SOGERI - THE SCHOOL THAT HELPED TO SHAPE A NATION - A History, 1944-1994
by Lance Taylor - ISBN 0-949600-42-3,  340 pages, 140 photos

Lance Taylor, a secondary school teacher of English and History, joined the Expressive Arts Staff at Sogeri in 1979.  In 1983 he started a History of Sogeri Club as an extra-curricular activity - this was the start of the research for this book.

'SOGERI - THE SCHOOL THAT HELPED TO SHAPE A NATION'  shows how the small training centre which ANGAU set up on the site of a wartime army convalescent depot was begun very much with a 'moral mission' in mind: to thank the people of Papua New Guinea for their heroic efforts and sacrifices during the course of the New Guinea campaigns, not least the one that raged for four months along the Kokoda Track, higher up in the ranges beyond Sogeri.

With three years of education lost to the war in both the territories of Papua and New Guinea, the promise of a fresh beginning at a special government school, 'YOUR school, looked after by the Government for you', as the Administrator, Colonel Sir Jack Murray, told its students in 1946, aroused enormous interest.  From the length of the Papuan coast and across the islands of Milne Bay and the Bismarck Sea, the brightest students the Mission schools could provide found their way - often arduously and lengthily - to the idyllic setting of the' ANGAU School' in the ranges above Port Moresby.  Once there, they were left in no doubt that they would be in the vanguard of those native Papua New Guineans the Australian Administration would look to in getting the Territory back on its feet after the war.  The governor generals, prime ministers and other future national and provincial leaders the school produced testify that its students responded impressively to the challenge.

This 340 page book, which includes an evocative collection of photographs from every period of the school's history, traces the remarkable story of a school which has been called, at different times during its history, both the 'jewel in the crown' and the 'Mecca in the hills' of Papua New Guinean education.
 

Schools can be strange places at times, but who would imagine a school, in Papua New Guinea, WHERE:

Students were given tobacco every Saturday; morse code was a part of the curriculum; students were punished for speaking their own language; there were eleven work parades in the week; mules wandered through the school gardens after dusk, eating the pawpaws; students made artificial limbs for Papua New Guineans disabled during the war; students would occasionally have to depend on the generosity of the local plantations for their next meal; one of the teachers lived in the tiny vestry of the wartime St Patrick's Catholic chapel; bed-ends were decorated with  hibiscus blooms every morning; students helped Patrol Officers settle local disputes during their holidays; one of the headmasters and his wife were politely addressed as "Taubada" and "Sinabada"; a pine plantation was created to commemorate Queen Elizabeth's coronation; and a sports loving young teacher inspired his students to build a swimming pool on the local creek?

Such a school certainly did exist, and is the subject of a closely researched 340 page book that was launched in the Australian capital, Canberra, on 28 September.  Mr Renagi Renagi Lohia, the PNG High Commissioner to Australia, who launched the book, and Sir Michael Somare, who wrote the Foreword, are just two of the many distinguished former students of the school, whose identity will now probably be readily apparent to readers: Sogeri National High School.

The twelve chapters and fascinating collection of photos in Lance Taylor's: SOGERI - THE SCHOOL THAT HELPED TO SHAPE A NATION  trace the history of the school from the time it was a small ANGAU run training centre at the end of the Second World War to its 26th year as a senior (later national) high school.

Through at least six official changes of name and a huge variety of curricula and administrative systems, Sogeri students have taken their first trip up the winding 'snake road' of the Laloki Valley to Sogeri with the strongest of convictions that the school would be the "key to their future". And indeed it was for the great majority of them, and not just for their own individual futures. Throughout these five decades, Sogeri produced "well rounded young men and women" who became prominent in the progress of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea towards independence and  subsequent national development.

Lance Taylor's book records every aspect of the development of the Sogeri school from 1944 to the (almost) present, and appraises the contribution of its seventeen headmasters and principals. It also contains more than 500 references to individual staff and students who made a significant contribution to the school during this 50 year period.

Some of the early students who went to Sogeri found that they had friends, relatives and 'wantoks' in the labour lines of the local rubber plantations.  Others, like the Koitabu students from coastal villages near Port Moresby, had close language and cultural ties with the Koiari people of the plateau. For this and subsequent periods of the school's history, therefore, the author has widened the scope of the book to relate the Sogeri story to the beautiful local area of which it is part.

For past students and members of the general public alike,  SOGERI - THE SCHOOL THAT HELPED TO SHAPE A NATION  will stir many vivid and happy memories of the leading role this famous school has played in the post-war history of Papua New Guinea.
 

In 1944, the commander of ANGAU (Australia New Guinea Administrative Unit) Major General Basil Morris opened a 'central school for teaching natives various trades' on Sogeri plateau, outside Port Moresby.  Set on the former site of the 113 Australian Convalescent Depot, the school's location blessed it with a mild climate and green environment that was in stark contrast to the hot and dusty Port Moresby, just a few kilometres away.

Now the school's history is recorded in a 342 page book "Sogeri - The School that helped to shape a Nation", written by a former teacher, Lance Taylor.

Much of the material was collected by the school's history club in the 1980s. The result is an impressive edition which for the first time acknowledges Sogeri's enormous contribution to the development of Papua New Guinea. The book's title aptly summarises the school's vital role in training Papua New Guinea's leaders.  Sogeri's old boys are today the 'who's who' of Papua New Guinea: Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, Opposition Leader and former Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta, and Governor-Generals Sir Tore Lokoloko and Sir Serei (Vincent) Eri head the list of famous names.

Sogeri was spotlighted by the colonial administration for the training of teachers and grooming future national leaders.  Before the war, education for the native Papua New Guineans was largely the domain of the missionaries who taught their flocks and prepared promising students for mission work.  War brought a lot of changes. Australia's post-war colonial government became keen on educating and developing 'native' human resources. Major General Morris stressed that the time had arrived "to attempt something bigger than has been possible with the limited resources of the individual missions."

Throughout its 50 years of history, from 1944 to 1994, Sogeri had no special privilege as the nation's elite' institution. In fact, staff and students struggled to meet the ambitious results demanded from inadequate facilities, staff shortages, and pathetic lack of funds, resources and materials. Years of drawn out battles between the school's headmasters and education officials at Konedobu are vividly recorded. They were battles unknown to all those people impressed with the products of Sogeri.

It was on June 22, 1944, when the first students arrive at Sogeri, led by 30-year-old Kamona Walo, reputedly the first to be enrolled. Most students in the first few years came from the London Missionary Society schools along the Papuan coast, from the Abel family's Kwato Island mission, Roman Catholic school on Yule Island, Methodist schools in the Trobriand and D'Entrecasteaux islands, the Anglican school at Wedau and the Seventh Day Adventist mission at Bamu River.

They were met by Lieutenant Frank Boisen and his fellow army officers who were members of the Angau unit. They were issued with two blankets, a mosquito net, two laplaps of "white unbleached, or khaki colour", a wide black belt, a khaki shirt, a sweater for evening wear, a cup, plate, spoon, a cake of soap and grass knife. In time, two sticks of black 'twist' tobacco and a monthly allowance of five shillings were added to the regular list. The pioneers cleared the school grounds and began with work parades that became a feature of Sogeri.

Among them were Fred Boski Tom and Apelis Mazakmat from New Ireland, Gala Gala Rarua from Hanuabada and Sir Tore Lokoloko, all destined to set the pace for leadership. Angau's army officers were the first teachers, applying military discipline that was a tradition for years.
Agriculture was stressed and staff and students grew a variety of crops to supplement the basic diet of rice and tinned meat and fish.

Civilian teachers soon succeeded army instructors. Norman Fell, headmaster for eleven years from 1952, contributed greatly to Sogeri's evolution. He was passionate about the school. His tactics for prising supplies and priority for the school varied. When a new septic tank system failed, he phoned the Assistant Administrator Dr John Gunther and told him that 200 students were excreting into the Port Moresby water supply. "The fault," writes Fell, "was repaired overnight"

The school actively raised money for itself rather than rely solely on government funds. A big money maker was 'Sogeri grass' discovered in the early 1960s. Taylor writes: "With no shortage of expatriates in Port Moresby seeking to beautify their barren garden plots, the school cornered a "good market for grass runners," and came to view its pleasant green expanse as a near perfect solution to the problem of fund raising and bothersome cash flows.  "Through the 1960s students carved out many tons of turf to sell in town, the profits bringing newspapers, magazine subscriptions, school ties and even violin recitals by the Australian musician, Ronald Woodcock"

From 1957, the school focused on general education. The last teacher- training course was run by John Newnham and produced Enos Baloiloi, Lohia Boganu, Vela Kila, Bobi Livinai, Paulias Matane, Matthew Nalu, Aisea Taviai, Alkan Tololo, Ronald ToVue, Waterhouse Wai Will and Michael Tom. The last name to burst into politics in the late 1960s was one Michael Somare.

In 1957, Sogeri spearheaded PNG's native cadet units, formed to develop qualities of leadership and self-reliance within a framework of military activities. Led by Warrant Officer Jim Pashen, the unit impressed General Wade, General Officer Commanding the Northern Command, who spoke optimistically of sending some cadets to an Australian army school.  But not all things went smoothly, Taylor relates. "An enthusiastic young cadet, Ramu (Ted) Diro by name, accidentally shot Lance Corporal Gerega Pepena in the bottom at point-blank range. Fortunately, the offending projectile was a blank. Diro became the first Commander of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force after Independence, whilst Pepena became defence minister."  A later student was Jerry Singirok, also a future defence force commander.

In 1972, it launched an event that brought it national prominence - the school festival of traditional dancing, later to become known as the 'Sogeri Singsing'.  1978 was perhaps Sogeri's greatest year of achievements. Led by the principal Norman Vaughton, it won the country's Lester B. Pearson Scholar for 1978, and the Lions' Youth of the Year. Sogeri was triumphant in national and international sports and a rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, that was the centrepiece of the National Arts Festival. It formed the Kalibobo Bamboo Band which recorded a cassette that sold over 10,000 copies. 'Wanpela Liklik Meri' became one of the most popular tunes in the country .

At Sogeri fiftieth anniversary celebration in 1994 a frail 76 year old man from Hula village had a place of honour. He was Kamona Walo, one of the first to be enrolled at ANGAU's Papuan Central Training School. Education reforms and the opening of new secondary schools have changed the status of Sogeri and other high schools as 'national' schools. With the growing number of secondary schools, it plays a part in implementing new education policies and steering a new course for teaching.

Sogeri  -  The School that helped to shape a Nation.  A history, 1944-1994 by Lance Taylor.  Available at Brian Bell in Port Moresby at K59 and rest of PNG at K65.