Please see PMB 532 for full entry.

Serial Numbers 08807 - 13003

The New Guinea Society was set up at a meeting in Canberra on 31 Jul 1957, following a call for expressions of interest from Ralph Bulmer, Margaret McArthur, Murray Groves and others. It was based in Canberra and drew most of its membership from the Australian National University, the Commonwealth Dept. of Territories and the CSIRO. The meetings were usually held in the Meetings Room, Eastern Annexe, University House under strict Chatham House rules. Professor J.W. Davidson, when Dean of the Research School of Pacific Studies, ANU, required all PhD students in the School to belong to the Society.

There were regular meetings of the Society, at which papers were presented; the texts of some of these are in included in PMB1379/1. Some important policy decisions were aired and discussed by the Minister and others before they were made public.

The Papua and New Guinea Society (not to be confused with the New Guinea Society) was established in Port Moresby, following an initiative by Nigel Oram, on 22 Nov 1962. Some documents relating to this society, including its constitution, are included in PMB1379/6.
Below is a list of Presidents and Secretaries of The New Guinea Society from 1957-1965.

C.S. Christian, President, 1957
Ralph Bulmer, Secretary, 1957
Dudley McCarthy, President, 1958-9
H.C. Brookfield, Secretary, 1958-9
R.D. Hoogland, President, 1960-1
Paula Brown, Secretary in 1960, 1961
J. E. Willoughby, President, 1961-2
J.N. Jennings, Secretary, 1961-2
Francis West, President, 1962-3
D. T. Lattin, President 1962-3, 1963-4
J. A. Mabbutt, in Chair in 1965
Colin A. Hughes, Secretary, 1963, 1964, 1965

New Guinea Society papers presented at meetings in Canberra, Australia (1959-1964)
New Guinea Society: membership and activities (1957-1965)
New Guinea Society correspondence (1962-1965)
New Guinea Society: Notices of meetings (1957-1964)
New Guinea Society: Committee meetings and notes (1957-1962)

New Guinea Society: Constitution (1957-1959)
See Finding aids for details.

Jean Chambers was a commercial artist who commenced work designing screen slides for Whitford Theatre Ads in Sydney. She then worked for Vivian Art Studios which carried out all branches of advertising and display for many large buisiness firms in Sydney, including Bonds Hosiery, Berley’s and Nestles. In 1935 she married Keith M. Chambers and moved to New Guinea with her husband. They were evacuated in 1941, returned to Madang in 1946, where Keith Chambers was the Customs Officer, then moved to Rabaul in 1948. In 1948 a Maternal and Child Health (MCH) service was established in the TPNG Department of Public Health by Dr Joan Refshauge. The MCH commissioned Mrs Chambers to design posters on infant care. (See posters marked “Rabaul”.) The original paintings were sent to Sydney for lithographic block making in 3 or 4 colours. Thousands were printed and returned for distribution by the Public Health Department as teaching aids in villages throughout the Territory. The couple moved to Port Moresby in the mid 1950s where Keith Chambers eventually became Chief Collector of Customs. In Port Moresby Jean Chambers designed and completed film strips for the Commonwealth Film Unit on women’s club training, and worked for Burns Philp (NG)Ltd for 18 months during 1958-59 on display and newspaper advertising. Mrs Chambers also received more commissions for posters and eventually acccepted a full-time appointment with the Department of Information where she trained New Guinean staff in silk screen printing, using her designs and stencils for posters, mainly on health education but also for the Departments of Agriculture, and Post and Telegraphs. Mrs Chambers left PNG when her husband retired in 1965 or 1966.

34 lithographic and silk screened posters on health education in PNG, 1948-1965(?); 13 posters on the introduction of decimal currency in PNG, 1965.