4 December 1973

Government Settlement

Republic Of Nauru

Central Pacific

4 December 1973

Dear Mum & Dad,

My last letter probably came as a bit of a surprise but I have had my eye open for ages, which is natural I think even if just to see how your present job, salary etc. compares with what is around. This job was actually advertised in a New Zealand paper that I borrowed. I applied some time ago but in the first place they appointed an accountant from New Guinea because he was able to start straight away. He turned out a dead loss & is leaving just after Christmas.

These applications seem pretty harmless at the time, but now I really don’t know what to do. Statistically the jobs are similar. Because of the Republic Provident Fund contribution, if I stayed 3 years I would collect a bonus based on my present tax free salary of $6,250 + 5% = $6,562 & by June 1974 will be $6,500 + 5% = $6,825. Salary in Honiara initially is $8,000 – tax $1,120 = $6,880 & after 3 months increases to $8500 – tax $1,350 = $7,150. I’m sure that the salary increase in going to Honiara will be taken up by the extra duty on most items. Salary at Honiara would be subject to a 6 monthly review whereas here it is indefinite & can remain the same for years. All other benefits, house, medical, electricity etc. are identical. The house at Honiara is new & has a fantastic view but it is smaller & un-established. It is relatively isolated compared with here with only one house in front (down the ridge) & one higher. Although the trees grow very quickly, at the moment they are only 1’ – 2’ high. I think it would take a lot longer to fit in down there & not working with many Europeans getting to know people would take some time.

On the credit side are that it is tremendously interesting place, beautiful scenery, rivers, mountains, islands with plenty of places to go & things to do. Shopping would be much better for Andy. As far as the job is concerned it appears to be a challenge & I would have a lot of independence. Now I am bored & working for a bloke who is completely incompetent. The only thing that keeps me going is the thought of the odd trip to Melbourne (next one 18^th January).

If I resigned from here on the 25^th (exactly 12 months) & gave 2 months notice I will have fulfilled my part of the contract. The Republic will then have to pay all our expenses back to Melbourne. I could use this to get Andy, Darren & Shane back to Melbourne for a break before going to the Solomons. At that time I will have a leave entitlement of 7 weeks which I will take off the notice & only have to put in a week or so after 28^th January. My main reason in hesitating is that I feel to go may be a bit selfish as personally I would enjoy the new job but I think initially at least the family would be disappointed. Andy is keen even after my description of the house but she didn’t go down & really can’t picture the place to make a comparison. Basically I think the place is a lot more like a big town after our community life here.

I had a very enjoyable weekend in Honiara & Ron McGuire & his wife looked after me very well. Friday night was a barbeque at the Mendana Hotel. Saturday morning was work followed by a tour of Honiara. Saturday afternoon Ron took for a drive to the end of the north road out of Honiara, the whole 43 miles. The bitumen only lasts about 4 miles & then its gravel. The road passes lots of villages (all the houses are of grass & on stilts), coconut plantations & jungle. The northern end of the island is quite mountainous & the road fords about 10 rivers as there aren’t any bridges. There are some beautiful sheltered bays along the way, white sand & surrounded with coconuts. The waters between Guadalcanal (the northern end) & the island of Savo, 6 miles away saw some of the heaviest naval battles of World War II.

Saturday night was a meal at a Chinese restaurant followed by a few hours at the Honiara Club. Sunday was pretty quiet & the plane was due at 4.30 pm. It was delayed & I was advised it would be in at 9.45 pm. I was then invited to a dinner that the McGuires were going to & left there at about 9.30 pm to go to the airport. Andy met me at the airport with a couple of kids sound asleep in the car.

So I really don’t know. I think we will probably go.

Tonight is our wind up dinner for Apex being held at the Meneng Hotel. They have a French chef there these days & the food is very nice (it’s a mixed night) I am on the Executive these days as treasurer. We still haven’t had any rain.

See you later,

Love Greg

PS. I have just received a firm offer by letter from Honiara. The present accountant has agreed to stay until early March. They are willing to recruit all of us from Melbourne so that if I accept we will all be able to spend a couple of weeks in Australia during late February.

Love from the equatorial Tuers (Andy, Greg, Darren & Shane)

1 December 1973

Menada Hotel

Honiara, Guadalcanal

British Solomon Islands Protectorate

1 December 1973

Dear Mum & Dad,

Well surprise, surprise. Here I sit on a small patio from my hotel room, a stone’s throw from the water lapping a coral beach. The hotel is situated overlooking a small bay, the sky is blue & on the horizon I can see the Florida Group rising from the sea. The islands seem to be quite mountainous. A couple of hundred yards away there is a small settlement of Solomon Islanders & they are working on their canoe. It is 7.30 am Saturday morning & the sun has been up for about an hour & a half.

What am I doing in this paradise you are probably asking?

I arrived yesterday afternoon on Air Nauru. It is an all expenses paid trip courtesy of the Kalena Timber Co. I am having a look at a job as Accountant which on paper sounds very attractive. The company is administered from Honiara by another company called Solomon Motors which acts as buying agent. Its logging site is on a large island to the north-west called New Georgia at Viru Harbour. It employs 250 Filipino workers & exports logs direct to Japan. It is a little hard to be unbiased because this place is really beautiful & a few trips to New Georgia, which would be necessary wouldn't be hard to take. I am off to have talks with the manager at 9 o'clock so I will finish the letter off tonight.

Its lunchtime now & as a result of talks this morning, salary $8,000 with a review in 3 months. Airfares for me would be Nauru – Honiara & Andy & the boys from Melbourne – Honiara. That way Andy can go down to Melbourne on the Republic, stay a week or a fortnight & come back to Honiara on the company. I also saw the house. It is new, 3 bedrooms & on a ridge, very high with a beautiful view over the harbour with the Florida group of islands in the background. House, electricity, gas, water, telephone, medical, dental, and hospital, all provided. They are to write to me on Tuesday (Tuesday’s Air Nauru) & if they’re happy will offer me the job on the terms discussed today.

That’s the story from here. This place has a very British influence & I get the impression there is class distinction within the public service as well as to the Melanesians. The manager, a Queenslander called Ron McGuire is picking me up at 1.30 pm for a tour up the coast.

I’ll let you know as soon as anything happens,

Love Greg

22 November 1973

Government Settlement

Republic Of Nauru

Central Pacific

22 November 1973

Dear Mum & Dad,

Thanks for the congratulations etc.. for the birth of Shane. It is nice to have the 3^rd bedroom occupied even if he does wake us up in the middle of the night. He is feeding very well & you can almost see him grow. There is a pretty established pattern that the kids born on the island (expatriates) usually grow into big kids. Andy hopes to breast feed as long as possible because of the milk situation. Darren thinks Shane is great & we are very pleased with his reaction. We have finally received our last lot of supplies ordered for Shane eg. nappies, bottles etc. from Myers & some bits & pieces from Mothercare in England. These all arrived yesterday off one of the ships. We had been getting by with some thin nappies from China Town.

Yesterday we had a gang of prisoners at the house cleaning up the yard. It was in a hell of a mess with material from the renovations & repairs to the roof all over the place. They even cleaned up the garden. It is still dry but our water situation was improved today with the arrival of the new 32,000 ton “Kolle D” on a run from Tasmania to Japan with a pretty big load of Tasmanian water. I have heard a rumour that we may be faced with power restrictions soon because of a cut back in diesel fuel for the generators. Some of the people who run air conditioners to protect expensive sound equipment from rust are getting worried.

There isn't anything more to report. I've enclosed a copy of a chapter from “Auditing” by Irish that may be of some assistance to Bruce, if he hasn't already made a decision. Your comments in the last letter came as a bit of a surprise as I thought you were pretty settled in Warnambool. I would be interested to hear what the turnover & gross profit have been in the business Bruce was looking at.

On that note I’ll sign off. Hope you are fit & well.

Love from Andy, Greg, Darren & Shane

11 November 1973

MQ 44

Government Settlement

Republic Of Nauru

Central Pacific

11 November 1973

Dear Mum & Dad,

This is a follow-up to my hastily written note last week. Andy & Shane came home last Wednesday which was pretty amazing as Andy had only had Shane the previous Thursday afternoon. Needless to say she is very well & Shane is coming along like a house on fire. So far he is a very good kid & no trouble except for the four hourly feeds. Darren has taken everything well, the whole business not being very dramatic for him, mainly thanks to Sue Matchett. He is like a mother hen with Shane & drives Andy mad helping with the bath & wanting to touch & carry Shane about. We are encouraging him as much as its possible (& safe) to do.

I don’t think I have mentioned our new house yet. We are really pleased with the move & we seem to be able to relax a lot more here. It is more private with a large back area, built in barbecue, our own garage & set well back from the road behind some coconut palms & frangipani trees. The house is virtually new (although it is actually about 25 years old). It has been completely renovated, all new fittings, a new bathroom & toilet, new kitchen & dining area & third bedroom added. The roof has been partly replaced & all new flooring which is polished. There is a full length covered veranda with a polished floor running along the front of the house. Andy talked the Works Department into giving us a new two door frig & a cane lounge setting with new cushion covers. The overall effect is really good & without doubt we would have the best house in the settlement. Not bad for nothing anyway!

Still no rains although the wet season is suppose to start in October. There hasn't been a decent rain since February so that all our fresh water is imported. It doesn't really affect us to any great extent except that we are more careful of our use of water. Although each house has a 10,000 gallon tank, each is equipped with an instant pressure pump which gives the same advantages as mains pressure. The water is free (to the expatriates only) & only requires a phone call to the Works Department when the tank is getting low. I used to dream about a place where there was plenty of water but it didn't rain. Apparently this is it. Still it would be a nice change for one of those tropical downpours like we had when we first arrived. It amazes me how the vegetation survives because even when it does rain the run-off is very rapid, the island being so small & shaped like an upturned saucer, the soil being basically sand & coral. Most of the undergrowth has gone but the paw paws, frangipani, tomano trees, pandanus & coconuts continue to thrive, flowing & bearing fruit.

  Parliament has been dissolved until the general elections in December, though it is pretty certain most will be regain their seats. Each parliamentarian represents about 50 voters. And they reckon Australia is over governed.

No more news, hope you are all well & staying ahead of all that work.

Love from the equatorial Tuers (Andy, Greg, Darren & Shane)

2 November 1973

MQ 44

Government Settlement

Republic Of Nauru

Central Pacific

2 November 1973

Dear Mum & Dad,

This is just a note to slip on today’s plane. Well it’s a boy again. Shane William & a handsome looking fellow he is, dark hair & I haven’t noticed the exact colour of his eyes yet but I think they are dark. Andy is very well & it was a quick & easy birth. Darren is standing up to the whole thing very well, though he still doesn’t appreciate what is going on. He has grown up a lot lately & he is in his bed now & is quite easy to look after. Our friend who has Darren during the day is very capable & has three of her own including a boy a bit younger than Darren. The Gilbertese woman is still coming & handling the washing & house so we are reasonably organised. I haven’t had to cook a meal yet except breakfast.

There is not much else to report.

Hope you are all well.

Love from Andy, Greg, Darren & Shane

8 October 1973

MQ 44

Government Settlement

Republic Of Nauru

Central Pacific

8 October 1973

Dear Mum & Dad,

Well here I am back in the sunshine & warm weather again. The trip up was without incident except that it was pouring rain in Brisbane, warm at Noumea & hot in Honiara. By the way, I could see you standing out on the deck at Tulla watching the plane take off. 

It was great to get home to Andy & Darren & to see Darren’s face light up when he saw me. He is really impressed with the blackboard I brought back. Some of our friends had arranged a would you believe “welcome home” barbeque so that we virtually went from the airport to the barbeque. I was really popular when I pulled out a 2lb box of James chocolates which I had bought in Brisbane.

Things seem to have been pretty quiet since I have been away, no scandals or excitement. Andy looks very fit & is. Treasury continues to have their little crises & the Secretary for Finance has prepared an eight page report on the poor performance of the Chief Accountant with the Chief Accountant preparing an eight page reply. The Secretary for Finance has officially resigned but is now trying to withdraw his resignation, but the Chief Secretary is playing hard to get.

Our new house is nearly ready to move into. The rain didn’t do any damage. Andy has had the Works Department estapol all the cupboard shelves.

The box that I was looking for at Tullamarine didn’t arrive so I have my fingers crossed for Tuesday’s flight.

That’s about it to date. I have missed the mail so this will have to go out on Friday. Anyway, now it’s your turn.

Love from all of us up here,

Greg

26 September 1973

MQ 44

Government Settlement

Republic Of Nauru

Central Pacific

26 September 1973

Dear Mum & Dad,

Sorry for not writing for such a long time & even this is jotted down in a rush to catch the morning plane. I’ll be arriving at Tullamarine about 11 pm Sunday 30^th September & coming back Sunday Oct 7^th. I have got a list of things to do & get about a mile long so I hope I will have the time to do some work as well! 

Anyway this is just meant to be a note to let you know my movements. I am booked in at Hotel Australia Sunday to following Friday, with Saturday night at the Tullamarine Travelodge.

See you soon,

Greg