July 1963 School Magazine

B::-isba~e· Girls:' Grammar School Magazine

July, 1963

July, 1963

Brisbane Girb' Grammar School Magazine

SEMINAR ON PAPUA-NEW GUINEA

THE DECADE OF DEVELOPMENT

Being so familiar with our surroundings, we felt as we arrived at school on April 27th-28th for the Society of Friends' Seminar on Papua-New Guinea that we would have to direct others less fortunate than ourselves to find their way to the gymnasium. A completely unfamiliar sight met our eyes, however, as overnight the fictidn library had been transformed into a nursery, the gymnasium into an airy lecture room, and our modest dining-room into a "refectory". -1/vhile we recovered our shattered equilibrium, Archbishop Strong, formerly Bishop of New Guinea, opened the Seminar, which had attracted many people from different countries and all stations in life. We were then addressed by Colonel J. K. Murray, former Administrator of New Guinea, on "The people and resources of New Guinea", with particular emphasis on the fact that, given sufficient opportunity and time, the indigenous peoples wiD. be capable of governing themselves Fortunately, the rain did not dampen anyone's spirits, and more people arrived in the afternoon to hear The Reverend G. L. Lockley. Principai of Cromwell College, speak on "The work of the Christian missions". This was followed by an extremely lively 'discussion for which we owe particular thanks to Father Cassimar and the Reverend\ Sisters, who had spent considerable time working in the New Guinea missions. Later in the afternoon, we assembled in the "theatre", which in Ancient Times had been the library; to watch some films taken on actual patrols in the Highlands. By Sunday, everyone felt very much more settled, and we listened with ·enjoyment to Mr. Keith Dyer, District Officer in the Administration of Papua and New Guinea, who spoke on "The present adminstration". To close the Seminar, Mr. R. B. Joyce, senior lecturer in History and Political Science at the University of Queensland, informed us of the "Future trends in political and economic development". We sincerely thank the Society of Friends for its excellent organisation of the Seminar, and for the opportunity they extended to us to learn a little about our near-North neighbours - the only drawback to this being that Mrs. Jackson and Miss Thomas now expect us poor unfortunates to know all there is to know about this subject. -C.K., VIA. 16

At the beginning of this term I was fortunate enough to attend a Conference at St. Catherine's School at Toorak in Melbourne arranged by the United Nations Association of Australia. ' At this conference we attended lectures on Latin America, Asia, and Africa, and were given the opportunity afterwards to discuss what we had learnt from these talks. In this way we were able to learn a great deal in a short space of time. There were forty-eight delegates in all and we were very fortunate, in that the conference organizers had given us ct place where we could spend our free time. We were given a common room of our own with a ping-pong table, easy chairs, a piano and a radiogram and a stac~ ~f records. I t!hink it is fairly ·safe to say that St. Catherme s has never heard such a din as went on during those five days. We had quite a lot of free time between lectures, and were able to see a fair amount of Melbourne. There was an organized excursion, one afternoon, when we drove around the bay and up towards the hills outside Melbourne. We also went to Toorak Village several times as it was only about half a mile from the schooL and were able to see the surrounding suburbs. We were very fortunate in the lecturers who visited us. Each man, such aQ Professor N. D. Harper, author of the well- known history books, Mr. Gregory Bartels, a Representative from the Technical Assistance Board of U.N.I.C.E.F. and Pro- fessor Butland of the University of New England, was an expert in his 'own . field. Professor Butland, particularly, is considered the highest authority on Latin America in the Southern Hemisphere. After each lecture, we were given the opportunity of asking questions of the lecturer, and then split up .in discussion groups, with about eight in each. We were set several topics to discuss and questions to answer within each group, and each member of the group was given the opportunity, both of expressing his own ideas, . and of hearing those of the other delegates. The lecturer of the day also came around to each group in turn to answer more questions and to help in our discussions, by, perhaps, reminding us of some important point that we had forgotten or did not know. 17