How did the first mission vehicles arrive in the Mendi area?
Staff who arrived later may have complained about the roads, or about the condition of the local vehicles but thought it was normal to see cars or trucks on those roads. In the days when only light aircraft landed at Mendi, it was not possible to bring in any vehicle larger than a motor bike. It was a big challenge to bring any vehicle, even a tough Land Rover with 4-wheel drive, to Mendi before the roads were finished between Mount Hagen and Mendi. When the Methodist Chairman, Rev Cliff Keightley, asked a new staff member, Rev John Rees, to drive the new mission Land Rover from Lae to Mendi along the new Highlands Highway in October 1960, he didn’t understand what an adventure this would be.
John Rees tells the story…
I had been flown from Mendi to Madang with a broken tooth. Minus the tooth, I then waited for a return flight. But the Chairman of the district sent a message asking if I would like to go to Lae and drive our new Land Rover to Mendi. In blissful ignorance, I agreed. I said I would drive the Land Rover over the new road from Lae into the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. The road is a feat of engineering that crosses high ranges and winds through deep gorges.
I began the journey with two Lutheran lads, one of whom was riding a motorbike. The Land Rover was then bright and new, with 69 miles on the speedometer. At first the road ran along the broad valley of the Markham River, where we passed lowland villages, many New Guineans on bicycles, and a few family groups moving camp. Our food was out of tins with pawpaw from roadside trees.
Two large rivers were forded, each having several channels in their wide beds. Each stream had to be tested on foot, and, after each crossing, the Rover was unloaded and driven back again to carry the motorbike over. In the first river, we were bogged between two streams, and it took an hour to get out. In the Umi river I nearly lost my nerve with water 6 inches from the top of the bonnet and the vehicle beginning to float downstream. There was rain in the mountains and the water was rising.
Before sunset, the road climbed steeply and, in a few miles, we climbed nearly 3000 feet in low gear all the way. In pouring rain, we arrived at the Lutheran mission at Raipinga late at night, and our kind German hostess offered us a hot shower, hot tea, and a room for the night.
Next day we saw at Raipinga the distinct change in stature, dress and housing between coastal and Highland people. About the only resemblance is the colour of their skin.
For most of the second day it was dull and cloudy and we missed much of the grandeur and beauty of the mountains as we climbed to a pass at 8000 feet and came down into the deep Chimbu Valley. Villages were perched precariously on mountain spurs and each was clustered around its Lutheran Church.
At the bottom of the valley, we were stopped by a European woman who came running to ask us to take a message to the doctor 12 miles away. As we sped dangerously down that road, cut from the valley wall, we passed some of the loveliest scenery in the Highlands. The doctor was away on patrol, but a government officer agreed to deliver the message. It was dark when we were welcomed at the Lutheran mission at Ega.
On the third day, I parted with my traveling companions. It was soon clear that I had left the comparative civilization of the earlier part of the journey. From a high pass, I had my first glimpse of majestic Mount Giluwe, one of the highest Mountains in the territory. Before I saw home, I would cross Giluwe’s broad rough shoulder. Below was Tambul, the last patrol post before Mendi. I had lunch here with the New Guinean constable and he and an interpreter came with me to the end of the road. Here 36 Highland men were recruited to help us over the remaining 35 miles to Mendi.
Jungle had been cleared on either side of the track which wound in and out amongst stumps and over tufts of kunai grass. A wheel broke through the rotten decking on the first bridge, a fallen tree blocked the track, and then we entered an uncleared jungle, where the Rover grazed trees on a track which had been blazed by a government convoy.
From then on, I lived in a nightmare. Logs jammed the wheels; mud sucked us down; riverbanks were so steep that against all brakes the Rover continued to slide. I had to dig dirt from under wheels on one side lest the vehicle topple over; and with engine revving, the 36 Highlanders hauled the Rover and its load out of every water course. How they hauled, these strong Highland men, in silent, powerful rhythm. Then, as the Rover moved a fraction, they began a triumphant yodelling, and we surged forward again.
But soon after dark, we lurched into a ditch and the Highlanders refused to haul any more; so, we settled down for the night. In my once white shorts and shirt, I shared a muddy blanket and a slab of bark with a Highlander, feet to the fire and head on a log. It was a sleepless night, until 6 o’clock we had our cold sweet potato, cold Mountain water, and we were at it again; bogging, slipping, men straining, nerves on edge, heart sinking with the wheels. But at last, it was over – a good road again, another patch of bog, another broken bridge, and there was Home.
Four hundred and fifty miles [725 kilometres] in four and a half days. Impressions that remain are of strong men of the Highlands who, with Christ and gentle leadership, could make fine world citizens. Here there are myriads of people who have not heard of Christ.
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A visiting staff member, the mission office secretary Joyce Rosser, travelled to Mendi from Tari during October 1960. She had come to sort out the contents of the mission office in Mendi after the departure of Gordon Young. Joyce Rosser saw John Rees when he finally arrived home in Mendi with the new Land Rover. She wrote:
John was absolutely exhausted. It had taken 13 hours, with a cold hard sleep in the middle, to traverse the 40 miles from Tambul to Mendi, with the help of 36 “pushers-and-pullers”.
John Rees, Missionary Review March 1961 pp 12-13
Joyce Rosser, circular letter 30 October 1960
Photographs from the collection of JD Rees.
Margaret Reeson 