Remembering the war in Oro: Interviews from the 'Women Remember the War' Project 2016‐2018. Part of the PNG Oral History Project Citation: Stead, Victoria, Embahe, Margaret and Tongia, Mavis Manuda 2018, Remembering the war in Oro: Interviews from the 'Women Remember the War' Project 2016‐2018. Part of the PNG Oral History Project.. Edited by Stead, Victoria, Embahe, Margaret and Tongia, Mavis Manuda, Australian Aid. ©[2019, Papua New Guinea‐Australia Partnership] Reproduced by Deakin University under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non‐Commercial Licence Downloaded from DRO: http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:301223734 DRO Deakin Research Online, Deakin University’s Research Repository Deakin University CRICOS Provider Code: 00113B Remembering the War in Oro Oral Histories from the ‘Women Remember the War’ Project 2016-2018 EDITED BY Victoria Stead, Margaret Embahe, and Mavis Manuda Tongia 1 DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the participants who shared their stories in Women Remember the Remembering the War in Oro: War (PNG Oral History Project) and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors, or of the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Government or the Australian Government. Interviews from the ‘Women Remember the War’ Project 2016-2018 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. For licence conditions see: https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Part of the PNG Oral History Project Requests and enquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to Dr Victoria Stead, Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, VIC, Australia 3125, or email [email protected] CITATION: Victoria Stead, Margaret Embahe and Mavis Manuda Tongia (eds), 2018. Remembering the War in Oro: Interviews from the ‘Women Remember the War’ Project, 2016-2018. IMAGE CREDITS (FRONT) Mendaropu, 1942. ANGAU Captain B.W. Faithorn inspects tapa cloth brought by local villagers, who also supplied fruit and vegetables to the 128th Regiment, 32nd United States Division. Australian War Memorial image 069234. Victoria Stead, Margaret Embahe, Mavis Manuda Tongia ISBN: 978-0-646-98661-6 1 CONTENTS Gona 76 DEBORAH IAGORO 80 JANICE JORARI 84 ROSEVERA GANDARI Women Remember 05 THE ‘WOMEN REMEMBER the War THE WAR’ PROJECT Oro Bay 88 NESTER EWADS 90 TASMAN ORERE Remembering the 09 THE WAR IN ORO War in Oro Popondetta 9 8 MAVIS MANUDA TONGIA 101 MARGARET EMBAHE Sanananada 16 HONAR DOGARI 108 JOHN FRANCIS IHARI 20 DAMIEN DOGARI 26 FREDA NAEMBO 29 LUCIAN MONGAGI 34 ANANAIS MONGAGI Pusahambo 124 ANGELA ARASEPA 39 NEWMAN MONGAGI 127 ALBERTA DOIKO 47 KEVIN & COLLIN MONGAGI Hohorita 130 AIDA & DAVID JARUGA Buna and 56 AILEENDA MAINORI New Buna 58 DULCIE SIREMI 61 BASIL KOE Awala 138 SYLVANUS SIEMBO 66 ELKING DORODA 72 MARY DORA DORODA 3 The ‘Women Remember the War’ Project The interviews compiled in this publication have been recorded across 2016-2018 as part of the project In Oro, ‘Women Remember the War’ has drawn upon Mrs Embahe and Mrs Tongia’s local knowledge, ‘Women Remember the War’. The aim of this collaborative research project has been to document the skills, and relationships, to conduct oral history interviews in several locations across the Province. These experiences of Papua New Guineans in what is now Oro Province (also known as Northern Province), included the beachhead sites of Gona, Buna and Sanananda, as well as Oro Bay, the Central Kaiva area, during the Second World War. Particularly, the project has sought to highlight the voices, experiences, and Awala up towards Kokoda. This project did not focus specifically on the Kokoda Track, as this was and memories of Oro women. The history of the Second World War in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has the focus of the 2015 pilot study of the PNG Oral History Project. In total, we recorded 24 oral history overwhelmingly been written from the perspective of the Australian, American and Japanese forces. interviews. Of these, 14 were with women interviewees. In other instances, male interviewees have offered Papua New Guinean experiences of the War are notably absent from the history books and, amongst these, insight into the experiences of both men and women during the war. Some of the interviewees were alive the experiences of Papua New Guinean women are even less well known. Those wartime narratives that during the war and spoke about their own experience. In other instances, interviewees recounted the do include references to Papua New Guineans—narratives of the ‘Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels’, for instance—tell stories told to them by their mothers, fathers, or grandparents. Together, these interviews paint a picture us little about the impact of the war on women, or about the roles women played during the war. Likewise, of a difficult and transformative time. For women, the hardships of war included periods spent hiding and Papua New Guinean women are almost entirely absent from the public memorials and museums that living in the bush, difficulties finding food and caring for children and other family members, the risk or tell the story of the War in Oro Province—including the Kokoda War Museum, and the War Memorial in experience of sexual assault, and the sadness felt for those injured, dead, or missing. Popondetta. Yet the beachhead battles, and the fighting along the Kokoda Track and in other parts of Oro Province, took place in people’s gardens, homes, and villages. Women and men, young children and old As with all the of projects that have taken place as part of the national PNG Oral History Project, the oral people were all affected by the conflict, and their stories should be recorded and remembered. history interviews that have been recorded for Women Remember the War are being made freely and publically available. The stories contained in this book, and recorded elsewhere as part of the PNG Oral Women Remember the War was run by a collaborative research team that included Dr Victoria Stead History Project, are important ones. They have been kept alive in people’s memories, and in many cases from Deakin University, Melbourne, and local researchers Mrs Margaret Embahe and Mrs Mavis Manuda passed down to children and grandchildren. Now, more than 75 years after the war arrived on the shores Tongia. Women Remember the War was part of the PNG Oral History Project, which was been overseen of Buna, Gona and Sanananda, our hope is that the interview recordings, transcripts, and photographs by Dr Jonathan Ritchie, from Deakin University, with colleagues from the PNG National Museum and Art of those who shared their stories with us will form a valuable resource for generations of Papua New Gallery, and with teams of Papua New Guinean and Australian researchers working in multiple locations Guineans and others into the future. across PNG. In addition to Oro, oral history interviews have been collected in Milne Bay, Rabaul, Tabar Island, Morobe, and Central Province. In each case, the project has emphasized the importance of having Victoria Stead, Margaret Embahe, and Mavis Manuda Tongia Papua New Guinean researchers in central roles, and the Papua New Guinean researchers have conducted most of the interviews themselves throughout the PNG Oral History Project. 5 6 Tenkyu tru We extend our sincere respect and gratitude to all of the interviewees and communities who generously shared their time and stories with us, in Buna, New Buna, Gona, Sanananda, Beama (Oro Bay), Popondetta, Hohorita, Pusahambo, and Awala. We also acknowledge the very important contributions made by several key advisors and contributors to the project, including Mr Maclaren Hiari, an esteemed local historian who has conducted meticulous research throughout the Province for many years, documenting oral histories about the war as well as all aspects of Oro history. We also thank Dr Jonathan Ritchie for his leadership and tireless work on the PNG Oral History Project, and Professor John Waiko who has also been a valued historical advisor and colleague. Several local people have also played important roles in facilitating our research, including Lomas Mongagi in Sanananda, and Steven Keura in New Buna village. Others have contributed as drivers, security, transcribers and babysitters, including Drida Punia and Bray Punia, Carl Tongia, Mike Gaie, Dr Bob Kevin, Lilias IMAGES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Klapat, and Narrelle Embahe. Tenkyu! 1. There are very few historical photographs showing Papuan or New Guinean women during the Second World War. This image, from Mendaropu, shows a woman and young child waiting during the sale of fruits and vegetables to troops of the 128th Regiment, 32nd United States division. The effects of the war on Papuan women, and the roles that women played during the war, have often been neglected in the historical record. 2. (L-R): Margaret Embahe, Mavis Tongia, Maclaren Hiari, and Victoria Stead with son Calum, Popondetta 2015 3. Villagers with fruits and vegetable that they have brought for sale to the troops of the 128th Regiment, 32nd United States Division. Australian War Memorial 4. The research team working together to transcribe and translate oral history interviews, January 2018 5. Researchers Margaret Embahe and Mavis Tongia in Oro Bay, May 2016 7 8 1943. Several of our interviewees in this book recall being given sweets or PK gum by kind soldiers, or the bloodshed that took place in this final stage. Some receiving medical care for their tropical sores at the quote the name of a popular history book written about army hospitals. the beachhead battles, Bloody Buna (written by Lida Mayo in 1974), noting that we should also talk about The interviews in this book also reveal the many different ‘bloody Sanananda’. Through all of this, both Japanese types of work that Oro people did during the war.