Scholarships and Connections: Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, 1960-2010

For over fifty years Australia has welcomed students from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea to study at our tertiary institutions on government scholarships. An important premise behind the scholarship program has been the hope that the connections with Australia developed by these students will be long-lasting and mutually beneficial to Australia and partner governments. The research project ‘Scholarships and Connections’ investigates the life stories and experiences of students from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea who were sponsored for Australian-based tertiary study from 1950s-2010. By recording the personal experiences of scholarship recipients and investigating their networks of influence, this research deepens our understanding of scholarship programs and whether or not they produce outcomes that are consistent with the objective of building mutually beneficial linkages between Australia and partner countries. It examines whether the outcomes are enduring or change over time. The project is especially interested in the experiences of former scholarship-holders in positions of leadership and any networks and ongoing connections they have with Australia. This research provides a better understanding of the personal and professional networks of scholarship alumni, and encourages the sharing of experiences. The interviews will be permanently retained in appropriate repositories and drawn on for use in biographies, radio and television programs, internet applications and educational curricula for schools and leadership programs. This research promotes the values of historical research and scholarship among Indonesians and Papua New Guineans and points to the value of oral testimony from past and recent generations of mobile students for current generations facing important challenges and choices.

Questionnaire data for 'Scholarships and Connections: Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, 1960-2010'

For over fifty years Australia has welcomed students from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea to study at our tertiary institutions on government scholarships. An important premise behind the scholarship program has been the hope that the connections with Australia developed by these students will be long-lasting and mutually beneficial to Australia and partner governments. The research project ‘Scholarships and Connections’ investigates the life stories and experiences of students from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea who were sponsored for Australian-based tertiary study from 1950s-2010. By recording the personal experiences of scholarship recipients and investigating their networks of influence, this research deepens our understanding of scholarship programs and whether or not they produce outcomes that are consistent with the objective of building mutually beneficial linkages between Australia and partner countries. It examines whether the outcomes are enduring or change over time. The project is especially interested in the experiences of former scholarship-holders in positions of leadership and any networks and ongoing connections they have with Australia. This research provides a better understanding of the personal and professional networks of scholarship alumni, and encourages the sharing of experiences. The interviews will be permanently retained in appropriate repositories and drawn on for use in biographies, radio and television programs, internet applications and educational curricula for schools and leadership programs. This research promotes the values of historical research and scholarship among Indonesians and Papua New Guineans and points to the value of oral testimony from past and recent generations of mobile students for current generations facing important challenges and choices.

Observations on ponticocythereis tricristata (Brady, 1880) from the Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea and comments on quaternary ostracod evolution within the sw Pacific Ocean

The ostracod species originally described as Cythere tricristata Brady, 1880 from the Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea, appears to belong to the SW Pacific and Australasian genus Ponticocythereis McKenzie, 1967 (sensu Warne & Whatley 1996). This interpretation is based on the presence of some posterior pointing scale-like spines on the carapace surface of this species. SEM images of the type material for Ponticocythereis tricristara n. comb., which are presented here for the first time, enable the clear differentiation of this species from the very similar Ponticocythereis ichthyoderma (Brady, 1890), Ponticocythereis quadriserialis (Brady, 1890) and Ponticocythereis laingensis (Wouters, 1981). As a consequence of the subdued manifestation of scale-like or blade-like spines on adult specimens of P. tricristata, this species closely resembles juvenile rather than adult specimens of some other Ponticocythereis species. This ontogenetic/phylogenetic relationship suggests that paedomorphic processes were significant in the Quaternary evolutionary radiation of Ponticocythereis species within tropical SW Pacific and Australasian regions.

Australia, Papua New Guinea, and a communal blindness in our history education

The teaching of history to Australians has been under the spotlight in recent years as experts, commentators, and politicians vie for command of the uses to be made of the past. This was very evident in the — one hopes — now concluded ‘history wars’ of the last decade or so. But the old warriors are oiling their rusty swords in preparation for what may be yet another battle, perhaps one that will be particularly bloody in this election year. The field for this battle will be broadly centred on the new national history curriculum, being developed by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Agency (ACARA).

Archaeobotany in Australia and New Guinea : Practice, potential and prospects

Archaeobotany is the study of plant remains from archaeological contexts. Despite Australasian research being at the forefront of several methodological innovations over the last three decades, archaeobotany is now a relatively peripheral concern to most archaeological projects in Australia and New Guinea. In this paper, many practicing archaeobotanists working in these regions argue for a more central role for archaeobotany in standard archaeological practice. An overview of archaeobotanical techniques and applications is presented, the potential for archaeobotany to address key historical research questions is indicated, and initiatives designed to promote archaeobotany and improve current practices are outlined.

Development in Papua New Guinea : various meanings in the context of logging in West New Britain

Development in Papua New Guinea ... is research into village level issues of logging. In New Britain, nationals are offered royalties for cutting their rainforest. Information about ecology and biodiversity is usually late in coming, and such information to them does not appear to advance their development. This thesis offers the most specific method for dealing with small communities in Papua New Guinea, and confronts the issue of self development. It is posited that all other development must encourage self development in Papua New Guinea. Evidence brought here shows the need to make the Melanesian community central to development strategies.

To accomplish such a strategy, there is a need to consider Melanesian cultures. An explanation of world views ensues. The world views of people of the Pasismanua region, of New Britain's south coast, was compared broadly with Melanesian cultures and Melanesian development in a variety of circumstances. Consequently, the suggestions made are broadly applicable to situations where resources must be well monitored. There are many such situations in Pacific nations, which suggests that the thesis will be of usc to a wide research community.

Since research is grounded in ethnographic as well as other research, this kind of study generates many other research questions, and the research is designed to lead to other studies. Certain aspects of the design become disclosed when the research has progressed. As well, the background of an expatriate researcher is intrusive, and must be mitigated by some form of participation in the host culture. This is a central tenet of the thesis. This participation increases sensitivity to culture and yields a circumspect consideration of the colonial issue. Occupied for many years by colonial powers especially Australia, all New Guinea including West New Britain shows the effects of colonisation. It also shows evidence of the new colonialism of cash-cropping, and of the destruction of biodiversity. This becomes a central theme, as does the position of this researcher as a participant in a global economic culture encroaching on and invited by Papua New Guinea.

How much should Australians know about Papua New Guinea?

In the last week Papua New Guinea (PNG) has received more exposure in the Australian media than it has for a very long time indeed. Ever since news of the ‘Regional Resettlement Arrangement Between Australia and Papua New Guinea’ agreement between Prime Ministers Rudd and O’Neill appeared on 19 July, discussion and criticism of the so-called ‘PNG Solution’ has been widespread on the internet, on television, radio, and even in the few newspapers still being published. Media outlets which negligently had let their regional coverage slip away – preferring to invest their remaining funds into reportage of last night’s Masterchef – are now scrambling to find copy from anyone with either opinions on the subject, but little knowledge, or some direct knowledge of PNG, alas in short supply.

The avalanche of reporting and commentary has masked the complexity of the issues involved here. On the one hand, we have Australia’s response to boat-borne visa-less immigrants: there is a whole universe of pain tied up in this, as any quick glance at the commentary will demonstrate. On the other, there is Australia and its place in the world and in the region: are we embarrassed to be Australians, or proud to be Aussies who ‘grew here’? And within the region, there is Papua New Guinea.

What can one learn from the reporting of PNG so far in 2013?

List of colonial era Papua New Guinea legislation

This dataset is a list of all Papua New Guinean legislation (Acts and Regulations) during Australia's colonial administration of the country. It includes data on legislation from 1925 through to 1974 and identifies the act/regulation title, the act number, the act commencement date and chapter number.

Notes on the distribution and breeding of the Manus Friarbird Philemon albitorques and other birds of small islands of the Admiralties Group, Papua New Guinea

Despite being a relatively common and well-known species locally, the ecology of the Manus Friarbird Philemon albitorques is not well documented in the literature. Here I present information on breeding and range extensions for this species, and for other bird species on small islands in the Admiralties Group, Papua New Guinea.

The establishment and development of neurosurgery services in Papua New Guinea

BACKGROUND: Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a developing Pacific Nation of 7.3 million people. Although neurosurgery training was introduced to PNG in the year 2000, it was in 2003 that a neurosurgery service was established. Prior to this time, neurosurgery in PNG was performed by general surgeons, with some assistance from visiting Australian neurosurgeons. Neurosurgical training was introduced to PNG in 2000. The model involved a further 3 years of training for a surgeon who had already completed 4 years of general surgical training. We aim to review the output, outcomes and impact achieved by training the first national neurosurgeon. METHODS: The data on activity (output) and outcomes were collected prospectively from 2003-2012. Ongoing mentoring and continuing professional development were provided through annual neurosurgical visits from Australia. There were serious limitations in the provision of equipment, with a lack of computerized tomographic or MR imaging, and adjuvant oncological services. RESULTS: There were 1618 neurosurgery admissions, 1020 neurosurgical procedures with a 5.74 % overall mortality. Seventy percent of cases presented as emergencies. There were improved outcomes, particularly for head injuries, whilst hydrocephalus was managed with an acceptable morbidity and revision rate. CONCLUSIONS: The training of a neurosurgeon resulted in PNG patients receiving a better range of surgical services, with a lower mortality. The outcomes able to be delivered were limited by late presentations of patients and lack of resources including imaging. These themes are familiar to all low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and this may serve as a model for other LMIC neurosurgical services to adopt as they consider whether to establish and develop neurosurgical and other sub-specialist surgical services.

Human rights in Papua New Guinea: is this where we should be settling refugees?

Australia has had a long, and at times tumultuous, relationship with our nearest neighbour, Papua New Guinea. This relationship took a twist in late 2012, with the re-opening of the off-shore processing centre on Manus Island, and again in February 2014, when Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati was murdered by locals during a violent disturbance at the centre. The latest test of the strength and endurance of the relationship between PNG and Australia came in April 2016, when the PNG Supreme Court ruled that the detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island breached the right to personal liberty in the PNG constitution. This article provides much-needed insight into the human rights situation in PNG, and makes recommendations regarding the prospect of resettling refugees in that country.

Disrupting assumptions about vernacular education in Papua New Guinea

During 1999 and 2000, the author was employed by the Papua New Guinea Department of Education. Part of her duties at the Papua New Guinea Education Institute was to deliver in-service professional development programs to teachers who were implementing the country’s new curriculum. A focus of this curriculum is the use of two languages in early education; it also responds to the notion of the “bridging years” when children in Papua New Guinea develop skills and knowledge in two cultures and two languages. In this article, the author casts a critical gaze on the implications of developing literacy technologies for oral languages in Papua New Guinea. She uses examples drawn from the in-service course she developed for practicing teachers, as well as referring to theoretical understandings of the importance of literacy practices being learned in social and cultural contexts.