Barry Blyth Holloway the 78 year old former Australian and former Papua New Guinean politician has been remembered on his passing in an article by Mark Baker in The Age titled ‘An affair to remember’, highlighting how more than any other Australian, Barry Holloway was instrumental in the making of modern Papua New Guinea, a country he loved and made his own. Baker states “…It [his journey] began with a teenage cadet patrol officer trekking through the remote and untamed territory of New Guinea and ended with a distinguished political career, a knighthood and the deep affection of a generation of Papua New Guineans. ...He was one of the first expatriates to advocate independence for the Australian trust territory in the 1960s. He helped found Pangu, the country's first political party, and ran the numbers that saw a brash young journalist named Michael Somare become its first leader. He chaired the committee that drafted the constitution and, at independence in 1975, he was one of the first white men to take citizenship of the new nation, happily surrendering his Australian passport. He became speaker of the first parliament after independence, then a senior minister in several governments. …''Barry never saw himself as merely a catalyst for change,'' says Tony Voutas, who left PNG on the eve of independence. ''For him, it was his country. He was one of the few in those colonial days who looked at Papua New Guineans as equal human beings. The planters called them bush kanakas and some right-wingers regarded them as a different evolutionary stream. ''But Barry was one of those people who did not see race. And the Papua New Guineans regarded him as one of them. And once you are accepted into their society it is as if you were born into their society.''  Inspired by Mark Baker, The Age ow.ly/hHQgn Image source PNGAttitude ow.ly/hHPtY Accepted as if you were born into their society (February 18 2013)

Barry Blyth Holloway the 78 year old former Australian and former Papua New Guinean politician has been remembered on his passing in an article by Mark Baker in The Age titled ‘An affair to remember’, highlighting how more than any other Australian, Barry Holloway was instrumental in the making of modern Papua New Guinea, a country he loved and made his own. Baker states “…It [his journey] began with a teenage cadet patrol officer trekking through the remote and untamed territory of New Guinea and ended with a distinguished political career, a knighthood and the deep affection of a generation of Papua New Guineans. …He was one of the first expatriates to advocate independence for the Australian trust territory in the 1960s. He helped found Pangu, the country’s first political party, and ran the numbers that saw a brash young journalist named Michael Somare become its first leader. He chaired the committee that drafted the constitution and, at independence in 1975, he was one of the first white men to take citizenship of the new nation, happily surrendering his Australian passport. He became speaker of the first parliament after independence, then a senior minister in several governments. …”Barry never saw himself as merely a catalyst for change,” says Tony Voutas, who left PNG on the eve of independence. ”For him, it was his country. He was one of the few in those colonial days who looked at Papua New Guineans as equal human beings. The planters called them bush kanakas and some right-wingers regarded them as a different evolutionary stream. ”But Barry was one of those people who did not see race. And the Papua New Guineans regarded him as one of them. And once you are accepted into their society it is as if you were born into their society.”

 

Inspired by Mark Baker, The Age ow.ly/hHQgn Image source PNGAttitude ow.ly/hHPtY