Kiap - Australia's Patrol Officers in Papua New Guinea

The magnificent story of Australia’s patrol officers in postwar Papua New Guinea, beginning in the uncertain days following World War II when the Trust Territory of New Guinea and the Australian Territory of Papua came under the joint administration of Australia, and ending in 1975 with the proud independence of the new nation of Papua New Guinea. For almost that entire 30-year span, the author was a “kiap”, the pidgin term for the field officers of the then Department of District Administration, first as an inexperienced cadet patrol officer and finally as the last white District Commissioner for the Eastern Highlands.