Guide to the Papers of Ian Downs
MS 8254, MS Acc07.035
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Ian Downs
- Title
- Papers of Ian Downs
- Date Range
- 1935-1994
- Collection Number
- MS 8254, MS Acc07.035
- Extent
- 4.69 metres (32 boxes, 1 folio)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- National Library of Australia
Introduction
Scope and Contents
A former patrol officer who rose to the position of Deputy Administrator in the mid-1950s, Downs was a prominent figure in Papua New Guinea in the last years of the Australian trusteeship, and possibly the only person who combined the roles of administrator, politician, planter and historian.
Downs’ papers, which reflect the diversity of his career, are a mixture of original material and photocopied files, created at different times for different purposes, but which were together drawn upon for his official history of the Australian administration. This account, which was commissioned in 1972, was published in 1980 under the title of The Australian trusteeship : Papua New Guinea, 1945-75.
For the purposes of his research Downs was given unrestricted access to all files of the Department of External Territories (later the Department of Territories), from which he and his assistant Elaine Ryan made extensive photocopies. Included in the files were records of the Custodian of Expropriated Property which had been transferred to the Department of External Territories in Canberra following the Japanese war. Downs also collected original departmental files destined for disposal after the proclamation of Papua New Guinean independence, and rescued other papers from destruction following the closure of the Department of Territories. As additional research material, Downs brought together notes and sources he had been gathering as far back as 1945 with a view to someday publishing a book on Papua New Guinea.
In form, the papers include diaries and original correspondence, telegrams, authorisations, memoranda, file extracts and cuttings, photocopies or typed transcripts of official documents, court proceedings, and carbon copies of original minutes. The collection contains interesting material on major figures such as Hasluck, Gorton, Whitlam, Murray, Cleland, Hay and Gunther, and while much of the research material is not unique, historians may find it useful that copies of policy documents going back to the time of Curtin and Ward have been brought together in one body of documentation.
Downs’ papers were transferred to the Library in five instalments between 1991 and 1999. In sorting the collection Downs’ filing system and file names have, for the most part, been retained.
Conditions Governing Access
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1295565).
Conditions Governing Use
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred Citation
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Ian Downs, National Library of Australia [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.
Biographical Note
Date | Event |
---|---|
1915 | Born in Edinburgh, Scotland |
c.1926-28 | Educated at Brighton and Geelong Grammar Schools |
1929 | Entered Royal Australian Naval College as a midshipman |
1935 | Joined New Guinea administration as a cadet patrol officer |
1938 | Joined the Hagen-Sepik patrol at Wabag |
1942-45 | Coastwatcher with Royal Australian Navy in New Guinea waters |
1945 | Returned to New Guinea as a patrol officer |
1949 | District Officer, New Ireland |
Jan. 1951 | Stipendiary Magistrate, Rabaul |
May 1951 | District Commissioner, Madang |
1951-52 | Assistant Director of Native Affairs |
1952 | District Commissioner, Goroka |
1956 | Resigned to take up coffee farming and to enter politics |
1957 | Elected Member for the New Guinea Mainland in the Legislative Council |
1957-68 | President, Highlands Farmers and Settlers Association |
1957-69 | Member of the East Highlands District Advisory Council |
1961-69 | Member of the Administrator’s Council |
1964 | Foundation Chairman, Coffee Marketing Board |
1964-68 | Elected to the first House of Assembly |
1970 | Publication of The stolen land |
c.1971 | Returned to Australia |
1980 | Publication of The Australian trusteeship : Papua New Guinea,1945-75 |
1986 | Publication of autobiography, The last mountain |
2004 | Died on 24 August |
Date | Event |
---|---|
1915 | Born in Edinburgh, Scotland |
c.1926-28 | Educated at Brighton and Geelong Grammar Schools |
1929 | Entered Royal Australian Naval College as a midshipman |
1935 | Joined New Guinea administration as a cadet patrol officer |
1938 | Joined the Hagen-Sepik patrol at Wabag |
1942-45 | Coastwatcher with Royal Australian Navy in New Guinea waters |
1945 | Returned to New Guinea as a patrol officer |
1949 | District Officer, New Ireland |
Jan. 1951 | Stipendiary Magistrate, Rabaul |
May 1951 | District Commissioner, Madang |
1951-52 | Assistant Director of Native Affairs |
1952 | District Commissioner, Goroka |
1956 | Resigned to take up coffee farming and to enter politics |
1957 | Elected Member for the New Guinea Mainland in the Legislative Council |
1957-68 | President, Highlands Farmers and Settlers Association |
1957-69 | Member of the East Highlands District Advisory Council |
1961-69 | Member of the Administrator’s Council |
1964 | Foundation Chairman, Coffee Marketing Board |
1964-68 | Elected to the first House of Assembly |
1970 | Publication of The stolen land |
c.1971 | Returned to Australia |
1980 | Publication of The Australian trusteeship : Papua New Guinea,1945-75 |
1986 | Publication of autobiography, The last mountain |
2004 | Died on 24 August |
Item Descriptions
Class MS 8254. Original consignment
Comprises research notes and original source material used in preparation of Downs' publication, The Australian trusteeship: Papua New Guinea, 1945-75, together with other original documents collected during Downs' career. The papers include: general correspondence and memoranda, 1935-1994; patrol diaries and reports, 1938-1955, including diary documenting Hagen-Sepik patrol, 1938; Highlands period, 1952-1968; Legislative Council and House of Assembly, 1957-1968; other papers, including material relating to the Select Committee on Constitutional Development, Gazelle Peninsula dispute and Mataungan insurrection, biographical files and records of interviews with prominent figures in the Australian administration.
Contained in 25 boxes, 1 folio box.
Series 1. General correspondence and memoranda, 1935-94
This series chiefly comprises original and photocopied official correspondence written or collected by Downs on matters relating to the Australian administration of Papua New Guinea. Correspondents include politicians such as Arthur Calwell and Paul Hasluck, diplomats, including American Ambassadors Amos Peaslee and William Battle, and British diplomat Sir Hugh Foot, as well as key figures in the Papua New Guinea administration such as J.K. Murray and Sir Donald Cleland. Also of interest are a number of letters written by visitors to the country, which reflect the political situation, local attitudes and progress of the Australian trusteeship. In addition, the series contains a file concerning Downs’ resignation as District Commissioner in 1955, which stemmed from his objection to a reorganisation of the district administration, and original correspondence about missionary activity in the Central Highlands between 1935 and 45.
For additional correspondence relating to Downs’ political and business activities see Series 3, 4 and 5.
Correspondence concerning activities of missionaries in the Central Highlands, 1935-45 (File 1) - Box 1
Correspondence and papers relating to Downs’ resignationas District Commissioner, 1955 (File 4) - Box 1
Correspondence and notes regarding political matters, 1961 and public works, 1966, together with New Guinea Administration press statements, 1961 (File 5) - Box 1
General memoranda and correspondence, Part 1: 1959-66, including speech on customs tariff, 1965, and notes relating to timber production, coast watching, Duna patrol, 1955 (File 11) - Box 2
General memoranda and correspondence, Part 2: 1964-72,including report on 11th House of Assembly meeting, and notes on the Wutung border incident and race relations (File 12) - Box 2
Series 2. Patrol diaries and reports, 1938-55
Downs took up his appointment to New Guinea in 1936 and was one of the first patrol officers assigned to the Western Highlands. This series includes his patrol diary compiled whilst accompanying John Black and Jim Taylor on part of their famous Hagen-Sepik patrol in 1938-39, which contains quite detailed entries for the period January-May 1939. Also filed here are his copies of the Crown Law Office circulars, 1924-25 and District standing instructions, 1925 (annotated by Downs to 1939). Regarded as the ‘Patrol Officer’s bible’ these items would normally have accompanied officers everywhere in their duties.
A copy of Downs’ Hagen-Sepik patrol report is contained in the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau microfilm 607.
The photographs in file 8 were taken by Downs or by P.O. Murray Edwards, First Officer-in-Charge Mt Hagen (February-December 1938). Captions in double quote marks are Downs’; additional information added by Bill Gammage in 1999. Photographs 2-10 relate to the Hagen-Sepik Patrol.
Routine patrol and food survey of villages in the Salamaua area, December 1945-January 1946 (File 3) - Box 2
Patrol reports into areas between Tari Station and the Strickland-Lagaip Rivers, 1954-55, with map of the region (File 5) - Box 3
Crown Law Office circulars, 1924-25; District standing instructions, 1925; Programme: visit of Sir John Northcott, Administrator of the Commonwealth, 1951 (File 6) - Box 3
Photographs relating to the Hagen-Sepik patrol (File 8) - Box 3
1. Two 1988 negatives each, of photos 4-5 and 8-9 below.
2. “First landing at Wabag. Junkers W7”. The first landing was on 8 August 1938. Downs’ caption refers to his first landing on 31 August.
3. “Junkers W7”, on Wabag strip, c.31 August 1938. [Edwards]
4. A singsing to open Mt Hagen strip, March 1938. [Edwards]
5. “Junkers on Hagen Drome”, August 1938. [Edwards]
6. Pendeyani, the Li-ink fight leader, “tells the mob to get going to try us out”, Wabag peace conference, 1 September 1938, after Bugler Gershon and some Li-ink men were killed. In fact Pendeyani was speaking for peace (+ negative).
7. Enga man at Wabag peace conference, 1 September 1938. He wears a tin lid pendant (negative only).
8. The Wabag peace conference, 1 September 1938. The Europeans are (l. to r.) Edwards (and his dog `Nigger’), Ted Taylor (D.O. Morobe), pilot Tommy O’Dea.
9. The Wabag peace conference, 1 September 1938. The Europeans are (l. to r.) Edwards, Downs, police officer W.O. Wallace.
10. Wabag camp, September 1938, showing the strip built on old kaukau (sweet potato) gardens (+ negative).
11. Ian Downs at Chimbu Patrol Post (later Kundiawa), 1939 (+ negative).
12. Repairs to the Mt Hagen road, c.1952-55 (+ negative).
Series 3. Highlands period, 1952-68
Downs returned to New Guinea after World War II and by 1951 was the youngest District Commissioner in the administration, based in Madang. Between 1952-56 he held the position of District Commissioner in Goroka , before resigning to take up coffee farming and to enter politics.
Included in this series are files and correspondence relating to the official, semi-official, political and business activities with which Downs was associated whilst resident in Goroka, the large proportion of which he kept interfiled in chronological sequences. Also documented is Downs’ Presidency of the Highland Farmers and Settlers Association, 1957-68, and his involvement with the Upper Asaro Coffee Community, which supplied coffee to the Korfena coffee company of which he was part-owner.
Papers which relate exclusively to Downs’ political career are filed in Series 4 and 5.
Correspondence and notes, Part 3: U and miscellaneous, including Upper Asaro Coffee Community (File 3) - Box 3
Post-war period, Part 1: papers relating to access roads,including the reopening of the Kassam Pass (File 4) - Box 4
Post-war period, Part 2: including papers relating to the Highland Farmers and Settlers Association (File 5) - Box 4
Typescript of ‘Entomological investigations in the Easternand Western Highlands’, 1954 (File 13) - Box 5
Series 4. Legislative Council, 1957-63
Disillusioned with official policy, Downs resigned from his post as District Commissioner in 1956 and in the following year gained election as Member for the New Guinea Mainland in the Legislative Council. As a parliamentarian he was further elected in 1961 to the Administrator’s Advisory Council (later known as the Administrator’s Executive Council), a board set up to advise the Administrator on policy issues.
Some correspondence relating to Downs’ membership of the Legislative Council is interfiled in Series 3. For papers relating to his election to the House of Assembly see Series 5.
Series 5. House of Assembly, 1964-68
Downs was elected to the first House of Assembly in 1964 with a record majority of over 100, 000 votes. For the next four years he held the Seat of the New Guinea Highlands, a constituency in the Central Highlands region with a population of over half a million people. In the face of an increasingly nationalist style of politics he decided not to stand for re-election in 1968, and retired from parliament to take up private interests.
Some correspondence relating to Downs’ membership of the House of Assembly is interfiled in Series 3. For papers relating to his election to the Legislative Council see Series 4.
Letter from D.M. Fenbury concerning the New Guinea Administration, 1967, together with an extract from the proceedings of the House of Lords, 12 May 1948, about conditions in the colonial service (File 5) - Box 7
Notes and research material relating to 1964 House of Assembly elections, together with rules of the Administrator’s Council (File 6) - Box 7
Notes and documentation, 1967-68, including copy of 1959 letter from Sir William Slim regarding income tax legislation (File 7) - Box 7
Series 6. Select Committee on Constitutional Development and Papua New Guinean independence, 1965-72
A Select Committee on Constitutional Development was appointed by a resolution of the Papua and New Guinea House of Assembly on 19 May 1965, with John Guise as its first Chairman. The Committee’s purpose was to clarify the future status of Papua New Guinea in relation to Australia. Under Guise, the Committee presented interim reports in 1965 and 1966, and a final report in 1967. A reconstituted Committee with Paulus Arek as Chairman published two further reports in 1969 and 1971, its recommendations effectively clearing the path for the transfer to self-government in 1975.
Notes on discussion between Minister and Select Committee on Constitutional Development, 1966-67 (File 1) - Box 8
Notes, correspondence and article relating to New Guinean political development, including record of July-August constitutional talks, 1972 (File 4) - Box 8
Series 7. Gazelle Peninsula dispute and Mataungan insurrection, 1957-74
In 1950-54 a new system of native administration was introduced in the Gazelle Peninsula, an area chiefly populated by the Tolai people. Although the new form of local government sought to increase involvement of natives in economic development, it came into conflict with traditional administrative arrangements which were already divided by disputes amongst the various Tolai groupings. A number of villages including Raluana and Navuneram resisted the imposition of the administration, leading to unrest in the area extending over three decades.
A file relating to the murder of District Commissioner, E.J. Emanuel at Navuneram is located in Series 9. In addition, a short sequence of press clippings documenting the 1973 riots in the region is filed in Series 11.
Mataungan insurrection, Gazelle Peninsula, 1967-74, Part1, including correspondence (File 15) - Box 11
Publications relating to the Gazelle Peninsula dispute including: Report of a Commission of Inquiry Into Local Government and Other Matters in the Gazelle Peninsula…,1969; Statements made by Mathias T. Toliman…, 1973; Report to the Administrator…on the problems if the Gazelle Peninsula, 1971; ‘Matupit : land, politics and change among the Tolai of New Britain, 1969 (File 20) - Box 11
Series 8. The Australian trusteeship : Papua New Guinea, 1945-75
In 1972 Downs was commissioned to write an official history of the Australian trusteeship in Papua New Guinea, under the guidance of an Editorial Committee chaired by David Hay. With the assistance of an Editorial Consultant, Francis West and Research Officer, Eileen Ryan, the final manuscript was completed in 1978 and published by the Australian Government Publishing Service in 1980.
In this series are filed correspondence relating to the publication, together with lists of bibliographic sources and other reference material used in compilation of the history.
Correspondence and other papers relating to The Australian trusteeship: Papua New Guinea, 1945-75 (File 1) - Box 11
Research material, including list of archival sources, mappulls, sample index, press and publicity lists, index to Department of Territories files, 1972, and a guide to New Guinea archives held in the National Library, 1958 (File 4) - Box 12
Bibliographical references, including a complete record of Australian press references to Papua New Guinea, 1944-72, chronology of Papua New Guinean constitutional development, list of theses held in the Department of Government, University of Sydney, 1966, 1972 (File 5) - Box 12
Reference material, including a chronology of constitutional development and index to Papua New Guinean press reports, 1944-71 (File 7) - Box 12
Series 9. Biographical files and records of interviews
This series chiefly comprises original papers and photocopied extracts from Department of External Affairs and Downs’ own files containing biographical information on former Departmental personnel, Papua New Guinea administrative staff and others associated with Australian participation in the country. Also included is a sequence of files documenting the murder of District Commissioner, E.J. Emanuel, and the implication of other Australian nationals in violent incidents in Papua New Guinea. In addition, the series contains correspondence, notes and transcripts relating to interviews conducted by Downs in the period 1963-78 with individuals closely associated with the Australian trusteeship.
This series contains notes on, and some transcripts of interviews undertaken with: J.O. Ballard, C.E. Barnes, K. Beazley, John Greenwell, J.T. Gunther, David Hay, Harry Jackman, Alan Kerr, Sir John Kerr, W.A. Lalor, Tom Leahy, A.W. McCasker, W.L. Morrison, J.K. Murray, H.L.R. Niall, Stan Pearsall, J.E. Ritchie, George Warwick Smith, O.H.K. Spate, A.C. Voutas, H.W. West, Ken Williamson, Ian Willis, together with speeches by Gough Whitlam and Michael Somare, 1973 and summary of record of talks between the two, 17 January 1973.
Additional papers relating to the Navuneram incident and Gazelle Peninsula dispute are filed in Series 7, 10 and 11.
General biographical files: Extracts from A time for building: Australianadministration in Papua New Guinea, 1951-1963, together with press cuttings about its author Paul Hasluck (File 6) - Box 13
General biographical files: Extracts from Pacific Islands year book and Who’s who in the Pacific Islands, 1968, together with other biographical notes (File 7) - Box 13
General biographical files: Biographical data concerning Papua New Guinea Departmentof External Affairs personnel (File 8) - Box 13
Administrators: Alfred Conlon, Head of the Australian Army’s Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs, 1943-45 (File 9) - Box 13
Administrators: J.K. Murray, Administrator, 1945-52; Photocopied extract from Papua New Guinea , 1942-52 : policy, planning and J.K. Murray. Thesis by Brian Jinks. (File 10) - Box 13
Other administrative personnel: File containing papers relating to Allart Nurton, former officer of the New Guinea Public Service who was injured on duty, 1936; Navuneram incident, 1958; grievances against T.W. Ellis, X-ray technician, 1973; Special Branch report on Ephraim Nwokolo, 1969; involvement of Julian White in the independence movement, 1976 (File 14) - Box 14
Other administrative personnel: File relating to the murder of Richard Strudwick and others during the Sepik insurrection, 1942 (File 15) - Box 14
Other administrative personnel: File relating to the murders of Szarka and Harris at Telefomin, November 1953 (File 16-17) - Box 14
Other administrative personnel: File relating to the sedition trial of Brian Leonard Cooper, December 1960, including reasons for the judgment (File 18) - Box 14
Series 10. Subject files
Bougainville: Telexes between the Administrator and Secretary of the Department of External Affairs, and other notes pertaining to the Bougainville crisis, 1967 (File 1) - Box 15
Hasluck administration: Notes, cuttings and other background papers relating to the Hasluck administration, 1951-78 (File 2-4) - Box 15
Higher education: Papers relating to higher education, including report by Ian Willis ‘The development of higher education in Papua New Guinea’, 1975 and summaries of Department of Territories files concerning higher education, 1960-75 (File 5) - Box 16
Indonesia and West Irian: Background papers on problems and policy in relations between Indonesia and West Irian (File 6) - Box 16
Land question: Land and the law, Part 4: Report of the League of Nationson the administration…of New Guinea…1914-21 (File 12) - Box 16
Land question: Photocopied notes relating to Rabehan Trading Station, New Ireland, 1967-72 and expropriated property (File 13) - Box 16
Land question: General notes on land issues, including paper on customary title presented to the 3rd Waigani Seminar (File 14)
Land question: Copy of a typescript relating to the case of Rudolf Wolffheard before the Expropriation Board, 1921 (File 15)
Land question: Papers relating to an appeal made to the Supreme Court,1963 regarding expropriated property, made under the provisions of the New Guinea Land Titles Restoration Ordinance (File 16)
Land law, Part 1: notes and file extracts regarding landtenure, including illegal squatting in the Gazelle Peninsula (File 18)
Legal system: File extracts relating to the legal system, including instructions for field officers on their legal responsibilities; circular concerning Native Village Councils Ordinance, 1949; Governor-General’s instructions to the Administrator regarding the Papua and New Guinea Act, 1949-68 (File 23)
Livestock: Photocopy of Report on an investigation into the pastoral industry of Papua and New Guinea, 1958 (File 25)
Native labour: Background papers and statistics pertaining to native labour, 1953-69 (File 31) - Box 19
Newspapers and radio: Articles concerning Papua New Guinean newspaper and radiohistory (File 33) - Box 19
Nigeria: Memorandum on native administration in Nigeria, 1934,together with minutes, notes and articles about off shore oil (File 34) - Box 19
Official visits: Report by Paul Hasluck, Minister for Territories on his visit to PNG, February 1962 (File 35) - Box 19
Official visits: Record of official discussions with Sir Hugh Foot, Leader of the United Nations Visiting Mission to New Guinea, 1962 (File 36) - Box 19
Official visits: Extracts from House of Representatives debates concerning visits by Gough Whitlam to Papua New Guinea, 1965-70,together with press statements (File 37) - Box 19
Official visits: United Nations Visiting Mission to Trust Territories inthe Pacific report on New Guinea, together with the relevant resolution of the Trusteeship Council, 1951 (File 38) - Box 19
PNG Intelligence Committee: Formation of the Papua New Guinea Intelligence Committee, 1970-72 (File 39-40) - Box 20
Police: Notes, correspondence and report about the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary; typescript of a report by the Committee of Inquiry into the Efficiency Training and Adequacy of the Native Police, 1959 (File 43) - Box 20
Provisional administration: File relating to provisional administration, Part 1:including minute concerning establishment of civiladministration, December 1945; extracts from Papua Act,1905; minute and correspondence regarding a visit by R.Melrose, Director of District Services and Native Affairs,to Rabaul, 1946 (File 44) - Box 20
Provisional administration: File relating to provisional administration, Part 3:including extracts relating to the resumption of civil administration (File 46) - Box 20
Provisional administration: File concerning army control and the resumption of civil administration (File 47) - Box 20
Restricted areas: Extracts from Papua New Guinea annual reports giving statistics of restricted areas, 1935-73 (File 50-51) - Box 21
Site for capital: Background information concerning choice of capital for Papua New Guinea (File 52) - Box 21
Trade: Memorandum regarding interim trade arrangements between Australia and Papua New Guinea, 1973 (File 53) - Box 21
Series 11. Press releases and clippings
Series 12. Publications
Included in this series is a bound copy of all the catalogues of expropriated properties (German) in the Territory of New Guinea sold by tender, 1925-28. The catalogues were the basic reference for the Custodian and for the Lands and Crown Law Departments in Papua New Guinea because they included native title claims.