by Colin Adamson (PIR 1957-1961, 2PIR 1965, 1PIR 1965-1967)
It was September 1957 and I had been posted to what is now 1st Battalion Pacific Islands Regiment based in Port Moresby. In those days, we operated an outstation at Manus Island and another at Vanimo on the north side of the island about 40 km from the Dutch New Guinea border.
These outstations were manned by the rifle companies in turn on a 6 monthly basis, and B and C Companies had left for duty about 2 weeks before my arrival. I was to command Delta Coy but it was still on the way home from Vanimo.
Sometime in November, there was a disciplinary problem in the Battalion which started in Admin Coy and spread to the rifle companies leading to mass disobedience and soldiers breaking barracks.
This was brought under control fairly quickly by the officers and warrants but a civil court was brought into being and it was all pretty unpleasant. In the event, the Comd PNG Comd directed that the soldiers be moved out of barracks to somewhere in the bush for an indeterminate time to quieten matters down.
I don’t know why I was selected but I was told off pretty smartly to put my platoon into a couple of trucks, get out to the Agricultural Station some 30 Km away and then walk in to somewhere on the Goldie River that looked like a good spot to hide recalcitrant soldiers.
The ride to the Ag Station was a piece of cake…the walk in was not so good. We were loaded down with our gear and 10 days rations; my map was a 1945 edition showing lots of green but no contour lines but I figured that if we went roughly north I would come up with a likely spot.
The major difficulty was that the wet season was well and truly under way; the rain bucketed down and we fought our way through knee deep bamboo swamp, cutting and thrusting as we went, but to my surprise not a word of dissension from the troops. To me it was all pretty depressing and masses of leeches did not help.
Finally, not long before last light we came upon a stretch of land that was above the water table, reasonably dry and on the fringes of the Goldie. I ordered a halt, set out our little camp, and ordered up the evening meal of brown rice, bully beef and a mug of tea.
I fear we were most unsoldierly but it had been a long hard day, I was still uncertain of my command of Tok Pisin and I was weary anyhow.
Maybe about 0300 I was woken by my batman, Naisi from Bougainville. The Goldie was rising with a flash flood; water was lapping heavily over the edges and my camp was awash!!
I swore! It seemed to be the best I could do in the short term. I gathered my Sergeant, Esom, and my Corporals, and told them to look lively and hunt up some high ground for us in a real hurry. We kicked everybody awake, told them to grab their stuff and get moving. My NCOs were great blokes: Esom from near Lae, Gani from Morobe, Bona from the Mambare and Saisawa from three days south of Lae. There were three LCPL as well and they policed the rear.
We probably moved not more than 100m uphill and came upon a great spot. I figured that it was well above the flood line and made the executive decision. This is the place!
Never dreaming what this place would become, I found a reasonably flat spot and marked out the parade ground. From there we found a small bluff overlooking the Goldie and that later became the Officers/Sgts Mess. Next up was accommodation space for the digs.
I made it easy and selected three sides of the parade ground; one for each section and side #4 was left for the flagpole.
I had no idea as to how long we were to stay there; certainly we had no comms to barracks and so I set the platoon to building what passed for rainproof huts.
We had a good selection of designs; all depending upon the origin and whim of the NCO.
Some were built from pure kunai or long grass as in the Highlands. Others were a minor replica of Sepik spirit houses, some were over- water bamboo huts and others thatched coconut frond-roofed huts from the islands. They all looked really great.
Next in order was to do something about access to Goldie from the Ag station.
Leaving one section at Goldie, I took the remainder to the station armed with axes and machetes, compasses, and string and we began to build something like a passable Jeep track. And it was really for Jeeps. Land Rovers did not arrive for anther 2-3 years!!
And so we set about it. I was the surveyor with compass and 50m of string. We cut away and cleared back and where I considered it swampy-like we cut down trees and formed corduroy access (I had read about this in a book about the Burma campaign). It worked to an extent, took 3 tonners most of the time and sufficed for our needs.
We had a few more weeks there; we would go to the Ag station for rations and spent our time on improvements and section training.
Finally I was called in and told to abandon Goldie. A few more real improvements were to be made and our recruits were to be trained there instead of in the Taurama barracks complex.
Over the next 3 years, Goldie was improved immensely. The corduroy road was covered with tons of blue metal, a telephone line went in and sneaker ranges and other bits were added. The camp became the recruit training centre and I became the OC there for a single intake of about 100 soldiers.
(Editor: There are several claims for the “first” PIR camp on the Goldie River but agreement that 1957was the beginning of long-term occupation by PIR.)