2003 Official Report

 

OVERVIEW

 

The 2002 Reunion was always going to be a hard act to follow (it was a whooper)! The 2003 Reunion, however had a flavour all its own and was noteworthy for all those in attendance.  In short, a bloody good night!

 

NUMBERS

 

No denying that there were a few less in attendance than has been the case over the previous few years, when record attendances every year have been the pattern. However, for the 90 or so who turned up, another first rate evening ensued. Amongst the local and interstate visitors, a few attendees deserve special mention:

 

  Gary ‘Dim-Dim’ White, who came all the way from Thailand to attend the reunion.

  June Corner, who flew down from Toowoomba.

  Pat “Bow” McKinnon, who came all the way from Darwin.

  Con Doran and Lloyd Hassell and their respective spouses who both worked up in “The Territory” in 1954 (this represents a new record in terms of ‘served longest ago’ - if you know what we mean)!

 

THE BACKGROUND VIDEO

 

Same ol’ – same ol’…..but seeing all those old photos and film clips spliced together this way really helps to generate a real PNG atmosphere without requiring any of us having to put on silly clothes and headsets.  Good background fun!

 

THE KAI

 

Once again Simon Chan and his team of lads (affectionately known as “The Triad”) served up copious amounts of delicious kai (the theme song for the meal was of course … “I like Chinese”).

 

DRINKS

 

Funnily enough, we found out later that, due to a mix-up behind the bar, we didn’t actually spend quite our entire budget allocation. Still, there was no shortage of wet refreshments (as evidenced by the headaches next day) and the surplus will be well applied in the future.

 

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

 

The important work of the first AGM of the Association was all done and dusted within 5 minutes max. with unanimous support for all the motions presented (bar one interjector, who shall remain nameless but whose repartee and wit comes a miserable second behind his capacity to sink the odd 30 schooners). Thanks to the support of all the ‘Qualifying Persons’ in attendance, we are now officially affiliated with the Westpac Staff Club and can therefore continue to receive their very worthwhile and valued support.

 

Thanks folks.

 

THE QUIZ

 

A different format, with tables pitted against each other, and required to give written answers to PNG-related questions, along the lines of a trivia evening.  The top three scoring tables then moved into the final round, where their representatives were required to provide ‘fastest wins’ verbal responses.  While this format is challenging, all involved seemed to have a lot of fun!

 

The winning table was  “Kavieng”, but the 10 competing tables all proved their mettle (or lack thereof)! There were some absolutely stand–out and wrong answers, such as - “Owen Stanley was the inventor of the sub-machine gun” (we would love to believe that they were kidding, but sadly, we think not). However special congratulations to the tables who successfully listed all 6 PNG Prime Ministers.

 

THE SINGALONG

 

Funny, isn’t it, how at a certain point of the evening, over-indulgence transforms itself into maudlin recollections and tale-telling and then finally manifests as a stream of painfully off-key caterwauling. It’s always a highlight!  This year 90 voices lifted off the roof, singing along (badly) with those leaving-PNG favourites (whose words were printed right there in the official program):

 

Leaving on a Jet Plane

We Gotta Get Out of This Place

 

Karaoke gone mad! Love it!

 

PRIZES & GIVE-AWAYS

 

Never before have we managed to collect and distribute so many worthwhile bits and pieces to our reunion attendees.  We were only able to do this because of the generous support of:

 

        Westpac Staff Club

        Westpac Pacific Banking

        Westpac Bank-PNG-Limited

        Air Nuigini

PNG Consulate General, Sydney

 

Our sincere thanks to them all.  We hope the little gifts provide a nice reminder of the evening to all recipients.

 

APRES DRINKS

 

The usual excesses (once again, the good name of this Association has been dragged through the mud)!

 

MEMORABILIA

 

Hmmm! The whole memorabilia thing didn’t quite happen in the usual way.  Ah well, we will just have to push harder for big effort in 2004.

 

RECOVERY BBQ

 

We again held our recovery BBQ at the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway Park on Saturday.  Numbers were well down on last year with only a handful attending.  But still an enjoyable afternoon for those who came along.

 

THE WEB SITE

 

To find out what you did at the reunion and see the photographic proof, visit:

www.geocities.com/pngreunion/

 

NEXT YEAR

 

Looking ahead to 2004:

 

There will be survey out soon, giving you an opportunity to ensure that the reunion is everything you want it to be.

  It will be a 10 year Reunion for those who served in PNG in 1994.

  It will be a 20 year Reunion for those who served in PNG in 1984.

  It will be a 30 year Reunion for those who served in PNG in 1974.

  It will be a 40 year Reunion for those who served in PNG in 1964.

  It will be a big 50 year Reunion for those who served in PNG in 1984.

 

So for all those that served in PNG in 54, 64, 74, 84 and 94 start ringing around, organising all your wantoks from those years and pencil in the 2004 Reunion date NOW!

 

 

 

The Committee

 

 

 

 

 

Last updated 3^rd December 2003