P.N.G. Gossip Newsletter - 22 Apr 2002

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PNG Gossip Newsletter Meri Milne Bay

Welcome to the Papua New Guinea Gossip - 22 Apr 2002. 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@pnggossip.com

Articles for this newsletter

To send a message for submission to the PNG Gossip Newsletter -- please e-mail your contribution to pngnewsqueue@pnggossip.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 in this newsletter, is currently worth around 25 - 26 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 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.

Neo Melanesian

"Pidgin English"
wara = river
wara = water
wara bilong kokonas = coconut milk, coconut water
wara Sepik, riva Sepik = Sepik River
wari = worry, worries
wasim = wash
wasim, baptaisim = baptism
waswas = bathe
waswas = shower
waswas = wash



Tok Pisin

Here is an article on Tok Pisin: "The National Language of Papua New Guinea" located at http://www.siu.edu/departments/cola/ling/reports/Etepa/ -- Prepared and written by Edward Etepa. Here is a paragraph from the article.

The historical beginning of Tok Pisin can be traced in the early 18th century; however, it does not appear fully formed until mid 1885. Its genesis was the result of a gradually stabilizing and expanding contact language which went through the following stages of development: jargon stage, to stable pidgin, expanded pidgin, followed by creolization on the notion of the pidgin/creole life cycle. The history of Tok Pisin is complex, recent research by numerous pidgin/creole linguists have shown that it would be an oversimplification of the situation to suggest that Tok Pisin represents a direct linear descendant of Pacific Jargon English which developed in several varieties in various parts of the South Pacific before the middle of the 19th century as a result of contacts between Europeans and South Sea islanders.

Jimmy Harlindong, who looks after various websites about Papua New Guinea, has announced that he has readied his Pidgin / English / Motu dictionary website located at http://www.pngbd.com/dictionary.php to a stage where it can be used. It allows the user to lookup the meaning of words in all directions. Of course, like any web site, it will never be finished so if you have some words to add or alterations that need to be done then let me know and I will pass them on to Jimmy. Jimmy has also said that he now has the latest Air Niugini flight schedule on line as well.





Dive Diversions

The diversionoz web page, with dive information on PNG, has been completely revised and can be found at http://diversionoz.com/en/png.htm

Quoting from the web page
PNG is a dream of divers. Crystal clear waters, "paradise islands", and mountain ridges covered with thick rainforests or spectacular volcanoes provide an exclusive setting for the best dive vacations imaginable.
End Quote





Links / Sites to visit

http://www.art-pacific.com - Collectors of New Guinea art in the field since 1965.
http://tribal-artifacts.com - Collector quality art from Papua New Guinea, Irian Jaya, and the Solomon Islands.
http://www.bdw.com.pg -- Blake Dawson and Waldron, Lawyers
http://www.tufitelita.com/index.html - This website looks after the interests of the Tufi Dive Resort and Telita Cruises.

Tufi is located on the other side of the island to Port Moresby. Quoting from the website -- Tufi is located on the northern side of the mainland of Papua New Guinea and approximately 250 kilometres due east of the capital, Port Moresby. It lies between Lae and Alotau on the tip of Cape Nelson in Oro Province and it is accessible only by sea and air.

http://www.fallingrain.com/air/cache/geo/PP/icao.C.html -- This is a list of Airports, Heliports, and Weather stations in Papua New Guinea of quality C sorted by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) order.

http://www.pngtours.com -- is the website of TRANS NIUGINI TOURS, one of the leading inbound tour operator in Papua New Guinea. In addition to being an inbound tour operator they also own and operate a series of world famous Wilderness Lodges in PNG. They own and operate their own mini coaches in Port Moresby, the Highlands and Madang. They operate their own boats on the Sepik River and in Madang. They also have their own aircraft, which link the various lodges owned by the company. Take a look at the website and learn a bit more about the tourist side of PNG.

Larry Santana's PNG art pages are located at http://www.santartgal.com.pg

http://www.adventure-center.com/png.htm Adventure Centre





ANZAC Day

An early morning, dawn service at the Bomana War Cemetery, starting at 5:40am on the 25th of April, will be held to commemorate ANZAC day. The service will be followed by a gunfire breakfast at the Australian High Commission.





Kokoda Trail

A 17-member group of volunteers has erected a shelter over a 25-pound field gun that they brought all the way from Australia to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Kokoda Trail and World War II. The celebrations may, however, be in jeopardy due to the extremely poor condition of the road leading into Owers Corner from the Sogeri road. The truck carrying the field gun managed to get bogged and a local tractor was needed to tow the truck out. The celebrations will be held from July to November this year.





Port Moresby Hospital

The Port Moresby General Hospital is in crisis once again. This time it is, as always, a lack of money causing a shortage of medical supplies. The operating theatre has been restricted to doing emergency work only and it looks as if this will have to stop as well if funding is not found. People have been warned that if they have accidents they may not be able to be treated.





Mount Hagen Hospital

It is not only the Port Moresby Hospital that is in trouble but also the Western Highlands province is suffering a serious shortage of medical drugs and supplies, resulting in the deaths of 100 children since January. It has been reported that the situation is so acute that maybe two to three children are dying daily in the province.

Included in the daily death toll are children seriously infected by a measles outbreak, which has claimed the lives of 30 children so far.





PNG Swimming

Visiting swimming coach Ian Finlay has held a coaching clinic for coaches held at the Murray International School. The course attracted 40 participants from clubs in National Capital, the Bomana Police College, the Defence Force, Cheshire Homes and the Sport Commission. Finlay is also conducting similar courses in Lae and Goroka.

It is hoped that the coaching clinic will help to boost and promote the code of swimming in PNG.





PNG Swimmers

A swimming coach from Queensland Australia has said that swimming in PNG is developing with swimmers like Ryan Pini and Ben Wells doing well at the recent Australian championships. The appearance of these two has generated a curiosity of what is coming out of PNG and the sort of mark they are going to make at the Commonwealth Games in July/August.





TV Programming

One of the questions that I get asked frequently is - "what sort of television do you watch?"

I'll list some of the stations that we are able to receive. Along with our local TV station EmTV (http://www.emtv.com.pg) we also have access to several satellite broadcasters such as

Some people have access to other channels and still we can't find anything decent to watch.

For more information please pay a visit to http://www.hitron.com.pg who offer microwave and cable redistribution of satellite services.





Gerehu Community School

A community school at Gerehu has had a new block of classrooms opened by the Prime Minister and the National Capital District Commission. The double story block contains six classrooms and is valued at K500,000 with an expected lifespan of 50 to 60 years.





List Merge

This newsletter has been sent out using the List Merge (listmrg.cgi) script by Ron F Woolley of Melbourne, Australia. I obtained the script from http://www.dtp-aus.com website. Ron also has other scripts such as a Visitors Book, Graphic, and plain text counters etc. His scripts, as he mentions many times over in his documentation, are not for the beginning perl script installer but for "intermediate" level experienced CGI installers but then again if I can do it then it mustn't be too hard!





Dame Rachel Cleland

Dame Rachel Cleland has died at the age of 96. She was the wife of former Papua New Guinea Administrator Sir Donald Cleland who died in 1975. Dame Rachel took a particular interest in the role of women in society, and was an active promoter of the Girl Guide movement and a supporter of young women students.





Whatever Happened?

Can anyone tell me what happened to the piranha type (PAKU) fish discovered in the Sepik?

Who remembers one of the key players in the "Fine Cotton / PelAir Affair? I see that the bookmaker in Australia who was at the centre of the problem is back in the news again.





PNG Politics

Sometimes in PNG it seems that there are 109 political parties. With the coming elections the electoral commissioner has given all political parties 2 weeks to submit a list of candidates that they are supporting. It has been reported that some candidates are supported by more than one party. If that is the case the electoral commissioner will classify the candidate as an independent.





Electoral Research

The Chinese Ambassador to PNG has announced that the Chinese government will give K20,000 to fund a study of the 2002 elections. The money will help the National Research Institute to research, observe and analyse the elections.





BBC Radio Service

Two readers (thanks David and Terry) have reminded me that the BBC world service is being relayed on FM station 106.7 in Port Moresby.





Singing Dogs

The New Guinea Singing Dog (NGSD) was discovered by the outside world in 1957 when the first pair was brought down from the New Guinea Highlands to the Taronga Zoo. Sidney, Australia. http://www.canineworld.com/ngsdcs/





Koki Road works

It is hoped that the road works, which have been going on for over a year, at Koki will be finished in June. Most of the major work is done with the contractor waiting for fine weather to lay the bitumen. The new road will allow for two lanes in each direction from Koki to Ela Beach on what used to be the one-way two-lane road into town along the waters edge.





MV Golden Dawn

http://www.mvgoldendawn.com/ -- Diving PNG on the elegant live aboard MV Golden Dawn offers the finest dive sites and diving in Papua New Guinea. PNG dive itineraries include the Eastern fields in the Coral Sea, Milne Bay and Northern PNG, Wewak. Wreck diving and technical diving opportunities abound with nitrox and rebreathers aboard.





Lakatoi Tender

A tender has been advertised for the supply of a three hull and a four hull traditional lakatoi (lagatoi) canoes for the Hiri Moale Festival to be held during the Independence celebrations in Port Moresby.





Foreign Journalists

Foreign Journalists from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) have been hammered by the Prime Minister about a "covert" report over a television report on the asylum seekers in Manus.

The report, put together by an ABC Foreign Correspondent, shows how the reporter clandestinely entered PNG and took pictures of the asylum seekers' detention centre in Manus and also says the PNG Prime Minister may have breached the PNG Constitution by agreeing to take the 364 asylum seekers after a personal plea by the Australian Prime Minister.





Chimbu Airstrip

As from Monday the 15th of April Air Niugini has had to suspend Dash 8 services to and from Chimbu due to a deteriorating runway and parking surfaces.

The closure will remain indefinite until such time the necessary work is carried out to a satisfactory standard by the Office of Civil Aviation (OCA). OCA will hopefully be able advise the duration of the maintenance.





Lutheran Church

The world leader of the Lutheran Church has paid his first visit to PNG. Doctor Christian Krause has visited PNG on a four-day mission whilst in the South Pacific. Dr Krause also had time visited Lae.





PNG Education Related Website





West Sepik Fire

A fire has gutted the Sandaun provincial treasury office in the early hours of Sunday morning. The provincial police commander has said that they are investigating the cause of the fire but they suspect it is the work of arsonists.





Alotau Power

After ten months with extreme power problems it is hoped that Elcom (PNG Power) have been able to fix the problem with one of the generators at Alotau, Milne Bay Province.





Bush Walking / Hiking

If anyone is considering a bush walking / hiking trip to PNG then I suggest a read of the following site "A Papua New Guinea Story" by Ehud Reiter located at http://www.travel-library.com/pacific/papua_new_guinea/trip.reiter.html

The story consists of three parts --

Part 1: On how I spent two days waiting for an airplane in a small "end of the road" town in PNG

Part 2: On how I spent a week in the PNG "cities" of Mt Hagen and Wewak, trying to track down my lost companions

Part 3: On the sad tale of a truly "buggeredup" trek through the PNG Highlands.

You can also take a stroll or walk to Wamira, Milne Bay Province -- http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/wamira.html





Business Directory

As far as I am concerned the best on-line Business Directory about PNG is located at -- -- At this website you can check current exchange rates, PNG airline Schedules, participate in PNG discussion forums as well as a host of other options. The best way to learn about this site is to visit it.





Walindi

Not far from Kimbe, the provincial capital of West New Britain, is Walindi Plantation Dive Resort. Walindi is situated just ten kilometres from Kimbe on the road to Talasea. Close to the Resort is the Walindi Nature Centre sponsored by the owner of the resort. -- http://www.walindi.com





Basketball Tournament

The Lae Basketball Association is hoping to bid for rights to host the Oceania Confederation Under 22 Basketball games in 2004. The topic was to be discussed at the PNG Basketball Federation annual general meeting held in the Dame Rose Kekedo Hall at Unitech in Lae this weekend (yesterday).






PNG media related sites


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-- THE END --

Some of the above are courtesy of Liz and her friends at the University of Technology in Lae. http://www.unitech.ac.pg

If you can add to this list then please send email to PNG-News@pnggossip.com





Created 22 Apr 2002
Updated 24 May 2002

Sponsored by
www.michie.net


©2002 - 2008 Gia Mann