All Mod. Cons. In New Guinea Highlands

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30768, 4 June 1965, Page 2

All Mod. Cons. In New Guinea Highlands

Goroka, a settlement among the coffee plantations at 5000 feet in the New Guinea highlands, will be home for Miss Helen O’Keeffe of Adelaide, and her New Zealand fiance, after their wedding in Australia in two weeks’ time. The couple met in Port Moresby, where Miss O’Keefe

has been a teacher for the Australian Administration, and Mr Earl Bradley (of Masterton) has been working with the Steam Ship Trading Company. “I have been teaching native children at Port Moresby for four years,” said Miss O’Keefe in Christchurch. She came to New Zealand with her fiance to meet her future “in-laws, and after spending three weeks in this country, she and Mr Bradley left Christchurch airport yes-

terday for Australia. A week after their Adelaide wedding, the couple will return to New Guinea. “I like it very much there. Conditions are quite good—a lot of people think we have to go without a lot of things at Port Moresby, but actually there are all mod. cons. About all we haven’t got is television,” she said. Although there were still many remote areas where only missionaries lived and worked among the natives, New Guinea was becoming more developed, Miss O'Keefe said. There were about 30,000 Europeans there now, including 8000 in Port Moresby and 1000 in Goroka. Mr Bradley, manager of a subsidiary company in Goroka, runs a general and grocery store for those who live on the plantations. Better Climate An advantage of living in the highlands will be the more pleasant climate. “It is very hot and humid in Port Moresby—sometimes it does get you down,” she admitted. There are plenty of sports and swimming facilities, and these suit outdoor loving Miss O’Keefe. Gardening—“everything grows there” —will be another hobby. Originally she visited friends in New Guinea. “And then I didn’t go back home,” she said. She resigned from the Bavaroka primary school to make the trip to New Zealand, but she may later teach again in Goroka. “Except for a few areas, education is still not compulsory in the territory," she said. There is a shortage of both teachers and schools.