By Les Bell and Gillian Heming Shadbolt
International warfare II Royal Australian Air strength Flying Officer Les Bell, MBE recounts startling stories of payment in Northern Queensland, the equatorial coconut and gold empires of German and Australian New Guinea, and the country's island archipelagos. In 1914 Les, elderly 10, gained his first Scout badge for gathering sugar luggage to be used in WW1 yet he valued so much his creation to Morse Code. As a radio novice (ham) Les maintained touch with operators around the globe. He gained ham contest certificate, between others, from Stampede urban, China, Japan and the Napier girls Operators membership in New Zealand. the yank Radio Relay League Inc. honoured him with their optimum A1 Operator certificates. He served in radar devices within the Pacific battle and gained his MBE on the conflict of recent Britain. within the struggle Les had killed eastern yet, within the peace that undefined, he and his canny spouse Bertha booked a journey of Japan and stayed 18 weeks. In 1945 Les lower back to Kavieng and cleared away daisycutter bombs one of the detritus of struggle. Retiring to Whitsunday Passage Les discovered himself between settlers of the now burgeoning vacationer sun-mecca of Airlie seashore. because the new Scout District Commissioner, he officiated in welcomes to the then Queensland Head Scout Governor Henry Abel Smith, and woman might. Les died -- on eleven December 2000 -- in advance of his 96th birthday.
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Extra resources for New Guinea Engineer: The Memoirs of Les Bell M.B.E
Example text
He had been runner-up in a close decision to a chap called Hungerford who was amateur champion of Queensland. My next opponent, World War I veteran Lloyd Roberts, had a really impressive reputation, having won competitions in the navy. I was nervous. So was one of my two cousins, who were competing in different divisions. Take a nip of whisky, steady your nerves, he said. As we got in the ring Roberts came at me with his arms swinging. I covered up and he didn't do much damage. The crowd were roaring for him.
But then, ifI had managed to get with P&O I'd probably be at the bottom of the ocean by now - so many of their ships were sunk during World War II. 43 2 Gold Opportunity Lures In depression and drought-ravaged Queensland everything brother Stan and I heard or read about New Guinea fired our imagination. There was, we believed, cheap, available land for anyone wanting to develop agriculture. There were openings for engineers, and gold had been discovered in the uplands. The main island of New Guinea was divided into Dutch New Guinea in the west, the south-eastern section of Papua which passed from Britain to become an Australian Territory in 1902, and Kaiser-Wilhelmsland or German New Guinea in the north-east.
From now on we'll pay you a pound for each tin of opium you bring up for us. ' And that's how I paid off my Studebaker so quickly. Thousands of Chinese were leaving the Palmer goldfield, just outside Cooktown, and heading to fertile land on the Atherton Tableland. A surveyor took up a huge area of ground in the triangle between 35 36 New Guinea Engineer Taiga, Atherton and Yungaburra. He surveyed it into smaller blocks he leased to Chinese families, industries or groups. The Chinese population grew to about 7000 and formed a small Chinatown outside of Atherton.