KIAP
Subtitle: Australia's Patrol Officers in Papua New Guinea
Publisher: Robert Brown & Associates
Published: 1981
Place of publication: Bathurst, Australia
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 295
Description: Description of the cover
This is the magnificent story of Australia's patrol officers in postwar Papua New Guinea. It begins in the uncertain days following World War II when the Trust Territory of New Guinea and the Australian Territory of Papua came under the joint administration of Australia, and it ends in 1975 with the proud independence of the new nation of Papua New Guinea. For almost that entire 30‑year span the author, James Sinclair, was a 'kiap' ‑ the Pidgin term for the field officers of the then Department of District Administration ‑ first as an inexperienced cadet patrol officer, and finally as the last white District Commissioner for the Eastern Highlands. For a great many of his adventurous New Guinea years Sinclair was one of a small handful of kiaps who specialised in first contact work ‑ that is, the exploration of new territory and frequently the pacification of remote tribes involved in constant warfare with their neighbours. These men became legendary, for although they were only a small segment of Papua New Guinea's colonial administration, events conspired to make the work of the kiaps often conspicuous and exciting. All the excitement is recaptured here, together with the disappointments, the frustrations, the failures, the determination, the physical deprivations, the warm human relationships and the joys of the patrol officer's life. But the book is much more than the kiap's story. For it is told against the wider picture of an awakening, developing New Guinea, and it notes the significant milestones as Australia helps two‑and‑a‑half million islanders along the difficult road to self‑government and independence. This is a work of contemporary history, both impressive and highly readable.