AUSTRALIAN FORESTERS in PAPUA NEW GUINEA 1922-1975
PNGAF MAGAZINE ISSUE # 9B -5B4J3 of 3rd August 2021 FOREST MANAGEMENT. Eminent TPNG Forester Bill Jenkin
Bill Jenkin1 Gogol Survey 1963. Photo Credit Mary Jenkin.
Editor R B McCarthy2 2021.
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Bill Jenkin TPNG Forests 1949-1968 Dick McCarthy District Forester TPNG Forests 1963-1975.
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Early Days Bill, born in Sydney, arrived in PNG in October 1949 after four years serving with BCOF Occupation Force in Japan The British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) was the British Commonwealth taskforce consisting of Australian, British, Indian and New Zealand military forces in occupied Japan from 1946 until the end of occupation in 1952. The BCOF was responsible for supervising demilitarization and the disposal of Japan’s war industries. The BCOF was also responsible for the occupation of the western prefectures of Shimane, Yamaguchi, Tottori, Hiroshima, and Shikoku Island. BCOF headquarters was at Kure, a naval port near Hiroshima. At the height of its involvement, the British Commonwealth Occupation Force was responsible for 20 million Japanese citizens in an area of around 57,000 square km. PNG Days He arrived in PNG in October 1949 after four years serving with BCOF Occupation Force in Japan to the sawmill at Yalu. He joined the TPNG Forestry Administration as a tractor operator/mechanic until 1951.
1946 TPNG Dept of Forests Sawmill crew Yalu after World War 2. Although unclear, personnel included Ted Collis, Alan and Ken Fraser, Col Pittaway, John Thompson, Eric Dobson, Bill Jenkin, George Barrcroft, Darby Munro. Photo credit Cheryl/Norma Collis.
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TPNG Dept of Forests Housing Yalu after World War 2. Yalu3 had no houses after the war and these houses were built from scratch with timber from the local area with 4-5 houses and a singles quarter. Photo credit Cheryl/Norma Collis 1946.
Yalu sawmill. Photo credit Cheryl/Norma Collis.
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Personal communication Cheryl and Norma Collis.
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In 1951, Bill left PNG to serve in Korea. Division of Korea (reference Wikipedia).
Closeup of the Korean Demilitarized Zone that surrounds the Military Demarcation Line. The Korean Peninsula was divided along the 38th parallel north from 1945 until 1950 and along the Military Demarcation Line from 1953 to present. For centuries before 1945, Korea had been a unified political entity. The origins of the modern division of Korea trace to the period of Japan's colonial rule over Korea (1910-1945). During World War 2, the Allied leaders fighting Japan considered the question of Korea's future after Japan's surrender in the war. The leaders reached an understanding that Korea would be liberated from Japan but would be placed under an international trusteeship until the Koreans would be deemed ready for self-rule. Beyond this rather vague agreement, much about the future of Korea was left uncertain. Towards the end of World War 2, the U.S. proposed dividing the Korean peninsula into two occupation zones (a U.S. and Soviet one). An assumption behind this division of Korea into two occupation zones was that this was only a temporary arrangement until the wartime agreement on the Korean trusteeship could be implemented, leading to the establishment of a unified Korean state over the entire peninsula. Subsequently, the Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers in December 1945 resulted in an agreement on a Korean trusteeship lasting up to five years. However, with the onset of the Cold War and other factors both international and domestic, including Korean opposition to the trusteeship, negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union over the next two years regarding the implementation of the trusteeship failed. The Korean question was referred to the United Nations. In 1948, after the UN failed to produce an outcome acceptable to the Soviet Union, UN-supervised elections were held in the US-occupied south only. The American-backed Syngman Rhee won the election, while Kim l1-sung consolidated his position as the leader of Soviet-occupied northern Korea. This led to the establishment of the Republic of Korea in South Korea on 15 August 1948, promptly followed by the establishment of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in North Korea on 9 September 1948. The United States supported the South, the Soviet Union supported the North, and each government claimed sovereignty over the whole Korean peninsula. In 1950, after years of mutual hostilities, North Korea invaded South Korea in an attempt to reunify the peninsula under its communist rule. The subsequent Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953, ended with a stalemate and has left the two Koreas separated by the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) up to the present day.
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In 1953, Bill returned to PNG, working as ‘Bush Boss’, Forest Ranger, Surveyor and eventually graduating to District Forest Officer. He worked in several regions, but the places Bill spoke of with great fondness were Lae, Rabaul and Madang – especially Madang.
Gogol Survey Area Boss Boys 1963.Norm Endacott, John Lowien, David “dokka” Reid, Eric Hammermaster, Jim Cavanaugh, Evan Shields, Peter Eddowes, Pilot, Don McIntosh, Bill Jenkin, unknown, unknown, Kevin White, unknown. Photo Credit Mary Jenkin.
Gogol Survey 1963 Evan Shield, John Lowien, Eric Hammermaster, Bill Jenkin, Norm Endacott, Kevin White. Photo Credit Mary Jenkin.
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Gogol Survey 1961 Crossing Gogol River. Photo credit Mary Jenkin.
Gogol Survey Land Survey 1961 Carrier Line. Photo Credit Mary Jenkin.
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Gogol Rest House under construction 1963. Photo Credit Mary Jenkin.
David Read, Kevin White, Norm Endacott and others 1963. Photo Credit Mary Jenkin. 7
Gogol Survey Boss Boys 1963. Photo Credit Mary Jenkin.
Organising carriers Vanimo Survey 1962. Photo Credit Mary Jenkin.
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Vanimo Survey 1962. Bill Jenkin being carried out due to a poisoned leg. Photo Credit Mary Jenkin.
Vanimo Survey 1962 Bill Jenkin being carried out due to a poisoned leg. Photo Credit Mary Jenkin. 9
Vanimo Survey 1962 Bill Jenkin being carried out due to a poisoned leg. Photo Credit Mary Jenkin.
Launching canoe in Vanimo 1962. Photo Credit Mary Jenkin. 10
Bill became District Forester before eventually gravitating to Headquarters in Port Moresby as Harvesting and Marketing Officer – collecting Royalties of more than $1 million. He married Mary, a teacher on secondment from Canberra, and their two boys were born in Port Moresby. At this time also, Bill studied Accountancy, graduating as a Member of the Australian Society of Accountants. In 1968, Bill joined the Transport Department and became Executive Officer, Road Planning, for the Territory. In December 1975 he moved to Tasmania, working as an accountant until retirement in 1994. Life after PNG In December 1975 the Jenkin family reluctantly left PNG to make a new life in Hobart, Tasmania. Bill worked first with a firm of Chartered Accountants and later with the State Audit Department as a Senior Audit Manager. He retired in 1994, his main interests now being overseas and Australian travel, bowls – regular and petanque, University of the 3rd Age, cooking and wining and dining. Bill is survived by his wife Mary, his sons William and James, and his grandson, Raif. (Mary Jenkin) 4
Mary Jenkin reported that Bill died of bile duct cancer in 2004 aged 76. Mary stated that Bill’s days as a forester in PNG were an important part of his life. 5
Mary Jenkin acknowledged this article re Bill’s life as a forester and his obvious love for his work in the various regions of PNG and their retirement to Hobart where she still lives with their older son William. “You have done a great job and there is nothing more I could add. Kindest regards and compliments on the great job you are doing to record the history of the Forestry Industry of PNG”.
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Personal communication Mary Jenkin April 2018. Personal communication Mary Jenkin August 2021.
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Short Bibliography of Bill Jenkin. William “Bill” Jenkin Forester After the war in 1949 worked all over PNG in the 1960’s Brochure describing part of the Harvesting and Marketing Officer’s Activities NAME WHAT WAS YOUR OCCUPATION WORK LOCALITIES
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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 CRE
CSIRO CHAH DASF DBH/ dbh DEPT DPI DOF e.g. Etc FAO F &TB FIM FPRC
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 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 13
FRG FRI Forkol GAB Gbhob Gubab GIS ha IBRD IFA IFY ITTO JICA L of N LRRS m3 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
Forest Red Gum Forest Research Institute Lae 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 Year of the Forest International Tropical Timber Organization Japanese International Cooperation Agency League of Nations Land Resource Soils Survey (branch of CSIRO) cubic metre 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 14
UK UN Unasylva UNE UNEP UNI UNITECH UNRE UPNG UQ US USA TPNG TUBL TA TA TRP Vol VSF WA WB
United Kingdom United Nations 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
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