Guide to the Papers of Albert Speer
MS 8450
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Created: December 2018
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Speer, Albert, MBE, RMB
- Title
- Papers of Albert Speer
- Date Range
- 1943 - 1994
- Collection Number
- MS 8450
- Extent
- 1.01 metres (6 ms boxes + 1 audio cassette box)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- Special Collections (Manuscripts)
Introduction
Scope and Contents
This collection and consists of diaries, patrol reports, official reports, official and unofficial correspondence, personal documents, newspaper articles and photographs on Sir Albert Maori Kiki's funeral, an interview, an audio tape, photographs, maps and a few publications, mainly newspapers. There is also a bound photocopy of 'The search for the truth of the Montevideo Maru', Part 1, by Speers.
Conditions Governing Access
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2701735).
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Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.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 Albert Speer, National Library of Australia, MS 8450, [class/series/file/item number]'.
Provenance
The papers in this colleciton were donated to the National Library of Australia by Albert Speer.
Related Materials
Further papers of Albert Speer are held in the National Library's Manuscript collection at MS Acc12.115. MS Acc14.090, and MS Acc14.091.
Biographical Note
Albert Speer was born in 1922 in Goulburn, New South Wales and served in New Guinea with 2/2 Australian Field Ambulance from 1942 to 1945. This marked the beginning of Speer's long association with Papua New Guinea.
Speer joined the Public Service of Papua New Guinea as a medical assistant in October 1947 with early postings to Kerema (1947), Madang (1950), and Saiho/Polondetta (1951), where he led the medical team in the evacuation of victims of the Mt. Lamington disaster. Other postings include Tari (1954) and Koroba (1955/1957) where he made exploratory patrols into 'uncontrolled' areas of the Southern Highlands, eventually taking over the administrative management of the Koroba hospital. He was a medical assistant in charge of the Malahang Native Hospital at Lae (1957-1959).
From 1959 to 1967 he worked as the Regional Administrative Officer at Rabaul and later at Goroka, New Guinea Highlands Region. In 1967 he was involved in special project work investigating the 'methods study' into the Malaria Branch of the Department of Public Health.
In 1969 Speer was appointed Executive Officer of the Malaria Branch. From 1970 to 1971 he was involved in another special project for the Director of Public Health on the review of Aid Posts. Altogether he served in the Department of Public Health in the Australian Administration of Papua and New Guinea from 1947 until his retirement in 1971. He was a pioneer in the establishment of health services in Papua New Guinea.
In 1978 Speer was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his work in the Papua New Guinea Public Health Department.
Speer did not marry but he 'adopted' four children from Papua New Guinea, including Sir Albert Maori Kiki.
Item Descriptions
Series 1. Diaries, 1943-74
Albert Speer's diaries document his daily life in Papua New Guinea as a medical assistant and as an Australian writing about his impressions of the land, the people, their customs and his new experiences.
In 1957 Speer accompanied Maslyn Williams in the filming of 'New Guinea Patrol'. Speer kept a diary about the patrol through the Southern Highlands to the Strickland Gorge and included detailed inventories of medical and food stores. Series 1 consists of a photocopy of the 'New Guinea Patrol' diary, other diaries, some correspondence and cablegrams.
There are days when there are no entries in the diaries, which are marked incomplete.
Speer's passage to Papua New Guinea, 1 January-16 December 1950 (incomplete) (File 3) - Box 1 (MS 8450)
New Guinea Patrol unit diary, photocopy of diary and other papers, April-August 1957 (File 8_9 (MS 8450)) - Box 2 (MS 8450)
Series 2. Patrol and official reports, 1948-71
Speer was among those instrumental in the opening of the Southern Highlands district, where he provided the basis for the present network of health services. Speer's reports offer an insight into the daily routine life of the patrol team. He wrote about his observations and understanding of the culture of Papua New Guinea people, and the photographs capture Papua New Guinea life. There is a photographic album of the Duna Reconnaissance Patrol of 1955. The photographs and caption notes tell the story of the Duna people's first encounter with Europeans.
Medical patrol reports, monthly building reports and list of locations, 1948-53 (File 1 (MS 8450)) - Box 3 (MS 8450)
Patrol 2/48 to Opah villages, Mar 1948; patrol 3/48 to eastern villages, April 1948; patrol 5/48 to western area, June 1948; patrol 6/48 to Vailala River area, July 1948 (File 2 (MS 8450)) - Box 3 (MS 8450)
Patrol 7/1954-55, Southern Highlands, 1955 and commissioner's instructions and other reports (File 3 (MS 8450)) - Box 3 (MS 8450)
Copies of a paper entitled 'The Wonder of Walkabout' relating to a patrol to the northwest of Tari (includes photographs) (File 4 (MS 8450)) - Box 3 (MS 8450)
Series 3. Official correspondence, 1966-69
In 1969 Speer was appointed Executive Officer responsible for administrative aspects of the Malaria Branch of the Department of Public Health. The series comprises mainly typed reports and carbon copies of letters by Speer relating to issues about malaria.
Series 4. Unofficial correspondence, 1953-66
This series consists of aerograms, and handwritten letters from Speer's Australian and Papua New Guinean colleagues and friends. There are also letters from Speer's 'adopted' children, Sir Albert Maori Kiki ( 5 letters, 1961-62) and Philip Bognero. In addition there are letters written by Speer.
Series 5. Personal Documents, 1951-86
This series includes Speer's job applications and personal references written by Speer for the many various administrative and executive positions in Health Services. Other papers include a land deed, legal papers, Speer's biographical notes for his entry into the Papua New Guinea Dictionary of Contemporary Biography, booklets and letters about his Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) Investiture in 1978, newspaper cuttings, photographs and correspondence relating to the award.
Series 6. Sir Albert Maori Kiki's funeral, 1983-86
Sir Albert Maori Kiki and Sir Michael Somare were the founders of the Pangu Pati. From 1966 to 1972 Kiki was the first National Secretary of PanguPati. In 1975 during the Somare Government, Kiki was appointed Minister for Foreign Relations, Trade and Defence and was later appointed Deputy Prime Minister. Sir Albert Maori Kiki is known as one of the architects of Papua New Guinea's independence.
Albert Speer acted as a mentor to Maori Kiki and in gratitude Kiki asked permission to use Speer's first name as his own, hence Sir Albert Maori Kiki. The bulk of the series comprises mainly newspaper articles, photographs and some personal letters relating to Kiki's funeral. Speer returned to Papua New Guinea in 1993 to attend the funeral of Kiki.
Series 7. Interviews and Conference papers, 1969-94
In 1976 Muttu J. Gware at Lae interviewed Speer about the history of the health facilities an Ela Beach. There is a partial transcript and audio tape of the interview. In 1969 Speer attended a District Health Officers conference at Port Moresby and the agenda, notes and discussion papers are part of the series.
Series 8. Publications, 1950-93
There are three copies of the Crookwell Gazette, including articles about Albert Speer and Sir Albert Maori Kiki and his family. Other publications include local Papua New Guinea publications.