"EARLY DAYS" OF 1926

Evening Post, Issue 25, 30 January 1935, Page 17

"EARLY DAYS" OF 1926

NEW GUINEA GOLDFIELDS

Mrs. Frank Pryke, who arrived with her husband by the Van Eees recently in Sydney, speaks of the early days on the'goldfields of New Guinea. It waa hard to realise that those "early days" were as recent as from 1926 to 1929, so primitive was the life she described, states the "Sydnoy Morning Herald."

Now a resident of Morri Mae^ .she.'is one .of about 80 women who •occupy; European and enjoy a'com-' paratively1 civilised life with goods^an^ foodstuffs brought by the regularised vice of the Guinea Airways, which' Mrs; Pfyke considered must be the most marvellous air service in the'w^rld. Peopljs lacked for very little now, she said, for motor-cars, pianolas, and even billiard tables arrived by aeroplane. The climate was splendid because of the altitude, and women enjoyed the life there, but to ■Mrs.'Pryke,; whdhad known the more exciting life there before civilisation had encroached or, as she termed it, -fhe-earl^days.of 1'927, it could not compare. ■ ~>, ..!,,'' :■■'■.■ ■:Mrsi Pryice described ;the early days of housekeeping under difficulties which are now. history, ,when butter -was;;ss per pound, and;wjien'allivegbtables;were necessarily tinned.;*'- Furnishings, too, were; of; the most primitive, consisting mostly' of packirig-cases. ~ ' v ,■:,".>;' HER^awN.CLAiM.'^,; 1 ; . Thew&men of Waii did not dig for gojd how,:, said Mrs. Pryko, but| in the fitujjy: days* she had,.her"own lease, aiid, dressed in riding breeches and puttees, and khaki shirt, went out and worked her own claim assisted only by Markham boys. She was the only woman on the gojdfields at th.e .time. . She not only worked her own lease, but pegged.it out,'herself... Finding her first nugget was, she said, the greatest thrill she had ever had. It was a 3oz .specimen, the shape of an ear, and she has always kept it as a memento. Her biggest specimen was about 40 ounces, ;while'thfi biggest specimen Mr.' Pryke dug was about 90 ounces. : ' Bending down over the sluicing dish was as bad as washing up, but, apart from the dry blowing, it was very simple. Dry blowing was a process that toolc her two years to perfect, and was the means of getting dirt and black away, from the,, gold By first cooking the 'pieces, 'arid then.;■ flMkiri'g■•the' gold: away from the rest by a movement of the wriit.