a separate topic, the PR officer at NARI has been very busy making sure the world knows we are in Lae.  We've been on the front page of the website and on the Facebook page.  Last week we were in the national papers!  There are big expectations of our presence that we'll work hard to meet.

Next time I hope I'll be able to bring you a report from the Morobe Show.

Jenny