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By the mid-1960s, Oala Oala-Rarua had already emerged as one of Papua New Guinea’s most capable public servants and a likely future leader. A former teacher who had travelled widely overseas, he saw independence not simply as a political slogan but as a profound responsibility. In his words, independence meant “a great responsibility being passed from Australian hands into the Papua New Guineans.” His view captured both the optimism and the weight of expectation felt by the emerging nationalist generation—that self-government was not just about freedom, but about proving themselves capable of running the country’s affairs.
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Tos Barnett Speaking on Independence, Law, and the Administrative College
Source: NLA Barnett
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This interview recalls how East Africa’s independence experience offered a model for what Papua New Guinea might achieve. Inspired by Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, Toss Barrett and colleagues like Peter Lawler and David Chenoweth began pushing for a localised court system and the training of Papua New Guinean magistrates. Working through the new Administrative College, they used letters, lobbying, and creative partnerships with figures like Dr Gunther to advance reform—even when “independence” itself was still treated as a forbidden word in official circles.
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Tos Barnett on University Life and Student Politics
[Audio : Tos Barnett on University Life and Student Politics<<< IMAGE>>>>]
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In this section Barnett contrasts his teaching experiences at the Administrative College and the newly formed University of Papua New Guinea. While Adcol students were career-focused public servants, university students were more varied—some highly motivated, others adrift. He recalls teaching future leaders like Tengen Sigoaru and Arnold Amet, and witnessing John Gunther’s firm but pragmatic handling of student activism. These were years of intellectual ferment: Ken Inglis was shaping a national history curriculum, and the lines between Adcol and the University were porous, producing both tension and excitement in the lead-up to independence.
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Pull Quote: “The Administrative College was supposed to teach administration, but what it produced were politicians.” — Retrospective oral history
Michael Somare on Early Inspirations and the Legislative Council
Source: PNG Speaks
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Somare recalls how his first political consciousness emerged in the early 1960s, shaped by teaching Australian and British history and by encounters with radical figures like Sir Peter Lus. His fluency in English brought him into the Legislative Council as an interpreter, where he translated debates between Australian officials and Papua New Guinean representatives into Pidgin. Sitting in the chamber and listening to the exchanges sparked his interest in politics. These experiences, combined with the Legislative Council elections of 1964 and the presence of nominated members, gave Somare an early sense that Papua New Guineans could—and would—shape their own political future. What began as interpreting soon became active engagement, laying the groundwork for his eventual role as PNG’s leading independence figure.
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Brian Jinks on ADCOL Training and Australia’s “Wrong-Headed” Policies
Source: NLA 1 Jinks
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Jinks describes how the Administrative College, despite being designed to train Papua New Guineans for senior public service, struggled with outdated curricula and teachers who had little knowledge of the country. While some students excelled, many grappled with English, which he saw as the central barrier to advancement. He criticises Australia’s broader policy failures: restrictive education pathways, resistance to sending Papua New Guineans to elite schools, and misplaced hopes that PNG might become a “settler state.” Even the later Senior Executive Program (or “Septics,” as he called it) leaned heavily on management jargon rather than practical learning. Jinks argued instead for hands-on training, mentoring, and secondments in Australian organisations to prepare Papua New Guineans for real leadership.
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Recognition and Responsibility
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The first classes at the Administrative College were small but ambitious. In 1964, Gavera Rea won the Neil Thompson Memorial Prize for general proficiency, while Albert Maori Kiki and John Kaputin were awarded the staff prize for citizenship.[2] Such accolades highlighted their promise. Reports praised the Student Representative Council (SRC) as “helpful and valuable at all times,” suggesting the Administration believed it had succeeded in nurturing loyal, civic-minded leaders.[3]
Ted Wolfers on Manuscripts, Independence, and Early ADCOL Life
Source: NLA 1 Wolfers
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Wolfers reflects on his efforts to encourage Papua New Guinean voices in print during the 1960s, pushing back against Australian assumptions that locals could not think for themselves. He carefully preserved original manuscripts and now plans to republish them under real names, correcting decades of misattribution. Independence, to him, always seemed inevitable—though the timing was uncertain—and his travels to Samoa offered inspiration from its participatory constitution. At the Administrative College, Wolfers experienced both suspicion and solidarity: suspicion from officials wary of his interest in public service pay disputes, but solidarity from students who came to see him as “brother”. Life at Six Mile was socially intense and formative, forging lifelong friendships that shaped the next generation of national leaders.
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Yet behind the glowing reports, students were restless. The SRC became more than just a debating body — it was a proving ground for political skills. Students used it to press grievances about food, pay, and housing, testing their ability to argue, persuade, and mobilise.
Michael Somare on Education, Public Service, and the Beginnings of Pangu
Source: PNG Speaks
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Somare recalls how his career in teaching and the public service was shaped by early opportunities in the 1960s, including courses run by David Chenoweth at the Administrative College. Advancement through the ranks depended on qualifications such as the Queensland Intermediate and Leaving Certificates, which only a few Papua New Guineans had achieved. English fluency marked him out, enabling him to work alongside Australians and gain recognition. He describes how scholarships sent some peers abroad—while figures like Albert Maori Kiki attempted medical training before moving into politics. By 1965, Somare was part of discussions at the Papua New Guinea Society and at Kiki’s home that evolved into the formation of the Pangu Pati. He recalls enrolling in law and magistrates’ courses at the Administrative College but soon gravitating instead toward journalism and political organising, marking the beginning of his transformation from teacher and interpreter to nationalist leader.
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Everyday Injustice
The students’ politics were not abstract. They lived the inequality they protested. Joe Nombri, then president of the Tertiary Students Federation, was blunt in a 1969 interview:
Pull Quote: “The difference in the salary … killed all the initiative in me … the person who’s doing the same work as I do gets more than three times as much.” — Joe Nombri
Nombri explained how unequal pay created resentment and racial tension: expatriates drove flashy cars while local officers struggled to survive. His words captured what every student at the Colleges knew: no matter how hard they worked, they would never be treated as equals in the colonial service.
Brian Jinks on the Bully Beef Club, Networking, and Racial Barriers
Source: NLA Brian Jinks 1
[AUDIO HERE: Brian Jinks<<<<<<<IMAGE>>>>>
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Jinks reflects on the early networks that formed around the Administrative College at Six Mile in the mid-1960s, including what later came to be known as the Bully Beef Club. While he only heard of it second-hand, he recognises its importance as a space where Papua New Guineans like Michael Somare and Albert Maori Kiki forged connections outside the influence of expatriates. By contrast, most whites lived separate lives, with little real social interaction across the racial divide. Jinks recalls railing against the introduction of racially based salary scales in 1964, which entrenched inequality and made genuine mixing nearly impossible. Housing arrangements and pay differentials reinforced these barriers, even within institutions designed to prepare Papua New Guineans for leadership. His own efforts to host mixed gatherings exposed how rare and awkward such encounters were, underscoring the structural obstacles to equality on the eve of independence.
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Sport, Culture, and Crossing Boundaries
Life at the Colleges was not all politics. Sport and culture also forged solidarity. John Kaputin was already a star athlete, having represented Papua New Guinea in rugby league at the 1962 Commonwealth Games.His interracial marriage to Australian lecturer Christine Lake challenged colonial norms and became a symbol of new possibilities.
Cultural events — from church gatherings to music and dance — gave students outlets beyond politics. More importantly, they brought together students from across the country: Chimbu, Gulf, Sepik, Milne Bay, and beyond. For many, this was the first time they had lived alongside peers from distant regions. It was here that regional identities began to give way to a shared sense of being “Papua New Guinean.”
Nanong Ahe, one of the Bully Beef members, later reflected:
Pull Quote: “Young Papua New Guineans from diverse regions came together … to foster unity and advocate for independence.” — Nanong Ahe, oral history
Surveillance and Tension
The Administration was not blind to what was happening. Students recalled the Australian Special Branch monitoring their activities, trailing them to meetings, and occasionally offering them lifts — attempts to intimidate or recruit informants. Somare laughed about using the police as “free taxis,” but the pressure was real.[4] Some officials even suggested fencing off the Administrative College to keep it separate from university students, fearing that politics was spreading too quickly.[5] Such measures only confirmed what the students already suspected: their debates were dangerous to the colonial order.
Teachers as Mentors
The role of lecturers was crucial. While some Australians hoped to instil loyalty, others actively encouraged independent thought. Cecil Abel brought Christian moral philosophy into his teaching, framing independence as a matter of justice. Ted Wolfers ran evening seminars on constitutional development, exposing students to debates about political parties and home rule. Tos Barnett openly described the College as a political hothouse.
Their guidance was decisive. Instead of producing clerks, the College produced leaders.
Pull Quote: “The students were not just preparing for administration — they were preparing for leadership. And leadership meant politics.” — Ted Wolfers
Ken McKinnon on the University, Debate, and Localisation
Source: NLA Ken McKinnon 2
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McKinnon highlights the transformative role of the University of Papua New Guinea in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Under Vice-Chancellor John Gunther and with professors such as Ken Inglis, the University fostered a new culture of open debate, drawing thinkers from around the world to the Waigani Seminar series. Students challenged visiting dignitaries, published literature such as Vincent Eri’s The Crocodile and Albert Maori Kiki’s Ten Thousand Years in a Lifetime, and gained confidence that Papua New Guineans could meet international standards. McKinnon contrasts this with the Administrative College, which had seeded early political networks but remained tied to public service orthodoxy. He also describes his own localisation programs, which gave thousands of Papua New Guineans leadership experience, culminating in a bold experiment where the top twenty administrative positions were quietly run by locals for a month. The result: independence felt increasingly possible, and expatriates—not Papua New Guineans—were the ones unsettled by the shift.
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Learning from Africa and the World
Students also looked beyond Papua New Guinea. Seminars introduced them to international independence movements. Memorabilia reprinted extracts from African student magazines like NSHILA, which warned that teachers often became the most dissatisfied branch of the service unless “Africanisation” policies were adopted.[6]
The visit of Tom Mboya, Kenya’s charismatic independence leader, was a revelation. Mboya spoke about responsibility and urgency in the decolonisation process. His message resonated deeply: “if Africans could achieve independence in the 1960s, why not Papua New Guinea?”.[7]
Pull Quote: “Many of the laws for this country have followed closely those of Africa … the government policy must now change to one of Africanisation.” — Memorabilia, quoting African press[8]
Through conferences, visitors, and reprinted articles, students absorbed global lessons in how colonial peoples organised themselves, formed unions, and built political parties. They saw their own debates reflected in struggles thousands of kilometres away.
Tos Barnett Reflecting on Tom Mboya and Early Independence Debates
Source: NLA Barnett 2
[AUDIO: Tos Barnett Reflecting on Tom Mboya and Early Independence Debates-]IMAGE
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This interview segment captures the atmosphere of the early 1960s, when even mentioning independence in Papua New Guinea was seen as dangerous or “illegal.” Against this backdrop, visiting African leaders like Kenya’s Tom Mboya offered striking contrasts. Recalled here is a meeting in his Nairobi office, where his unionist background and uncompromising political style were on display. The story highlights how outside figures inspired reflection on colonial politics, and how PNG’s own debates about independence began to ferment in spaces like the Administrative College.
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Michael Somare on the Bully Beef Club and the Power of Ideas
Source: PNG Speaks
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Somare recalls the informal gatherings at the Administrative College in the mid-1960s that became known as the Bully Beef Club. Students would pool their resources to buy tins of corned beef, sneaking food after curfew and using the occasion to talk politics, world affairs, and the future of Papua New Guinea. Influences included visiting figures such as Tom Mboya from Kenya and Filipino activists, as well as progressive Australian academics like Jim Johnson. Somare absorbed these ideas—sometimes literally carrying Mboya’s book on freedom—and used them to frame his own thinking about independence. He also recognised the importance of communication, deliberately leveraging his role as a radio announcer to explain politics in Pidgin and build a following in East Sepik. For Somare, the blend of fellowship, debate, and media outreach made the Bully Beef gatherings a crucible for political consciousness and a stepping stone to national leadership.
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The First Taste of Nationalism
Perhaps the most important shift was linguistic: the first time students openly used the word “nationalism.” Ebia Olewale later recalled a mass meeting at the Teachers’ College where the term was debated in public for the first time. [9] What began as complaints about food, housing, and pay had grown into something larger: a vision of a nation.
Pull Quote: “It was the first time Territory students debated ‘nationalism’ openly.” — Ebia Olewale.[10]
[1] summary 25-8 Bully Beef Club Pr…Brad
[2] summary 25-8 Bully Beef Club Pr…Brad
[3] summary 25-8 Bully Beef Club Pr…Brad
[4] Michael Somare SANA
[5] summary 25-8 Bully Beef Club Pr…Brad
[6] PNGNA files SUMMARY
[7] summary 25-8 Bully Beef Club Pr…
[8] PNGNA files SUMMARY
[9] summary 25-8 Bully Beef Club Pr…Brad
[10] summary 25-8 Bully Beef Club Pr…Brad