AUSTRALIAN FORESTERS in PAPUA NEW GUINEA 1922-1975
PNGAF MAGAZINE ISSUE # 9B -5B4C1 of 20th July 2021 Forest Management. Eminent TPNG Forester Jim Cavanaugh. Jim’s Story
The Minister of Forests and the officers of the Forestry Department in 1972, gave Jim and Pat Cavanaugh1 a Hampton Court silver plated cutlery set that Pat used to the day she died. Thank you for such a useful gift. Kev White produced the flowers in the silviculture nursery. Don McIntosh Forests MD is standing behind Pat. Photo Credit Linda Cavanaugh Manning.
Editor R B McCarthy2 2021.
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Jim Cavanaugh TPNG Forests 1938-1972. Dick McCarthy District Forester TPNG Forests 1963-1975.
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Jim’s Story Linden George (“Jim”) Cavanaugh (1917-2004)3 Jim’s Early Life. Linden was born in Murwillumbah, NSW, on the 3 of June 1917. He was the third child in an eight-sibling family. He was known to everyone in Papua New Guinea as ‘Jim’ or ‘James’. Jim married Maude Masters (known as Pat), the daughter of an ice cream manufacturer, in December 1946 and they had two daughters, Linda and Sally who were born in Wau in the Territory of New Guinea in 1951 and 1953. The Cavanaugh family business, Chillingham Timber Company and Panels Ltd, was in sawmilling and allied industries and failed during the 1929-1932 depression and as a result Jim’s formal education ceased at age 14 years in 1931. By the time Jim was 15, he could do all the jobs required to run a sawmill. He could lead a bullock team, shoe horses, act as a saw doctor, run the boiler and recognize the local timber. This stood Jim in good stead when it was his job to run the government sawmill. At 16 Jim cleared a 5-acre block and planted bananas on the side of a steep mountain in Numinbah NSW. When he heard about a government job, he applied and in 1935 at 18 years old was employed as a trainee surveyor in the Queensland Department of Lands and soon afterwards transferred to the Sub-Department of Forestry as a Forest Learner. By 21, he oversaw a forest survey group. He attended a course at the Australian Forestry School at the ANU Canberra and much later obtained a Diploma of Public Administration at the University of Queensland in 1967. Jim off to TPNG Jim visited New Guinea in 1938 and joined the New Guinea Public Service in 1940. In 1941, he enlisted and served - first with the New Guinea Volunteer Riflemen (NGVR) and later with the 2nd Australian Forest Survey Company. The New Guinea Volunteer Rifles (NGVR) had the distinction of being the only Australian army militia unit raised, mobilised, fought and disbanded overseas in the Mandated Territory of New Guinea between 1939 and 1943. Raised on 4 September 1939, the NGVR's headquarters were originally in Rabaul with sub-units located at Wau, Salamaua, Lae and Madang. Fit men between the ages of 18 and 50 were accepted. In August 1941, after the arrival of the 2/22nd Battalion (Lark Force) in Rabaul, the NGVR moved its headquarters to Bulolo on the mainland, keeping a unit in Rabaul. After Japan attacked, the Battalion was placed on full-time duty and mobilized on 21 January 1942. When Rabaul was invaded on 22 January
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Story written by his daughter Linda Cavanaugh Manning 21st May 2018.
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1942, the NGVR was under the command of the CO of the 2/22nd Battalion and fought until resistance was of no avail. Over 80 NGVR personnel died when the Japanese prison ship Montevideo Maru was sunk in the South China Sea on 1 July 1942 by an American submarine, the worst single Australian maritime tragedy in WWII. A number of NGVR soldiers were massacred with about 150 others at Tol Plantation on Wide Bay in early February 1942. When Lae and Salamaua were invaded on 8 March 1942, the NGVR was the only administrative representative of law and order and assumed responsibility for several thousand indentured labourers recruited from many outlying districts. These labourers would otherwise have been without support and unable to return to their homes. Establishing depots, the NGVR fed them, and they became the first of the army of carriers and labourers who proved so vital in supporting the Allies in the fighting that followed, contributing to that success. Jim Cavanaugh also conducted intelligence work with the Central Bureau. He spent almost all the war years outside Australia often behind Japanese lines. He was a commissioned officer and was demobilised in December 1945.
Jim Cavanaugh Lt. NG 2192
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Bob McKeowen4 referred to the book titled ‘Commando Double Black’ by Andy Pirie. Commando double black: an historical narrative of the 2/5th Australian ... later the 2/5th Cavalry Commando Squadron, 1942-1945 / by A.A. (Andy) Pirie It mentions Jim Cavanaugh as an NGVR scout escorting Australian commandos on raids on Jap positions in Lae and surrounds. Bob commented that they would have to be the gamest and bravest blokes he had ever heard of. The 2/5th Commando Squadron was one of twelve independent companies and or commando squadrons of the Australian Army formed for service during World War 11. Initially formed in 1942 as the "2/5th Independent Company", the 2/5th served in New Guinea taking part in a major commando raid on Salamaua in June 1942. It was later withdrawn from New Guinea and reformed as the "2/5th Cavalry (Commando) Squadron", as part of the 2/7th Cavalry (Commando) Regiment which saw service in Borneo in 1945. It was disbanded in early 1946.
Bradley in his book The Battle for Wau describes on pages 29-32 Jim’s role in the June 1942 Salamaua raid. The map below shows the raid.
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Bob McKeowen personal communication 11 May 2018
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L to R Rifleman Geoff Archer (gold miner Wau), Rifleman Jim Cavanaugh (forester), and Sergeant Jim McAdam (forester) at the Nuk Nuk observation post overlooking Salamaua. Photo taken by war photographer Damien Parer in August 1942 just after the famous Salamaua raid. All three played major roles in the Salamaua raid by guiding commando parties to their objectives. Photo Credit Australian War Memorial.
Jim Cavanaugh, Geoff Archer & Jim McAdam (NGVR) taken by war photographer Damien Parer near Mubo in March 1942. Photo Credit Australian War Memorial.
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from Linda Cavanaugh Manning 9 April 2019
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Observation Tree Mubo. Photo Credit Australian War Memorial 1942.
Salamaua isthmus after capture by the 5th Division on 11 September 1943. Source Australian War Memorial. AUSTRALIAN FOREST SURVEY COMPANY. Early in 1944, the Australian Army decided to form under the Engineers, a unit to record the many sawmilling operations and make surveys of the forest resources, using all the advantages of operational mapping, air photos and transport facilities then available. The C.R.E. N.G. Forests Jim McAdam was given authority to recruit as many personnel experienced in forestry as he could locate. Two officers of the pre-war service Mr. Cavanaugh (NG X276 (NG2197) Rank Lieutenant) and Mr. Vickery were recruited. The unit had come together about mid-1944 and for the next three months at Lae were out through an intensive training in recognition of New Guinea species and handling New Guinea 6
conditions. Senior Officers of the unit closely followed the establishment of each new base to report on immediate timber supplies for operational purposes. During this time, a plan was drawn up for the survey of the timber resources of as much of the territories as possible. This survey was launched about the end of 1944 and continued till the War ended, and the units were disbanded about October 1945. One of the functions of the C.R.E. N.G. Forests, written in the instructions at its formation was “the maintenance of forestry records suitable for handing over to a Civilian Forest service at the appropriate time”. Consequently, when the unit was disbanded, Mr. Vickery, by then the forest ranger at Bulolo, was left in charge of the records. He handed the records to Mr Cavanaugh, who was then the Reserve Settlement Officer, when he returned to the Islands in his civilian capacity. As described in PNGAF Mag #3 of 3 November 2020, pages 59-60 are reprinted here as Jim Cavanaugh was involved with Jim McAdam in the running of the Forest Survey Group. HQ FOREST SURVEY GROUP 1 CRE (NG Forests) Following concern about the over-exploitation of the timber resources in New Guinea, a forest survey group was proposed in early 1944, manned by professional foresters to assess and allocate logging areas to all allied services. HQ For Svy Gp was established at Port Moresby (NG) in March and moved to Yalu, outside Lae in May where 2/1 For Svy Coy and 2/2 For Svy Coy were formed. The unit name was changed to 1 CRE (NG Forests) in May. At their HQ at Yalu were the specialist groups of botany, air photo interpretation and wood technology while the survey companies undertook the field work with 2/1 For Svy Coy concentrating on New Britain while 2/2 For Svy Coy covered Papua and mainland New Guinea. At the end of the war their work continued and 1 CRE (NG Forests) was effectively the basis of the new civilian PNG Forestry Department. War Diaries: AWM 52 5/32/2. References: A.6
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2/1 AUST FOREST SURVEY COMPANY 2/1 For Svy Coy was established at Yalu, near Lae (NG) in May 1944 and moved to Busu Road, Lae in December. They had detachments at Jacquinot Bay, Gasmata, Cape Hoskins, Finschhafen and Madang before moving to Jacquinot Bay in April 1945. They saw out the war assessing the extensive forests of New Britain. War Diaries : AWM 52 5/32/6. References: A.6
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2/2 AUST FOREST SURVEY COMPANY 2/2 For Svy Coy was established at Yalu, near Lae (NG) in May 1944 and moved to Milne Bay in February 1945. They had detachments at Aitape, Torokina, Oro Bay, Manus Island, Lae and Wau before moving to Wau in July 1945. They saw out the war assessing the extensive forests of the Wau/Bulolo area. War Diaries: AWM 52 5/32/7. 7
Jim’s Sojourn at Kerevat Sawmill New Britain after World War Two In January 1946, he returned to Papua New Guinea as a forester and was put in charge of the Northern Region. He was based in Kerevat near Rabaul, and he set himself the task of getting the sawmill at Kerevat working to produce timber to rebuild the town of Rabaul after the ravages of the war. When he needed engines and gearboxes, Jim converted abandoned Japanese motors and gearboxes to power the mill. He initially ran a team of Chinese labourers that had been abandoned in Rabaul by the Japanese army and later a team of Papuan New Guineans. Pat, his wife, did the books.
One of the saws in Kerevat sawmill in 1946. Photo credit Linda Cavanaugh Manning.
Part of the sawmill equipment and part of boilers of Kerevat sawmill in 1946. Photo credit Linda Cavanaugh Manning.
One of the motors for Kerevat sawmill in 1946. Photo credit Linda Cavanaugh Manning.
Pat Cavanaugh standing near one of the stacks of sawn timber in 1946. Photo credit Linda Cavanaugh Manning.
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Derelict Kerevat Sawmill #1 as at 1967-68. Remnants of the old sawdust heap # 14 from the mill. Photo credit J D Davidson. 1948 Royal Commission into the Bulolo Timber Lease In late 1948, Jim McAdam and Jim Cavanaugh were called before the Royal Commission into the Bulolo Timber Lease involving the Minister for External Affairs Edward Joseph Ward in Sydney from late 1948 to 1949. Pat stayed in Kerevat while Jim spent 4 months at the trial. Ruth Turia in her PhD thesis 2005 ANU Cannot see the land for the trees. The forest management dilemma in Papua New Guinea described the Royal Commission and its outcomes. Afterwards Jim and Pat Cavanaugh went on a nine-month world tour and when they returned to TPNG, they were stationed at Bulolo where Jim conducted the fieldwork to survey the forest resource. Bulolo 1950’s Several government families lived in Bulolo in the 50's in the area west of the klinkii pine nursery and the Forestry Office. It was idyllic growing up in Bulolo in the 50's. Jim & Pat Cavanaugh with their first-born Linda in 1951. Photo credit Linda Cavanaugh Manning.
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Pat with Linda. Jim obtained timber from the sawmill to extend the lounge room of the three-bedroom house they were allowed. He obviously cut a large log to be used as steps until he was able to make a staircase early 1951. Photo credit Linda Cavanaugh Manning.
Jim & Pat Cavanaugh with Don & Barbara McIntosh in their front yard at Bulolo. Photo credit Linda Cavanaugh Manning.
Pat Cavanaugh at the klinkii pine nursery behind the Forestry Office in Bulolo about 1952. Photo credit Linda Cavanaugh.
Linda Cavanaugh described life in Bulolo as making your own fun when they were young. The roundabout at the Bulolo Swimming pool was great. Pat Cavanaugh made all their clothes as well as tablecloths, curtains, bedspreads, etc. Pat had a treadle Singer sewing machine that she ran day and night to make clothes for all of us. 10
Bulolo Forest Station. Bulolo Forest Station Nursery. Part of CNGT now PNG Forest Products Plymill and Sawmill complex. Photo credit Linda Cavanaugh Manning.
Su Su’s Bulolo forests natural araucaria stands. Bulolo Forest Station and nursery.
PNG Forests sawmill Complex. PNG Plymill (formerly CNGT). Photo credit Linda Cavanaugh Manning.
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In 1950 he was appointed to undertake an inventory of the forest resources of Papua New Guinea. He spent about five to seven months of every year in the field. It was extremely hard on Pat who was at home looking after two young daughters. An example of a typical Highlands Timber purchase as described by Tom Cole, coffee planter, croc shooter, author and one-time sawmiller on pages 198 and 199 in The Last Paradise.
Nothofagus log Goroka area Hicks Logging. Photo credit Linda Cavanaugh Manning. 12
In 1959, the family sailed south on the MV Bulolo with their Vanguard to Sydney and returned by sea to live in Port Moresby, first in Boroko and four years later in McGregor Street near the town. Jim Cavanaugh First Divisional Head Resource Management. Port Moresby By 1960 resource management had become a division and it included many other jobs, such as Land Policy and Transport Planning under the Administrator. The position controlled a large staff that included foresters, engineers, draftsmen, and various classes of technical officers and tradesmen. During the 1960’s the forest surveys were done by helicopters and isolated camps.
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Survey Boss Boys 1963 L to R Norm Endacott; Johnny Lowien; David “dokka” Reid, Eric Hammermaster, Jim Cavanaugh, Evan Shield, Peter Eddowes, Pilot Hurrell; Don McIntosh, Bill Jenkin, unknown, unknown, Kevin White, unknown. Photo credit Mary Jenkin. Jim spent his last 12 years with the Department of Forests working out of the Konedobu office. He was Chief of Division of Management and continued evaluating the forest resource. In 1966, he rewrote the Forestry Act and Regulations for Papua New Guinea and presented it to the Legislative Drafting Section in Canberra.
Personal Communication Eric Hammermaster 11/3/21. Gogol trial survey Nov to Dec 1963. Based at Utu Catholic Mission Station. Unknowns would include helicopter mechanic of Helicopter Utilities, soils staff of DASF as Paul Aland and DIES. One of the PNG forestry assistants was Gallope Mato who trained under Jim Cavanaugh post-war. 6
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Jim worked on most of the major timber areas. He was instrumental in getting the Japan PNG Partnership (JANT) off the ground in the Gogol Timber Area in the Madang Province. Jim’s Retirement In 1972 Jim retired from the Public Service and set up a Tropical Forest Engineering Consultancy Service based in Port Moresby that operated in several tropical countries with clients such as major timber pulp and paper companies based in the USA, Japan, Canada, England, and Australia as well as the Food & Agriculture Organisation in Rome. He closed the consultancy in Port Moresby in 1982 and did a few jobs from a new location in Surfers Paradise Queensland. The work included the preparation of feasibility studies of major projects that involved proving the resource base, the design and location of access, and the industrial and port facilities. During his working life, Jim designed, surveyed, and supervised the construction of hundreds of kilometres of roads in tropical countries with most roads rated to a 50-tonne load and 80 kilometre/hour speed. He also did much to educate and train the Papuan New Guineans he worked with. He set up a training school for the training of local people as technical officers and ran a night school for the staff until it was taken over by the education system. When Jim retired to Surfers Paradise, he joined the Committee of the Body Corporate in his unit apartment block and then he started the Gold Coast Unit Owners Association. Jim enjoyed 15 years of good health before a stroke in 1997, just before his 80th birthday, he recovered, but was never the same health-wise. Jim was a gentle man and a kind loving father and husband. Jim enjoyed walking – each morning and afternoon he would take his wife and his daughters, when they were visiting, for a walk on the Surfers Paradise beach or in the Lamington National Park where he grew up. In Bulolo, it was swimming in the Baiune River, a subsidiary of the Bulolo, and walking around the klinkii pine nursery or up to the dam and in Port Moresby it was exploring the beach and the hills around the town. There were also many picnics in Sogeri and Brown River. He built a cabin cruiser and used to go out on the water most weekends fishing and visiting the local islands. His main hobby was keeping up with the Australian and international news, especially the financial news. He enjoyed investing in stocks and shares. “Throughout my life I have always been in charge or had a major say in every operation I was involved in and responsible for its success, but always responsive to the needs of others involved”, wrote Jim about his life in 1992. Jim retired on 3 June 1972 and was either the first or one of the first to retire from Forestry. In those days you had to take the government superannuation which in hindsight worked out well as Jim lived to 86 years old and his wife Pat lived to 97 years old.
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Pat and Jim at a farewell dinner at the Gateway. They are seated next to John Gardiner and wife. Photo credit Linda Cavanaugh
In 2018, Jim is survived by his daughters, Linda, and Sally and three grandchildren.7
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Jim enjoyed his time in PNG working for the government and later for himself. It was a good job, and he was fortunate to be able to spend his whole working life in PNG doing something he believed in. He was fortunate to be entitled to join the PNG government superannuation fund that helped support him for 32 years and is still supporting Mum 45 years later! So many good things came out of our sojourn in PNG. Linda Cavanaugh Manning 21st May 2018.
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NAME DATE JOINED DEPT OF FORESTRY PNG
WHAT WAS YOUR OCCUPATION
WHAT LOCALITIES DID YOU WORK IN
WHAT DATE DID YOU LEAVE PNG LIFE AFTER PNG IF YOU WISH TO COMMENT BRIEFLY
Linden George Cavanaugh known as Jim or James 1917 - 2004 Immediately after the war. Jim was demobbed on 19th November 1945 and his posting at discharge was in the 2 Australian Forest Survey Company. Jim McAdam and others incl Jim Cavanaugh set up the Department of Forests after the war. Before the war, Cavanaugh and McAdam were part of the Queensland Department of Lands. Cavanaugh was in the surveying section and was sent up to Rabaul and Salamaua to check out the Lutheran and German Catholic run sawmills. They both enlisted initially in the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles at Wau. 1946 to 1949 ran the sawmill at Kerevat to provide timber to rebuild the town of Rabaul after the war. 1950 to 1972 Resource Management – initially from Bulolo from 1950 to 1958 doing physical survey work and from 1959 to 1972 head of Resource Management at the Department of Forests at Konedobu. Jim Cavanaugh retired on 3rd June 1972 and four months later set up a forestry consultancy working out of Port Moresby. He closed it in 1982. All over TPNG – as part of the resource management Cavanaugh spent almost six months of every year from 1950 to 1958 physically surveying forest stands – Bulolo Wau (Klinkii pine), Open Bay, all the areas Cavanaugh worked in will be in the Forestry archives. As a private consultant – JANT (Honshu Paper) at Madang, Ok Tedi for BHP, Bougainville for CRA, Vanimo for Parsons and Whittemore and Weyerhaeuser June 1982 at 65 years old. He retired from the Department of Forests 1972 when he was 55 years old. Retired. He did a few small jobs after 1982. He retired to a modern unit in Surfers Aquarius, a high rise building on the Surfers Paradise Beach.
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ACRONYMS ACT ACIAR ACLMP AEC AFS AFPNG AIF AMF ANBG ANGAU ANU APMF APPM ASIO ASOPA AusAID BA BCOF “Beer Time” BFC BGD BUC C cm CALM CFA CNGT CRE
CSIRO CHAH DASF DBH/ dbh DEPT DPI DOF e.g. Etc FAO F &TB FIM FPRC FRI
Australian Capital Territory Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research AusAid funded World Bank Land Mobilisation program. Administrators Executive Committee Australian Forestry School Association of Foresters of PNG Australian Infantry Forces Australian Military Forces Australian National Botanical Gardens Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit Australian National University Australian Paper Manufacturers Forestry Pty Ltd Australia Paper and Pulp Manufacturers Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Australian School of Pacific Administration Australian Aid Agency basal area British Commonwealth Occupational Force 1945-52 Any time. Bulolo Forestry College Bulolo Gold Dredging Company Bulolo University College Commonwealth Centimetre Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management Commonwealth Forestry Association Commonwealth New Guinea Timbers Bulolo Commander Royal Engineers CRE CRE is a term inherited by RAE from RE and is the term for the Commanding Officer of a RAE unit which is headed by a Lt Col. Although the officer is called the CRE the name is also used for the name of his unit. E.g., CRE Aust Forestry Group or 1(NG Forests). Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria Dept of Agriculture, Stock and Fisheries Diameter at breast height Department Department of Primary Industry Department of Forests For example et cetera (more of the same) Food and Agriculture Organisation Forest and Timber Bureau Canberra Forest Information System Forest Products Research Centre Hohola Forest Research Institute Lae 17
Forkol GAB Gbhob Gubab GIS ha IBRD IFA ITTO JICA L of N LRRS m3 MD MM NAA NARI NB NFCAP no. NG NGF NGIB NGO NGVR NZ NSW NTSC OISCA P or p PIB PIR PNG PNGAA PNGAF PNGFA PNGFIA PNGRIS PNGUT POM Q QF RAE RPC RRA SFM SP UK UN
Bulolo Forestry College Girth above buttress Girth breast height over bark Girth under bark above buttress Geographic Information Systems Hectare International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Institute of Foresters of Australia International Tropical Timber Organization Japanese International Cooperation Agency League of Nations Land Resource Soils Survey (branch of CSIRO) cubic metre managing director Military Medal National Archives Australia National Agriculture Research Institute New Britain PNG National Forestry and Conservation Action Plan Number New Guinea New Guinea Forces (relates to plant collection of Lae Herbarium) New Guinea Infantry Battalion Non-Government Organisation New Guinea Volunteer Rifles New Zealand New South Wales National Tree Seed Centre PNG Bulolo Organisation for Industrial, Spiritual and Cultural Advancement International Japan. page Papuan Infantry Battalion Pacific Islands Regiment Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea Australia Association Papua New Guinea Australian Foresters Magazine Series Papua New Guinea Forest Authority PNG Forest Industries Association Papua New Guinea Resource Information System PNG University of Technology Port Moresby Queensland Queensland Forestry Royal Australian Engineers/Australian Army Royal Papuan Constabulary Rapid Resource Appraisal Sustainable Forest Management South Pacific United Kingdom United Nations 18
Unasylva UNE UNEP UNI UNITECH UNRE UPNG UQ US USA TPNG TUBL TA TA TRP Vol VSF WA WB WW2
Journal of FAO of UN University of New England Armidale NSW United Nations Environment Program University University of Technology Lae PNG University of Natural Resources and Environment University of Papua New Guinea University of Queensland United States United States of America Territory of Papua and New Guinea Territory United Brewery Ltd Timber Area Timber Authority Timber Rights Purchase volume Victorian School of Forestry Western Australia World Bank WORLD WAR 2
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