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

24 July 1973

MQ 44
Government Settlement
Republic Of Nauru
Central Pacific
24 July 1973

Dear Mum & Dad,

We both seem to be neglecting our correspondence but I suppose you have a better excuse than me. It is quite a while since I last wrote & it seems that quite a lot has happened. Darren’s birthday party was a great success with 20 kids & nearly as many adults. As it turned out, the afternoon arranged for the party was designated a half day holiday (not really on our behalf), so that most of the parents turned up as well & quite a few cans etc. were cracked for the occasion. Darren was actually quite well trained at blowing out the candles & when the time arrived he impressed every one with candle blowing out. We set the trestle up along the front veranda with streamers & balloons strung up all over the place.

                                           Darren sees his pedal car for the first time

                                                          Party spread on front veranda

                                                                      Party helpers

                                     The pedal car box was the biggest hit with the kids!

We had 4 couples back after tea to see the 5 movies I took on the Japan trip which turned out well thank goodness.

I have uncovered Nauru’s own “Watergate” affair by putting the finger on the Secretary for Works for un-documented private sales from the store. He is now trying to implicate various Ministers including the Acting President & the further  he goes in trying to clear himself the more he seems to get himself & others involved. I must admit I was pretty nervous about issuing the first report & it took me a week to decide the best course of action & proper wording of the various reports including one to the Chief Secretary. It is now unfolding very satisfactorily & I can still smile.

The Director Of Audit arrived last weekend & we are now in the process of setting up a new department. It is like Christmas shopping ordering new chairs, desks, filing cabinets, an IBM typewriter, adding machines, calculators & a new Toyota. The bloke’s name is Pat Gleeson & after some early misgivings he seems a decent sort of a fellow. He was previously in a small accounting practice in Queensland. We had him to tea on Saturday night. His wife & son are still in Brisbane until the end of the school year. We have provided for 3 trips to Melbourne & 1 to Tokyo in the budget as we are now to take over the audit of all of the Republic’s locations. Unfortunately the London & San Francisco offices are not really big enough to warrant a visit at this stage. Our first trip to Melbourne will probably be in the next 4 weeks. A rough plan is to go down on the Friday plane & return on the following Sunday week. Pat hopes to get off at Brisbane on the Friday & fly to Melbourne on an early Monday flight & spend the weekend with his family. The Audit Department seems to be a pretty good department to be in!

I’m not sure whether the weather in Australia is extra cold this year or maybe it because we are in perpetual summer. From the few papers we get it does sound really cold though. Up here it hasn't rained since I was away in Japan when apparently they had some pretty heavy rain. Water is now being shipped to the island & we regularly have to order it. The novelty of going to the beach & sitting in the water as warm as a bath hasn't worn off yet. Did I mention that occasionally at about 4 in the morning we actually pull up a blanket? It’s that damned cold breeze from the fan that does it. Never mind, I’m just stirring, keep your chins up, summer is coming!

Andy is going well & Darren, apart from a recent black eye is also well. Hope you are all fit & well.

Love from all of us,

Greg

PS. Thanks for the birthday cheques on behalf of Darren & Andy. With Darren’s we bought him an outfit of clothes, mainly because he got so many toys for his birthday. With Andy’s we used that to have a dinner out at the hotel. It was very enjoyable with no dishes afterwards.