Gerard Wollmer remembering Baden

From: Selina Johnson 

Subject: Re: Fw: Condolances Baden Stewart

To: Gerald Wollmer

Received: Monday, 28 September, 2015

Thank you so much for you kind words. He loved his life in Bougainville and would tell me stories.  We would have a slide night, I could see how much his mates meant to him.

Love Sofrina and selina 

On 27 Sep 2015 4:55 pm, "Gerald Wollmer" wrote:

Hello Sophhrina , Selina and family.

My name is Gerald Wollmer
Ex BCL Panguna  Pit Workshop ,Bouganiville Island .

My private condolences to all the family on the passing of
Baden

I use to work with Baden in the truck lube bay Panguna, mine
site operations

I remember Baden well, as a very funny man with heaps of
daily jokes

Plus Baden and I lived in "C" block single mens
quarters Panguna

Gerald Wollmer
ex BCL
Hampton
Victoria

Baden John Stewart RIP

All,

We regret to advise of the passing of our dear old friend, Baden Stewart. Our condolences go to Sofrina and all of the family, Selena and Adrian and the grandchildren, Wesley and Chelsea.

On the 23^rd of September, from his house in Midway Point, Hobart, Baden was taken to hospital with pneumonia. Sadly he did not recover.

Baden was born on the 28^th October, 1947. Most of us come to know him from when he was a Diesel Fitter in the Mine Pit Workshops.

We do not have the details but funeral directors, Millingtons of Mornington, Hobart, have been engaged to attend to funeral arrangements.

Thanks, Pockets.  If you have some extra history on Badman then send it through.

Regards

Davo

John@johndavidson.com.au 
http://johndavidsonbougainville.blogspot.com.au 

0418 784 186 

Eulogy for Paul Coleman

EULOGY

Paul Derek Coleman OBE

Edited highlights with the permission of Captain Stuart Cooper

 

Paul was born in Cyprus on 4 July 1957. His dad was serving in the British Army at the time and the family was away from the UK on an overseas posting. Later events saw Paul spend some of his life and schooling in Benghazi in Africa, in England and in Germany, so he was quite a seasoned little traveler by the time his mum and dad graced us with his presence when they chose to immigrate here in 1972, eventually settling in Port Lincoln in South Australia.

I understand that his grandfather on his mum’s side was the last British commandant of the famous and now UNESCO heritage site called the Red Fort in Delhi in India. Perhaps this esteemed military lineage in hisfamily was the reason that he also chose to spend a short time himself in the Australian army. His natural talents were immediately recognized to the extent that he was offered a commission to become an officer. In typical modest Paul style, he decided that he wantedto stick with his new found mates and serve out his time as a regular digger. 

I do recall him telling me once about a particularly arduous route march where they were given a ludicrously short time to complete the course. The army dangled the usual carrot at them by saying that should they achieve this then they could have the coming weekend off but, if anyone was to fall by the wayside, then the entire group would be confined to barracks for the weekend while repeating the exercise until they all got it right. Paul was evidently teamed up with a much larger and heavier compatriot than he was, but who was clearly suffering quite badly from the effects of this physical exertion and looked like wilting before the finish line. Unperturbed, Paul lifted him over his shoulders fireman style and, complete with the additional pack and weapon, managed to struggle across the line in time carrying his mate. Such were the strengths ­ both physical and mental and coupled with a dogged determination that this giant of a man could produce when called upon. 

After his discharge from the army, and finally completing his university studies to become a geologist, Paul joined ­ in August 1981 ­ CRA, as Rio Tinto was formerly known back in those days.

Paul’s early years with the Company saw him in more of an administrative role, starting off in Townsville before then moving to Mt Isa. His excellent work performances soon gave him a reputation of being a Mr. Fixit and the ‘go to’ man when times got tough. Thus, in typical Aussie fashion, he was given a nickname and dubbed ‘Radar’, after that well known character in the popular television series ‘Mash’. I believe that he didn’t really appreciate this moniker but, on reflection, I think it was quite clever and very apt. 

Paul then moved to the Sydney office in 1986, where his work ethics continued to impress, to the extent that a senior geologist within the Company suggested

that he go to PNG, as he could clearly see that Paul possessed the necessary attributes to get on with the difficult jobs while having the ability at the same time to get along with just about everybody. 

I can most definitely attest to this latter thought, for when he arrived in PNG in 1989 I met him for the first time when he came to join our running club, Boroko Hash House Harriers. Back in those days, we preferred to be known as a drinking club with arunning problem, so Paul fitted in just fine! There isn’t a person in that group back in those days who didn’t consider Paul to be one of the nicest, most unselfish, and most generous men that God ever put air into. Unfortunately, the workplace wasn’t always that kind to Paul. He was involved with a mining project in a remote location called Mt Kare where, for various reasons, the landowners were becoming increasingly disenchanted and took matters into their own hands. The subsequent burning of a helicopter, the presence of guns and shots being fired, rapid evacuations of personnel and the looting and destruction of the camp, which finally resulted in the abandonment of the whole project, had all the hallmarks of a Hollywood blockbuster, in which Paul would most certainly have had one of the starring roles.

With no Mt. Kare, Paul returned to the head office in Melbourne around 1994/95 to be the Property Manager. Paul’s lust for travel and adventure, and no doubt also missing his mates in PNG, saw him return to the head office in Port Moresby in 1996 to be the manager of Systems and Administration, which also included an involvement in Bougainville Copper Ltd, the company that oversaw the huge world class copper mine at Panguna on Bougainville Island. It was during this second tour of PNG that he met and married his lovely wife Kym who has been anabsolute rock throughout and the light of his life.Paul was faced with some incredible challenges that emerged in those days, including the “Sandline Affair”(a mercenary group engaged by the PNG Government to retake the Bougainville mine that lead to the Government’s dismissal) and litigation in the U.S. Federal Court that found its way to the U.S. Supreme Court some13 years later. There was also a major issue with tax as well as exchange controls that threatened the finances of Bougainville Copper Ltd. In no small way Paul contributed to a satisfactory outcome for both Rio Tinto and BCL in all those matters. 

The quality of his work and his incredible devotion to the needs of others saw the government of PNG recommended him for the award of the Order of the British Empire for services to commerce, the mining sector and to charities. This prestigious award was bestowed upon him in person by Prince William in Buckingham Palace last year. 

For reasons that we are all aware, Paul finally retired from Rio in August 2015 ­ just last month ­ as the Rio Tinto Country Manager PNG and Company Secretary of Bougainville Copper Ltd ­ a truly remarkable, loyal, dedicated and professional service provided to the one organization for some 34 years. 

The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea has conveyed his condolences, stating, in part, that PNG has lost a good friend. There has been a very understandable outpouring of condolence messages received, ­unfortunately far more than time would permit for me to read them all but the essence of those messages has beenencapsulated ina letter from the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum (letter read). 

Paul Coleman RIP

All,

Herewith the Rio notice advising the sad news of Paul`s passing.

Paul served us in POM in the most difficult of circumstances. Circumstances that were made so much more difficult when his illness came upon.  Paul bravely manned his desk for much longer than any of us would have expected. A mighty effort, Paul. You will be missed

A funeral for Paul will be held at the Cathedral of St Stephen, 249 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane on Friday 11 September at 11am.   The wake will be held following the service at the Alliance Hotel, at 320 Boundary Street, Spring Hill.

Our condolences go to Kym and the family.

Regards

John
John@johndavidson.com.au
http://johndavidsonbougainville.blogspot.com.au

0418 784 186

Process of container #5

Last week we tied up some significant loose ends left over from our previous shipments. Bowen Hospital have changed out their beds and 18 of them came into our extremely welcoming hands. Our interface there has been with Hospital Engineer, Kevin Maude. Kevin could not have been more helpful. He had the beds parked under the hospital until we could load them into the container left for us, in the hospital grounds, by our friends from Volvo.

This was a shorter trip than the Volvo saga. Our mileage read a mere 3,121 km`s. From Brisbane we occupied a 10 ton truck from Europcar. The driving was the exclusive realm of Kiwi. From Hay Point to Townsville return we enjoyed the use of Millsie`s dual cab.

Since our last visit Stan Neal of Ruswin Locksmiths has taken a strong hand across our various Townsville initiatives. His local knowledge has been invaluable. We now possess there, a significant network, many from the old Bougie network but not always. Stan`s background is dominated by the South Pacific Brewery.

From my fall and otherwise I was of little use in the lifting department. We also missed the Kilo`s and the savvy not available, this time via Rogalski and Wilkins. However once again the mighty midgets, Millsie and Kiwi (our skipper), stepped in to fill the breach. We were also delighted to break in a new member of our team, Ray Stiles, thus maintaining our high level of technical skills and, with this our drive to adhere to the highest level of safe working practices.  We cannot fail to mention the efforts of Dave Boneham, Lindsay Fraser Byass and the staff of Fastair, in Brendale. They helped us with our initial uplift.

This whole project was going nowhere until we defined a plan to tie down the Bowen load of beds. We were almost resigned to us using our Brisbane teams when Ian Smith mentioned to me that former BCL Dispatch Dept stalwart, Eddie Robertson was with Ergon, in Bowen. I phoned Eddie and without hesitation he “came on board”, as did his wife, Cathy and son, Ben. They brought with them, Peter Short, Kirtis Thatcher, Damian Penisi and Ross Galstfan. We arrived on the Tuesday afternoon. The pack out of the beds was completed on the Saturday, prior. A huge thank you goes to the Robertsons and their wantoks.

As with Eddie a spontaneous response came from ex-BCL folk based in Townsville. Some of them came down to the warehouse to assist with the final unloading. Thank you to Ron Whalan and Fonso Martens. Also open to joining with us in these works are Ian Smith, John Feltham and John Gretton. We have not yet connected with Maurie Dyne. After many years in Ravenswood, We believe that Maurie and Bev are also resident in Townsville.

When placed next to the container, we realised that the volume of equipment gathered from Woodford Hospital and from Anam Cara was much greater than we expected.  Fortunately the initiative to source temporary storage, commenced by Stan, was ready for our usage. The excess material will now wait until the need (and shipment funding) is communicated to us by one of the PNG based Rotary Clubs or Rotary Community Corps.  We would like to send the education books from New Zealand to the ports of Kieta or Buka as soon as possible. Please advise if you are aware of any organization that is shipping materials to Bougainville via Townsville.

The local crew gathered to handle Anam Cara and Woodford included Lindsay Fraser Byass, Peter Macaron and David Boneham.

Below is an approximate list of materials stored in our Townsville warehouse;

20 x Electric Beds

8 x Hospital Ward Trolleys (for Endscopy Dept)

1 x Regency Care Vinyl-covered Hospital Chair

19 x Wheeled Walkers

2 x Wheel Chairs

3 x Pallets of Education Books

Regards

Davo

John@johndavidson.com.au

http://johndavidsonbougainville.blogspot.com.au

0418 784 186

Sad times - Nick Crawley's response

All,

Quite often I receive a very entertaining response to my sad notes. Going forward I will share more of these with you

________________________________________

From: Nick Crawley <crawley.n@xtra.co.nz>

Sent: Saturday, 15 August 2015 2:33 PM

To: Info@johndavidson.com.au

Subject: Fwd: Sad times.

Good afternoon, John and Chrissie,

A sad week to be sure, all brings back memories.

Corinne and I remember Photene well, helped us out of a serious embarrassment I might add. Please bear with me a tad.

Paul and Gabby went south to plant some rellie, and Mark, Danya and Petra were staying at our place in their absence.

At the time we also had an aged Dachshund / heeler cross called Meg who we inherited in the Western Highlands.

Young Mark was about 4 yrs old and had a generous disposition towards Meg to the extent he offered her a piece of toast from his mouth.

Totally overcome by this extraordinary show of benevolence, Meg lunged forward to gratefully gobble the tasty morsel offered.

In her excitement, Meg unfortunately also mouthed Marks chin along with the toast, which subsequently required medical attention.

The NS Medical Foundation was not around at that time, either the govt hausik or Photene who had a clinic under her house in Section 19.

It was a Saturday morning as I recall and we all toddled off at great speed to visit rudely interrupted Photene who was also eating her breakfast toast.

Mark was not what you'd call a co-operative patient, he was belligerent, in pain, bleeding and put succinctly, most out of sorts with everything and everyone.

It required a mass of very able bodied grown ups to hold him in a supine position so Photene could administer the local into his chin, marvellous performance.

The ensuing commotion was quite frightening and I had to rush outside a couple of times to have a quick smoke to calm my shattered composure.

Ended up a beautiful job done by Photene, only thing remaining was for me to explain how it happened to Gabby, and get the stitches out in due course.

Paul and Gabby were excellent at the news, Gabby actually suggested that Mark could classify the subsequent scar as a duelling mishap in his later years.

I distinctly remember making sure I was at Mananau when the 5 stitches were due to come out!

Martin Atobu was a very loyal member of the NS Agricultural Foundation who together with his wife Mary, did a marvellous job of managing the

28,000 bird layer project.

This became increasingly difficult when the troubles started to interrupt all BCL activities from Birempa to Empress Augusta Bay, and our Mananau facilities were very open.

The PNG Defence forces were located at Camp 10 and Kawerong/Karoona Haus, and not at all interested in putting a section in at our project for support.

We soldiered on there with Martin running the show, with all our workforce, until the PNGDF ordered us to decamp and move to Panguna with 24hrs notice.

I got 14 girls into Kawerong Haus, and they loved it - great tucker, 2 to a room and hot showers. The 8 men went into Karoona.

I had Martin, Mary and their 2 children plus the abattoir foreman and his wife and 1 child and they all moved into my place for a few days until we got accom. fixed.

I don't know how Mary did it, but the household was total harmony, kids well behaved, everyone fed and peace reigned - my Piggery supervisor lived 300 metres down the road in his house, and he came up the river bank to my place every night for a rum and coke with me. Martin was a man of God and settled for the coke, fine with me, grog was very hard to come by in those times. I showed concern about Pius coming in, but he ensured me the PNGDF up never showed after curfew unless in a large group, and then very noisy. All my Mananau staff were B'villeans except the abattoir man, and they had very little regard, respect or support for the Defence Force, police or army.

We all flew down in Horst's big chopper, subsequently fire bombed, to work each morning, and back mid afternoon, making work schedules with livestock very trying.

Pig carcasses were flown out every Monday to Panguna and the trucked down to Arawa - as pork demand lessened from SHRM, we were able to 'export' more to Lae.

Martin was shot through his LandCruiser door in the right ankle with a dum dum 12 gauge round which caused major damage, and he never regained full use of the limb.

The senior staff were all finally repatriated out of B'ville of course, leaving a lot of very fine BCL people to the tender mercies of some quite bad people.

Martin Atobu was a fine man, dedicated to his job, well respected by all and with the typical B'villean sense of humour - his wife Mary (a Chimbu, studied at Vudal with Martin) was an exceptional person in spite many hardships she had to endure, no doubt helped by her very devout adherence to the Catholic Church.

Davo, I digress as usual, appreciate your patience.

I recall both Trevor and Paul, both part of the great comradie we had on B'ville which we did not appreciate until we all left!

My best regards to you both,

Nick and Corinne.

All,

This was close to the end and I was required to visit Panguna and Arawa regularly to ensure that new hires were receiving the most up to date information as to what was happening on-the-ground there. I remember dining at Haus Fragnito and Haus Crawley in those distant days. One topic that dominated conversation at Crawley`s was around the quality of Nick`s rum. I picked up that he is more than handy in the kitchen. There is a variance from the above prose in that Nick`s utility was reinforced with steel plate and that it was Nick who "ran the gauntlet" to ensure that pig and chicken food made it through to Mananau.

Josie, thanks for your input.

Davo

My story - Ride to Conquer Cancer

My Ride to Conquer Cancer effort came to a sudden stop at around the 75 km mark, some 25 kms from Canungra. On Saturday, just prior to mid-day, I was negotiating a downhill stretch at a speed that, perhaps, was beyond me. There was a significant depression in the surface of the bitumen and I was thrown over the handle bars. There was no call for stitches and, so far, we have found no broken bones. However I will not be returning to the dance floor any time soon. 

I have had an opportunity to view, at close quarters, an extremely professional organization. I was just starting to get to know the event staff and some of the other participants. Event Director, Kat Coppins, was nearby when I fell. She gathered myself and my bike and ferried me to the Canungra camp-site. There I was placed into the hands of Tim and his medical group. In late afternoon one of Kat`s staff, Bianca Swapshire transported me back to St Lucia.  Bianca, I apologise for my bad manners in nodding off on the trip home.  Also at the accident scene was a participant, Justin, who is a Surgeon.  He also checked me over for any broken bones. Thanks Justin, I was very much in need of your reassurance.

Thank you, one and all, you run an excellent operation. I look forward to the 2016 ride.

This is the third time that I have spent time in Canungra.  It is difficult for me to think of this place without feel some twinges of pain. In November, 1966 I was traveling to Canungra in a train that was a troop train with some carriages reserved for civilians.  Prior to boarding the train, in Sydney we stocked up on beer for the journey. It was my 21^st Birthday. The pain commenced several kms north of Gloucester, around midnight, when I recovered consciousness next to the track.  The train was speeding North, through the NSW countryside. By the look of my uniform I realised that I had lost significant blood.  I could hear poultry in the distance and I set off in this direction. I had second thoughts around this plan and returned to the track. In due course I found that I was walking towards Gloucester. To reach town from the North I was obliged to negotiate several large gullies.  I eventually knocked on the door of a house on the outskirts of the town. It was early morning and the lady who came to door was the local hairdresser. By the look on her face I must have been a frightful sight. She immediately screamed out to her husband to call the ambulance. There were twin nursing sisters on duty and I recall the name, Knox. They completed their night shift and then stayed on to pick all the gravel and other foreign objects from my face and forehead. I was in Gloucester for 5 days and at midnight, on the same train, I departed for Queensland and Canungra.  The doctor gathered me to the train. Conversation was minimal but I do remember him saying that I should, “drop in again sometime”.   This undeserving little wretch, that I was,  received 2 lovely birthday cakes, one from the staff at the hairdressers and the other from the hospital staff.  The story pf my little mishap (including a photo of my very bruised face) filled the front page of the Sydney Daily Herald. Many years later, with my wife and infant children, i returned to Gloucester to seek out and thank people for their kindness.  The only person that I could locate was the Hospital Matron, from those times, Sister Casson. We stopped by for a cuppa and a chat.

Our Army unit, 7 RAR were not aware that I was missing until breakfast was being served at South Grafton. I then was obliged to take a phone call from our Adjutant, Captain Peter Leeson.  I can only say that I have participated in more enjoyable calls. Peter was also dealing with another 3 from our Company who went AWOL, in Sydney.  When I reached Canungra my mates were mid-way through their Jungle Training Courses. I was bedded down in the RAP until they figured out what they should do with me. I had sustained a knee injury that was slow to heal. I was shipped by train back to Puckapunyal, Victoria. I was sent back to Canungra about 3 months later. On the 20 April, 1967 I boarded HMAS, Sydney for Vietnam.