Links
Sports Sites
PNG Rugby League -- http://www.rleague.com/nations/png
PNG Aussie Rules -- http://www.afl-png.com
South Pacific Motor Sports Club -- http://www.spmsc.org.pg
The Motor Sports Club also has sub-pages dealing with -- go karting,
snooker, game fishing and speedway. Visit the -- http://www.spmsc.org.pg
-- web site and navigate from there.
Game Fishing -- http://www.gfa.com.pg
Royal Papua Yacht Club -- http://www.rpyc.com.pg
Rocky Roe
This web site -- http://www.rockyroephotographics.com/
-- produced by CyberMasta tells the reader a bit about Rocky Roe a well-known
photographer of PNG. It also offers a gallery of photographs taken by
Rocky. Some of the photographic topics covered are -- Images of Papua
New Guinea including images of landscapes, scenery, beaches, mountains
and War Relics in the country but take a look at the site to the vast
quantity of material available from Rocky.
Miscellaneous Sites
- Port Moresby Rotary -- http://www.pomrotary.org.pg
- Rotary adopt a village -- http://www.ram.com.pg/adopt.htm
- PNG Department of Health -- http://www.health.gov.pg
- Satellite Image of PNG -- http://www.cnn.com/WEATHER/Australia/satellite_image.html
- Kenmore group of companies -- http://www.kenmore.com.pg
- Markham Group -- http://www.markham.com.pg
- National Research Institute -- http://www.nri.org.pg
- PNG Poetry -- http://members.cruzio.com/~png/prev.html
- PNG Information Web Site -- http://www.pnginfo.com
- Seeto Kui -- http://www.seetokui.com.pg
A parody of Waltzing Matilda called kai kai the buai can be found at
-- http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/WM/Kai.html
-- and -- http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/WM/Kai2.html
CyberMasta Web Design
A portfolio of some PNG web sites and some overseas sites designed
and created by CyberMasta can be found here -- http://www.cybermasta.com/portfolio.htm
-- This site is well worth a look if you are interested in having a
web site created for your company or even for private use.
Here are a few sites created by CyberMasta.
PNG Coffee -- http://www.pngcoffee.com
National Capital Botanical Gardens -- http://www.ncbg.org.pg
PNG Orchids Web Site -- http://www.orchidspng.com
-- as well as Rocky's site, the PNG AFL site and the South Pacific Motor
Sports Club etc. already mentioned above.
PNG Web Hosting
Along with the creative work of CyberMasta do not forget that you can
get a raw, bare bones web site for yourself from -- http://www.pngwebhost.com
-- from as little as US$5 per month. This web host provider also provides
free of charge a simple site builder so that even an amateur can have
a presence on the web with little or no effort in having to understand
html. Of course having an understanding of html will make the job easier
and probably more professional.
Wrecks and Reefs
"Wrecks and Reefs around Port Moresby" is a book that documents
the history of early shipwrecks and World War II wrecks that lie in
the waters around the capital of Papua New Guinea. This book is primarily
intended to be a guide for scuba divers and it includes tales of cannibals,
retribution for a ruthless Japanese submarine that took the lives of
innocent citizens and the mystery of a lost airliner that disappeared
along with thirteen unfortunate souls.
The book includes information on the history of diving in the Port
Moresby area from the days of the early hard-helmeted pearl divers to
the modern self contained underwater breathing apparatus (scuba). For
overseas scuba diving visitors there is a chapter on accommodation available
in the area. The web site, for the book, is located at -- http://www.datec.net.pg/~mecba.
World War II wrecks around the Kiriwina part of the Trobriand Islands
- Latitude 8° 40' 0S Longitude 150° 55' 0E -- http://www.pacificwrecks.com/provinces/png_kiriwina.html
News Items
Miss Milne Bay
Miss Mimiousa Mark has been crowned Miss Milne Bay. She also took out
the Miss Traditional title. Relvie Eremas took out the Miss Milne Bay
Charity Queen title after raising almost K30,000. Miss Mark has qualified
to contest the Miss PNG Quest as the official Milne Bay Entrant. This
year's quest had the largest number of contestants and also raised the
largest sum of money for the Red Cross. The entrants raised a total
of K96,276.47.
East New Britain Radio
Kalang Advertising in conjunction with its parent company, Telikom
PNG, has completed the installation of a new 300-watt FM stereo transmitter
for the FM 100 service in East New Britain. The transmitter located
on Mount Tomavatur will allow the FM100 signal to be heard in full stereo.
InterOil Drilling
It has been announced that the InterOil Corporation will start drilling
in the Black Bass prospecting region between Central and Gulf Provinces.
The Black Bass well will be the first of an eight well drilling program
that will extend into 2006.
PNG Power
A massive storm, that saw the closure of the airport at Jackson's in
Port Moresby and many, many trees toppled, hit the city and the Southern
Region recently causing power blackouts and damage to houses and businesses.
The storm caused over 350 calls to PNG Power for assistance with loss
of power to customers. Unfortunately, for some customers, restoration
work was prioritised into getting the main feeder supply cables restored.
Luckily many premises have standby generators that were called into
service. Garden City, in Boroko, lost several parts of the roof and
several of the residents complained of water getting in under glass
doors etc. Workers at Deloitte's Tower in downtown Port Moresby were
able to leave work early when the building was evacuated due to the
strong wind forcing water around poorly sealed windows. Tennants were
also afraid of the windows being blown out of the frames.
Death Penalty
The Prime Minister has defended the Justice Minster over the delays
in introducing the death penalty to Parliament. The draft legislation
is now ready to go before Cabinet and the Justice Minister has said
that it will go this week or next week.
POSF Profit
The Public Officers Superannuation Fund (POSF) has posted an after
tax profit of K120.6 million for 2004. This is up 2.2 percent from K118
million on the figures for 2003.
Baha'i Faith
The Baha'i followers in Port Moresby recently celebrated the 50th anniversary
of their faith being in PNG. The Baha'i Faith is one of the newest independent
religions in the world.
Vudal Slaughterhouse
Construction of an abattoir at the Vudal University in East New Britain
has finished. The building started in 2003 and cost K1.2 million to
complete. The building is now waiting for the electrical wiring to be
completed so that the slaughter of animals can commence before the end
of the year. The farm at the university has 350 cattle, 30 pigs and
300 chickens from this the school expects to be able to produce about
200 - 300Kg of beef, 20 pigs and 1000 chickens per week for sale to
local groups and markets as well as Andersons Foodland. They will also
direct sell to customers who come to the university.
Vudal University is looking at changing its name. "Vu" simply
means place in the Kuana language of East New Britain and "dal"
is short for Department of Agriculture and Livestock.
Next Newsletter
Due to my attendance at the PNG Coffee Festival in Goroka the next newsletter may not get out by the 6th of May.
Coming Events
The University of Goroka is holding its 8th Annual Graduation Ceremony
on the 13th of May. The previous ceremony was put on hold due to the
uncertainty about the quality of fuel provided to airlines in the country.
PNG Coffee Festival for 2005 is set for 5th, 6th and 7th of May at
the Raun Raun Theatre in Goroka. There will be more than 30 traditional
singsing groups as well as educational exhibits on coffee; agriculture;
fisheries; livestock; business development; tourism and culture; banking
and finance; vocational education; radio communications and technology
to rural areas; horticulture and cut flowers; arts and crafts; pottery
making; woodworking; alluvial gold mining; farming equipment and demonstrations
and many more.
The SP Brewery Port Moresby Open Squash Championship is being held
from the 29th of April to the 1st of May 2005.
East New Britain Warwagira and Mask Festival. The Warwagira will be
held on the 6th to the 12th of July followed by the Mask Festival on
the 13th to the 16th of July. Both events will be held at the Queen
Elizabeth Park.
PNG Independence Day -- 16th September
Hiri Moale Festival -- the week leading up to Independence Day
Goroka Show -- Independence Weekend
Mining Conference -- to be held in Lae between the 23rd and 25th of
May.
Constitutional Breach
It would appear that although Parliament was in breach of the constitution
because it had not sat for the minimum number of days that it is supposed
to in a parliamentary year the Ombudsman has now withdrawn the case.
It is understood that Parliament only sat for 53 of the required 63
days in the 2003 / 2004 year. Section 124(1) of the Constitution requires
Parliament to sit for at least nine weeks in each parliamentary year.
The Supreme Court has granted leave to the Chief Ombudsman, Ila Geno,
to withdraw the reference filed under section 18(1) of the Constitution.
Private Hospital
Heard a rumour recently that the long empty new hospital built by the
Motor Vehicles Insurance Trust just near the University of PNG Medical
Faculty, Taurama, will be occupied soon with a group of enterprising
doctors. Of course, knowing rumours in PNG, this means that exactly
the opposite will happen.
Medical Numbers
It has been stated that PNG can only boast seven doctors and 67 nurses
for every 100,000 people in the country. The Solomon Islands can boast
11 doctors and 150 nurses for the same number of population. Fiji is
far better off with 37 doctors and 209 nurses for every 100,000 people.
PNG hopes to be able to increase numbers to 15 doctors and 150 nurses
per 100,000 head of population by the year 2010.
St Joseph's Catholic Church
The St Joseph's Catholic Church in Boroko is still undergoing renovation.
The original building was over forty years old before workmen were seen
busily ripping out the sidewalls of the Church building so that the
building can be expanded into the present car park area to accommodate
the ever-growing congregation. The work continues but now the general
shape of the new building can be seen emerging from all the construction
work.
Air Fare Hike
A simple villager from the Southern Highlands has expressed what all
people in PNG have been thinking that the recent airfare hike by Air
Niugini are too much. The actual increase is a fuel surcharge levy introduced
by many airlines to overcome the effect of the ever-increasing worldwide
fuel prices. The villager is also a local tour operator who has said
that the increases will make it more difficult for people to travel
to the highlands.
Air Niugini
The in-flight magazine of Air Niugini - Paradise - has made a major
error by stating in an article that Rabaul is on the northern part of
New Ireland. As far as I know Rabaul is still on the island of New Britain.
It may have been devastated by a volcanic eruption years ago but the
eruption certainly wasn't powerful enough to move the town to another
island. Naturally once I pick on another publication the proof readers
appear and pull this publication to pieces.
Air Niugini has had to suspend Fokker F100 flights to Tokua (Rabaul)
airport in East New Britain due to the high amount of volcanic ash spewing
from Mt Tavurvur. Air Niugini will still be able to fly its Fokker F28
into the airport due to the F28 engines being less sensitive to volcanic
ash. The company has also opened an office in Parliament House.
Water Rationing
The company looking after the supply of water to Port Moresby has advised
that the supply of water to the city will be disrupted until the 1st
of May. The rationing has had to be implemented because of maintenance
work being carried out on one of the clarifiers at the Mount Eriama
water treatment plant. It is hoped that with rationing all areas of
Port Moresby will be able to have 16 hours of water a day until the
maintenance work is completed.
Remembrance Day
Several ceremonies were held around the country to celebrate PNG Remembrance
Day now being held on the same day as the Australian and New Zealand
celebrated ANZAC Day. The highlight for many was to watch the ANZAC
March in Brisbane and see PNG Citizen Ben Moide take part along with
the commentary by Ross Eastgate who has a long time history with PNG.
The Australian ABC broadcast the march live to PNG. Thanks Ross and
every one who made the broadcast possible.
Yam Harvesting
The National Agricultural Research Institute has said that production
of Yam, a staple sweet potato in PNG, can be increased if the Yam plant
is live staked to the gliricdia tree. Apparently the two can cohabitate
to the advantage of the yam increasing production. Research trials indicate
that the tree provides shade for the yam and helps to keep weeds to
a lower level. The tree also enables the yam to be harvested easier
due to the tree helping to break the soil and maintaining a higher level
of moisture in the soil.
Are PNG Men Violent?
Reported in the last issue -- According to a year 2000 report prepared
by the World Health Organisation (WHO) PNG men are the second most violent
group of men in the world. The WHO report says that over half the female
population (56,1 percent) have been physically assaulted. That does
not include sexual abuse or rape. It has been suggested that the figure
could be higher because many women are too scared to report violence
against them. PNG was only second to Uganda in terms of violence against
women. I have found a survey at the PNG Information web site -- http://www.pnginfo.com/survey.html
-- that seems to reinforce this. Take a look and make your own mark
by placing your vote. Unlike the PNG elections it looks like that you
can only vote once.
2005 Medical Symposium
The PNG Institute of Medical Research (IMR) has started fund raising
for the 41st Medical Symposium to be held in Goroka, Eastern Highlands
province during October. The Eastern Highlands Governor has kick started
the fund raising by donating K25,000. Other Members of Parliament from
the area have also promised to help with the funding of the symposium.
The IMR is based in Goroka near the Goroka Base Hospital. IMR will make
extensive use facilities at the University of Goroka for the symposium.
Carbine Club
The Carbine Club of PNG held a successful fundraising lunch for PNG
Rugby League raising heaps of money auctioning off Rugby League memorabilia
on Friday the 15th of April at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The Carbine Club
was established in 1961 in Melbourne and the PNG Club started up in
1990. There are about 13 Carbine Clubs around the world.
PNG Media
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