Pacific family needs ties strengthened
I happen to be reading the Coastwatcher Martin Clemens book, “Alone on Guadalcanal”. He described then, the Solomons as part of the “semicircular barrier” that “was Australia’s front line of defence”. Alternatively, a quick look at a map shows that the Solomons can also be seen as the first of a series of stepping stones to Australia, to be followed by Bougainville, New Ireland, New Britain and New Guinea.
He quotes the famous American author James A. Michener, who wrote after the war, that in the old German areas of the Pacific, coastwatchers were regularly betrayed, but none in the previously British controlled areas. We can add the sacrifice of the “fuzzy wuzzy angels” on the Kokoda Trail and the protection of the Timorese to Australia’s Sparrow Force.
Would that commitment still exist after we have: tried to steal the sea oil and gas from the impoverished nation of East Timor; dismissed Pacific Islanders concerns of rising sea levels; and generally been dismissive and arrogant towards our “Pacific family members”?
We are currently worried about our links with the Solomons in the light of their agreement with China. We are arguing back and forth whether we should have offered more aid to compete with China, or when we should have called Sogavare on the phone.
This is simply transactional or Trumpian politics and, to be sure, Sogavare has his own agenda.
But such relationships need to be built up over many years. We need to return to listening to their concerns and respond in a genuine and substantial manner.
Otherwise, in the longer term, we could find our backdoor is wide open.
JOHN CONNELL, Belgian Gardens
1536
Anne Boleyn (pictured), second wife of England’s Henry VIII, is beheaded in London after being found guilty on dubious charges of adultery and incest.
1571
Spanish explorer Miguel Lopez de Legazpi founds the city of Manila in what becomes
The Philippines, after deposing a Muslim ruler.
1643
During the Thirty Years’ War, the French army defeats the Spanish in the Battle of Rocroi, ending Spain’s military ascendancy.
1897
Writer Oscar Wilde, 42, is released from Pentonville Prison in London, bankrupt and bound for exile in France, after serving two years for sodomy and gross indecency.
1900
The Tonga Islands, with a royal family wary of German power, become a British protectorate. They become an independent nation in 1970.
1915
Albert Jacka earns VC; John Simpson Kirkpatrick, 22, the stretcher-bearer who saved many Anzacs with his donkey, dies in machinegun fire at Gallipoli.
1924
Wing Commander Stanley Goble and Flying Officer Ivor Mcintyre finish the first round-australia flight, returning to Melbourne.
1994
Batsman Mark Taylor, 29, is named captain of the Australian cricket team. He succeeds veteran Allan Border who retired a week earlier. Taylor promises to stamp out on-field sledging.
1994
Former US first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis dies at age 64.
2018
Prince Harry marries American Meghan Markle at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. The ceremony, unlike any previous British royal wedding, mixes pomp and circumstance with African American culture, the latter a celebration of the bride’s bi-racial background.
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