P.N.G. Gossip Newsletter - 20 Oct 2000

PNG Gossip Newsletter Meri Milne Bay
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Welcome to the Papua New Guinea Gossip - 20 October 2000. A very special welcome is extended to any new readers. If you have comments or suggestions to make then please e-mail them to giaman@png-gossip.com

Articles for this newsletter

To send a message for submission to the PNG Gossip Newsletter -- please e-mail your contribution to pngnews.queue@png-gossip.com

Remember that this mailing list is mainly meant for people who have an interest and already know a little bit about the people and geography of Papua New Guinea. The PNG Kina, which is mentioned from time to time, is currently worth somewhere around 34 - 35 United States cents but varies on a daily basis.

If you are really keen on finding out what the Kina is worth a currency converter for most world currencies can be located at http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/moni.html

For those who are not so familiar with the geography of Papua New Guinea I suggest taking a look at http://maps.expedia.com and then click on the "find a map option". Go to this link for a quick start to a link to a map of Port Moresby -- http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/pom-map.html

Also remember that the accuracy of the information in this newsletter should not be relied upon - it is, after all, a gossip newsletter.

Jewellery Remarks? - An unidentified first time visitor to PNG has had this to say about PNG - "PNG stands out as a travel diamond in a world filled with cubic zirconium travel destinations"

Websites to visit

Tourism Sites


Accommodation Sites

If you have ever had malaria or think you may have then visit this web site. http://www.rph.wa.gov.au/labs/haem/malaria

Here is a list of the various provinces of Papua New Guinea and the flags that they use. http://fotw.digibel.be/flags/keywordp.html#papua new guinea -- It is located on the Flags Of The World site. I have been having trouble accessing that site so try http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/pg.html which is a mirror site instead.

If you are interested in PNG art then pay a visit to http://www.october.gallery.ukgateway.net/siunevolcanoinfo.htm for a sample of art by John Siune

Some more photo links of PNG

PNG Maritime College is located at http://www.pngmc.ac.pg

For those who want a quick fix on Papua New Guinea then take a trip to http://www.arts.unsw.edu.au/southpacific/APNGFA_PNG_Gen_Information.html

For those who want a bit more detail then go for an internet trip to http://www.PapuaNewGuinea.net/PapuaNewGuineaNetHome.html - This site leads to information about the Huli Wigmen, Ambua Lodge, PNG art for collectors, Walindi Plantation Resort, Loloata Island Resort, FeBrina live aboard dive boat and Chertan live aboard dive boat

Updated Links

http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/PNG/Index.htm this used to be at another site but was moved to allow for the inclusion of a searchable database.

The Drum

The Drum in the Post Courier located at http://www.postcourier.com.pg is daily column which is an even better source of Gossip than this newsletter!

Beehive

Another good source of gossip is the Beehive column in the Independent newspaper located at http://www.tiare.net.pg/independent/index.html

MV Sankamap

The vessel owned by the Bougainville Provincial Government is still in Australia waiting for more funds to offset repairs t the vessel. The boat has been in Cairns since February.

Vanimo-Aitape road

A forest company in Sandaun Province has completed a 108-kilometre road between Aitape and Vanimo. The road was to have been completed 10 years ago but construction was delayed due to landowner problems and technical complexities.

History of Pidgin

Visit this website for a history of Neo Melanesian Pidgin -- http://www.siu.edu/departments/cola/ling/reports/Etepa

HIV / AIDS

A total 2848 HIV cases have been reported in PNG. Of these 1031 have developed into AIDS.

Kina

An academic from the Australian National University has suggested that the Australian Dollars should be adopted as the currency of trade and business for PNG.

Air Niugini Airfares

Air Niugini has advertised the following airfares to Asia. These are for return economy airfares up until the 30th of Nov 2000.

Flight Centre Airfares

Economy Fares Business Class

Porgera High School

Thanks to several schools in Cairns, Australia the students of Porgera High School in Enga Province have received over 4000 books for the school library.

Police Housing

Police in Oro and Gulf provinces have received an allocation of K300,000 from additional AusAID funding to repair the infrastructure and accommodation facilities which have been allowed to deteriorate over the years.

This follows on from an amount of K3.5 million allocated by the Australian government to build houses for the police in Madang, Chimbu, Milne Bay and Manus provinces.

Rice Factory

Trukai Rice has opened a new rice-hulling factory at Erap in the Markham Valley area of Morobe province. Rice will be purchased from local producers and after initial local processing will be sent to Trukai's mill in Lae for further processing.

Miss PNG

The current Miss PNG, Roberta Ali an Air Niugini employee, is off to participate in the South Pacific Quest to be held in Pago Pago, American Samoa.

Another PNG lass from Central Province will be participation as Miss PNG Australia representing the PNG community in Australia. Irene Barlow works as an administration assistant in Brisbane for an Australian based company.

Radio Central

After almost four years of being off the air due to financial problems Radio Central is back on the air with plans to open up an FM service to serve a wider audience.

Caritas Tech School

Thanks to AusAID the secondary technical school now has 40 computers, eight printers and three air conditioning units to improve the IT skills of the students.

AusAID also helped to renovate the computer laboratory for the school for a total cost in excess of K170,000

Rabaul

East and West New Britain have been shaken by an earth tremor 120 kilometres east south eats of Ulamona. The experts have said that the tremor was not related to volcanic activity at either Mount Ulawun or Rabaul.

Kokopo

PNG Motors have recently opened a new showroom in Kokopo to cater for the sales of Mazda, Hyundai and Ford motor vehicles. This replaces the old PNG Motors office.

Defence Force

A parliamentary ministerial committee has found serious failings within the PNG Defence Force. The three major weaknesses identified were
  1. the basic needs of the Defence Force members were not being met.
  2. the basic management structure and systems were appropriate or working.
  3. critical issues relating to mission, purpose, capacity, resourcing and structure of the force needed to be examined by the government so that firm decisions and directions can be adopted.

Morobe Province

The largest river in Morobe Province, the Markham, is threatening to sever the road links to Lae. This follows heavy rain in the area recently.

Infant Deaths

It has been reported in the Post Courier that 15,000 babies under the age of 12 months die in PNG each year from easily treatable and preventable diseases.

The Post Courier also said that another 13,000 die before they reach the age of five.

Wabag, Enga Prince

The PNG Banking Corporation branch in Wabag has been closed after an armed hold-up two weeks ago. Public servants in Wabag have to travel to Mount Hagen to cash their pay cheques and do general banking.

PNG Olympics

The PNG Olympic team, whilst not winning medals performed to expectations. On another Olympic note one of the Australian women basketballers, who won silver, is half PNG and Australian.

Interesting fact

Since independence PNG has had six prime ministers and not one of them have been able to serve their full five-year term.

Tunnel of History

The PNG History Tunnel was opened recently on the site of the old House of Assembly. The old House was built in 1905 as a hospital but was later converted to house the PNG Archives, the PNG Museum and later, in about 1958, the House of Assembly. In 1975 (Independence) the building was renamed to the National Parliament until the current building, at Waigani, housing the National Parliament was opened in 1984.

Bankrupt

Without surprise to anyone the main state statutory organisations have been revealed as being, if they were private businesses, bankrupt. It is just a matter of how bankrupt if that is at all possible. It is believed that both the national airline (Air Niugini) and the electricity company (Elcom) both owe approximately K17 million to banks around town and the telephone company (Telikom) owes something less. It probably can be assumed that other state run businesses are in the same financial condition.

Of course the government itself owes most of the money owed to these companies.

Chin H Meen Prices

CHM have the following items for sale

Courts Stores

The Courts powerhouse stores have a website located at http://png.courtsretail.com Courts sell such items as beds, sewing machines, televisions, vacuum cleaners, and other household items.

PNG Newspaper Sites

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Created - 20 Oct 2000
Updated - 27 May 2004
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