Beginnings: Through Indigenous Eyes—the entrance of Adventist missionsinto the Highlands of New Guinea

ON SATURDAY 14 SEPTEMBER 1991, PaulCavanagh visited Napapara Village, outside ofRabaul to record August Turten’s memories onthe entry of Adventist Missions into the High-lands of New Guinea.

August Turten was a boy in 1929 whenthe first SDA missionaries arrived in Rabaul.In this account he recalls his first dealings withthe mission, his time in Mussau and his experi-ences as one of ten national young men whoaccompanied the first expatriate missionarieson the initial SDA penetration into the High-lands of New Guinea in the early 1930s.

August was therefore a pioneer mission-ary in his own right. He recalls this experienceas he remembers it.

First Contacts with the MissionIn 1929 Pastor G F Jones came to Rabaul

with his party. He had two Solomon Islandyoung men with him – Oti and Salau. They ar-rived in Matupit on a small boat. At this time Iwas at Napapara. Later, when I went to Matupit,I did not see Jones as he had already left. I didsee Oti and Salau. Salau was stationed at Baiand Oti was at Rabuane.

This was the time when McLaren camefrom Fiji. He had brought with him a FijianFamily – Nafetalai, his wife Vasiti and theirdaughter Siana. There was also a young manwith him. I cooked for this young man.

McLaren went to three new places—Mussau, Emira and Tench. He took Nafetelaiand family with him. This occurred after I was

baptised at Matupit. I had no father and motherand was just roaming about so when the op-portunity came, I went to Mussau with Eremanwho later became a pastor. There he becamevery sick and was returned to Matupit by themission ship. I stayed on for several months ata place called Loaua. The mission then said Ishould go to school so I returned to Matupitwhere I was taught by W W Petrie. It was agood school and I went as far as grade three.However, at that time I was twelve years of ageand was not really interested in learning.

Pioneering in the Highlands of NewGuinea

Then came an exciting offer. I was askedto go with nine others to the Ramu1. The oth-ers were Oti and Salau from the Solomons,Kovaia, Kukuone and Laia from Mussau andTopaik, Pokai (also called Daniel Pokai orToropal), Elisa, Iliesa and myself from Rabaul.

We caught a ship called the MacDhui atRabaul and after one and a half days we ar-rived at Salamaua. Then after several daysMcLaren, Elisa, three others and I caught theplane that took us into the Eastern Highlands.The rest came up on the following day. We sleptthat first night in a tent near the aerodromenear the haus benzene2. We were told we couldnot make a fire. We were also instructed that ifthe kanakas3 came we were not to run away orbe frightened. We were just to stay quietly. Theywould come without clothes and would be car-rying weapons. McLaren slept with the kiap.4

Nafetalai, Vasiti, Siana & Jose—Fijian MissionariesSalau & Oti

PAUL CAVANAGH

Paul Cavanagh was bornin Invercargill in the

South Is of New Zealand.After graduating from theUniversity of Otago (NZ)

with a BSc he went toAvondale College in 1969graduating in 1972 with

a BA in Theology.After 6 years of missionservice at Fulton College

in Fiji he went to theUSA, where he graduatedfrom Andrews Universityin 1979 with an MA inReligion (Missiology )and with an MPH fromLoma Linda University

a year later.After 4 years in Fiji, Paultransferred to Kukudu in

the Western SolomonIslands.

In 1985 he commenced a17 year period of service

at Pacific AdventistCollege (University), andin 1994 was ordained to

the gospel ministry.Since 2002 he has

continued to serve as theField Secretary and

Ministerial Sec. for theTPUM in Suva, Fiji.

Notable among Paul’sachievments at PAC/U

were the folowing:designing and

implementing plans forattractive landscaping;initiating the library’s

Pacific collection ofdocuments and artifacts;conducting Bible studies

with students, andexerting a positive impact

on the spiritual tone ofthe college/university.

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It was planned that we builda haus boi5 in one day. So the nextday we got up, had worship andthen went to get trees from nearthe river and grass (pitpit) tobuild the house. The trees pro-vided the posts and the grass wasfor the roof and walls. When thehouse was finished we put ourbelongings inside. The haus boiwas the first house finished. Wethen began on Petrie’s house – itwas much larger. We started itbefore he came. When McLarenleft we were by ourselves. Webought food from the kanakaswith shells.

When Petrie arrived he toldus that the committee wanted us to extend our stay. He talkedand talked to us but Topaik, who was leading those us offrom Rabaul said “No – I have to return quickly to school atMatupit.” Topaik was cross – he wanted to return by planebut Petrie told us we should walk out, saying “We should notwaste money on the fuel for the balus.”6 But Topaik was ada-mant that we should go out by plane: “Balus I kisim me kam,so balus I mas kisim me back long Rabaul.” (“The plane car-ried us here so the plane must carry us back to Rabaul.”) SoTopaik went down to Salamaua by plane.(That, according to August, is why Topaik diedof a big sickness soon after). Oti and Salauplus the Mussau boys, Kukone, Laia andKavaia stayed a little longer.

I wanted to stay on but the other Matupitboys said, “No! We are going back now. Thetime is up.” We began our journey by foot toMadang. We got up on Sunday and walkeddown to the Markham Valley. Gander, whoaccompanied us a little way towards Madang,shot some pigeons for us to eat on the way.That night we slept in a small kanaka hut inthe bush. We cooked the birds that night andthen moved on. One policeman went with usand another went back to protect Gander.There were five of us. It took a week of traveland we arrived at Madang on a Friday. Thefollowing Tuesday, at 4 am, we boarded theMac Dhui that took us to Rabaul.

During the seven months we worked atRamu building houses we collected small andbig trees for the frames and grass to coverthem. Topaik and I would take turns with thecooking. Once, when Topaik was cooking, akanaka broke into one of the houses and stoletools. He was seen by Kapul, a boy whoworked for the Kiap. He came and told Topaik.

As for the mission work we did whilewere in the highlands, sometimes we went intothe villages near Kainantu. There was onesmall village we had to reach by crossing a bigriver to a small island. The water came up toour chests. On this island the inhabitants weresafe from attack. They did not understandpidgin so all we could do was point. We had a

picture roll and pointed to Jesusand called his name. We also hadtwo guitars – one for Topaik andone for Oti. Salau had a ukulele.

Note:This interview gives us insights

into the initial entry of the Seventh-day Adventist mission into the High-lands of New Guinea in the early1930s. It was the time to acquire landand establish a mission station. Itshows the dependence of expatriatemissionaries on young national menin the establishing of the work of thechurch in a new and dangerous area.

Footnotes1 This is not the Ramu Valley. At

that time the Kainantu District in the Eastern Highland Provinceof PNG was referred to as the Ramu. Here the main stream ofthe Ramu River originates.

2 Fuel storage shed3 kanakas are unsophisticated bush people4 kiap — district officer5 house in which boys lived6 balus — plane

The names of the missionaries mentioned in the article: PastorGriffith F Jones; Gilbert McLaren; William W Petrie; StanleyGander

Stanley, Greta & Gwen Gander with Pr A G Stewart

Some locations in Madang & Morobe Provinces mentioned in this articleExcerpt from Papua New Guinea (c) South Pacific Maps Pty Ltd 2004

Licensed by Hema maps Pty Ltd. Used by permission

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