PNG hears its war history
HISTORIANS are using the latest technology to share with the people of Papua New Guinea their own stories of World War II.
Deakin University researchers have played a key role in collating oral histories of Papua New Guineans relating to World War II in collaboration with PNG researchers.
The stories will be featured in an oral history gallery and online exhibition at the country’s National Museum and Art Gallery, which is to open in the middle of this year.
Interviews have been recorded with more than 220 Papua New Guineans, who either lived in the war, or are descendants of those who have now passed away.
Jonathan Ritchie and his team have used the latest technology to help give the people access to their stories of the war. The interviews have been uploaded to a dedicated website, which will allow people across PNG and the world to listen to them and read the transcripts.
Dr Ritchie and staff from Deakin University’s library have also been working on a way Papua New Guineans living in villages with no internet access can listen to the recordings. They are making use of new and low-cost technology, in the form of a device called Library Box that will enable the recordings to be heard on a smartphone, tablet or laptop without requiring the internet.
“Many parts of PNG do not have easy access to the internet, so we are bringing the site to remote areas via Library Box, a wireless network file share device, which lets Papua New Guineans view and download the interviews,” said Michelle Watson, open access librarian at Deakin library.
“Many of the oral histories are quite enthralling. All the recordings will be available when the site is launched at the middle of the year.”
The project began as a pilot study, with the team of PNG researchers led by Dr Ritchie initially conducting 72 interviews with people living in the broad corridor of the Kokoda Track about their, or their forebears’, experiences.
That project resulted in a book Voices from the War — Papua New Guinean stories of the Kokoda Campaign, World War II and has since expanded across the country, with Papua New Guineans taking a central role in the research. In 2017, a PNG team, led by Anne Dickson-Waiko from the University of PNG, conducted an additional 60 interviews in the Milne Bay area, site of the famous 1942 battle.
Along with three parallel projects undertaken last year, the work will result in a radio program, books, a short film, and educational material, as well as the online exhibition that will accompany the exhibition at PNG’s National Museum and Art Gallery.
As well as being a “virtual” exhibition, there will be an oral history gallery at the museum where visitors will be able to listen to the interviews.
“The research teams have focused on the different ways that the war was encountered by Papua New Guineans,” Dr Ritchie said.
“For instance, Alfred Dea- kin Institute researcher Dr Victoria Stead and two PNG researchers have focused on the wartime memories of PNG women, while Dr Kirstie Close Barry, of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences is writing a biography of Aisoli Salin — one of the first Papua New Guineans to serve on PNG’s Legislative Council, who died in 1994. Salin was a leader whose contribution is almost entirely missing from the existing historiography.
“Until now the focus has been predominantly on Australian and US involvement in World War II. The Second World War is a very important part of PNG and Australia’s history. Now, we are disseminating the experiences of Papua New Guineans in Second World War to the Papua New Guinean people, as well as researchers around the world and the general public.”
The PNG in World War II oral history project is supported by the Australian Government through the Papua New Guinea-Australia Decentralisation and Citizen Participation Partnership. The first group of PNG World War II oral histories is now available online at: pngvoices.deakin.edu.au