NEW GUINEA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23084, 9 January 1937, Page 5

NEW GUINEA

By R. N. S.

11. THE ISLAND OF GOLD

The years 1924 and 1925 brought increased activity to the Morobe goldfield. A large number of dredging areas and sluicing areas were pegged oft along the Bulolo River and the Watut River. By the end of 1925, 50 miners and prospectors, with their teams of native labourers, were on the field. But, owing to the high costs, not many of the miners were getting payable returns. The hostile jungle natives were providing many difficulties. As more and more miners arrived, bringing with them native labourers from other parts of New Guinea, the local natives became more troublesome, and the incoming parties, toiling up the steaming, rain-soaked gorges and climbing over the bleak, bitterly cold mountain tops, were increasingly subject to attacks. Not mdch has been said about the expedition, composed largely of miners grown desperate by repeated attacks on their line of communication, which for all time silenced the fierce tribes around Kaisinik. No one has attempted to assess the cost to the natives of that lesson. But miners are ever rovers—always seeking that “ something better,” that richer ground lying somewhere waiting to yield up its gold. And thus it was that W. G. Royal and R. M. Glasson, two Australian miners, leaving the Bulolo River and Koranga Creek, lying at a height of about 3500 feet, followed up another tributary of the Bulolo, Edie Creek. On Edie Creek, which rushes down the shoulder of Mount Kaindi, at an altitude of 7000 feet they found very rich auriferous gravels in the creek bed and'in high terraces along its banks. The gold found in Edie Creek has a high silver content, the assay value of the gold being only 56 per cent, pure, so that this gold to-day is worth only between £4 and £5 an ounce. In 1926 it was worth only £2 10s an ounce. Some idea of the richness of Edie Creek may be gleaned from the fact that, even with gold at its then low price, parts of the creek held values running to £2OO per cubic yard. This part of the field became the scene of a rush, and by the middle of 1926 there were 100 miners, with their native labour gangs, on Edie Creek. The discoverers all made fortunes. “Bill” Royal and “Dick” Glasson were joined at once by Albert Royal, Chisholm, “ Bill ” Money and “ Joe ” Sloane (they were afterwards known as the Big Six), and they took up many of the richest leases on Edie, Merrie and Midas Creeks.

A gold rush soon developed. Men came to the Territory from everywhere —planters, traders, Government clerks, and hardy adventurers from Australia and farther. They arrived on mail steamers, and crept along the coast in leaky old boats — in anything that would float, which they had hired in Samarai or Rabaul. Having reached Salamana the gold seekers of 1924-26 were faced with almost incredible obstacles. The coast was swampy and fever-ridden. The “ port ” was only a few native huts on a sandy beach. The goldfield lay on a plateau beyond the mountains, and between the coast and those mountains was dense jungle, the ground trackless and incredibly broken. The march through the jungle and the climb over the mountains was a task difficult and hazardous beyond belief. Carriers had to be obtained; fever had to be warded off; treacherous jungle savages had to be guarded against; and, having finally won through into the interior, - the miners had to arrange for supplies to reach them regularly. It is difficult to realise .the hardships suffered by those men who were first on Edie Creek. At that high altitude on Mount Kaindi it is bitterly cold —a place of seemingly everlasting rain and mist, a place covered with dense jungle growth and with scarcely a square yard of flat ground. In later years all the rest of the Morobe goldfield was served by aerial transportation, but the mountains and gorges of Edie Creek still defy all human ingenuity to make an aerodrome there.

In September, 1926, a terrible epidemic of dysentery broke out. decimating the ranks of miners and native labourers alike. One name stands out pre-eminently in the early history of Edie Creek—the name of a woman, Mrs Doris Booth. She was the first white woman on Edie Creek. Enduring all the hardships, she had accompanied her husband there, and every day, in addition to working her claim, she heroically undertook the task of nursing both ailing miners and sick natives. Her personality, her devotion to the sick, and her fortitude in a place where fortitude was in the usual order of things won for her the admiration and affection of all. For her noble, self-sacrificing work she was awarded the Order of the British Empire—an honour well earned and richly deserved. The native “ boys ’’ who originally worked for her on Edie Creek still refer to hei as “ Good fella missis too much.” And this is high praise from a New Guinea native. The men who made fortunes on the Edie Creek earned every penny they took out of the country.

Fever, dysentery, and ills resulting from hardships endured in the early days—the “ early days ” are even now. only 10 years old —have combined to thin the ranks of the old-timers, who, with shovel and dish, and very primitive sluice box took fortunes out of “ the creek.” But not all who made the journey were successful in then search for gold. The majority < r those who swarmed into the Territory on the heels of the rush had never before seen gold, nor had they any knowledge of the way to set about getting it. Some learned through hard experience. Others diverted their energies into other channels—serving the more fortunate miners in a variety of ways. One man established a lucrative business making sluice boxes. A rough sluice box six feet long and 18 inches wide cost £5. Some’ have turned storekeeper, some became recruiters. of native labour. Some are still seeking that “ something better —that rich ground which lies somewhere.” Gold seeking breeds many optimist .

To-day Edie Creek is busier than ever, but the old shovel and dish and sluice box have given way to the most modern methods of goldgetting and gold-saving available. And a' 1 through one man who dreamed a dream and worked to make his dream reality—Cecil J. Levien.

Prior to his being moved to Salamana in 1926, the administrative centre was at Morobe, and the district officer there was a man over 50 years old, named Levien. He had spent some years in the territory, and from his study of the old German records, he was convinced that rich gold would be found in the Morobe district. In 1921 he eagerly accepted the appointment as

district officer at Morobe. He learned everything possible about the gloomy region at the back of Huon Gulf, and soon after Park and Nettleton arrived at Koranga Creek, Leiven suspected that they were getting “ good gold.” Half a century’s more or less placid existence was not proof against the “gold fever.” In 1923 Levien resigned from the Administration, took out the first miner’s right in New Guinea, sand disappeared into the mountains. He found Park, Nettleton, Sloane and a few others already there, and he settled down with a team of native labourers and began to work. He got gold in payable quantity. For two years he worked with Park and the others at Koranga and accumulated some money. But he realised that he was merely scratching the surface of a goldfield of tremendous value with a few men whose knowledge of gold mining began and ended with the pick and shovel and dish. When Edie Creek was found he saw his chance and took the first step towards the realisation of his dreams. He set nimself the task of organising the gold industry of New Guinea. With that judgment which was characteristic of the man, he saw that big companies with plenty of capital, the provision of adequate transport, and gold production on a large scale were essential to the development of the tremendous natural wealth of .the field. Levien’s mind was set on the wide flats along the Bulolo. The Bulolo River is fed by'Edie Creek, Koranga Creek and a dozen other gold-bearr ing creeks; and he knew that gold in enormous quantities must lie in the flats lying along the course of the river. Instead of being lured by the rich find at Edie, Levien visualised the greater project—huge dredges digging their way through the rich gravels of Bulolo. He went to Australia, but his efforts, first in Sydney and later in Melbourne, to interest the financiers in his scheme met with no success. Still undaunted, he arrived in Adelaide and placed his ideas before a few business men in that city. So impressed were these men by Levien’s faith in his own judgment that a small company, Guinea Gold N.L., was formed. The new company took control of a large group of leases on the Koranga and Bulolo areas, and made preliminary tests. At the same time Levien and his friends made bold plans for an aerial transport service. The more timid souls wished to hang back and build a road to the coast. Levien could see the folly of this A road might be possible, but the construction of it would take years, and the incalculable expense of its upkeep against tropical rains and shifting, treacherous country would impose a staggering burden on the new gold mining industry. He wanted something quicker and more sure than that. He demanded an aeroplane service, and to believe was with Levien to perform. He and his friends bought an aeroplane and shipped it to New Guinea. Aviation critics were appalled. They insisted that an aeroplane transport service, under the blistering conditions of the tropics in a primitive country without even landing grounds or workshops, or any groynd organisation of any kind was an impossible folly. But on April 18, 1927, Captain E. A Mustar landed in the small, primitive township of Wau alongside the Bulolo River in a De Havilland aeroplane, the property of Guinea Gold. The plane had been bought in Melbourne and shipped to Rabaul, and Mustar had coolly flown the machine along the New Britain coast to Lae (about 20 miles north of Salamana), where there was flat ground suitable for an aerodrome. From there he flew over the mountains to Wau. Thus was pioneered Guinea Airways, Ltd., which within five years became the largest aerial freightcarrying organisation in the world. Levien, Mustar and Co., within a few months, proved that aeroplane freighting from the coast to the goldfield was practicable. The way was open for developments on a large scale. Guinea Gold’s Bulolo leases were sold to Placer Development, Ltd. Placer tested the leases, found 40 million cubic yards carrying gold worth over 2s per cubic yard, and sold the leases to Bulolo Gold Dredging, Ltd., a Vancouver company with the same technical control as Placer, but the capital was provided by London and South African groups and Australian investors.

But although prodigious energy and driving force were the predominant feature of Levien’s character, his enthusiasm was not allowed to over-run ordinary business caution. Plans were made far in advance; every step forward was planned after the most complete tests were made. The dredges had to be designed and built in sections limited in bulk and weight by the capacity of the planes which were to carry them over the mountains to the Morobe Plateau.

Aeroplane manufacturers were approached with a proposal that they should turn out a machine capable of carrying heavy loads, and eventually tri-motored, all-metal Junkers with a safe flying load of over three tons were chosen to transport the sectionalised dredges and equipment to Bulolo, thei'e to be erected. It was not until five years after the first aeroplahe flown Mustar landed at Wau that the first dredge started operations—a first step towards enormous but well-earned profits. In 1935 Bulolo Gold Dredging, Ltd., with four dredges working three shifts per day, was recovering an average of 10,000 oz of fine gold per month. After Mustar’s great pioneer flight in 1927 three or four companies commenced operations, the biggest and most notable being Guinea Airways, Ltd., and from then on the growth of settlement on the Morobe goldfield was amazing. It has constituted, in fact, one of the most remarkable things in the history of commercial aviation. In 1926-27 the miners lived primitively and precariously under conditions of extreme discomfort; but, with the arrival- of the aeroplanes, all the amenities of civilisation began to appear. Within five or six years a series of townships had 'been established at the mining centres —Wau, Bulolo, Edie Creek, Bulwa, etc. — and the people living there had stores, hotels, kinemas, roads, motor cars and trucks, live stock, schools, electric light and power, and so on. And everything required /by the goldfields community, from haupins to horses, from pianos to pins, from roofing iron to revolvers, had been carried in by aeroplane.