Some reflections on a visit to Papua New Guinea after 48 years
In 1970, as a newly married couple, my wife and I visited New Guinea, as it was then known. The island was divided into three parts: the western half was known as Irian Jaya, now West Papua and the eastern half was divided into New Guinea in the north and Papua in the South. With independence from Australia and self-government in the mid-70s, these two eastern parts were united to form Papua New Guinea. West Papua is part of Indonesia. We went sometime around Easter 1970. After arriving in Port Moresby we flew to Mt Hagen via Goroka by DC3, stayed with a young John and Anne Hitchen. John was Dean of the Christian Leaders’ Training College (CLTC, https://www.cltc.ac.pg/ ). This was before they went to Aberdeen for John’s PhD Studies. We travelled by truck down the Highlands Highway to Lae with Norman Bartlett, and after a few days there we flew back to Port Moresby (again by DC3) and home again. Only a few memories of that trip a