Reflections and Significance

Those who taught at the Colleges remembered it just as vividly. Ted Wolfers insisted that without the political education of the 1960s, neither the Bully Beef Club nor the Pangu Pati could have emerged:

Pull Quote: “The students were not just preparing for administration — they were preparing for leadership. And leadership meant politics.” — Ted Wolfers

Tos Barnett, interviewed decades later, echoed the point: the College had been alive with “liberal, independent thinking,” and it was inevitable that political leaders would emerge

Even Rachel Cleland, who watched from the side as the Administrator’s wife, acknowledged the change. She recalled how student leaders like Nombri and Olewale were constantly travelling on government warrants to build networks across the Territory

Australian journalist Patti Warn stressed the continuity between student politics and national leadership. Covering the movement in the 1960s, he later reflected that without the TSF and Bully Beef networks, Pangu would have been impossible

Historians like Hank Nelson and Donald Denoon later underlined the point: the Bully Beef Club was not a formal organisation, but it was the seedbed of nationalism.

Not everyone agreed on its importance. Some suggested that the term “Bully Beef Club” was coined later, giving a name to what had been informal gatherings. Others argued that the Club had become mythologised, its importance exaggerated in the telling.

But even sceptics admitted that the friendships and debates of the early 1960s were formative. Whether or not they called it a Club, the students created a culture of political conversation that flowed directly into party politics.

Pull Quote: “Bridges were built between student union debates, the TSF, the Pangu Pati, and the eventual leadership of the new state.” — Retrospective oral history

Later leaders outside the circle also acknowledged its impact. Sir Julius Chan credited the Bully Beef generation with laying the foundations for independence, even as he stressed that many dismissed them at the time as “dreamers”. He pointed out that few expected a handful of students to create a national party capable of winning elections — yet that is exactly what they did.

Former members spoke with a mixture of pride and amusement. Nanong Ahe emphasised the unity forged at the Colleges:

Pull Quote: “Young Papua New Guineans from diverse regions came together … to foster unity and advocate for independence.” — Nanong Ahe

Ebia Olewale remembered the thrill of debating the word “nationalism” for the first time in a student meeting. Joseph Nombri often stressed how their protests against unequal pay were the beginning of political consciousness.

Fifty years later, the Digital Pasifik reunion video captured the enduring bond of the Bully Beef generation. Figures like Nalau and Ahe laughed, argued, and reminisced about those days. One recalled:

Pull Quote: “We didn’t realise it at the time, but we were making history.” — Bully Beef Club reunion, Digital Pasifik

In this intimate digital recording, Nanong Remembers, Nanong Gideon Ahe—one of the founding members of the Bully Beef Club alongside Sir Michael Somare—reflects on his student days, emphasizing how young Papua New Guineans from diverse regions came together at schools like Dregerhaffen and the Administrative College to foster unity and advocate for independence. His memories offer a deeply personal, emotional perspective on the Club’s early significance, complementing the earlier video of the reunion with Sir Jerry Nalau. Their reflections confirmed that while the Club was informal, its impact was real. It was the foundation on which independence was built.

The story of the Bully Beef Club has become part of Papua New Guinea’s national memory. It appears in histories, documentaries, independence celebrations, and classroom lessons. It is invoked as proof that the nation’s leaders were not simply handed independence by Australia, but fought for it through their own debates, organisation, and courage.

It is also a reminder of the power of conversation. A group of students, bound by friendship, hardship, and shared tins of corned beef, managed to change the direction of their country.