Anzac Day at Wewak: The Minister of the Army visits New Guinea
By Tessa Pietsch.
These archival documents tell the story of Malcolm Fraser’s visit to Papua New Guinea in 1967, during his time as the Australian Minister for the Army (1966-1968). Specifically, we will focus on the True Story of his attendance at the Anzac Day parade at the small town of Wewak on the north coast of the island. In order to focus in on this topic I will examine three documents surrounding Malcolm Fraser’s visit to Papua New Guinea.
Firstly, an official press release by the Australian Army’s Directorate of Public Relations announcing Malcolm Fraser’s upcoming visit to Papua New Guinea, and detailing his plans to visit Australian Army bases, attend ceremonies (including in Wewak), and to liaise with military leaders. Secondly, a transcript of a radio talk given by Fraser upon his return to Australia. Within this talk, he spends significant time focusing upon the Anzac parade in Wewak. Finally, a screenshot from a video of Fraser’s trip to New Guinea, which was broadcast to Australian and New Guinean television.
During the Second World War, Wewak was brutally occupied by Japanese forces, and was home to the largest Japanese base on the whole island. Throughout the second half of 1943, both Australian and American bombardments were ongoing in the town in an attempt to free it from the Japanese. On August 17th, a particularly intense bombardment caught the Japanese forces unprepared, and resulted in the Japanese forces being practically driven off the island. From this time until its independence in 1975, Papua New Guinea was held under Australian sovereignty.
Thus, Anzac Day became a significant link between Australia and Wewak, and its commemoration became a symbol of Australian military dominance in the region. Another important reason for Fraser’s visit, outlined in the Press Release Statement, was to investigate the building of new Australian army facilities in New Guinea, including in Wewak. According to his account, over $33 million was being spent by the Commonwealth on military expansion in ‘the Territories’.
In uncovering the most accurate and objective truth, archival research can be fraught with difficulties. Thus, when exploring ‘true stories’ we must ask: ‘who created this source?’ and ‘for what purpose?’ in order to consider what they may have embellished or omitted. In an archival context, these questions may be difficult to answer.
Here, our sources are all products of the Australian Government, and are trying to establish one ‘truth’ narrative. The Anzac Parade in Wewak is portrayed as a noble event, celebrating the paternal relationship that Australia seemed to have with New Guinea. Regarding the purpose of the documents, David Lowenthal’s observation ‘nothing begins life in an archive’ is very pertinent. All three documents are intended for consumption by the Australian public to a specific end, and are written or filmed with care and precision.
Firstly, the official press release uses official military language in order to add importance and weight to Mr. Fraser’s trip. This press release was issued to all newspapers in his own electorate, Wannon, and the fact that this announcement was made so publicly suggests that local, as well as national, politics were at play.
Fraser’s own account of his trip to Papua New Guinea tells us several things about the Anzac Day at Wewak story, and more broadly about Australia’s imperial relationship with New Guinea. He outlines that there were at least 5,000 persons participating, and that nowhere else outside of Australia could such a parade take place. He speaks on behalf of the Islander servicemen and ex-serviceman, saying ‘it was obvious’ that they were proud of their military service. ‘The Territories’ are spoken about as a place of resource and opportunity: Fraser recounts how individual Australian servicemen integrated Western concepts into the lives of Indigenous people, and focus on the building and expansion of Australian forces in the Pacific. This is particularly pertinent given the ongoing Vietnam War, and the fear of the infamous Communist ‘domino effect’ taking place across Asia. In affect Fraser is affirming to the Australian Public that there is a definite military barrier between Australia and Communist South-East Asia.
As the only sources included in this brief study all hark from official Australian Government Sources, it is important to consider which voices are excluded from the Wewak Anzac Day Parade story. Of the 5,000 attendees, video footage and Fraser’s account suggest that a large proportion of these people were native New Guineans, either locals to the town or those who had military involvement. Similarly, the nature of the archives at the University of Melbourne and of the Australian War Memorial have predominantly consisted of official written records, a format which does not always include Indigenous voices, or voices which do not conform with a desired narrative. However, this is changing. The inclusion of a film in the Australian War Memorial archives suggests that as early as 1967, non-written sources were also given value.
The still from the film shows that the Wewak narrative is being carefully constructed by the camera angle. I chose this particular still as it shows the array of Indigenous New Guineans who are involved in the military project, as soldiers. Theirs is the voice which remains silent in these sources. Indeed, throughout the majority of the film the only Indigenous people we see are portrayed in a military or passive context.
This particular scene has been constructed to reinforce Fraser’s observations that he ‘found the standards of training and performance of the Pacific Island Regiment to be very high and members of the force had an obvious pride in the Service’. Indigenous servicemen are portrayed as disciplined, and obedient. The implication here is that this is all due to Australian military intervention and training.
Whilst the story of Anzac Day at Wewak appears to be one small event in an array of others, it sheds light on the way that official narrative is constructed, and on the military relationship between Australia and Asia-Pacific in the 1960s. Official government archival documents only tell one carefully-constructed side of the story, and it is imperative to make note of this where it occurs. From these sources, Malcolm Fraser’s visit to Wewak appears to be a constructive, heroic venture, celebrating Australia’s imperial influence in the region. The ‘true story’ of others involved in the parade is not contained in these documents, but an analysis of the information we do have allows us to give thought to the information to which we may not yet have access.
Sources
Lowenthal, David. “Archives, Heritage and History.” In Archives, Documentation and Institutions of Social Memory, edited by Frances X. Blouin and William G. Rosenberg, 193-206. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006.
Shindo, Hiroyuki. ‘Japanese air operations over New Guinea during the Second World War’. Journal of the Australian War Memorial, no. 34 (June 2001).
Major Allan S Hinds, “Army Minister to Visit New Guinea,” HIST 40030 Archival Projects, accessed May 26, 2019, https://histarchivalprojects.omeka.net/items/show/2051.
Malcolm Fraser, “Visit to Papua-New Guinea,” HIST 40030 Archival Projects, accessed May 26, 2019, https://histarchivalprojects.omeka.net/items/show/2052.
Australian Army, “Inspection of Army Barracks,” HIST 40030 Archival Projects, accessed May 26, 2019, https://histarchivalprojects.omeka.net/items/show/2089.