Canberra, 19 September 1968
C.R.A. Activities on Bougainville—to August 1968
In view of the recent press reports on C.R.A. activities at Bougainville, it is considered that the attached statement on the situation may be useful.
Attachment
STATEMENT ON C.R.A. ACTIVITIES ON BOUGAINVILLEs
Background information
The following is an extract from a statement forwarded to the Administrator in February, 1967, setting out the steps which the Minister decided should be taken in handling the C.R.A. mining activities on Bougainville.
[ matter omitted ] 1
Present situation
2. After a re-assessment of the potential of the Panguna deposit, C.R.A. proposed to go ahead with the following surveys as a matter of urgency—
(1) Townsite in Pakia area.
(2) Road realignment.
(3) Power transmission line.
(4) Tailings flume to stacking site.
(5) Geological survey for several quarry sites to supply construction aggregate.
(6) Siltation study by Franzini of Bechtel Corporation.
(7) Water supply—possible pumping station near Jaba Kawerong junction.
[ matter omitted ] 2
4. The increased tempo of survey work both within and without Panguna Valley is bringing to an end the period of quiet and comparative acceptance of operations by the people. 3 It will also stimulate support for the Panguna people in an ever widening circle, particularly as the township area and some of the other land subject to survey include substantial acreages of cultivated land. 4
5. The Administration has urged the Company to avoid where possible simultaneous survey activity on a number of fronts. The Company agreed to allow a period of eight weeks for the Administration to prepare the people for the proposed surveys. This operation is now underway.
6. Further precautionary measures were taken on the part of the Administration. For example, three additional patrol officers were posted to the Kieta area; also the police force there was enlarged to 60.
7. The stepped up C.R.A. activities have already caused several disturbances, with two incidents resulting in arrests. The first incident occurred near Unabato village on 8th July, 1968, when a party of geologists with an Administration and police escort met opposition when the geologists were taking rock samples from a river in the area. After a skirmish in which the C.R.A. men were several times pushed into the river, one man was arrested and taken to Kieta. 5
8. The second incident occurred at Pakia village also in the Kieta region, on 22nd August. A party of eleven Papuan and New Guinean assistants clearing a line for a survey of a possible road site was ordered to withdraw by Teiori, a Councillor in the Kieta Local Government Council, and other men from Pakia. It was alleged that Teiori waved a knife and knocked one of the assistants to the ground. An investigation was made by the District Officer, Police Officer and fifteen police who after a skirmish arrested nine men including Teiori. A magistrate from Rabaul is to hear the charges against the men.
9. During the previous week the District Commissioner and Deputy District Commissioner had visited the general area to explain to the people that the road surveys would be carried out. Councillor Teiori had not expressed his acceptance of the surveys.
10. Mild vocal opposition is being raised to several other projects and escorts are being provided for all C.R.A. parties. No further violence has been recorded.
[NAA: A1838, 936/4/13]
1 Matter omitted (expecting grammatical amendments) matches text in Document 88, sub-paragraphs (b)-(h) and sub-paragraph U) under heading of ‘Action to be taken in relation to the actual mining area’.
2 Matter omitted includes details of dates suggested for surveys, covering the period June–December 1968.
3 Protest had slowed during 1967. In October of that year, the TIC had commented that ‘Although the situation in Bougainville remains sensitive the people are now more resigned to the mining activities mainly due to the efforts of Administration officers, backed by a strong force of police, to keep the people informed of proposed developments and their implications’ (MIS no. 9/67, 6 October 1967, NAA: A1838, 936/3/15 part 4).
4 Acute problems had already arisen in connection with possible mine township sites. Hay wrote to Warwick Smith on 19 July that ‘C.R.A. are interested in utilising an area containing the village of Pakia as the site for the township … The view of the Administration is that there will be strong resistance … The area, while suitable for C.R.A purposes, is a productive one. It is heavily planted up. The villagers have said in no uncertain terms that they will resist. There is no immediate possibility of field staff persuading them either to accept compensation or alternative land elsewhere (even if such land were available)’. Hay proposed to write to CRA, recommending ‘very strongly’ that an alternative site favoured by the Administration be investigated (NAA: A452, 1968/5430). Hay’s letter was apparently written after a meeting on the same day of senior Administration officials, who had warned that ‘the Company was adopting an unrealistic approach to the selection of a townsite. If it persisted in going ahead in Pakia without even examining alternative sites, a political situation would arise which would be damaging to the long term image of the Company and one which could possibly lead to blood shed’ (record of meeting between Henderson, Johnson, Watkins, Grove and Ellis, ibid.).
5 CRA’s perspective on events was recorded by Mawby in a letter to Warwick Smith of30 July: ‘Everything is going quite well in Bougainville and I sincerely trust that we shall be able to win the confidence of the natives so that no trouble will be experienced in our project’ (NAA: A452, 1968/3970).