Rabaul in the 1920s - A Childs Eye

A fascinating read of childhood memories when the author was, from age 3 to 7, in Rabaul in Papua New Guinea. Rabaul was the administrative centre of the New Britain and New Ireland islands, when Australia took over administration of Papua from the Germans.

The author acknowledges that his memories are strengthened by stories and knowledge overheard from his parents after the fact. However they are vividly portrayed in a simple but illustrative writng style.

Chapters include descriptions of the houses they lived in, the town, his time at school, his fathers office (he was architect for the administration), the arrival of the first aircraft,

Some quotations:

My guess is that, in our day, there were about one hundred Europeans in Rabaul with quite a few Chinese and several Japanese surrounded by about 60,000 natives most of whom, at any distance over sixty miles from town, lived in what was known as ‘uncontrolled territory'. They had had little or no contact with Europeans and lived a life little removed from the Stone Age.–I only heard recently from Venour, my Vaucluse cousin, that, early in our first stay [on leave in Sydney], while visiting my aunt and uncle, Aunt Nea called my father to the window, scandalised, as there was Malagan [the house servant, who accompanied them] in the centre of the front garden, stark naked, having a most delightful reverse shower over the lawn sprinkler. Marc duly raused on Malagan who resumed his lap-lap and decorum was restored. This was in 1925 in the middle of Vaucluse and Sydney was a pretty stitched up place in those days.–Next, to my delight, I was given a pair of guinea pigs, no doubt spares from those kept at the hospital. They were lovely gentle pets, which gave me a great deal of pleasure. However, despite being in a rat proof enclosure, they too disappeared one night and suspicion fell on our boys. Marc lined them up and asked ‘You pella kai-kai guinea pigs'. They freely admitted they had and compounded their crime by their spokesman saying ‘Number one kai'.

Available free online: Rabaul in the 1920s

4 stars.