FLETCHER.-On February 26, at Papua, Reginald Keith, youngest son of the late Jacob and Emily Fletcher, loved brother of Ida (Mrs Eaton, Sydney), William (39 Mason st. Regent N 19), Bert (South Africa) and Frederick, Edith and Sidney (all deceased) aged 59 years (Buried at East Cape, New Guinea )
Women Missionaries' Ordeal
In Flight From Japs
A 40-mile voyage in an open boat with a dead man was but one incident for five women missionaries in their flight from Fergusson Island to Sydney to escape Japanese bombs.
They travelled from Fergusson Island (40 miles east of Samarai, New Guinea) to Port Moresby, and then to Cairns. The voyage to Cairns was made
in a boat built to carry 12 people —on board were 135.
The women are Misses Edith Twyford, Nell Pitty and Hetty Muir, who were nursing sisters at the Methodist mission hospital on Fergusson Island, and Misses Florence Pearce and Daisy Coltheart, teachers from the mission
school.
"We had a sick Australian trader, Mr. Reginald Fletcher, of Brisbane with us, when we left Fergusson Island," said Miss Twyford. "I had brought him to the mission hospital the day before from an isolated island where he had a coconut plantation."He died on the first day in the boat. We called in at East Cape on the mainland and gave him a Christian burial service.
Eerie Samarai
"We arrived at Samarai, main port of Papua, when everyone except the Government officials had evacuated. The whole town was set to be fired if the Japanese came. It was eerie.
"A store was open, but the proprietor and staff had gone.
"Traders, copra planters and gold mine engineers had come in from the islands, and there were about 150 men waiting to get away.
"We thought we would get a plane, but were advised by the Government to get out in our boat. We took on board three engineers from the Misima gold-fields." Missionaries provisioned the launch, said "Miss Twyford, for a voyage to Townsville, but at the last moment a radio message asked that all men under 45 should go to Port Moresby.
At Port Moresby the women missionaries boarded a Burns Philp boat, built to accommodate 12, but packed with 132 passengers, including some Chinese.
The boat left Port Moresby at midnight, and at 3 am the town was bombed.
The mission sisters looked after several men who had been wounded in Japanese raids on Rabaul during the voyage to Cairns.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/68755796
Women Missionaries' Ordeal
In Flight From Japs
A 40-mile voyage in an open boat with a dead man was but one incident for five women missionaries in their flight from Fergusson Island to Sydney to escape Japanese bombs.
They travelled from Fergusson Island (40 miles east of Samarai, New Guinea) to Port Moresby, and then to Cairns. The voyage to Cairns was made
in a boat built to carry 12 people —on board were 135.
The women are Misses Edith Twyford, Nell Pitty and Hetty Muir, who were nursing sisters at the Methodist mission hospital on Fergusson Island, and Misses Florence Pearce and Daisy Coltheart, teachers from the mission
school.
"We had a sick Australian trader, Mr. Reginald Fletcher, of Brisbane with us, when we left Fergusson Island," said Miss Twyford. "I had brought him to the mission hospital the day before from an isolated island where he had a coconut plantation."He died on the first day in the boat. We called in at East Cape on the mainland and gave him a Christian burial service.
Eerie Samarai
"We arrived at Samarai, main port of Papua, when everyone except the Government officials had evacuated. The whole town was set to be fired if the Japanese came. It was eerie.
"A store was open, but the proprietor and staff had gone.
"Traders, copra planters and gold mine engineers had come in from the islands, and there were about 150 men waiting to get away.
"We thought we would get a plane, but were advised by the Government to get out in our boat. We took on board three engineers from the Misima gold-fields." Missionaries provisioned the launch, said "Miss Twyford, for a voyage to Townsville, but at the last moment a radio message asked that all men under 45 should go to Port Moresby.
At Port Moresby the women missionaries boarded a Burns Philp boat, built to accommodate 12, but packed with 132 passengers, including some Chinese.
The boat left Port Moresby at midnight, and at 3 am the town was bombed.
The mission sisters looked after several men who had been wounded in Japanese raids on Rabaul during the voyage to Cairns.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/68755796
FLETCHER.-On February 26, at Papua, Reginald Keith, youngest son of the late Jacob and Emily Fletcher, loved brother of Ida (Mrs Eaton, Sydney), William (39 Mason st. Regent N 19), Bert (South Africa) and Frederick, Edith and Sidney (all deceased) aged 59 years (Buried at East Cape, New Guinea )
Women Missionaries' Ordeal
In Flight From Japs
A 40-mile voyage in an open boat with a dead man was but one incident for five women missionaries in their flight from Fergusson Island to Sydney to escape Japanese bombs.
They travelled from Fergusson Island (40 miles east of Samarai, New Guinea) to Port Moresby, and then to Cairns. The voyage to Cairns was made
in a boat built to carry 12 people —on board were 135.
The women are Misses Edith Twyford, Nell Pitty and Hetty Muir, who were nursing sisters at the Methodist mission hospital on Fergusson Island, and Misses Florence Pearce and Daisy Coltheart, teachers from the mission
school.
"We had a sick Australian trader, Mr. Reginald Fletcher, of Brisbane with us, when we left Fergusson Island," said Miss Twyford. "I had brought him to the mission hospital the day before from an isolated island where he had a coconut plantation."He died on the first day in the boat. We called in at East Cape on the mainland and gave him a Christian burial service.
Eerie Samarai
"We arrived at Samarai, main port of Papua, when everyone except the Government officials had evacuated. The whole town was set to be fired if the Japanese came. It was eerie.
"A store was open, but the proprietor and staff had gone.
"Traders, copra planters and gold mine engineers had come in from the islands, and there were about 150 men waiting to get away.
"We thought we would get a plane, but were advised by the Government to get out in our boat. We took on board three engineers from the Misima gold-fields." Missionaries provisioned the launch, said "Miss Twyford, for a voyage to Townsville, but at the last moment a radio message asked that all men under 45 should go to Port Moresby.
At Port Moresby the women missionaries boarded a Burns Philp boat, built to accommodate 12, but packed with 132 passengers, including some Chinese.
The boat left Port Moresby at midnight, and at 3 am the town was bombed.
The mission sisters looked after several men who had been wounded in Japanese raids on Rabaul during the voyage to Cairns.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/68755796
Women Missionaries' Ordeal
In Flight From Japs
A 40-mile voyage in an open boat with a dead man was but one incident for five women missionaries in their flight from Fergusson Island to Sydney to escape Japanese bombs.
They travelled from Fergusson Island (40 miles east of Samarai, New Guinea) to Port Moresby, and then to Cairns. The voyage to Cairns was made
in a boat built to carry 12 people —on board were 135.
The women are Misses Edith Twyford, Nell Pitty and Hetty Muir, who were nursing sisters at the Methodist mission hospital on Fergusson Island, and Misses Florence Pearce and Daisy Coltheart, teachers from the mission
school.
"We had a sick Australian trader, Mr. Reginald Fletcher, of Brisbane with us, when we left Fergusson Island," said Miss Twyford. "I had brought him to the mission hospital the day before from an isolated island where he had a coconut plantation."He died on the first day in the boat. We called in at East Cape on the mainland and gave him a Christian burial service.
Eerie Samarai
"We arrived at Samarai, main port of Papua, when everyone except the Government officials had evacuated. The whole town was set to be fired if the Japanese came. It was eerie.
"A store was open, but the proprietor and staff had gone.
"Traders, copra planters and gold mine engineers had come in from the islands, and there were about 150 men waiting to get away.
"We thought we would get a plane, but were advised by the Government to get out in our boat. We took on board three engineers from the Misima gold-fields." Missionaries provisioned the launch, said "Miss Twyford, for a voyage to Townsville, but at the last moment a radio message asked that all men under 45 should go to Port Moresby.
At Port Moresby the women missionaries boarded a Burns Philp boat, built to accommodate 12, but packed with 132 passengers, including some Chinese.
The boat left Port Moresby at midnight, and at 3 am the town was bombed.
The mission sisters looked after several men who had been wounded in Japanese raids on Rabaul during the voyage to Cairns.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/68755796
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